The Schnee Black Sheep

I DON'T OWN RWBY


Chapter 42: Heist Part 1 – Secrets

"We are going to pull a heist." Coal exclaimed with an evil grin prompting Blake to raise an eyebrow uncontrollably.

"A heist?" She questioned. "Is anything you do actually legal?" Coal hummed over the questioned as he reached back into his wardrobe and pulled out a black turtleneck.

"Maybe?" He answered with a shrug. "Regardless Blake, go get changed already."

"Who else is coming with us?"

"Just us two…" Coal answered with a muffled voice as he tried to force the turtleneck over his head. "Everyone else is either too loud or inexperienced for this type of mission, you've got your ninja skills and your experience as the Black Cat, you're the obvious choice."

"So you just want to use me?" Blake said in a questioning tone knowing full well that if her blond haired partner had been around then that question would have been interpreted wrong.

"Well you wouldn't believe me if I said I just wanted to spend a little bit of quality time with you so…" Coal answered as he ripped the shirt over his head once more. "Damn I could have sworn I just bought this thing." He grumbled at the material that was now far too small for his bigger, preadult body.

"Are you implying that you secretly want to spend time with me?" Blake question walking up to the shirtless boy and locking eyes with him, a small smile uncontrollably pulling at her lips. Internally she immediately started to question why she had said that in the first place but what she was more worried about, was how her body completely reacted on its own accord and closed the gap between the two. They were mere inches apart by the time she finished her question. Coal started smirking himself as he edged even closer to the Faunus, still Blake didn't feel the slightest bit uncomfortable by the action, worried where this was going maybe, but not at all uncomfortable.

"And so what if I am?" Coal asked grinning his usual childish grin. Blake pushed down the heat that was rising at her cheeks and forced herself to get the last word in.

"Then let's go." Blake purred into his ear turning on her heel and walking out of his room to leave a stunned Coal who could only watch as the Faunus walked out of his room. He couldn't stop his eyes flicked downwards and gave a full once over of the Faunus' figure as she rounded the corner out of view and made for her own room. Minutes when by before the boy eventually had to blink and return from his flabbergasted state. His face turned a bright shade of red as he managed to utter on question to no one in particular.

"What the fuck just happened?"

As he asked the air, Blake was currently sitting on her bed being questioned by Yang and Weiss who were trying to get the Faunus to say anything at all. Blake had returned to the room in a much quieter mood than normal which prompted both the other girls to worry about her mental state once more. Blake didn't listen to anything that her teammates were saying as she was far too distracted by her own thoughts as to why she had just outright, and willingly flirted with the human. Not only that but she had enjoyed doing so as well. She had enjoyed watching as he became utterly speechless and completely bewitched by her… Only her. She could have sworn that when she glanced back at him when she had left, that he had checked her out as she walked away from him. Something which only made her happier and despite her best not to show it she had a small smile permanently stitched to her face as she recalled the comfortable feeling she had when she stood so close to the human.

Eventually Blake realised that she needed to get changed for her mission with said human, though she had completely forgotten that Weiss and Yang were still trying to get her to talk when she returned to the world of Remnant after a few minutes inside her own head.

"Are you okay?" Weiss asked looking very concerned. Blake stood up and walked over to her own wardrobe to find the stealthiest clothes that she had.

"Yeah… Yeah I'm fine." Blake uttered as she started to rifle through her belongings wondering what the fuck had just happened.

"Yo Blake." Coal said poking his head through the door to team RWBY's room. "Might need to hit downtown Vale before we leave, none of my turtlenecks fit me anymore."

"Sure." Blake shrugged. "I've not got anything better than what I'm already wearing myself." She stated.

"Then let's get going!" Coal said as he retreated back out the door calling back inside at the same time. "I want to get there before dark!" Blake hummed an acceptance before she turned to see her teammate Weiss and Yang staring at her with slack jaws.

"What?"

"Are you two going on a date?" They asked in sync.

"NO!" Blake yelled furiously before storming out the room. "IT'S FOR A MISSION!" She stated slamming the door in protest. Despite what had just transpired between herself and the human, she was still adamant that there was nothing between them at all. And even if there was, she would do her best not to act on it and burry it. She was not looking for a new relationship at all. She found Coal leaning against the wall just outside her room waiting for her, having redressed himself thankfully.

"So, they are bothering you about it too huh?" He asked with a knowing smirk.

"They just don't seem to get it at all." Blake huffed in response as they stated walking side by side.

"Weiss hasn't shut up about trying to set me up with someone for years… You'll get used to it." Coal huffed also.

"Really?"

"No…" They both sighed in unison before Coal turned to a more upbeat attitude. "So, we need some gear for the heist, you know anywhere good?"

"You weren't planning on stealing from these places, were you?"

"Err… At least not anymore."


(9 hours later – Octavian Weapons Development HQ – Mistral)

"All I'm saying is that they have no respect for privacy." Blake protested with annoyance through a jet-black scarf that was pulled around the lower half of her face, muffling her voice as she and her human companion scaled the side of a sky scraper in the dead of night. Coal, climbing beside the Faunus, stopped to look at the Faunus, hanging onto the suction cups that were fixed to the glass building, and reaching over his shoulder and into his backpack to pull out a small hipflask to take a quick refreshing drink.

"I know right!" He agreed pulling down a black scarf of his own to show his face to the Faunus and took a quick drink from the flask before returning it to his bag. "They have no respect at all."

"And they have the complete nerve to continue to insinuate that we are doing it on the down low!" Blake continued to protest to someone who was in complete agreeance with her over the matter, though it did make her feel better to vent her frustrations.

"It's completely ridiculous!"

"Why would they even think that?"

"Because they are complete idiots and want to stir something up over nothing."

"Can't they just respect the fact that we are just perfectly happy as just friends?"

"I highly doubt that. Weiss usually finds a way of getting what she wants, and if she wants us together then she will not let this thing go."

"Ugh!"

"Should I be offended by that?"

"Obviously not! I just don't like what they are insinuating."

"Once again I feel like I should be offended by that…"

"Come on we need to get to the roof." Blake huffed from beside him as she started climbing once more.

"I know, I know…" Coal huffed pulling his scarf up once more to cover his face as the Faunus over took him. "It's my plan remem…" He cut himself off as he looked up to see where he was going and caught sight of Blake from underneath as she continued to climb higher. Coal would happily admit to being a pervert any day of the week, he and Jaune had even exchanged playboy magazines a few times, but right now he could only stare at the sight of the Faunus' ass wrapped tightly in skin tight leggings.

Dat ass…

"When we get to the top of this thing, I'm going to break your neck." Coal growled to himself as he forced himself to continue his ascent while trying not to focus too hard on the girl ahead of him. When he eventually reached the top, Blake was already standing by an air vent waiting for him.

"You coming or what?" She asked with a hidden smirk as she proceeded into the vent ahead of him once more.

"Just give me a sec…" Coal called back before summoning a small beowolf with glowing red eyes. The beast whimpered quietly before Coal grabbed its head in both hands and twisted. Breaking its neck in one fluid motion. "That feels sooooo much better." He sighed happily.

For you maybe

"You just going to stand there or are you going to get in here already?" Blake questioned from inside the vent having no clue as to what just transpired behind her.

We are not going to leave that hanging without making a comment, are we?

Coal summoned another grimm, this time it's eyes glowed a dark cobalt blue, and proceeded in snapping that monster's neck also. Why were his inner demons such assholes?

Coal climbed through the airshaft and finally caught up to the Faunus, because of the darkness, he didn't realise that she was directly in front of him into he crawled into her, headbutting her in the process.

"Ow!" Blake yelped as quietly as she could to not cause to much noise. "What the hell Coal!"

"Not my fault I can't see in the dark!" He quietly argued back. "This is the one right?"

"Yeah." Blake informed as she popped the lid of another vent that was between the two.

"Me first!" Coal cheerfully whispered, though Blake couldn't see, she was sure that he had a childish grin plastered over his face as he dropped down through the gap. Coal landed in a crouch and quickly rolled out the way to make space for Blake as she dropped down herself, landing gracefully and silently on the balls of her feet.

Coal looked back to see the Faunus rise from her crouched position. His eyes widened slightly as he watched the Faunus stand up in her thigh high black heeled boots, tight leggings and tight cropped black hoodie. Of all the outfits the Faunus had tried out earlier in the day, why had she picked the one that had left him completely speechless?

"Err… Coal?" Blake mumbled quietly, thankful that the scarf that covered the lower half of her face was also hiding the blush that was rising at her cheeks. The look in the boy's eyes made her internally jump for joy as his eyes fixated on her. Blake couldn't help herself as she uncontrollably stood up straight, placed her hands on her hips and put her weight onto one heel, posing for the human. "Do you like what you see?" She purred. 'What the fuck are you doing?' Blake inwardly yelled at herself, forgetting the real reason why they were really here. Coal blinked a few times before his face steeled for a moment, something that Blake noticed as it seemed as though he just had a very brief internal debate, before the usual childish light in his eyes returned.

"Maybe I do… Got a problem with that?" He asked with a husky tone of his own. 'What the fuck are you doing?' He cursed mentally as he and the Faunus continued to stare at each other in the darkness of the office building

"Shouldn't you…" Blake managed to awkwardly say.

"Start hacking? Yeah on it!" Coal finished quickly as he dashed over to a set of glass doors and started to pick the lock.

"Wrong one."

"Huh?"

"That's the assistant's office." Blake clarified for the Human. "One to your right." Coal looked to his right to see another set of glass doors in the moonlight shining through the windows and cursed under his breath as he moved over and started to pick the correct lock.

Blake eyed up the boy kneeling down on one knee as he skilfully fiddled with the mechanisms of the simple lock for a few seconds before her enhanced hearing heard a click and the door slowly opened. She could picture his childish grin right now as he slowly stood back up and made his way into the glass office and up to the terminal the opposite side of the room. Being a Faunus gave Blake the benefit of seeing almost perfectly in the dark and right now she could make out every detail of the boy as he rounded the desk. His face was completely covered from not only the scarf but also a black sleeveless hoodie that he had fixed over his head to cover his identifiable white hair. He wore a pair of his usual black combat pants as well as his ordinary boots also stating that above all else that he felt most comfortable in familiar attire. As the light from the terminal illuminated his covered face, Blake could see the pure concentration in his eyes as he started to hack the systems.

Blake took the opportunity to use the free time she had been granted while she worked to question exactly why she was here. Coal could have broken into the Octavian's Company building by himself, he had no need for herself so why exactly did he require her to be here exactly. All they had done so far was complain about Weiss and Yang constantly getting up in their business and lightly flirt with one another. But that wasn't anything different from usual, right? For the past few weeks they had been lightly flirting with one another to increase their score in a pointless game, but for a while now they had both seemed to be forgetting about the game and just continued to flirt regardless. Up until now, Blake had just continued on as normally as she could, seeing as how she not only enjoyed the humans company, but also looked forward to it on a daily basis. After denying everything for so long, could Yang have been right all along? Was there something between her and Coal? Something that she had forced herself not to see before now.

Over by the desk, Coal typed furiously on the keyboard as he searched through the company's files and documents, looking for anything that seemed either fishy or off about the company's finances and business partners. Surely the White Fang had to be getting their weapons from somewhere. Though he had very little to go on, he was sure that the timing of his ex-fiancée appearing just couldn't be a coincidence. As he continued to work he repeated one of the lines that his eldest sister told him when he was just a child, no older than eight years old.

'Coincidences don't exist Valiant. Everything happens for a reason.'

Coal had used those words to justify everything he had done over the years. The dust in his back, his and his twins kidnapping, all the times he had killed, and even how he ended up going to Beacon with his sister. Everything had a rhyme or reason too it, some form of logic behind it… So why when it came to the Faunus, standing on the other side of the desk, did everything that he had ever understood simply not make a damn lick of fucking sense. He knew it deep down inside of him that he should want to force Blake to give up every detail she had on her ex, but something was stopping him. For some illogical reason, he had stopped caring about the Faunus who was responsible for his torcher. He was more than happy to stay at beacon and have a normal life with his friends there. Despite recent events with his ex-fiancée and his countdown clock, he was looking forward to returning home where his sister was waiting for him alongside his best friend Jaune and his team and he couldn't forget about the sisters Ruby and Yang. He knew they were all there waiting for him. So why, when he returned from his stint in the asylum, did he go to find Blake first? That part made the least sense to him.

"Any luck?" Blake asked him, breaking him from his thoughts.

"Nothing yet… There are a shit ton of files to check through." He said in a whisper.

"Just copy them to a pen drive or something and look at them later!" Blake huffed as she crept up behind him and looked over his shoulder, completely befuddled by the amount of coding on the screen. "What am even looking at here?"

"Oh this?" Coal asked looking over his shoulder at the Faunus pressing a few more keys and bringing up a different screen. "This is Pyrrha's Facebook page, wanna see something funny?"

"You are a complete child, you know that." Blake deadpanned with a roll of her eyes. Coal also rolled his eyes and returned to his work silently counting down in his head until he finally got to one. "What were you going to show me?" She asked looking over the boy's shoulder to see an image of the girl from a few years ago… "Damn Pyrrha was a hard core goth." Blake gasped with wide eyes.

"Funny right." Coal chuckled lightly. "Oh yeah… You should see the tattoo she's got on her back."

"Holy shit…" Blake gasped in awe.

"Yep."

"Give me a go!" Coal chuckled at the Faunus' request and made space for her to use the computer. "Can you get…"

"I already logged on as Yang for you." Coal chuckled knowing full well what the Faunus would have requested.

"We really should be working here." Blake stated though not stopping herself from embarrassing her partner.

"I already set up a download for the encrypted files that I couldn't check." Coal stated looking over her shoulder and watching the Faunus type away. "You have very little faith in how quickly I can work."

"Oh really." Blake slandered as she slowly turned to face the human. Before she could make another quip, her ears twitched having heard something moving around just outside the office. "Get down!" She seethed through gritted teeth pushing Coal down to the floor and behind the desk out of view of the rest of the office. Coal tried to get back up but was quickly stopped by Blake who had to pin him down and put her hand over his mouth to stop him from talking. Her cat ears continued to pick up movement around them but she could not for the life of her tell exactly who or what was making that sound. Coal rolled his eyes at the Faunus who now straddled his midsection. He figured that she must have heard something and reactive instinctively by forcing him down under the desk to hide. But did she really have to push him so hard?

She must really like being on top

Coal uncontrollable let out a low growl making a mental note to snap a third neck later on.

"It's a janitor." Blake whispered from above.

"Did you have to hit my head against the ground like that?"

"Will you shut up before he hears us?"

"Not until you say you're sorry!"

"What? No, I'm trying to stop us from getting caught here."

"Say it!"

"No."

"Say it!"

"No!"

"Grrrr…"

"Fine, I'm sorry I hit your head."

"Apology accepted." Coal smirked in victory before reverting to a more serious look. "So, what's he doing?"

"Just general cleaning, he's wearing headphones so I don't think he will hear us if we stay quiet enough but he is blocking the main exit… We might be here a while…" Blake sighed.

"Well can you at least get off me?"

"Huh?" Blake looked down at him confused for a second before she remembered that she had dived down on top of him when she forced him to the ground. A sly smile grew at her lips as she leaned down closer and purred into his ear. "Are you not enjoying this?"

"Well now that you mentioned it…" Coal purred back placing his hands on either side of the girls hips. They stayed in that position for what seemed like hours to them, but in reality, it only lasted five seconds, before they separated away from each other with flustered cheeks and sat as far apart as they could while still remaining hidden.

"Ooookay…" Blake whispered. "This is getting out of hand."

"Yep." Coal agreed while focusing his gaze out the window. "Far too out of hand."

"I mean… Friends can joke around with each other right, but that was…"

"Over the line."

"Way over the line."

"Exactly what I was thinking… So, let's just forget that ever happened and just go back to normal."

"Right." Blake nodded in agreement. "There is nothing between us after all so we shouldn't let one little quip get the best of us."

"Exactly." Coal agreed. They fell into an uncomfortable silence after that moment while waiting for the janitor to disappear so that they could continue working. Coal couldn't take the silence any longer and decided to try and break the awkwardness. "So, where do you actually come from?"

"This is really what we are going to do?" Blake sighed in annoyance.

"Do you have any better ideas?"

"Ugh…" She sighed before looking towards the human, who had magically conjured a beer can out of thin air once more. "When will you quit drinking?" She seethed through gritted teeth.

"When I feel like it." Coal shrugged.

"And when will that be?"

"When or if I survive this operation."

You fool!

You fucking idiot!

I couldn't help myself. A gentleman I honest after all.

Coal grumbled at himself for letting one of himself be influenced by one of his fractured parts. As soon as the words left his mouth he instantly regretted saying them as he knew that he would have perked Blake's curiosity. Well, he couldn't lie to her forever, though he would have given it his best shot.

"What operation?" Blake asked confused.

"Have you ever heard the story of how curiosity killed the cat?" Coal asked trying to find a way out of telling his secret to the Faunus.

"What are you hiding from me?" Blake pestered onward irritated that he was still keeping secrets from her. though she was being hypocritical as there was still one secret that she had never shared with anyone. Something that she would happily take to the grave.

With a heavy sigh, Coal answered the Faunus truthfully. "I'm dying."

"That's not exactly the best thing to joke about Coal!" Blake spat with an irritated tone as she shot the boy a glare. Her eyes immediately saw the honesty in his own obsidian eyes looking out towards the broken moon, which forced her to consider the possibility. It wasn't long before her mind pieced everything together. The papers scattered around his room, the amount of time he had been studying, the numerous trips into Vale unaccompanied… And then there was Ozpin and his question to her. "You mean… You are actually…"

"Yeah, I have until the end of the year…" Coal clarified emotionlessly, not daring to look at the Faunus.

*PING*

Coal spun round and rose to a knee so that he could operate the computer and still maintain cover, he could just about make out the single maintenance employee at the very centre of the office blocks just beyond the glass office where he resumed his hacking.

"That's everything." He said as he pulled out a pen drive from a USB port. "I'll have some time later to crack the encrypted files when we get to the place Oz booked for us."

"YOU'RE DYING!" Blake screamed, alerting the janitor who rushed over to an alarm.

"Oh for the love of…" Coal sighed before the inevitable quickly approached.

Seconds after the alarm sounded, the double doors on the opposite side of the open floored office block burst open revealing dozens of armed security guards carrying submachine guns. Coal immediately slammed his right palm into the ground, creating a very thick wall of ice between the two and the guards.

"Way to keep things professional Kitten!" Coal shouted as the men opened fire on his defensive wall of ice, he drew his own gun and poked round the edge of the ice barrier and let loose himself. "You just had to…"

"When were you going to tell me you were dying!" Blake yelled back furiously interrupting the human as she started to open fire form the other edge.

"I just did!" Coal argued back. "Reloading!"

"So why did it take this long for you to actually tell me!" Blake shouted back. "How long have you known?"

"I don't think this is the best time for this discussion!"

"HOW LONG?"

Over on the other side of the office, one of the guards stopped firing and shouted.

"PHRASING!"

"THANK YOU!" Coal shouted back with an amused smirk underneath his scarf before firing an explosive round at the man who actually had a sense of humour, hitting him square in the chest and sending him flying back. "SORRY ABOUT THAT!"

*SLAP*

"OW! What the hell was that for?" Coal shouted angrily at the Faunus.

"For not telling me that you were dying!" Blake stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world as she continued to fire at the guards.

"Well it's not something I can easily bring up you know!"

"Phrasing!"

*BOOM*

"ITS NOT AS FUNNY THE SECOND TIME!" Coal yelled to the guards furiously after firing another explosive shot. He was forced to retreat back behind the wall of ice when they unloaded more bullets at him.

"Were you even going to tell me?" Blake asked reloading her weapon and ignoring his childish remarks.

"Well… If I survived maybe." Coal answered sheepishly.

"What do you mean if?" Blake asked before she remembered his papers. "Your survival rate?"

"Is only twenty four percent." Coal clarified, reinforcing the ice defences which were taking a beating from the barrage of bullets. "Can we seriously talk about this later!"

"Oh we ARE going to talk about this!" Blake assured as she fired at the glass window, opening a gap to the outside world which she proceeded in jumping out towards. Coal quickly followed suit as before long he was running down the side of the building using his semblance to keep himself attached to the building with a gravity dust enhanced glyph. Blake fell most of the way down before launching her ribbon scythe and embedding it in the steelwork of the building, swinging down to the ground with ease. She rolled out of the short fall and quickly rounded on the human who had just ran down the remainder of the building with just as much ease… And slapped him again.

"Come on Kitten!" Coal protested rubbing his now raw red cheek as the Faunus started to walk away from him down the street, away from the sirens that were heading their way. Blake gave no audible response as she ditched her hoodie and scarf to reveal a tight purple crop top underneath and tied her hair up in a small pony tail. "Well then I guess just pout." Coal mumbled as he also ditched his hoodie in a bin and caught up with the Faunus, pulling out two new hoodies, a light blue and a red one, from his backpack and handed the blue one to the Faunus who zipped it up in silence. When Coal had donned the new hoodie he and Blake walked off into the night, vanishing from the scene.


"I'm not happy." Blake finally said after the door to their hotel room closed. Ozpin had been kind enough to arrange some accommodation for the two of them while they were in Mistral however, what he failed to mention was that he booked a single room between them… With a single bed. Coal vowed to break the headmaster's arms when he returned to Beacon after he and Blake agreed to never speak of the matter again, after Coal offered to sleep on the floor.

"Are you ever?" Coal shot back.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"You have been acting weird ever since Orchid showed up!" Coal retorted raising his voice slightly.

"Me? ME? YOU'RE THE ONE WHO HID SUCH AN IMPORTANT THING FROM ME!"

"WHAT? THE FACT THAT I WAS PERVIOUSLY ENGAGED OR THAT IM DYING?"

"BOTH!" Blake shouted. "You have the nerve to bitch to me about not letting people in and you go and do the exact same thing!"

"Like I'm the only one keeping secrets!" Coal continued to argue. "You're the one who can't admit to why you ran from the White Fang in the first place!"

"That is personal information!"

"And me dying isn't?"

"That's different! We can help you…"

"No Blake you CAN'T!" Coal shouted with hatred, his eyes flickering red. Blake felt his aura spike and her animal instincts kicked in, they told her to run before things got worse. Blake backed down slightly, as did Coal who leant back against the wall and slowly side down to the floor. "Four years of research from myself, my doctor, the General and his best scientists… And even they can't give me better results. The amount of time and money that we've invested into finding a means of extracting the dust and we come out with a shitty outcome. How was I supposed to bring that up to my sister after I died only a few weeks ago? Tell me how I'm supposed to force such a heavy weight onto the shoulders of Ruby, who has already killed me once and will probably blame herself further because I'm dying again? And then there's you Blake… How could I tell the one person who I feel the most comfortable around and risk that relationship! Tell me… What the fuck am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know!" Blake finally yelled in defeat. Coal could only sigh at the Faunus remembering what she had said in the office, when she thought that she was speaking as a third-party source about someone else.

"Go get some sleep Blake, I'm gonna start decrypting these files." Coal ordered emotionlessly.

"Won't you…"

"Just go to bed." Coal ordered again interrupting the Faunus before she could argue any further. Blake complied and crept under the sheets feeling her heart break at the same time. She had no idea what to say to the dying boy. No idea what to tell him when he was in such a terrible condition. The worst part was that he knew she was keeping her own secrets from him as well and she hated that she just couldn't tell him, even after he blurted out everything to her.

Coal typed slowly and as quietly as he could on his laptop concentrating hard on the data in front of him. After a long while he looked over at the sleeping Faunus, or so he presumed anyway, and pulled up a different file all together. Not one he had just stolen from the Octavian's network, but a medical file on Blake Belladonna herself… One that she had filled in under a different alias. One that he had found by accident while scouring the net for any information on the Black Cat and Blake Belladonna when he went to erase any incriminating evidence against her and tying her in with the White Fang. Blake didn't need to tell him her secret, he already knew.

Hours passed before Coal finally shut his laptop down, just as the sun started to rise signalling the new day. Coal sighed heavily and stood up holding the laptop in both hands and snapped it in two. The sound alerted the Faunus who suddenly jerked awake and looked at the source of the sound.

"What was that?" She asked rubbing her eyes.

"Nothing…" Coal muttered. "The files contained no reference to any black-market trades or reference to the White Fang."

"So, the mission was a bust?" Blake asked.

"No… Not yet. Time for one more heist, this time I'm hitting the Octavian's family estate. There must be something linking them together."

"Maybe there isn't Coal." Blake tried to reason with him before he got himself hurt by pursuing something that just wasn't there. "It's not like you have much evidence to begin with."

"Perhaps your right. In fact you probably are…" Coal huffed crashing back down to the floor in defeat. "But I'd rather be sure." They fell into another silence after that. Blake was overrun with thought and worries over Coal. she wanted nothing more than to discuss the topic further with him and formulate a means of keeping him alive, however, she just couldn't bring herself to voice the fact that he was dying. It broke her heart to think about it further. She needed a distraction

"Why did you even ask me to come on this mission?" Blake asked trying to forget about the elephant in the room.

"I figured you could use a break from Orchid… You were acting strange when she showed up."

"So, you wanted to get me away from your fiancée?"

"EX-Fiancée." Coal corrected. "I figured a mission would be good to vent some frustration, that and Mistral has a great seafood place a few blocks from here."

"Wait…" Blake said slowly as she fixed her eyes on the human on the opposite side of the room and asked disbelievingly. "You brought me here, to get me away from your ex-fiancée and take me on a date?"

"Well when you put it like that… Yeah, I guess I did."


(Elsewhere, Unknown location)

A single hooded figure stood amidst a sea of tall leavless rotting trees. Watching as the beheaded grimm around them dissolved slowly into the surrounding mist. A scroll buzzed and the figure retrieved the device and brought it up to the side of the hood that covered the figures face.

"…what..." came a barely audible whisper from the figure.

"…no…"

"…really…"

"…fine..."

The figure ended the call and repocketed the scroll. Before walking off further into the mist.

"…I'm coming for you, Executioner… …you could use the exercise…"

The figure whispered in a barely audible voice as they disappeared in complete silence.