Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rooster Teeth Productions

Co-authored with ToxicExotic

Faunews

It had been a relatively quiet day for Blake. Usually she would be constantly distracted by the loud arguing of Weiss and Ruby, or Yang trying to get her into trouble. However, with the exception of having been woken up by Ruby leaving the bed, she hadn't seen the rest of her team for the entire day. While normally those moments of quiet would be very much welcome in short periods, prolonged absences of her friends had begun to feel a lot more empty. She wasn't quite sure when that change had happened, but she did know that it had. That didn't mean she wasn't going to at least try and take some advantage of it though.

It had been some time since she'd last picked up her pencil to draw. Partly because she'd been so busy training with her team or Xanthia, but also because for the first part of the first semester, all she could draw was him. He seemed to invade her mind whenever she attempted to sketch anything. His sword, his symbol, they'd been littered all over her notepads, and she hated it. So she'd stopped and thrown them away. However that was before she'd really grown to love her team, before Ruby. With just how happy she'd been lately, she decided it would be a good time to try again. Thankfully, he didn't seem to be invading her mind anymore, and some success had been made.

She'd started simple since it had been a while and done a relatively non-descript sketch of Gambol Shroud. It had turned out reasonably well, and doing it had even reminded her of a few minor alterations that could be made to the sickle form. After that though, she'd moved on to sketching a few other things. Yang's symbol, a large jar of cookies, and a Queen Lancer floating in midair. It was fun, feeling her mind slowly relax as her pencil worked. And since her rustiness had faded, she was more than happy to move on to something a little more difficult.

Focusing on her first date with Ruby, Blake had thought back to the story of the Ursa crashing through Yang's bedroom wall. It was easy to lose herself in shading the debris flying across the room. Yang was probably the hardest to draw. With only a standard pencil, it wasn't possible to capture how brightly the brawler shined, so it almost felt like she was doing her friend an injustice.

However, just as she was about to move on to the Ursa, the dormitory door slammed open and Weiss stormed through. Though Blake felt a small bit of amusement at the sheer coincidence of real life imitating what she was drawing, Weiss clearly wasn't in the mood for such a thing to be pointed out. Her brow was furrowed in frustration, her hair filled with leaves and twigs while her dress had dirt marks all up one side.

"So how was the lesson?" Blake asked tentatively, but the snowy-haired huntress didn't respond. "I take it…"

"He almost killed us!" She spat and spun on her heel, her hands raised in front of her in disbelief. "I just… How can he be so foolish? He was raised around Dust. He knows how dangerous regular Dust is, let alone gravity Dust; yet all he does is try to show off."

"What did he do?"

"The dolt tried to make himself float, but instead removed all the oxygen from the area. We were unable to breathe for a good seven seconds before I got my crystal."

"Wow."

Blake really did have no words. Even she knew how dangerous gravity Dust was, hence why she stayed away from it. All it took was the slightest misstep and you could find yourself choking, like her friend just had, or your spine could be crushed from a sudden increase of pressure. As strong as aura was, it couldn't protect from such a powerful natural force like gravity. It was for that reason that she couldn't exactly blame Weiss for being so annoyed.

Especially since Flynt definitely should have known better. Even if he had never really handled it before, it was never wise to mess around with any type of Dust, even if you were an expert with it. Though some were definitely less volatile than others, and there were ways to make it safer, it was still extremely dangerous. There had been a far few accidents at the camps that often ended in missing digits. One time someone had even lost their entire arm.

"What did you do after?"

"Nothing less than he deserved." Weiss snarled with an air of finality and snatched up her headphones before making her way over to her bed as she summoned a child-sized version of her knight that sat cross-legged on the floor.

Knowing that meant the discussion was over, Blake shook her head. The distraction had broken her focus, and looking down at her work she saw just how many flaws there were. While most of the room was fine, Yang looked oddly proportioned. It wasn't a surprise since she'd always struggled with drawing people, but it did leave her feel a little disheartened. So with a sigh, she pushed the notepad away and decided to take a cue from her friend and get in some extra semblance training.

Propping two pens up on the table in front of her, one a short distance behind the other, she cocked her middle finger back and flicked out. Stopping it just before it hit the first, she activated her semblance and let the shadow continue on. Unfortunately, it faded through both and she let out a sigh.

It was a new move she and Xanthia had been working on. The principle was basic and not too different from sending out a full clone. By sending out her clone on a strike, she could theoretically hit people through their block by allowing her shadow to fade through and then solidifying just before impact. Unfortunately it required a lot of focus and timing that the full clone didn't. Too early and the shadow would be blocked, too late and the shadow would fizzle out on the opponent's aura. Either way, it would result in a waste of aura.

Trying again, she reared her finger and flicked the pens again. Once again, it went straight through and she let out a small huff. She'd managed it during training with her team, but she was still struggling. So leaning down to be eye level with them, she settled in to continue her practise.

It was almost an hour later when Blake finally let out a yawn and stretched her arms. Though it had been a little difficult to get a hang of the timing, she had eventually managed to get it down. After getting the timing down, she slowly increased the amount of pens and increased the distance, as well as switched from flicking to punching. Of course, she knew it would be much more difficult in combat, but it was always good to start small. Standing from her desk, she turned around and had to suppress a small yelp.

She'd completely forgotten that Weiss had summoned her knight, so was given quite a fright as she turned around to see it staring at her. Out of all Weiss' summons, the knight was the one that freaked Yang out the most. Unlike the rest of Weiss' summons, it never actually did anything obvious. Instead it simply sat there for the most part. The thing that freaked Yang out however was that it had a tendency to nod or shake its head when questions were asked, as if it was actually understanding them. Of course, Weiss was still adamant that the blonde was imagining things, but Blake had definitely seen it herself too.

Fortunately, when no conversation was happening, the construct usually just sat there doing nothing, so Blake easily ignored it. Glancing over to the owner as she made her way to the couch, she saw the girl sitting up with multiple projections in front of her that she was swiping lazily to the side as she typed away on her Scroll. Not wanting to interrupt her work, Blake sat down and let out a small sigh from the comfort.

"You're getting better." The voice surprised her, but a quick turn of her head showed Weiss had pushed one of her headphones aside.

Coming from a girl whose semblance was all about fine control, Blake was more than happy with the compliment. "Thanks." She replied. "Didn't know you were watching."

"You're my teammate." The girl shrugged and pulled her headphones completely off. "But you're also an opponent. It would be stupid for me not to watch you practise."

"Fair enough." She said and leaned back into the cushions. "So what're you working on? SDC stuff?"

"No." Weiss replied a little bitterly. "I've been locked out of that database because I continue to refuse to take Father's calls. This is my own personal research. Here."

With a few taps of her Scroll, the Holoviewer they used to watch films turned on and Weiss swiped one of the files over. A picture of an ice Dust crystal appeared in the middle of the room and slowly began to rotate. With a flick of the heiress' wrist, it split in half and one side turned into powder. Another file was swiped over, this time being fire dust, and the image repeated the process. A second later equations and weights appeared and the two began to merge into steam Dust.

"Velvet is helping me with the algorithm and tech side of it, but I figured it could be a learning tool for those who struggle with Dust. Which is a surprising amount of people."

"Not bad." Blake hummed genuinely.

Despite Dust being one of the oldest resources on Remnant, many people were still clueless on the finer details of it. Especially Vacuans, who tended to avoid Dust for the most part after the kingdom had been left ravaged by the other kingdoms' relentlessly mining for it. Others were simply turned away by the complexity of it, favouring the ready-made bullets that could be purchased from stores.

"Are you gonna pitch it to your dad?"

Weiss let out a snort of derision, a rarity from her. "If I want none of the credit, sure. Besides, this is just a fun thing I'm doing."

"Fair enough." She'd learned long ago not to question what Weiss deemed to be fun. "So you're avoiding your dad?"

"Mhm." Weiss hummed and turned the Holoviewer off to resume her work. "Though I suppose avoiding a parent makes me perfect for this team."

Blake didn't miss the pointedness of the remark, but she couldn't exactly say the heiress was wrong. Three members of the team did seem to have one thing in common, and that was that they each had difficulties with their parents.

"Unlike me and Yang however, you have no real reason to be avoiding yours."

"It's not that simple, Weiss."

"Except it is." Weiss sighed and turned on her bed to sit on the edge. "How many times do we have to tell you that your parents will not care that you chose to follow Sienna's side of the White Fang over your Father's?"

Blake's head snapped to her friend. She had never once mentioned that her father was once the leader of the White Fang to Weiss, and there were only two other people at the school who knew. And she was pretty certain that neither Ruby nor Yang would have said anything either. In fact, she had specifically told them not too. Blake was really happy that Weiss had chosen to move on from her past affiliation with the organisation, but had always been a little worried that decision wouldn't hold if she ever found out about Ghira.

"My dad's side o…"

"I have never insulted your intelligence, Blake, so please do not insult mine."

"Sorry." She muttered, seeing no reason to lie anymore. If Weiss was still talking to her after finding out, then she was hardly going to stop now. "How did you find out?"

"Do you really think I just moved on from you being an ex-terrorist?"

Weiss stood to her feet and walked over to the window, the little knight shaking its head. Blake knew the girl had definitely not just moved on. While no argument or heated exchange had taken place after that moment, it had definitely taken a while for their conversations to pick back up. She'd always been a little curious about what had made Weiss finally begin to open up to her again, but had never wanted to bring up that topic for fear it would set their relationship back.

"When I found out what you were, I did my research and found out that the old leader was a man named Ghira Belladonna. It didn't exactly take much in the way of logical reasoning to assume you were his daughter."

Blake stood up too and made her way over to the window beside her friend. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"It wasn't important." Weiss shrugged. "At the time at least." Blake shoots the girl a confused look. "Have you not read anything of what your Father has preached since he stepped down?"

She hadn't. In fact, just like most things to do with her parents, Blake had avoided pretty much all of it. She didn't even know how they were doing on Menagerie. Whether they were still together, if they had another kid, if her dad was still chieftain; they were all things she had purposely kept herself away from. What had started as her not even wanting to know those things out of anger had turned into her own little punishment for throwing everything she'd been given back at him.

"No."

"Well… You should." Weiss said. "A lot of what he talks about is the intoxication of violence. About how it's easy to fall into it because it feels like you are doing something big, but stresses that he hopes one day those people will understand that there is a better way. A more peaceful way." Weiss' blue eyes flicked towards Blake. "Sound familiar?"

"I guess." Blake grumbled, knowing Weiss was talking about her.

"Look." Weiss sighed and turned around to lean against the bookshelf that sat below the window. "I'm not going to pretend I completely understand the issue with you and your parents. Yours, mine, Yang's. They are all different situations. But I will say that with everything I read, I honestly do think your father would be more proud of you now than he was before you left."

A hand was placed on her shoulder for a brief moment, radiating warmth as the bracelet on Weiss' wrist glowed red. Understanding that her friend was trying to be comforting, Blake gave her a small nod and turned back to the window. The fact that Weiss would still go out of her way after how her actions had impacted the heiress' life was a testament to how Blake had chosen the right path. She'd turned away from violence and trusted in love instead, and that had helped her find a family; a family that included someone she would have never thought possible for her to even like.

"Hey, Weiss." She said quietly, feeling the girl turn around behind her. "I don't I ever actually said it, but I'm sorry for the part I played in making your childhood more difficult."

Silence fell between them for a second until Weiss cleared her throat.

"My father's actions are his own… but thank you. I too am sorry for the part my family and the SDC has played in the faunus' suffering."

Blake gave her friend a small nod, and after a couple of seconds, heard the girl return to her bed.

Maybe that was the core of her dad's lessons. She did remember how he had once talked about how for things to change, people must be open to it. For faunas to be treated fairly, they must act as equals so they can be seen as equals. And had Weiss not changed after seeing her as equal? Sure those nasty parts of her upbringing still lingered, but there was no doubt in Blake's mind that Weiss would never pass along those beliefs to any child she may have in the future.

But the White Fang's current actions only pushed people away. It only made people like Weiss' father, or Weiss herself, push back harder. Only added validation to people who called them barbarians. Looking back, she couldn't believe she'd been so foolish as to think violence was actually an answer.

With the conversation over though, and Weiss having already returned her headphones to her ears, Blake let out a small breath and slowly returned to the couch. Closing her eyes, she leaned back and tried to enjoy the music that was still playing. Something about indie rock has always relaxed her, or at least normally it did. This time however, she couldn't stop her mind from wandering to what Weiss had said about her dad's speeches.

Pulling out her Scroll, Blake typed in the link to Menagerie's News Network, which most people who lived there had simply taken to calling Faunews. Her dad wasn't on the homepage though, so she hesitated a little before scrolling down. Her curiosity got the better of her though, and she swiped down a few times. It didn't take long to find something regarding her dad, and she knew it was him before his wild mane of black hair even finished scrolling into view.

A small smile pulled at her lips as a mix of emotions ran through her. He looked older than she remembered him, though not by much. There were definitely a few more wrinkles next to his bright yellow eyes. He was still very much the same though. Still a kind looking man in the body of a giant swathed in a purple cloak. And he was doing well, and the sight made her feel more relief than she ever thought it would. But that was all she needed to know. Before she could close the device however, the headline caught her eye.

'CHIEFTAIN BELLADONNA QUELLS CONCERNS REGARDING HUMAN/FAUNUS RELATIONS VISIT TO VALE.'

The title alone made Blake's mind race with the prospect of being closer to him than she had in years. And with that knowledge, she knew it was impossible that she would be putting the Scroll down without reading the article, so pulled her knees up to her chest and settled in to read.

Raalm's Notes

Hello everyone :)

So another Blake and Weiss chapter this time. I really like throwing these in every now and again. The two don't really interact all that much in this story, but I try to always make it clear they are close. They might not hang out all the time like Ruby and Weiss or Blake and Yang, but they are there for each other when it counts. I also wanted to show the final member confronting Blake about her parents. I tried to make each member had different styles and approaches to the conversation, so if you can spot them then awesome xD

Anyway, just short notes from me today. Hopefully you enjoyed the small bonding between checkmate.

Chapter 45 - Uncertainty will be up on the 4th. Remember that it will be the last chapter before I take a month off uploading.