AN: ALRIGHT! Velvet's weapons finally revealed in this fic! I know it ain't original, but, be easy on me on this, their personalities just mesh a bit too much. I made her cloak almost similar to the character that I stole her weapons from, but the clothes beneath it is different from that character's standard uniform.
Near the end of the chapter, however...
I may have put a bit too much drama. But with only a vague idea and what little information I was able to collect about the Faunus, it kinda all pointed to that direction.
Faunus War = They were never really liked.
Protesters = Even now they're still not liked.
White Fang's reputation = Things only became worse.
Cardin's treatment even in school (Beacon at that) = Abuse was a norm.
Also for reference of what Velvet looks like, check my profile to see if you're having trouble imagining what she looks like.
Read and Review guys! Show me your love and Hate!
Velvet Scarlatina was glad that they already found the temple and obtained one of the relics that the Professors instructed. The only thing that she and her partner needed to do now was go back to the cliffs and present the relics themselves.
But after Kouya took their relic from one of the pedestals, a loud and terrified shrill echoed from the forest. She was rather confused when she heard it, though.
The shrill was very high pitched, but for some reason her mind wasn't sure if it was really a girl that made the terrified noise. It's like something was convincing her that no girl who got into Beacon would make that kind of scream, no matter what kind horror they encountered inside the forest.
Not even she would make that kind of yell.
But then again, she'd probably just let out a squeak before making a run for it if she ever ran into whatever caused that person to reach that kind of pitch.
Then a shift in the wind made her Faunus ears twitch. She blinked in mild confusion when she didn't immediately figure out what it was. She turned to the other Faunus that was present in the temple to ask if she also heard the shift but found Blake looking up into the sky. She was about to ask what she was looking at but the shift was getting louder and louder, and it was coming from where Blake was looking at.
It also seemed that her partner had heard it, because she saw that he also looked up the same time that she did.
Blake's partner, Yang, was too busy being alarmed from the terrified shriek that she didn't seem to notice what the two Faunus and the lone male had heard.
The rabbit Faunus' hooded partner seemed to turn amused at what he was seeing, but Velvet and Blake were just staring with a bit of incredulity and confusion.
When Yang turned to where everyone was looking at, she immediately saw what caught their attention.
There was a girl falling from the sky. She looked rather panicked and was flailing wildly as she came closer and closer to the ground.
Kouya made a comment about if the falling girl would come out alive when she hits the their level. Just after the boy finished his words, the blonde girl with them was suddenly directing malicious intent at the rabbit Faunus' partner. Kouya didn't seem to mind, or was just ignoring it in favor of keeping his eyes on the falling girl.
Velvet looked at the angry blonde, who was glaring at her partner, before looking at the falling girl again.
Then she looked back to Yang.
Then the falling girl.
Then to Kouya.
And finally, over to Blake.
Wasn't anyone going to do something to help the girl break her fall or something? It looked like Yang knew the girl, but why wasn't she even getting ready to catch her? The very least she could do was look at the falling girl.
It was at that very moment that she hear another shift in the air. This time it came from the forest.
In a blink of an eye the falling girl was suddenly smacked by a blond projectile. They were carried by the momentum of the blond all the way to one of the closer trees to the temple. Velvet winced when they sank under the leaves, with Blake, Yang, and Kouya imitating the expression as well.
The girl- Velvet now clearly saw that she was wearing a red cloak with a hood- sat on one of the thick branches of the tree looking dazed. The projectile now revealed himself to be a blond guy wearing an armor and was currently dangling from one of the upper branches from where the red cloaked girl was sitting on.
"She's safe now, at least." Kouya muttered dismissively earning a rather irritated twitch from Yang. After seeing the girl on the tree, he walked up to Velvet, who immediately looked embarrassed all of a sudden as a flashback of the earlier declaration in the forest rushed to her. "Here."
The rabbit Faunus blinked, her embarrassment forgotten at the moment, when her partner held up the white bishop piece to her. She looked up and met his serious stare/glare looking down at her from their difference in height. She unconsciously held up her palms when he moved the Relic towards her, placing the white chess piece in her possession.
"Let's work together to keep it safe until we get to the cliffs."
Velvet stood in stunned silence as her partner stepped back from her, his eyes observing her reaction.
Why did he give her the Relic?
She didn't know the reason, but Kouya was actually doing this as a sign of trust, a way for her to ease up around him further, for him to show that he trusted her and that she could trust him as well. Some would say that it was a bit underhanded, that he was playing too much with the girl's emotion and that he should just wait for her to come around naturally, but he couldn't afford to waste that much time just for her to have faith in him. The faster he gains her trust, the sooner it would be for them to work on their teamwork together.
He would support her just as how the Amakusa support the Mars.
For the Faunus girl, this was a rather conflicting act. A recently acquainted stranger... a recently acquainted Human stranger, was giving her the object that would decide if they would pass the schools initiation or not.
She made an audible gulp as she looked at the piece in her hands, then her eyes sought her partner's own. She saw that he wasn't going to take it back. This was a big responsibility. It made her think that maybe he was just waiting for her to screw up just so that he wouldn't continue to be her partner anymore.
But his words in the forest made her rethink about that idea.
All she could do was nod and accept the piece, quickly hiding it under her own scarlet cloak.
Beside the rabbit Faunus, Blake silently observed this exchange. Unlike the rest of her kind, she was willing to give anyone a chance to prove themselves. Not everyone was the same, and cruelty comes with both races.
Most Humans were cruel to Faunus; that was a fact. What others didn't see, or neglected to notice, was that there are also Faunus who hate humanity just as equally.
Case and point: The White Fang.
She could see that Amakusa was trying hard to reach out to Velvet, but with the girl's outward personality, it was a delicate touch-and-go situation. One wrong move, one misunderstanding, and whatever headway Kouya made would most likely go down the drain.
Still, he was doing a pretty good job so far. That was a plus in her book.
Yang, on the other hand, had both hands covering her mouth, physically stopping herself from making any noise. Internally, though, she was gushing like a school girl.
Such romance!
Such drama!
She was going to tease the hell out of Kouya later for this. She had already forgiven him for making that casual dismissal of her sister's life since Ruby was already safe. Now he goes presenting her with this juicy scene! If she didn't know that Blake would probably give her dirty looks if she gave the Velvet girl the same treatment, she would have been all over them by now.
But like they say: 'Patience is a virtue'. Or something like that.
Just you wait, Kouya. After this test, Yang was going to make him blush so hard he'd put Ruby's cloak to shame. This was practically gold!
Just then, a loud, bestial, roar emanated from the forest. The two pairs of Beacon students tensed and faced the line of trees where the roar originated from. An Ursa Grimm rammed its way into the clearing, swiping its claws in the air threateningly.
Before the teens were able to move into their battle stances, a bright pink light flashed from the back of the Ursa. The Grimm froze for a moment in its advance in the clearing before falling down to the ground, dead.
As the beast's corpse tumbled forward, Velvet and the others saw that there had been someone riding on the back of the Grimm. When the Ursa fell, the person, a girl, tumbled forward from its back and rolled to the ground in front of the dead beast. She sat there for a moment, looking dejectedly at her ride's abrupt stop.
"Aww, it's broken."
Looks of incredulity began to spread amongst the four students who witnessed the act and heard the words. Velvet was reeling a bit from the energetic human. She remembered Kouya's low, contorted moonsault when he finished off those two Beowolves. Now she's looking at a human, a girl at that, who used one of the Ursa Grimm as a joyride to the temple. She was a bit intimidated just by thinking what the others around her could do.
From behind the corpse of the Ursa, another human jogged his way to its side, panting tiredly from probably chasing after the bear Grimm. This was probably the girl's partner. Said girl had taken her time to inspecting the corpse, like a child wondering why her toy suddenly stopped working.
"Nora," the tired looking guy said as he leaned against one of the spikes of the dead Grimm. He was probably addressing the girl. "Please... Don't ever do that again."
He looked up, only to find the girl gone and leaving him to look frantically around for her.
The girl, Nora, had made her way over to one of the pedestals in the temple while the guy was still trying to catch his breath. She looked at the white Rook piece with unbidden interest, similar to how a child would look at a new toy that caught their attention.
"Oooohh..." She quickly swiped away the piece and began singing: "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle~!" while balancing the Rook piece on various parts of her body.
"NOH-RA!" came the exasperated and slightly irritated shout from the tired looking human by the dead Ursa.
Nora stopped her dancing with the Relic balanced on top of her head and looked to where her partner was at. "Coming, Ren!" she saluted with the piece on her head tipping over and falling down to the ground, only of her to blindly catch it behind her back. Without a care in the world, Nora started skipping over to her partner.
The four teens that were there earlier than the pair were looking at the two stupidly, but Kouya was chuckling a bit at the two, remembering his first arrival after exiting the airships.
"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asked her partner uncertainly. Kouya, all of a sudden, had the biggest grin Velvet had seen him make since she met him.
Yang made to answer her partner but was distracted when another line of trees to their right were suddenly uprooted by a giant scorpion Grimm: A Death Stalker. It was chasing a girl with red hair in an armor not native of Vale.
"That can't be good." Kouya commented as he saw the red haired girl barely dodging the claws of the Grimm when it snapped at her head.
"Jaune!" the chased girl shouted over to the tree where the dazed duo were on.
"Pyrrha!" the blond male dangling from the branch returned.
The red cloaked girl jumped down from the tree after she shook away her daze.
"Ruby!" called the blond again on the tree as he saw the girl jump down without him.
Said girl landed by the four closest to the temple, a few steps away from Yang. The blonde spread her arms to greet the girl, looking glad that she was safe. "Ruby!"
"Yang!" the now identified Ruby called out in return, spreading her arms to embrace the blonde.
"Nora!" a sudden interloper popped up between the two girls and surprising them enough to knock them off balance. Nora sneaked in between the two girl's when everyone suddenly started calling out a name, not really wanting to be left out of the fun.
By the edge of the clearing that surrounded the temple, Pyrrha was still being chased by the Death Stalker. Kouya was just observing them casually, for some odd reason, and doesn't seem to fear the rampaging monster. His eyes were more focused on the red haired girl than the Grimm chasing it. Why, Velvet had no clue.
"Did she just run all the way here with a Death Stalker on her tail?" Blake asked the Amakusa and Scarlatina pair, who seemed to be the only people present who didn't have anything to comment on.
"It could be worse." Kouya muttered unhelpfully, suddenly looking at the heavens.
"At least we're not alone." Velvet added, copying her partner's action to the sky.
Not far from them, Yang had just gotten her balance back and was looking around the clearing. Her Aura was bubbling around her body and her eyes were slowly turning red. "I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!"
Queue two second cooldown. Yang was standing still and waiting, Nora was shifting happily in her place close to the group like a child in a toy store, her partner had just made his way over to her and was still panting tiredly, Pyrrha was still being chased in the background, Jaune was still trying to get himself untangled up in the tree, Blake, Velvet, Kouya and Ruby were all looking up at the sky for some reason.
"Umm... Yang?" Ruby started tugging on the girl's clothes while pointing up.
The blonde sighed in exasperation and turned to where the red cloaked girl was pointing at.
Thanks to her better senses, Velvet could easily see the gigantic bird Grimm flying in the sky. She was also able to make out the white figure clinging on to one of it's claws. Thanks to her enhanced hearing, she was also able to hear what the girl was saying.
"How could you leave me?!"
It was muted, but it was there.
And as if hearing the girl's plight, Ruby replied. "I said 'jump'!"
The flying Grimm must've been the reason why she had been falling from the sky earlier.
"She's gonna fall." Blake said suddenly, crossing her arms and observing quietly.
"Any time now." Velvet added, idly playing with her fingers since there wasn't much to do other than stand.
"She'll be fine." Ruby said confidently, but her uncertain expression told them otherwise.
"She lost her grip." Kouya commented, pointing up at the girl.
"She's falling." Ren concluded.
Jaune had finally gotten himself out of the tree and saw the girl in white coming in fast towards the ground. With a spark in his eyes that was obvious to anyone who saw it, he leaped out of the tree and caught the falling girl in his arms.
"Just... dropping in?"
There was a simultaneous face-palms all around when the words clearly traveled to everyone's ears.
When the blond and the albino finally started to realize that they were still in mid-air, realization struck. They both clung together like glue as gravity took hold once again.
In an unconscious act of chivalry, the blond maneuvered himself under the girl and was the first to meet the ground.
Belly-flop
Then the girl landed on his, thankfully, armored back.
Crack-!
"My hero." Came the girl's sarcastic voice as she checked her nails and uncaringly sat on the blond.
"My Back." Jaune groaned, almost crying in tears at the girl's tone and weight.
"My friend." Kouya deadpanned from where he was with the other teens.
"My partner." Ruby said glumly, slouching a bit as Pyrrha once again passed in the background.
"Alright, can we please stop that now?" Yang said, her brow twitching irritably at the gag that seems to get repeatedly used today.
It was then that Pyrrha was smacked by the Death Stalker's claw and was sent all the way to where the other teens had been standing close to each other. They looked down at her and then to the Grimm that sent the girl to them. The giant scorpion seemed to be rejoicing on its own as it finally caught it's illusive prey.
Yang clapped her hands together in a sarcastic cheer. "Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!"
Ruby was looking at Pyrrha's groaning form just as Yang made the announcement. The girl's eyes suddenly lit up with determination when she looked back to the blonde beauty.
"Not if I can help it!"
Yang's eyes widened when Ruby unfolded her weapon and charged at the on coming Death Stalker just as it finished it's triumphant cry. She and Kouya went to grab her, with only the male teen's hand barely catching the girl's red cloak, but she slipped through in a shower of rose petals.
The cloaked girl went to meet the scorpion Grimm out in the flat plains of the clearing, dashing with amazing speed and using the recoil of her scythe-gun to propel her faster towards the target. The Grimm had already been on it's way and saw the girl coming at it. With the beast's battle cry, it raised it's claw up in the air and swung down.
Kouya clicked his teeth under his hood as he saw Ruby charging at the Death Stalker. Yang was already going after the girl, but no one else seems to bother following.
His head turned up to the circling Nevermore up in the sky and scowled deeply. This wasn't good. He looked at all the people there at the temple with him, all who had decided to just stay in their place. Nora was helping her partner, with Pyrrha doing the same with Jaune. Blake was keeping close to Velvet, and the rabbit Faunus didn't seem to mind being so close to the girl.
Wait. Where's little Miss Snow Fairy?
Kouya looked back to Ruby's failed attempt to kill the Death Stalker. The girl had been knocked back by the thick claws of the Grimm and wisely decided to retreat after losing all of her momentum. The Nevermore in the sky had finally circled back after dropping off the Schnee heiress on their laps and had pinned Ruby's red cloak to the ground using it's hardened feathers that it used as projectiles.
This had been what he was talking about when he mentioned that the clothes wore by Hunters must be functional and practical. Unnecessary strips of cloths would, almost always, get caught in a Grimm's attack, catching the person off guard and leaving a momentary gap in their defense.
He clicked his teeth and braced himself for the inevitable. The scorpion Grimm loomed over the cloaked girl, while Yang had been stopped by the barrage of feather's that the Nevermore used to pin the younger girl to the ground. He was too far to help and his only projectile wouldn't make it or was it strong enough to halt a Death Stalker's stinger.
Then his eyes tracked the sight of white figure gliding at extreme speeds, heading towards the pinned girl. With a deep inhale from the rest of the group present, they looked on with bated breath as the Grimm's tail came down. They were too preoccupied with the impending doom to notice the figure heading Ruby's way.
Just as the stinger was about to impale the Rose girl, a blast of ice sprouted in between the Grimm and the girl; the giant scorpion's stinger getting encased in the ice.
Everyone by the temple released a sigh of relief when the girl was saved. Up in the sky the Nevermore cawed and went to send another barrage of feathers at Ruby and her savior, uncaring for it's monster kind who was in the range of it's shot. Nobody missed this, but most of the teens were either still catching their breath or supporting their partners, and the last few that were free didn't have anything strong enough for a distraction.
Then, in an act that surprised everyone close to the temple, even more so for Kouya and Blake, Velvet finally took out her weapons, aiming them at the in coming avian Grimm.
Two large barreled, dual pistols of silver color were pointed at the Nevermore.
"Bolverk!"
Two fingers squeezed the triggers of their respective guns so fast they could have easily mistaken them for an automated rifle. The Grimm was peppered with a spray dust bullets with enough force to send it a few meters away from the temple, forcing it to round back and gain momentum for it's next feather barrage.
The rabbit Faunus held her aim for a moment with the barrels of her guns smoking from the heat of her stream of fires. She waited for the Grimm to persist in it's attack, but when it doubled back she lowered her arms and sighed in relief.
Just behind her, Kouya was grinning broadly at his partner with a slight glint in his eyes. It was just his luck! A long range partner to compliment his close to mid range fighting.
The other teens on the other hand were covering their ears desperately. Even Kouya's more sensitive sense of hearing was deaf at the moment, but he could ignore that for a moment to appreciate Velvet for now. The continuous fire was deafening to anyone unfortunately close enough; i.e them. Even the rabbit Faunus slid a few inches after her barrage from the recoil of her guns.
What arm muscle she must have for firing those large pistols. Kouya was definitely not regretting anything from now until his graduation. If he was partnered with Velvet, then he was more than happy to be her pair.
"Ow... my ears."
Jaune's complaint was heard and seemed to have been enough to snap the Faunus girl out of her focus. She turned to him and noticed that everyone was also holding their ears or cleaning them out.
"Sorry!" she quickly apologized.
"Ren, I think I'm deaf!" Nora shouted to her partner happily. Even the thought of losing her own hearing didn't seem to hamper the girl's energy or her outward ditziness.
"What!" her partner cupped his own ear towards her, but instead of an answer he got an earful of air instead when the girl blew in his cupped hand. "Nora!"
The girl giggled happily when she saw his reaction.
Jaune had both of ears cupped and was waiting for the ringing to stop in them. His partner was shaking her head and still trying to regain her bearings. She had been smack quite a distance first, and before she even recovered, her ears were assaulted by a round of large and deafening bangs. She can't seem to get any break today.
Blake had her arms over her head and was ducking away from the rabbit girl. She didn't seem to be the type to get spooked by gunfire, so Kouya was wondering why she was like that.
Velvet was too busy apologizing to everyone that she seemed to ignore the fact that not all could hear her at the moment.
Kouya had already forgotten Weiss' impressive save to Ruby in favor of his partner. He was only reminded that they were still alive by the fact that they were making their way back to the temple.
"Whoa, did you just scare away the Nevermore by yourself?" Yang was looking at Velvet. She had seen the barrage after the first bang rang out in the clearing. The continuous fire had been impressive, and she had never pegged the girl to have that kind of weapon, or fire power.
Get it? Firing a gun?
Kouya slapped himself on both cheeks. It seems that he's being influenced by the blonde a little too much that he's even trying to make a pun for her in his head. Or maybe his deafened sense was messing with his head.
Jaune had been keeping his eyes on the Grimm close by. The giant scorpion was still trapped, so they still had time before it breaks free. When he looked up to the other Grimm in the sky, he saw that it was already swerving to the side and turning.
"Guys? That thing's circling back! What are we gonna do?"
Indeed it was circling back, and it looked very angry. Unfortunately the person responsible for it's anger was back to her usual, unfocused self and was looking like she didn't know what to do. Velvet was looking around frantically and was panicking instead of pulling out her guns again.
It seems that the girl had an unconscious trigger to become awesome when the opportunity presented itself but mostly stayed as the skittish little Faunus that Kouya had met in the forest.
Maybe he could get her a hood, like him. It does help him focus to become his serious persona, maybe it'll work for her?
"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us." the Schnee heiress said. Though she may not have looked it, but she was a bit miffed that her rescue was outshined by the rabbit Faunus. When she had rescued the Rose girl, she found that everyone was looking at Velvet instead, completely forgetting her, Yang and Ruby by the Death Stalker in favor of the Faunus and her smoking silver pistols.
But this wasn't the time for impressing people, even though she knew that the professors in Beacon were probably watching them and were evaluating their prowess, the goal was in front of them and Professor Ozpin never said anything about not allowing a tactical retreat.
Fortunately the Ruby girl was of the same thought. She gave the heiress a nod before addressing everyone. "She's right. Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the Cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things."
"Run and live," the Arc lad piped in. "that's an idea I can get behind!"
He and Ruby immediately went to the pedestals; Ruby taking the white Knight while Jaune took the white Rook.
Kouya was looking at the forest, keeping an eye out for any other Grimm that would suddenly break out of the clearing and would start charging at them with abandon. He and his partner already had the Bishop.
The presence of the Nevermore and the Death Stalker were usually enough to deter any smaller Grimm from coming closer, but there were some that were desperate enough to waltz into their territory in hopes of finding scraps and leftovers of the bigger monsters.
It seemed that the combined presence of the two large Grimm were enough to scare away even those brave enough to take a peek at the area.
"Time we left!" Ren called out when Ruby and Jaune were able to take their pieces. The Death Stalker was already breaking loose from the ice that held it. The cracks on the surface of the ice was enough warning.
"Right." Ruby agreed, motioning for everyone to move. "Let's go!"
Kouya made no move to follow, something that Velvet noticed. The Faunus was getting swept away by the mood of the students that they didn't even seem to care that she wasn't human. So when her partner was just keeping his eyes on the struggling Death Stalker, the current atmosphere was enough to fuel a bit of courage into her to talk to the hooded teen without going embarrassed. "Kouya, everyone's moving, we should go as well."
The male teen's eyes left the Grimm and turned towards his partner, nodding his head in acknowledgement. "I know, but I'm taking the rear, just in case."
Velvet was about to question why, but held herself. He was her partner now, meaning that she should trust his decisions. If they were going to work together, they should start doing it sooner rather than later.
With her mind made up, she nodded to herself. "I'll join you."
Kouya raised a surprised brow as he looked at the determined Faunus. Her eyes were shining fiercely compared to the shy and timid rabbit that he met earlier. For a moment he thought that she might have been a different person.
He huffed in amusement and was slightly proud for his skittish partner in finding a bit of back bone. "Then I'll be in your care."
Ten teens ran through the Emerald Forest, coming out into an area filled with structures similar to the temple where they took their Relics from. Pillars covered in moss and littered with crack stood tall after what was probably decades or centuries old. Unfortunately the uncovered area made it easy for the Nevermore to spot them from the air.
Five pairs hid behind the fallen structures that littered in the ruins. The Nevermore soared above their heads and perched itself on top of one of the pillars that was closest to the cliffs, barring the way for the students to climb.
"Well, that's great!" Yang muttered in annoyance.
Velvet and the rest who had better hearing suddenly looked behind them where the Death Stalker smashed its way through the trees and was crawling its way towards them. It roared as it snapped it's gigantic pincer claws.
"Ah, man, run!" Jaune cried out as he and the rest of the teens moved out of their covers and took their chances to the perched Grimm.
The Nevermore noticed the teens moving towards it and flapped it's wings to take flight. Everyone was moving as fast as they could and were keeping an eye on the airborne Grimm. With a loud caw the monster flapped its wings harder in preparation for an attack.
The teen in the green oriental clothes quickly took notice of this. "Nora, distract it!"
Laughing out in glee, the girl stepped out in the open just as the Grimm fired off a barrage of feathers. The students all took cover while the bubbly girl expertly dodged and braved the onslaught, taking out the grenade launcher strapped on her back.
Pink colored grenade shells with heart shaped tops flew at the flying Grimm, where they exploded into pink colored lighting discharges that sent the avian monster into a retreat for the moment.
Coming up behind the girl while using the discharge noises of her weapon, the Death Stalker reared it's stinger up and prepared to impale Nora from behind.
Two figures blurred upon the reeling Grimm with another figure doubling back from the rest of the group and shooting off like a bullet. Ren and Blake slashed at the shell of the monster, startling it enough to loose momentum for it's stinger. The last blur made itself known as the hooded Amakusa when his armor covered foot, brimming with Aura, descended on the giant scorpion with enough force to make it stumble backwards.
Weiss glided close to the startled Nora and used her Glyph to aid her jump while carrying the ditzy girl. The scorpion roared and now set it's sight on the three teens that interfered in its attack.
Pyrrha stopped as the rest of the group hurried over a stone bridge sitting above a trench connecting to another ruin by the cliffs. She turned back to help those left behind in distracting the Death Stalker with her weapon-turned-rifle. "Go, go!"
Ren was using his Storm Flower to pepper the Grimm with bullets. Blake was doing the same with her Gambol Shroud, while Kouya was using himself as bait and kicking balls of raw energy from Piercing Veil whenever he jumps back to avoid an attack.
Velvet looked back a quarter way on the stone bridge, looking worriedly for her partner. "Kouya, come on!"
The hooded teen looked back to her after jumping away from the Grimm and nodded. He reared back and spun in place, gathering Aura in his legs and through Piercing Veil. He stopped and made a wide swing with his leg and sent a condensed ball of energy strong enough to make the Death Stalker skid back a bit. Everyone left behind took this opportunity to make a break for it and join the rest of the group on the bridge.
As the last of the ten teens made it to the bridge, the Dark Stalker roared in fury as the space on the old path was too narrow for it's legs to crawl on.
Yang and the more energetic teens of the bunch were already whooping in victory. The Death Stalker was left in the dust while the Nevermore was nowhere in sight. The old ruins would probably have tunnels that would lead them to the top of the cliffs safely, they only needed to find it.
As they made it halfway through the bridge, a loud and furious caw was their only warning until the missing Nevermore crashed itself on the old stone bridge.
"Velvet!"
The others had been caught unaware by the flying Grimm, but thanks to Velvet's better hearing and strength she able to hear the approach and push some of her comrades further up the bridge before it collapsed. Kouya did the same with his Semblance and pushed the others back near him to the other end of the bridge; closest to the Death Stalker.
The Faunus was left on the falling structure right after throwing Jaune and Nora by their armors and desperately trying to find purchase on the falling stones.
"Kouya!"
Hearing his partner's disappearing cry, the Amakusa turned back from the scorpion Grimm to find Velvet falling with half of what had been part of the bridge.
With no hesitation, he ran up to the edge of the broken bridge and dove down headfirst towards his partner, leaving Blake, Ren and Pyrrha to take care of the scorpion Grim by themselves.
Jaune had just recovered from his save and was coherent enough to witness his hooded friend dive down into the chasm. "Kouya, No!"
He ran up to the edge of the broken bridge to look for his friend and saw him reaching out for his falling partner. He was about to call out for help from the rest of the group but held himself. His friend was confident enough to follow his falling partner into the deep hole so he probably had a way to get back up.
He proven right with his assumption when Kouya had his partner in his arms. The hooded teen kicked both his legs downwards and his descent immediately stopped. He repeated the action again and propelled him and the Faunus to the side of the mountain where the Amakusa child began to run up to the side of the cliff, roaring all the way and leaving muffled booms in his wake.
With the safety of his friend secured, Jaune looked to where Ren, Blake and Pyrrha were battling the Death Stalker, keeping it at bay with a barrage of bullets and quick slashes.
The Arc lad calmed his breathing and looked on in determination at the three. His new friend had risked his life to save his partner. If he didn't do the same, then what does that say about him?
With his next move in mind, he regarded to Nora who had just come up beside him after getting pushed to safety by the Faunus girl.
"We gotta get over there! They need help!" the blond teen barked seriously. But he looked at the distance between the two broken ends of the bridge and grimaced. "But I can't make that jump."
Nora turned to look at him, then down at the broken part of the bridge and smiled diabolically back at the Arc. "Leave this to me!"
With Ruby, Yang and Weiss off the bridge and keeping the Nevermore distracted on the many column structures in the ruins, Nora happily knocked Jaune back with her grenade launcher and unfolded her weapon into it's Hammer form.
"Oof, wait!"
The Arc's cry was ignored as the girl jumped off the bridge and smashed her hammer by the broken edge, tilting the stone path and launching Jaune in a makeshift catapult. Nora stepped on her hammer and fired off a gigantic discharge from the head as the boy was launched, using the kinetic force of the blast to propel her over to where Ren and the others were fighting the Death Stalker.
The ditzy girl flew over the other teens and landed straight on the Grimm's shell, using her gained momentum to smash it's head to the ground with her weapon.
The Grimm took advantage of it's body's tilt. When it's tail was raised in the air as it's front end met the ground, it launched it's stinger towards the girl wielding the hammer.
In a display of quick reaction, Nora fired off another discharge from her hammer just as the tail was sent her way. She landed in front of the Death Stalker, but was forced to make another jump when the stinger reared back a second time and persisted on it's course towards her. She didn't see Blake in the path of her landing, and knocked into her accidentally, pushing the girl off the bridge.
Nora was about to call out an apology but was knocked to the side by Ren when the stinger came again.
Kouya had just landed back on one of the stone structures while carrying his shaken partner. He was panting lightly from the continuous use of his Semblance, coupled with the physical exertion of running up to a vertical surface. Not even his above average reserves would hold from that sprint up the mountain side.
"Are you alright, Velvet?" he asked the slightly shivering Faunus, placing her down on solid ground. He sat down for a moment to catch his breath, allowing his Aura to rest and regenerate some of it's lost power.
The Faunus girl took a few deep breaths to calm her nerve before looking at her partner. "I'm fine." She was grateful that there was someone had saved her. She didn't have anything immediate to help her when she fell, and most of it took time and would only push her to the sides of the cliffs with no way of climbing back up.
Both teens looked up and saw the rest of their group. Half of them were taking on one of the two giant Grimm. They looked at each other and nodded. Now wasn't the time to rest. They had to help.
Standing up, Velvet reached for her weapons and unfolded them into their dual pistol forms. Kouya flexed his legs and revved up the engine in his armored leggings.
The Faunus child jumped up using her race's impressive muscle strength and stood on one of the pillars of the ruins. She raised her guns and began to shower the Nevermore with a stream of bullets like she did in the temples.
The Amakusa teen made his way to the edge of what's left of the broken bridge and used his Semblance to launch himself towards the Death Stalker. Curling into a ball as he descended, he snapped his body straight and smashed both of his Aura covered heels on the shell of the scorpion.
Rubble scattered as a blur smashed on to the Death Stalker, forcing Jaune and the others to cover themselves. When the dust cleared and the monster roared, Kouya jumped back and joined the Arc and his group.
"You're okay!" cried the blond.
Turning his head slightly to acknowledge the lad, Kouya nodded and focused on the task at hand. Raising his fists up, he smashed them over the top of his armored calf. Their was an audible click, as if a hook had been unhinged.
"Let's end this, then."
The hooded teen began pumping as much Aura as he could into Piercing Veil. This time, however, there was no click that signified the limiter that was stopping the engine.
As more power built up in his armored legs, the blue lines that traced along it's edge began to turn red and steam started to emit from Piercing Veil.
"Jaune!" he addressed the teen. "I can only do this for so long until the heat starts eating through my custom-made pants. Let's hurry this up."
Looking at his friend, Jaune nodded and gained a determined glint, holding his shield up and facing the Death Stalker. "You heard him guys! Let's do this!"
Blake was the first to note the added barrage on the Nevermore. She looked at the source and smiled slightly when she spied a determined looking Faunus unleashing a number of powerful bullets at the flying Grimm.
Ruby, Yang, Weiss and she had been keeping the Nevermore at bay, with Blake utilizing her superior speed and Gambol Shroud to climb on the giant bird and slash at it's back before dismounting again.
She saw Velvet pause and reload her weapons. When she fired this time, however, ice seems to explode wherever the Nevermore was hit.
A look of realization suddenly appeared on the black-bowed girl's eyes. The reason that her earlier shots were so powerful was because she was using Fire-dust bullets. No wonder the boom was so loud and strong enough to push the Faunus back where she stood.
Talk about fire power.
Now though it looks like the girl was adding her own Aura in every shot. Blake wasn't sure what that was doing, but it seemed to be working since the Nevermore seems to falter whenever it was about to charge.
Velvet was panting lightly from where she stood on the pillar. It was really tiring for both her Aura and arms in keeping a non-stop barrage.
Thanks to her own Semblance, the bullets that she used with only a bit of dust in them was able make a bigger effect than they should. It was only thanks to that that she was able to economize her dust consumption while keeping her supplies on her budget. Dust was not cheap!
Support:
Her Semblance that enhances the effects of her Dust and Magic. A light from a tiny match stick, with the application of her Semblance, would turn into a roaring flame. Her Dust bullets were normally just as strong as a firework stick, but with her Semblance, she could make them as powerful as a dynamite.
Unfortunately, her Aura control wasn't helping her. She had a normal amount of Aura just like everyone else, but her control was so atrocious that she wastes more on one shot than she's supposed to. That had always been her problem.
"Ha!"
With a cry of exertion, she fired another shot and nailed the bird in the eye, partially blinding it as the bullet exploded and froze part of it's face.
The Nevermore cawed in fury and retreated for a moment, allowing the girls to catch their breath. Unfortunately the rabbit Faunus lost her footing and slipped off of the pillar and fell down towards the stone ruins.
"AHHHH- huh?"
Thankfully Blake had swung herself towards the Faunus and save her from a painful crash.
"Careful."
"Um... Thanks."
Just then a roar from the location of Kouya's group gathered the eyes of the five girl's battling the Nevermore.
Kouya panted heavily as he dodged yet another swipe from the Death stalker and a sting from it's tail. This battle was really taxing him. His physical abilities were being pushed to their limits as he kept himself close to the Grimm's striking distance while dodging every and all of it's attack towards him. His Aura was also gradually being depleted as he continued to pump a continuous supply of it to his legs.
Speaking of Piercing Veil, it was now something that his mother had dubbed as "Open Veil". With nothing stopping the continuous supply of Aura that he was forcing in, he had revved the legging's engine into overdrive that had turned most of it into an angry shade of red, blowing off steam whenever he moved.
His kicks were now enhanced with energy that burned anything that it touches. Unfortunately that did little to the scorpion's armored shell and claws. All he's done so far was paint it a few black foot marks where his kicks had connected and burned the outer shell to charcoal.
Worst of all he was getting angry.
He could practically hear the Mars in him raging all the while when his kicks connected but didn't seem to do anything. It was really, really pissing him off.
He could have crushed the Death Stalker with his Semblance with one high, gigantic Stomp from the air. Unfortunately that would require an AoE so massive that it would probably squash Jaune and his group as well. If only they didn't have the deep trench behind them and the Grimm blocking the way to the open space, he could have asked the group to give him room for one big attack. Once again, not for the first time, he was cursing his highly volatile Semblance.
It was a Semblance meant for Grimm mob control, and for someone who worked alone or with little back-up. He could force a kinetic motion on any surface of his target directed by his touch, but rarely control the amount of force that go with it. Unless he had enough space, accumulated potential energy, and momentum, he could only make his Semblance attacks just as strong as his stationary kicks.
It was frustrating, but that was why he always curls up when he uses his Semblance kicks, to gather enough force to power his attacks. But even then, it's aftereffects were never controlled and usually makes a crater around the center target.
Now back to the current predicament. He could have probably crushed the scorpion Grimm, but the aftereffects would probably squash Jaune and the group.
He probably didn't need anyone to point it out to him, but he could already feel the unnatural throbbing of his temple pumping too much blood into his brain and was probably painting his sclera red. Another Mars symptom that he inherited from his mother along with it's partner: Rage.
He could feel that his heightened emotions was helping his Aura regenerate quicker. The depletion was reduced to negligible levels that he could probably last longer now that he was truly and utterly pissed.
Screw the Amakusa persona! He was bringing out his mother's legacy now, as a Mars, a name taken from the god of war!
Kouya had just retreated again and was about to get smashed in by a claw when Jaune jumped to his side and deflected the Grimm with his shield. "This thing just won't let up!"
"Then I'll make it!"
Startled by the supposedly calm teen's loud exclamation, Jaune and the rest of the group looked at Kouya in surprise.
Kouya's hooded head turned to the rest of them, showing his now bloodshot and rage filled eyes, surprising them even further. "I'm going to make an opening." was all he said before he proceeded to engage the Death Stalker once again.
The blond knight shook off the surprise, promising to ask about his friend's health after dealing with the Grimm. He smashed his shield and sword together, breaking the trance that Kouya's eyes inflicted on the group. "You heard the man. Follow his lead!"
Ren, Nora and Pyrrha all nodded and readied their weapons as their hooded comrade charged at the scorpion monster.
The Grimm roared as Kouya approached at high speed. It sent out it's stinger only to be dodged when the teen swerved to the side and jumped in the air. The Death Stalker went to block the Amakusa- no, the Mar's- attack and push him back, but a sudden explosion when he made contact forced the creature back and left it in a daze.
Combined with the accumulated energy of the continuous flow of Aura and a sudden burst of his Semblance, Kouya unleashed all of Open Veil's power in a single dropkick, resulting in an explosion that would have cost him his legs were his armor any weaker.
The Grimm roared as it lost one of it's claws and bled on the ground. Kouya was left exhausted and numbed a few feet in front of the monster, where he lay on the ground staring at the sky.
Absently, his adrenaline filled mind informed him that Jaune and the rest had taken the opportunity to finish off the Grimm once an for all, with Nora nailing it's stinger on it's head with her hammer with the help of Pyrrha and Ren.
Still, he stayed in place and reveled in the blood pumping fiercely in his veins. He remembered that Velvet was still up against the Nevermore with the others, but for some reason he couldn't find it in himself to care at the moment.
This was how his Mars relatives felt after every battle. It was no wonder that they were usually so emotional and arrogant. It would probably take him a moment to calm down, but he didn't think that he would be fast enough to help the others when he did.
Still, Mars Mode was as intoxicating as ever.
Velvet looked on worriedly as her partner stayed on the ground and didn't move. His last attack scared her mostly since the explosion was loud enough that it even echoed down the chasm multiple times before disappearing in it's depths.
She released a sigh of relief when he raised an arm and waved, only for it to fall back beside him limply once again.
The Nevermore was circling around and was dive-bombing randomly in an effort to get the ice off it's face. It even tried to rub it against the cliff side, but still didn't work.
Velvet and the other girl's took this chance to reload and rest, as well as keep an eye out for a possible escape. But with the others still of the other side of the chasm, they wouldn't leaving without them.
"Wow. Who knew that foxy was pretty explosive?"
The blonde beauty and the rest of the girls had gathered together to watch how the others take down the scorpion Grimm. With the Nevermore still thoroughly distracted, they could afford this kind of reprieve. They were highly impressed by the group's coordination and even Kouya's reckless assault.
"Not now, Yang." her red cloaked sister groaned in exasperation. "We still have our own problem to deal with."
"Should we ask for help?" Blake asked. Since the other group had finished their own battle, maybe they could provide back up?
"I highly doubt that Amakusa would be of any more use." The Schnee heiress piped in indignantly. She had seen the last attack that the hooded teen executed, and thought that it was a miracle that he was still in one piece. "The rest of them already look dead on their feet and would probably just get in the way if they joined in."
"That's harsh, princess." Yang pointed out irritably at the snobby girl.
"It's heiress, actually." Blake corrected. "And unfortunately, she's right. The most they could do is give us support fire, but the Grimm would most likely just shower them with feathers until they stop. Also, only Nora and Pyrrha seem to be the only ones even capable of support, with the rest either too tired or lack the weapons to do so."
All were suddenly thinking about Jaune and his Shield and Sword.
Ruby shook away the traitorous thoughts to her friend and looked at everyone else. "We need a plan."
The girls all made a sound of confirmation, but nothing else.
"Well, unless you have a cannon hidden under that cloak of yours, there's no way for us to shoot that thing out of the sky." The heiress piped in.
The younger girl slumped and nodded. Their weapons were mostly meant for close combat, save for Velvet's pistols. But those weren't enough to put that Nevermore down. The lacked the firepower end the Grimm in the sky.
She almost wished she could use Kouya as a human cannonball to shoot the flying Grimm down. Maybe he would have brought it down with that last attack of his. But seeing his current state at the moment, she was sure that it was a one shot deal.
If only there was something that could hit it hard enough to-!
Wait.
Why were they just thinking of shooting it down?
A sudden idea came to the youngest girl of the group as she looked at the Faunus girl. "Velvet, right?"
The girl straightened when Ruby called her name, looking at the girl before nodding her head. "Yes, can I help you?"
The young girl in the similarly colored cloak nodded and looked at the girl's pistols, she remembered that they were the only ones that were accurate enough to land decent hits and were even able to make the Grimm falter in it's flight.
"Tell me, do you have anything that could probably kill that Nevermore with one shot?"
The Faunus looked startled at the question before contemplating on it for a moment. She reached back behind her and took out two yellow colored magazine clips for her pistols and nodded.
"I have these."
"WHAT!?"
The Faunus cringed when the heiress' word startled her and the rest of the group. Weiss looked positively murderous as she looked on to the scared rabbit.
"You had these all this time and you didn't even use them?!" They had been struggling for the last couple of minutes, and there was actually someone that could have taken it down?! Weiss shook in anger. She was having a harder time to control her emotions now because of how tired she was.
"Cool it, princess. She probably has a good explanation for that." Yang went in between the two, sensing that things were starting to escalate into territory that they simply had no time at the moment. She could understand why the heiress was angry, but she didn't peg the Faunus to be someone who'd hold back on them in a situation like this.
"As if!" the heiress exclaimed, glaring daggers at the busty blonde. "This fight could have ended much quicker if only she had used whatever those are sooner." Her mood was already sour when the Grimm kept flying around them like a giant housefly that just didn't know when to die. Now the Faunus was presenting something that could have zapped the annoying thing and end it for them quickly. Why didn't she?
"I didn't mean to-" The Faunus girl tried to interject, but was silenced again when the girl in white leveled her hateful eyes back to her.
"Quiet, you! For god's sake, why were you even holding out on us! Were you waiting for something to happen?!"
"Hey, back off." Blake also stepped forward beside Yang and covered the heiress' view of the rabbit Faunus. "You're taking things way too far."
"Things have already gone too far!" the irritable girl exclaimed as she threw her hands in the air in exasperation. "We're stranded here with that airborne grim reaper breathing down our necks, we're low on supply, exhausted in both body and Aura, and we haven't even finished the test yet!"
"That's what you're worried about?" Yang asked incredulously with her partner. "The stupid test?"
"It's what we're here for in the first place!" the heiress insisted. "If she hadn't held back, then maybe we'd already been through with this!"
"Like you're one to talk," the blonde had finally had enough and went up to the girl's face, looking down on her from their difference in height, "she was a better help than your lousy shots!"
"She has PISTOLS!" Weiss exclaimed. "WHO do you THINK would have better aim?!"
"ENOUGH!"
All at once, everyone was silenced. Ruby had been listening quietly but this was taking them nowhere. It was only thanks to her cry that everyone stopped talking.
Poor Velvet had stepped away from the group and wasn't even looking at them anymore. The Faunus sought the eyes of her partner, who she now realized was the only one close by to actually acknowledge her as a person, to tell her that she was needed.
Her fear of humans came back to the front of her mind again and the fragile bond of camaraderie formed from the battling together had all but shattered. She remembered where she was now, who and what was talking to her. They were humans, most of them were. It was only Kouya's words in the forest that made her seek him out right now, to assure her that there was at least one human who believed in her. Blake, she didn't know why, was hiding her Faunus features, and Velvet would be damned before she sold out any of her kind.
She didn't want to be here anymore. She wanted to be by her partner's side, giving her subtle and not-so subtle encouragements, where she was sure that there wouldn't be anyone cruel to bring her down. But the distance between her and Kouya was too much at her current state. She was too tired to make that jump and to make that climb. All she could do now was just sit in a corner and hope that they stop focusing on her. She'll just say that she was too exhausted now, that she'll just be a burden and leave the rest to the humans and Blake.
Yes. They'd probably leave her alone if she just keep her head down and stay quiet.
"Velvet?"
The Faunus girl looked up to meet the eyes of the human, the girl with the red cloak and hood.
"So, could you? Could you really take down that Grimm with those clips?"
The rabbit girl looked at her straight for a moment before looking back down to the ground. Her eyes were slightly dilated and her hair was shadowing her face. Her rabbit ears were now standing lower, more submissive, now than they had been in battle. All in all she looked like an abandoned child who was too scared to even look at anyone straight in the face.
"I'm sorry, it was a lie. It probably won't even hurt it. I'm sorry."
The rest of the girls all flinched at the rather dead monotonous tone that came with the Faunus' words.
They all knew that Faunus were never really the favored race in Remnant, and that most grew up in a bad environment. They had heard that there were those who simply endured and kept their emotions bottled up, and that most of them broke even before getting set back to the Menagerie.
But hearing about it and surprisingly meeting one was a completely different matter.
Unlike some of the luckier ones, Velvet didn't have a Best Friend or a Childhood Friend that she was able to confide to with all of her woes. She had friends, yes, but because of her shy and quiet nature, she had never really interacted with them properly. All she did was stay by their side and follow whatever they did. But with them gone...
"Hey, Velv." Yang tried to reach out to the girl, but when she took a step forward, the Faunus took a step back. She briefly saw the dilated eyes shift to Blake for a moment, but quickly went back down as if they had never happened.
"What do you think happened?"
Jaune's question had also been playing in the mind of the Amakusa. He had seen the interaction, they even heard the muted yelling, but what was prominent in his mind at the moment was the look of utter despair on his partner.
His blond friend had helped him to sit up and see how the other half of their group was fairing with the flying Grimm. It was only after Velvet shot it in the face that they were able to rest, even for a short while. But they still had to get to the top of the cliffs.
He could already feel his legs back and was just sitting down to let his nearly depleted Aura reserves to refill. It was probably only a fifth of his full capacity. Enough to move about, but not enough to join the battle.
He was even forced to use Mars Mode.
That was going to be Sore for the next couple of days. His body would recover quickly, but the strain on his Aura was going to leave him feeling heavy for a while.
Forcing his Soul like he did with his Aura regeneration would kill most people if they used it more than once. But like the name and the people who came up with it, Mars Mode was a common skill to all who shared the Mars blood.
To the berserkers who revel in adrenaline like an addiction, people of the Mars were forced to adapt to their peculiar trait. It was the reason why they had such inhuman reserves. It's like their traits were passed down to their offspring, both body and soul.
Unfortunately he was only half Mars, which meant using their skills had tolls. For him it was the 'Heavy Burden', which was common to all the half Mars. There are those with different tolls, but they were minor compared to the most common 'Burden'.
His blood was flowing normally again, but his red sclera would take some time and a few eye-drops to get rid off. It was the sign of using Mars Mode coupled with the usual battle rage. It was also called 'God of War Mode' by the other, more flashy, Mars.
"Help me up, will you?"
His blond friend complied and lent a shoulder for him to lean on. Even though he could feel his legs, they were still stiff from the numbing explosion. The heat from the Open Veil was also making it uncomfortable, but thanks to the Ice Dust capsules that served as the cooling/ventilation system for his armor, the heat was slowly fading away.
But his range attacks were locked for the moment until all of his system was cool.
He flexed his legs and grimaced at how hard it was to bend his knees. He didn't know why that was but it definitely wasn't good.
Off to the side, Pyrrha was keeping her eye out for the struggling Nevermore that was still taking it's time to rid off the ice that covered part of it's face. Nora was dotting over Ren who was looking rather exasperated from the girl's frantic treatment.
"You all wait here, I'll see what the problem is."
Kouya lifted his arm off his friend but was forced back down when Jaune refused to let him go.
"Whoa, whoa. Who said you're going anywhere?"
Pyrrha had noticed the hooded teen standing and had heard Jaune's remark. She walked towards them with a worried look on her face. "He's right, Kouya, after that last attack of yours, it's a miracle that you can still stand."
In response, he merely grunted and knocked on the armored surface of his legs. "Nigh indestructible. Strong enough to even withstand the crushing pincers of a Death Stalker."
It sounded like a boast, but even so they were hoping that it was true. For his sake.
"Even so, you shouldn't be moving too much." the other exhausted teen called out from where he was resting. He was pushing back Nora's face when the girl started getting too close for his comfort.
"That's right!" the bubbly girl cheered happily, not even minding that her face was being pushed back by her friend's hand. "Doctor Nora says that you should rest!"
Kouya shook his head negatively and released himself from Jaune's arm. He forced his legs to carry his whole weight and took a moment to regain his balance. "I'm sorry, but I really need to know what's happening over there and why my partner looks like it's the end of the world."
The other teens were silent. They had also noticed the girl's grim features and were wondering why she was looking like that.
"Still, how can you even get to the other side?" Jaune asked.
"My Semblance." the hooded teen answered simply, slowly making his way closer to the edge of the cliff.
"Aren't you exhausted? Will you even make it?" Pyrrha asked in concern, walking beside him along with Jaune on his other side.
"I only need a sliver of my Aura with the amount of force that I need to generate." Kouya answered simply. He had trained hard to control the sizes of his blasts, thus gained better control of his Aura consumption. It wasn't perfect, but it was always enough.
"Well, at least we'll give you a boost." Jaune looked back to Nora. The girl had heard the unasked request and bobbed her head affirmatively.
"That would be appreciated."
Jaune nodded and stepped back along with Pyrrha. Nora popped up in front of him, who he simply sent an amused smile to, before offering his gauntlet covered hands.
"Alley-oop!"
Grabbing the teen's hands, she spun a few times in place before she launched him into the air and over to where Velvet's group were gathered.
As he reached the apex of the arc he curled himself into a ball and blasted a kinetic explosion under his feet, gaining him more distance.
"Kuh-!"
He cringed when the joints of his knees locked in place and ruined his aerodynamic form, causing him to fall short of his intended target.
The girls had all heard the boom of Kouya's Semblance and turned just in time to see the teen barely catching the ledge of the stone platform where Ruby and the rest were gathered.
"Kouya!"
Both Yang and Ruby cried in alarm as they rushed over to the hanging boy. They had been too engrossed in thinking up a new plan since Velvet didn't seem inclined to help them anymore. It was only thanks to the Amakusa's use of his Semblance that they even noticed that he was coming.
"Hi- ugh... a little help, please?"
The blonde had been the first to reach him, with Ruby helping to pull him up and dragging him to a safer distance away from a horrific fall.
"What are you even doing here?" the heiress asked irritably. It was bad enough that one of them was refusing to cooperate, now they have a dead weight to look out for.
Kouya rolled on his back and was cringing every time he tried to bend his legs. There was definitely something wrong with them. "I'm here for my partner."
At hearing him address her, Velvet's rabbit ears perked up for a moment.
The girl was standing behind the others, a few feet away. He could tell that she was trying to keep her distance, but he couldn't tell why.
"Well, you can have her." The heiress huff as she crossed her arms and turned away. "She says that she's too exhausted now and that she couldn't help anymore."
Kouya looked over to Velvet and saw no change in the girl's demeanor. He didn't like the Velvet that he was seeing. She looked so dead.
He sighed and pulled back his hood to show his very displeased looking expression. The girls' cringed at the blood red sclera that surrounded his dark colored eyes. "Tell me what happened."
"What?" The girl in white blinked at the sudden demand while the rest of the girls looked on.
"Why was there yelling earlier? Why did Yang and Weiss look like they wanted to gut each other? Why did everyone look like they were focused mostly on Weiss? And why the Hell does my partner look so grim?"
He allowed his displeasure to bleed out from his voice. A few slivers of his rage still lingered in his system and slowly building up from the current situation. He was trying hard to push it down, but the expression on the Faunus girl made it hard to do.
"Tell me what started this." he raised an arm and gestured to Velvet. He reached out for the girl in his prone position but she didn't move from her spot away from the group.
Yang snorted and pointed her thumb at the Schnee heiress. "Little Miss Dry Ice here started steaming when Velv took out some magazine clips for her gun that might have been enough to take out the overgrown bird."
When the attention was switched to her, the girl in white merely huffed away in return.
"And that started this whole mess?" asked the Amakusa incredulously. He looked at Weiss with a face painted with disbelief before glaring at her with his Mars influenced eyes. "You're an idiot, Snow Flake."
"Wha-! How dare you!?" the girl cried out indignantly.
"Shut up and listen!" Kouya's tone rose as his Aura regeneration quickened once again. He could feel it fixing whatever was wrong with his legs so he took this opportunity to sit up and point his hateful glare at the white girl.
The Schnee heiress wisely kept her mouth shut. If she hadn't, Kouya would have socked her in the face in his current state of mind.
"Do you know how bad the Faunus are treated?" he asked carefully. "Think about that and how long it's been like that. Imagine how they grew up in Faunus hating world. Imagine how they are treated, how humans talk to them, what everyday was like for them. Did you notice how they kept to themselves at school? How they gathered in one corner while the rest of the humans littered about?"
He looked at the heiress pointedly, the throbbing in his temple was back and his eyes were probably bleeding deeper and deeper into red.
"How about Velvet personally? Do you know her? Is she someone from your old school? Were you given permission to start yelling at her like you were her parent? Tell me, Weiss Schnee, what right do you have to talk to others like that?"
The girl's stand was firm but her eyes went anywhere but the boy's. She had let her emotions get the better of her and made her lash out at the Faunus.
She didn't need someone from the Amakusa to remind her about the lives of the demi-humans, she'd heard plenty enough from the news and how their kind protested about the unequal treatment. She definitely didn't need anyone to tell her about it, and she already saw first hand at school how Faunus interact with the humans.
Perhaps she may have been wrong about the Velvet girl, but that still didn't excuse her for holding out on them. She made sure to remind him of just that.
"Your partner still didn't tell us that she had something to take care of our problem." the heiress shot back, saying it with absolute conviction that she wasn't in the wrong on this one.
"Did you hear her reason?" Kouya asked calmly, his Aura capacity already back a quarter of his full reserve.
The Schnee bit her tongue at that. She definitely didn't, and she was starting to regret losing her temper earlier.
The Amakusa teen breathed in deeply, calming down his growing temper. He looked at his partner who was still away from the group, but at least she regained some light in her eyes. That was good.
"Velvet. Tell me, why didn't you use those clips earlier on?" Kouya asked with the softest tone he could muster at his current state. He wanted a partner who was comfortable around him and other humans. He was not about to let some snobby little rich bitch ruin that for him.
Velvet looked into his bloodshot eyes, his sclera were now completely red with no longer any trace of white in them. Even so, his eyes tried to look kind. The kindest he could do with them. But she could see the rage under his stare.
It wasn't directed at her, it was for the heiress.
So, she wasn't wrong. There was a human present that she could rely on. She was thankful that it was her partner, and she was more thankful that he was her partner. She was glad that she met him.
She opened her mouth but hesitated. She looked at all the other humans and her hesitation grew.
Kouya waited for her to speak. He saw her mouth open, but quickly closed once again. When it didn't seem like she was going to say anything he sighed.
In return the Schnee snorted. "See?"
Kouya dragged his hand over his face and sighed deeply. His temper had changed from Rage to Cold Fury, and with it came indifference.
"What I see, Ms. Schnee, is a girl too scared to speak her mind." slowly, he clapped his hands in a slow, mocking rhythm. "Congratulations Weiss Schnee. You have effectively intimidated a person enough to force them to hold their silence. Truly, the oppression of the Schnee to the Faunus is a sight to behold."
He ignored the girl's indignant cry in favor of getting his legs back under him. The pain had receded somewhat, and he could probably walk again.
He politely declined Yang and Ruby's help and slowly, carefully walked past Velvet to rest against one of the broken pillars.
"You all should get ready." he warned. "The Nevermore looks like it's chipped off most of the ice by now."
Blake, Yang, Ruby and Weiss turned to the flying Grimm, but were confused when it's face was still partially covered with ice. Velvet ignored the monster in favor of her partner and slowly made her way beside him.
"We still have a few minutes." muttered the Schnee.
In response, Kouya called out to his partner. "Velvet?"
The Faunus opened up part of her cloak and pulled out one of her pistols. With a pull of the trigger, she fired off in the direction of the Grimm without even looking.
Stomachs dropped as the bullet went straight to the Nevermore's face. The resounding boom from the impact was strong enough to echo back to them.
Four girls slowly turned to the Faunus who was now kneeling down by her partner's legs, pressing her hands down on his knee and using her magic to help him heal.
"Umm..." Ruby asked hesitantly. "What was that?"
Kouya turned his indifferent expression towards the sky before telling the girl. "There are some things about shy people that you all should know about."
When the smoke that covered the Grimm's head cleared, it's face was made visible and the lack of ice made the others pale.
Uncaring of the Grimm, Kouya continued. "The ones who are usually most quiet and nice..." He turned his head to face the heiress. "They're usually are the ones who hold a grudge."
A Caw from the Nevermore made the four girls leap into action as a shower of giant feathers rained down on where they had been standing. Kouya and Velvet ignored the battle as they were protected behind the stone pillar.
"Thank you."
The Faunus' soft words reached Kouya's ears thanks to his better hearing. He sighed as all of his temper subsided. He was already feeling the strain of his Aura and his body felt so heavy.
Without even thinking, he reached up with one hand and started to gently rub the girl's Faunus ears. He felt her tense but ignored it and continued to rub. It was a habit that he developed thanks to his non-human friends back in his village. It was both therapeutic and relaxing, for him and his friends.
The girl relaxed when she realized that he wasn't pulling and was unconsciously tilting her head closer to his hand. Her Faunus parts were very sensitive, and needed to be handled with care since most people don't know what it was like to have such long, soft ears. But Kouya's fingers were surprisingly soothing and seemed to know just how hard to press on what part.
She slowly started to relax and began to lean over, where Kouya could actually reach far enough to start rubbing her other ear. They ignored the sounds of battle behind the pillar and just enjoyed their bonding time together.
There was rarely any animal back where Kouya lived, being in the middle of Grimm infested forest. There were only a few houses that had pets, but thanks to his training schedule he couldn't even find the time to fascinate on the mysterious creatures.
That left him with his Faunus friends. He liked touching their animal parts when they were on break, since they were the closest things to an animal that he could reach.
The guys were never fond of him doing the petting, but the girls never really minded. Normally a boy his age should be embarrassed about touching girl parts, even if they were usually just ears and tails, but his fascination with animals just made him forget about his embarrassment in favor of touching them.
It also helped that it made him and the one he was petting to relax. Weekdays' worth of training was just that hard on everyone.
"Velvet?" the girl hummed in return. She was sitting down and leaning close to him, her hands still busy healing his knees. "There's a trait about the Amakusa that you should know about."
"Hmm?"
The boy continued his massage and started rubbing the tips of her ears. The girl actually started to coo at him when he did.
"The Amakusa are very shy people." Kouya began. "Some of us even grew up while covering our faces. Even my dad never goes off to work without putting on his fox themed mask."
The girl hummed and nodded, her eyelids slowly starting to droop as the day's excitement finally caught up with her.
"We hardly make the first contact when we make friends." he continued. "It's mostly strangers who would strike conversation first because of curiosity."
Velvet placed her hands over the other knee now, satisfied with her work on the first.
"But when we do let other people into our lives, we get possessive of them." one of his hands went down and started to stroke the girl's hair, relaxing her further. "And when I say 'Possessive', I mean 'Yandere' kind of possessive."
The girl still hummed at the revelation, getting the Amakusa snort in amusement.
"But our Yandere tendencies only come up when the person we care about is hurt in any way." Kouya started grinning guiltily after remembering what he wanted to do with the humans in school who wanted to kill the pair of Faunus that he met. "We become very protective to the point that we maim the ones responsibly for their pain."
Soft snores caught the boy's ears as the girl started to lean on him completely, her hand still on his knee and glowing softly from her magic. He looked down and saw that Velvet had fallen asleep thanks to his ministrations. He smiled softly and wrapped the unconscious girl in his arm like a protective blanket.
"You're my partner now, and even with our brief time together you've become someone important." He gently removed the girl's hands on his knee and shifted her to a more comfortable position. "You may not be able to hear it now, but let me still say it, something that the Amakusa have always delivered."
Kouya started to hum a tune, a soft and soothing tune. He swayed slightly and rocked the girl gently.
Don't wo~rry, I've got you;
Nothing will ever harm you~.
I'm close by, I'll stay here;
Through all things, I will be near.
Close your eyes~,
Don't you cry~.
"Love's around you. And that's a promise... till I die"
AN: The deleted reason why Velvet's magazine would have worked if I didn't let Weiss let her frustrations be heard.
Velvet's Weapons are from Blazblue's Noel Vermillion.
Velvet Scarlatina and Noel Vermillion. Scarlet and Vermillion... coincidence?
The Magazine clips that Velvet showed RWBY were Lightning-dust Bullets, where if she used up every Aura that she could, it would have probably been enough to pierce the Nevermore through.
Unfortunately the charged recoil was too strong for her even if she was at full strength. She would have needed a clear shot while the bird was stationary for it to work or else it would just swerve off course and leave her like a sitting duck from the drain of her Aura.
The song that Kouya was singing was a verse from Gold, a RWBY ost, with the last line changed to make it so that it was a promise instead.