Author's Note: Hello viewers old and new! The time has come to present the tenth and final chapter of 'Spectre: A Beacon to Follow'. You may be weeping, you may not give a crap (I don't really know...), but as the title suggests, this chapter paves the way for the next story and beyond. That's right! It doesn't end here, and there will be many more stories to come as the plot thickens. I will however be taking a little break from now on, so I wouldn't expect any new releases this side of Christmas. That said, I'll post any updates regarding new stuff and any announcements in general on this story, so you guys won't miss out on anything. This chapter is pretty damn long too, so it might make up for it a bit.
Finally, I just want to say thanks to every one of you. From those who are looking at this story for the first time, and to those who have been with me from square one, you have all played an important part in making this FanFic as good as it is now. Your reviews and comments have really inspired me to continue what I love doing the most. The joy of opening my emails every morning is quite literally unrivaled.
Here's to you guys! See you again soon!
De4thstopper
Chapter X: From the End, Comes a Dawn
'The innocent never run.'
Tracking. That is what I did over the weekend. Following a pair of somewhat illusive Fauna wasn't as fun nor as difficult as you'd imagine. The hardest part was probably finding a good spot to camp out for the night in the open city. I picked up my gear from my locker before leaving, so my half cape kept me warm during evenings. Well half of me anyway…
They hadn't travelled anywhere too taxing, various cafes and sight-seeing spots were the general trend. They had even stopped off at that nice café that Pyrrha and I sat in a while ago. I sipped from my juice carton, embracing its lush flavour within my mouth as I watched from above. I had to sneak into the café to buy it so they wouldn't see me, but it was still more than worth the effort.
After a while of observing nothing but small talk and weird looks between the two, Blake finally decided to talk about her past and her current situation. Her story wasn't too different from other Fauna's childhoods that I'd heard of; it wasn't exactly the same obviously, but the key points were there. Abuse and discrimination from humans were a recurring theme amongst all of them. I wonder what it would have been like if I were a Faunus? With the life I lead at the moment, I don't know if it would be worse or not. It was one thing to have a bad childhood, but to not remember one's own roots is something else entirely…
The sudden movement in front of me let me regain my focus. Blake and her new friend were leaving, and I made quick pursuit from the rooftops, discarding my empty carton as I went.
They were walking casually along an empty path, the only sound being their footsteps against the paving stones. I watched from above as 'monkey boy' engaged in conversation.
"So, what's the plan now?" he asked with his hands behind his head.
"I still don't believe the White Fang is behind these robberies," Blake answered, "They've never needed that much dust before…"
"What if they did?" monkey boy said, turning to her to emphasise his point, "I mean, the only way to prove that they didn't do it is to go to the place where they would most likely go to if they were to do it… and not find them there! Right?"
Blake looked at him sceptically. "The only thing is, I have no idea where that might be."
"Well, while I was on the ship, I heard some guys talking about offloading a huge shipment of dust coming in from Atlas."
"How huge?"
"Huge. Big Schnee Dust Company freighter."
"You're sure?" Blake asked.
He nodded.
"Alright, let's go."
Before they got too far, I Jumped down to them, deciding that now was the time to reveal myself.
Monkey boy staggered back in alarm. "Woah! Where'd you come from?"
I quickly held my hands forward before Blake could draw her sword on me. "Wait! I don't want to fight, OK? I just want to talk."
"How did you find us?" she demanded, clearly threatened by my sudden appearance.
I replied honestly. "I've been following you since you left. Think of it as a guardian angel."
"Why?"
"Because your teammates are concerned, and are probably out there looking for you right now."
She hesitated.
"What would I have to gain if I lie to you?" I asked persuasively.
Eventually, she faltered. "What makes you think I can trust you?"
"Believe me, I have a lot of friends who are Faunus and have suffered just as you have," I said looking between her and monkey boy, "I want help against the Fang. Their cause is a good one, I know, but their methods are… questionable. It is their fault that Faunus bear a bad name these days, and I wish to play my part in its end, whether it be diplomatic or full scale war."
You could see the consideration in her eyes, the calculations going on inside of her head. Finally coming to a conclusion, she sheathed her sword on her back and spoke a warning.
"You've persuaded me, but if I think you're going to try something, I will kill you."
"Likewise," I sent back at her, my tone suddenly much more threatening.
I'll be honest, I was having second thoughts about my impressions of Blake. She was playing the good guy now, but what if it was just a hoax? What if we did find the White Fang and she turned on me? That said, she probably felt the same way about me too. Either way, I was going to find out soon enough.
Monkey boy, Sun, was an alright guy though. He was fascinated with my Void-Jumping and said that he'd find it really useful to have. For whatever reasons, I cannot say, but I trusted him nevertheless.
Once we had reached the docks, we found a good spot to watch the entire area from an upper vantage. We had been there for quite some time too, so Sun had taken to bring us some snacks as we waited. I had decided to sit some distance away from the roof's edge and meditate, readying myself for anything that came my way. Blake's eyes never left the area below, just as she never moved from her position, like a statue. We didn't speak; it was too tense to break the silence. She was dedicated, I'll give her that, but whether she'd hold her own here was a mystery. None of us knew just how big this was; besides the size of the cargo, and it was huge, we had no indication as to how strong the Fang's forces would be when or if they arrived. I didn't like it one bit.
I'd say it was around a quarter of an hour before Sun returned with an armful of fruit. He tapped me on the shoulder and offered me some, but I held my hand up and shook my head.
"Oh, OK then…" he said in response. He then turned to Blake and stooped downwards: "Did I miss anything?"
"Not really," she replied blandly, "They've offloaded all of the crates from the boat; now they're just sitting there…"
"Cool," he said positively, "I stole you some food." He handed her the same apple he offered me.
"Do you always break the law without a second thought?"
"Hey, weren't you in a cult or something?"
I tell you no lie, her face was a picture. My mischievous side was temping me to comment on the burn, something along the lines of: 'get wrecked' or 'would you like some Sudocrem with that hot sauce, madam?' Sadly, the party pooper known as maturity prevented me from doing so. I was thankful once again for my hood and helmet to hide the smile of amusement that had smeared its way across my face.
"OK, too soon…" Sun said in desperation, but was cut off by a roaring engine from above. Gazing up against the downforce, we noticed the Bullhead loom over our heads, scanning the docks below with a pair of blinding spotlights. Satisfied that the area was clear, it landed down onto the concrete and its boarding ramp rolled open. As I moved to the roof's edge, I saw a man in white and black fatigues step out from the vehicle.
"Oh no…" Blake said sadly.
"Is that them?" Sun asked.
"Yes… It's them…"
As if on cue, three more followed him out, with a fourth staying within the VTOL, issuing orders.
"Alright, grab the tow cables!" he demanded shaking his gun for effect.
"You really didn't think they were behind it, did you?" Sun asked, turning to Blake.
"No, I think deep down I knew, I just didn't want to be right…"
"Hey! What's the hold up?" came a new voice from within the Bullhead. "We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment, so why don't you animals try to pick up the pace."
Roman Torchwick. That scummy faggot has been on the most wanted list for years now. Organised robberies all across the kingdom had his name plastered to them. Every place had a notorious crime boss; then there was Torchwick.
"Oh yeah, real conspicuous, arsehole…" I criticised under my breath.
"This isn't right," Blake stated, "The White Fang would never work with a human." She stood up and reached for her sword, but I gripped her shoulder.
"If you could take on Torchwick by yourself, I'd be impressed, but I have my doubts."
"This is none of your concern, let me go!" she spat back at me in sudden anger.
Despite her struggling, I held firm. "If I told you that I've been hunting for that bastard over the years, would you change your mind?"
She stopped fidgeting, and I let go of her shoulder. "Think about it, if we do this right, we can put an end to his schemes once and for all. If you charge in recklessly, that won't happen, and he'll get away."
She walked away from me, not liking the idea, but knowing that I was probably right. Probably.
"We need to work together…"
Suddenly, I was blown off my feet by what felt like a charging Goliath, metallic silver splinters littering the floor around me. I hit the floor a few metres back, a loud cracking noise echoing in the evening air. Only after a few seconds did I realise what happened. Someone had just shot me. The force of the round wasvery powerful, and I soon felt a large ache in my left shoulder. I looked to it and noticed that my shoulder pad had been completely shattered. It took the hit well though; there was no blood, to my relief, only a lot of bruising for the morning to come.
Regaining my focus, I looked around me, not daring to stand up in case the shooter fired again. I noticed that Blake and Sun were doing the same and glancing in my direction, fearing me for dead. I stuck my thumb up to show that I was fine and rolled steadily on to my front, crawling low to the edge of the building. Sticking my head out to look downwards, I noticed that Torchwick and his goons were picking up the pace and even fumbling in places.
"It doesn't look like they expected that to happen…" Blake said from beside me, mirroring my position.
A quick observation, and I figured she was right; Torckwick was getting jumpy and wasn't showing that air of self-confidence that he was known to carry with him.
"Agreed," I said with consideration, "Something tells me there's a third party in play here…"
"You're sure that you're are good to go through with this, right?" I heard her ask, "I mean you just got shot, and it looked like it hurt too."
Honestly, even I was surprised by how well I was taking this; my nice and shiny shoulder pad had been lost forever, which I was pretty pissed about I'll admit, but I was thankful to be alive at the same time. Plus being shot doesn't come without its traumas. I was shaken, but not otherwise harmed.
"I'll be fine," I grunted, "Now, do you have any idea where the shot came from?"
"I think I saw something from over that way," Sun pointed out with his hand.
"And it will need to be higher than this roof to get a good shot off…" Blake added.
Sadly there were a number of buildings that fit the description in that direction. There wouldn't be enough time to check them all without the shooter disappearing – if they hadn't already. Then something came to mind.
"Judging but the delay between the round's impact and the sound of the weapon's discharge, I'd guess a range of around… seven hundred metres."
The pair looked out into the distance and quickly found the building which footed the bill. "There!" Sun said, indicating to the selected tower, "What about that one?"
After a quick evaluation, I turned to him. "Looks good to me. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to pay our new friends a visit."
"What about Torchwich?" Blake asked before I could move off.
"You guys will have to deal with him," I replied, "If you need help, just create a signal."
The Fauna glanced at each other for confirmation then nodded to me. "OK, good luck."
"You too," I wished as I rolled to my left and Void-Jumped to a new rooftop.
It took me just under a minute to get to the top of the tower; once again my semblance had proven its worth. I was somewhat out of breath once I got there though, so I decided to wait a moment before confronting the perpetrators.
There were two of them, and they were both bickering about something. One was a female Faunus with long red hair in a single ponytail down to her butt. She had her back to me, so I could make out her fox tail easily. She wore a white long sleeved shirt with a black vest on top. On her lower body was a pair of white leggings with a black battle skirt on top of that. On her feet were a pair of heavy looking knee-length military style boots with laces coloured a sort of regal purple. Both her shirt sleeves and the hem of her skirt had a trim of the same purple colour.
The other one was much less colourful in his attire. He wore an onyx coloured balaclava with a hood of similar colour, so his facial features couldn't be distinguished. He wore a dark orange t-shirt underneath his rather intimidating trench coat. It was an earthy brown colour, easily camouflaged in the wilds outside of the walls. With these, he wore a pair of grey-green loose fitting trousers with big pockets down the sides. His feet were fitted inside of a pair of hunting boots with sniper bullets strapped around them.
Both of them had sniper rifles on their backs; the female's was a more compact and versatile over most ranges. The male's I couldn't see too well, but judging by the length of its barrel, that was the weapon I had withstood.
"Why didn't you shoot the others?" the girl asked, "We could have got paid even more!"
"I don't like to shoot people unless I need to," the male replied as calmly as he could, "We have our prize, now let's collect our profit."
Bounty hunters. Now that was a surprise. Who would want me dead? More importantly, who would know where I'd be at this time?
"So we've got to go get him now, don't we?" the red head said reluctantly.
"Or…" I said, moving out of the shadows, "The prize could come to you."
The male was facing me, so he saw me first. In one quick motion, he pulled his rifle from his back and instead of shooting me again, it transformed into a claymore with the widest blade you'd ever see. He slammed the blade into the floor, creating a formidable defensive wall. During all of this, the girl had spun around and pulled her own rifle from her back and mounted the stock into her shoulder, her sights set on me.
Regardless to the threat of the pair in front of me, I continued. "Shooting people isn't very nice you know; you could have really hurt me…"
"We were trying to kill you, dumbass," the girl interrupted. She then turned to her shady accomplice. "I told you I should have shot him!"
He didn't reply, his gaze not leaving my face, his body ready and unmoving.
"Is that so?" I mocked, "Well you did a pretty crappy job if you ask me."
"Oh don't worry, we'll just kill you right now."
"We'll?" I asked cunningly.
"Yeah, we…" As she turned to look at the other shooter, he was gone. I didn't point it out, but I noticed him blend into the background, and eventually turn invisible. He could still be here, but instinct told me otherwise as a loud whooshing noise accompanied by a gust of wind rattled the tower. "Son of a bitch!" she cursed angrily.
I drew back my half cape and pulled Doom from the sheath on the right of my hip; I did the same with Fall from the one on my back. "More of an even fight now, isn't it?" I challenged, bringing my weapons to an offensive stance.
When she turned back to me, I got a good look at her face. Her fox ears were much more visible now, as were her abyss black eyes. I recognised those eyes; few people had them like hers. I wonder… No, surely not. She wouldn't dress like that. No way.
She had a familiar smirk about her too… "On second thoughts," she said cockily, "it just means more money for me when I hand over your corpse."
"Charming."
"I know right? Now do me a favour and-"
She leaped forward, turning her rifle into a hammer and slammed it into the ground where I was stood not moments before. She looked around in puzzlement, only seeking me out as I slashed upwards across her chest. She staggered back, her vest soaking up the hit, a deep cut now spewing stuffing from inside of the garment.
She glared at me. "Do you know how much this vest cost me?"
"Do you know how much this cost me?" I countered, indicating to my left shoulder where my armour pad should have been.
Her eyes narrowed and she gritted her teeth. "I don't like you…" she replied, taking a much steadier and less violent approach all of a sudden.
"That's nice," I replied bluntly, "Now, I'm going to give you one chance to back down. If you take it, I will never speak of this again and pretend it didn't happen. If you chose to be persistent, or try to kill me again, I won't be so merciful next time. You can tell your friend that too."
She held her glare, which under different circumstances would have been quite frightful to witness. "Fine." She made for the roof and looked over to me one more time, her glare now gone. "I'll see you around, Grey Knight." And with that, she dropped down from the tower and disappeared into the dark side streets below.
I took the next few seconds to recall what had just happened. Was the girl I'd just encountered who I thought she was after all? And what about her accomplice? Where did he fit into the equation?
Suddenly, I was beckoned back to the docks in the form of roaring explosions and gunfire from the distance. I sheathed my weapons and silently rushed back into conflict.
As the flashes and sounds I could see from the tower suggested, the docks had been turned into a battle ground. I could hear the slashing and thudding of melee combat around the other side of the shipping crates to my right; I even witnessed a heavy lift cable breaking, releasing a freight from a crane and leaving it to the full force of gravity. I quickly paced my way to the corner.
"Hold it right there!"
I stopped and turned slowly to be greeted by a group of White Fang grunts, five in all, keeping me levelled in their iron sights. Two had short swords and side arms, the others had submachine guns.
"I don't have time for this," I said after sighing with frustration.
"What did you…?"
Before he could finish his sentence, I had already Jumped behind them, leaving them completely confused.
"Hey, where'd he go?" I heard one of them ask.
As some form of response, I tapped the closest one on the shoulder and punched in square in the face once he'd turned, cracking his Grimm mask. Even as he fell to the floor, I aimed Doom and Fall at the remaining two submachine gunners and dropped them quickly. Then I approached the last pair of disoriented melee fighters and countered their desperate blows, making quick work of them too.
I kept moving through the whole manoeuvre and didn't stop now. I only had one thing on my mind: Roman Torchwick. As the thought rose to the surface, I heard his cane fire at a rooftop in the distance, the projectile like a screeching firework in the midnight sky. After the impact, I heard the evil laugh of the man I was after. Years of training to defeat people like him, and here he was – so close…
When he started to run for one of the Bullheads, I Jumped in his path, advancing quickly towards him.
He slowed to a halt, and showed that irritating air of confidence that was his trademark. "Well isn't this a lovely surprise!"
"Shut it." I slammed my boot into his chest and he flew a few feet on to the floor, his hat rolling away into the open. He grunted and tried to reach for his cane. He froze when I shoved Fall against his throat however. For a few seconds, he dared to not make a sound – but then he smiled. He was staring death in the face if he played his cards wrong, but still he was… smiling.
"You've come a long way to finally get me here, haven't you?"
"That doesn't matter," I answered, "What matters is that you're going behind bars for a long, long time."
"Maybe…" he toyed, "And you would be so rich for bringing me in wouldn't you? I can offer you more, offer you three times…"
"I'm not interested in money," I interrupted, losing my patience, "I'm interested in redeeming all of the lives that you have ruined."
He chuckled lightly. What is with this guy? "I should have expected someone like you, Spectre, to say no. But I suppose…"
"How did you know that name?" I demanded.
He chuckled again.
"How?" I stressed angrily, pressing Fall deeper into his neck.
He stopped chuckling and said: "You know what? I could tell you, but that would ruin the fun. You will probably find out though, eventually, so don't you worry about it. Now, if you wouldn't mind Miss Mendokyll?"
Before I realised what he was talking about, I felt a blunt object slam into the back of my head. My eyes grew blurry and I struggled to keep myself on my feet. Then some sort of green laser sliced through the air above me and tore a pair of reinforcing Bullheads into pieces, the debris colliding safely with the water. A third VTOL, carrying one of the dust frights on its underside, came crashing into the ground shortly afterwards, leaving a blazing inferno at the crash site.
When I regained my senses, Torchwick was already well on his way within another Bullhead. In a last ditch attempt to stop him, I sprayed a full clip of my lighter ammunition from Fall's chambers after the aircraft. It had no effect. He got away.
It wasn't long before the cops had swarmed the place; our engagement hadn't been what I'd call subtle. At least we had been seen as innocent. Blake and Sun were sat on some wooden crates along with Ruby and some other girl that I didn't recognise. By all accounts, Ruby was the one on the rooftops who Torchwick shot at. This mystery girl was also the one who had taken down numerous White Fang grunts and destroyed three Bullheads, single handedly. How she could fire a bloody laser beam, I couldn't tell, but it went to show that I didn't want to get on her bad side.
I was away from the group, leaning against a cop car. I had seen a lot today; there many things to think about, so I wasn't feeling too sociable at the time. That said, they weren't all that talkative either.
I noticed Yang and Weiss arrive at the scene and move towards us. Things were still tense between the two shade girls, between Weiss and me as well. We hadn't spoken since the night that Blake left, so I was uncertain as to how things would go. With this on my mind, among the other events of the evening, I couldn't concentrate on what they were saying to each other, but Weiss seemed to come to terms with things, which was good. As Ruby quite rightly stated: "Team RWBY is back together!"
The thought was a nice one, something to water down the soup that was my mental activity. But those questions just kept nagging at me. What was Torchwick doing with the White Fang? How did he know my identity? Were the people who shot me really just third party bounty hunters? Or were they working with Torchwick? And the redhead, was she who I suspected? Miss Mendokyll…
"Spectre?"
Weiss was stood in front of me now; she was the one who pulled the emergency cord on my train of thought.
I stammered at the unexpected dialogue. "Oh, hey Weiss…"
A few seconds passed before I found the right words to say. "Look, I just want to say…" we both said to each other, pausing after we realised what we were doing. "I was just… You first… No you first!"
Noticing that this was getting us nowhere, I held my hand up and spoke. "Listen, Weiss, I realise now that you were only voicing your opinions, and you have every right to do so. I simply heard those words at the worst time, and it was immature of me to go off on one. I'm sorry."
She smiled, glad to see that things were being sorted out. Then her expression turned serious again. "And I'm sorry for all the bad things I said to you too. It wasn't right for me to say them, and now that I have a clearer head, I can see that."
I nodded in understanding. "Apology accepted."
"Good," she said, smiling with relief, "Now, I think Yang wanted to talk to you, something about this weekend I think…"
My face dropped. I was supposed to be meeting up with her this weekend, and I ran off on her without even realising. I hastily moved around Weiss and towards where Yang was sitting, thanking the Ice Queen as I passed her.
I tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey Yang."
She smiled when she saw me. "Oh, hey Spectre!"
Before she could bring up a new topic, I pressed my point. "Look Yang, I am really sorry that I forgot about this weekend. One thing happened after another and…"
She turned to face me and grabbed my arm to get my attention. "It's fine Spectre. Really, it is. I was on the same page; I was looking for Blake all weekend and kinda forgot about our date too." There it was again: 'date'. "So like I said, don't worry about it! We can go out right now too, if you want that is."
I hesitated. "Isn't it a bit late for that?"
"Awww, is Spectre afraid of the dark?" she teased, her lilac eyes glimmering slightly as she perked up a bit.
"I'll have you know that I got rid of my night light about a year ago," I joked openly.
She laughed at that. I always did like her laugh… "Now that, is a good joke! Do more of those," she commented helpfully.
"Will do."
Then her face changed elaborately. "Ooooh! I got you your present as well. C'mon, I put it over here!" Before I had any say in the matter, she clutched my hand and dragged me to a darker alleyway, just out of view from the commotion at the docks. Yang did have a habit of sending mixed messages; I didn't know whether she knew that or not, but it made her company more entertaining either way.
When we reached the corner, she released my hand and made her way into the gloom. "Stay right here!" she said in anticipation, eager to see my reaction. I could hear her grunting a little, which sounded awfully suspicious. I still had no idea what it was going to be, and it shames me to admit that I hadn't put much, if any thought towards it.
Then a hand poked out from behind the corner, a forefinger tempting my in. I let out a deep breath and made for the alley. As I turned, something flew out of the darkness and I was hit in the head for the second time that night. This time, the apparatus was much heavier and it forced me back first onto the cold hard ground.
"How about a cute little punch bag?" Yang asked proudly. Now I'd just like to point out that this punch bag was almost as tall as I was and easily as broad. Not exactly what I'd call cute and little, but hey, this was Yang talking. Before I could get to my feet, she had already begun to explain her gift. "You see, you can use it to practice punching stuff, so it's practical. You enjoy to hit things, don't lie, so it's a little fun. And it means that you have something to beat up every day without hitting the wall and waking me up at three in the morning, so it's good for the both of us! Pretty cool huh?"
I was still stunned at how hard she'd just hit me, let alone how well thought out the whole idea was. "Yang."
"Yes Spectre?"
"You, are brilliant."
"Awww, thanks!" Before I could say otherwise, she wrapped me in one of her death hugs. "You're Spec-tacular!"
"Good old Yang..." I thought in amusement.
So here I was, in a good start with a relationship with easily one of the hottest girls in Beacon Academy. What am I thinking at this time? This: "I'm going to have to carry this punch bag now, aren't I?" I asked breathlessly.
"Yep."
"Great… You don't happen to have a bracket to mount the punch bag onto the wall by any chance do you?"
"Nope."
"Great… So where'd you wanna go?"
"I was thinking that we could go get a drink or two... Ooooh! How about we go to Junior's place? That was fun last time."
"Sure, why not?"
And with that, we left the alleyway for Junior's Club for fighting and drinks, with a heavy load to bear along the way. Life was sweet.