OMG THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR COMMENTS! Really, I appreciate it so much! Also, if you guys would like to contact me, just send me a message through fanfiction or my deviantart account (my username is "raining-indigo" and feel free to read my hetalia reader-inserts while you're there ;) )
I noticed that a lot of you guys were wondering why Bai didn't go with Blake and Fiona. There's a good reason that will be explained in the next chapter! You'll have to wait just a bit longer, sorry!
I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 7 – Roan
Fiona had said that the train would reach a seaside town within the next month. In the meantime, they were left to fend for themselves.
Although Fiona was able to use her Aura to heal, a majority of her injuries had left scars over her body. One, in particular, stretched across her left cheek, marring her beautiful features. Unfortunately, she was unable to use her Semblance to conceal the mark. Moreover, the efforts to heal herself had left Fiona drained and feverish. Even though it was midsummer, Fiona shivered in her sleep, and, when she thought Blake wasn't looking, Fiona would cough up blood.
For days, Blake simply stayed in the boxcar, watching the green scenery fly. However, she was wary of any Grimm. Grimm attacks on trains were not common but not rare. On the rare occasions that the train would stop, Blake ventured out and collected water and berries.
One day, Blake was awakened by Fiona shaking her shoulder. It was nighttime, but fireflies lit the night. At first, Blake didn't recognize her; she had used her semblance to change her hair into a mane of tawny curls and her olive skin to a sun-kissed tan. Yet, the scar still remained – the only way Blake could identify her.
"Hey, we're here," the fox faunus said, "I'm going to need you to put this over your head, so no one recognizes you. I'm sure Lycannis forged some info, but we can't risk anything." She tossed her raggedy cardigan towards her.
Blinking, Blake nodded and placed it over her head, concealing her ears. Her long, black hair, which had been braided and tied with Adam's golden ribbon, was tucked under her shirt.
Cautiously, Fiona poked her head out and grabbed Blake's hand.
"Ok," she whispered, "I think I see someone walking down here."
"Is it an inspector?"
Fiona didn't answer.
"On count of three…one…two…three!" The two faunus sprang from the boxcar and darted towards the forest. Blake could hear the person let out a cry of surprise, but they were long gone.
After a few minutes, Fiona began to slow down to a brisk walk.
"Someone should be waiting in a clearing for us," she explained, "I'll greet them while you hide. I'll signal you when it's safe to come out."
Soon enough, the clearing came into view, and Fiona gestured for Blake to hide behind a set of bushes. Peering out from behind the leaves, Blake observed the scene carefully.
Eventually, a figure appeared at the other side of the clearing. Blake squinted her golden eyes and tried to identify the stranger.
It was a faunus with antlers protruding from his hairline. For a moment, Blake was reminded of Adam, but as he approached, Blake could tell this person lacked Adam's raw intensity that emanated from his presence.
No, this person appeared rather timid as he cautiously approached Fiona.
"Are you the shapeshifter?" he asked, "I've been sent here to smuggle her and her cousin to the Mistral station." Nodding, Fiona gestured for Blake to leave her hiding spot. The faunus even flinched at Blake's appearance.
"Yes," she agreed, "It's us." Fiona relaxed her Semblance, her hair returning to russet and her skin lightening. The stranger relaxed.
"We should go," he stated, sounding more confident, "I'm Roan, and I'm stationed in the White Fang shipyards. I'm supposed to be navigating a cargo boat tomorrow. We need to hurry."
"Of course," Fiona turned to look at Blake, "C'mon. We need to be there by sunrise."
Roan was fortunately very kind. After arriving at his home, Blake and Fiona were able to clean up after their month on the run.
As Blake finished wiping her face, she stared at her reflection in the mirror. The last time she had seen her reflection clearly, Blake looked a lot younger. It was all surreal.
As she tied her hair into a low ponytail with Adam's ribbon, Blake pulled on the black jacket, white button-down, and over-sized, grey pants Roan had given her. Rolling up the legs, she pulled on a pair of black boots.
She opened the bathroom door and ventured out into the living room. There, Fiona was immersed in a serious conversation with Roan, discussing the details of the voyage.
As Blake came in, Roan breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Thank god they fit. Those were the only clothes that my nephew left behind." Meanwhile, Fiona was dressed in a worn leather jacket, a grey shirt, tan pants, and old, black riding boots.
The fox faunus nodded at the little girl.
"There's a cot in the back room, Blake. I need you to get as much rest as you can. We'll leave very early tomorrow. You need a full night's rest."
Roan handed Blake a blanket.
"I hope you like fish," he said in a friendly tone, "We'll be eating it for a while."
Unlike the train, the time spent on Roan's cargo ship were tranquil. Blake spent her days fishing and staring out into the sea's horizon.
Occasionally, when the seas were easy, Fiona would teach her more techniques and occasionally spar. And, when he wasn't busy, Roan would show her the basics of the sword. In the back of the ship storage room, an old katana hung on the wall.
It had been a couple of months since Blake and Fiona had set rail on Roan's ship. Currently, the little girl stared at the water, waiting a fish to bite the end of her hook.
The girl's stomach grumbled noisily as she leaned against the railing. She could just taste Roan's roast tuna. It was much better than Fiona's half-hearted attempt at seaweed salad and the stale bread from the storeroom.
She soon heard someone move to stand beside her; it was Roan.
"No luck?" he said in a chipper tone. Initially, things had been awkward since the first week. The three passengers would simply eat in silence and then retreat to their rooms.
However, Roan soon proved to be quite friendly after he had gotten over his shyness. He and Blake had bonded by him teaching her how to fish and read navigation maps – the only thing other than a simple sailing manual that she could read here.
As time passed on, the two became quite friendly as they waited for fish to bite. Roan would tell her of his experiences as a sailor while Blake recited stories from books she read.
"No…I don't think anything is biting today." Roan looked down in the water and sighed.
"Looks like we'll be eating bread again." The cat faunus groaned.
"Cheer up, at least Fiona isn't doing the cooking." He gently took the rod from her and began wheeling in the hook.
"If it helps, Fiona and I have been talking, and we've decided to try to take a bit of a short cut to make the passage a bit faster."
Blake eyed him with surprise.
"Really?"
"Yeah, I'm going to try to sail up northwest instead of remaining west." He eyed the empty hook. "It looks like you let one get away. Try to pay more attention to the line's movements."
Nodding, Blake returned to the ship's galley. Night was beginning to fall.
Inside, Fiona was sitting by the lantern, sipping warm water; they had run out of tea yesterday.
"No catch, huh?"
"No."
"That's too bad. At least we still have a good bit of bread left." Fiona's wounds had mostly healed and faded away, but the scar still contrasted darkly in the lantern light.
"Where's Roan?" the fox faunus asked, "I need to ask him about the ship."
"On the deck," and, with that, Fiona stood and left. The girl's golden eyes stared at where Fiona once sat. By now, she knew that "asking about the ship" meant something else.
Every day, late at night, Fiona and Roan would sit in the galley or, when the weather permitted, watch the stars together. Roan would wrap her in one of his shawls and stretch his arm across her shoulder.
Initially, Blake didn't know how to react. Throughout her life, she imagined Fiona as a surrogate mother; someone like an adult who knew best and kept a level head. There was a strange dissonance when she realized that Fiona was still a teenager, albeit she would be twenty soon.
Blake liked Roan, but she was worried that Fiona might like him better than her. Yet, at least he was somewhat of an older brother – much older. She knew that he was somewhere in his mid to late twenties.
She sighed and pushed that thought from her mind. Her father was her mother's mentor, and it wasn't her place to judge. Blake knew that Fiona put her safety and wellbeing first, no matter the circumstance.
It was then when Blake saw it for the first time. It was mounted on the wall, but covered with maps. The blade, although dulled from disuse, seemed to call out to her as she stood under it, enthralled.
"Blake?" Roan's voice echoed in the room, but she paid no notice.
"Blake?" a hand waved in front of her face, "You've been staring at that sword for a long time."
Blake jerked her head back towards Roan, eyes glimmering with excitement.
"What is that?" she asked excitedly, "I've never seen one like it." He chuckled in amusement.
"It's a kantana; something I picked up while I was travelling."
"Can you teach me how to use it?" the question was immediate, and, whenever she looked back, Blake would know that this was one of the happiest moments in her life.
And, with Fiona's permission, Blake began practicing on old barrels and sacks filled with hay.
As time passed on the boat, Blake's skill steadily improved as she made clean slices on the old wood. One day, Blake decided, she would master the weapon's intricate stances. And, with good luck, she would return back to White Fang and mentor her own apprentice.
During lonely nights, the little girl would entertain herself of the possible notions of her future – all of which included her helping White Fang's cause. In the early hours of the morning, Blake found herself daydreaming of a world where humans and Faunus worked together or, at least, coexisted peacefully. On the optimistic days, she imagined them working together to kill off the Grimm, the only true enemy in Remnant.
However, Blake would learn that her idyllic time on the fishing boat would soon come to an end.
The caw of seagulls awoke the twelve-year old faunus girl from her dreamless sleep. It was the crack of dawn as the morning light streamed through the tiny port hole.
Blake glanced at the hole and did a double-take. There, instead of endless sea, was a tiny strip of green – land. Her jaw dropped, and she excitedly raced to Fiona's sleeping quarters.
"Fiona!" Blake shook her arm, "Fiona! Wake up! We're at the coast!" Fiona blinked at her sleepily and yawned.
"Whazzat?" she slurred, "Something going on?"
"We're here," Blake said excitedly, "There's land, Fiona!" Fiona shot up and looked at the window.
A peculiar expression passed over her face.
"Oh," she murmured as she touched the glass, "I guess it's time." Blake could sense some reluctance on her face.
"What's wrong?"
Fiona shook her head.
"It's nothing," she dismissed, "Roan's probably awake soon, so we should get going."
Blake left Fiona to get ready and ventured out on the ship deck. The ocean wind tousled her hair, and the sound of waves roared in her ears. Her cat ears twitched as she could hear the faint sounds of life coming from the sea port.
Moreover, she heard footsteps and turned to see Roan standing beside her.
"I see you've told Fiona before I could tell her," he said as he leaned up against the edge. His dark brown eyes scanned the coastline before locating a dock off to the side.
"I'm not going to dock at the harbor since I'm carrying some 'undocumented cargo'," he explained, "There's a small dock a little way away that's managed by smugglers. I'll dock there. The people in charge don't ask too many questions."
There was a long stretch of silence as the two of them stared out into the sea.
"Roan, what do you smuggle?" Blake had asked that question before, but all he had given her was vague or outlandish answers like "a crate of bananas" or "a box of golf clubs".
The antlered faunus chuckled, "Still asking about that? I thought you were happy with 'a crate of books'." Blake glared at him jokingly before he sighed.
"Well, I guess I ought to at least tell you before leaving. It's pretty boring though," Roan's smile faltered, "It's just Dust. A lot of smugglers take that overseas."
"Oh," Blake didn't know what she was expecting, "I see."
There was another pause of silence.
"Roan, will you miss us?" Blake asked. He looked at her as if she had asked something much stranger.
"Of course," he replied, "You guys have been the only passengers. It makes the usual trip a little less lonely." Roan started to say something, but he stopped himself.
Blake knew that he was thinking about Fiona, but…that didn't bother her. When they thought she wasn't listening, Blake would hear Roan talk about staying on the ship together and sailing the world. Fiona would sigh, press a soft kiss to his temple, and remain silent. White Fang was too important to her.
Their separation was inevitable.
"Take care of Fiona, okay?"
Leaving Roan was uneventful. At the docks, he had given them both a hug and turned away to tie his ship in.
But, Blake could tell that he was watching when he didn't think Fiona was looking. Meanwhile, as they trekked to the headquarters, Fiona would occasionally glance back and stare in the direction towards the sea.
Admittedly, this chapter feels a bit more like a filler, but I wanted to write this to establish Fiona's character a bit more. Fiona is really young to be going through this, and her relationship with Roan shows that she still has a lot of her life ahead of her. By joining White Fang, a lot of the normal things a person would want to experience (school and relationships) can't happen because they are devoting themselves to an organization.
Also, both Fiona and Roan are mature enough to keep Blake out of their relationship affairs, so Blake doesn't know the details.
However, this chapter also holds the chance of a normal life out of their reach. Fiona could have just thrown away White Fang (or at least postpone it) and enjoy her youth more. But, she cares too much about White Fang to just let it go.
In a way, this was kind of meant to mirror Blake attending Beacon. In RWBY's earlier seasons (the happy ones...), there is a greater focus on normal daily life.
Well, you guys will see the reason this chapter exists in Chapter 8... :)
Also, just a parting question, but what other fandoms are you guys part of and what are your OTPs?
I haven't written anything for any other fandom except for the Hetalia and RWBY, but I really like Miraculous Ladybug (Marichat), Star Wars (Reylo), and Harry Potter (dramionie for some weird reason, IDK, the fanart and fics drew me in). I also really adore Jelsa (Jack Frost and Elsa).
Should I write for some of these fandoms? Is there any AU's that you guys would like to see?
Thank you so much for the feedback, and I hope you guys liked it! The next chapter will cover a lot!
Love,
raining-indigo