Here's chapter 89, everyone.
With The Relentless, Korrina had learned of a few more Shifters that had been marked. "Continue to search for more in that area of Anima. And inform me when the three that have been marked are taken care of." The woman with shoulder length auburn hair ordered over her ear piece.
"Yes, Ma'am." Korrina heard on the other end.
After speaking with one of her soldiers, she turned her ear piece off and turned around in her chair, looking out the large window, seeing several leaves flowing through the wind. She moved her sleeve up and grabbed her arm, squeezing the spot where the wolf head marking was, growling a bit.
"Damn monster… How can you continue to keep away from us?" Korrina asked aloud, and since her support system was only recently modified for her, she'd need time to adjust. "Anima has shown to house more of them… Maybe I should start there for myself."
While she would love to go after the Shifter she's marked, knowing that she was able to avoid death that long was a clear hint that she wouldn't go down so easily, meaning Korrina knew she'd have to get back to how she used to fight.
Several moments had gone by, and then she received a message on her communication device. She looked at what it said and clenched her fist with a smirk. "Hmm… Is that so? Good. That General is finally doing something with the warnings we gave him."
A knock on her door was heard, so she turned her chair to face it. "Enter."
Once the door was opened, it revealed a girl with black hair, wearing a ponytail with green highlights and she knelt on one knee, looking much more respecting than most other soldiers. "Master Korrina, I wish to request something of you."
"And what would that be?" Korrina questioned, waiting on one of her more trusted soldiers.
"I understand that you continue to deny me of this, but I still feel it may be time to send me in for finding that woman. At this point we've lost many of our hunters to her." The woman reminded, and Korrina crossed her arms.
"You know exactly why I refuse to send you, Mia. Risking your life with that animal-."
Mia Got up from where she was kneeling. "With all due respect, Ma'am, I'm tired of watching that monster continue to evade us. She has clearly proven she's too strong for the ones we continue to send after her." She brought her hand to her chest. "I've had enough experience to know I can handle this."
Korrina moved her arms down and folded her hands on her desk, giving her a questioning look. "And how do you know that, Mia? As you know, since she herself has also continued to evade us, that means she too has grown with experience in battle."
"That just means we can't keep throwing more and more of our hunters at her. She'll learn more and more, get stronger with each fight. If you send me in, then-." She gasped when Korrina's orange eyes bored into her, so she trembled a bit and knelt back down on one knee. "I-I apologize, Master Korrina…"
"Don't tell me what you think will come out of this, because you never do truly know Mia. You have continued doing well, hunting those monsters more so than many others here." Korrina reminded the trembling woman, who remained silent in fear. "She is just another to deal with, and while I would easily send you to hunt down one of those monsters, I simply can't risk your life against her."
"B-But what of the others?" Mia asked.
Korrina sighed. "I may keep my hunters away from that one for the time being… I believe I'm almost ready to deal with her myself."
Mia gasped again, looking up at her Master. "W-What? I know your support system has been modified, but-."
"Enough, Mia! I am not a fool. I won't rush in at the slightest chance of hunting her down. I'll get back to how I was, and then I'll deal with her myself." Korrina explained.
"I-I see… I'm sorry for wasting your time then, Ma'am." Mia got up and bowed once, turning away a moment later as she bit her lip in anger, hating how she was denied yet again.
"Mia, I don't believe I told you that you can leave my office yet…" Korrina warned, and Mia shivered as she froze and slowly turned back to face her. "You play an important role here, so I would hope you'd appreciate everything I've done for you."
"I do, Ma'am, but sometimes I can't just ignore something like this." Mia explained.
Korrina shook her head. "You'll understand soon enough. Now then, you may leave."
It was more than an order, so Mia bowed and turned to leave again. That time she wasn't ordered to stop, so once she left the room, she closed it behind her, still fearful of her Master, who spun her chair back around as she went back to looking out of her window.
Weiss was waiting by her favorite spot out in the courtyard, while sighing to herself since she was still pained by what Blake told her. She looked over at Beacon, seeing that the one girl she wanted to speak with was running over, so she let out a small smile. "Ruby."
Ruby ran up to Weiss, her rose petals scattering around. "Hey, I got your message. Is everything okay, Weiss?"
"I'm… I just wanted you here." Weiss pulled her into a hug, needing Ruby with her. "You promise you aren't hiding anything from me… Right?"
Hearing that confused Ruby, but she slowly wrapped her arms around her girlfriend. "Of course I'm not hiding anything from you, Weiss… Is this about what your mom told you?"
Weiss didn't want to out Blake, so she simply nodded, since technically what her Mother told her was part of it. "I'm sorry for bothering you with this." She pulled away and sighed again, while Ruby cupped her cheek, making her blush.
"You're not bothering me in the slightest." Ruby leaned in and gently kissed her, both girls holding the kiss for a few moments, until the rose girl slowly pulled away and helped Weiss sit under their favorite tree.
"I've just recently started to worry that… Maybe others around me have also kept something important from me." Weiss explained why she was feeling the way she was.
Ruby laid her head against Weiss' shoulder, looking up at Beacon. "I have nothing to hide, Weiss. Not one thing. And even if I did, I could never keep it from you." Her words were true and she reached for Weiss' hand, squeezing it gently.
Weiss sniffled. "I used to think that my Mother would never keep something like that from me either…"
The rose girl could hear the pain in her voice, so she squeezed her hand a bit tighter, shaking her head. "That's why I refuse to keep something that important from you… That day I saw how hurt you were, and I was so upset that I couldn't do anything about it." Weiss stayed silent. "I'd never want to hurt you. I just want to make you happy."
The white haired teen blushed, letting out a small smile. "You do make me happy… Especially when you continue proving that you were the best choice for team leader." She felt Ruby lifting her head off her shoulder, giving her a questioning look. "When you volunteered to help Ren and Nora… It was so selfless, and you were the first from our team to want to help."
"But you guys are helping too. How does that make me the best on being leader? I'm sure you would be a great leader!" Ruby encouraged.
Weiss let out a light chuckle. "I don't know about that, but I mean it. Huntresses and Huntsmen live their lives helping others. That was you, Ruby. You were the first one to speak up… I admire that about you a lot."
Ruby was blushing at that point, not used to being complimented that much. "O-Oh, well… I still say we're all huntress material. And… I really can't wait for us to graduate so we can become a real huntress team together."
"Honestly, I'm just as excited to get to that point in our lives. Being able to really do something out there… Sometimes I would fear my Father making me work for the company, but with Whitley being the heir, I suppose that worry eventually just went away." Weiss explained.
"Ew, gross, a desk job." Ruby playfully stuck her tongue out, feigning disgust as a way to lighten the mood for Weiss, which worked since she started giggling a bit, earning a smile from Ruby.
After she stopped giggling, Weiss continued to speak. "You do realize some people actually enjoy their desk jobs… But I will agree, it's not for me. I want to do more with my life, and this is the perfect way of really living."
"Protecting those who can't protect themselves. You know about the stories my mom would read to me when I was younger… I'm gonna be just like the heroes in those books, and that's why I can't wait to become a certified huntress, since in those stories, the hero wouldn't be alone." Ruby squeezed Weiss' hand again. "They'd have the person they care about with them too…"
Weiss felt Ruby leaning her head against her shoulder, and she playfully rolled her eyes at how cheesy her girlfriend was. "And who out of the two of us is the hero in this scenario, Ruby Rose?"
"Hehe, both of us, duh." Ruby retorted, and Weiss was happy to accept that answer, as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the peace and quiet she could have with the girl she loved.
"I love you, Ruby…" Weiss silently said, while Ruby didn't hesitate.
"I love you too, Weiss." Ruby was who Weiss needed, in more times than just when she was in pain.
Blake was walking the halls of Beacon, still feeling ashamed of herself. As she got to the dorm, she noticed the door was slightly opened, so she simply walked in to see Yang holding a dog treat above Zwei's head. "Come on, Zwei. I know you can jump higher than that."
The corgi barked as he got into a pouncing position, and as he jumped up, Yang was about the pull the treat away, but the dog managed to bite it fast enough.
Yang grinned when he landed back down with the treat in his teeth, deciding to pet him for his success. "Good job, boy." The blonde looked over to see who walked in, and when she saw it was her partner, her face lit up with joy. "Hey, Blake."
"H-Hey. I didn't think you'd still be here." Blake admitted.
"Hmm? Well I don't really got a lot else to do, and I'm not trying to train all the time y'know. Anyways, what's up? You enjoy your alone time outside?" Yang asked while Zwei was munching on his treat.
Blake didn't answer immediately as she saw on Weiss' bed. "I… I told Weiss… About how I used to be with the White Fang."
Yang's expression changed at that point, showing a bit of sympathy in her face. "Oh. How… How did she take it?"
The cat Faunus shook her head. "She wasn't happy… Honestly, I don't blame her. Finding out someone who you've been on a team with used to be part of the one group who has terrorized her family? It wasn't going to go any different…"
"Where is she?" Yang inquired.
"Outside in the courtyard I think. She mentioned that she was going to call someone to help us get to Kuroyuri." Blake answered.
Yang rubbed the back of her head a few times. "Well, hey, at least you did tell her. So now she knows that you'd never go back to them. It's a rough start, but that still counts as a start, Blake."
"It's not just that, Yang… She's upset because I kept it from her, just like how her Mother kept… Well, you already know." Blake explained.
The blonde brawler couldn't deny how hurt anyone would feel, learning back to back two harsh truths. "I can't blame her either then… But that doesn't mean she's gonna be upset forever. Seeing as you didn't come back here telling me she ran off from you is kinda proof enough that Weiss will ease up soon enough."
Blake couldn't argue with that, as she knew it herself that it would take some time before Weiss would trust her again, but just opening up and telling her the truth about what she did in her past was a start.
Sometimes partners just need to talk with one another to feel better. And a bit more was seen with The Relentless. Not much else to say for this chapter, though I can at least say this story is getting much closer to the triple digit mark in chapters. I'm happy that I can get to that point, as it's already been written out, so thank you for the continued support on this story.
To JJ- Weiss was simply able to ask for comfort, something she's getting used to now that she knows Ruby wouldn't ignore her. And as for Summer and Willow, well, Summer knows Willow was being ridiculous about herself. As for the relationship between Weiss and Blake, as you can see, she still considers Blake a friend, but her trust in her has lessened.
I hoped you all enjoyed chapter 89. Remember, reviews are welcomed, but not required. See you all in chapter 90.