Blake sat at the back of the ammunition store as she waited for the place to clear out before she would head up to the counter and talk to the vendor about getting a discount on a large quantity of Dust. Seeing how it would be for a group of students up at Beacon who would be protecting Remnant in the future, the man normally didn't have a problem with their agreed upon payment, but if he offered the same deal to anyone else, he knew that he would be run out of business, and so they had a mutual unspoken agreement that they would only agree to the transaction if the store was empty. Once she was done here she would ride the airship back up to the school and meet with Glynda so that they could discuss the week's upcoming events, such as the school dance in this week's case. Blake still remembered the dance, if only vaguely due to lack of sleep and the incrimination of her teammate Ruby for a crime she didn't commit, though Ozpin didn't believe that she had for a moment.
She had "gone" with Sun and Yang alone, but the two of them shared more dances than any of the couples combined at the time, not to mention that the legend of JNPR's dance could only be rivaled by that of Qrow, who states that they tricked him into wearing a skirt to the dance, though Tai swore that it was the first day of classes. It was hard to tell which the truth was, though Tai's held more water seeing as Qrow's mind had undoubtedly been altered by the amount of alcohol he had consumed over the years. The other pressing issue that Blake was nervous about was that Glynda had willingly agreed to was letting the kids take on the Stardust Gang.
Granted, Team NITE was better prepared than Team RWBY had been when they had taken on Neo, Torchwick, and the White Fang when they were in school, the results were less than desirable back in the day. Blake would always be nervous for Neela, despite the fact that she knew Neela could take on anything. She glanced up at the TV, whatever had been on before was abruptly interrupted and the loud jingle that blared before special news reports could be heard throughout the small shop.
"We interrupt your regular programming to bring you this special news bulletin," Lisa's voice thundered, drawing the attention of a few more patrons before they dismissed the alert and returned to their conversations with each other in the queue line. "It is now being disclosed that in the early hours of yesterday morning, the City of Vale Police Department's Armory and Weaponry Lock Up Facility had been snuck into and the weapon's known as Wilt and Blush have both been stolen." Blake's breath caught in her chest and her eyes locked on the television as she slowly stood and covered her mouth, her hand trembling slightly.
"No…" She barely managed as she felt years of anxiety rush back to greet her.
"The police were unable to get a good look at the perpetrator's face and their security feeds have all failed to identify the thief as well, they avoided killing any officers, simply stealing the weapon. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the weapon, it is a long red katana with a rifle sheathe, used by Adam Taurus of the White Fang. The weapon had been placed in the care of the authorities after a joint sting operation between the combined forces of the Atlas Army and Team RWBY left Mr. Taurus dead and the White Fang disbanded. There is currently no indication that the thief is a former member of the White Fang, but we will have more information during the 10 o'clock news this evening after it becomes available." Blake stumbled out the door and into the street where she stood on the curb, letting her mind readjust and fumbling with her scroll as she removed it and managed to call Yang.
"Hey Blake, what's going on?" Yang asked. Blake glanced both ways down the street before she walked back towards the piers where her airship would be waiting.
"The news!" Blake blurted out, covering her mouth and hoping that no one was listening. "Yang, someone stole Wilt and Blush!"
"What are you talking about Blake?" Yang asked her. Blake rubbed her forehead, stopping on the corner for a moment and waiting for the light to change so that she could continue on her way. Everything was too surreal for a long moment and Blake was being washed over with an overwhelming feeling of guilt and the flashbacks began rushing back in. A greater fear started sinking in, a pain that Blake was feeling for someone else. The idea of the White Fang being back reminded her of the pain that they had put Yang through when Adam took her arm. There was a worse feeling yet that crashed into her.
She remembered the pain that she saw on Neela's face when they found her and saved her that day. An unnatural and unhealthy fear of humans that they had created in Neela, she looked as though she had seen a ghost, or worse. The last thing that Blake wanted was for Neela to have to be reminded of that pain, and she feared that if the Fang returned, Neela would remember the pain and fear that they forced upon her. Blake knew that Neela was strong… but she also knew how hard it was to cope with something that was psychologically damaging. It was worse than physical pain. It was the reason that Neela had separation anxiety, though she never talked about it.
"I was buying ammunition for Neela and her friends when an alert played on one of the monitors in the shop," Blake told Yang. "They said that someone snuck into the station and stole Wilt and Blush from the lockup."
"What would they need with that?" Yang asked. "We killed Adam, he didn't give us a choice."
"I know. But it had to be someone that escaped. Someone must have. Everyone we caught was locked up for life in Atlas, and everyone else was killed by that psycho General Admon," Blake told Yang. "No one else knew where we put the weapon!" Yang knew what Blake meant. The public had been told that Wilt and Blush were placed in the lockup at the police station for safekeeping, but before the council was set up, Team RWBY had made special provisions to lock it up elsewhere with the help of Ironwood, Winter, and Glynda. The news report was a cover, at least ten men would have died in order for this person to have been able to steal those weapons.
"I'm sorry, babe. I take it you're still on your way to meet Glynda?" Yang asked.
"Yeah. I'll be okay. Just do me a favor and get a hold of Ruby, okay?" Blake asked.
"Of course," Yang replied. "I love you."
"I love you too Yang." They hung up and Yang looked back at Shadow who was sitting at the table coloring. The White Fang was back? Was it possible? She was sure that if there was any solid proof Ruby or Qrow would have told them about it, but neither of them had mentioned anything. Yang tried to call Ruby at first, but she didn't pick up, and Yang tried Qrow. He picked up after about the fourth ring.
"Well if it isn't my favorite Xiao Long. How's it going kiddo?" Qrow asked as she heard him clearing his throat as though he had just taken a rather large swig of alcohol, but as much was to be expected.
"I'd like to say that this is just a social call, but I'm actually calling for Blake. She heard something this morning on the news and I was wondering…" Yang began to ask him about it but was cut off.
"Yeah, it happened. I'm guessing you tried to call your sister first but you weren't able to get a hold of her," Qrow told her. Yang sat at the table with Shadow, handing her a crayon to use and the girl smiled at her mom, laughing as she took it and started scribbling vigorously. "They decided on an emergency conference call. I wasn't invited, mostly due to the fact that all four of the big shots were available today. They're talking about the odds of the White Fang returning. And what to do about it. Like I've said before, this council just does the same thing that we used to do, just with more red tape, I could tell you what's going to happen. Ruby is going to propose that Atlas send their army to help with the situation and search the same forests as before for any White Fang activity. Vacuo is going to agree and they'll offer to send any assistance they can in the form of Dust. Sterling is going to butt in and suggest that they use his military instead this time. Ruby will agree to a joint effort."
"Been at this for quite some time, huh?" Yang asked. Qrow sighed and chuckled.
"Yeah. One of the perks of working with Ozpin for so long was gaining the ability to notice and predict these kinds of things ahead of time," Qrow told her. "To be honest, and I'd prefer you didn't tell this to Blake, I'm honestly surprised that the White Fang stayed disbanded for so long. The White Fang formed around the time of the Great War and existed as a symbol of peace until the Faunus War, which is when the Taurus family took over and turned it into a means for revolution and bloodshed, but there have always been groups like the White Fang even before they came into existence. As much as we want it, there's always going to be someone who doesn't agree with Faunus and humans living in coexistence and there will always be at least one person who goes the wrong way about trying to achieve equality."
"I know, but Blake just wants the best for this family. She wants a perfect world where the White Fang doesn't cause people to fear Faunus," Yang said. She rubbed the top of Shadow's head and smiled. "I don't blame her. Thanks, Uncle Qrow, I'll let her know that the council is going to look into it."
"Oh hey, before you go, I feel like I should tell you something," Qrow told her.
"Sure, go ahead," Yang replied.
"Your mother's clan was finally taken down, Sterling and his men put an end to her bandits and they decided to go their separate ways, it was what they felt would be best at this point. The only problem with that is while the rest of the tribe hadn't been there as long and will have an easier time integrating themselves into society, whether for better or for worse, your mother has only ever had the clan. I think that she might try to reach out," Qrow informed her. Yang leapt to her feet and stepped away from Shadow, lowering her voice.
"Tell her that I don't want to talk to her," Yang asserted.
"It's not that simple this time Yang. She may just show up." Yang's eyes grew wide and he let her process the information. "I'll try to tell her not to come, but getting a hold of her hasn't always been the easiest. I love you kiddo. Talk to you soon."
"I love you too Uncle Qrow."
Tawney pulled on her beanie and watched Neela and Eliana for a long moment from the other side of the library, why was it so hard to get the two of them away from each other, and did it even matter? She watched Cobalt the night before, he had somehow built up enough courage to ask Ilia, and he was going to go through with it. Of course, that courage and idea were crushed by suggestive audio that led both of them to believe that Titus and Ilia were intimately involved, which Cobalt had always suspected but Ilia had always denied. It was seeing that courage in Cobalt that had driven Tawney to this moment, a moment that she hoped would go down as the first of many wins against Neela. Tawney was going to ask Eliana out on a date, and she hoped that the girl would say yes, why wouldn't she?
Tawney glanced up from her book, hoping that Neela didn't notice her and watched Eliana for a long moment. No, this wasn't all about beating Neela, it was about having Eliana as her own as well. The girl was funny, cute, and all around bubbly, which caused Tawney moments of pause and she smiled as she reflected on how her life wasn't as bad as it used to be or could be. Eliana was the first person Tawney had taken interest in, there were a few guys in another one of her classes, but they were hard to compare to her. Tawney took a deep breath in as she set down her book and watched Neela stand up, saying goodbye to Eliana and walking away to go back to the dorm, or at least Tawney assumed.
Things took a strange turn as Neela turned down the walkway in the middle of the room and started making her way towards Tawney instead of leaving, sitting down at the table with her as she quickly picked the book up again and browsed through it.
"Tawney, what are you doing here?" Neela asked. "Don't say that you're studying, I've never taken you for the kind to study the Great War, let alone upside down." Tawney looked down at the book and placed it back down, looking at her hands as they fidgeted. She shook her head before looking back up at Neela. "Tawney…"
"I'm going to ask Elli out," she explained to Neela. Neela was confused for a moment.
"What do you mean?" Neela asked.
"You know what I mean," Tawney told her. "Neela, we… We're friends right?" Neela folded her arms and leaned back in her seat.
"That's a term I'd use loosely for us," Neela said.
"Neela, I'm not going to wait for you to grow a pair and ask out Elli when I feel that I have the same feelings for her," Tawney explained. Neela's eye twitched as she sat up in her chair again and leaned over the table, looking intensely into Tawney's eyes. "Eliana deserves to be pursued. We don't owe it to you to avoid her or wait for you to ask her yourself. Sure you have feelings for her, I get that, but what if she doesn't feel the same? Or what if she does, and you're just forcing her to wait when there might be someone else out there. Sometimes you just have to go for things!"
"Tawney, I will hurt you!" Neela told her as she reached across the table. Tawney swatted her hands away.
"Scared?" Tawney asked. "Are you afraid that Elli might say yes? Terrified that she might be interested?" Tawney pushed her seat back and stood up. "You need to tell her how you feel Xiao Long, and maybe this is the push that you need." Tawney walked across the room to Eliana's table. Neela stood for a moment before sitting back down, her mind ripping itself apart as she stared at the table and grabbing a fist of her hair on both sides of her head, pulling hard and seething. It wasn't as simple as Tawney had just put it. Neela couldn't lose Eliana, it would be the end of everything! It was hard for her to tell whether it would hurt more being turned down and losing Eliana, or never telling her and having her fall for someone else, watching silently the entire time from the sidelines as another person loved Eliana the way that she had been meant to. Neela panicked.
She had lost her parents, the shock hadn't hit her right away, but when it did it was a depression like no other and she got lucky, luckier than most children who had been orphaned by the White Fang. She had her new parents, Yang and Blake, and they had filled the hole that was there, but it came at a price. She didn't know that the feeling was there until the first weekend that they had tried to let her sleepover at Tai's. By the end of the first night, she had gone into a full-blown PTSD like state, screaming and thrashing as she called out for Yang and Blake, which was when Blake had determined that Neela had separation anxiety. Sure, maybe someday Neela would be able to get over it, but right now it was just easier seeing her mothers every weekend, if not every day. She felt the same about Eliana at this point.
That was the reality that kept Neela from moving any further in their relationship. Neela wondered if they would ever move to the next stage, but if they didn't, it was okay as long as Eliana didn't replace her with someone else, right? She remembered their first night, sitting out on the cliff side and watching as the moon reflected off of the waves below. It was a moment that Neela would have lived in forever. She could have been satisfied if that night had never ended. But the truth of the matter was the fact that reality didn't work like that. Time continues on and gives an endless stream of variables, unseen factors, and calculated decisions that can all be paired together to try and achieve the desired outcome, but that outcome only produces more branches to the tree.
If Eliana told Tawney yes, perhaps they would fall in love with each other and they would be together for the rest of time, a possible future that Neela didn't find satisfaction in. Or there was a chance that Eliana would still agree, but they would both find that it didn't work out as well as they were hoping and Eliana would be single once again. Maybe Eliana would say yes and they would get married and have children, only for Tawney to react like her Grandma Raven, leaving Eliana alone and tragically widowed in a manner of speaking as she raised the kids alone. She might say no, however, which would give way to the other side of the branching possibilities of the future, which had all new outcomes and twists and turns, none of which could be predicted completely or controlled. Neela just wanted to return to that night where things had been perfect, more so than they had ever been.
Neela's mind returned to the current situation and she glanced up at Tawney who had returned, swallowing hard as her rival sat down and cleared her throat, shaking her head.
"How does it feel to know that you've beaten me again?" Tawney asked as she looked at Neela. She pulled off her beanie and tossed it down on the table, clasping her nose with her hands and shaking her head. "I just… I have a hard time believing it is all. Perhaps it's my destiny to lose to you at everything."
"What do you mean lose to me?" Neela asked.
"I asked her out. You know what she told me?" Tawney asked. Neela shook her head and Tawney sat up sighing, folding her arms. "She told me that she only wanted to go if you were going to go with." Neela's eyes lit up and she glanced back at Eliana who was still busy with her homework as she had been before, a wave of relief overwhelming her and she cracked a grin, shaking her head in slight disbelief. What should she make of it? It was in her best interest to not over complicate the implications in her head, and ask Eliana about it in an indirect manner later. "I don't think you realize just how much you mean to her. It might be the same amount that she means to you."
"Tawney, I'm sorry," Neela tried comforting her. Tawney chuckled and turned away.
"Don't be. Maybe I was a touch out of line before," she admitted. "Still friends?" Neela nodded before remembering something that she had for Tawney as the girl stood to leave.
"Wait, before you leave!" Neela called out as she stood and walked around the table, handing a slip of paper to Tawney. Tawney looked it over before reading it and looking back at Neela in shock.
"Is this what I think it is?" Tawney asked. Neela nodded.
"Jeff and Casey will be performing at our school dance this week," Neela told her. "It's all you've been talking about, so I called the station later that week, was entered into the drawing, and wouldn't you know it, we won." Tawney's eyes filled with an overwhelming amount of satisfaction and joy as she looked the paper over repeatedly, barely able to contain herself. How should she react? Her eyes filled with tears and she laughed as she wiped them away. "Awesome, right?"
"Yeah," Tawney agreed nodding. "But these tears of joy are bitter." Neela tilted her head.
"Why?" Neela inquired.
"You beat me again," Tawney told her sniffing hard and laughing. She grabbed her beanie off of the table and ran out of the library, heading back to her dorm to show the rest of the team. Neela watched her leave before returning her attention to her best friend and making her way back over to Eliana.
"Hey, Elli, mind if I join you again?" Neela asked. Eliana smiled at her and the rest of the fear that Neela had felt earlier was erased and replaced with confidence.
"Hey, Neela! I thought that you said you were going to go have dinner with your parents now," Eliana reminded her. Neela rubbed the back of her neck. "What's going on?"
"I talked to Tawney as she was leaving," Neela explained. Eliana chuckled and shrugged as she continued with her work, not looking up for a moment.
"Yeah, she asked me if I wanted to go get dinner with her and then maybe go see a movie," Eliana told Neela. "It sounded kind of like she was asking me out on a date, but I'm not interested in her like that, you know? I told her that it would be cool if we could go in a group, or if you came with!"
"What happened then?" Neela asked. Eliana looked up at her.
"She said that she knew I would say that, told me that she wasn't interested in all three of us going and walked away." Eliana closed her book and placed it into her backpack as she stood at the same time as Neela. "Was it something I said?" Neela chuckled.
"I don't think so," Neela told her. Eliana walked past her towards the exit as Neela found herself lost in thought for a moment. Maybe now… Maybe now was the time to tell her… "Elli!"
"What's up Neela?" Eliana asked. She turned around and faced Neela and Neela looked her best friend over. She knew that she couldn't do it yet. For now, still just friends, and Neela would try to stop overreacting.
"Would you want to go with me into Vale tomorrow night and get dinner? We could stop by the police station to see if they have any APBs we can help with, and then we can head over to the shopping districts to get dresses for the dance," Neela told her. "Tawney can still come with if you want." Eliana laughed.
"Are you asking me on a date Neela?" Eliana asked her. Neela blushed and looked away at some of the shelves behind her.
"I don't know if I'd call it that," Neela managed to get out. "But we can go have some fun, right?" She looked back at Eliana, still beaming with that bone chilling and heartwarming smile.
"Of course. It's a date!" Eliana laughed and left the room, leaving Neela there for a long moment. Was it an actual date, or was Eliana just being her usual bubbly self?
It seems that Neela and Eliana have a "Date". Next week, Coco heads to Vacuo to find out what's going on with the Neo-Salems in Chapter 26 - Team CVRN!
A big thank you to Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
Until next week, stay classy!