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Chapter 11: The Stray
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A week later, and the preparations for the Vytal Festival were underway. Balloons were set up, banners were hung, and so many other things were done to make the Kingdom look nice for the impending celebration. There were even a few new murals, courtesy of a certain graffiti artist who was actually finishing up another one at that very moment.
Delsin was up high on the side of a building, several spray cans at his feet. Ever since Nora had told everyone he was an artist, both teams had decided they wanted him to see some art around town with their faces on it. Bowing to peer pressure, Delsin smiled and agreed. His current project was a mural for Ruby. This one depicted her happily eating a cookie, all while she stood over a pile of cutely drawn Grimm.
"Think I'll call it...'Cookie Monster',"Delsin thought, smiling.
He pulled out his Scroll and called down to his friends.
"It look good from down there?" he asked.
"Oh my god, yes! Thank you Delsin!" Ruby screamed on the other end.
"Glad you like it. I'll be right down."
He jumped off the side of the building, not even bothering with any thrusters. He landed on the sidewalk and quickly bolted away with his Concrete powers in an effort to not get caught by the cops. Though it was more for fun at this point. Most of the police force in Vale was pretty happy with the Banner Man's activities, not that they'd acknowledge it publicly.
He ran back to where he'd left his friends.
"Hey guys," Delsin said.
The moment he arrived, Ruby tackled-hugged him.
"Oh!" he exclaimed, "I guess that means you liked it?"
Ruby nodded furiously.
"C'mon. Let's go," Blake said, smiling.
The six of them walked off with Weiss taking the lead. After a minute, they walked up to find an old man raising a banner for the Festival.
"The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful," Weiss said a rare smile on her face.
"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much Weiss. It's kinda weirding me out," Ruby commented.
"How could you not smile?" Weiss asked, "A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances, parades, a tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!"
"That's what you like about it?" Delsin asked.
"Seriously, you really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring," Yang said.
"Quiet you," Weiss responded.
After a few moments of walking, the six of them reached Weiss's destination.
"Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?" Yang asked.
"Ugh, they smell like fish," Ruby said, pinching her nose.
"And low tide," Delsin commented.
"I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today, and as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine Kingdom," Weiss replied.
"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament," Blake said, exposing Weiss's barely hidden agenda.
"Uh, you can't prove that," Weiss countered, desperate to save face.
"Who'd have guessed, a Schnee using underhanded methods to get ahead," Alex said flatly.
Weiss was about to turn around and tear him a new one, but luckily, Ruby, ever the oblivious one, distracted them all.
"Whoa," she said, pointing down a side street.
They turned to look at what appeared to be an active crime scene. A great deal of police tape was covering the entrance of a storefront. A pair of detectives from the Vale police department were milling about collecting evidence.
"What happened here?" Ruby asked as they approached.
"Robbery," one of the detectives said, "Second Dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle."
The detective walked away.
"Ugh, that's terrible," Yang commented.
"I thought the Banner Man put a stop to all of these?" Blake asked, throwing Delsin a questioning look.
"Even good guys gotta sleep," Delsin replied, lowering his voice.
"They left all the money again," one of the detectives said.
That caught their attention.
"Yeah, it just doesn't make a lick of sense," the first detective said, "Who needs that much Dust?"
The second detective responded with unintelligible gibberish that sounded vaguely like "I dunno."
"You thinkin' the uh, White Fang?" asked the first.
"Yeah, I'm thinkin' we don't get paid enough," the second replied.
The detectives went inside the store and Weiss took that moment to voice her opinion.
"Hm. The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates," she said.
"What's your problem?" Blake asked.
Alex was about to jump on that open line, but Delsin grabbed him from behind and covered his mouth.
"My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane," Weiss replied.
"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're a collection of misguided Faunus."
"Misguided? They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!"
Alex was straining hard against Delsin's grip, anger rising in his eyes. Delsin saw that and held tighter, knowing he wouldn't be able to hold him much longer.
"So then they're very misguided! Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale."
"Hmm. Blake's got a point," Ruby started, "Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy me and Delsin ran into a few months back. Maybe it was him."
Alex broke free from Delsin's grip right then, seemingly having calmed down. That state didn't last long though, as Weiss managed to ignore his presence and continue her hate-filled speech.
"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang is a bunch of scum," she spat, "Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."
"Excuse me?!" Alex shouted, Delsin unable to stop him a second time.
That caught the attention of the rest of the team, as well as several bystanders. Alex cleared his throat and lowered his voice.
"In case you hadn't noticed, I am a Faunus. Don't you dare try and lump all of us in with that rabble," he said angrily, jabbing a finger at her chest, "And if you want liars cheaters and thieves, look no further than your home Kingdom. Hell, look no further than your own family!"
Alex was practically screaming at this point, though somehow his voice was still in the range of a normal conversation. Both Delsin and Yang were trying to pull him back now. Weiss simply stood there, her face a mix of indifference and insult. Blake was on the other side of her, standing still, but both she and Ruby had no idea what to say.
At that moment, a voice rang out.
"Hey! Stop that Faunus!"
The six of them bolted off towards it. The reached the dock rail and saw that the voice was coming from one of the ships in the harbor.
A monkey Faunus was running across the deck of the ship while being chased by two of the crewmen. He reached the end of the deck and jumped onto the ledge.
"Thanks for the ride, guys!" he said with a smirk.
With that, he jumped off the ledge and ran along the pier. A few steps and another show of his acrobatic prowess later and he had produced a banana from nowhere while he was hanging upside down from his tail.
"You no-good stowaway!" one of the crewmen called.
"Hey, a no-good stowaway would've been caught!" he said, peeling his banana, "I'm a great stowaway."
A rock flew past his head.
"Hey!"
The two detectives from earlier walked up.
"Get down from there this instant," the first detective said calmly.
Instead of responding, the Faunus threw his banana peel in the detective's face. Immediately after, he jumped off the pole he was hanging from and ran away laughing. He quickly ran past the six students as the two detectives gave chase. As he passed, Alex and Delsin both could have sworn he winked at Blake.
"Well, Weiss you wanted to see the competition," Yang said, "And there it goes."
"Quick, we have to observe him!" she shouted, all previous feelings temporarily forgotten.
All six of them gave chase, though not a particularly enthusiastic one. Had any of them besides Weiss actually wanted to catch him, they easily could have, but none of them really cared.
Weiss broke into the lead and rounded a corner, the rest of them following. Unfortunately, in her haste, she ran into someone. Both of them fell to the ground. Weiss pushed herself up with her hands in time to see the Faunus and the pursuing detectives round another corner.
"No! They got away," she cried, apparently ignoring the girl she had run into.
Alex pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.
"Ice queen. Look down," he said with a sigh.
Weiss's eyes shot down and discovered the petite redhead she had knocked over.
"Ah!" she cried and reeled back to a standing position.
The girl on the ground smiled in a way that didn't quite seem human but was still somehow adorable.
"Salutations!" she said cheerily, though still on the ground.
"Um. Hello," Ruby said.
"Are you … ok?" Yang asked.
"I am wonderful. Thank you for asking," the girl replied, still not having moved.
The six of them looked at each other, confused. Alex then walked up to her and held out a hand.
"Hm?" she asked.
"Would you like help getting up?" he asked.
For a moment, she said nothing.
"Thank you!" she said, grabbing his hand.
He pulled her to her feet.
"So, what's your name?" Ruby asked.
"My name is Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you," the mystery redhead answered.
"Hi Penny, I'm Ruby."
"I'm Weiss."
"Delsin."
"Blake."
"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang asked.
Blake elbowed her in the stomach softly.
"Oh, I'm Yang," she said.
"Alex," the bird Faunus said.
"It's a pleasure to meet you!" the girl said again.
"You already said that," Weiss said coldly.
Penny considered that for a moment, then said, "So I did!"
Awkwardly, the group just stood there for a moment.
"Well, sorry for running into you," Weiss said.
The six of them turned to walk away. Ruby turned over her shoulder and smiled back.
"Take care, friend."
Penny looked like she was taken aback by Ruby's statement and reached out and grabbed her sleeve. Ruby stopped short at the pull and turned back around.
"What did you call me?" Penny asked.
"Huh?" Ruby replied.
"You called me your friend. Am I really your friend?" the girl pressed, severely invading Ruby's personal space.
Ruby looked past Penny at her team. Her partners were all making gestures that absolutely screamed "no." Delsin met her gaze and simply shrugged. Alex, however, didn't seem to be paying as much attention. His eyes were studying the strange girl in front of them. Something just really seemed off about her.
"Sure, why not?" Ruby said, her desire for friends outweighing her friend's concern.
Her partners quite literally fell backward at this. Alex didn't notice, even when he reflexively caught Yang to stop her from falling. He was too intrigued. He didn't know why, but something about this Penny girl just kept gnawing at him. Ever since he touched her, he felt like something was off with her, but he couldn't put his finger on what.
He stood there for a few moments, unable to shake that funny feeling. Delsin tore himself away from the conversation and looked at him. Curious, Delsin tapped him on the shoulder.
"Hey man, you alright?" Delsin asked.
"Hm?" Alex grunted, having not really been listening.
"Hey, I asked if you were ok."
Alex's expression didn't change.
"There's something off about her," he said.
"No shit?" Delsin said sarcastically, "Hadn't noticed."
Alex shook his head.
"No, not like that. It's something... more profound than that."
That got Delsin's attention.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, a minute ago, when I helped her up? I felt her Aura, and it felt...wrong, somehow."
"Wrong how?"
"I don't know. It felt almost...blank? I guess? Like there was nothing there," he said, trying to elaborate.
Give the man credit, Delsin tried his best to understand what Alex was saying.
"I'm sorry, you're gonna have to explain that one a bit more," Delsin said.
"Normally when two Auras meet, there's a bit of an exchange. Most people don't notice it, but it gives us a bit of an instinctual first impression of each other. People with sufficiently advanced control and awareness of their Auras like experienced Huntsmen and Huntresses, or people with abilities like mine are more aware of the exchange and can typically get a bit more information out of it," Alex explained.
"Ok, with you so far," Delsin replied.
"But when my Aura met Penny's, there was nothing. No exchange at all. Or at least, I got nothing from it," Alex said.
"How does that happen?"
"No idea. It's never happened before."
"Any guesses?"
Alex pondered that a bit but shook his head.
"Not even one. It just doesn't make sense. Every living thing has an Aura, and even if it's with an animal the exchange is prevalent. It shouldn't be possible to receive nothing."
"Hm. Maybe she's a robot or something," Delsin suggested off-hand.
"A robot with a soul?" Alex asked, "Even a beginner like you should know that's not how it works."
"Hey, it was a joke, you don't have to treat me like an idiot."
"I can't help it when you act like one," Alex said, smiling.
"Haha, very funny," Delsin replied.
Their attention was brought back to the conversation when Weiss and Blake started yelling at each other.
"Ugh! You ignorant little brat!" Blake shouted.
"Uh-oh," Delsin said.
"We should probably go," Alex said, an edge creeping into his tone.
"Ya think?"
The two of them sped off, hoping to get as far away as possible.
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They were not so lucky. A few hours later, the pair found that Blake and Weiss had brought their argument with them. As revenge for their earlier escape, Yang and Ruby pulled them both into their room.
"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem," Weiss said.
"That is the problem!" Blake countered.
"You realize, you're defending an organization that hates humanity don't you? The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil."
"There's no such thing as pure evil!" Blake started, getting up, "Why do you think they hate humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you, that forced the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"
"People like me?!"
"You're discriminatory!" Blake shouted.
During this conversation, Alex had been quietly fuming. The reason he'd wanted to leave earlier is that he didn't want to be there for precisely this argument. As the argument raged, so did he, and after listening to it for five full minutes, he had had enough.
"Both of you SHUT UP!" he screamed, unleashing the full force of his telekinesis.
All of the loose objects in the room shot upwards and held their positions a foot and a half in the air. Blake and Weiss stopped dead, Weiss's mouth still hanging open from whatever she had been about to say.
"I am sick and tired of listening to this bullshit! So, for once and for all, allow me to set the record straight! You're both wrong!" Alex continued.
The objects he'd been holding aloft all dropped. Alex turned to Blake first.
"I have never been associated with the White Fang, nor will I ever, but I have felt the same drive. The same need to kill, to hurt and break everything that has ever done you wrong. But never have I ever agreed with how they operate. What they want is not equality, it is destruction. They want humanity gone, and no matter how much I want to hurt the people who drove my kind to extinction, I will never allow innocents to come to harm in those pursuits," he said, all kinds of anger coloring his tone.
He backed away and snapped out his wings.
"I am a proud Faunus, not one who hides their face with a mask, nor their identity with a bow," he said accusingly.
One would not have thought it possible for Blake's pale face to get any whiter. One would have thought wrong, and been proved as such had they seen her face when Alex said that.
"Make no mistake, the White Fang are terrorists, no matter what moral outrage you use as a slipshod justification. And as a Faunus, I will never condone their actions," he said, turning away.
His anger returned twofold when he turned to Weiss.
"You. You mistakenly believe that Faunus are the only ones in the wrong. Well, in case you weren't aware, and if you had been paying any amount of attention to your surroundings you would be, you are incorrect. Humanity has done more than its fair share of wrongs to Faunus," he said, trying badly to remain calm.
"Oh yeah, like what," Weiss said indignantly.
That would be the straw that broke the camel's back.
Alex lost it. With his telekinesis, he lifted Weiss up and pressed her against the wall two feet off the ground. Ruby, Yang, and Delsin, who had been standing there silently the whole time, finally snapped out of their daze and started to move to intercept.
Alex saw them and activated his magnetic abilities simultaneously, not giving half a shit about the pain he was in physically from using two Semblances at once. He used every drop of force he could muster to grab at the metal they were wearing to keep them in place.
He turned back to Weiss, his anger now plainly visible.
"For example," he said, "My family. Or what's left of it."
That got everyone's attention. In the brief time they'd known him, Alex had not said one word about his past or his family.
"You see, my kind was in the war, though not at first. We had long since proven that we were a very powerful force, having made our own small kingdom on the island of Vytal, not that any records of it exist anymore.
"When the war came, Mantle and Mistral left us alone, knowing full well they couldn't beat us on our home territory. So, we let the four kingdoms fight, keeping out of it. But Mantle, big-headed fearmongers that they were, didn't want to chance us siding against them.
"So, one night, a small squad of soldiers snuck into the kingdom. They made their way to the heart of one of the biggest Dust mines on the island. Once they arrived, they set up a small detonator. Alone it wasn't a large bomb, but it was designed to simultaneously trigger every crystal in the mine. When they set it off, the entire thing went up, as well as all of the land above it. That included the palace, as well as almost the entire capital city."
Alex was on the verge of tears.
"Hundreds of innocent lives, gone in an instant, and why?! They had done nothing! They had taken no side in the war! Most of them probably didn't even know how to fight! And still, the humans slaughtered them mercilessly!" Alex screamed.
The others in the room stood silent and previous
"After that my great-grandfather, the highest ranking member of our military left, took charge. He had been in charge of our combat school, what the soon to be Huntsman Academies were based on. He saw the destruction and called out every remaining member of the military. They gathered every scrap of resources they could find, and with only a few soldiers to hold the borders at home, they flew to the aid of the Kingdom of Vale.
"They owned the skies, raining hell down on enemy infantry and destroying Mantle's aerial units with ease. Even still, many more of our kind died in the fighting. By the end of the war, our once proud nation had dwindled to a small handful of small clans. Bird Faunus have low birth rates and unions with humans weren't likely to yield one of us so rebuilding our nation was practically impossible.
"As our population continued to decline over the next hundred and sixty years, soon only the two most powerful clans remained, the ones from which my parents are from. You would think, after all that had happened, they Atlas would have left us alone, or maybe offered some sort of reparations for the mass genocide. But no, they did the opposite.
"Both of my Semblances are hereditary. I get the Copying from my mom and Dust Enhancement from my dad. Both of their clans had the same powers. Some of the higher-ups in the Atlas military had heard stories of how powerful we were. So, in their infinite wisdom, deemed them too powerful to let live. They only had one problem. They couldn't use military resources to do it."
Alex turned back to Weiss, his face red and tears falling. He raised the output of the telekinetic force as high as he could.
"So, they talked to their good friend Jauque Schnee. They paid him as a middleman to hire assassins to kill us. He was happy to be of service. He even provided the hit-men with the weapons they would need to do the job. So one by one, they did as they were told, and my kind died. We had done nothing. We had only acted in self-defense. Yet still, they hunted us. By the time it was just us, just me, my parents, my older sister and my little brother, they thought they had finished. They left us alone."
Alex wiped his face and dropped his powers. Weiss fell to the ground.
"I tried. I tried to be fair. I tried not to judge you for your father's actions. But your attitude and your entitlement and your superiority complex and everything I have ever heard you say has done nothing but make me more and more angry. So, I leave you with this."
Alex walked over to the window and opened it telekinetically. The eyes of everyone in the room were on him, though no one knew what to say to him. Alex turned to Weiss one last time.
"Remember this. You may know a twinge of what it feels like to have suffered for what you are. But always remember, somewhere out there, there is always someone who knows it better than you. It would behoove you to take a good look at yourself, and realize that you are not the center of the universe."
With that, Alex jumped out the window and flew off into the night.
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A little after Alex left, Blake stood up. Without a word, she reached up and took off her bow. Her teammates looked at her with varying degrees of shock when they saw what it had concealed.
"He's right," she said, wriggling her now revealed cat ears.
She walked out of the room, leaving her friends behind.
"Now it's time I stop running away and do something about it."
CHAPTER END
Oh, god. This chapter right here. I hate having to write chapters that mirror the episodes to this extent because there just isn't a lot of room for creativity if I want the scenes to be set up in a way that they flow properly.
Anyway, enough of my complaining. I see we have a few name ideas. This is great! Remember, the contest is live until I post Chapter 12, so if you have any ideas, post them.
Also, I read through my chapters the way you guys see them the other day, and I noticed something. All of my scene partitions (the zeroes) are only one wide. They are supposed to be ten wide. If anyone knows how to fix that, please let me know, it's really aggravating. If not, tell me how to do the solid line-breaks that I see other people do in some of the stories I read.
And we passed 90 followers! Yay!
Well, that's all I've got. See you in two weeks, everybody.
