Chapter 10: Views
Walking down the streets, Team Basil paused as a banner reading "Welcome to Vale" was pulled up.
Weiss clasped her hands together, "Oh the Vytal Festival! This is wonderful!" She exclaimed.
"I've never seen you smile so much, Weiss. Its kind of creeping me out." Ilia edged a bit away from the heiress.
Weiss turned to Ilia "How could you not smile? There's parades, dances and a tournament — and its all to celebrate the cultures of the world!" She smiled.
Yang rolled her eyes in slight amusement at her partner's antics "Jeez, you seem to be excited." She said.
"Of course! There's so much planning and organization involved and its breathtaking!" Weiss said.
Cue Yang sighing and flipping her hair over her shoulder "Well now you've made a good thing turn into something that sounds boring." She still couldn't wipe a small smile off of her face.
"Oh quiet you!" Weiss huffed, but Yang knew it was playful.
"Remind me again why we're spending a perfectly good Friday afternoon at the docks?" Yang asked as they neared the docks.
Ilia waved a hand away from her face, coughing a little at the rancid smell "Ew, it smells like rotting fish." She groaned.
"I heard students from Vacuo are coming by boat today, and as a representative of Beacon I think its our solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom!" Weiss explained.
"She wants to spy on them." Blake stated, causing Ilia to snicker.
"You can't prove that!" Weiss declared.
Passing a building that was covered with yellow police tape, Yang paused and doubled back. "Woah..." she started approaching it slowly. "What happened here?" She asked one of the officers.
"Robbery. Third Dust shop to be robbed this week. This place is turning into a jungle." He replied.
"Hey, they left the money again!" The second officer exclaimed.
"Huh?" Yang perked up.
"Doesn't make a lick of sense. Who needs all of that Dust anyway?" The first one asked.
"I dunno, an army?" The other replied.
"You thinkin' it could be Red?" The first asked.
"There's no calling card." The other replied.
"Maybe White Fang." The first suggested.
"Maybe we aren't getting paid enough." The other replied "We've seen Red is working with those terrorists, so maybe it is the 'Fang working with Red." He mused.
"The White Fang, what an awful bunch of degenerates!" Weiss crossed her arms. "And to think one of them was working with Red as well! It just proves how bad they are!" She added.
Yang bit her tongue, a retort on the edge of it. Don't talk about my sister like she's evil! She thought, but Blake spoke.
"What's your problem?" Blake asked.
"My problem? I simply don't care about the criminally insane! Red is as much as a monster as those psychopathic faunus!" Weiss responded.
"The White Fang are hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're a collection of misguided faunus." Blake stated.
"Well I don't see you defending Red!" Weiss pointed out. "She's still as vile as the White Fang!"
Yang felt close to her breaking point. "Weiss." Her tone was cold, causing all three of her teammates to whip around "Do you know how old Red is?" She asked in a soft voice yet its edge was sharper than any blade or razor.
"Does it even matter?" Weiss asked.
"It does." Yang insisted. "Red is fifteen years old. " she stated.
"Why is that supposed to matter? She's a murderer!" Weiss declared.
"How did you get that information?" Ilia crossed her arms, eyes narrowing.
Think fast! A lie! Yang nearly panicked but calmed herself. "The news station mentioned it was one of her possible ages." She said. Ugh I'm stupid! Good going, Yang. You almost blew your cover and told them Red is Ruby and Ruby is your sister! She berated herself.
"That still changes nothing." Weiss stated and turned back towards Blake. "They're hardly misguided. They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!" She told the raven haired girl.
"So then they're very misguided! Either way it doesn't explain why they'd rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale." Blake told Weiss.
Ilia put a hand on her partner's arm. "Blake. Let it go. Weiss is entitled to her own opinion." She said.
Before Blake could say another word, a voice yelled "Hey! Stop that faunus!"
Team Basil whipped around and saw a boy with a monkey tail run off of a ship. They watched in amusement as he taunted a pair of sailors, but he soon ran past them. "Well Weiss? You wanted to see our competition — there it goes." Yang said.
"Quick! We must observe him!" Weiss declared and the quartet gave chase. Weiss was stopped by slamming into another girl as Yang watched the faunus leap onto a building and escape "Drat! He got away." She sighed.
"Uh... Weiss?" Yang asked.
Weiss shrieked as she saw an orange haired girl laying on the ground
"Sal-u-tations!" She greeted.
"Uh... Hello. Are you alright?" Weiss asked
"I'm fine, thank you for asking!" She replied.
"Do you... wanna get up?" Yang asked.
"Yes!" The girl leapt to her feet, making Team Basil step back collectively. "My name's Penny, a pleasure to meet you!" She greeted.
"My name is Weiss." Weiss said
"Blake." Blake nodded
"I'm Ilia." Ilia told Penny.
"Yang." Yang said.
"Its a pleasure to meet you!" Penny smiled.
"You already said that." Yang pointed out.
Penny paused for a moment. "So I did." She agreed.
"Well... sorry for running into you, Penny. Have a good day." Weiss said and Team Basil turned around.
"She was... weird." Yang stated as they walked off.
Weiss looked around "Now I wonder where that faunus riff-raff ran off to." She asked.
"Weiss. Stop." Blake said.
"Stop what?" Weiss asked.
"Stop calling him riff-raff, stop calling him a psychopath, he's a person just like us!" Blake exclaimed.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to stop referring to a trash can as a trash can? Or this lamppost as a lamp post?" Weiss asked
"Stop it!" Blake demanded
"Stop what? He clearly broke the law! Give him time and he'll probably join those other faunus in the White Fang!" Weiss said.
"You ignorant little brat!" Blake growled
"How dare you talk to me like that? I'm your teammate!" Weiss yelled.
"And I'm your team leader. And as your team leader I demand we drop this!" Blake told her.
"Fine." Weiss agreed. "But it still doesn't change the truth." She added.
Yang sighed and looked to Ilia, whose expression was a mask of stone. "Well this might not stop for a bit." She told the girl. Ilia nodded in silent agreement as Blake and Weiss continued to argue.
At dinner, Ruby set her fork down.
"Roman, can I come with you on the attack at the pier tomorrow night?" Ruby asked.
"No, Ruby. Its too risky for you. You need to be not active and stay low." Roman told her.
Ruby frowned "But nobody knows about it, just the four of us." She told him.
Neo snapped her fingers to gain the two's attention. 'Ruby has a point. She can just watch it. There's no way the police will know about it.' She signed.
"Red, lets talk about it later. I have a heist to lead in ten minutes and I need to get dressed." Roman stated.
Drei barked, drawing his attention. Gold eyes met Roman's. "You wanna come boy?" He asked.
Drei huffed, and Roman nodded. "Alright you can come." He agreed. The man set his silverware down and put his plate in the dishwasher before heading to his and Neo's room to get dressed.
Exiting, Drei grabbed Melodic Cudgel gently in his jaws and presented it to Roman, who nodded and took the weapon. In return, Roman took off Drei's collar.
"Be safe!" Ruby called. Drei's tail whipped the air and he barked before running to her. Rearing up on his hind legs, he licked Ruby's cheek before trotting back to Roman.
Roman led the way out, Drei trotting next to him. Golden eyes looked up to meet green, and the doberman huffed.
"Is it about Ruby?" Roman asked. Drei rumbled in his chest. "I thought as much..." He mumbled. Drei grunted. "You want her to come?" He asked. Drei wagged his tail. "Drei, you know as well as I do she could have been captured. Vale is on a manhunt for her right now." He told the doberman. Drei whined. "I know, I don't want anything to happen to her as well." He agreed softly and opened the passenger side door for the dog to jump in. Drei grumbled "You want her to come still." Drei yawned. "I'll take that as a yes." Roman sighed. Drei flashed him a doggy grin.
A/N: Writing the Roman/Drei scene was interesting. Roman, Neo and Ruby know Drei understand them, and they can somewhat hold conversations with him. But like the omake showed, most of their interpretations can be wrong. I know some of you are concerned of Drei becoming too involved and recurring, but I promise that will not be the case. I skipped over the boring "I'm a victem!" "Well I'm a faunus!" Scene and we're gonna pick back up at the Volume 1 finale next chapter!