Chapter 7: The Truth Hurts
Arc 1: Lights In The Sky
[City of Vale, Docks]
It was Friday, a day in which many would rejoice in the freedom it brings to all students, the start to the days of relaxing and peace. But for one person, it wasn't, not even close.
"Remind me, why are we here? At the docks? Because I'm pretty sure I said something like… 'I hate shopping when I could be relaxing', ring any bells?" Sky sarcastically moaned, but his team did not heed his words, the group of them making their way towards the docks. The setup for an event was interesting to Sky, as he was curious as to what the 'Vytal Festival' was. Thankfully the Wiki answered.
"The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is simply wonderful!" Weiss spoke aloud as she smiled, she SMILED
"I don't think ive even seen you smile this much Weiss," Ruby commented with a concerned look. "It's kinda weirding me out…"
"Did someone hit the 'Happy mode' in her head or something?" Sky asked, following Ruby's example as they both nodded in worry
"How could you 'Not' smile, a festival dedicated to the cultures of the world!" Weiss explained as she continued. "There will be dances, parades, a tournament!"
"You had me at 'Tournament'!" Sky said with peeked interest. "Getting to punch people for a prize sounds fine to me!"
"You said it!" Yang added as they both high-fived each other as Weiss danced whilst talking
"Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breath-taking!" Weiss finished with a glow in her eyes, and Sky deflated with a wary smile on his face
"Well… my joy is gone!" Sky clapped in disappointment, just as much as Yang
"You really know how to take something exciting and make it sound boring," Yang commented, Weiss scoffed at both their answers, which weren't too far off the truth
"Quiet you!" Weiss retorted as the gang approached the docks
"Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon, visiting the stupid docks?" Yang asked as Ruby covered her nose, with Sky pulling his collar over his mouth and nose too, shaking his head slightly
"Ugh, they smell like fish," Ruby grimaced
"Really now, never would have guessed," Sky joked, earning a light punch to the arm, much to his amusement
"I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today, and as a representative of Beacon, I feel it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom." Weiss stated in a formal manner as Sky rolled his eyes
"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament," Blake abridged, the rest of them nodded in agreement and understanding
"Ah! You can't prove that!" Weiss huffed, yet Ruby was looking elsewhere, more importantly, down the next street
"Woah." At her answer, all attention was drawn to her gaze, which was met with the dust store, the windows smashed, door busted off its hinges, and was closed off with tape around the scene. It was certainly unorthodox for a robbery
"What happened here?" Ruby asked one of the officers as he looked up from his notes
"Robbery. Second dust shop to be hit this week, place is turning into a jungle." He replied as he continued with his notes
"That's terrible." Yang scoffed, yet Sky stopped his trance state, the corner of his left eye catching something metallic. When he turned his head, the others continuing to question why the robbery occurred, Sky looked to see...!
"Him again..." Iota hummed. It was true, atop the building, overlooking the team and the robbery was the hooded figure, covered in black fabric, yet the light gleamed off his mask, hitting Sky in the face, whist the white eyes looked down on him curiously
Sky blinked, not looking away for a second, yet the man was gone again, those same trails of white light trickling into the air once more. Whoever he was, not only had he been following Sky since Forever Fall, but he knew something, maybe about Sky's home? Or Cognitum? Did he design it?
"Hmph, The White Fang, what an awful bunch of degenerates," Weiss spat with disgust as Blake looked… agitated, now Sky's attention was brought back to the conversation, and not a very pleasant one
"What's your problem?" Blake asked inquisitively, and Weiss answered brutally
"My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane." Weiss answered, that only seemed to make Blake angrier
"The White Fang are hardly a bunch of psychopaths, they're a collection of misguided Faunus," Blake defended evenly, with Sky, Ruby, and Yang watching on the side-lines. Things only got worse
"Misguided!? They want to wipe humanity off the face of the Earth." Weiss snapped
"I doubt that's possible. A simple group of misguided people isn't enough to completely wipe billions of the world." Sky added, using the same wording as Blake, and she looked a little pleased that he was on her side. "Weiss, why would the White Fang rob a dust store in broad daylight, even I can see that's skeptical?"
"And so they are 'very' misguided! Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale too." Blake aided to reinforce the idea
"Blake's got a point." Ruby added. "Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago…maybe it was him!" Ruby pointed out clearly as they all thought about it for a moment
"This still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of criminal scum," Weiss continued. "Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."
"Ok, woah, Weiss, that's a little far, even for your standards." Sky wasn't much in the way of persuasion, but that was out of line, yet Weiss didn't seem to care
"How easy it is, watching those you consider 'Friends', tearing each other apart of such petty ideals. And you expect me to trust them? Don't make me laugh." Iota's side commented made Sky grunt, only to the notice of Ruby, yet something had to happen to distract her and the rest
The group heard someone yell from the docks and the gang quickly ran off, once they approached the railing, they saw a guy jump off from the boat, avoiding capture from the crewmen. He then hung upside-down from a lamp using a tail as he caught them saying something, he then began to peel a banana as he talked.
"Hey! A 'no-good stowaway' would have been caught, I'm a good stowaway!" He shouted back with a hint of glee as the officers from before approached him. He then threw the banana peel at the officer and legged it from the docks, then flew past the group as they watched, but Sky noticed him wink at Blake, then he was gone.
"Well that just happened…" Sky mumbled with a blink
"Well Weiss, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes," Yang joked as Weiss sprang into action
"Quick! We have to observe him!" Weiss ordered as they ran after the stowaway
"Chasing after someone is considered stalking!" Sky yelled to the now running huntress
Once they rounded the corner, they noticed that the monkey-guy leaped away onto the roof-tops and out of sight, but Weiss however didn't notice the person she ran into.
"No, he got away!" Weiss hadn't noticed who she ran into
"Umm, Weiss?" Yang slowly pointed down, and Weiss leapt back, seeing the girl she ran into. A redhead, with green eyes, and a...strange smile on her face
"Salutations!" The girl greeted with a smile, yet she still sat on the ground
"Um…hello!" Ruby greeted awkwardly
"Um are you…ok?" Yang asked with a questioning look
"I'm wonderful, thank you for asking!" She responded happily, still on the floor
"So…you gunna get up, or…." Sky asked, making her realize her mistake
"Oh, sure!" She replied as she leaped to her feet in one swift move, to which the gang all moved back a few inches
"My name is Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you!" She introduced as the group kept staring in utter bafflement
"Hi Penny, I'm Ruby!" Ruby greeted
"I'm Weiss," Weiss greeted
"Blake."
"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang asked but was hit by Blake as she quickly added. "Oh, I'm Yang,"
"Sky." He said last, still keeping his distance
"It's a pleasure to meet you!" She responded again
"You already said that?" Weiss spoke with confusion as Penny paused in thought, then nodded
"So, I did!" Penny responded happily
"Well, sorry for running into you!" Weiss apologised as they all turned to go
"Seeya, Friend!" Ruby waved as they walked on, feeling rather uneasy about what had occurred
"She was…" Yang began
"Weird." Sky finished as Weiss completely changed to the subject of the Fauns, but stopped at Penny appeared from nowhere
"What did you call me?" Penny asked with an odd look as Weiss and Yang did a double take and Sky hid behind Ruby in fear
"She's like an Enderman…Slenderman…" Sky whispered from behind Ruby as Yang kept apologizing but Penny ignored her
"No, not you…" Penny said as she approached Ruby, Sky zipping around to the others, leaving Ruby to tilt herself back at the close proximity with Penny. "You?"
"Me!?" Ruby squeaked. "I-I don't know, I-what, I-um, uh-"
"You called me 'friend', am I really your friend?" Penny asked, getting even closer as Ruby looked at the rest for backup as they all shook their heads, Sky was still baffled by her teleportation though
"Yeah, sure, why not?" Ruby responded, the rest falling over in shock, Sky's eye just twitched, his mouth agape
"Ahaha! Sen-sational!" Penny cheered as she started to blab on about girl things, meanwhile in Sky's head
"That…was very disturbing…" Iota commented
"I have no meaning to words…" Sky added, this day was just too weird, but then they both tuned in as Blake yelled out in anger, directly at Weiss
"You ignorant, little brat!" Blake snapped, storming off furiously, Sky just looked in concern and then at Weiss with a glare
"What did you do?" He asked in slight anger, his eyes shifting with a white tone, but was drawn back by Yang's hand on his shoulder. "Nevermind."
"Uhh, I think we should probably go," Yang suggested as Ruby and Sky nodded, the two still arguing
"Where are we going?" Penny asked but none of them responded, Sky then noticed Ruby looking disheartened at their fighting
Back At Beacon…
It was now nightfall and they were still arguing, much to the others' worry and annoyance. Sky had been trying to coxed them into taking a minute to relax, yet it was met with failure, time and time again.
"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem?" Weiss continued. "You realize, you're defending an organization that hates humanity, don't you? The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil."
"There is no such thing as 'pure evil', why do you think they hate humanity so much?" Black snapped. "It's people like Cardin, people like 'you' that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"
"People like me!?"
"You're discriminatory!"
"I'm a victim!" that made everyone go silent
"You want to know 'why' I despise the White Fang, 'why' I don't particularly trust the Faunus?" Weiss asked as she looked out the window and into the night sky. "It's because they've been at war with my family for years, War. As in actual bloodshed."
"My grandfather's company has had a target painted on its back for as long as I could remember. And ever since I was a child, ive watched family friends disappear, board members executed, an entire train of dust... stolen." Sky noticed the shift in Blake's movements at that
"And every day, my father came home furious, and that made for a 'very' difficult childhood." Weiss concluded as Sky felt a sense of similarity wash over him
"So, she has seen the world at its darkest point, funny that." Iota hummed at the revelation
"Weiss, I-" Ruby tried to comfort but Weiss snapped in Blake's direction
"No!" She shouted. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they are a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!" Weiss pointed out as Blake finally broke, to which it caught everyone off guard, how could any of them be prepared for her next line, no hint was ever given, even Iota was silent
"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" Blake yelled, but soon it dawned on her and everyone what she just said. "I-I..."
"Oh no..." Sky felt it, the dread in the air, all hanging around Blake, just as she sprinted out the door
"Blake! Wait! Come back!" Ruby called as she ran to the door, but stopped soon after
"Weiss?" Sky asked hollowly as she looked at him with her scowl still present. "I can understand how much it must have hurt you, more than I'm willing to say, but...if this is how you want to view your own teammate, then...you're no better than the people you left back in Atlas, if this is seems right to you."
"You hav-" Sky raised his hand, his emotions strangling each other inside his core, so be moved towards the door, passing Ruby without so much as a notion
"I need some air...too many bad memories." With that, Sky left them behind, placing his hand on the wall for a moment, the other to his forehead
"What was it that you've been saying all this time? That they were different?" Iota asked with a hint of glee, but all Sky could so was ignore him, despite the headache that built in his mind. "Scream all you want, it won't matter, not when I've come too far to be forgotten again."
To Be Continued...
And like that, only a single chapter left till the end of this arc, and its a big one. Originally, it was going to be two more after this, but heck with it, this Arc brushes over Vol. 1 for the next Volume and Arcs. Hope you enjoyed, and Seeya in the next chapter!
Next Chapter: We're One In The Same
Team RWYS begins to search for Blake, yet when they divide, that will only make them weaker, as Sky will soon realize. Question is, can Ruby really find a way to fix someone who's suffered so much wrong, and keep her team together?
AU: Loving the fact that a whole bunch of you like my story! Hope it will continue to entertain you, much to the paragraphing giving me a Brain-Heart-Attack. Meh, I do what I must. Thanks for the support!