A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. I will try harder to post more in the future. Review if you want more frequent updates as I work on whatever seems the most popular.
Chapter Eight: New Assault
"I still have another week with these accursed sutures." Weiss showed off her stitched finger to Yang and Blake. "Before I left, the doctor thought I was on drugs or something. He asked if I needed to use my Safe Haven."
"Your what?" Blake inquired.
"Safe Haven." The blonde answered. "If you're hammered, stoned, or fucked up from just about anything, you can use a Safe Haven to go to the campus doctor without getting in trouble."
"How many can you use?"
"One."
"A year?"
"Your entire college career. Almost everyone saves it until their senior year, but a few idiots waste it after their first party. That guy across the hall, Juane, blew his after he downed a shot of Señor Tequila."
"You made him down a shot of Señor Tequila. Poor guy tossed up everything in his stomach," Ruby corrected.
"The point is: don't use it."
"Okay. Sounds simple."
"What the-" Weiss stared at her phone, a news alert filling the screen. "Fort Ironwood was just attacked."
"The military base?"
"Yes. The White Fang blew up a piece of the wall."
The heiress tapped the video link and turned up the volume. A tall, fair-haired reporter stood in front of a yellow police line in the midst of a colossal herd of onlookers. She spoke into to black microphone with the news channel's logo printed on the handle. "Three improvised explosives were hurled from a car at the east wall of Fort Ironwood. Two faunus men were arrested after a chase, the other three were killed. An estimated thirty two thousand lien was done in property damage. Three soldiers were injured. Luckily, no troops were killed in the blast."
"Those bastards," Yang began. "They're the reason so many people hate the faunus."
Blake touched the bow concealing her ears. What would happen to her new friends discovered her secret, especially Yang? She knew she could never tell them about her race or her past.
"They used to be peaceful, but a lot of people left when morals were no longer a problem," Blake attempted to defend those like herself: former members of the group.
"But now they're killers and maniacs." Yang stood up and walked away, a scowl on her face. She dumped the remaining scraps of food in the black garbage bin before storming out of the building.
"What's wrong with her?"
"She has a friend at Fort Ironwood," Ruby answered. "She's just worried for him. Yang might look like she doesn't care now, but she's really protective of friends." The youngest student at the table told of Yang's standing up to a horde of older students who had been picking on Ruby.
"I believe it after how she protected that faunus girl."
"Velvet? When I first introduced her to Yang, she hid her ears. Yang didn't even flinch when she found out. I've never seen anyone so accepting."
Three years ago...
Ruby sprawled out on her back allowing the bright, green grass to tickle her exposed arms and legs. Her red t-shirt draped over her body loosely, appearing a size or two too big. Her jean shorts had holes and tears and begged to rid themselves of a thick layer of dirt. She closed her eyes as the rays of scorching sun over head drenched her with a glow of gold.
The sight of the younger girl left Velvet breathless. Her ears, for the first time in weeks, freely sat atop her head in the fresh air, perky and tall like a pair of redwoods. The wind blew softly through the brown fur along with her brunette hair. The faunus woRe a brown miniskirt over black tights; a white button-down under deep brown coat covered her torso.
The younger of the two girls laid her head down on her girlfriend's lap face up and eyes shut. Ruby had never been able to show her affection for the faunus, who more than deserved it, beyond the closed doors of their homes. Southern remnant possessed an extensive history of disdain for homosexuality. And Vale itself seemed to want to make the fact that faunus had little place in the state's society known. Velvet Scarlatina had been made fully aware of her low social status over the years, and only overcame it when she took on her human identity.
"I wish we could stay here longer. Five days isn't long enough," Ruby complained. They had just arrived in the Atlesian Mountains to spend the beginning of their summer vacation together. The couple stayed in a small mountain-side cabin situated nearly a hundred meters from that of Yang and her boyfriend, Fox.
"That would be nice, but my essay to get into Beacon is due in two weeks and I only have my name written on the paper."
"Beacon? But you still have another year at Signal." Ruby's expression saddened.
"College acceptance is a long process. You'll be doing it in a few years yourself, love." Velvet leaned back and rolled her jacket sleeves up; despite their sitting on a mountain, the August sun poured plenty of heat down to the Atlesian mountain range.
"Couldn't you at least go to college closer to home?"
"Beacon Academy is my dream school. You know that."
"But I'm too selfish to let you go!" Ruby leapt up and gripped her lover's arm tightly and clung there for dear life.
"Let go," Velvet laughed. "Don't make shove you off."
"I'd like to see you try."
Velvet used her free hand to lightly tickle at her lover's underarms, instantly freeing her from the aggressive embrace.
"That was below the belt."
"Hey, guys!" A peppy voice called from a fair distance away. "We're going into town to look around; are you two coming?" Yang stood at the edge of the small, grassy, mountain face.
"Yeah, we'll be right there," Ruby responded with a wave. She stood up and offered a hand to the rabbit Faunus at her feet. "Shall we?" Velvet accepted the chivalric offer and rose to her feet. The pair marched hand in hand to the edge to the downhill medow to Yang's parked convertible.
The drive into Columbia, an extremely tiny establishment just south and up a winding dirt road of Atlas City, lapsed over about twenty long minutes down "Serpant Road," accurately named for two reasons. Firstly for the dangerous amount of snakes and other (what Ruby called) "creepy crawlies" in the forest that bordered the narrow street. The second reason for the roller coaster of a road itself twisting, turning, dropping, and lurching every few seconds in a gut wrenching pattern. When the teenagers arrived in Columbia, Ruby dove out of the car, ready to vomit on the sidewalk. As Velvet held the sickly girl's long hair back behind her shoulders, Yang, who had driven down the gut wrenching trail, and her boyfriend Fox stepped out into the hundred square foot gravel parking lot which only held two parking spaces.
The flashy, red convertible sat in front of a wooden cottage designated "Tuskon's General Goods." The quaint shop had a rustic vibe and pealing paint. Upon entering, a large, beastly man happily greeted Yang and Fox.
"Hello and welcome to Tuskon's General Goods, I'm Tuskon. You kids must be visitors at the resort just up the mountain," the scraggly man deduced.
"That's right. How'd you know?" Yang inquired.
"There are literally less than a hundred people in Columbia, young lady. We take notice to people from out of town. So what brings you to Tuskon's?"
"For starters," the redhead began. "It's one of five stores on the mountain, and the only one that sells groceries."
"It's a brilliant marketing scheme, right?" Tuskon joked. As the couple walked through the store's five aisles, loading snacks, junk food, and frozen dinners in a metal basket, Velvet and Ruby entered. The black haired man with lots of hair all over his body and a notable set of sideburns gave his greeting speech and detected the shorter girl's illness. "Motion sickness, eh?"
"I'm afraid so," Velvet responded in place of her dazed lover.
"I've got just the thing." The hairy gentleman reached under the counter and plopped an orange box of dimenhydrinate based pills on the counter. "Half the visitors this town buy a box."
"I can see why," the motion sick girl managed to choke out before slapping a hand over her mouth and hunching over. The Faunus managed to catch Ruby before she feel on her face. Tuskon fumbled behind the counter for the trash can and slammed it on the floor under Ruby's green face.
