SO! I didn't write an A/N for last chapter because that one was minor. Thus one? HAhahaaaa... NOPE.
Chapter 6: King of Beasts
"What and how?"
Yang's jaw hung open as we stared at the body. Up to this point, things may seem the standard fare for stories like this. Today marked when everything REALLY went head-first to hell.
We'd all started our day normally, of course. Team RWBY had all been feeling terrible since Sun's murder. As we all gathered in the main hall a few weeks and murders later, a sense of unease filled the room. I realized, in horror, that everyone was still present.
Considering the beast's trends up to now, that meant that it was a dead day.
"Why is it," Blake asked later that afternoon, as we were returning to our room, "that just when we think we're going to find some clue, this thing makes a friend out of one of its foes?"
"Most likely," I said, "it doesn't want us to find the truth. And I've been developing a theory as to how Nora's bite failed to drain your soul."
"Have you, now?" she asked. "All right, let's hear it."
"She wasn't a Nosferatu for more than twenty-four hours when she bit you," I stated. "I feel like whoever the main one is, they've been playing the part much, MUCH longer."
"That..." she began, "...actually makes sense." She was about to continue, but she was interrupted by a loud rustle above us.
I looked up. "There's something in the vents," I realized. "Blake... be careful."
She nodded, putting one hand to Gambol Shroud. I gripped my own weapon at the same time. I poked at the vent... and that's when everything dropped. Literally- the vents broke open. and half a dozen men in white masks dropped out. Three in front of us, three behind.
"The White Fang?" my teammate asked dumbfounded. "But... how? Beacon is suposed to be-"
"Extra secure?" spoke another voice. "Oh, Blake. You know as well as I that no security system is foolproof. And besides, your teammates have already found every possible entrance... and exit." Another faunus leapt out of the grate. He had red hair, bull horns, and a painted mask.
Blake's eyes narrowed. "Adam. Only you would ambush us when there's a Nosferatu on the prowl."
"All the easier to kill the heiress here," he said, drawing a bright red blade. "We can pin it on the roaming Grimm."
"Okay, time out," I said. "What the hell? We were just talking-"
"About a rather interesting topic," Adam finished. "So... the black beauty is amongst the undead now. Interesting. And here I'd thought she'd had nothing more to hide." He crossed his arms, smiling. "What else? What about how you supported my methods in the Fang over your own father's?"
"You've changed," Blake said. "You used to want equality, but now all you want is revenge. Adam, don't you get it? Don't you understand what happens when you allow revenge to dominate you?"
He didn't flinch. "This is what I live for," he said. "For the suffering of all faunus, everywhere, we need to fight back! Or have you grown soft, letting humans tell you what to do, just like the hundreds who died in Atlas' Dust mines?"
"Okay, I see where you're coming from," I said, much to Blake's horror. "I understand what you're saying. My family has caused more suffering than I would be willing to bear. But I don't believe that faunus are any lesser beings than humans. Once, there was a time when I did..." I looked away from Blake. "It almost cost me a friend. I'm never making that mistake again."
"Absolutely adorable," Adam replied. "But actions speak louder than words, Schnee. When the hammer falls, who do you think is more likely to pay the bill? The humans? Oh, no, not remotely, not when the ever-expendable half-breeds can pay ot for them. When your father needed extra workers, does he open up new jobs? No, he instead enslaves countless faunus, whom he sees as mere animals, and then we're forced to work for our lives under his iron grip."
He tore his mask away from his face. His eyes met mine, and for the first time, I saw the fullest extent of my father's treatment of the faunus. The man's eye was scarred, branded. It was painful to even look at.
"Tell me what you see," he asked me.
I half-heartedly looked into his eyes again. "Jacques Schmee branded you like an animal... That mark is a sign that you were Schnee family property." I winced. "Blake helped me realize that my father was far more wicked than I thought, but... Gods."
Adam raised an eyebrow. "Don't try to empathize with me," he said. "You and I are alike. You always had a rather potent hatred of the White Fang. You always said we were no better than the Grimm."
I shook my head. "I fully believe that the White Fang is just as corrupt as I'd initially believed. But it wasn't always like that, was it?"
Blake shook her head. "Adam, you made me a promise. A promise that one day, faunus and humans would be able to live in harmony. The White Fang was founded by my father fot that purpose. But now, with how many innocents you've killed? You've become no better than the slavers."
Adam pondered her words. "It's what we deserve, Blake."
A loud string of gunshots rung out nearby, coming from the mess hall. I glared at the Fangsmen, but not one of them seemed to know what just happened. Even Adam was in full shock.
"That wasn't me..."
With Adam trailing us, most likely trying to decide how to kill us, we came out into the mess hall, where it looked like there had been an utter massacre.
"What the..." I began, looking across the room. It was tragic. There had likely been hundreds of students in this room, and now at least a hundred of them lay dead on the floor. Over a hundred more still drew breath, but were horribly wounded. My eyes drifted over to Cardin, who was cradling Velvet in his arms, with Coco close behind him.
"Come on, Velvet," he said. "Don't do this to me, Vel..."
The faunus coughed. "C- Cardin?" she sputtered. "Why would you... want to..."
The former class bully shook his head. "Sure, I picked on you, but I was just trying to..." He paused as a black liquid began seeping out of her wounds.
"Got her."
Our eyes turned to spot, of course, Emmi Wynn. She was holding Coco's chaingun, which looked like it had just been emptied.
"Sure, there was some collateral," she said, "but it's finally over." She locked eyes with Velvet, whose own eyes began to take on a reddish tinge. "How long did you think you could hide it, Scarlatina?"
Velvet tried to speak, but couldn't find the breath to do it. Cardin, though, certainly could.
"Who's the real monster here?" he angrily asked her. "Over a hundred students dead, their bodies riddled with bullets from a stolen weapon. All so what? So you could prove a point? Find one of at LEAST two Nosferatu?"
Wynn marched over to them, twirling a stake between her fingertips. "You aren't the important one here, and neither were any of them. "The point is, I'm about to neutralize a great threat. You should be thankful!"
"Thankful that you massacred all of these students?" Coco interrupted. "So many of them were willing to give their lives to protect the world-"
"And they have," Emmi replied. "Their deaths were a necessary sacrifice. Now, allow me to end Demon Bunny's life, and perhaps the God of Destruction will pity her."
She raised the stake, when someone grabbed her arm. They have to have been strong, or else she would have broken free.
"That's enough," came the voice... of Ozpin.
CHAPTER. So, Ozpin and (surprisingly) Adam have entered the story. Oddly enough, before Neo or Glynda. Am I overextending this at all? Also, Emmi is now in REAL trouble... I feel like Blake seeing this is making her think, "And I thought Adam was delusional!"
Also, the roll for this round was, obviously, "Corrupt Velvet." Dear lord... I've also basically stealth-confirmed a crack pairing that would never work in canon. It just happened, OK?
Adam Taurus - Living
Bartholomew Oobleck - Living
Blake Belladonna - Converted (C4)
Cardin Winchester - Living
Cinder Fall - Living
Coco Adel - Living
Emerald Sustrai - Living
Emmi Wynn - Living
Fox Alistair - Living
Jaune Arc - Living
Liam Pryce - Converted, Slain (C1)
Lie Ren - Living
Mercury Black - Living
Neptune Vasalias - Living
Nora Valkyrie - Converted (C3), Escaped (C4)
Orson Drew - Living
Ozpin - Living
Penny Polendina - Living
Peter Port - Living
Pyrrha Nikos - Living
Qrow Branwen - Living
Ruby Rose - Living
Sun Wukong - Murdered (C5)
Velvet Scarlatina - Converted (C6)
Weiss Schnee - Living (Duh.)
Yang Xiao Long - Living
Yatsuhashi Daichi - Murdered (C2)
Yin Kasumi - Living
A/N 2: I added Blake and Cardin to the character tags because of their increased presence.