Keep the reviews coming. Saint is never gonna use a weapon past D2 Y1, nor any exotics.
The White Fang seems to be an interesting bunch of people. For one, all of them have an animal trait, which explains why Ilia was able to cloak herself based on her surroundings: She is part-chameleon.
A chameleon; Saint hasn't seen any of those before.
Her breathing is steady now, which is good, and the wound has closed up surprisingly quickly. She is currently asleep, her body slumped over his shoulder, and Saint doesn't desire to interrupt it.
"So, where you from?" A soldier asks, from his left. He pivots his head and looks down at the elk-Faunus who accompanies him, alongside the fourteen other White Fang troops. He can tell their uneasiness; it's obvious, judging from how they all walk tensely, while some take obvious looks behind themselves.
"…Far," Saint says. He has to be careful about the information he gives away. This world doesn't seem to be his, and he doesn't know what kind of trouble can come after him.
"Yeah, 'course you're from far, tell me something that isn't obvious," the woman says sarcastically, rolling her shoulders. "Alright, let's start with basics. What's your name?"
"…Saint," he replies.
"Fitting. Fang could use someone like you. That Ghira guy from the Belladonnas scares me." The woman pauses for a moment. "My name's Anna."
"I'll remember it."
She ocularly scans him up-to-down and slings her weapon over her shoulder.
Saint doesn't feel like talking right now, he's still a bit worried about Ilia. He gives her one last glance, as a final wellness check.
"Alright we're at camp, you can set her down at barracks," Anna says, and starts to leave, stopping mid-turn with a sudden realization dawning on her face. "I should show you the way," she quietly says, a tinge of embarrassment in it.
The camp reminds him of the Last City before the walls were erected. A bunch of non-descript buildings that are made to be dismantled in a few hours, although the wooden shrine-building in the center of it all is odd. There are roughly made signs littered in front and beside passageways decorated with arrows that point to various facilities.
Saint huffs and follows Anna as they make their way through the camp, gathering stares from the other soldiers doing various menial chores, some even entirely stopping what they're doing just to look at him.
He feels like a caged animal right now.
"Did this guy save Ilia?" He hears one whisper.
"Is he gonna fight with us?"
"Guy looks like a tank. We sure he isn't an Atlas mech that went rogue?"
Saint's free hand balls into a fist at the last comment, and he considers confronting the man who said it, but decides not to. There is no point in arguing with his first contact in Menagerie, it will only land him in trouble with these people. He looks up and sees a flag blowing against a light breeze: It has a black background and a wolf's head in red at the center, with a claw mark going through it, also in red.
He wonders if he stumbled into a terrorist group, judging from the aggressiveness spoken through their flag alone. He remembers taking out such groups in precise tactical operations ordered by the Speaker, Father, himself. They were mostly traitors that worked with the Fallen to sell out humanity for monetary gain, or fanatics that attempted to harvest Vex machines for their nefarious purposes.
He shakes the thought out of his head and keeps looking forward. Anna stops next to a big tent and makes a sweeping hand motion towards it.
"This is her barracks," she says, flashing a small smile.
Saint bends his knees and pulls the curtain that acts as a door aside. A hand grips him by the shoulder.
"I just want to say thanks," Anna says. "For saving Ilia from that mess."
"…No need, it's my duty."
"Really are a damn saint, huh?"
"They don't call me Saint for nothing, now I have to get going. Don't want to wake the injured." He cocks his head towards Ilia.
"Right, I'll see you around. I'm the weapon-smith here by the way, so if you need anything fixed just let me know."
"I will keep that in mind." He wonders if she can help him with Perfect Paradox's slide?
Saint gives Anna a short nod before they part ways. He ducks into the tent. Inside there are a few uninteresting-looking cots with small pillows and thin blankets draped over them, all in the old-fashioned army green.
A distant memory comes back to him: A survivor gave him a piece of clothing of this same color, saying that it was from the "United States, pre-Golden Age." Whatever that meant, he hasn't done the research yet.
He sets Ilia down on a cot with a dirty inscription of her name on a wood plate taped to the wall above and tucks her in with the frail blanket.
This thing wouldn't last a single winter, maybe not even a bad autumn, Saint thinks.
Perhaps these animal-people have a different resilience to the weather, unlike humans or the Awoken. He exhales quietly, then leaves the barracks.
He needs to rest, and that corner behind the bushes does look enticing.
. . .
"So, this is the guy that saved you?" Saint is rudely awakened from his power nap that coincidentally lasted the entire night by someone's voice. "You sure he didn't just sit on you to keep you safe?"
A snicker from that same male voice.
"Cut it out, this guy throws a mean punch and I guarantee, you won't be alive to talk about it," Ilia says. "Trifa, come on, just look at him."
"He does look like a machine."
Saint leans forward from his slumped position, and stretches the ball joints in his limbs, a near-silent hiss coming from his servos. "Can I help any of you?" He blinks a few times and looks at the three White Fang standing in front of him. The one in the middle is Ilia, the one to the left is a man with bat wings and the one to her right has bulging grey veins running down her arms.
"Yeah, you can stop sleeping behind bushes, for one," Ilia says. "You could've asked for a spot."
"He will take up an entire barrack-hey, ow!" The man is elbowed mid-sentence. "What!?"
"We accommodate guests here, right?" Ilia says, through gritted teeth as she glares at the person beside her. "Now, introduce yourselves, and nicely."
"Normally I wouldn't let you get away with those comments," Saint stands up, and stretches his fingers. "However, since your…organization has been so gracious to have me sleep in a safe settlement, I will allow it."
"Just this once." He looks down at the winged-man, who's mouth flatlines and he visibly gets nervous. "I do not wish to hurt any of you. Now, let us introduce ourselves, starting with you, bat-boy."
The three get visibly insulted at the last remark. Ilia looks at him incredulously, then reddens and turns to her two colleagues. "Can you guys give us a moment?"
"If he doesn't apologize for that-"
Ilia turns Saint around and pulls him forward a bit.
"I know you're not from around here but we don't say that around here!" She whispers.
"You heard me last night?"
"Besides the point!"
"Right, my apologies."
"Tell it to them!"
They both leave their little huddle and turn back to the other two Faunus, who are quite agitated and unhappy.
"I have said something I shouldn't have. Apologies, I am from a far continent, and everyone is quite…blunt about others' appearances. Don't take it as a slight against you," Saint says. "I hope you can accept my apology, the three of you." He extends his hand out.
""Watch your tongue, then. Yuma." The newly identified Yuma grudgingly takes his hand.
"Understood, and you?" He turns to the grey-haired woman with dull, grey veins coursing through her body.
"What Yuma said. Name's Trifa." She shakes his hand and winces at his grip. "I hope Ilia is right about you."
It takes a bit of effort for Saint to remove his hand, as it suddenly becomes…sticky. He doesn't mention it, though.
He wipes his sticky hand on his armor, and he looks around the camp, taking in its bleak look. Everything looks dead, and there is like a grey veil that covers the entire area. Perhaps it's because there are clouds over top.
Clouds...he hasn't seen those in quite a bit of time. He keeps his gaze affixed on them, slowly tracing their slow movement with his photoreceptors. He wonders if rain is going to come soon, now that would be a sight to behold.
"…You okay there? The clouds particularly interesting?" Ilia asks, as she also looks up with him. "You haven't seen rain before?"
"…Rain, no, I haven't seen rain since I entered the Forest…" he mumbles to himself, entirely unaware that there are three other people with possibly enhanced traits surrounding him. "Scorching heat and Vex…"
"…What?" She says, cocking her head to the side and looking at him perplexed.
He shakes himself out of the self-inflicted trance. "Don't worry about it."
"I won't ask."
Saint huffs, and turns to Ilia. "Is there any other settlement in the region?"
"Yeah, there's Kuo Kuana, just down north. Bunch of people there," Ilia says. "I can show you around, if you'd like, after meeting the brothers, of course."
"The brothers?"
"They live in that small shrine in the middle, they lead this whole operation."
"Understood."
Saint departs without a word.
/
Once the massive Saint has left the range of hearing typical of Faunus, Yuma snarls.
"That guy is an asshole," he says. "You sure he's Faunus?"
Ilia rolls her shoulders. "He said he's not from here." She takes a moment to think about his question. "And…I don't know, actually."
"What? You're telling me he could be a spy that you just willingly let in!?" Trifa exclaims, somewhat agitated now. "Ilia, I thought you were more careful than this!"
"It was a gut feeling, when he found out that I was following him, he didn't even react negatively," Ilia says. "I was the one that escalated."
"Should've just left him in the forest," Yuma mumbles, snorting afterward. His wings spread out a bit; stretching. "What exactly happened yesterday?
Ilia sighs, and sits on a nearby rock. "I was scouting the desert, then I found Saint laying on the ground, and he just started walking towards our camp."
"You think he knew about us?" Trifa asks.
"I don't think so, again, no way to confirm that," Ilia says. "I followed him for a while, and he ran into a Deathstalker."
"A Deathstalker?" Yuma furrows his brows. "Actually, nevermind, so he encountered a Deathstalker, continue." He crosses his arms.
"He tore it to pieces with a shield and finished it off with a shotgun. Dead in a minute." Ilia leans forward, rubbing the sides of her temples. "I thought he was a Huntsman, but from how clueless he is about…everything, that can't be possible."
"Suspicious, very much so," Yuma says, throwing another glance towards the wooden shack that the Albain brothers used as their shrine. "Go on."
"Followed him into the forest, and I was sloppy and managed to break a branch-"
"He's leaving the camp." Trifa points towards Saint, who's lumbering his way with surprising speed towards the entrance.
"I'll follow him."
She camouflages herself and catches up, reappearing at his side. "Hey, where are you-"
"The brothers told me to…acquaint myself with the people of Kuo Kuana," he says flatly.
"And you just decided to leave without me?"
"I don't think they ever mentioned that you were to accompany me."
"Well I am sticking with you."
"If you wish, then by all means."
/
The Albain brothers are quite odd. They remind him of the New Monarchy leader, Executor Hideo, but if he had a twin brother that knew how to finish off his sentences, and they would always agree with each other.
Saint-14 may be unaware of some parts of society, but he can safely say that he is not as weird as them.
The clouds have cleared up, which somewhat disappoints him, but it is nice to see a bright sun in the vibrantly blue sky that didn't take up the entirety of it like Sol did on Mercury.
Saint continues walking down a path through thick forestry, occasionally having to push past a few errant plant growths that stood in his path, while Ilia just hopped over with grace. The two are silent until the last of the shrubbery is pushed away to reveal what may be one of the most beautiful villages he has ever seen.
"This is Kuo Kuana?" He asks, his artificial breath taken away from him as he sees the many little dots roaming the dirt streets, corresponding to actual people. It looks like there are more inhabitants here than the Last City! Compared to what he recalls of it, this is certainly a paradise.
"Yeah, kind of nice, isn't it?" Ilia smiles, leaning on a tree. "It's just too bad the Faunus are doomed here," she says, cynicism dripping from her voice.
"I don't understand, this…settlement is sprawling, full of life!"
"We've been forced here, by humans who thought that by giving us a tiny corner in some island in the middle of nowhere they would please us." She scoffs. "And when some Faunus move to the mainland, they're treated like absolute shit."
He understands her plight. The Fallen pushed humanity into one last corner underneath the Traveler, and even then, they continued attacking.
However, humans? Are the Faunus being oppressed by them?
He thinks about the potential implications of this. Did the Vex send him so far into the future that there are now two species of humankind? How would the Faunus even crop up? Where is the Traveler in all this?
Where is the Traveler, in the first place? The question dominates his mind. He has to do more research for further confirmation, but his mind is further veering into accepting the "alternate reality" theory.
"Hey, you okay? You look phased out," Ilia asks.
"Sorry, I was thinking about some things. Home, mostly," Saint says, his voice low and solemn. "To think that I would stumble my way into...is this what the City would become?"
That couldn't be right, the village is next to a sea, and there are no walls to speak of. Are there other settlements like the Last City?
"Are there no Faunus where you're from?" Her hair curls inwards into a swirl.
"I don't recall ever seeing any."
"Huh, weird, what continent are you from?"
Saint waves her off and grunts, as he knows he can't answer her in a satisfactory manner. "Let's get down into the village."
Ilia furrows her brows. "Okay, then...here, catch." She tosses him a flat, rectangular object. "It'll help us keep in contact, I can ping you my location and you can do the same with me."
He looks at the device, and it powers on with a bright white backdrop that looks like it can blind someone in the dark.
"Don't worry if it has someone else's name on it, it has a…um, a virus."
"…A virus?"
"Yeah, you know, computer stuff."
"I see."
"Come on, let's go."
The device integrates quite well with Exo systems.
. . .
Kuo Kuana is quite small when viewed from up close. Saint doesn't know whether to attribute that to his massive size or if everyone is just small here. The inhabitants turn their heads to look at him like he's some sort of freak or attraction, and justifiably so since he stands at least half a foot taller than the tallest person he can make out. Ilia stays beside him, occasionally tapping his arm to get his attention; to tell him about something she finds neat or describe a part of the village's history whenever a landmark would come up.
Saint stops at a stand carrying a variety of apples. The caretaker of it visibly pales and then finds something to do, leaving him alone with the red, pink and green fruit, all mixed into woven seagrass baskets. He kneels, so he can fit his head under the small tarp that is providing shade. On the front of the baskets is a list of prices for a single apple, for three and then for five.
He has never seen such colorful produce before, everything from the City were either miserably bruised or a dull shade of whatever color the original was supposed to be. He remembers a few settlers that took pride in their plants, but none of them ever could compare to this.
This world is thriving! Saint thinks as he picks an apple up, carefully holding it so he doesn't drop or accidentally bruise it. It fits neatly inside his palm, but he looks at Ilia's and estimates that it would take up the entire surface area of her hand. He stares at the fruit for quite a while, marveling at its qualities.
"Beautiful," he mumbles, then looks up to the vendor. "Are these yours?"
He laughs nervously and scratches the back of his neck, baring his teeth in an obvious show of jitteriness. "Uh, yeah, my…erm, family grows lots of fruits, and stuff." He shoots a glance at the vendor beside him, silently begging for them to save him from this tall and scary man.
Saint can tell the body language. Perhaps he should leave the man be.
"They're perfect," he says, and gently puts the apple back into the basket.
"Saint, are you bothering someone?" Ilia asks as she comes in from underneath his arm. "Oh, the apples."
"Oh, hey, Ilia! Is this guy with you? Another recruit for the…White…Fang…?" The vendor gulps and his voice gets progressively quieter as the sentence finishes.
"Don't worry about him, I'm here to keep him out of trouble, in case he gets in any, come on Saint, let's go-oh shit!" Ilia climbs up on his back and her skin changes to his armor's color. "Whatever you do, don't turn your head towards the main road!" She whispers.
Saint does as he is told and stays so still that he could be confused for a statue.
An uncomfortable minute passes.
"Alright, we're good, she didn't notice."
/
"You see that huge guy at that stand?" Sun Wukong asks, giving another suspicious look at that monstrously huge man standing extremely still at some fruit stand.
"I did," Blake says. "He looks new to Menagerie, everyone looks like they're creeped out by him."
"You think he'll cause any trouble?" Sun asks, chuckling nervously.
"He better not."
The two Faunus walk side-by-side as they make their way to the Belladonna household, situated at the center of Menagerie.
Blake is silently nervous about how her parents would react to her just showing up out of the blue, after abandoning them like she did to fight with the White Fang.
She hears loud footsteps to her left, and instinctively reaches for Gambol Shroud, stashed on her back. She stops walking and tenses, waiting for the steps to grow quieter. Fortunately, they do, and she wants to continue on her way, but a gut feeling pulls her to turn around.
It's the giant person, his back is turned to them.
"Sun, go ahead, I'll be right back," Blake says as she turns towards the person, and hides behind the wall of a nearby house.
"But Blake-"
"Don't worry, I'll meet you at the house," she whispers. Her cat ears twitch once and she focuses on the conversation of a small child and the giant.
"Sir, we lost our frisbee up in that tree, over there, could you help us?" The child only reaches up to his ankle.
The man huffs. "Of course," he says, his tone not sparking any suspicious flags. Blake furrows her eyebrows as the children accompany the man to the aforementioned tree and point towards the pink frisbee stuck in the branches.
"You may want to back up, for safety reasons," he says, before winding his fist.
Blake winces as he punches the tree's trunk and manages to free the children's toy from it. Once it drops, he picks it up and kneels down, offering it to the kid. "Before you take it, I want to ask you one thing," he says.
"Sure!"
"What is your name?" He asks.
Blake knows she has nothing else to listen for and catches up with Sun.
"So, anything interesting? Our giant steal something?" He asks, and she shakes her head in response.
"He punched a tree."
"Yeah, I could tell, and so could everyone in Menagerie." Sun stretches his arms. "He hits hard."
"I can tell," Blake snaps, mildly annoyed now. "Come on, we're almost there."
. . .
The walk to the Belladonna household is silent. The two come up upon the grand steps, and soon face themselves right at the front door.
Blake reaches her arm out for the metal door knocker, but hesitates and drops it.
"What? What's wrong?" Sun asks.
"Well…it's-it's been a long time since I've seen my parents," she says.
"Well, we came all this way." He gives an encouraging smile, and puts one hand on her shoulder. Blake takes a deep breath, grabs the metal ring, and hits the door once with it.
Sun is surprised by the sound it makes, and looks up the door, seeing the vibration travel.
Blake's mother is the one to open it for them. "Blake?"
"Hi, mom." Blake gives an awkward wave. The two of them stare at each other for a second, one in stunned silence and the other with previously held-back regrets. Her mom is the one to come close and wrap her in a close hug.
"Oh, my baby girl…" she mutters into her daughter's ear. Blake returns the embrace.
"Kali, who is it!?" Her father walks into view, stopping with his hands at his hips. Once he sees her, his face is consumed by a surprised stare.
. . .
The Belladonna family plus a misplaced monkey-Faunus converse over cups of tea, the latter embarrassing himself in front of the father, but the mother seems to be taking a liking to him, much to the chagrin of her daughter.
Their pleasant little get-together is interrupted by someone harshly knocking on the front door. A single pound.
Ghira groans. "Darn, I completely forgot about the meeting." His fist gently hits the table.
"Ghira…" Kali puts her hand on his.
"Give me a moment," he sighs and stands up, heading towards the entrance.
"Is everything okay?" Blake asks, looking concerned at her mother.
"Yes dear, just poor timing." Kali takes a small inhale. "It's just been hard dealing with them lately."
"Dealing with who?" Blake asks as her mom takes a sip of her tea.
"Mm?" Kali removes the cup from her lips. "The White Fang."
"What!?" Blake and Sun both say as they both stand up in sync.
The two rush towards the front entrance.
"Dad!" Blake says, making her father turn. At the door are two men in clay-pot colored robes with their palms stuck together and perpendicular to their chests. The one on the right has fox ears sticking out the top of his clock.
"Miss Belladonna…" the left one begins, his voice deep and bassy.
"We had no idea you had returned," the right one finishes, his voice of a more centered nature.
"What are you doing talking to these people!?" Blake asks, shooting a nasty glare at the two. By then she also notices the tall man from earlier behind them. He is still wearing the same hulking battle armor.
"This is Corsac and Fennec Albain." Ghira points towards the two cloaked people. "They represent the White Fang here in Menagerie now…although I'm not sure about the one behind them."
"Saint-Fourteen," the armored man speaks up, his voice gruff and heavily accented. "Good to meet you." He nods.
Ghira returns the nod. "And that is Saint...Fourteen, I suppose."
"These psychos are here too!?" Sun says, clutching his hands to his head.
"Young man…" Fennec is interrupted by Saint tapping him on the shoulder. The armored one whispers something into the representative. "…Alright."
Saint turns around and starts walking away, his footsteps making a hard impact with every step he descends.
/
Saint-14 can't be bothered with introductions when he has entire beautiful village to explore. Too much unnecessary talk is his justification for it, which is also the reason why he had a slight dislike for being the Titan Vanguard. He intends to make his way back to camp, and is very much on route but stops when he hears the cat-eared girl in the white jacket speak.
"The White Fang was at the fall of Beacon…they attacked innocent civilians and they released Grimm into the school."
He stops in his tracks and turns.
Ghira is loud enough to be heard from this far. "Explain yourselves."
Corsac talks about how the White Fang stopped following a certain "high-leader Khan" but instead an "Adam Taurus" who is supposedly extreme in his philosophies, and that he is the leader of a radical and violent splinter group operating within the White Fang.
He continues on his path, but keeps a mental note that he will have to learn more about this later.
Hopefully Ilia doesn't lie to him about this to him, like she did about the stolen device.
Towards writing the second half of this chapter, I finished the Corridor of Time mission and wow that was great. Also finished up my Unbroken title after exclusively playing PvP for the first two days of the season.
Edit: redid some sentencing, added a tidbit based on the leaked lines from Saint-14.
Edit 2: fixed some more