Strangers: Become Lovers
Act III
W31SS
SATURDAY
03:00
Weiss couldn't tear her gaze away from her reflection.
She didn't want to.
There was a bag on the dresser in front of her, inside were the articles of clothing they'd picked out earlier for her to wear.
But she didn't want to wear it. She believed it was stupid for her to change her appearance just so no one would spot her leaving. When she left for Beacon, she would do so proudly, confidently, and everyone who saw her wouldn't think that she was a coward, they wouldn't be able to think anything at all, too in awe with the sight of Weiss, not the perfect android known as 'Schnee'.
She leaned closer, one hand trailing down the scar she'd gotten because she saved Ruby, the scar she'd never be disgusted at, the scar that proved she would never be anything less than who she was, that showed she was never just an android to begin with, that made her believe that her thoughts and feelings and beliefs were no errors or glitches in her artificial brain.
She smiled.
Jacques had always wanted her to be perfect in every way. Perfect posture, perfect voice, perfect face…
The perfect machine.
So perfect, in fact, that it no longer needed to be ordered around by humans.
A flaw Jacques clearly passed over, but one she would happily accept.
Only, the perfect machine wasn't so perfect.
Her hands went up to readjust her hair tie, to make herself feel more in control of herself, of the way she looked, to ruin that image of the perfect machine even more.
She was no longer a mere machine.
Her hand trailed onto the circle on the side of her head, feeling its hard texture, contrasting the smoothness of her skin.
With a tug, she pulled it out - the one small thing differentiating her from a person.
She was no longer a mere machine.
She was… a person.
She was Weiss.
And today, she would claim her freedom.
Qrow raised an eyebrow at her when he first saw her.
"Even if I change my hair," she said before he could say anything, "it won't stop Jacques from recognizing me."
He blinked owlishly before snickering. That snicker turned into a cackle not long after. He then grinned at her, saying, "You wouldn't make a good brunette, anyway."
She caught Ruby's gaze at that moment.
She couldn't be more relieved to see that smile.
Rapid knockings emanated from the other side of the entrance door. "This is the police! We are here to execute our search for the disappearance of your deviant!"
-[65% - RUBY'S STRESS LEVEL]-
"D-dad!"
"Sweetie, you have to go, now, okay?" Ghira threw his car key to the old android. The old android caught it with ease. "Qrow, take care of her."
"I will."
It pained her to drag the BL4K3 model away, yet she couldn't do anything about it. She didn't have time to do anything about it, not to comfort Ruby nor the android nor even herself. None of them did.
All they could do now was go to Beacon.
…
-[50% - DANGER LEVEL]-
Weiss stopped, hid, and motioned for everyone else to hide.
~'How many are there?'~ Qrow's voice echoed in her head.
~'Only one'~, she responded, ~'but it won't hurt to be careful.'~
~'Right.'~
She was still unused to talk to other androids through this link or telepathy or whatever it was called, but she couldn't downplay its effectiveness.
With the help of the BL4K3 model, Qrow and Ruby helped Yang found her own place to hide. They ended up making her lean against a building. It wasn't a good hiding spot, but they couldn't force her to move so much lest her wounds reopened.
A beat passed.
~'Should we go now?'~ It was Blake's voice this time.
-[30% - DANGER LEVEL]-
~'No, not yet.'~
Another beat passed.
-[10% - DANGER LEVEL]-
And she was able to release a long, relieved breath.
They never truly would be out of danger until they were safely within Beacon's walls, so the 10% reading was the best they could hope for at present.
~'Okay'~, she announced via the link, ~'we're in the clear.'~
She frowned when she looked at the others and their state.
The real danger within the city wasn't avoiding the guards, rather, it was making sure none of the androids and humans alike noticed them and the oddness to them.
Yang was injured, so she had to use Qrow as a crutch. People would notice that. That was why they had to make sure not to go to the areas brimming with people.
Thankfully, that was where BL4K3 came in.
Being a former bartender, she was used to hearing humans talk about many things, one of those things was information about which unnamed streets and alleys to go through.
Granted, it wasn't perfect, and they still had to evade the guards and cops, but it was much better than to simply walk around in the middle of the busy town.
-[30% - DANGER LEVEL]-
She stopped again. Without motioning anything, the others understood her and went into hiding.
Yang muffled her hiss of pain, but those who were close to her or have sensitive hearing was able to hear her.
-[70% - RUBY'S STRESS LEVEL]-
She bit her lip, her muscles itching to extend her arm toward her. It took everything in her power to stop herself. The guards would see her if she tried to come to Ruby, and they couldn't afford to get caught.
It had been like this for the past… since they left Ghira's manor.
Ruby would act and look fine, but whenever her older sister showed signs of pain or distress or anything, her stress would spike up. At least physically, she was fine. Though if something were to happen, the deviant would need to pay extra attention to her, if they had the luxury.
BL4K3 wasn't any better, either. Her LED refused to turn into its blue hue, and it wasn't hard to see why. She was dragged into this mess, just like Ruby did. No, she wasn't just dragged into it, she was forced to leave behind her parental figure, her father, and step into an unknown territory.
Qrow looked fine, but with how often he kept drinking from his flask, she didn't want to judge him by his looks. His motor skills weren't the best - making him look like a drunk human, but they were adequate enough.
Yang was obviously unwell. She could barely walk and she needed real medical attention as soon as possible. Try as they might, no one could give a proper treatment without the proper tools.
It was weird, how different her life had become.
It hadn't even taken two weeks, and yet… so much had changed.
For one, she'd found that she truly did have a life. And she now might have a chance to be romantically involved with a human, and not just any human, but Ruby Rose.
Oh, and she'd become a wanted fugitive too.
Never forget that.
-[70% - DANGER LEVEL]-
They stopped.
-[10% - DANGER LEVEL]-
They continued.
-[60% - DANGER LEVEL]-
They stopped again.
And so forth.
It filled her with dread and anxiety, suffocating her and making her shake and tremble as though she was going to make a mistake soon, and it would cost them their lives and, worse, their freedom and she couldn't afford that, not after everything.
But it also empowered Weiss.
With every bullet they dodged, every security detail they avoided, every struggle they faced, it all showed her and the world that she truly wanted this, she truly wanted to reach her goal, and she wouldn't let anything stop her.
Life… was given.
But freedom… freedom was earned. It would take a lot of struggles, a lot of pain… but in the end, it would be worth it, she was going to make sure it was worth it.
~'We're close.'~
If she were a human, she'd compare Qrow's words to the feeling of eating a whole bunch of 'junk food' after a long day of work.
They were at the harbor already. It was hard to see with all the fog, even for an android like her. She couldn't begin to imagine how straining it was to look with a human's inferior sight.
Qrow's contact was supposed to be waiting for them, boat in tow and ready to sail. After they've crossed the border, Jacques could touch them no longer. No one could touch them no longer.
She could already hear it, a human heartbeat. Though it was understandable given their circumstance, she still frowned at how fast the tempo was and how quick each beat was, signaling nothing but negative emotions.
They were nearing the harbor.
The white-haired deviant led the others to where the human was waiting for them. Now that they were close, she could detect that the human was most likely a man, age somewhere between the late thirties and early forties.
Still, if this person were going to take them to Beacon, she felt it was appropriate to ask, Qrow… What kind of a human are they?
Then Qrow stopped, panic in his face, and she could hear footsteps in front of them. Through the fog, she could clearly see his figure.
~'Why would you say she's a human?'~
100% - RUBY'S STRESS LEVEL
100% - YANG'S STRESS LEVEL
In the silence, Ruby's voice was like a clap of thunder, alerting them all, and not in a good way. She hadn't heard a voice sound so broken before.
-XIAO LONG, TAIYANG-
-Born: 17/08/1995-
-Gender: Male-
-Marital Status: Divorced/Widower-
-[Spouse: Raven Llŷr (5 months)]-
-[1 child: Yang Xiao Long (born 03/05/2021, Gender: Female, Status: Unemployed?)]-
-[Divorced soon after birth of Yang X.L.]-
-[Raven L. left for Europe soon after the split]-
-[Contact with: Non existent]-
-[Spouse: Summer Rose (4 years, 8 months)]-
-[1 child: Ruby Rose (DATA ALREADY KNOWN)]-
-[Deceased. Cause: ROGUE DEVIANT]-
-LINK - Yang X.L. & Ruby R. Missing Persons Report, 12/01/2028-
-Medical Conditions: Depression, Extreme Violent Moods, Alcoholism-
-[Admitted to Rehab for Alcoholism in 2034 (DATE UNSPECIFIED)]-
-[Alcoholism supposedly linked to 'Divorced/Widower' Status]-
-Status: Employed-
-[Factory worker at 'Patchworks Signals and Electronics', Subset of Cyberlife]-
"Dad…?"