Arc I; Meetings
Chapter 6
Outside of Club "Black Bear's Den" (A few moments later)
Weiss would be lying to herself if she said that the image of Yang Xiao Long dropping to her knees with a broken expression on her face had never made itself present in her dreams. After all, her Father taught her to crush her enemies without remorse, pity or consideration if she wanted to make it in the business world.
And it was true that dreams could not compare to the real thing as she saw Yang drop down, scroll tumbling down from her hands, lilac eyes, completely glazed over. The entire thing happened so fast that to Weiss it seemed like a doll whose strings had been cut.
It was sickening to watch.
"Yang!" Blake dropped down next to the blonde and started shaking her. "Yang, what happened?"
Yang started to try and say something, but all Weiss could make out from the babbling was something about Ruby.
It really didn't take much more than that for Weiss to start putting the pieces together.
While Weiss and Xiao Long didn't run in the same social circles, not even close, Weiss was well aware of the blonde's nearly obsessive protectiveness toward her sister. After all, even Weiss heard the rumor that a few years back someone who harassed Yang's sister wound up with missing teeth the next day.
Weiss didn't even dare think what was going through Yang's head if a murderer actually called to say he had taken Ruby.
Another ring sounded from the dropped scroll and since Yang was still nearly catatonic, Weiss picked up the device and saw that a message had been sent, containing an address along with the text "One hour!".
Weiss started weighing her options in her head. She could call the police with the address and claim that a kidnapping had taken place, but she was more than sure that a 'no police' threat was issued to Yang, meaning that doing so would probably put Ruby in even more danger than she was already.
Which left one other option.
Quickly pulling out a map app from the scroll, Weiss entered the address from the message along with the address from the ledger and as soon as the results came up, she couldn't help but smirk.
"Xiao Long, get yourself together!" Weiss snapped at the blonde. "We have to…"
That was as far as Weiss managed to go, before two strong hands grabbed the collar of her dress and slammed her against the nearest wall. Quickly blinking the black spots from her vision, Weiss felt that her feet were no longer touching the ground and her eyes were immediately glued to Yang's face, now a mask of rage.
The blonde's teeth were bared in a ferocious snarl, that reminded Weiss of a lioness, lilac eyes resembling cold amethysts, boring into her.
"My sister," Yang spoke, her words barely audible through her gritted teeth. "Has been kidnapped and you're giving me orders?!"
"I… Might have a way to find her…" Weiss managed to get out from her position and as soon as the words left her mouth, Yang's grip started to slacken until Weiss felt that her feet were back on the ground.
"Talk!" Yang ordered.
"The other meeting Tukson had," Weiss started to explain. "I know who ordered the book and I know their address."
"How?" Blake asked and much to her relief Weiss couldn't detect any hostility in the girl's voice, unlike with Yang, who still appeared to be trembling from either rage or fear.
"The ledger,"
Or both, I guess.
"The ledger was destroyed. Burned down with the store," Blake pointed out.
"But it wasn't destroyed before I read it," Weiss pointed out. "I have an eidetic memory. Do the math!"
Weiss let the implication of what she said sink in for a moment and once she saw realization dawning on both girls, she continued
"The address sent to Yang's scroll is not ten minutes from the man's address," she explained and showed the two the route she entered on the map application.
"Wait," Blake held up her hand. "I don't want to point out the obvious, but why would you think Ruby is at this guy's apartment? We just found out that Tukson was with the White Fang. If his killer is also a member, Ruby could be in over a dozen locations throughout Vale."
"Yes, but we can't check those!" Weiss protested, trying to validate her point. While she had to at least admit that Blake had a point, plunging Yang deeper into a catatonic state was not beneficial to any of them right. As it was, nearly five minutes of their deadline had passed. "Right now we have a lead we can check. Besides, there is every possibility that Ruby isn't even taken." The white haired girl added, casting a wary glance at Yang.
"It was her scroll that called," the blonde answered in a flat tone. "But I get what you're saying. Maybe someone stole just her scroll."
"Your apartment is on the way to the address that was sent." Blake sighed, though Weiss couldn't understand why she appeared so dejected, like someone had ruined her day. "We can stop by and see if Ruby was really taken."
"Let's go!" Yang shouted and grabbed both Weiss and Blake by the hand and started dragging them toward the street.
Xiao Long/Rose Residence
"RUBY!" Yang yelled as soon as the girl stormed into the sisters' apartment and quickly disappeared further into the apartment.
Weiss was last to enter and the picture she was presented with didn't inspire much confidence.
The entire apartment appeared to be torn down. The table from the kitchen was now sideways, chairs overturned all throughout the house, even one of the doors, that Weiss assumed lead to a bedroom was now on the floor.
By all accounts Ruby had put up quite the struggle to try and escape her captors, but even so Weiss had to suppress the disappointment she felt. She half-hoped that the girl would have actually managed to get away or that her scroll was just stolen.
She knew that the possibility for that was slim, but a small traitorous part of her still hoped until a moment ago.
"She not here," Yang spoke up in a dejected tone as she re-appeared from one of the rooms.
"It was still worth a shot," Blake allowed. "And it appears your sister put up a fight."
"Yeah,…" Yang nodded and Weiss could swear there was a hint of pride in her voice. "Thought… Why run into her room?"
"What do you mean?" Blake asked.
"Her room is the only one without a lock," Yang explained. "Not to mention we were planning on changing the hinges, because of an… accident a month or so back."
"So she panicked," Blake shrugged. "Anyone would in her place and she ran into the place she felt most comfortable in."
"What's our time?" Weiss asked turning toward Blake.
"We've got 47 minutes." the golden-eyed girl replied as she glanced at her watch. "The taxi driver dropped us of fast."
Understatement, Weiss thought back to how Yang nearly strangled the taxi driver every time he even thought about slowing down.
"Let's just see if there's anything inside," Weiss suggested. "Maybe she left us something to follow."
"Knowing Ruby it will probably be something that explodes," Yang replied, though Weiss didn't need years of business training to hear the strain in that joke.
Never the less, the trio stepped pass the broken down door and into Ruby's room, where Weiss had to suppress a gasp.
The place looked less like a room where one would sleep and more like an armory. One whole side of the room was taken up by no less than five weapon storage lockers, each with a digital pad on them. The wall across from the lockers was taken up by a desk and a workbench, both of which were buried under a variety of instruments, from drawing tools and rolls of blueprints, to various instruments whose purpose Weiss couldn't even begin to fathom. The wall above the two surfaces was also buried under blueprints, each overlapping with a different one. On most of them, Weiss noted various designs, calculations and…
Are those doodles? The white haired girl narrowed her eyes.
"Looks like there was a struggle," Blake noted and pointed at the floor which was covered in various parts and bullet casings, intermixed with the odd book or magazine.
"Not really," Yang shook her head. "That's how it normally looks."
"Then how are we supposed to know if she left us a clue?" Blake asked.
"And furthermore, how can you let her live like this? Weiss asked. "Even those lockers are opened…"
"That's it!" Yang proclaimed and ran pass the other two.
"What is?"
"Ruby is kind of a slob in for a lot of things," Yang admitted. "One of the three exceptions however is her guns and more accurately, gun safety. She'd never leave the lockers unlocked!" the blonde explained and opened the unlocked storage compartment.
"Okay,…" Yang muttered. "This isn't what I was expecting." She explained and pulled out a green case from the locker. "Anyone got an idea what this is?"
As soon as Weiss saw the case she thought of two things. The first and by far the more unpleasant of which was that she'd have to thank her Father for all the times he dragged her on his little 'hunting' trips. The second thought however she gave voice to:
"Xiao Long, your sister is a genius!" she exclaimed and grabbed the case from the blonde. "Now come on, there might be a way to salvage this situation!"
Location Unknown
Urgh, my head! Ruby thought as she slowly regained consciousness. As she moved to massage her temples however she quickly discovered that she couldn't move her hands and a few tugs later she confirmed that her legs were also bound, one to each of the chair's front legs. (I'm actually glad I wore jeans for once, otherwise this would have been embarrassing.) As she tried to open her mouth there was a tug on her lips, meaning that someone duct taped her mouth shut.
The events of the previous hours came rushing back to the young teen's head, right down to the moment she opened the door.
"Yang, did you forget your keys again?" Ruby asked and opened the door.
Or at least tried to open the door, because as soon as she unlocked it, she was sent flying back by someone slamming into it. As soon as Ruby landed, black spots started dancing in front of her vision, but a few blinks managed to clear them out.
Those precious few moments however had allowed her assailant to walk pass the door, meaning she couldn't just lock him out.
As Ruby scrambled to her feet, her assailant ran toward her and made to grab her legs. Ruby quickly rolled to her side and as the man lost his balance, she kicked him in the teeth, which caused him to produce a whining sound, which sounded almost like a dog. Alerted by the sound, Ruby's eyes darted toward the man properly and she noticed that he had a dog's tail.
The fact that he was a Faunus gave Ruby an idea and she quickly darted pass the man and under his outstretched arms, silently thanking her short stature for once.
As Ruby ran into her room and shut the door behind her, hoping to buy a few more seconds though, she remembered that her room didn't have a lock. She didn't have time to berate herself over her mistake though and ran headlong toward the weapon lockers in her room. Because of her speed, Ruby nearly collided head-first with the metal door and as soon as she stopped herself started to enter the combination for the digital lock.
9-2-6-4-0-9-4-2-6-0-5-6-6-4…Ruby recounted the password for that particular locker and as she hit "Enter" the locker opened, but before Ruby could retrieve its content, a hand grabbed a fistful of her hair and the next thing Ruby knew, she was unconscious.
Ruby slowly opened her eyes, careful not to alert her captor if he was around. The first thing she saw was that she was indeed bound to a chair with duct tape of all things. The brunette moved her hands experimentally to see how tight the binds were, but quickly discovered that she was in fact tied up correctly and couldn't wiggle out like when Yang tied her up once because she wanted to tag along during Yang's date. The next thing Ruby did was feel the surface of the chair she was tied to and after a few moments realized that she'd been tied to a metal chair of all things. The good news was that her fingers were at least free, if nothing else.
This will be interesting Ruby thought and darted her eyes left and right, trying to determine if she was alone. After her initial survey, the teen chanced lifting her head and confirmed that she was indeed alone. The apartment itself was fairly large, but surprisingly empty in terms of both furniture and possessions.
Ruby slumped back craning her neck a little Ruby did manage to see the kitchen however and her heart immediately dropped as she saw that every drawler and cupboard in her range of vision had safety locks on them.
In Remnant's name are you kidding me?! The teen thought and slumped back into the chair as much as the restraints would allow her. After all, there was no way she could open a child safety lock with her hands tied to a chair, even if she could make it all the way over there, which given her current predicament would have been hard.
As the silver-eyed girl was about to give up on her hopes though, she spotted one thing that didn't have a lock on it; a trash can.
I did get kidnapped by a dog Faunus… Nah, she thought to herself, nearly dismissing her own idea about how to get out of this. Then again, what do I have to lose?
Resolute in her idea, Ruby started to rock the chair back and forth as she tried to get enough swing to stand up on her toes… Either that or fall over. As long as she managed to move and be in a position to shuffle forward, she'd consider it a win.
Just don't let me fall on my nose, Ruby sent a silent prayer as she gathered more and more momentum.
As she nearly fell backwards on the next swing, Ruby knew that either she was getting on her toes on the return swing or she was falling down and writhing her way to the trash can.
Here goes! She thought as slung forward and pulled upwards, miraculously landing on her toes in the process.
Momentarily forgetting about her gag, Ruby tried to let out a victory cheer, only for a muffled grunt to be the best she could do. Ruby carefully tested her balance and after she was satisfied with it, started to carefully tiptoe her way toward the kitchen.
The process was slow, tiring to perform and extremely stressful in regards to her feet. After the first dozen or so strides, which barely equated to a few feet, Ruby already felt her calves straining from standing on her toes like this. Ignoring her protesting legs, Ruby continued to inch toward her goal and after an agonizingly long five minutes, finally reached the trash can.
Here goes, she thought and swung the back legs of the chair, knocking the bin over, but lost her balance in the process, falling hard on her left shoulder.
As Ruby blinked the black spots dancing in front of her eyes, she saw an open can tumble pass her.
Not wanting to waste this chance, the teen started to shuffle toward the piece of metal that held her freedom and after several minutes of careful rocking back and forth, managed to grab the empty container.
Finally! She thought victoriously and started to use the uneven sharp edges on the lid to cut through the tape, which was proving easier than she anticipated. As soon as her fist arm was free from the tape, Ruby was able to grip the can better and made short work of the other three binds and quickly removed herself from the chair.
Taking a deep breath as to prepare herself, Ruby gripped the edge of the band around her mouth and pulled it off in one swift movement. As soon the tape left her lips, Ruby was pleasantly surprised to find out that she wasn't in any insurmountable pain. In fact it wasn't even as bad as getting shots.
Now free, Ruby headed directly toward the door. Even if it was locked, she needed to at least try it before moving on to different ways to escape.
As she was about to reach for the handle of the door though, Ruby heard the very distinct sound of a key being inserted into the keyhole and she instinctively jumped back and her eyes started darting left and right for anything she could use as a weapon, until her eyes fell on a porcelain vase sitting on a small table next to her.
Ruby quickly grabbed her improvised weapon and stepped just out of view of the door and waited, barely even daring to breath, least she ruin the element of surprise.
She heard the door open slowly and footsteps followed, each one increasing the tension in Ruby's mind, until finally, after what felt like an entire hour of waiting she saw someone step into her field of vision and she slung the vase in an overhead blow.
A heartbeat after Ruby slung, she saw a familiar flash of snow-white hair, before the vase in her hands connected with something and the person she slung at fell to the ground.
"What's the big idea?!" a shrill voice called to Ruby and the younger teen immediately identified it.
"Weiss!" Ruby called as she saw the older girl indignantly sprawled on the floor, a gun case held over her head defensively. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to get you, you dolt!" Weiss replied and got up from the floor. "And what's with that hit? If it wasn't for the fact that I train, you would have cracked my skull! Don't you think anything through?!"
"I did think it through!" Ruby protested. "I thought that you were the Faunus that kidnapped me and that I could knock him out! How was I to know that you…" Ruby stopped her tirade dead in its tracks as she realized what Weiss said. "Wait, Weiss… You came back? You decided to help us?"
"I'm a Schnee," Weiss replied in her usual tone, though Ruby saw a brief flash of light go through her pale blue eyes. "That means that I have to help people and uphold what my family stands for. Even if it means…" Ruby interrupted the girls speech by giving her a tight hug, which seemed to shut her up immediately.
"What are you doing?!" Weiss screamed and pushed Ruby off her.
"Saying 'thanks' for helping me!" Ruby smiled and let go off Weiss as she realized something. "Where are Yang and Blake?"
"They are meeting your kidnapper," Weiss explained. "And they are going to need your help. But first…" she continued hefting up the gun case. "Is this what I think it is?"
Ruby swallowed all the questions that sprang to her mind about why Yang was meeting Ruby's kidnapper and took a look at the green and black case in Weiss' hands and immediately recognized the number.
"It's a modified tranquilizer gun," she rattled off. "I replaced the scope to be military grade including all the spotter equipment I could cram into it and then improved the firing mechanism with a more powerful piston and air tank. It can fire at up to a mile and a half."
"Then come on!" Weiss nodded. "We've got a plan, but you'll need to prove your sister right first!"
Vale Downtown Storage District
Yang took a deep breath.
She had been counting them originally, but once she reached about sixty, she gave up as it was irritating her, which was producing the opposite of the desired results.
There was still no page from Weiss, which meant that they still weren't in position. Yang glanced at Blake who simply looked at her watch.
"Three minutes," she supplied.
Yang did her best not to groan at the mounting feeling of helplessness she felt in her gut.
They really should have thought of a backup plan…
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
42 minutes ago
"What do you mean Schnee?" Yang asked as Weiss made the statement about Ruby being a genius.
"If I am right, your sister ran into this room to try and capture whoever broke in here," Weiss explained and pointed at the case in the locker. "All we need to do is finish her idea and capture the kidnapper."
"Can you actually shoot Princess?" Yang retorted. "Cause I sure as Remnant can't!"
"Your sister apparently designs guns," Weiss pointed out, gesturing toward the blueprints. "And you're telling me that you can't shoot?"
"I prefer hitting people," Yang countered and tightened her hand into a fist. "What about you, bella donna." The blonde turned toward the last of the three.
Blake raised an eyebrow at the strange referral, but shook her head.
"I can't shoot a rifle," Blake clarified. "But the idea is still viable." she acknowledged.
"And how exactly if we can't shoot straight?" Yang inquired. "The only one who can shoot straight is Ruby and…"
"Precisely!" Blake nodded. "All we have to do is get to her."
"You do realize there is a flaw in your plan, right?" Weiss pointed out and much to her annoyance Yang was forced to admit the Schnee heiress had a point. The plan would only work if Ruby really was a captive at this guy's apartment, which was wishful thinking at best. After all, they were talking about someone who committed murder, nearly burned them alive to cover the evidence and was obviously not above using kids as hostages. In fact, a small treacherous part of Yang's mind that started to think that they might not…
Uh, uh! The blonde chastised herself. No negativity!
"I assume you've got a different idea?" Blake asked and Yang actually flinched at the venom in the girl's voice.
"I might," Weiss admitted. "I'll go and get her. After all, the kidnapper wants you and Xiao Long there, right? He obviously hadn't been following you after we separated. He doesn't know I'm here, meaning…"
"We can stall until you get there," Blake concluded. "And if Ruby isn't there?"
"Then you two will have to improvise," The Schnee heiress admitted.
"There is still one major problem with your plan," Blake pointed out. "The meeting point is thirty minutes from here by car. The apartment complex another 3. So unless Ruby can run 2 miles in under 6 minutes, we're out of luck."
"She can do it," Yang assured the other two, a hint of pride slipping in her voice. "Ruby can outstrip the entire track and field team at Beacon if she needed to."
"Let's hope you're right," Blake pointed out gravely.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Looks like we're gonna be improvising," Yang muttered more to herself than anyone else, but much to her surprise Blake nodded. "Any ideas?"
"I'm going to have to wait and see who we're dealing with first," Blake admitted. "Can't promise anything before that."
Yang's nodded, her hand straying to her scroll again, to check if the device was vibrating from an unread message. Because of their short time table, they agreed that Weiss couldn't risk actually calling to inform them if she managed to rescue Ruby or not, but instead would just send a message via her scroll.
Come on Princess, Yang thought bitterly, but before she could do more, a sound caught her attention and she turned toward it, seeing the door of one of the nearby storage units opening. No one came out of the structure though and the door itself was only half raised.
"Think it's an invitation?" Yang asked.
"No doubt," Blake confirmed and stepped closer so she could whisper in Yang's ear. "What do we do though? This ruins the plan, unless your sister can curve bullets."
"Not that I know," the blonde shook her head, ignoring the shiver that the whisper sent down her spine. "Looks like we're really going to be improvising."
"Let's hope we get the chance," the raven haired girl nodded and the two started toward the half opened door, when an idea sprung into Yang's mind. A potentially stupid idea, but it was better than nothing. Not wasting any more time thinking about it, less she be discouraged, Yang grabbed Blake's shoulder, stopping her cold.
"Stop!" she said quietly and then turned fully toward the storage unit and announced in as loud a voice as possible: "We aren't coming in buddy! You want us, you're going to have to come out and get us!"
"Yang, what are you doing?" Blake hissed.
"Improvising," the brawler shrugged and turned back toward the unit. "Come on! I don't have all day!"
Even though Yang was infusing her voice with all the cockiness and bravado she could muster given the situation, her mind was frantic, praying that Ruby was in fact not here. If she was, then Yang was pretty much gambling with her sister's life.
Again…
As Yang opened her mouth to shout again, the door of the unit rose fully and a lone figure emerged from the darkened entrance.
"I was told you care for your sister," the figure muttered as it stepped out into the light.
Once outside the shadows of the unit Yang managed to take a better look at the man, because it was a man, or more accurately a male Faunus, if the droopy dog ears were any indication. Apart from his Faunus features the man didn't appear that distinguishable to yang; average build, average height, average… Everything. It felt very strange that such a man was a killer.
"I do," Yang nodded. "That's why I'm not stupid enough to walk into a dark room with a person who's claimed to kidnap her."
The tone appeared to disturb the man as he appeared to get more agitated and he was muttering to himself. As he finally turned back toward Yang and Blake, Yang felt her scroll vibrate and took it as a sign that Weiss did manage to get to the apartment and Yang fervently waited for a second message. They agreed if it was just one message it would mean that Ruby wasn't at this guy's apartment and that two messages would mean that Ruby was on her way.
"Fine, I came out," the Faunus spoke again. "Now come on, your sister's life depends on you two cooperating."
"Where is she?" Yang asked. "I am not taking a step, before I know she's okay!"
"You seem," the man growled and reached into his jacket. "To really not get how you play this game girly!" with those words, the man pulled out a gun from his coat and pointed it at the two of them. "Now get in the damn storage unit!"
Yang swallowed nervously at the sight of the gun. If Tukson was to be any indication, this man wouldn't hesitate to shoot them if need be and as much of a thrill seeker she was, Yang didn't quite have a death wish.
As Yang started to raise her hands slowly, she felt her scroll vibrate a second time, causing her to pause for a moment and exchanged a quick glance with Blake, who was also complying to the man's demands and she saw the black-haired girl nod slightly.
Remnant, this is gonna suck! the blonde thought and dove to her left and saw from the corner of her vision, Blake going right.
Yang barely managed to round the nearest corner, when she heard a gunshot ring out through the lot and the all too familiar sound of a bullet hitting somewhere nearby. Ducking on instinct, Yang continued to run, even though some small rational part of her mind was reasoning that she couldn't possibly be hit from around the corner.
Skidding to a halt, Yang started to think. She and Blake needed to buy about three minutes for Ruby to get here, not to mention keep the guy in some sort of open space so she could take a shot at him.
Yang heard footsteps somewhere behind her and an idea crossed her mind: maybe, she didn't actually have to wait for Ruby. The blonde quickly took position next to the corner she just took and balled up her right hand into a fist, all the while she listened carefully for any sound that her pursuer might make.
Sure enough Yang heard heavy foot falls coming her way and she drew back her hand. Seconds seemed to stretch out longer and longer between each step and Yang actually felt cold sweat forming on her brow. She was keenly aware that this was far different from a boxing match or even a bar brawl. One mistake was one too much.
Yang saw the foot of her pursuer cross the corner and swung with all her might at him.
The hit connected, just under the man's ribs and Yang cheered internally as he doubled over from the pain. She knew all too well what a hit like that could do, both having experienced it herself and delivered it not once during a match. Taking advantage of the fact that the Faunus staggered Yang swung her leg out, aiming for the gun in the man's hand, hoping to neutralize the threat the gun presented.
That was when things started to go wrong for the blonde brawler.
Not only did she miss the kick, but the force she put behind was too much and she briefly lost her balance, but that moment proved more than enough as the man grabbed her leg and pulled it out from under her, causing Yang to fall backwards.
Quickly turning her fall into a roll, exhaling as she did so to avoid having the air knocked out of her lungs when she hit the hard concrete. That helped her avoid cracking her head on the unforgiving concrete, but even so, she knew it was over a quick glance upwards confirmed that she was now staring at the barrel of the revolver.
Vale Downtown Storage District
Blake ran as fast as she could.
She figured that either the other Faunus would go after her, as she had little doubt he recognized her by scent, in which case she needed to outpace him and surprise him with an attack from behind, or he'd dismiss her and go after Yang, in which case, she still needed to wrap around and intercept him before he could get to the blonde.
While physically impressive, Blake knew that Yang didn't have any experience in a life or death situation like this had turned out to be.
The revelation that the killer was part of the Fang made everything seem far too grim. She even thought about trying to convince Yang to simply get the VPD involved in an attempt to steer the sisters away from the danger they were rushing into, but Fate, as usual had different plans for her.
Okay, next corner should…
"Blake, stop," she heard a male voice somewhere off to her right and stopped dead in her tracks, a sensation of fear running down her spine, mixed with a strange sense of uninvited excitement.
Slowly turning around toward the direction of the voice, Blake saw the one person she had hoped never to again.
"Adam,…" she breathed and immediately took a defensive stance, while the man walked out of the shadows.
Adam Taurus was dressed in the same attire Blake was used to seeing him in; long-sleeved black trench coat with slit sleeves and more red designs and a white symbol on the left side. His trench coat is red on the inside with red flame-like accents at the bottom and a large emblem on the back, with a white tulip design covered by a red rose design. In his left hand, tightly gripping the handle was a cane, where Blake knew that Adam's favorite weapon, a stylized katana with a red colored blade.
Blake knew that he'd find her sooner or later. She didn't expect it to be quite so fast though. Nor was she expecting having a small cardiac arrest when she met him. Her heart was thumping fast enough that she was actually afraid it might stop. Remnant she wasn't prepared for this. Not by a mile.
"You should have realized this was futile," Adam, who unlike Blake appeared to be completely composed.
"I did," Blake managed, through her half-closed throat. The raven haired girl took a steadying breath before continuing. "Doesn't mean I shouldn't have tried though."
"And why is that Blake?" Adam asked taking a step forward, mirroring Blake, who took one back. "Why now after everything-"
"Because you went too far!" Blake interrupted the man she used to call her comrade.
Adam, for the first time since Blake has known him, actually broke his stride, though the extent of the reaction was hidden from the girl due to the mask that was covering his face.
"And how is that Blake?" he asked. "By finally killing humans, the way they slaughter us almost daily?"
"No, when you started killing Faunus!" Blake countered, all the anger, pain and betrayal she felt over the last few days finally having an outlet. "You ordered the executions of loyal Faunus, whose only crime was that they didn't completely agree with you! Just like you did with Tukson!"
"Tukson was," Adam sighed. "A special case."
"What do you mean?" Blake asked, her curiosity overruling her caution and fears.
"Tucson's death, was something I had hoped to avoid," Adam admitted, his stance shifting slightly, hand tightening on the blade's sheath, forcing Blake to plant her heels more firmly on the ground. She knew that if Adam actually chose to attack, there'd be very little she could do against him.
After all, how much of a chance did one stand against their own teacher?
"However," Adam continued. "Sometimes sacrifices need to be made for the greater good."
"The greater good?" Blake asked, anger beginning to seep into her voice. "Whose greater good Adam? Faunus? Or yours?"
"You still think there's a difference?" the other faunus asked.
"Lately,… More and more," Blake confirmed in a hushed tone.
Before Adam could respond to Blake's statement however a voice rang out through the area.
"I KNOW YOU"RE OUT THERE!" the voice, which Blake immediately recognized as the Faunus who had killed Tukson, declared. "YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE TO COME OUT, OR I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL KILL THE BLONDE!"
Silence reigned for a few seconds after the announcement, until Adam spoke up.
"Well, this is certainly unexpected," Adam admitted.
"What is?" Blake she started to mentally go through her options. "That your hired gun is willing to kill someone?"
"Why assume that this faunus is part of the White Fang?" Adam countered carefully, cutting off Blake's next argument in its tracks.
Not… part… of the Fang?
"So, it's come to this Blake," Adam spoke up again, not letting her ponder on his words. "What's it going to be? Come with me and return to the White Fang or go and get yourself killed for a human?"
"Blake," Adam continued. "I meant what I said last night. I want you to come back to your family. To come back to me!"
Blake could have lied to herself and said that she wasn't tempted for a second. She could claim that she didn't thought about it. That she didn't consider for a moment simply taking a few steps and taking her side next to Adam.
But Blake detested lying, much less lying to herself. Because she was tempted. After all she was only a faunus after all and therefore flawed like any other being of flesh and blood under the sun.
It was tempting, simpler, after time it might have actually been happy. Just like before. All she had to do was abandon her principles. All for him, just like before…
As Blake felt her leg move forward however a thought pass through her mind.
What would happen to Yang?
The answer was easy; she'd be dead. Probably followed by her sister, in turn making sure that Tukson's killer would never be caught and a boy would have to spend his life in prison, slowly rotting away, while a killer walked in the sunlight and pretended that nothing had happened.
Could she do that?
That was what her heart was asking; could she, Blake Belladonna take those tentative few steps that would doom three lives for the sake of her own greed?