Chapter 11:
Do what we do best
"At last! A city!" Roman exclaimed. There was one beginning to form in the distance. "The stars have finally aligned in our favour!"
"About time..." Trifa muttered. She looked as they drew closer to the town. It seemed relatively big.
"So, what do we do when we get there?" She asked.
"Well, first, we'll need to check into a apartment of some kind. Then, we hang around for a while, and figure out what we're going to do from there." He seemed in a much better mood now, whistling as they drew closer.
Faunus equality… If only I thought that was still possible.
Is that what he had said? Had she heard him right? Did Roman really think that?
And then there was that nightmare… What had that been about?
Don't think about it now. Don't think about the White Fang, or Adam. Just focus on what's happening now.
That was proving to be extremely hard though. Especially after what Adam had said at the Fall of Beacon…
She couldn't help but be worried. He was always one to carry through on threats. It scared her, scared her to think about what would happen. If he came all by himself, could they take him? But no, he wouldn't come all by himself, he was smarter than that.
It's time I got what I deserved…
What did he think he deserved? Power? Control? The humans to kneel at their feet and beg for mercy? Justice? Equality? That can't be what he was looking for. No, what he was looking for was her. And Blake.
"Oi, are you daydreaming again?"
"What, no! I was listening."
"What did I just say then?"
"Oi, are you daydreaming again. That's what you said."
"No, I meant before that Little Miss Clever."
"You said that we would hang around for a while and figure out what we're going to do from there." She smirked as Roman sighed very loudly.
"You know what? Doesn't even matter."
They were almost there thankfully. Once they were inside, Roman got straight to work looking for a hotel of some sort. Trifa couldn't be bothered to help. The town was alive and full of people, unlike Vale at the moment. It was still overrun with Grimm, although the huntsmen that had been deployed were slowly working there way through and killing them all.
"If I was a hotel, where would I be?" Roman wondered aloud.
"Roman, you can't be a hotel. It's a stationary building, it can't move or talk or have feelings."
"Are you seriously trying to one up me in the clever department? Because I'm afraid that is not possible."
She smiled and rolled her eyes. He continued driving around.
"Oh come on!" Roman exclaimed. "Does this city seriously have no hotels? I didn't even think a city with no hotels was possible!"
Eventually, he managed to find one. It was a tall building, slapped right in the middle of the city, which wasn't ideal considering Romans' thief status, but it would have to do. He drove into the car park, and parked the car.
"Okay, let's hope the security here isn't too high."
They both got out and walked up to the front door. As soon as they both entered…
"It's Roman Torchwick!"
"The gentleman thief of Vale!"
"The Mad Hatter!"
"The guy with a cane which transforms into a gun! Where can I get one of those?"
"Quick, arrest him!"
"Who's that girl?"
"Is she a Faunus?"
"What's he doing here?"
There was so much shouting and screaming that they were both able to quickly run over to the receptionists desk.
"Thank you everyone! No, I'm not doing autographs! Can you all move out of the way please?"
"Grab him!"
"Stop him!"
Suddenly, Roman fired a shot out of Melodic Cugel, which blew up a nearby painting. Everyone fell quiet quickly.
"Now, I have a announcement to make. I am not actually Roman Torchwick! I am Perry Derry! His secret twin brother."
Gasps went up from within the crowd.
"Twin brother?"
"I didn't know he had a twin brother!"
"Yes! For years, my vile sibling has lied, stole and cheated. But you will all be very happy to know he is now dead!"
A loud cheer went up.
I can't believe this is actually working. Roman thought to himself. How stupid are some people nowadays?
"So, please everyone, can you all continue with your day to day lives and allow me and my friend to stay here?"
There were murmurs of "Yes" and "Sorry to disturb you."
"Great! On you go then!"
The normal chatter started back up again. Roman turned back to the receptionist.
They rented out the room and were given a key.
Do what we do best
As soon as they both entered the room, Roman broke out laughing.
"That worked! I can't believe that actually worked!" He fell down onto the couch and continued to laugh. "How stupid are some people? They fell for it! They actually fell for it! I thought we were goners!"
His entire body shook he was laughing so hard. Trifa began to worry he might laugh himself to death. But it was quite funny and she couldn't help sniggering a bit.
"Right, right, you want to calm down?"
"Oh, oh-ho! That has to be the greatest thing that has happened ever!" He then immediately thought:
What about meeting Neo?
The laughter soon stopped after that. He sat up on the couch, and quietly continued chuckling.
Trifa took a look around the apartment. It was small, well kept, and quite clean surprisingly. There was a kitchen bit, a living room bit, a bedroom and a bathroom. Not the grandest accommodation she had ever stayed in, but it would do.
"Man, Perry Derry for the win!" He put his fist into the air. "My brilliant mind thinks up of another brilliant name!"
Another brilliant name? Trifa thought. Oh joy. Wonder what his others were.
Do what we do best
"Where could they be?"
Ilia was rather quiet. She was mainly leaving it up to Tock to figure it out.
"Come on now dear. Help me out a bit here. You know them two better than I do, where would they be?"
That was the problem. Ilia honestly didn't know. Tock sighed.
"Well, we're hardly getting anywhere with this. We might as well ask someone."
Bringing up the images of Trifa and Blake on her scroll, Tock walked into the nearest shop and rang the bell at the desk.
"One second!" A man called out from the back. Tock began tapping her fingers against the desk.
When he came out, he was taken aback by Tock's Faunus features, but came over anyway.
"How can I help you?"
"I was actually wondering if you had seen someone." He placed her scroll on the desk. The man looked at it, and his eyes widened immediately.
"I haven't seen her," He pointed to the image of Blake. "But I have seen her.." He motioned to Trifa. Tock grinned.
"Have you now? Where?"
"She was on a boat I was on, with that Torchwick guy. They both got off and got away."
"Where was the boat heading?"
"Mistral. Right here."
"So there in Mistral somewhere?"
"Yes, your in the right continent. Just need to work your way through all the different cities."
"Thank you very much."
"Your welcome."
Tock came back out to Ilia sitting on a bench. "There here. In Mistral somewhere."
Ilia's eyes widened. "Serious?"
"Yep." Tock sat next to her. "It's just where in Mistral that might be the problem. I'll let Adam know we're in the right place."
She phoned Adam. As she filled him in, Ilia wondered what she would do when she saw Trifa again. Could she really bring her to Adam? He would kill her!
But did she really have a choice?
Do what we do best
"Here, why don't you wear this?" Roman held up a "Don't do anything to the cook" apron. Trifa rolled her eyes. Roman had unsurprisingly given her the task of making them something to eat, and she had went out to one of the stores and bought stuff. He had made the excuse that his cooking was the most "vile rotten" thing to ever exist.
She wasn't exactly a master chief, but she knew the basics, so that was something.
Maybe I should pour loads of chilli sauce on his…
That would be funny. The image of Roman trying desperately to cool his mouth down gave her great pleasure indeed.
But there was one problem. She didn't have any chilli sauce. That was a shame.
"Is it nearly finished?"
"Yes Roman."
"Good." He came walking in. "I'm starving. What are you making anyway?"
"Chicken curry."
"Or should I say, spider curry?" He began laughing at his own bad joke.
"Oh haha, get it, cause I'm a spider Faunus, and a chicken is a animal? Yes Roman, it's hilarious. You must be very proud of yourself."
"I'm always very proud of myself. Why wouldn't I be?"
"If you don't stop, this boiling hot water is going over your head." She held up the saucepan threateningly.
"It wouldn't do anything. My hat is indestructible." He readjusted it for the 50th time.
"Maybe your semblance is linked to your hat." Trifa jokingly suggested.
"Hmm, well I haven't unlocked mines yet, so it's a possibility."
She looked around in surprise. "Have you not?"
"No."
"Oh, well I haven't either." She had given up trying a long time ago.
"Fair enough." He walked towards the table and sat down. She began to put the food onto the plates. She gave herself slightly more. After all, she had made it.
Bringing the two plates out, she set her own down first, just to annoy him, and then very slowly set his down.
She sat down herself, removing her gloves, and began to eat it. She was expecting a loud "Ugh, this is disgusting!", but it didn't come.
"You know", Roman said. "This isn't half bad. Where did you learn how to cook?"
"It's not that hard. You just read a recipe and make the stuff. But since men don't cook, you wouldn't understand."
"Men don't cook? If that's not sexist, then I don't know what is."
"It's true though. When I was in the White Fang, and we used to hide out in apartments and things, it was always the women doing the cooking."
"Why did you join the White Fang anyway?" Roman has asked this before, but he was still curious.
He was expected a snappy "None of your business" response, but instead she simply sighed, and looked at him.
"I used to work in the labour mines in Atlas." Roman spat out his drink.
"Come again?"
"I used to work in the labour mines. Not for all my life, but when I was about ten years old, my mom died suddenly, from a heart attack. Then, my dad and I were sought out and brought to the mines. I worked there for four years. It was….horrific. I'll never forget those times. But one day, we all heard of a new organisation. One called the White Fang, who were infiltrating the mines and removing Faunus from them. It gave me hope in a very dark time."
"Not long after, me and a group of young Faunus were saved from those mines, and we joined them. This was when Ghira was still the leader. Sienna was there too. She taught us how to fight, how to defend ourselves, how to use our traits to our advantage. So, when I was fully trained, I became a full time member."
"When Ghira stepped down, Sienna ordered us to go wild. We weren't going to achieve it through peace, but through violence. But there was one event that I think was the main turning point in me leaving, as well as Adam of course."
"It was during a mission. We went after a train, a train full of people on it. We wrecked havoc. Killing people left, right and centre. Whenever I saw a young boy trying to crawl away, I went after him. But when it came to stabbing him-"
"You couldn't do it."
She sighed. "Yes. I saw the fear in his eyes, and I just couldn't. It was in that moment, I realised I didn't want this. I didn't want to turn into someone like Adam. I didn't want to be a monster. Not long after that, Yuma tried to run. But Adam killed him. At that moment, I knew it was time to run. I couldn't stick around anymore."
She fell silent.
"Look, I'm not great at the whole sympathy thing-" Roman began to say.
"And you shouldn't feel sympathy. I have killed humans. I have killed mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. You shouldn't feel bad for me."
"Maybe so, but you had your reasons for it. And at least you stopped before you became a second Adam."
"Maybe your right. Also, Roman?"
"Yes?"
"Thanks."
He looked confused. "For what?"
She smiled at him. "For being here."
"Oh, well, um, your welcome?"
She finished her food, and stood up, picking up her plate and walking away. Roman watched her.
A single light, a single friend huh?
Do what we do best
I love One Thing. It and Lionised are probably my two favourite songs in the V6 soundtrack.
Thanks for reading and have a good day!