Broken Apart Ch. 4: Life After: Blake
3/4 for the Life After piece, and then we will be done with boring setup I swear. But we still have Blake, and then the mystery one as well {#2Spooky}. So thank you to everyone for getting me to 20 favorites and 40 followers. This story is keeping up a pretty remarkable pace given that I haven't even finished the prologue pieces. Well, I promise, this is going to get a lot more intense after Life After. But setup is a necessary part of this story, so let us begin again.
Blake tossed down money towards the bar, and went to leave. Today had been another day of racial slurs against Faunus, senseless violence, and stupid crimes. All of them easily dealt with with someone of Blake's experience. All of them had paid well, sure. But Blake wasn't in it for the money. She had left her team, whom she cared for very much, to make a difference. So far the only difference that she had made was setting the new record at the bar for most shots downed {Blake held her alcohol amazingly well}.
Along the way, she heard some drunken ranting and the sounds of a fight about to break out. Sighing as she recognized who that voice belonged too, Blake shifted her course from the exit and found exactly where it was starting from. There was a large bull Faunus arguing with a monkey Faunus, and Blake knew exactly who they both were. The bull was a man by the name of Tauran Brownfur, the one that they called when they wanted a lot of muscle. The second one was the ever too familiar Sun Wukong, a friend from the past with a nose for trouble. He was also, unfortunately, Blake's new partner.
"Hey!" Blake yelled out, stepping between the two. "Knock it off. What happened?"
"Monkey boy though it'd be a good idea to take a swipe at my drinks," Tauran said angrily. Tauran was easily the tallest and most muscular person their. He stood at six foot five inches, with rippling muscles making up all of his 300 pounds. He had two horns on top of his head, brown hair, and emerald eyes. The rest of his body was also covered in a lot of brown hair, but no one was sure if that was from his Faunus nature or just how he would be. He wore a brown coat that constantly remained open, and brown jeans. His weapons were two metal gloves that always remained on his fists that worked as shotguns, just like Yang's.
"And I would have succeeded," Sun said, his speech horribly slurred. "If I wasn't already drunk." He hiccuped, and grinned wildly.
"Look," Blake said, attempting to avoid Tauran killing Sun. "Clearly this is a drunken misunderstanding. Sun will have no memory of this, he didn't get any of your drinks, and so we will be on our way."
"Belladonna, right?" Tauran asked. Blake nodded, and his eyes widened in understanding. "So you're Wukong's partner?" Another nod. "It's a good thing I have a lot of respect for you Belladonna. Otherwise, Wukong'd be eating out of a straw for the next four weeks."
"I don't doubt it," Blake replied. "Come on Sun."
"One more drink," Sun said, reaching out towards his table.
"No," Blake said, pulling him away. "Our caretaker is going to be pissed enough as it is." Sun suddenly slumped down, all of the feeling leaving his body, and Blake sighed. She started to drag him along, but felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned, and saw Tauran waiting there.
"If you get Wukong to pay for my drinks I'll carry him," Tauran said. "Once again, you really do get a lot of advantages for your reputation."
"Tell me something I don't know," Blake grumbled. She sought out Sun's wallet, and tossed down the cash for Tauran's drinks, and the bull instantly picked him up.
"Don't expect me to be gentle," he said instantly.
"I couldn't care less," Blake replied, leading the way towards their camp. "A little brain damage might actually fix him." Tauran grinned, and stepped out of the bar.
The Faunus Rights Camp was actually a large complex of tents that housed every Faunus who resided their. Each tent had two people, and those were partners. There were four tents in a region, and each region was assigned a caretaker. Blake was apart of the fourth region, and her partner was Sun. Tauran was also apart of the fourth region, but his partner was a lynx Faunus named Lyria Spots. But they all knew who their care taker was.
They finally arrived at their tent, and Tauran just brushed aside the covers. He walked over to Sun's bed, and just dumped him straight down.
"Want me to get V?" Tauran asked.
"You refer to everyone formally except her," Blake said.
"Hey, while you have my respect, V has my care. Good caretakers get a letter, good workers get last name. Much as I hate Wukong, he's earned respect. And V, well she's more then earned my gratitude."
"Yes, get V," Blake said, waving him off.
"20 lien more from Wukong," Tauran said.
"Deal." Blake tossed over the money, and Tauran left the tent and went towards the middle one. Blake looked over at Sun, and just shook her head. Sun and her had been paired together due to past experience. But Blake didn't enjoy herself at all. Sun was reckless, headstrong, foolish, and overall just not too bright. Similar to Yang, but she could-.
Blake stopped herself, and sighed deeply. There was that name again. Her former partner, Yang. Dammit, she thought. Told myself, no more team thinking. Before she could scold herself a little bit more, the front of the tent opened up. Tauran walked back in, and all that was visible was the tip of some rabbit ears.
"Drunk again?" A voice came out, an accent thick in her voice.
"Yeah Velvet," Blake said dejectedly. That's right, Velvet Scarlatina was the caretaker. She had left her team because they all had other aspirations, and the quiet rabbit Faunus had a knack with any kind of medicine. So when she had joined at the same time as Blake, Sun, and Tauran, she had been assigned as their caretaker. Since their unit {like most others} rarely suffered any kind of injuries, she spent most of her time rehabbing a drunken Sun. Luckily, Velvet had a quick remedy for being drunk.
She plucked off a vial from her belt, and walked over to Sun. She held open his mouth, and crammed it in. She then proceeded to hold his nose shut, and wait until he swallowed.
"Remind me why I'm friends with him?" Velvet asked, releasing her grip on him.
"I wouldn't be able to tell you," Blake said, staring back at her new partner.
"He still beats my old team. Nice people, but not very conscious of Faunus rights. What about you Blake?" Blake's expression changed from one of annoyance to one of sadness, and Velvet realized her error. "Oh no Blake, I'm sorry. I just thought that you may-."
"It's fine, Velvet," Blake said, raising up her hand. "I thought I would like being away from my team and making a difference, but it really doesn't seem like we're making much of one." Velvet and Tauran just traded looks, knowing that Blake was right. But there was nothing that they could do about it. All that they could do was keep up what they were doing, and hope that it eventually makes an impact.
"Well then," Tauran said. "I'm pretty sure Lyria is wondering where I am right now. I'll bid you a goodnight Belladonna, V, and sweet dreams to Wukong."
"See you Tauran," Blake said.
"And I'm bidding my ado as well," Velvet continued. "See you in the morning when I'm sure Sun'll complain about the taste in his mouth."
"Night Velvet," Blake said. She watched as her two friends left her tent, and just lay down in her tent. She picked up one of the pictures that she had, and just stared at it. Weiss had her posture high, but her face was annoyed as Ruby was trying to pull her in for a hug. Blake's eyes were in the process of rolling while Yang tried to grab her in a headlock, and the sisters were both holding each others free hands. This was their team photo for senior year, and Blake just smiled at the memory.
"I hope that I can see you guys soon," Blake whispered. "Because I don't know if I can take much more of Sun." She set it aside, and leaned back in her bed. Her eyes closed, and sleep came easily thanks to the aid of some alcohol.
End: Questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is appreciated. Once again, this length will continue until I get past Life After.
