(Are you ready for some shit? I'm ready for some shit, in fact I'm on the toilet right now...oh come on like you didn't see it coming a mile away.)
Gray and Grey, Pennies and Monkeys
Have I ever mentioned that patrolling isn't always as cracked up to be? Turns out it is. Team RWBY and team ASUR on patrol, woo hoo. But at least the place is getting festive enough:
Streamers of red, green and yellow on display along with balloons, oh look at that! The shopkeeper from a few months back is hanging up a banner, red lettering and in big capital letters:
'WELCOME TO VALE'
Weiss stops in front of us and raises up her arms. "The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!" She says happily, "I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much, Weiss." Ruby adds in uncomfortably, "It's kinda weirding me out..."
"I'm terrified by it in all honesty." Uriah quips dully
"I agree with you both: I'm weirded out and terrified!" Roy says happily as always, Weiss turns back to what I can guess is look at the three of them.
"How could you not smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances! Parades! A tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!"
Oh my God. Is Weiss actively trying to make this super boring? I just want to be in the tournament so I can meet new and interesting people...then send them back to their families in tears of the fact they were beaten without mercy.
You may have a few problems.
Says the sentient mass of fire?
Alright, you got me there.
Our merry group goes back to walking, Yang sighing. "You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring." She states
"You read my mind Yangy, and great minds think alike."
Weiss turns to look at the two of us with a scowl, "Quiet you two!" She scolds, I merely smile and raise my hands up. We end up taking a stop near the docks, foghorns occasionally blaring into our ears...Silas clenching his teeth and covering his ears.
Which ones? Any of them.
"Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?" Yang asks
Ruby covers her nose from what I guess is the stink, "Ugh, they smell like fish!" She groans out
"I've gotten used to the smell of fish. Doesn't bother me." Silas adds in
"I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today. And, as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom!" Weiss proudly says starting to walk away again
Vacuo! A place where there is sand, sand, Grimm, sand, Shade Academy, sand, nomads, and guess what? Even more SAND
"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament." Blake plainly says, "Exactly." Silas adds in deadpan
I can't help but snicker along with Uriah
Weiss merely scoffs, "You can't prove that!"
Roy walks up to Weiss and places something on her forehead: a sticky note with 'SPYING ON VACUO' written on it.
"Now we can!" He cheers
My sides have evaporated then as Weiss growls and crumples up the note into a wad and tosses it at Roy.
Then I hear Ruby mutter something in surprise, "Whoa." Turning to look on the right there's a building with a shattered window, the door to the place covered in yellow caution tape marked with black lettering. There's a man with his back turned who's looking down and presumably writing something. And another examining the scene
We head over to the guy and the crime scene. Place looks like a mess.
"What happened here?" Ruby asks the guy, he turns around to show he's dressed in a detective's uniform with a golden Vale Police Force badge pinned on his shirt, sunglasses resting on the bridge of his nose.
"Robbery. Second Dust shop to be hit this week." He says before turning away and walking to who's probably his partner "This place is turning into a jungle."
Deja vu. "Geez." I whisper to myself, Yang lets out a sad sigh
"That's terrible." I put a hand on her shoulder and tap it, "Hey. Could be worse." I reassure her
"Yeah...still."
That's when one of the detectives says something, "They left all the money again."
"Huh?" "What?" Ruby and I say in near unison
"Yeah, just doesn't make a lick of sense. Who needs that much Dust?"
"I don't know, an army?"
"You thinking the... White Fang?"
The other detective takes off his sunglasses and sighs, "Yeah, I'm thinking we don't get paid enough."
"Hmph! The White Fang." Weiss scoffs with disgust, "What an awful bunch of degenerates!"
I look back at her, arms crossed and nose pointed upwards like a haughty princess. "What's your problem?" Blake sternly asks the Schnee, Weiss turns her attention to her. "My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane."
"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths." Blake states crossing her arms, "They're a collection of misguided Faunus."
"Whoa time out you two." I try to cut in to hopefully prevent this from escalating into something worse, "Where did this come from all of a sudden?"
"Misguided? They want to wipe Humanity off the face of the planet!" Weiss exclaims, and I merely sigh in annoyance and clutch the bridge of my nose. "Why do I even bother?" I mutter.
"So then they're very misguided. Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale!" Blake shoots back
"Hmm... Blake's got a point." Ruby thoughtfully says
"I'm with you Rubes."
"Thanks. Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy me and Axel ran into a few months ago... Maybe it was him."
"Ahhh I remember that day like it was yesterday!" I say with dry sarcasm, "Don't you remember Ruby?"
"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum." Weiss adds in with venom lacing her words like frosting on cake, I can see Silas has a look of cold and discontent anger to him...Blake looking with a scowl and frown of anger too. Why Blake?
"That's not necessarily true..." Yang says quietly
"You're right Yang. People can do it just as good as Faunus!" Uriah says happily, "Humanity! Fuck yeah!" He cheers. Earning a glare from Silas.
"Hey, stop that Faunus!"
Damn you timing! Why do you conspire with racist Weiss?! Weissist? Gotta use that one for later.
We all run over to the cry for help, arriving just in time to see said Faunus: he'd pass for human if it wasn't for the golden monkey tail coming out of him, short and spiky blonde hair, tanned skin, wearing blue cargo pants and a white jacket with a really high collar and opened up to show that this guy was pretty ripped.
The Faunus is running down the length of a boat before getting to the edge of it.
"Thanks for the ride, guys!" He says happily before laughing and leaping down and running along the dock. Jumping up onto a lamppost and hang by his tail, even pulling out a banana and starts peeling it.
"You no-good stowaway!" One of the sailors shouts out at him
"Hey! A no-good stowaway would've been caught! I'm a great stowaway!" He shouts back at them, I can only smile.
I like this guy already.
But just before he gets to eating the banana, a detective throws a stone at him. Missing but to more than likely to catch the Faunus' attention.
"Hey! Get down from there this instant!"
The Faunus drops his banana peel right on the guy's face, he twirls up to crouch on top of the lamppost and lets out an amused laugh. Right before making a leap right onto the street we're on.
Silas' POV
Monkey kid's making a run to here, to me time starts to slow down for a moment. As the guy is running past...he gives Blake a wink with a smile on his face. Flirt with Blakey eh? Not on my watch.
I put on my most discontent smile and droop my eyelids to half-lidded. When he passes me I stare at him, his smile vanishes and his eyes go wide and his eyebrows raise up. Shock? Fear? I don't know, but all I know is that the look is pretty hilarious.
He's probably alright.
Axel's POV
As our Faunus makes a run for it, we can only watch as he gets further...and further...and further away.
"Well, Weiss, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes..." Yang snarks to Snow Pea. Weiss quickly holds up a finger
"Quick! We have to observe him!" She states before running after him with us in tow, "There's a difference between observation and spying Weiss!" Uriah scolds her. When we round a corner, just in time to see Weiss run into someone and trip. The monkey Faunus jumping on top of a building and disappearing from view.
"No, he got away!" Weiss whines out in a mix of frustration and disappointment. Looks like she's laying right ontop of someone.
"Uhh... Weiss?" Yang points to the body on the ground
"You uh...you got someone." I add in for her, Weiss finally notices the body and makes a startled sound before hastily getting up from the girl on the ground: the girl has curly orange hair with a curl pointing from the top of her head and a pink bow behind her head, lightly skinned with freckles splashed on her cheeks, green eyes, the girl is wearing a tan and green blouse with black stockings with green on them.
She's smiling widely.
"Sal-u-ta-tions!" She enthusiastically says
"Um... hello." Ruby awkwardly says to the girl, waving.
"Hiiiiiii?..." Roy adds in just as awkwardly
"Are you...okay?" Yang asks
"What my girlfriend asked." I state squinting my eyes at the girl
"I'm wonderful! Thank you for asking." She says utterly chipper, we exchange some bewildered glances at one another that have a few questions in mind: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
Looking back at the mystery girl, she's still laying there on the ground. "Yang? You handle this one." I whisper to her, she nods
"Do you... wanna get up?" She asks the girl.
She seems to be thinking about it for a moment, "Yes!" She exclaims, she then leaps up onto her feet...everyone takes a step back.
"My name is Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you!"
"Hi Penny. I'm Ruby."
"I'm Weiss."
"Blake."
"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Blake hits Yang in the side for that, "Oh, I'm Yang."
"It's nice to meet a new friend in you Penny, my name is Roy."
"Name's Uriah."
"Silas Silver."
"Seriously did you hit your head?" I ask, I get a smack in the back of the head from Silas. "Ow!" I hiss quietly, glaring at him. "Jerk." But I turn my attention back toward's Penny. "I'm Axel."
"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Penny says happily
"You already said that." Weiss tells the girl, Penny then pauses for a moment before speaking up again. "So I did!"
"You don't say?" Uriah asks sarcastically
"I did!" Penny replies, Uriah grimaces a bit...Girl- 1, Sarcasm- Nothing
"Well, sorry for running into you!" Weiss apologizes to her, with the rest of us turning around and we begin to walk away. "Take care, friend!" Ruby says waving to the girl. Alright, let's see now. Looking back I can guess that we're out of the girl's hearing range.
"She was... weird..." Yang says to break the silence
"That's putting it mildly Angel." I reply looking at her
"Now, where did that Faunus riff-raff run off to?" Weiss questions aloud
"What did you call me?" A voice asks, looking to Weiss...Penny is right in front of her. How? How? And how?
Oh shit she probably heard me!
"Oh, I'm really sorry, I definitely didn't think you heard me!" Yang tells the girl in an apologetic tone, "Please forgive us! We didn't mean nothing by it!" I add in to apologize to her.
"No, not you two." She then walks past us and stands in to lean toward Ruby and Roy, "You two!"
The two look startled with Roy sputtering out something, "Us?" Ruby asks sounding startled as she looked, "I-I don't know. I, what I, um, uh..."
"You both called me 'friend'! Am I really your friend?"
Ruby and Roy look to one another in panic, "Uhhh..." "Uuuum..."
I don't know about everyone else but I'm shaking my head and waving my arms no: please listen, please listen, please listen, please listen, PLEASE LISTEN.
"Y-Yeah, sure! Why not?"
"M-More the merrier! R-Right?"
I can only stand there in shock, hello darkness my old friend...I've come to talk with you again.
Penny laughs raising her arms up to the sky, "Sen-sational!" She cheers out "We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!" She fires out to Ruby before looking at Roy. "I don't know what we will do yet, but I'm sure it will be fantastic!"
Ruby and Roy groan, with him shaking his head. "Oh, is this what it was like when you met me?" She asks looking past me, looking behind there's Weiss who I guess fell to the ground since she's dusting herself off.
"No - she seems far more coordinated." She answers her teammate and leader, "How about you guys?" Roy asks I guess asking me and Silas.
"What Snow Pea said." I tell him
"Only difference is that you're not a girl." Silas bluntly answers the tinkerer who nods, "Gotcha."
"So...what are you doing in Vale?" Yang asks her, "I'm fighting in the tournament." Penny answers
"Wait, you're fighting in the tournament?" Weiss asks surprised, Penny gives a salute to her. "I'm combat ready!"
"Really?" I ask her
"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part."
"Says the girl wearing a dress." Blake snarks which earns a snort from Silas. Weiss looks to her with crossed arms, "It's a combat skirt!" Saying that her fellow skirt-sister Ruby speeds next to her. "Yeah!" Weiss then holds out her hand which Ruby low-fives in response.
"Whatever floats your boat." I say rolling my eyes
Weiss looks like she has a revelation at that moment, "Wait a minute." She then rushes to and grabs onto Penny's shoulders. "If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed... rapscallion?" She asks with a pause from what I'm guessing is to find the right word, good job. You were just a little less racist there. I hear Silas snarling however.
Weiss...please stop talking, please?
"The who?..." Penny innocently asks Weiss who then holds up a paper with a crude drawing of the monkey Faunus we've seen, ten for making it...zero on likeness. "The filthy Faunus from the boat!"
"Why do you keep saying that?!" Blake angrily shouts at her, which made me jump a bit from how loud it is. Weiss looks back at her with a confused expression
"Huh?"
However, the dark-haired girl rushes up to the heiress angrily. "Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!" She snaps at her
"Oh. I'm sorry." Weiss sarcastically replies letting go of Penny, "Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can? Or this lamppost as a lamppost?" She coldly asks.
"Keep this up Schnee, and I'll be sure you'll be regretting." Silas hisses venomously, "Stop it!" Blake shouts at her. It's just spiraling down into a shitstorm that I can't stop.
"Stop what? He clearly broke the law. Give him time; he'll probably join up with those other Faunus in the White Fang!" She snaps back, Blake and Silas growl in response.
"You ignorant little brat!"
"Close-minded pompous bitch!"
The two of them walk away from Weiss angrily, she looks offended by this and follows the two of them. "How dare you talk to me like that!" She spurns Blake in accusation "I am your teammate!" She then looks to Silas, "You and me are supposed to be allies!"
"You are a judgmental little girl." Blake coldly replies
"Not to mention the fact you're just sooo happily spewing out this bigoted garbage with a...how did you put it? Oh right! A filthy Faunus right at ear-shot." Silas says with utter contempt
"What in the world makes you say that?" Weiss asks Blake.
"The mere fact that you would sort that Faunus boy with a terrorist group solely based on his species makes you just as much of a scoundrel as you believe him to be!" She furiously shoots back at her
"Um, I think we should probably go..." I hear Yang uncomfortably say, I look back at her and give a sad nod. "You said it..."
Uriah only sighs, "What a mess."
"Where are we going?" Penny innocently asks
"So you admit it! The White Fang is just a radical group of terrorists!" Weiss shouts out
"That's not what I meant, and you know it!"
Beacon, hours later
Even after coming back Weiss, Blake and Silas wouldn't stop fighting. Just when we're all in the dorms. While Weiss and Blake have just been continuing to go back and forth Silas has kept mostly quiet since we're in the room. Weiss and Blake sitting on their beds, the rest of us just hanging back away from the fight
"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!"
"That is the problem!"
"You realize you are defending an organization that hates Humanity, don't you? The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!" Weiss spat standing up from her bed
"What patty-cake horseshit are you talking about Schnee?! 'Pure evil'?" Silas scoffs, "Don't make me more sick than I already am!"
Blake gets up from her bed as well, "There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate Humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you, that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!" She snaps back at Weiss who looks taken aback
"People like me?"
"You're discriminatory!"
"I'm a victim!"
The two then stare each other down in total silence, me and Uriah can't even make some snark for this...it may just make things worse, it would make things worse. Weiss leans in toward Blake, leering at her before quietly speaking again, "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus?" She asks
"By all means...tell us your sob story." Silas venomously states, I glare at him to silently tell him to keep his mouth shut. Weiss starts to lean against the bookshelf over by the window.
"It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War, as in actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear; board members executed; an entire train car full of Dust, stolen; a whole manufacturing plant, destroyed." I could see Blake and Silas flinch on the last two...please, please don't let I'm thinking be true. "And every day, my father would come home, furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood." She finishes it by pounding her fist on the desk.
Ruby and Uriah head over to hopefully comfort her.
"Weiss, I-"
"No!" Weiss snaps at her
"Weiss...please just-"
"I said NO!" She turns away and walks back to Blake, "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!"
"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!"
We? Oh no...why do I have to be right? Damn it why?
There's silence again as Weiss slowly backs away from Blake who looks mortified, realizing her mistake. She looks to all of us, with a pitiable look to her.
"I...I..." She can't even say what she wants, she dashes past us all and out the door. "Blake, wait! Come back!" Ruby calls out running outside.
I look to Silas for a moment, I have something to ask him.
"I'll...I'll go get her back." He says quietly
"Stay right there Silas." I tell him in a low tone, he stops. "What is it Axel?" He asks with a bit of fear in his voice.
"Did you know about this?" I ask him
"Axel...it was for-"
"I said did you know about this?" I ask him again more sternly, he lowers his head and turns away before darts outside.
"Si!" Uriah and Roy yell out looking down the hallway, I'm in transfix. Silas kept something big away from me...I don't know what to think. Anger? Shock? Betrayal? Like I said: I don't know.
"Boss, you want me to get him back here?" Uriah asks, looking at him he looks like a scared little boy. I sigh and put a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry Uriah...but I have no idea what to do." I quietly tell him. Looking in the room I see Yang sitting down and Weiss with her lead lowered. I head over to Yang and sit down next to her.
I turn to look at her and give a nudge, Yang turns her head at me with a sad look on her face. I turn my head away to watch Weiss, feeling Yang rest her head on my shoulder a moment later.
I can't say I condone Weiss' actions, she has a justifiable reason and she's a friend. And I can't condone Silas and Blake either since the Faunus have always been oppressed.
Why can't things just be simple? The world be so complex?
I don't know, nobody does.
Silas POV
Getting outside I can see Blake over by the statue, looking at it. I walk over to her and see her take off the bow, showing her cat ears. By the time I get to her she has tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Oh Blake..." I quietly say to her before giving a quick kiss her lips, maybe it helps...maybe it doesn't. Looking again she still looks so sad, her head lowered.
"I knew you would look better without the bow." A new voice says
Looking to where it came from: it's the guy from today, the monkey.
"Hey there..." I say dispassionately with a wave. He looks at me curiously for a moment and tilts his head, and surprisingly he smiles.
"Need a hand?"
Axel's POV, One Day later
Yesterday was a mess. Waking up this morning I'm tired still, I sigh and shake my head to get rid of it...doesn't work. Looking down at Yang I smile tiredly and place a peck on her head.
A moment after that I hear Ruby yawn, seeing her wake up I wave. She replies with a wave herself before looking down presumably at Blake and Silas' bunk and lets out a sad groan.
Looking bellow. Neither of them are there.
Damn.
One Day Later
We've been walking through the streets of Vale which are oddly empty at the time, no body walking down the streets at all.
"They've been gone all weekend..." Ruby mutters miserably
"Hope they're alright." Roy says quietly
"Blake's a big girl, and Silas is a big boy, I'm sure they can handle themselves!" Weiss snarks sounding a bit spiteful
"The hate train just keeps on a chugging with you doesn't it?" Uriah plainly snarks back
"Weiss, come on. She's one of our teammates. And Silas is one of our friends and one of Axel's teammates." Yang motherly scolds
"Are they?" Weiss asks "We all heard what she said! And how he reacted!"
"We haven't exactly gotten their side of the story." I reply to her
"Maybe they are, maybe they're not. Either way, both of them are missing, and we need to find them!"
"Two members of the White Fang! Right underneath our noses!" Weiss scoffs
"I just hope they're okay..."
"Me too Ruby, me too..."
Silas' POV
Tea is sometimes more proper than coffee, which is probably why Blake and I are having it with the monkey Faunus in front of us who's holding his cup using his tail while he props his head on his hand. He said his name is Sun Wukong, comes from Vacuo. I take a sip of my tea before setting it down.
Blake sips her own tea and sighs, setting it down. Sun taking a sip right afterwards.
"So, you want to know more about me..." She says
"And I guess me as well..." I add in looking to Sun. I'm sorry guys.
Time to spill the beans.
(And there we go. The Cat and the Wolf meet with the Monkey, next chapter: things happen. What kind of things? Things you can read.)