Hey everybody we have a new chapter for you guys. Special shoutout to my Beta SabletKnight, he's been a huge help in making this story a lot better. Sorry this one took so long I've been trying to get my school stuff together as I go to community college. But that's enough about me, enjoy this chapter fellas.
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Blake sat on the balcony of a small cafe with her newfound friend Sunny, or rather, Sun. It had only been a day since Sun had found her standing without her bow at the statue, and Blake had decided to take the day off from her team to talk with this rogue faunus.
"So, are you going to say something?" Sun asked, using her tail to hold her cup.
Blake sighed. Her attitude drained the poor cat faunus and it only added onto a litany of other problems on her plate. "What is it you brought me here for Sun?"
"Finally she speaks! 2 hours of small talk and dirty looks finally earned me something huh?" Sun sipped her tea and Blake just glared at her. "Yeah you see! Like that!"
"Sun, do you know about the White Fang?" Sun nodded her head, every faunus knew of the organization for better or worse. "Well, I used to be a part of it."
Sun choked on her tea for a moment as she processed the information. Sure Blake was a capable huntress, but Sun wouldn't have pegged her for a terrorist. Seeing the apprehensive look on her companion's face Blake sighed. "Yeah, I know how that sounds."
"Really? Because it sounds like 10-12 years in prison to me." Sun quipped but quickly shut up when Blake sent another, harsher glare her way.
"Trust me, I know what it means for me." Blake then began to recall her time in the White Fang, how it changed from peaceful protests to organized riots, and how she left when it became too much.
After she was done, there wasn't much to fill the awkward silence between the two on the account that there were practically no customers in the large outside area they were sitting in.
After a moment to collect herself, Blake continued. "But, I want to try and change things. The White Fang is no longer attacking just human supremacists and corrupt business men, but now they have begun to steal dust and move to attacking crowds of innocent people, regardless of race. I can't let that go, so I've resolved to try and find the White Fang myself if need be."
Sun looked at her stone faced, the most serious Blake had ever seen the monkey faunus so far. "Do you even know where they'd be operating?"
"I was hoping you might know Sun."
She took a moment to think about that, scratching her chin. "Well, while I was on that boat, I heard some of the sailors talking about a dust shipment arriving in Vale soon. If the Fang is stealing dust, then that'd be the place where they'd most likely be."
Blake nodded. "And where would this be then?"
"The shipping docks of course, but as for the time I have no clue. I guess that means we'll have to hang around there for awhile."
Blake breathed deeply and let it out in a sigh. "I suppose I should be thanking you for all your help Sun, and I won't fault you if you don't want to risk your life on this."
"Not a problem Blakey, just helping a friend in need." Sun winked at her, before turning slightly more serious. "Have you told your team about this yet, Blake?"
Blake said nothing for a moment, before leaving some money and exiting the cafe.
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"All I'm saying is that her sneaking off could mean more than you think!" Weiss said to Ruby, both teams having gathered in RYBN's room.
"Not helping, Weiss." Ruby grit out, partially due to the fact that it wasn't really helpful and partially due to how her attitude had somewhat irked Ruby. Pyrrha nodded her head slightly towards her leader, as she too questioned the whereabouts of her partner Blake.
"Look, guys, getting angry and throwing out opinions won't help." Yang started, trying to soothe tensions. "How about we go into the Eastern section of Vale, where more Faunus live, and you guys check around the shops?"
Weiss scoffed at the notion. "Why should we? Blake isn't our teammate anymore! Furthermore, she could very well be in league with the Fang!"
Yang rose to face her and the rest of RYBN followed suit, but they were all cut off by Jaune. "Enough! This arguing isn't helping my massive headache, so here's the plan: Yang, you and your team go to the Eastern District while my team follows the shops and center square of Vale."
Yang didn't say anything but nodded and turned to leave with her team, by the time they were out the door Weiss had turned to face him. "And what gives you the right to order us around?"
"Ugh, he's our leader Weiss." Rin pointed out helpfully, Weiss huffed but didn't say anything more.
"Weiss, I get it. She made wild accusations about your family and you and that's obviously a sore spot, so I get it. But a little compassion for your fellow huntress could be helpful in the search." Jaune reasoned with her.
"Compassion? The way I see it, the only time Blake decided to talk to me was to pick a fight, so I doubt she would have the same compassion if the roles were reversed." Weiss said, clenching her fists. "People who like to think the world owes them something, even when it isn't my fault. People back in Atlas when they wanted something from my father's company, when they thought they could just whisk me away with some stupid marriage, or every person that tried to get in good with me back home. Those people? They're the ones I hate the most."
Jaune took a moment to read her, and then made for the door. "Well, then you can at least fake the compassion."
Rin and Nora exchanged glances but followed their leader out the door, leaving Weiss alone to decide for herself.
"Dammit Blake, you owe me for this."
The door clicked shut with slightly more force than necessary.
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4 hours later…
Team ARSN had been scouring the whole city non-stop since arriving, and not a hide nor hare of their wayward companion showed itself. Weiss had been ready to give up after the 30 minute mark, but Nora had badgered her into staying. Still, Jaune couldn't deny that the search was beginning to grate on him as well, four hours of fruitless searching seemed to be enough in his book.
The day had slowly receded into the time between evening and dusk , giving just enough light to see where they were going. They were all armed with their weapons in case they found Blake in a potentially compromising situation.
"Friend Jaune, Friend Nora, where are we going?" chirped the ginger-haired girl from behind them. She had just randomly shown up in their search and introduced herself as Penny, Ruby's friend. Jaune just kinda rolled with it and didn't pay attention to her, and Nora talked to her enough for four people already, so it kinda worked out.
"I don't know Penny." Jaune growled, and the fact that he didn't know made him more irritable.
"I sense that you are angry, is that my fault Friend Jaune?"
"No, it isn't."
"Sensational!"
"Does she have an off switch?" Weiss groaned.
"Negative, my father did not make me with one!"
"What?" Jaune asked.
"Nothing Friend Jaune, nothing!" she chirped, although her smile seemed slightly more forced this time.
Another aspect as to why this search had grown tiresome: Team RYBN hadn't found anything so far and they too had begun to give up barring Ruby's frantic protests. Searching into the night was tiring for everyone. Maybe they could try again tomorrow after class was done, and if not then maybe it was over for Blake Belladonna. Blake was known for being the stealthiest out of all of them, and add on her enhanced faunus senses and she could run circles around them if she wanted to.
Suddenly, as though God himself bestowed upon them a miracle of clarity, an explosion erupted from down near the docks, marked by a great plume of smoke.
"Well, I suppose we found a new place to search." Jaune said, he turned to Rin and Nora. "Go get Team RYBN and bring them here, I'll tell them you're coming."
Nora saluted and sped off with Rin in tow as Jaune turned to Weiss. "If you're deciding whether or not you want to give Blake another shot, now's the time."
Weiss sighed angrily. "Oh please. Nora will never let me hear the end of it and you'll just end up brooding some more, so let's quit wasting time."
"Sensational! I will come along as well!" Penny cheered.
"No Penny, this could be dangerous for you." Jaune said like a stern father would.
"Have no fear Friend Jaune, I'm combat ready!"
Combat rea-? You know what, fuck it. Fine. He motioned for her to follow and they sprinted towards the docks and the distant sounds of fighting. The group arrived to see a small squad of White Fang and a woman in a white overcoat battling Blake and Sun, the monkey faunus from yesterday.
"Hmm, that's not good." Jaune thought aloud, he'd have to be stupid not to recognize the woman. Roma Torchwick, underworld boss in Vale and a badass in her own right, nothing to say of her pint sized, and rather murderous, assistant Neopolitan.
He watched as Blake took a direct hit from Roma's pimp cane/ flare gun weapon sending her flying across the docks. Meanwhile, Sun mopped up straggling Fang members before switching out and engaging Roma directly using some sort of nunchuck shotguns.
Even with the two of them, though, he knew that this was a losing fight. Qrow told him about Torchwick and gave a pretty accurate rundown of her strength, the criminal's experience and underhanded fighting style putting her on par with some of the Beacon teachers.
Switching Tesla Sting into railgun mode he moved to get a clearer shot up on a roof of one of the buildings surrounding the fight. Kneeling, he aimed the barrel towards Roma, who was currently caught up in deflecting Sun's barrage of attacks.
Suddenly, Blake charged in and hit her with an aura-infused strike using Gambol Shroud, sending the criminal flying back. Roma shot up angrily and fired another flare into a cargo crate overhead, dropping it on the two huntresses.
Luckily, before it crashed onto them, Blake and Sun managed to jump out of the way in time. While Roma took a moment to gather herself, Jaune charged Tesla Sting with his aura. The reactor and gun glowed an eerie blue before the shot was released, a single beam of electrical energy surging towards its target.
Roma barely managed to get block it in time but it still connected sending the thief rocketing backwards and throwing her flat on her ass. Jaune could hear her curses even from his vantage point before he dropped down and ran into the fight, Weiss and Penny following closely behind him.
Blake turned to look at them and something passed between her and Jaune. A hidden understanding of the situation as the five turned to face Roma who once outnumbered, was now surrounded. Torchwick did not get to where she was by taking losing bets, and she knew when it was time to exit stage left, so to speak.
"Well kids, I can't say it hasn't been fun but I think I left the stove on." quipped the master criminal, smirking despite the situation. Above them, the sounds of Bullheads whirring over them made it known that they now had company. While more White Fang grunts jumped from the airships to land around them, Torchwick laughed and made for the nearest bullhead behind them.
"Roma Torchwick!" Blake shouted furiously, using Gambol Shroud to bypass the surrounding grunts and make a break for the dangerous thief. Dammit, she can't possibly fight her alone! Jaune mentally cursed, he took a look at his surroundings and hoped that his friends could clear a path for him, at least until he could get to Blake. With a mighty war whoop, he charged straight into the Fang in front of him, shouting to Weiss for backup.
She obliged, creating glyphs that enhanced his speed and sending thick shards of ice at the enemies around them. Still, it wasn't enough; They were too outnumbered to simply run past all the grunts. Two of the white-robed terrorists charged, swords drawn, and attempted to slash at him. Jaune brought up his sword to block it but stopped when two unknown blades rushed forward and sliced into the rogues confronting him.
"Like I said Friend Jaune, Friend Weiss, I'm combat ready!" shouted Penny, leaping into the fray as more of the small blades shot out from some kind of backpack located on her back. The blades swirled like a cyclone before launching towards the faunus around them. Fang that survived being impaled or otherwise slashed to some extent turned and tried to engage the newest imminent threat.
Seeing an opening Jaune rushed for Blake once more, who had caught up to Torchwick and was currently fighting her to the same extent as she was before. That is to say, Blake was quickly losing ground as Torchwick overwhelmed her with superior skill. Muttering curses under his breath he channeled aura into his legs for a burst of speed, catching up just in time to parry a strike from Roma's cane.
Jaune stabbed at her but she countered it with an ease he had only seen from Qrow before. Roma spun and delivered a strike to the side of his head with the handle of Melodic Cudgel that sent him reeling. She pressed the offensive and stabbed at him with the front of her cane before releasing another shot; Jaune rolled out of the way just in time and sliced diagonally to send her back. Chuckling to herself, Roma fired a flare and hooked it with the handle of her cane before whipping it at the two young hunters in a slash of fire. Jaune ducked under while Blake jumped over it and began to hack at Torchwick. The criminal continued to evade with relative ease before she fired another shot, sending the cat faunus back.
"Blake get back!" he shouted, barely avoiding another swipe. "She won't underestimate us like before!"
"No! Torchwick is the only one who might know what's going on! We need to apprehend her!" Blake shouted back, covering him from another strike as they both teamed up against her.
"Blake, this isn't how things should've gone!" Jaune shouted back, slicing downward and narrowly missing Roma's shoulder.
"Yeah Blake, you should've thought this through more." Roma teased, making Blake growl in annoyance.
"Enough!" Blake swipe horizontally and blew back the criminal slightly, she charged in with a shout and swiped again with the sheath of Gambol Shroud. Torchwick hooked said sheath and elbowed Blake in the face that sent her stumbling back; Roma then gripped the handle of the cane fluidly before firing another shot that screamed towards the cat faunus.
Dammit Blake. It was all he could think of as he intercepted the shot. He hadn't been far enough to properly block it and instead ending up taking the brunt of the explosion himself. His world exploded into white for a brief moment before he found himself back on the hard concrete, a deep throbbing pain in his chest. He tried to sit up, to hear anything but his ears rang like church bells.
He thought he could hear the distant calling of someone, maybe Blake or even Weiss, but he wasn't sure. Looking around didn't yield much help either, the darkness around him didn't agree with the sudden influx of light he had just experienced and his senses were working overtime to get things up and running again. All of the sudden, he felt, more than he saw, someone kneel down beside him.
More distant shouting although this time it sounded more like a small group of people. His vision cleared somewhat and he saw Blake overlooking him in obvious distress, she was saying something that still seemed hard to interpret.
"B-Blake?" he choked out, surprised at the dryness of his throat.
"J...-ome...! He-...! Jau...!" he saw her saying something to him, but the sounds didn't quite get through.
His vision swam and things grew darker as he grew more tired. Maybe he'd just go to sleep for a bit, he'd wake up a little later when things had calmed down. Yeah, that'd be good.
...
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1 hour later…
Blake, Team RYBN, and the conscious members of Team ARSN sat in a police camp set up. All of them were currently being chewed out by Goodwitch who seemed to have an earful for almost every one of them. Turns out, Jaune would be ok for the time being at least, the blast had taken more out of him than he thought. He would be unconscious for awhile, but he should make a full recovery with the help of his aura.
"What were you thinking? That you'd take on a known, dangerous criminal with just the two of you!?" Goodwitch shouted, clearly exasperated. "Miss Belladonna, your actions speak of a clear inability to reason with a level head. I will be speaking with a board of your teachers to discuss your punishment, and let it be known expulsion will be on the list of possible disciplinary actions."
Blake swallowed but to no avail. She watched Goodwitch stalk away and talk to the officers on the situation, leaving Blake alone with her fellow peers.
"So," Yang began. "Want to explain things from the beginning?"
"I just- As you could guess I'm a faunus, and I wasn't sure whether or not to tell you guys." Blake began. "I get that you're my team, but you have to understand there was a reason I was formerly associated with the White Fang. I was treated like dirt for having a different set of ears, and I was afraid of just seeing more of the same here, even if you guys were on my team."
Blake looked to Weiss. "When the whole thing with Sun happened, I guess I was under so much pressure that it just boiled over and I lashed out. I didn't mean anything Weiss, you're not your family. You are so much more than just a Schnee. I'm sorry."
Weiss was silent for a moment while all eyes were on her. "Jaune's lying in a hospital because he took an attack for you that wouldn't have happened if you never came to this place. Now we're without a leader and you could get expelled; I don't believe any of it was worth it. But, if you, by some miracle, don't get expelled, I'd be willing to call things even, at least for now. If for no other reason than Jaune doesn't need us fighting."
Blake nodded and returned her eyes to the ground while she filled in the gaps about her life and heritage.
"Ever since I can remember I've always been talked down to for being who I am. Every day when I was a kid I lived in fear that the person next to me would just start treating me like some kind of monster. Not a person, but a thing to be feared. I wasn't the only one either; that was essentially the way of life for Faunus back then."
"So, when you have so many people living in fear for so long, then there's bound to be a breaking point. When it all boils over. And that point was when the White Fang started. If you know your history then you'll know that the White Fang was originally a peaceful organization, using protests and strikes to get their messages across. And for a time, I felt like I was really doing something." Blake took a moment to recollect her thoughts.
"Every boycott and protest I was there, holding a sign and doing my part. I have my fair share of scars to prove it to, but it was never enough. In the end, the world was ruled by humans so they didn't care what we had to say. This continued on and on and on, for years, and yet Faunus were still beaten down and discriminated."
"After that, it wasn't long before a new idealism emerged in the crowds of Faunus protesters. Some people believed we needed to fight back against our human oppressors, and I was one of those people. Every rally I'd see innocent civilians get beaten for doing nothing wrong and I was sick of it. So I joined in to that way of thinking and soon enough we had more than 75% of the organization on board."
"Our former leader didn't agree with us, saying that ruling through fear would get us nowhere. And, looking back on it, he was right. Even so we didn't believe him, and we forced him to step down after that. When he did, our new leader took the Fang in a different direction; taking down discriminating businesses and fighting back against the human tyranny. And, for a time, it worked better than years of protesting did. People paid attention to us, they regarded what we wanted and our leaders met with humans to get new laws passed. But it just kept devolving into something more twisted, something where members wouldn't mind killing innocents to drive home a point. The White Fang had become a terrorist group, and I couldn't be a part of it anymore, so I left."
By the end Pyrrha had wrapped her partner in a hug and sniffled slightly.
"I'm sorry we couldn't help you Blake." Pyrrha said apologetically.
"N-No, it wasn't your fault Pyrrha..." Blake began but stopped when Ruby placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry Blake, Team RYBN stands by each other no matter what!" Blake smiled slightly at that, she guessed that she really was more than a little naive to think her teammates would flat out abandon her.
"Well if this is done we're going to check on Jaune." Rin said, she and her teammates got up and left after that, making their way towards the ambulance holding the downed leader.
Penny had left in a car that held some of her "colleagues" as she herself described them. The car sped away pretty fast so they must have been in a hurry to be somewhere, or maybe they just didn't want to stick around. No one would blame them either.
In the car, Penny sat in the back as the two guards assigned to her chastised her about her reckless behavior. "-And what if you got hurt Penny? What would your father say?"
"I know, I'm sorry." Penny said quietly, the drive let out a sigh for a moment.
"I don't mean to scold you Penny, but you're an important person right now." The Atlas guard smiled slightly. "And those people back there? You make some new friends?"
"Oh yes! Friend Jaune and Friend Nora are my favorites! But, Friend Weiss is kind of crabby."
The driver laughed along with her companion. "That's great Penny, you can tell the General all about it when we get back."
Penny smiled and nodded. It was really cool to have friends wasn't it?
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Ok there's another chapter for you guys. I hope you liked it as we move into Season 2, but I will be the first to admit I'm not the best at writing fight scenes especially in big groups. It's also probably not a good idea to write with a minor concussion either, but I needed this chapter to be out. Also, if you feel that the characters are slightly OOC at any time, I just chalk it up to the AU tag.
Anyways thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed.
XOXOXO
CoffeyJoe