Disclaimer: I do not, nor do I claim to, own RWBY or any other media mentioned. All rights go to their respective owners. The only thing that belongs to me are my OCs, and they don't come in until later.
The foreign students from Vacuo's Shade Academy are arriving, and RRAYNNBW has decided to do to the docks to… well… officially it's to welcome them to Vale… in actuality, it's to stake out who would be their biggest threats in the tournament.
"The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!" Weiss exclaims as they walk along.
"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much, Weiss. It's kinda weirding me out..." Yang points out.
"Quiet, you!"
"Hmmm… no. Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?" Yang asks as they stop at the docks. Everyone rolls their eyes.
"Ugh, it smells like fish!" Nora complains.
"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!" Wiess dramatically explains.
Blake snorts. "She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament."
"You can't prove that!"
"Except that it is exactly what we are doing," Rosa points out.
"Whoa." Jaune exclaims.
The group turn to look at what he's pointing to. Across the street was a Dust shop that had been broken into. The window was shattered and yellow caution tape covered the entrance. The police were there and the group of hunters-in-training began to walk over.
"What happened here?" Pyrrha asks politely.
"Robbery. Second Dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle," one of the cops explains.
Yang sighs. "That's terrible."
"They left all the money again," another cop from inside calls out.
"Huh?" Rosa queries.
"Yeah, just doesn't make a lick of sense. Who needs that much Dust?" the first detective commiserates.
"I don't know, an army?" the second suggests.
"You thinking the White Fang?" the first scoffs.
The second rubs at his temples before answering. "Yeah, I'm thinking we don't get paid enough."
Weiss huffs."Hmph! The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates!"
"What's your problem?" Blake retorts.
Weiss turns to the bookworm. "My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane."
"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're a collection of misguided Faunus," Blake defends.
"Misguided? They want to wipe Humanity off the face of the planet!" Weiss scoffs.
"Okay, enough, both of you. We can continue this later. Why don't we go back to the docks?" Rosa breaks them up before any fights can start. "Besides, Torchwick, the thief that I fought right before I came to Beacon, he never got caught. He could be the one behind this."
"She has a point," Ren points out as they begin walking.
"I guess…" Weiss groans.
"Hey! Stop that faunus!" a voice calls out as they round the corner.
They reach the site just in time for a monkey tailed faunus to run past them.
"After him!" Weiss yells and the group begin running.
Rounding back around the corner, the white-haired huntress-in-training runs into another person, knocking them to the ground and letting the fleeing faunus get away, a fact that the heiress makes a point to moan about.
"Weiss," Yang whisper-yells while pointing at the girl she had knocked to the ground.
Weiss looks down and jumps up in shock.
The girl grins and gives a wave. "Sal-u-tations!"
"Hi!" Nora waves back.
"Are you okay?" Ren asks.
"Why thank you for asking, I am going wonderfully," she responds.
"Um… do you… want to get up? I can't imagine that the tarmac is very comfortable," Rosa comments.
A moment ticks by before the girl nods in agreement and gets up to her feet. "My name is Penny, it's a pleasure to meet you all.
"Blake."
"Weiss."
"Ren."
"I'm Nora!"
"Hello there, I'm Pyrrha."
"I'm Jaune."
"Rosa Calavera."
"Um… are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Cue a jab from Blake. "Oh, I'm Yang."
"It's a pleasure to meet you," the girl, Penny, reaffirms.
"You already said that," Weiss points out.
Penny blinks and grins again. "So I did!"
"Well, sorry for running into you," Weiss apologises as the group begins to move off.
"See ya Penny!" Nora waves goodbye.
As the group of eight continue walking, they hear another collision of people and Penny introducing herself to whoever it was.
"She was… weird," Yang comments.
"Now, where would that monkey tailed rapscallion have run off to?" Weiss ponders.
"Who?" Nora asks, scratching her head.
"The filthy faunus from the boat, Nora. He had a monkey tail," Weiss says with a roll of her eyes.
"Why do you keep saying that?" Blake snaps.
Weiss stares at her not quite understanding what Blake was getting at.
"Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!" Blake clarifies, her hands balled into fists at her sides.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Wiess mocks. She gestures around her, "would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can? Or this lamppost as a lamppost?"
"Weiss, stop," Rosa says shortly.
"Stop what? He clearly broke the law. Give him time; he'll probably join up with those other Faunus in the White Fang!" Weiss dismisses.
Blake growls at that. "You ignorant little brat!"
Rosa sighs. "Shut up, both of you. You want to argue about this? Fine, we do it in the dorm room, not out here in the open. While we are walking back to the school grounds, neither of you get to speak. You will think about what you have to say in a calm and rational manner. Do you understand?" she orders them. The two girls nod.
The walk back to the dorm is tense, and while Rosa had only forbidden Weiss and Blake from speaking, no one else spoke, all too aware of the tension. Ren and Yang are also very aware of their leader's faunus status. She hadn't snapped at Weiss for the discriminatory comments, but they wouldn't be surprised if she did.
The moment the door to the dorm clossd, Weiss and Blake are back at it.
"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!" Weiss declares.
"That is the problem," Blake sighs.
"You realize you are defending an organization that hates Humanity, don't you? The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!" Weiss retorts.
"There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate Humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you, that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!" Blake yells.
Wiess snorts. "People like me?"
"You're discriminatory!" Blake spits.
"I'm the victim, Blake!" Weiss yells. She takes a deep breath and walks to the window, placing her hands on the windowsill to steady them. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus? 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 across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear; board members executed; an entire train car full of Dust, stolen. And every day, my father would come home, furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood."
"Weiss," Yang starts to say, reaching out to comfort her partner.
"No!" Weiss yells, shrugging off Yang and turning to look Blake straight in the eyes. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!"
"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" Blake blurts out. A heartbeat passes and she realises what she said. Shifting nervously on her feet, she turns and runs out of the dorm room too fast for any of the shocked occupants of the room to follow.
Rosa sighs. "That could have gone better."
"Well, it couldn't have gone any worse," Yang mutters darkly.
"No, it definitely could have," Rosa says without missing a beat. "Weiss, sit down. All of you sit down. I let you speak and try and work through it yourselves. Now, it is my turn to speak, and you will listen, Weiss."
"I-," Weiss begins.
"No. Sit down." Rosa sighs and rubs above her goggles.
"You say that all the faunus who join the White Fang are liars, thieves, murderers. They aren't. When I was a child, I had many dreams. The largest of which was to become a huntress. Along the way, I wanted to learn how to use scythes to be like the Grimm Reaper; I wanted to have a semblance that would allow me to turn invisible; I wanted to join the White Fang. Back then, the White Fang was peaceful, many faunus saw it as our salvation, a sign that equality could be achieved. I wouldn't have been the only one my age wanting to join, or already part of the White Fang either.
"I was so tired, so enraged that wherever I went, I was seen as lesser than my brother and Abuela, both are human. If something went wrong, I or some other faunus in the area were always the first to be blamed. There were even times as I grew older where people thought I was a slave for Abuela and Oscar, they couldn't understand that a faunus could be family to two humans. One day, I was hit by a store vendor who thought I was trying to steal his wares. I was five. I didn't know where Abuela was. I couldn't defend myself.
"Abuela wasn't the one to save me. A faunus with bull horns, he came to my aid. He would've been… sixteen, seventeen? Not that much older anyway. He wore a Grimm mask over his eyes and he was reasonably well dressed. He saved me and helped me find Abuela. As we walked, he told me about the White Fang; how it had saved him and his younger brother from slavery. He said that they were advocates for peace and healing, but had pointed him in the direction of more accepting teachers of combat that wouldn't take his heritage badly. He wore his mask in honour of his mentor, a tribal woman of immense strength. His goal in life? To defend the faunus from humans who weren't even trying to hide their racist viewpoints. I wanted to be like him. Strong, a defender of the weak, a defender of faunus-kind. I wanted to join the White Fang and help other faunus.
"Abuela wouldn't let me. She said that an organisation can change its motives and outlook with a single change in leadership. They couldn't be trusted so easily. She told me to give it a few years, watch them for a while, see if they could keep up with their peaceful ways, wait to see if a leadership change would change the actions of the group. As per usual, she was right to be cautious. When leadership changed, the White Fang started becoming more proactive, more violent. They started fighting back. At first, I was happy with the change, thought it was a good thing. Soon enough, I realised that I was wrong. The White Fang had become split. People, good people, who didn't want to fight were being pressured by their friends who did to stay. Families were torn in two. Some were ready and willing to fight. Some were hesitant but would not let their friends and family get hurt at the hands of humans. Others were tired of the fighting as a whole…" Rosa closes her eyes behind her goggles and sighs.
"I thank life that I didn't join, but the people who are there, I cannot think of them as all cruel. Yes, many are, yes, they many have done horrible things… but I know the man who saved me way back then. He had learned to fight to defend, not to attack. He was tired of fighting, he wished to one day be able to put away his sword and rest in a world where humans and faunus were equal. You have to remember that so many faunus are desperate. They have nothing. No food, no job opportunities, no safe way of making money, no way of sending their children to school. If they can get to Menagerie or have human relatives, it isn't so bad, but the discrimination, there is no way to describe it. All of that stems from humans hating that others are born with token animal appendages or abilities. A child cannot choose how they are born, they cannot choose to be human or faunus, they just are. A human is overlooked, but a faunus? A faunus has to work harder than any other to prove they are worthy of being considered the same as any human. It is unfair, and is it any wonder that people have snapped?
"I am grateful that I was raised the way I was. I am grateful that I do not lead the lives that so many faunus live. I am lucky, very lucky. The White Fang are not liars, they speak the truth about what they want, about the struggles they face, about the hatred humanity has directed at them. They are not thieves by choice, they have no other way of surviving. They are not murderers until they have been pushed to the edge of how much abuse and suffering they can take until they have to fight for their very lives. I will not deny that there are some that are all of those things, but the majority aren't. They are victims, afraid, suffering, abused, enslaved, all because they were born with an extra set of appendages. Think carefully about that Weiss. I knew Blake was hiding her being a faunus, but I don't know her reasons. Very likely, she's afraid. We don't know what life she led, what kind of hardships she has had to face. I led a life of privilege for a faunus, it is very likely that she didn't. Do not judge her until you know exactly why she acts the way she does."
The room is silent.
"How did you know?" Jaune asks. "I mean, what gave it away to you that she is a faunus?"
"Her bow. It doesn't move or sit like a regular bow. She probably tied the ribbon over her secondary ears. The bow twitches when she hears sounds from a distance. Honestly, she does a very good job of keeping her ears still," Rosa explains with a chuckle.
"Yeah, my Uncle Qrow always tells me that my step-mom's wolf ears were the biggest indicator to how she was feeling or if she heard something. Apparently, she could never stop them from moving," Yang chuckles.
"Honestly, same here. I have to physically pin them down to stop any accidental movement. It's annoying. Especially when you have to lie to your brother about what you got him for his birthday," Rosa jokes.
"Not your Abuela though?" Pyrrha asks.
"Nope. Abuela never could be fooled. She always knew what I got her for her birthdays before I could even try to hide it," Rosa says with a laugh.
Wiess sits in the slowly building laughter, thinking about everything Rosa had revealed. It was a lot.
Had she really been so blind? Had she been so consumed by her father's ire that she had never questioned if it was justified for the faunus?
"You okay Weiss?" Jaune's voice interrupts her thoughts.
"I- I have a lot to think about," she mumbles. Standing up, she walks to the door. "I'm going to go for a walk."
"Don't stay out too late and let us know if you get lost or need help. We already had one missing teammate, we don't need another," Rosa tells her as she walks out.
"What are we going to do about Blake?" Jaune asks as the door closes behind Weiss.
"I'm going to send her a text in a little bit telling her that she has 'til Sunday morning to calm down and come back before we start looking for her. Until then, we're going to let her do her own thing. We are all willing to listen calmly and rationally about what she has to say. She still has a place in this squad, we all said that the past is the past, slate wiped clean when we became a squad," Rosa explains.
"Does anyone else have hidden secrets that could tear apart the squad again?" Yang asks sarcastically.
"I will admit that I'm hiding things about myself, but I wouldn't say they are squad shattering," Rosa says. "Besides, it's safer for all involved if I don't share those secrets."
"Safer? How could it be safer?" Jaune near hisses out.
Rosa smooths out her skirt. "My family has been hunted for our secret for generations. My mother was killed for it; Abuela was near fatally attacked for it; if Abuela hadn't been there, I would have died alongside my mother for it. If you knew the secret, you would likely be hunted as well. Best the knowledge stays unknown."
"Who would do such a thing?' Pyrrha asks aghast.
Rosa didn't answer immediately, taking a few moments to decide what to say. "My Abuela's father researched our secret, because surely there had to be more information. Where did it come from? How did one use it to its full potential? Why did it only work on the Grimm? So many questions, and he found so few answers that he began to suspect that there was someone actively seeking to destroy all knowledge on the matter. He was more cautious after that. He was proved correct when Abuela was attacked for the secret. Her attackers made it clear that it was only the secret that made them target her. She survived, but only barely. She couldn't use the secret anymore. My mother died for the secret, and like I said, I nearly did too. Take from that what you will, but in answer to who would hunt us for the secret, those who benefit from the Grimm causing chaos, pain, suffering, and death."
Silence rings around the room as they digest that information. Rosa takes the chance to send the text she had mentioned to Blake's scroll.
With that, she lies down on her bed and goes to sleep, the others taking the cue to do the same. When Weiss returns a few hours later, she slipped into bed, not wanting to wake up the others.
Saturday passes with no word from Blake, and the rest of the squad was on edge, worried about their missing member.
Sunday morning came and the seven began their search for Blake. They split into smaller groups to cover more ground. Weiss and Yang; Jaune and Ren; Pyrrha and Nora; and Rosa searched on her own.
An explosion down at the docks drew Rosa's attention, and, on arrival, she is somewhat... unsurprised to find Blake and the monkey faunus from the other day working together to fight off the White Fang and Roman Torchwick.
Instead, Rosa is surprised by the arrival of two more people shortly after her own. Her brother Oscar, and the strange girl Penny.
It is over in only a few short moments, with Torchwick fleeing at the sight of so many strong fighters and the sirens of incoming police.
"Penny, this is my sister, Rosa. Rosa, this is my new friend, Penny," Oscar introduces the two girls that he knows.
Rosa rolls her eyes behind her goggles even as Penny speaks up. "Oh, I already know Rosa! We met right before I ran into you."
"Seriously?" Oscar whines.
"Yes," Rosa deadpans. "Now, what were you thinking?!" she scolds.
"I just wanted to help!" Oscar protests.
"Oscar, you are fourteen and don't have a semblance yet. Not to mention that this wasn't just Grimm. Stealing Dust is not a simple job, they were going to be trained, you could've been killed! Does Abuela even know where you are?" Rosa lectures, much to the amusement of those around her (both those already there and those just arriving).
"You do more dangerous stuff!" Oscar huffs.
"I have a semblance and am leagues ahead of you in terms of training. Not to mention I'm older than you are. Oscar, you are my little brother, I don't want to lose you."
"You're not going to lose me, I am perfectly capable of fighting my own battles, Rosa!" Oscar whines. "And I'm not little!"
"You aren't listening. This isn't like fighting Grimm. This isn't just random petty thieves. This is organised crime, far more dangerous purely because they actually know what they are doing and can plan accordingly. They have at least twice the life experience you do, and you don't even have a semblance to protect you or give you an upper hand to fall back on. You could have been killed. Do you think I or Abuela could have taken that? Did you even stop to think about that at all? Does Abuela even know you are here?" Rosa rants.
"I just wanted to be like you!" Oscar yells at her.
Rosa takes a step back and slumps down to sit on one of the nearby crates. "You... wanted to be like me?"
"Yes! You always wanted to be like Abuela, but I wanted to be like you! You were always the best at fighting; your semblance is OP; you always know how to answer Abuela's questions about the Grimm; and I was always lagging behind. I just wanted to be like you," Oscar explains, his eyes trained on the tarmac beneath his feet.
"Ojos Avellana..." Rosa whispers. "I didn't know."
"I know you didn't."
Silence reverberates amongst the - admittedly large – group and Blake stands up and walks over to Weiss.
"I want you to know that while yes, I was associated with the White Fang in the past, I no longer associate with them. I disagree with their methods and the direction they are taking the White Fang. I still believe in true equality between humans and faunus and will continue to work towards achieving that, but I am not aligned with the White Fang," she explains to the heiress.
"I've had quite a bit of time to think, and Rosa told us some things that gave me even more to think about. I won't lie and say I'm going to make an instant change regarding how I view faunus, but I am trying. I'm happy to hear that you are no longer with an organisation that is delving into terrorism. I just want to ask one thing. Why join in the first place?" Weiss responds as calmly as she can.
Blake nods in understanding. "I was practically born into the White Fang, my parents were members before I was born. I was raised on the original ideals, and I whole-heartedly believed in them. When leadership changed, my parents left the White Fang. I had a massive row with them because I though Sienna Khan - the new leader - had a point, and her methods worked. People started respecting faunus, but it wasn't equality, it was fear. I left when my mentor and partner... when I realised that he had become a violent, fight-hungry... monster. I couldn't delude myself anymore, so I left."
"That's good enough for me. So long as you aren't still with them, I'll let the past stay in the past, just like we all agreed at the start of term," Weiss informs her.
"Thank you.:
"Squad RRAYNNBW is back together!" Nora exclaims.
"And this must be your little brother," Yang says, nudging Rosa.
"I'm not little, and my name is Oscar," he introduces himself with a huff. "And where did Penny go?"
"Huh?"
The group looks around but can't see her anywhere.
Shrugging it off as her having wandered off - though the thought sounded wrong to all of them - they head back to the Beacon dorm rooms where the ladies - sans Rosa - practically interrogate Oscar about himself.
"He seems like a good kid," Ren tells Rosa as they sit at the edges of the room.
Rosa smiles at that. "He is a good kid. He just... he doesn't always make the best choices, and I'm afraid of losing him."
"Fair enough. Nora doesn't make the best choices in life, and I'm... I am terrified of losing her," Ren comments.
"I suspect that you care for her in a different vein to how I care for Oscar. He's my brother, and - if I'm reading this right - you want to be... more than that with Nora. She feels the same about you, I think," Rosa tells him.
"I know. I just don't want to... want to change the dynamic," Ren confesses.
"You don't have to change the dynamic. Love has infinite forms, who's to say yours has to change the dynamic between you and Nora?"
"An astute point. I think I'll wait though. We're all walking on thin ice as it is, I'd rather no one fall through."
"Agreed."
A/N: Welcome back to the Grimm Reaper, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Sorry it took a little bit longer to get out than usual, my laptop is off getting its battery fixed and have to work around my parents to be able to use either of their computers... which then caused even more problems because my dropbox was overflowing due to me saving stuff from my computer and wouldn't let me do anything productive unless I cleared some space first (which took hours because our internet is slow as hell and kept failing right at the end of the download). On the bright side, my lack of tech-access has prompted me to finally get around to sewing up the blanket I've been knitting. At last count I've got 13 more small seams to go before I can start looking for a backing fabric for strength. No clue what I'll do if I run out of sewing before my computer gets back...
Anyways, feel free to leave me a review with your thoughts, and as always, if you need someone to talk to, you can always drop me a PM and I'll try to get back to you (keep in mind, currently don't have my computer, which makes this stuff harder). Otherwise, I'll see you next week with the next chapter.
- RebeccaMagic9