A/N
So this chapter is quite a bet heftier than the others by far. Seeing as it deals exclusively with the penultimate events of Volume 1's finale, I think that's fairly okay.
It will be very similar to how it played out in canon. I won't apologize for that because I personally think the way it was done on the show is superior to anything I could come up with.
Still, I hope I made it different enough.
Get ready. The final events will be happening soon.
Hunter's Draught, City of Vale.
Weiss's skin was a shade paler than usual as she sat in morbid fascination, watching Ruby down her sixth cup of tea since they came in a hour ago with a disgusted look. "I think I'm sick from just watching you drink that. Five teaspoons is already enough, but ten? Ruby, have you heard of dentures?"
Ruby deliberately slurped the last of the warm golden mixture up, setting the cup down with a huge grin as she wipe her mouth with the back of her sleeve and loosed a pleasant sigh. She glanced out of one of the cafe's windows at a group of people working on stringing together a massive cable across the fronts of the buildings lining the other side of the cobbled street, her eyes falling on the unlit star-shaped lanterns that hanged from the cable.
"Those lights are always my favorite thing to see. My dad took me and Yang out to see the festival every year. We even saw a few robot-puppet-things from Vaacuul!"
"Yang and I." Weiss smirked at the slight red flush on Ruby's cheeks as she scowled. "You mean Mannes. The Schnee company delivers them all over the place." Weiss grimaced. "A few board members even had a few as maids or sitters. They creeped me out. Especially the 'combat ready' ones." She shook her head with a shiver.
Weiss looked back up. "So now can we do something about Blake-"
A tap on the window interrupted them, and both girls looked up to see Jaune with a nervous smile. Weiss arched a eyebrow and sighed. Ruby folded her arms and smirked. Jaune looked around the street for a few moments before coming into the cafe, making sure the doors had closed behind him.
"Uh... hey guys."
"Jaune?"
"I'm just avoiding a few... authority, uh, figures-" At the confused glances they gave him he scratched the back of his neck and took a breath. He clapped his hands together. "Okay. Since the festival is coming up, I kinda wanted to thank Pyrrha for training me and supporting me and not beating me up after I was such a jerk to her and the rest of you. And for-"
"Jaune. You're rambling." Ruby quietly said.
"Oh, sorry." He closed his eyes and nodded. "You two are girls."
Ruby pursed her lips and nodded, sharing a glance with Weiss. "Yes."
Weiss nodded as well. "We are."
Jaune chuckled nervously. "So I was thinking you'd... maybe know what she likes?"
"I like guns." Ruby said with a look of satisfaction.
Jaune sighed and held his elbow. "... Pyrrha kinda already has a rifle thingy." He moved his hands. "Her sword and spear turns into one." He looked between the two of them before his shoulders sagged and he gave a sigh. "I have no idea what to get her."
Weiss stroked her chin for a few moments before fixing him with a frank smile. "Why don't you just man up and get her some flowers?"
His cheeks flushed immediately. "Flowers? Her? No way, a girl like her wouldn't really..." He absently scratched his cheek. "Um, which ones do you think she would like?" he murmured.
Ruby giggled at the amused smirk on Weiss. The Schnee Heiress folded her arms. "Let's see. She's from Mistral. Probably Atlas because she attended Sanctum. So I'm thinking some Lion Manes."
In the silence that followed and the look of pure confusion on Jaune as well as Ruby she rolled her eyes. "The big red and orange ones. Lion Manes."
Jaune nodded a few seconds later.
"Honestly." Weiss muttered under her breath.
He grinned from ear-to-ear and clapped her on the shoulder, surprising the girl. "Yes, I- thanks, Weiss. You're the best!" His face suddenly paled as he glanced at the door, watching two men with sunglasses walking into the cafe.
"What is it with everyone interrupting me, I just want to talk about Blake and how we can solve this team crisis on our hands, okay?!"
Jaune nodded quickly at Weiss and Ruby, watching the two men like a hawk as they moved to the counter before waving goodbye to them and moving to make a speedy exit out of the cafe.
Weiss's eyebrow was raised the entire time.
One of the men came over and grabbed Jaune by the wrist. "Got you, you damn dirty ape!"
"No wait, I can explain, just don't tell her-"
The man loosed a frustrated grunt and let go of Jaune's wrist. "Ergh! You're not him! You're just some kid!"
"Uh, what- What are you talking about?" Jaune gave the man a weird look as Ruby angrily stood up from her chair.
"Hey! Apologize to him!"
The two men turned to her. One of them chuckled while the other frowned. "Hey. Weren't you that little girl the huntress dragged into the precinct? The wannabe huntress?"
"Wannabe!? I am a huntress!"
"We're both Huntresses." Weiss folded her arms and looked between the two of them with a unimpressed look. She looked at Jaune. "And he's a Huntsman."
She narrowed her eyes once she saw the shining golden badges on their chests. "What are two cops doing here anyway? Explain yourselves."
They both exchanged a glance with one another. "Nothing you need to bother yourself with, kid. Police business."
Jaune straightened and noticed the cover of the newspaper Weiss had on the table. He frowned and picked it up, pointing to the cover photo of a taped over storefront. "Is this it?"
Weiss took one look at him and the newspaper. "Another dust shop robbery? The Schnee corporation supplys most of the dust shops in Vale. The security is top-notch."
The two detectives muttered something under their breath. "Yeah, tell that to the old guy whose dust shop was cleaned out a couple months back, when little miss riding hood here graced our station with her presence. He used to be a main supplier for Beacon until that night. Now more stores are being robbed. No money taken. Just the dust."
"Wait. All of the dust from every store?" Ruby asked, her eyes full of worry as she glanced at Weiss.
"Yup. Enough for a small army to cause some serious damage. On top of that this blonde kid has been sighted at some of the stores, too."
His partner scowled, flicking a piece of banana off the edge of his blacked out shades. "Damn ape stowed away on a ferry from Vaacuul. Threw a freaking banana in my face."
Weiss easily overhead them. "Don't you two have better things to do than chase some faunus? What about those dust shops?" Weiss folded her arms while Ruby narrowed her eyes. "I think we should handle this."
The one called Burns glanced at his partner for a moment. He stared down at the cup of steaming coffee and the chocolate frosted surface of his glazed donut, his gaze lovingly taking in the smooth swirls. "Stowaways are breaking the law, little girl. And it's our job to enforce it. Let's go, Burns, the little jerk is probably with the White Fang or-"
Burns's hands suddenly felt empty. His coffee and donut were gone.
The five of them turned to the doorway where a tall boy with lightly spiky golden hair leaned against the doorframe, munching eagerly on the donut and gulping down the coffee with a smirk easily visible on his tanned features. "Thanks for the food, fellas!" He dropped the cup and bowed to them, before winking at the hopelessly confused Jaune. With a flick of his golden brown tail he zipped out of the door to the street. "And thanks for covering for me, man! Owe ya' one!"
The two detectives looked at each other, before running after him out of the store.
Weiss clenched her fists as she stood up from her seat. She pushed past Jaune and stared out of the window, watching the two detectives running after the boy. She turned to Ruby and Jaune. "Quickly, we catch up to them and find out what the White Fang are doing in..." Her words trailed away as she looked through the window again. The two detectives stood in the middle of the street, helpless as the golden-haired boy disappeared among the rooftops above. Weiss scowled. "Damn it!"
"Trust The Dust" Dust Shop, Coin District, Vale.
Blake's heart sank when she saw the last of them duck out of the store's back door, eyes fixed on the blood-red symbol of a snarling wolf on the back of their bone-white tabards.
She waited a few seconds before moving out into the shop's aisles and shelves, towards the far wall where the dust dispensers were mounted next to each other. The glass portals on the front of the brass cylinders showed nothing but air, no trace of the fine powdery substance that had brought peace and prosperity to the nations of the world and safety from the Grimm.
Her boots crunched broken glass underfoot and she looked down every spare moment to step over a fallen stack of magazines or dust reliquaries. Coming to the end of the aisles she made her way towards the back door, loosely held by its hinges as it swung back and forth with a low squeal. Blake waited a moment before squeezing through the gap, coming out into a shadowed alleyway thick with the cold night fog.
She melded into the shadows, keeping flat against the brick wall of the store while walking along its length and following the masked White Fang down the length of the alley.
For a moment she feared that they were going to continue straight, forcing her to move in the open and leave herself completely exposed. Instead the reverberating rumblings of a heavy-duty engine caught her ears and to her relief they followed the bend of the buildings wall to a widened section of the alleyway.
A old truck, possibly even one from the days of fighting between humans and faunus sat there on six thick pairs of tires. The doors at the rear of the rectangular hold were wrenched open from the inside by another White Fang member, leaving her with a sinking feeling that only grew as the other members swiftly loaded their stolen cargo into the cavernous hold before climbing in themselves.
The truck took off with a jerky roar and a peal of smoke from its exhaust. She glanced up and saw a pipe running up the height of the building and leaped onto it, holding tight with both hands as she clambered up its full length in the space of a few seconds, her eyes narrowed and thoughts quiet.
Blake stood up on the roof's edge for moment to gauge the truck's general route, before leaping onto the roof across the gap between them. She barely registered each frantic step or exerted breath, still reeling from her recognition of the once proud symbol they all wore.
It was definitely them. And she desperately wished it wasn't so, that they were just human criminals who somehow managed to steal a few uniforms or just a rogue group of misguided Faunus. But then again, she knew better than to rely on wishes. She knew that for a long time.
She shook her head and focused as the truck pulled out of the quiet side-roads of Vale into a large shadowy plot, on the edges of which stood numerous garages and storage units.
Her keen eyes could pick out the silhouettes of massive cranes standing like silent sentinels in the distance, realising that this was a area for loading freight onto Vale's container ships and freighters.
A voice, annoyingly haughty in tone lifted up to her out of the relative silence that rose when the truck stopped running. Her eyes narrowed on a orange-haired man sauntering away from a long limousine with dark crimson windows parked off to the side, swinging his crimson cane about while delicately puffing on a fat red cigar.
Even from the rooftop she could see the coldness in his vibrant green eyes as he stopped to adjust the black bowler hat tilted at a angle on his head, before moving to observe the White Fang members unloading the cargo out of the truck. She noticed a few heavy-looking brass cylinders lined up near the side of the truck, filled to the brim with dust.
"Tenth this month. My, my, I never saw such hard work from Junior's Syndicate boys. You all may have hair in the wrong places," He waved a gloved hand in front of nose. "And put off a potent stench, but you White Fang are really good at following the leash. We'll finish this up in no time."
"Here's hoping she doesn't burn me to a cinder." He murmured.
Blake's eyes flared and she thought about reaching for Gambol Shroud before thinking better of it. She stayed her hands. But when Adam stepped into view below, her heart stopped for a few seconds, and a cold bolt dashed her thoughts, leaving only one in its wake.
He lied to her.
She could barely sit still as she forced herself to keep calm and observe what was happening.
Below, Adam folded his arms and leveled as scowl at Torchwick, visible enough even with the mask. "Let's get this over with, Torchwick."
Roman chuckled, puffing on his cigar before pulling it out of his mouth and grinning with a twinkle in his eye. "Could it kill you to show some polite courtesy? After all we're all friends in this endeavor."
"We've been the muscle in this operation." Adam narrowed his eyes, and Blake quickly ducked out of sight as he glanced up in the direction of her building. "Alpha needs assurance that you can hold up your end of the bargain." At the sight of the smirk Torchwick answered with, Blake shifted uncomfortably on her perch as did Adam.
The Faunus watched as Roman snapped his fingers twice, and the suited men flanking his limousine opened the doors on the passenger end. Muffled grunts and curses floated up to Blake as his men dragged out a person from the plush interior with a canvas sack covering his head and rope completely covering his forearms. Blake didn't look there though, instead she was fixated on his golden-furred tail curled up against the small of his back.
His men shoved the tailed boy forwards. Roman spun his cane over in his hands before slamming it viciously into their exposed chest, leaving them coughing and sputtering as they fell to the ground with a pained grunt. "Owww..."
"Oh. Here's the stray your boss was looking for. Think of him as a goodwill gesture from my associates." Roman bounced a pair of crimson sticks connected to each other by shining golden chains. "...Interesting little toy..."
Blake's eyes flashed, and she straightened. Drawing Gambol Shroud from her back and disconnecting the pistol from its hilt. She took a deep breath, her sight never wavering as the air around her contracted and pushed.
She was a shadowy blur, her lithe profile flickering in and out of view in the darkening dusk air as she alighted on a hanging street post for a moment before she rocketed towards the ground. Blake released her semblance and the air returned back to normal. She slid to a stop, immediately aiming her pistol at Adam's chest while holding her katana towards Torchwick with a growl.
"Stop!"
Adam stiffened, hands going limp and being kept away from his own weapon.. And Torchwick raised a eyebrow, eyes running over Blake for a few more seconds than necessary. "Hmm?"
The White Fang unloading truck noticed her arrival, cocking their pistols and rifles and surrounding her and the tailed boy on the ground. Blake spared them a glance before looking down at the boy.
"Whoever he is, I won't allow you to kill him!" She hissed.
"Mutual partnership, Blake."
"Correction. Mutual business venture." Roman called out as he straightened his bowler hat, bowing to Adam with a flourish. "I think I'll leave you to deal with these strays of yours. Say hi to your boss for me." His men closed the doors after he climbed back into the Limo, which immediately drove away, leaving Blake surrounded by Adam and the White Fang.
Keeping her breathing measured she kept her pistol aimed squarely on Adam's chest, and her katana pointed at a few of the closest White Fang. "How can you and the White Fang do this!?"
"It's what we've always done. It's what you've done! Now get out of the way! This isn't your business. Not anymore."
Blake gritted her teeth. "What I stood for used to mean something. What you stand for is nothing but terrorism!"
Adam loosed a low snarl as his hand wrapped around the hilt of his sheathed sword. "I warned you, Blake. Do not get in our way."
Her eyes fell on the brass dust canisters standing behind him and the White Fang members, sure that Gambol Shroud's wire could reach that far. Blake looked back at Adam for a few seconds, before tightening her hold on her katana and narrowing her eyes. "I'm standing right here."
The White Fang members raised their pistols and rifles, safetys flicking off one after another. Adam took a step towards her, slashing upwards with a crimson blade as he slid it out of its blocky black sheat. She whirled around it just avoiding the tip and swung her pistol around at the dust canisters.
Before Adam could attack or the White Fang could react she fired a single round into the the nearest canister, punching a hole in the thin brass through which a thick cloud of crimson dust immediately rushed out of with a hiss.
Adam whirled around as the dust cloud began to reach them, and Blake closed one eye before pulling the trigger again.
The entire cloud ignited, throwing the nearest White Fang members off their feet or blasting them away entirely, and blinding anyone looking at the brilliant flash. Adam's roars echoed in the freight yard as Blake quickly bent down to the captured boy, wrapping Gambol Shroud's cable around him before taking off at a sprint towards the hanging lamp post.
She concentrated, whipping the air behind her and launching herself upwards, trailing the cable behind her. Blake held on tight as the pole wobbled underneath her. She stared down at the ground on the other side, and used her semblance to speed all the way down in a instant.
The cable went taut for a single second with a twang, and she heard brief muffled words from the boy. "Uh, hello, I'm still here, on the ground so-" The rope tugged him into the air with ease, catapaulting him over the top of the lamp post onto the nearby rooftops.
Blake held a brief smirk before turning around at the sight of a seething Adam coming towards her, his weapon now in its rifle form and aimed straight at her.
She quickly springed upwards to the wall of the nearest building, running up its surface as the brick and mortar her feet left behind exploded into chunks. Blake pushed away from the wall, setting her sights on the rooftops on the opposite side before using her semblance to flicker across, barely dodging more of Adam's shots.
Suddenly the area went silent as she landed on the roof's edge, immediately moving away from the edge and catching her breath, keeping her ears open for any sign of pursuit.
"I will find him, Blake! And I will come for you as well!"
Her eyes widened before they narrowed. "We'll see." she murmured, moving across the rooftop.
She looked down at the torn pile of thick ropes lying near the roof edge looking over the alleyways below, sheathing her blade but still keeping her pistol in hand as she slid down the building's fire escape into the shadowed area.
Blake's heels clacked on the concrete as she straightened before looking at the canvas sack lying near a closed manhole cover. She glanced around before moving towards it when a hand touched her shoulder.
With a squeak she whirled around, immediately being greeted with what could best be described as a cheeky smile. Blake lost her angry words at the sight of deep green eyes looking at her. She managed to look away from the golden-haired boys eyes, accidentally lingering over his almost sculpted chest before staring at the golden-furred tail wrapped around the bottom rungs of the fire escape.
He had a cheesy grin. "My rescuer is kinda cute." She went to speak when he folded his arms and stared at the black bow in her hair for several seconds. "Gotta lose that bow, though."
She backed away a step, before fixing him with a angry stare. "Who are you? And why were you stealing from the White Fang?"
"You don't look like a cop."
"I saved your life. Do I get to know why you were there?"
"Nah. I'll buy your tea sometime. How about that?"
She blinked. "Tea, but-"
"Great! Bye!" Before she could even move the boy had clambered up the fire escape in the blink of a eye, stopping on the top level to give her a wink and salute before leaping onto the roofs overhead.
Blake was rooted to the spot for several seconds, completely alone in the alley.
Soon enough her thoughts caught up with her, and she realized that Yang and the team were probably starting to wonder where she was.
Beacon Academy, Team Ruby Dormitory.
Blake pulled herself over the balcony railing without so much as a sound, staring up at the broken full moon for a few seconds. She loosed a sigh, hugging her sides as the night wind brought a chill to her.
She peered into the dark hallway stretching in both directions before coming in out of the cold, gently closing the doors behind her and walking down its length. Her thoughts churned over and over, fixated on Adam being in the city, as well as the White Fang working with a high-profile human criminal, as well as the golden-haired thief who-
Blake managed to shake those kind of thoughts away, only to be let down when they were replaced with the thought of explaining where she was the whole time to them. Looking at the tall brown doors, she took a deep breath and hoped they were all fast asleep.
The doors creaked slightly as she opened them a crack, frowning at at the warm candlelight shining from inside. She steeled herself and slipped through the doorway. She stood there, frozen to the spot at the sight of Weiss staring straight at her with a look of disapproval.
She was dressed in her nightie, and next to her Ruby's head was tipped back as she loudly snored away in her sleep, curled up in a chair.
"You're back late." Weiss never took her eyes off Blake as she lightly hit Ruby on the shoulder, rousing the girl awake in a instant with a surprised squeak.
Ruby looked around for a few moments, blinking like a owl before she saw Blake. She waved weakly. "Hey... Blake. We waited up for you." Ruby glanced at Yang, still fast asleep under the covers in her and Blake's bunk, tangled golden hair catching some of the candlelight and a open pages of a black covered book covering her face. "Well... me and Weiss at least." she murmured. "I'll wake Yang up!"
Blake absently remembered the Ninja's of Love books she had given to Yang to read, before bringing herself back to the confusing present.
"We need to talk about your behavior. You've been acting really strange, Blake."
Ruby had crept over to Yang and Blake's bunk, waiting only a second before body slamming Yang to wake her up. The blonde girl's eyes flew open with a surprised squeak, and she looked around blinking like a owl, only to see Ruby's evil grin as her little sister quickly stood back up and pointed at Blake.
Weiss ignored the two of them, her eyes till firmly on Blake.
"I was out, Weiss. I needed to clear my head." At the strange memory of meeting the golden-haired boy, she didn't realize her cheeks had flushed.
Yang noticed immediately, even with how groggy she was. The blonde had a small smirk on her. "You met someone, didn't you?" At the look of frustration on Weiss she chuckled. "It's okay, Weiss. She hasn't been acting strange! Take a chill pill!"
"Who is he, Blake?" Ruby grinned evilly, ignoring Weiss's pointed looks as well.
Blake loosed a sigh, before realizing that she could tell them who he was without letting them know what she was doing. She slowly grinned. "He's... some blonde jerk."
Weiss's eyes narrowed for a few seconds as both Ruby and Yang chuckled, oddly quiet. "With a monkey tail?"
Ruby and Yang both quietened down and looked at her. Blake raised a eyebrow, thinking carefully before answering. "Yes."
"Really? I'm one of those people who don't classify the White Fang as friends."
"The... White Fang?" Yang glanced at Blake and Weiss. "What did I miss?"
"Nothing. It's nothing." Blake muttered. She glared at Weiss.
Ruby held up her hands. "Weiss. Let's not be hasty-"
Weiss glanced at Ruby and shook her head, before looking back at Blake.
"The White Fang. Faunus extremists who want nothing more than to hurt, lie and steal to get their point across. Nothing more than animals. Those White Fang. Pure evil."
Blake couldn't resist. "They're simply misguided. Not evil."
"They hate humanity!"
"Hate humanity? They're humans just like the rest of you! They don't hate humanity, they hate people like Cardin, people like you!" Breathing heavily, Blake found her hands shaking. She gritted her teeth at the brief look of shock on Weiss. "Ever since we've met you've shown nothing but intolerance and blind hate. It's people like you that forced the White Fang into what they've become! They're the victims!"
"I'm a victim!"
Blake's breath caught at the flash of despair on Weiss.
"They've been at war with my family for years." Weiss murmured, her voice nearly silent. The Schnee Heiress clenched her fists.
Ruby's eyes widened. And Yang stayed silent as she dropped into a chair by the door.
Blake stared at Weiss, watching the girl move past her towards the window, devastated by the look she held even though they were in the middle of the most heated argument they ever had.
Weiss loosed a sigh as she leaned over the windowsill, looking up at the stars with sombreness.
"Board members disappeared from their homes on a weekly basis, even executed so the White Fang could send a message to us."
Weiss narrowed her eyes."Even a entire shipment of dust, stolen." Blake's eyes flicked down to the floor. "Ripped straight from the hands of the workers transporting them."
Weiss turned away and glared through the window at the broken full moon. "My father would come home every day furious." she whispered, getting looks of concern from the three other girls. "That made for a difficult childhood."
Ruby fidgeted, before approaching Weiss and gently reaching a hand for her shoulder. "Weiss, it's-"
Weiss glared at her. "No!" she whirled around, turning back to Blake. "I lost friends. Members of my family. People who never once hurt someone in their lives just because the White Fang wanted someone's blood. You want to know why I'm not a big fan of the faunus? It's because of those murderers."
"Maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!"
The room was silent.
"I- I-" Blake's breath caught again. Her body stricken as she fearfully looked around the room at the shocked looks on Ruby, Weiss and Yang. Blake's eyes watered for a moment before she gritted her teeth, quelling the tears as she took one look at the open doorway and bolted, running straight past Yang without daring to look at her.
Weiss was stunned into silence while her thoughts churned.
Both Ruby and Yang ran to the doorway. "Wait!"
The soft gurgles of the fountain and pools of water on either side did little to soothe her as she stared into the still surface of the water running around the base of the statue. A pair of golden eyes, glowing faintly in the midnight darkness looked back at her.
Blake's eyes soon fixated on the black bow in her hair. Just sitting there. Her lip quivered as she stared at it for several seconds, or minutes she wasn't sure how long.
Amid the soft clicking of crickets living near the pools, she wiped a few tears from her cheeks and nodded. Blake gritted her teeth as she stared at the Grimm creature howling in agony underneath the shadow of the heroic huntsman and huntress, standing tall and proud above the creature.
Blake gritted her teeth and dropped her hands, before loosing a heavy sigh.
The girl screwed her eyes shut as she lifted her arms, and tuggled lightly on both ends of the silky black fabric. It came free with ease, leaving a sensation of relief and freedom in its wake. Blake opened her eyes with a grimace.
She bowed her head and closed her eyes as the black ribbon floated to rest on the stones below.
"Knew you'd look better without the bow." Her eyes widened for a moment before she glanced over her shoulder. And managed a little smile at the golden-haired faunus.
He smiled back.