Forced Equality
RWBY is owned and created by RoosterTeeth.
Summary: The White Fang has come up with a new violent and forceful way to make faunas the superior race and involves a certain heiress.
The moment the she set foot off the airship from Beacon academy Weiss felt uneasy in a sense that something would go wrong. Wrong being on the level of someone walking by and snagging Yang's hair kind of wrong. The bad kind. Even if it would be amusing, she smirked to herself.
"So, we're here. Where to first Ruby?" Blake asks the leader.
"Weapons maintenance obviously." The girl in question said. Running in the direction of the weapons maintenance store. Following her lead the group approached in a slightly more calm manner. Reaching the store front the team eyed up the door before Ruby led them in.
"Guys, I know what your still thinking, 'Why on Remnant is Ruby going to allow people to touch her baby?' Well that, team, is a good question because, you see-" She was interrupted again.
"We visited here before we came to Beacon and once before again with uncle Qrow." Yang finished the potential story quickly.
"I see." Weiss hums, inspecting the gear around the room while Blake just nods. "They certainly look qualified." Weiss observed. Ruby quickly grabs Myrtenaster and Gambol Shroud and placed them carefully onto the store front's counter before her victims could retort. Crescent Rose and Ember Celica was also placed upon the store counter.
The clerk nodded and placed the weapons on a rack behind him. "I'll figure them out." He stated with conviction.
"Excuse me?" Weiss sounded alarmed at his response.
"Relax Weiss, I called them before we came." Ruby beamed. Blake put a hand on Weiss' shoulder.
"Calm down, what's the worst that could happen? If it comes down to it we have teeth." Blake said with a small smile.
"Kitties got claws too." Yang said with a punch to Blake's arm.
"Yang." Was the warning response she received.
"Okay team! Lets go!" Ruby led the team out the door again into the lightly crowded street and spotted a monkey faunas she sought out to greet. "Man, its pretty busy today, hey Sun!"
"Ruby, hey what's your team out here for this time?" Sun began a conversation.
"Sup, Snow Angel." Neptune had slipped past the front line defence of Ruby and Yang and approached the heiress and cat faunas. Sighing the heiress pinched the bridge of her nose to fend off an oncoming headache.
"Neptune, we've gone over this many times. Stop. With. The. Names." Weiss seemed tired of his shenanigans and honestly so was Blake.
"Nice to see you too, Neptune. Care to tell us why your here?" Blake averted a lecture.
"Oh right, Me and Sun caught wind of something big going down." He leaned in and whispered. "Something about another WhiteFang movement." He moved away and looked around sceptically almost searchingly.
"What?!" Blake and Weiss harshly whispered back. "I thought they were done with their movements after Torchwick." Blake stated.
"Yeah well, its what we heard from a… um, reliable Source."
"You sound confident." Weiss stated with a scowl.
"Well, I'm confident its nothing big. Just a few angry Faunas." He said with a scratch to his head.
Blake scowled at him,"That's how something always starts."
"We'll see you around then Ruby, Yang." Sun walked up to Neptune. "Lets go and… scout!" He finished and dragged Neptune away by the hand. Both Ruby and Yang waving them off but Blake and Weiss looked at each other sceptically.
Ruby looked excited before shouting. "Onwards! To the Bakery!"
"Wait Ruby, I'm not so sure. Maybe Weiss was right to be a bit worried about leaving our weapons before we came." Blake seemed to worry a bit a Neptune's news. However it seemed like Sun hadn't told the red and yellow members of their team what Neptune had told them. Then again Neptune had a flair for the dramatic but then again, again he probably wouldn't joke about the sensitive topic.
"C'mon Blakey, lets just go enjoy the town!" Yang grabbed Blake's arm and Ruby grabbed Weiss' before heading off.
"Ugh Yang." Blake snapped back.
"Whoa, you okay?" Yang questioned with immediate worry. Blake glanced at Weiss, Yang caught it a glanced at her too. Weiss looked as spooked as Blake did if not more.
"No, its nothing. I'm sure Sun and Neptune are looking for something, they have our contact info if something comes up." Weiss discreetly threw out that reassurance for Blake and maybe even for herself.
Weiss pushed Ruby off her arm as well. "I can walk by myself, Ruby." The other girl just chuckled awkwardly with a scratch to her head.
Before the team even reached the bakery, they could smell it. Just as they could see the queue outside the bakery before they reached it. "Nooooo!" Ruby dramatically fell to her knees, her hood draping over her head in defeat with a slump to the floor.
"Awh Rubes, don't worry. We only have to wait a bit." Attempting to reason with her little sister. Yang reached down to pull her up to her feet and patted her on the back. "Ok guys, you know what? I'll wait in line for you all." Yang looked triumphant.
Ruby gasped in what sounded like awe at her sister. "Yang! You. Your a hero." Ruby glomped her sister dramatically with a sniffle.
"It's ok sis. I'll always be here for you."
Weiss and Blake simply raised an eyebrow to the display. "Well then, since you don't mind waiting. Do you also mind if we walk around town without you for a bit?" Blake asked first.
Yang let go of her sister, putting an end to the embarrassing public display of theatrics. "Nah, you can get your boring bits done with and we can meet up at the park." Yang said with a grin.
"Oh, how generous of you." Blake drily remarked.
Blake turned to Weiss. "I'm going to go to the 'boring' book store, care to join me Weiss?" Weiss stopping to consider the question finally answered.
"Yes, I think I will. I need some material to review."
Ruby bounced towards the two girls, "Oh! Oh! I'm coming too! A new comic just came out a few weeks ago, they might have it! Meet you at the park Yang!" Ruby yelled as the girls turned to leave Yang yawning in line.
Trekking back down the main street the girls immediately came to a small book shop. The staple of every Team RWBY trip to Vale. Blake sighed in content as she stepped through the doors to the book shop with the jingle of the bell signalling customers had just walked in. The clerk perked up from his chair with an eager grin towards RWB.
Blake basically bee-lined straight towards the Romance section, trying to play it off she went into Science Fiction. Weiss just watched on, really, who did she think she was fooling. She thought with a huff as she strode into the Dust studies section. Realising there was almost no new material she didn't already read. May as well check out the basics and advanced again. Picking up the books she sat down and began to shift through the worn books before checking out.
Ruby still trying to read cover to back of the new comic she found before Blake was finished saw Weiss sit down with her own book choice. Walking over and sitting down at the table her friend, no, best friend got she saw what she was reading. "Again, Weiss?" Ruby sounded almost bored.
"Hey, touching up on basics doesn't hurt." Weiss haughtily countered before flicking to the next page quietly. Ruby began reading her own with an amused sigh at her best friend.
Blake was currently sifting through more smut than the average person could handle before settling on three perfect titles with a small smile, hugging them to her chest and sneakily adding a sci-fi to the top of the pile, she went to the check out. The clerk, his never changing eager smile, scanned the books and placed them flat side down, as if he knew she'd want the sci-fi hiding her choices. "Thank you for coming!" He said with that same smile.
Blake too sat down with her friends. "I'm done." She simply stated.
"Oh, good. I was getting worried. I'm going to check these out again." Weiss walked to the counter.
"Annnd done." Ruby closed her comic with a smile.
"Already?" Blake asked in almost shock.
"Haha, yeah. I'm a fast reader." Was all that was heard as Ruby shot down the aisle to put the comic back.
"Ok, I'm ready. I suppose that's the 'boring' bit then." Weiss said holding her two books in her arms.
"Yang should be done by now, it's been 20 minutes since we got here." Blake nodded to her team mate.
Ruby shot up to the girls, "Oh! I'm so excited! I hope she got me cookies! I'll go find her, meetyouguysthere!" Was her speedy speech as she ran through the door, the bell clanging so loud it made Blake recoil from the noise.
Weiss saw her team mate flinch and immediately steadied her with a hand to her arm. Blake appreciatively nodded and began to walk casually out the door with Weiss.
Weiss' scroll went off and she saw that it was an unknown number. What I thought I blocked these-
"Weiss, its probably a telemarketer." Blake reasoned.
"No, it can't be, my scroll blocks those kinds of calls." Weiss stared at the number, racking her brain for some kind of signal.
"I'm taking the call, I'll meet you in the park. Message me." Weiss said as she walked a bit down an alley to take it quietly and privately. Blake simply nodded and strode towards the park with her bag of books in hand. Before completely leaving the area Blake quickly looked back for the heiress. Not seeing her. It must be an important call.
Blake walked through the park watching the other people around her. Many playing with pets or with friends, generally having a good time. That thought alone set a worry in motion. What was Neptune on about, jokes like that aren't funny and I doubt it was supposed to be. Who was his source? It had to come from somewhere good otherwise what was the point in telling us.
A call from a blonde girls voice pulled her out her thought."Blake! Over here!" Looking up from the ground Blake saw Yang with a cookie in her mouth, and several in her sisters. Either the cookies were melting in Ruby or Ruby was melting into them.
"Hey." Blake said as she approached the two.
"Here, bread." From Yang.
"Uhm thanks? Is this all you got?" Blake asked, it was literally a fish shaped piece of bread. Blake took a bite. Good fish shaped bread. "Cute joke." Blake retorted.
"Yeah well, just to keep the cat happy. And then a blueberry muffin for Weiss obviously, nothing too outstretched from her high quality baked goods tastes." Yang grinned.
Yang looked beyond Blake searching for said heiress. "Where is she anyway?" Now looking to Blake with an eyebrow raised.
"She had a call to make, unknown number, but she said she should take it all the same. So she shouldn't be too long." Blake sat on the bench next to Yang and kept an eye out for Weiss too.
The three tucked into their lunch with no sign of Weiss yet. "Ok, its been like, 15 minutes? A scroll call is not usually that long. And no way she would let a marketer hold her up for lunch." Ruby glances around frantically.
"You mean only 15 minutes, she's lecturing the poor guy!" Yang jeered and swayed playfully into Ruby that garnered a laugh from all of them.
"5 more minutes and we'll give her a call." Blake being the current acting voice of reason on her team. The two nodded.
"Crescent Rose is going to be sparkling by the time we get back, I'm so excited to see her. Oh! Yang, lets spar when we get back. I wanna test her shine." Ruby said with a glimmer in her eyes.
"Haha, sure Rubes. But Ember Celica is going to be on point when we get our weapons back." Yang fired back with a grin.
Blake decided to play along, "We all know that you'll get out witted by me, shiny weapon or not." They all laughed but the jokes felt a bit lacking without Weiss' finesse or swift strike retorts and the promise of a beat down.
"Lets give her a call now." Ruby said, pulling out her scroll with a frown. The others agreed. "Voicemail?" Ruby questioned. Trying again. "No, its not getting through." Ruby stood up quickly and began searching for any white in the distance.
"Maybe she's still on call?" Yang suggested.
Blake shook her head. "No it'd tell you that and to call back later, something is wrong."
"What could be wrong Blake? Your panicking for nothing, she's probably got stuck in something or lost." Again Yang tried to soothe the teams starting to fray nerves.
"And how likely is that Yang? She's not an idiot." Blake immediately shot back.
"Whoa, ok. I'm sorry, I didn't realise you were so pent up about this." Yang scratched the back of her head.
Ruby entering team leader mode noticed Blake's unusual distress.
"Blake? What's wrong?" Blake looked worried, almost sweating.
"I, I think it could be nothing but…" Blake looked to them both, "Neptune said something unnerving earlier, it kind of caught me and Weiss off guard but it's not really something to joke about. And it came out of nowhere and I don't know why he could've gotten hold of such information but-" She was interrupted.
"Blake, breathe. What the heck where you told." Yang had placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort. Her worry had rubbed off on the two.
"Neptune, he said that… there was some kind of WhiteFang Movement that he got from a reliable source. But even he didn't seem too confident." Blake revealed.
"What the hell Blake. We agreed to tell each other shit like this sooner." Yang quickly glanced around and hissed through gritted teeth.
"Yang, now is not the time. Blake where was she last. Lets just make sure, and we can call Neptune on the way." Ruby reasoned with conviction.
"Right, your right. Ok follow me."
Ruby and Yang followed Blake back through the park and through the streets. "C'mon Neptune, pick up." Yang was getting frustrated at the lack of people actually answering their scrolls right now, A beep signalled that the person had picked up.
"Hey Yang, wassup?" The receiver asked coolly.
"I don't know Neptune, you tell me!" Yang clenched her jaw in annoyance, mostly at how chill he sounded when her team was having a crisis.
"Whoa, what is actually wrong?" his voice wavered.
"Tell me who on Remnant told you about this so called 'Faunas Movement' or-"
"Whoa! What happened?! It was real?!"
"Yeah, she went down this alley right here." Blake said.
"Oh no, these are the books Weiss checked out Blake!" Ruby stated frantically, starting to lose bit of her previous cool.
"Crap Neptune, tell me." Yang pleaded.
"Right um, so this guy on the street approaches me and Sun, was wearing um… a uh. Like a black poncho thing with a bandana over his eyes. Had a super long grey beard. A weirdo. And he had some younger guys, one who was wearing a super fly blue hoodie, won't forget. They were both faunas. Trying to get him to join or something, must've thought I was faunas too 'cause they didn't question me at all." He attempted to recall.
"Some old beggar with a tribe? Seriously?! That's your Intel?! Weiss is gone!" Yang lost it. Her friend would never just throw knowledge on paper to the floor. Something had happened and that something wasn't good.
" Um! The group said something about underground, and a small radio studio they own to broadcast their Movement." He recalled further, worried for his friend and his own life if he had nothing else to say.
"Okay, okay. Anything else, anything at all."
"I'm really sorry Yang, that's all I know."
"Call me when you know more."
"On it."
Closing her scroll, Yang turned steadied herself. Blake and Ruby searching for further clues. A struggle, blood, teeth. Anything. A scroll, it looked like a new model. Most likely Weiss'. Ruby picked it up and tried for a password. No such luck. She sniffled "We need a team password." She stated glumly.
"We'll take it to JNPR later, they could probably help, Rubes."
Blake noticed glass, broken. And blood. Whatever happened, Weiss didn't go down without a fight. That thought made her scared for Weiss' but also she hoped that Weiss' did significant damage to whoever did this. Blood. A trail. "Guys! A trail." She wiped away her feelings of guilt and incompetence as she followed on the lead. Someone was dumb enough to fight in daylight and not clean up.
"Yang, what did Neptune say?" Ruby asked through sniffles and following Blake.
"Some faunas got her. An old guy with a long beard and bandana on his eyes with a group of younger people, one with a blue jacket." Yang explained further. Blake got a sinking feeling in her stomach.
As the team progressed it looked like the damage in the alley got worse the more secluded it became. "She must've been caught off guard and dragged." Ruby deduced with a frown, inspection the damage.
"More blood, concentrated over-" Blake paused mid sentence and the girls rushed over. A man, an obviously faunas man with two really large sharp teeth, protruding past his chin, covered in blood and breathing heavy. A piece of glass shoved into his chest.
He looked up and chuckled deeply. "A fighter. That Schnee. Clearly the Movement weren't clever enough to kill me since here you are."
"Who the hell are you?" Yang's eyes turned red, an incredibly heat bursting around her, hair glowing and being a torch in the dark alley that should be sunlit.
"A good question. That I'm almost wanting to answer." He dry heaved, he was dying. "Almost."
"Where is Weiss. Now." Yang demanded again. "Gone. Taken to be in care of our little Movement. We WhiteFang do still want equality you know, the faunas will get it." He smirked even though he knew intimidation wouldn't work for a dying man, paler than the single peak of cloud above them.
Blake bent down. "Fighting won't get us the kind of equality we want." She bit back a snarl.
"Yeah. I'm starting to get that, now that they left me for dead ha-" His laugh cut short by a raspy cough and a spurt of blood dripping down his chin, he slumped back into the wall between the bins. "A radio station, code named The Great Whites. An awful name. Find it,"
Ruby pushed Yang and Blake away. "Please, I'm sure we can help you. Just-"
"Ruby. Lets go," Yang put a hand on her sisters shoulder. "he didn't deserve the help anyway." She finished darkly without a second glance to the dead faunas. And Blake as heartbroken as ever, to find that the WhiteFang had done something more atrocious than the the last.
AN- A bit longer than the last and hopefully a writing improvement, spent a while trying to look at clearer styles of writing and tried to implement it. thanks for reading if you got this far! Really appreciate reviews but they aren't mandatory!
Next update will be up before the its already done lol so stay tuned ;)