Hey guys long time no updating...
Truthfully I don't really know what happened. I was watching RWBY season 5 and when it came to like the 6th episode or something I just felt like i needed a break. Not just from RWBY but the internet in general. But I'm back online and ready to go with a new chapter. Sorry for the delay guys!
Hopefully you all had an amazing winter break and new year. Yes i know its now March but i really did try and get this chapter out weeks ago but with being away for so long i kinda lost my rhythm and ended up rewriting this chapter like 10 times or something.
Also, you can blame my sister for some of the delay... She started getting all nostalgic and we ended up watching old eps of Yugioh and Pokemon while i was visiting over some weekends. Its her fault i swear! But in doing so i've been inspired to branch out and i'm think about starting some other fics in either field. So if you guys would like something just let me know. Don't worry ill sill be updating here first, as this story has been so fun to write since its birth and I don't want it to die! But getting off my lazy ass has been a bit of an issue haha!
Regardless I hope you all enjoy the latest chapter and I hope to get another one up as soon as possible!
The Schnee Black Sheep
Chapter 33: In Memory, In Friendship, But Still Cursed.
"Why is this thing so damn loud!" Weiss yelled over the roaring engines of Ruin's personal airship. After stopping to have a quick conversation with their friends, only to be interrupted by Professor Oobleck and his tight schedule, Team RWBY plus Coal entered the airship alongside the apparent professional huntsman ready to undertake their first mission.
At least for half of team Ruby it was anyway.
While both Ruby and Blake had already been on a mission with Coal at the beginning of the year. That being said, Blake was already seeing the difference in experience between her team leader and her boyfriend's own leadership skills. While they all had a mission briefing, obtained when they signed up and accepted the mission, Coal had used the excess down time while traveling to the mission site to go over the details of the mission as well as issue a full plan as well as a fall back. Ruby had done nothing of the sort other than make sure everyone read the very vague briefing.
And then there was the pilot, Ruin. He seemed far too chilled out and laid back to be an executioner. Besides the obsessive drinking habit, Ruin was actually relatively nice and easy to get along with. But Blake knew one thing for sure, something that had been proved to her time and time again, that there was always something beneath the surface.
Having already helped to babysit the man's adoptive daughter Angel, Blake had learned a few things about the retired soldier that she pick up on straight away having met him personally. First of all, he stunk of alcohol and oil. Secondly, the man never wore any shoes and when she asked both Angel and Coal as to why, she didn't get a complete answer. Only a shrug and a half arsed theory behind the lack of footwear. Lastly, she learned that Ruin was by far the strongest of the executioners physically. Despite his skinny physique, Ruin held the record for the most weight lifted. Something that she just couldn't get her head around as every time she looked at the human she could have sworn that she could hear a quiet electronic humming running through the man's body.
"Hey don't go dissing my baby!" The piolet yelled back angrily as he lifted the aircraft higher for the short journey to south east Vale.
"Can that guy really fight?" Yang asked Coal unconvinced by sight alone. she also wondered just how good the supposed professional huntsman would fare in a fight but heeding the words of the headmaster, she neglected to ask and put the rest of the team at risk of being sent home.
"Ruin? Guy is indestructible!" Coal answered loud enough for everyone to hear taking the spot closest to the side door of the aircraft, furthest away from Ruby. For some reason she smelled like a dog and because of the smell, Coal's senses were going bonkers. His eyes were watering from an itchiness he couldn't cure and he felt as though he couldn't breathe in the stuffy aircraft. Damn allergies. "His semblance is similar to yours except he doesn't need to take hits to grow stronger. the drunker he gets, the more resistant and stronger he becomes. Kinda like how when people get drunk they think they become batman or some shit. Biggest downside to it, he's an idiot when he gets drunk." Coal said directing the last part towards his oldest friend in a playful manner. Ruin stuck up his middle finger in response.
"I still managed to hack into the militaries secure servers and activate a few missiles they said were completely safe while under the influence of many, many, MANY bottles of booze, all when I was about your age Runt!" Ruin chuckled triumphantly before trailing off quietly. "That was the offence that got me wound up in the military shit to begin with…"
"I'd still rather have the professor as back up than your drunk ass!" Coal joked. "No offence prof."
"None taken young man, I admit I do fancy myself more of an intellectual but I can assure you, as a huntsman I've had my fair share of tussles."
"Like the mushroom?"
"Those are truffles."
"Like the sprout?"
"Those are brussels."
Coal glared at the pilot who shot him a look as if to ask if the young huntress was really the one in charge. When Coal nodded in conformation, Ruin's face scrunched up in a way that said that he thought they were all fucked...
"Besides, given my expertise in the field of history, as well as dabbling in the art of archaeological surveys, our dear headmaster saw it fit to assign me to this particular, assignment." The professor rambled on.
"What does history have to do with this?" Yang asked.
"Why what a preposterous question you silly girl."
"History in a manner of speaking harbours a means of teaching us why things happened the way they did. Discovering the reasons as to why something succeeded, failed, died out or survived is the very nature of what leads to further success. What we take from past events determines how we progress in the future." Coal stated once again sneezing into a tissue. When they landed he would welcome the fresh air and with it escape the coffin which contained trace amounts of Zwei hair dragged along from his sister's team. the smell was becoming unbearable and his allergies were acting up.
"Precisely Mr. Valiant. History is the backbone of our very society." The professor acknowledged. "AND THE LIVER! And probably the kidneys if I were to wager. You should read a paper submitted by someone only known by the roman numeral two, titled, 'The Forgotten Sins of our Past.' It is really quiet the treat!" all eyes fell upon Coal after hearing about the paper and its name being related to what he called his first revolver. "In the document, it breaks down the evidence and theories behind one of the kingdoms greatest failures which lies within the south east quadrant of Vale."
"Mountain Glenn." Ruby stated. They had already started discussing the topic in class just days earlier.
"That's right it was an expansion of Vale." Yang followed on racking her brain for what little information they had been taught so far. "But in the end, it was overrun by Grimm and fenced off from the rest of the city."
"Correct and now it stands abandoned!" Oobleck credited with excitement. "As a dark reminder."
"And a likely place for a hideout." Blake grinned catching on with the train of thought the group was having.
"Precisely."
"It's also the home of many Grimm." Coal reminded finally speaking up again. "The surrounding area is identified as a class two red zone, meaning that its one of the more dangerous areas in the world. Originally it started out as an outpost which was planned to expand into a city of its own. The construction was never completed as the workforce was pushed far to hard and the negative energy generated from the overworked labours lured all kinds of Grimm there. Its not just a failure, it's a tomb. Home to many workers, and Faunus slaves, who died there because they were locked out of the kingdom in fear of the Grimm breaking through the defences. Those people were left to die in that wasteland. Now do you really think the world learned from that mistake, or do you think that the cycle will once again repeat itself?" Coal asked the airship only to be met with silence from everyone bar the professor of history for his rather detailed description.
"I see you have already read that paper Mr. Valiant."
"Yeah…" Coal mumbled looking away. "I read it…"
The majority of the flight rested in a heavy silence. Blake wanted nothing more than to talk to Coal and press him for more information about countless things but in such a confined place, she held onto her thoughts for when they would have a little more privacy.
So, she kept silent as the roar of the engines drew Blake and her friends closer to their first team RWBY assignment.
Coal was the last to disembark from the airship when they arrived in the abandoned city. He exchanges a quick hand sign with Ruin telling the pilot he would be on a secured radio signal if he needed him before leaping down from the bulkhead.
He landed behind the rest of the group just as the professor started to scold Ruby for not leaving her backpack on the airship. An instruction Coal had also opted to ignore.
He wanted to say something to the professor, to defend the little red runt for disobeying a simple order. He found it odd that the professional huntsmen would give such an order as it made more sense to keep at least a bare minimum of emergency supplies at all times.
But when Ruby stated that the professor had yet to tell them to listen to him, Coal doubled over in silent hysterics trying not to draw to much attention to himself. It became even harder to stay quiet when the professor actually agreed with the huntress in training. "Very well Ruby leave your bag here and we can pick it up on our return."
"Now hold up there prof." Coal cut in. Because of his attitude and marks in history class, he had developed a more professional relationship with the professor that that of a simple student and teacher, so he figured that lending a hand to defend the huntress wouldn't hurt. "I'm sure that letting her keep a few extra supplies would come in handy. Whatever is in that bag might just save our... ACHOO!"
*WOOF*
When Coal recovered from his sneezing, he took another look at Ruby's backpack and saw the very animal that was causing his senses to go haywire. Sticking out of Ruby's bag, was the head of a black and white corgi innocently yapping away and tilting its head from side to side as it watched Coal erupt into a round of allergic sneezing. Taking a few long steps away from the dog, Coal covered his mouth and nose with a cloth in a flawed attempt to mask the smell of the dog.
Ruby seemed confused about his reaction to seeing Zwei. Unlike Weiss who seemed to adore the pet, the other twin was desperately trying to avoid it. So, while the professor danced around with the dog, claiming that Ruby's idea to bring a dog that could sniff out the Grimm, Weiss took the opportunity to explain why Coal was now standing at the other end of the street far away from them.
"You didn't know, but Coal is allergic to dogs." Weiss said to Ruby with a harmless smile. "Hey Frosty, you okay over there?" She yelled across to her twin who held up a middle finger in response. "See he's fine. He was always more of a cat person anyway."
"Excuse me?" Blake questioned shooting Weiss an irritated look. Even though she had been told about his allergy, Blake never even thought about it when Zwei first showed up. So as the professor continued to ramble on about the importance of the dog, she turned to walk over to Coal and stick with him, safety in numbers and all that, but Coal was nowhere to be found.
It had been a while since he had pulled a disappearing act but it still made her feel uneasy whenever he did vanish. It reminded her that he was once trained by the military. Trained to kill since he was just a teenager. And now he was chasing after someone from those days. Someone who held some meaning to him that he neglected to share with the rest of them.
"Hey!" The girls turned to see Coal about a block away dragging the corpse of a recently killed Grimm behind him. The girls looked to where he was currently, back to where he had been only a few seconds beforehand and then back to Coal wondering just how he had moved so quickly. "Why you just standing around? We are in a red zone remember, get your heads in the game!"
"He's right girls." The professor agreed. "Where there is one Grimm there is usually others... And there's the pack."
Just as the professor noticed, the rest of team RWBY also spotted a pack of beowolves pouncing on Coal from behind him. The girls tried to call out to warn him but the Grimm were too close to him that they couldn't make a difference.
The Grimm were just about to dig their claws into Coals flesh when they were surrounded in glyphs and in the blink of an eye, every Grimm was stuck through the neck with a large icicle. The force from the attack threw the Grimm into the road, the lifeless corpses landing right next to Coal's heels without so much as a fight.
"Like I said, get your heads in the game." Coal sighed dropping his first kill of the day and turning to face his other kills. He collected a few of the swords embedded in the Grimm and sheathed them in the buckles around his belt and bag, holding onto one more in his right hand. When he was fully equipped, he was carrying seven swords. Only Blake noticed that the number lined up with the number inscribed on his mask that he had yet to show to the others in the group.
Though they weren't given much time to take notice of anything else as another horde of Grimm, one much large than the small pack from just before, approached at a rapid pace.
Rallying the students, the professor offered some words of encouragement and sent the huntress' in training into battle. Though the order to attack was also given to the solider, Coal had already dived head first into the thick of it before the professor had opened his mouth.
With his mind completely at ease, Coal felt that among the scent of Grimm and the harsh environment of the deserted city that he was finally home.
As the day pressed on, Coal racked up more and more Grimm kills to add to his record and had opted to stay far away from the rest of the group for a few reasons.
The first of which was obvious. He wanted to stay away from the dog Ruby had snuck along for the ride. Now that he was a comfortable distance from the corgi, Coal's senses had returned and he could once again smell just as well as any Grimm he could conjure.
The second was that he worked better alone. He had yet to actually fight with anyone on team RWBY other than Blake who he had fought with a couple of times. Sure, he had a good idea on his twin's skill set but Weiss had yet to understand his own style and would only slow him down. truthfully, the only person Coal would allow to fight alongside him without batting an eye would be his old friend Ruin.
Thirdly. Being secluded from the rest meant that he could also conduct a search for any clues as to whether or executioner ten or the White Fang were here.
To do this he had summoned small birds and mice and sent them to every corner of the abandoned city, circling back around and relaying any information that they found. Not that they found much other than other packs of Grimm.
Though that information did help Coal direct the party away from some of the bigger packs so that he could take them on himself. More than anyone else, he needed to blow off some steam and killing some Grimm was the perfect way to do so.
So, when the professor appeared out of nowhere as Coal dispatched another Grimm, the boy couldn't have cared less. He had more pressing matters to attend to.
"Expertly done Mr. Valiant." The professor commended looking amongst the many dissolving Grimm. "You are quite the natural."
"Hardly a complement, calling someone a natural killer." Coal scoffed turning away from the teacher and walking to the next sector. Oobleck followed close behind.
"I was about to say huntsman."
"Is there a difference?"
"Indeed, there is young man! Why, a huntsman's true duty is to uphold the peace."
"That's bull shit." Coal scoffed again drawing his revolver and firing down an alleyway to his left while continuing to walk and look straight ahead. When the professor reached the alleyway, he took note of the Grimm dead and dissolving having been shot twice in head. "Peace doesn't exist in this world. Only balance."
"I'm not sure I follow."
"It's simple professor. Light can't exist without dark, vice versa and yadda yadda yadda..." Coal said in a way that seemed like he had either told, or been told that story far too many times. "Peace implies that there can only be one side, one way that everyone follows without question. You really believe that's possible in this world?"
"Indeed, I do young scholar! Why, if peace was not possible then why would we people like you and I strive to uphold it?"
"I'm not here for peace." Coal stated stopping to turn to the professor and shot a single bullet, barely missing the professor and executed a Grimm sneakily closing in upon the older huntsman. "Only to maintain the balance."
"Is that the only reason why you are here?"
"End of the day, I'm here to do a job." Coal shrugged turning back to continue his route. His tone indicating that he didn't care much for his own words. Probably because they were words that had been drilled into him during his military training with the executioners. "Does it matter why I choose to be here? Either way, the world still turns, people live, they die..."
"Like your friend, Cobalt?" The professor asked causing Coal to stop dead and glare back. "I heard that he went missing while protecting a lot of people. I knew him once upon a time, good man, better soldier, even better historian."
"He didn't die if that's what you want to know." Coal said in a quiet tone. "People like him are cursed to a much more painful fate."
"Which is?"
"Isolation. Stranded in a place they can never escape. Having to share your soul with a vessel that isn't your own isn't exactly painless, so imagine being trapped in an endlessly burning pit of fire with no escape." Coal said. "And then pass on that same curse to the next lost soul so that they can burn up in the same flame." Coal stopped to take a deep breath before smiling to the professor. "He wants me to tell you that you're wasting your talent, teaching runts like us. Oh, and he also wants to see if you can keep up!"
In a flash of time dilation, Coal disappeared deeper into the city leaving the professor to smile to himself.
"You chose a fine student my old friend. It's a shame that your flame was passed to someone so young." The professor mumbled to himself.
By the time the night had settled in and everyone had helped make camp in one of the many abandoned buildings, the students were completely exhausted. After such a hectic day battling countless Grimm and searching through the city and guarding the professor who did nothing but question their purpose for being here while collecting dirt samples... Everyone was simply completely knackered.
Except Coal who seemed still ready to go a few extra rounds. During the first watch of the evening, while Ruby oversaw the safety of the group, Coal circled round the perimeter ensuring that there were no sneaky Grimm lurking nearby or anything else that could creep up on them while they rested.
It was after his third cycle that Blake forced him to take a break. Truthfully it hadn't taken anywhere near as much effort to get Coal to stop for a moments rest as she had imagined. Truthfully, when Blake had pushed the idea for a break Coal simply couldn't even muster the energy to argue.
He wasn't exhausted physically but mentally having kept a watchful eye on everything and everyone. He needed to know that they were all safe. He wouldn't stop until he knew for certain whether or not the woman who carried the tenth mask of the executioners was captured and contained or straight up dead and buried. At this point, Coal didn't care which.
"Will you stop glaring at everything for one second?" Blake sighed pulling hard on the boy's ear and breaking him from his frozen state. "No matter how hard you try you can't get the wall to burst into flames just by looking at it." Just to prove a point Coal continued to stare at the wall and forced a few small glyphs to manifest upon it which ignited in a controlled blaze. Blake was even less impressed and slapped him upside the head for his childish manner which only brought Coal to chuckle lightly at the kittens pouting expression of annoyance.
"You know when you're annoyed your ears fold back." Coal stated as he watched the spot where Blake's bow was twitching and causing the girl to flush red. "It's kinda cute." Blake did her best to hide her ears with her hands while also trying to hide the redness upon her face.
"Shut up, I can't control it..."
"You shouldn't feel the need to." Coal smiled softly.
"UGH!" Yang groaned from across the camp fire. "Will you two get a room! No one wants to hear this mushy stuff."
"I'm with Yang on this one Frosty." Weiss agreed. "So, will you all shut up so that I can sleep!"
"Sorry sis." Coal apologised lightly embarrassed. "Though you have to admit that I'm only acting like this because you and Winter subjected me to so many chick flicks as a kid that all the mushy stuff is now all second nature."
"You know I really can't imagine you as a kid." Yang said rolling over onto her stomach so she could look Coal in the eye. "I mean, sure I can picture what you might have looked like but we you and Weiss always so different?"
"I don't think I understand the question."
"Well you act all calm and cool, hide behind fake smiles half the time and let's not forget the whole, look at me wrong and I'll kill you, persona you showed off when you fought Cardin. Weiss however tries to act as if she knows everything, tends to be mean for all the wrong reasons and has a major attitude problem... Actually, when you say it like that, you both really aren't that different."
"Sorry Yang, but Weiss and I are basically the same." Coal shrugged.
"We do have our disagreements though," Wiess continued immediately after.
"And end up fighting and almost hating each other for a little while,"
"But I've learned to put up with his antics." Weiss finished with a cheeky smirk directed at her twin. "That and he really is hopeless without me. You should have seen him before your date Blake, he was a complete mess. He couldn't form a single sentence, kept tripping up over his own feet and the hair, oh god that hair... Weiss, it won't stay down, help me out here, please this might be the nerve racking thing I've ever done and I've fought some of the deadliest Grimm out there!" Weiss finished her rather accurate impression of her twin in a laughing fit which only annoyed Coal more than embarrassed him. It still didn't stop the heat in his cheeks to jump up a few degrees.
With the tables turned Blake took full advantage of her boyfriend's embarrassment by giving him a quick peck on the cheek and softly say. "Aww, I find that rather cute."
Coal glared at his twin. "You're dead to me."
"What's the matter Frosty, can't take a joke?"
"No, I just can't take you seriously."
Both twins glared at each other before breaking into another fit of laughter before simultaneously crying out at the same time. "You blinked, I win... No, you blinked first! You did!"
"That's enough you out of you both!" Yang said throwing a pillow into each of the twin's faces to shut them up. "Shesh you're both just as childish as Ruby." Coal threw the pillow at his sister to keep her from commenting on that before he could.
"Speaking of which, I have to ask Yang, what is a kid like Ruby doing hunting monsters?" He asked with intrude. "Pardoning my own childishness and Ruby's obvious skills, I just don't see how she could have come to picking this life."
"She grew up hearing stories of famous huntsmen and huntresses and fell in love with them." Yang informed. "She always wanted to be like the heroes from those stories, able to stand up against anything without fear. I think that's why she looks up to you. You may be a bit of a dick at times but in a way, she wants to be just as fearless as you."
"He's hardly fearless!" Weiss laughed rolling over and clutching her stomach at the mental image her mind went to. "He's terrified of spiders for one thing and you do remember how he tried to run away from a certain ex fiancée. Plus, I'm pretty sure he is afraid of water."
"Hey just because I can't swim doesn't mean I'm afraid of it!"
"Shut it Frosty." Weiss stuck her tongue out at her twin.
"Does it really matter why she is here?" Blake asked being the voice of reason and the person who seemed to break up the two bickering twins the most. "Regardless of reasoning, aren't we all here to do a job at the end of the day?"
"Exactly!" Coal agreed. "And right now, our job is to rest while the little red runt's is to keep watch."
"That's my sister your insulting there." Yang deadpanned cracking her knuckles before clicking onto something. "Wait, didn't Ruin call you runt earlier?"
"Yeah I heard that too." Weiss chimed in wondering the meaning behind the name.
"Well apart from Angel I was the smallest on the squad… and there is always one runt in the family." Coal laughed cheerfully as his mind filled with some of the happier memeories of his military days. "For some reason I just can't shift the name, even when Angel joined us it was me who kept that stupid name."
"Not surprising really." Weiss commented with a sly grin. "Before your sudden growth spurt a couple of years ago, you and I were the same height. So long as I wasn't wearing heels of course."
"SHUT UP!" Coal yelled at his twin. "I was not that small!"
"Blake, care to weigh in on that comment?" Yang said flashing her eyebrows at the usually quiet Faunus who remained as such.
"No comment." Blake said shaking her head in minor disgust but still smiling at her partners rather entertaining behaviour.
"Can we please get some sleep?" Coal groaned trying very hard to hide his embarrassment from the girls by faceplanting his sleeping bag.
"Is someone tired from not getting much sleep the night before?" Yang continued to tease. Coal drew his revolver and while keeping his face buried deep in the sleeping bag pointed it at the blond.
"Don't make me." His muffled voice sent a shiver through Yang's spine.
Blake shook her head and tapped the back of Coal's head so that he lifted his head to look up at his girlfriend.
"Don't do that." Blake instructed softly. Coal groaned before returning the gun to his holster. "That's better." As the teens settled down to sleep, Weiss and Yang kept Coal awake slightly longer than he had hoped by making the sound of a whip cracking every few minutes. Being around the girls could annoy the soldier to no end, but he wouldn't have it any other way. Coal eventually fell asleep with a happy smile across his face. For once, he didn't care about what was to come, he didn't care about what had transpired, he only cared about making moments like these last.
Finally, he understood what Ruin meant when he questioned his version of freedom. With his lesson finally learned, Coal no longer wanted to be free, he no longer wanted revenge on Adam and did not care in the slightest if the number ten was after him. He only cared about the people around him and how to keep them safe.
Coal sat up on the crisp white sheets of the bed. His mind had brought him back to his room at the mental asylum. Despite the pain this place had brought him, Coal had found the cleanliness and the simplicity of the surroundings rather peaceful. Because of how clean the room was his heightened senses didn't bother him too much. Though he could smell the strong disinfectants that his mind had long since memorised since his first night in the hospital for the insane.
Coal turned to face the one-way mirror and say his own reflection staring back at him. Once again, his reflection appeared to be covered in blood that wasn't his own and possessed a pair of blazing blue eyes rather than his own black ones.
"It's been a while since you called me to this part of my mind Cobalt, what's up?"
"We are getting off track. The plan..."
"The plan is being handled." Coal interrupted the soul that shared his body.
"It would be handled faster without those distractions." Cobalt the reflection scoffed, spitting out a small amount of blood. "Those children are nothing other than a waste of time. Not to mention all of this teen talk is really getting on my nerves."
"My life, my rules and you must have been bonded to vessels younger than me before." Coal stated folding his arms and glaring at the reflection. "I am the one who inherited this damn curse from you so the least you can do is let me live my life the way I want to… At least for now. You've been around for nearly what, two or three hundred years? Cut me some slack, at least I'm doing what you asked unlike your last vessel. Now shut up before I show you hell." Coal waved the reflection off and lay back down on the bed hoping to let his mind rest for at least a few hours.
"Don't use my lines against me Runt. Remember who you're dealing with."
"Trust me, I remember well..." Coal mumbled. "You're not the only villain of this story."
As the night pressed on Blake tossed and turned trying to fall asleep, but the many questions she wanted, no, needed to ask Coal were keeping her mind active enough so that sleep was basically impossible.
Finally having enough of her mental torment, Blake rolled over to face her sleeping boyfriend who was only lying arms distance away illuminated by the flickering flames of the campfire. She wondered how he could fall asleep so easily after some of the things he had seen and experienced. But even after running around the whole city fighting Grimm Coal had barely even broken a sweat while she and the others were starting to become desperate for a break. He wasn't even tired and yet there he was, fast asleep like nothing was wrong.
It irritated her. He had been in a foul mood most of the day and was still keeping secrets from her even after all they had been through. She thought they were past that point, dancing around each other, playing the other in some form of game with information as the prize. But apparently, Coal was still unwilling to share his life with her and she was tired of it.
Choosing now as the best time to settle her mind, Blake reached over to Coal and started running her hand through his hair like she would every time she tried to wake him. She heard a deep rumbling growl escape him before he jerked awake, bolting upright and scanning his surroundings quickly before settling on Blake and regaining full control over his body's actions.
"Blake?" He yawned as he turned to sit facing his girlfriend, confused about why she had awoken him this time. "What's up?"
"You've been in a bad mood all day, want to talk about it?" Blake took the nice approach first shuffling over to him and resting her head on his lap. She felt him tense up upon the contact at first but quickly regained his calm presence and started to scratch the sweet spot behind her ears.
"Just a memory." Coal said softly but Blake recognised a slight hint of guilt in his voice that he was desperately trying to hide. "I'm fine, really."
"Why don't I believe that?" Blake sighed.
"Because you know me." Coal also sighed knowing full well that he couldn't keep hiding things from the Faunus. The air between them was filled with an uncomfortable silence, something that was rare for the young couple, before Coal spoke again. "It's my fault Ruby got hurt."
"Care to explain how?" Blake pushed before Coal could back out. "I thing some girl hurt her."
"Yeah… But I'm the one who recruited and trained that person." Coal mumbled, his hand which scratched be sweet spot of Blakes ears fell limp. "She was only an executioner for less than a year and she still racked up one hundred and fifty-six kills."
"Grimm kills?" Blake asked for clarification but already knew what was coming.
"No, people." Again, more silence filled the air. Blake felt for Coal. He blamed himself for all those deaths, for Ruby's injury and probably a lot more that he still wasn't telling her.
"What happened between you two?" Blake pressed on hoping Coal wasn't retreating back into his shell. She had worked hard to get him to open up to her even a little and she didn't want to see all of that effort go to waste because of someone from Coal's past.
"She betrayed us." Coal continued finding himself unable to stop the words coming out. "Took a group of civilian's hostages and killed one of our own in the process. Ruin, Myth and I managed to track her down and take her out quickly and that should have been that but she's back… I should have known she would have been back. That freaking ghost."
"So, she survived and is after you for trying to kill her?"
"Oh no we killed her." Coal stated. "Myth took the kill shot and she doesn't miss. Ever. To be sure, I burned the corpse so much that what was left wasn't even recognisable as a person anymore, then Ruin destroyed the remains in one fully charged blast. We killed her original vessel, but she just took to another, probably one of the hostages she took if I had to guess."
"What do you mean took to another?" Blake questioned utterly baffled and shocked at the amount of effort used to ensure that one person was deceased.
"If you believe the stories, this world was once inhabited by gods with great power. Naturally, people wanted that power and tried to obtain the power the gods possessed. But the higher you climb to ascend to godhood the further you have to fall and everyone who attempted the climb fell." Coal spoke mystically. "That brought about the accursed. A group of cursed people who obtained power that mimicked the gods but was too uncontrollable to use. The power burned the accursed and left their souls cursed to wander the world in search of new vessels desperately trying to reach the throne of the gods. Jane Doe is one of those vessels. Specifically, Crimson the curse of gluttony."
"How do you know all of this?" Blake asked not believing the story her boyfriend told her.
"Because when I was ten and the glyph was put in my back, it was put there to contain Crimson." Coal stated. "My father wanted me to be powerful so he thought that by infusing me with one of the accursed then I would be the one to ascend to the throne but it only back fired. I more I used the cursed power the more it burned away at my body and soul, turning me into some kind of monster. So, my father sent me to the asylum where they attempted to extract the curse and implant it in another patient who had no name, no family and no personality of her own…"
"Jane Doe?" Blake said putting the pieces together.
"That's right. But even that didn't work as the power was spilit between us." Coal continued. "I eventually learned to co-exist with my half of Crimson and learned to harness its power with training from another executioner, Cobalt. The curse of wrath."
"Another one?"
"Yeah, he was the person that Jane killed when she betrayed us." Coal sighed. "And I was the one who inherited his curse." He said holding up his left hand so that Blake could see. In the palm of his hand, a small blue flame sparked into existence dancing around his fingertips. Blake at first didn't understand what Coal was showing her but then she realised that Coal hadn't used any glyphs or dust to start the fire, nor was he using any to keep it going. "Look at your scroll." Blake followed Coal's instructions and checked the device and saw the source of the fires energy. She watched as Coal's aura ticked down slowly, little by little the fire consuming his soul. "I should have told you what you were getting into… I'm sorry."
"Oh don't be such a baby." Blake huffed poring some of her canteen water over the small flame. The water evaporated before it even got close to the blue flame that still danced in Coal's palm. "Put that thing out will you!" Blake snapped pinching Coal's ear hard and dragging him down to her level after he had extinguished the flame. "So you have this weird ability, you lost a friend to someone you tried to train to control their weird ability which you feel guilty over. Is there anything else I should know?"
"I'm trying to buy out one of the smaller Schnee mines using money that I stole from my father after he disowned me." Coal stated.
"Is that why you have been staying up countless nights?" Blake growled irritably. Coal nodded finding the pain in his ear to be more horrible than ever before. "Why didn't you just tell me? Why keep all this a secret, sure the story seems a bit far fetched and I still don't believe half of it but still?"
"We were in a good place and I didn't want to risk pushing you away cause I'm… Well you know…"
"Yeah, some cursed vessel or whatever." Blake deadpanned releasing his ear and sitting up facing him. "I knew you were a soldier, a killer and to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if you had a criminal record or something…"
"Erm…"
"Shut it…" Blake growled so harshly that Coal sank in place. "I know who you are Coal. I just didn't know who you were and now that I do know… I really don't care."
"Huh?" Coal stammered surprised.
"All I wanted was for you to talk to me, so that I could understand a little bit about what you keep bottled up inside. You are such an idiot, you can't even see that you are surrounded by people who care about you. People who want to help you anyway that they can. Me more so than most. So, when are you going to accept that you are part of this team, part of this family… When are you going to realise that what we have means that we are a team, just the two of us and that your problems are my problems and vice versa?"
"I thought you just wanted to keep this thing casual?" Coal stammered again blushing slightly at the Faunus' forwardness.
"We slept together dumbass." Blake deadpanned again, though she couldn't stop the small entertaining smile creeping up at the sight of Coal's embarrassment. "I think we are well passed casual." She giggled when she saw steam burst out of Coal's ears and start to tug on the collar of his shirt. She couldn't resist pushing his buttons further. "It won't be long before my parents will want to meet you."
"Great…" Coal grumbled to himself unable to think of a counter argument. "So, you don't care about what I used to be?"
"What was the advice you gave me a while back?" Blake smirked. "It doesn't matter who you were, it matters who you are."
"You know I really hate it when you use my own words against me."
"Why else do you think I do it?" Blake asked rhetorically. "I know it bugs you just like how your constant referencing annoys me."
"People like my referencing!"
"No… They really don't."
"Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?"
"What?"
"One day… One day…"
