Chapter 3: Alone again
Roman and Trifa were currently in the process of climbing back down.
If Trifa was by herself, this wouldn't be a problem. Just use her Archane abilities to climb down.
However, she had to account for Roman too, who was a bit slower.
The mountain was extra high up and progress was slow, as Trifa had to climb next to him to prevent him from falling.
He almost had a couple of times, but was always able to save himself.
"Can't you hurry it up already?" Trifa asked.
"I'm a human. I can't attach myself to walls like you can, and if I fall, I'm a goner."
Trifa knew it was a bit unfair to expect him to be able to climb down really fast.
But that didn't stop her from getting impatient.
Not to mention, she was freezing. The wind had really picked up, and it kept biting into her skin. She was still wearing her White Fang uniform, exposing her arms, which she kept hugging to her chest.
"It's freezing up here."
"Really? I hadn't noticed."
She couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"Probably should have worn some warmer clothes then, how's that for a idea?"
"This is the uniform I was given, and basically told to wear."
"Well, when I get down from here, the first thing I am going to do is buy you some new clothes. Maybe get some hair dye too."
He climbed down onto a ledge.
"Right, I'm going to stop here for a moment."
She jumped down beside him, and sat down.
"So, why did you decide to leave the White Fang then?"
"None of your business."
"Alright then."
He fumbled around in his coat pocket.
"Oh, my lighter is still here, surprisingly. And my cigars."
Trifa peered down over the ledge.
They had made more progress than she originally thought, but there was still a long way to go.
Do what we do best
Neo was on the streets again.
Forced back to where she was before Roman found her.
Alone, cold and hungry.
Now, it helped that she had discovered her semblance, and had her parasol to defend herself with against anyone who dared try and attack her, but she was still utterly miserable.
She had been eavesdropping on people's conversations, trying to find out if there was any possible rumours that Roman was still alive.
But nothing.
So there she lay, with a small box in front of her, for people to put money into.
She had used her semblance to transform herself into a depiction of a homeless person, but hardly anyone took pity on her.
It was all Cinders fault that Roman had died. She knew she should go after her. The only problem was, she hadn't a clue where to look.
Which is why she spent most of her days walking about the streets, hoping that someone, anyone, would maybe take her in, give her a nice hot meal, a bed to sleep in.
It wouldn't be as good as what Roman had gave her, but it was better than this.
She looked inside her box, and there was still nothing.
Sighing inwardly, she picked it up, and threw it back into the bin.
She couldn't even cry over him, all the tears had been wept the day that Beacon had fell.
"Oh, what do we have here?"
She looked up. There were three men standing over her. They were all grinning.
"What's wrong little girl? Don't have a home to go back to? Serves you right. What a pathetic thing you are."
Then he hit her, and laughed.
One of them drew back a baseball bat and began assaulting her with it.
She didn't care, didn't have the energy to fight back. So she just took it on the chin for what seemed like forever.
She had been subjected to far worse than this. But they wouldn't stop.
They didn't get bored, didn't get tired. Just kept going.
And they were laughing about it. Beating on a little girl, and laughing about it.
And Neo thought she was psychopathic.
"Have you been a street rat all of your life? I wouldn't be surprised. I mean, only a complete fool would want to be friends with you."
Something snapped inside of her. They had insulted him. They had called Roman a fool.
That was it. That was where she drew a line.
And she wasn't going to lie here and take their beatings anymore.
She was Neo. That was the name he had given her. And she was going to honour him with every last breath she took.
She brought her foot up and deflected the next shot. Time to show them who they were messing with here. She grabbed her parasol, and knocked them all back with a swing of it.
"Hey, what are you-Urk!"
She stabbed him, driving her blade deeper and deeper into his chest. When she drew it out, she turned to the other two, who were fleeing.
She wasn't going to let them get away. Not like she had let Cinder and Ruby get away. Chasing after them, she kicked one of them in the head, knocking him down. She lowered her blade to his throat.
"Please-!"
That was the last word he every spoke as she killed him with a slash to the throat.
The last one had grabbed a piece of metal to try and defend himself with. Swinging it at her, she deflected it and smirked at him.
"What, what are you?"
He swung at her again, only for her to shatter into glass. He looked around, panicked, before she wrapped her arm around his throat and cut his neck.
They were all dead now. And Neo envisioned doing that to Cinder and Ruby, and how good it would feel. To know that she had finally taken her revenge. But first, she had to find out where they were.
There was one information broker she knew of in Vale. And that was Junior.
And if he didn't know where they were, she would track them down herself. She didn't matter how long it took. She would find them. And she would end their lives, even if it meant she died herself. They had took away her dum dum.
She would make them pay.
Do what we do best
"Adam Taurus, you dare to walk into my throne room, and tell me that Beacon was a victory?! You went forward with this attack, without my blessing, and expect me to pity you? You are a fool. A complete utter fool. You always said that you were doing what was best for the Faunus. Well, allow me to inform you, this helps the Faunus in no way shape or form! And now you tell me that we have to hunt down the traitor?" Sienna Khan glared at Adam.
"That I am. We can't let her or Blake get away."
"We lost a lot of our forces at Beacon, and you think I'm really going to put my efforts into tracking down two people?"
"We need to punish them!"
"The only person who should be punished here is you! Which is why, from now on, you will no longer be leading the White Fang in Vale. I will have the Lieutenant take your place."
"High leader, I am begging you. Don't do this."
"I can, and I just did."
She paused and her tone became more somber.
"What happened to you Adam? Once, you believed in nothing but equality for the Faunus. And here you are now, trying to cause a war which we cannot win? All you seem to care about now is revenge on Blake. You need to let it go. It saddens me, that someone who I once would have called a friend, has went down such a dark path."
She sighed.
"Take him away."
The guards came down and lead him out.
He was greeted by the Lieutenant, Corsac and Fennec.
When the guards had left, he turned to them.
"What are our orders sir?" The Lieutenant asked.
"Gather all my supporters from Vale. Let them know that Sienna Khan is no longer fit to lead the White Fang."
"What will you do?" Corsac asked.
"I will stay here, and convince everyone here that I am the true high leader."
"And then?"
"Then, we overthrow Sienna Khan, and strike back against the humans."
"It's time we rise."
Do what we do best
The bottom of the mountain was finally coming into sight.
But there was a problem. No more rocks were jutting out, effectively giving Roman no way to climb down.
"Roman, I have a idea."
"I'm listening."
"You jump off-"
"Eh, no?"
"I wasn't finished. See those trees down there? I can then do the same thing I did when we landed at the top of the mountain, create a net out of webs which you land in."
Roman wasn't sure. The idea of plummeting down at a extremely fast speed, hoping that a bunch of webs would save his life, wasn't very appealing.
"I'm not sure…"
"Unless you have any other ideas?"
That was the problem. He didn't.
"Just trust me with this, okay?"
"Go on then."
She leapt down off the side of the mountain, and landed nimbly on a tree.
She looked up at him. She created the net, and then shouted up to him "It's ready!"
"I can see that!" He shouted back.
"Why am I doing this?" He muttered to himself. "I must be crazy."
He jumped off. He almost missed it, but was able to land in it. It stretched down, and for a moment, Roman thought it would fling him back up like a trampoline, but he stayed stuck. Then he realised, he couldn't get out.
"Uh, a little help please?"
She jumped up, and began untangling him.
"Was spider silk always this strong?"
"It can stop bullets when woven together."
"Hm, that is pretty strong."
Trifa didn't know why, but she was happy that he was taking a interest in these things.
"Do you catch flies in these?"
"If I wanted to, yeah."
"Do you eat them?"
"Used to. Don't anymore though."
Roman gagged.
"That's disgusting! Are all Faunus like that?"
"Pretty much, yeah. Most of them just tend to eat normal food though."
Roman suddenly had a image of Blake chasing mice about in his head, and quickly tried to dismiss it.
"What do flies, um, taste like?"
"They taste nice to me. To you, they would probably taste disgusting."
When she had untangled him, he stood up and peered into the distance.
"It's quite a trek back to Vale. We should start moving."
"Okay."
As they began walking, Roman found his thoughts being dragged back to Neo. He tried his hardest not to think about her, but it was difficult.
He also found himself thinking about little Red, and what she was doing. Hopefully dying in a hole somewhere.
Well, at least there was Archane now. He still think he deserved at least a pat on the back for that name.
She wasn't too bad, didn't seem like most of the White Fang, who were all "Oh, let's just assume every human is racist and kill them all. That was one of the reasons he didn't like them. They went after everybody, not just ones in the Schnee Dust Company, but everyone.
He had heard rumours that Atlas was still using Faunus labour, and he couldn't help but hope that wasn't true. Just another reason on his list to hate the Schnee Dust Company.
He looked at Trifa.
He was definitely going to buy her some new clothes. The White Fang obviously had no taste in style.
Do what we do best
I dunno Roman, Adam and Sienna look pretty cool.
Thanks for reading and have a good day!