Chapter 7: An interesting development

This was bad, very bad.

"Why is he here?" Trifa whispered underneath her breath.

Roman put a finger to his lips. "Just ignore him and he might go away."

"I can't believe I let them do that!" The guy literally sat down right next to Roman. Trifa shuffled up her seat a bit and Roman soon followed her. He gave the two of them a strange look, and Trifa made sure to basically bury her face in the newspaper. "I mean, I had a weapon and I got knocked out with ease!"

"Bro, calm down."

"My bloody car was stolen and your telling me to calm down?!"

"There's nothing you can do about it now, okay? You can just, buy a new one."

The man sighed.

"Do you remember what your girl looked like?"

"I didn't get a good look at her, but she had, like, blue hair? I also think she had some weird veins in her skin."

"Probably a spider Faunus."

Trifa's blood ran cold. If she even lifted her head, they might notice her. And while the guy had said he hadn't got a good look at her, no chances would be taken.

Thanks to Romans' disguise, he could afford to take more risks. She couldn't.

"Hey missy."

Don't talk to me, don't talk to me…

"Don't you think you might suffocate yourself doing that?"

It was definitely him. He was talking to her.

Luckily, Perry Derry came to the rescue.

"She's obviously very interested in it! Isn't that right, um, Emily?"

"Yes, that's right." Her voice was extremely muffled.

"What could be so interesting that you literally disappear into the newspaper?"

"Uhh…" Roman looked at her copy. "Why, the fall of Beacon of course!"

"Right…Anyways, there are no papers left. Mind if we borrow yours?"

"We?" Roman asked.

"Yes, me and my mate here. We both need one."

This was extremely bad.

"Uh, sure!" Roman was one step away from knocking them both out. He handed his over. He looked at Trifa.

"Mind if I just…" The guy walked over to her. She very slowly, making sure to hang her head as low as possible, handed it over, but then, god forbid something actually went well for them, he dropped it, and when he bent down to pick it up, he got a good look at her.

Please don't recognise me.

"Have we… met somewhere before?"

For the love of everything that is holy!

"No, I don't think so."

"It's just, you have blue hair and you look like a spider Faunus…"

"Must be a coincidence!" She gave out a nervous laugh. He turned to Roman.

"And now that I think about it, you look a lot like Roman Torchwick if he had blonde hair…" His voice rose in volume. "Almost as if you were wearing a disguise!"

"Look, I'm sure this is all just a big misunderstanding-"

He growled and suddenly grabbed Romans' cane. "Hey, that's mine! Give it back!" Roman swiped it back. But one look at the cane was all that man needed.

"Hey, where are you- Oof!" Roman sprang out of his seat and took off like a bullet.

"Don't let them get away-Ow!" Trifa practically stepped all over his face and was right behind him.

"Someone, stop them!" In the midst of chaos, several people were knocked out and bodies were sent flying.

"Archane, to the lifeboats!" It was their only chance of getting away at this point. Jumping onto the ceiling, she began to climb over peoples heads, webbing a few of them up in the confusion.

Roman pushed the door open and sprinted to the deck, and began to launch the lifeboat. Once he it was set up, he was about to climb in, when…

"Roman!" Trifa had been grabbed by a big burly guy, and was desperately struggling to get free. Severe other people were closing in from the sides, including a man with a gun.

"Don't move!"

She suddenly froze. Roman looked at the boat, and looked back to her.

I could leave… He thought to himself. No one seemed to be paying any kind of attention to him. It would just be a simple case of jumping in and launching it. Boom, he was gone.

Trifa's eyes met his, and it was clear she was begging him to help. For a split second, a young girl forced down by men bigger then her, she almost looked like Neo.

I can't leave her behind…

He just couldn't. If he did, he would be out there, all on his own again. It would drive him insane, no human…

And Faunus.

No human or Faunus interaction whatsoever.

What I'm I doing?

The Roman Torchwick of old would have said "Screw it" and left. But not anymore. Sighing to himself, he ran back to her. The people didn't notice until he was on them like a whirlwind, striking them down. He even threw one unfortunate guy into the water. The brute, who still had one arm wrapped around Trifa, made to grab him too, but he ducked and hit him hard in the face. It only dazed him for a second, and he brought his foot up in a kick, only for Roman to sidestep it and aim his cane at the mans legs. He could hear bones snapping as he fired, and the poor man went down like a tonne of bricks, nearly crushing Trifa under his body weight, but she was able to slip away.

"Freeze criminals! Don't move!" The boats security had shown up, blocking their way to the lifeboat.

"Hands in the air and get down on your knees!"

Roman got down on his knees and quickly motioned for her to do the same. The security guards walked over to them, and just as they were about to take their weapons away, Roman shot one of them in the face, and aiming at the lifeboat, he shot at the rope tethering it to the deck. The lifeboat fell in with a loud splash.

"Open fire!"

"Jump for the lifeboat!"

The two of them raced for the railings, near where the lifeboat had been deployed.

"Grab them!" The security guards were too slow for them, as Roman and Trifa both jumped over them, landing in the boat.

Roman began fiddling with the motor, and just as a guy jumped over after them, the boat shot off like a rocket, and he landed in the water.

Roman waved at them. "Ta ta everyone!"

There were several shouts and curses thrown at them, and soon the ship disappeared out of sight.

Do what we do best

"Are we sure that he is fit to lead the White Fang?" Fennec asked. "He has been growing increasingly… unstable as of late."

Tock didn't even need to ask who they were talking about. Adam. She looked at Ilia, who was taking in every word they said.

This is so boring, innit?

Tock was only here for the money. She didn't care whether Adam was fit for the role or not, so long as she got her pay check, all would be fine.

She didn't even particularly care about Faunus equality, accepting that it would probably never happen. Not that mattered to her, she had her fair share of human friends.

She stared at Fennec and Corsac, who were monologuing, as usual. They were going on about how Adams goal had seemed to shifted from gaining equality for the Faunus, to gaining revenge on the few people who had left the White Fang to seek their own ends.

I don't see the point in it. Why put all your resources into going after a few people?

The overthrowing of Sienna Khan was set to happen soon, and Tock couldn't wait. It meant that she could stop lurking around and actually do something productive.

His supporters had gathered from different parts of Vale, Menagerie, even some from Atlas had managed to escape and join them.

"Well, we shall see how things unfold." Corsac was saying. "Thank you for attending, Sister Ilia and Sister Tock."

Sister Tock? Are you bloody joking?

How stupid. Fennec and Corsac bowed and they left the room.

"Maybe he isn't fit to lead us…" Ilia whispered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. I'm just wondering whether Adam is fit to lead us." She seemed a bit more comfortable around Tock now after that last conversation.

"Well, for what it's worth, lots of people seem to think he is."

Suddenly, the man himself walked in.

"Tock." He thrust his thumb to the door. "It's time." He left without another word.

"Time for what?"

Tock cracked her knuckles. "Time for our overthrowing of course." She smiled at her and slapped her on the arm. "Later kid."

She followed after Adam.

Ilia, after a moments thought, got up and went after her.

Do what we do best

"Ah yes, don't you just love the feeling of being out in the middle of nowhere, all alone, the only thing between you and sudden death-"

"I get it Roman. And your death wouldn't be sudden, you'd have to drown first."

Roman pointed his finger at her. "Don't be smart. Only I'm allowed to do that."

Trifa draped her arm over the edge of the boat, and moved her hand through the water, looking at her reflection. Her abdomen was still aching from where the man had grabbed her and almost squeezed her to death.

She would still be there if it hadn't been for Roman.

She looked at him. Speaking of which…

"You came back for me." She whispered, almost hoping he didn't hear.

No such luck.

"Huh, I guess I did." He fiddled around in his coat pocket, and groaned upon the realisation he had no cigars left.

She looked at him. He had his hat back on, and was staring at the broken moon in the sky.

She wanted to say thank you, but for some reason the words wouldn't come.

So they just sat there, staring into the distance.

"How do you think that happened?" He said suddenly.

She gave him a confused look. "How did what happen?"

"That." He pointed to the shattered moon. "How do you think the moon got shattered?"

She looked up at it, a brilliant beacon of white light.

"I'm…. not sure. Never really thought about it."

"Me and Neo used to talk about it sometimes…" He trailed off.

"Neo? Is that your small girl with the ice cream coloured hair?"

"Yep. That's her. Or, that was her."

That was her?

"Did she-"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Trifa stared at him. There was something glistening on his face.

Tears?

If those were tears, Trifa could have a pretty good guess of what had happened to Neo.

Should I… comfort him?

She didn't know how he would react.

"I'm sorry." There was nothing else to be said.

He didn't say anything.

That's when she finally said it.

"Thank you."

"What?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For coming back to me on the boat… You could have just left, but you didn't. You came back."

He shrugged. "Your welcome."

"I didn't think you would. I guess all the things I heard about you in the White Fang were wrong."

He looked back at her, and their eyes met for what felt like a eternity.

This is awkward.

Were they supposed to hug now or something?

He may not appreciate it, but after seeing those tears on his face, after coming back for her, after not treating her the way she thought he would, screw it, he deserved one.

She suddenly came forward, drawing him into a embrace. He didn't react, didn't even say anything.

For a moment, she thought he would push her away, try and throw her off. But he didn't. In fact, looking at his face, he seemed more surprised than anything else.

And a moment later, she felt him return the hug.

Looking at the moon, she then began to wonder how it had happened. Was it simply always like that? Or had a otherworldly force smashed it? They would probably never know.

"Now, I know we're underneath the moonlight, but if you dare try and kiss me, your dead."

She laughed, and slowly drew away from him. She couldn't see him clearly, but she knew he had appreciated that, even if he wouldn't say.

"Now, Archane, time to get some shut eye. You can go first and I'll keep watch."

She nodded and laid down, allowing her legs to drape over the side of the boat. She knew that her back would be screaming in agony when she woke up, but she didn't care. She hadn't even realised how tired she was.

Her last sight before falling asleep was of him, standing up, cane in hand, surveying the sea before sleep took her.

Do what we do best

Damn it! Why did you have to die Roman?! Why did you have to die on me like that?!

Also, I wonder what a Roman and Trifa ship name would be? Now, don't get excited, because I don't plan on them becoming lovers, but it's still fun to think about it.

The Orange Spider?

Archanwick?

Those two are pretty bad.

So anyway, join me next time for a new episode of "Neo kills everyone!"

Thanks for reading and have a good day!