Since the first explosion, Li had heard a number more and some yelling and screams.
Every sound helped Li move faster. Li made it to the docks and slowing down he looked around a corner and saw a small ginger girl fighting off a number of attackers. Li was ready to go to her side and help when suddenly a number of gunships started a strafing run. Li watched as the small ginger girl flew backwards 50 metres, and started charging some form of energy ball. As the energy canon fired from the girls arms, Li realised he wasn't needed.
Li looked nearby, and seeing a body; he went to it to see if he could help. Li noticed the symbol on the bodies clothing and stopped.
The White Fang.
Even Li, with his ignorance about current affairs, knew about the White Fang. Li felt his ears twitch; he looked over and saw an airship with its doors open. Li quickly picked up the body and moved it into the dark corner he was hiding.
Li ran over to the airship, and clambered in with a couple other uniformed men. They all sat and strapped in, then a tall ginger man with a cane ran in, closed the doors and started shouting at the pilots to lift off.
Li had no time to think about where he was going, he was just hoping the ginger girl outside didn't take down the airship he was stowing away on.
After a few minutes, Li relaxed, believing he was safe now; a quick survey of his surroundings quickly crushed that belief.
The other faunus around him were quiet, nothing was said, nothing explained, but Li could recognise how they felt, they had failed. They were not mad at themselves though, they were scared.
The ginger man was ranting, and shouting at them all, calling them all animals and useless beasts.
Li couldn't understand what the fearsome White Fang were doing with this human; all the stories he had heard portrayed the White Fang to be pro-faunus, and anti-human, i.e. killing humans. So it made no sense to Li, but he kept his mouth shut, trying to figure out how he might be able to survive this trip.
He decided that he needed to mirror what the other members did. All of them wore masks and hoods, covering any recognisable features, Li should be able to pass as a new recruit; he hoped.
It was a long hour of insults and yelling until the airship started to land. Li hoped that he had made a good decision, but it was too late to turn back now.
The doors opened, a dim white light replaced the red glow of the cabin lights.
All the faunus got up, preparing to leave, but before just one could leave the cabin, the ginger man spoke up, "Where do you think you animals are going? You need to unpack these ships, all of you. Now." The faunus growled and murmured, but none dare speak up.
They all picked up a box, or a pipe, or anything, and started taking it off the ship. Li picked up a box, quickly realising it was very light, so he moved it to his right arm and picked up another.
"Hey, you! What are you doing?" came a voice from behind him, Li froze in fear. "It's pointless to carry more than you can lift, you will hurt yourself!" the voice continued.
Li exhaled, relieved slightly, "It's okay, these are light boxes, but I appreciate the concern." By now the ginger man had left, as had the other faunus, Li was left with a large man, hairy knuckles and a powerful looking jaw, Li assumed he must be a bear faunus, judging by the size of him.
"Hey, someone's gotta look out for us, it's not like the brass will care much for us grunts. The names Jon," he bellowed while taking down his hood and mask, revealing some bear ears and black eyes, "I can't say I've seen you about, you new?"
Li nodded, "Yeah I am, the only few people I had gotten to know since starting have… they didn't make it." Li paused for dramatic effect, making it as convincing as he could. "My name is Li, nice to meet you Jon." Li felt no reason to use a fake name; no-one here will have known Li, even if they had gone to Beacon.
Li and Jon walked down the ramp, onto a large airfield; Li let Jon lead the way, trying to learn as much about the area as quickly as he could.
They continued silently, entering a hangar as the others from the group came out, to retrieve the remaining ship contents. They all gestured to Jon to adorn his mask and hood, clearly someone important was around.
Jon lobbed the box he was carrying onto Li momentarily, "You can handle this can't you, big man?" Jon joked.
Once they made it into the hangar they saw why Jon was told to put his mask back on; the ginger guy, who Li learnt from Jon was Roman, was angrily beating on his table, and yelling at a map of Vale and a faunus with hair slicked hiding his ears. The faunus had a similar mask to the grunts, but wore no hood.
Neither Jon or Li wanted to linger, they quickly left.
Once they made it back to the airship they saw all the other faunus waiting around, clearly there was nothing left to take in. "I don't think it's going to be a day to celebrate; no drinks after work tonight." Jon spoke to the group.
Jon turned to Li, "you got somewhere to stay tonight?"
Li shook his head, "I'm sure I can find somewhere, can't be that difficult to find a bench somewhere on this airfield."
Jon let out a bellowing laugh, "That's a good one, don't worry, you can come and stay with me. I'm not sure it will be as comfortable as a bench, but you will be with friends." Li couldn't exactly deny the offer with all eyes on him. Li couldn't tell whether they trusted him, or pitied him; the masks and hoods were very unsettling, Li could understand why people didn't trust him when he wore a beanie and stuck to the shadows all the time.
Jon, who insisted on being called Lil Jon, and Li walked for a few hours, until they reached Jon's home.
It could barely be considered habitable, but a working heater and cardboard over the windows made it more appealing than the street.
They both walked in, and having shed their White Fang masks and clothing, were greeted by a uproarious cheer. "Lil Jon!" the shouts came.
"Hey, everyone! How are we tonight?" Jon replied to the room full of faunus. Li saw feline faunus, rabbit faunus, canine faunus, a few ram faunus and even one or more monkey faunus. "This is Li, he's new at work, and needed a place to stay! You better be nice!" Jon bellowed, pointing his finger towards the room.
"Hello Li!" came a shout form the room, Li stepped forward and waved, deciding it was impolite to salute for once.
Jon pulled Li back out, and showed him where Li could freshen up, and where he would be sleeping.
"Jon… Do they know who we work for? And who are they anyway? Family of yours?" Li questioned.
Jon stopped, and sighed, "They are my family, but not by blood… Some of us faunus struggle more in this world than the media lets on. So we need to stick together, I provide for them, and they provide for me, we are there for each other."
Li noticed how he sidestepped the question, "That's really admirable, and I'm glad you have invited me in for the night, but you missed a question. Do they not know about what you do? About the danger you are in daily?"
"Look! I didn't ask for this life! I needed to provide for my family, and the White Fang are the only ones who will hire me, they pay for this place, they pay to keep it heated, so that everyone downstairs can save up and hopefully one day they can live comfortably. I would do anything for my family." Lil Jon was almost growling.
Li had never seen this part of the world, it chilled him to the very core; he had always been a spoiled brat in comparison, but he decided that he would make a difference. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to know so I didn't let it slip. You are an inspiration Lil Jon." Li ended the questions for now; Jon didn't deserve any more probing tonight.
"I'm beat, I think that I'll go to sleep now, thank you again Lil Jon!"
Jon only smiled. Li slept that night, although he was not comfortable, something was missing.
Once he did sleep, he dreamt, tonight was interesting. There was more joy and happiness than he had ever seen in one place; there was also a lot of fear, but the joy was overwhelming.
Li woke up slowly; as he opened his eyes, he looked around seeing a number of other sleepers around him, all quietly stirring with him.
Li quickly went to the bathroom, and after going through his routine, came out wearing the same clothes as he had the day before; thankfully he had put the White Fang uniform over his own clothing when he had infiltrated the airship.
He went down the stairs and into the kitchen to find Lil Jon standing over a large pot of what Li hoped was porridge. "Morning Lil Jon, how was your night?" "It was fun, a lot of questions about you though, many and more that I couldn't answer, I think we will have to change that." Li got quiet; he sat at the kitchen table. "But not right now, right now it's time for morning sludge!" Li shot Jon a quizzical look. "It's like dinner sludge but a bit sweeter!" Jon teased, handing Li a bowl of the sludge.
Li took a sip, and was surprised by the taste, "That's actually really nice!"
"You will soon grow tired of it, trust me!"
"So what are the orders for today? I haven't heard anything." Li questioned. "I hope it's not with that Roman guy again, I don't know why we have to put up with him."
Jon shuffled awkwardly, "Unfortunately, he is the one paying the contracts right now, so we have to work for him."
"But I joined the White Fang because I thought we would help rise up against the subjugation, not help some human rob other humans. I didn't realise we were just mercenaries."
Jon stopped stirring the sludge, "WE ARE NOT MERCENARIES!" Jon quickly hushed his voice, "I… it is just what… It's not OUR place. We are just grunts; we do what we are told." Li paused, collecting his thoughts; he had clearly struck a nerve.
"But we shouldn't be. We are faunus, we need to be a family, stick together, but instead we let ourselves get pushed around by our 'leaders'. I wonder how they live. How much of a cut from the contracts they get. We deserve better, we aren't just nobodies, we are a family." Li spoke viciously, almost believing his own words.
He had never known about the White Fang in any great detail, but the whole system seemed broken to him. Jon seemed to agree, as he made no comment against it.
"I admire your spirit, but we can't change anything. We might be a family, but the brass doesn't care. If we step out of line we are done, if we try to leave, we are done. If you speak to the wrong person, you are done." Jon turned to Li, "You need to be careful, that kind of talk leads to disappearances."
Li finished the bowl of sludge, and looked up at Jon, "Working for Roman has led to more than a few 'disappearances'."
It was a long time of silence until Jon spoke up, "Come on, we need to get to the airfield, we don't want to be late." Li nodded and followed him out the door.
It had been a whole week of moving cargo and boxes from airships for Li and Jon; the biggest excitement coming from when Lil Jon taught Li how to play dice, Li actually started winning, until Lil Jon started trying and cleaned Li out.
Li spent the week listening, and learning. Trying to get closer to Roman proved fruitless, and the witch that occasionally made an appearance only scared Li and every other person in the building, so that led nowhere. The faunus with the slicked hair, whose name was Adam, had seemed receptive, and even talked with Li about a great deal of his hatreds. However nothing came up that was particularly useful.
Regardless of the lack of solid info, Li had eavesdropped and noted maps to find some amount of information, however Li learnt early that he won't find anything concrete, and instead spent his time with other endeavours.
Li started to get partnered with new people, to help carry boxes, and Li decided to start asking questions, trying to find people he could trust. He had managed to form bonds with most people. The easiest way to form a bond was to complain about Roman, or express the fear about the witch; Li knew it was safe to talk about them like that, but Li was careful, at the behest of Lil Jon, to not speak too ill of the White Fang leadership.
Over the week though, Li felt like he had a decent following of people, all of whom felt that they were no longer doing anything for the betterment of faunus.
Li knew his work was done, when his newfound friends set up a private meeting together, to discuss everything. Li had brought Lil Jon along, to show him the support that he had; and as protection.
During the meeting, a lot of hate was directed towards Roman, and some towards the witch known as Cinder, and some people even started planning to take them out. Li decided to step up, and explain to the faunus friends, that the humans weren't the problem this time.
This brought on some gasps and yells, but Li quickly explained, "Who was it that set up this contract? It wasn't the human, it wasn't the witch. It was our 'glorious' leaders. the brass have gone soft; we won't be taken seriously if we are working for humans." Li reminisced about his speech, hoping it had gotten through to enough of them; he knew Jon agreed, but he was fearful that it wasn't enough.
The meeting had finished after Li's speech. That had been Friday, it was Saturday now, and tomorrow was another White Fang rally; to give out orders and sign up new members, Li knew something big would be happening at the rally; he hoped it was what he wanted.
Li snapped back into reality as he heard his name called out by Roman. "That's right; today you will be coming with the raiding party." Li gulped, but nodded.
"How did he know my name? Something is up." Li thought, "Perfect."
As the crowd awaiting todays orders dispersed Li walked over to Lil Jon and pulled him aside, "Something is up Jon."
The lack of the nickname immediately made Jon serious. Li and Jon walked over to a quieter part of the hangar, "What's wrong? What have you done now?" Jon seemed concerned; it warmed Li's heart, making what he will have to do soon even harder.
"Look, I don't think I have much time. Roman shouldn't know me by name. Something has changed. Roman would not have brought me on a mission if he had a choice." Li put on a fearful face, even though all he actually felt was guilt. "I think this 'mission' is a chance to get rid of me."
Jon scoffed, "Har! You are so paranoid! There is no way, no-one would blab to Roman, and there is no way he is going to 'get rid of you'"
Li looked to the floor, "I hope you are right, but maybe they went to leadership? And they told Roman about it? I don't know. But I have been talking to more people, and I think that the Adam guy wasn't as receptive as I thought." Li took a breath, "Look I know I'm paranoid, but this is just a precaution." Li held his hand out.
Jon looked at the outstretched hand quizzically, "What is a precaution?"
Li sighed, and turned over his hand. In it lay a pile of lien, "It is everything I have earned since joining the White Fang, not including the food I needed. I want you to take it, and use it to help the family."
Jon looked at Li, pushing his hand away, "No, you idiot, don't pull this crap!"
"JON!" Li was angry now. "Seriously, just take it; you can give it back when I get back, just hold onto it, please?" Jon agreed and pocketed the lien.
Romans voice carried over the hangar, "Hey, fox-boy, stop making out with your friend and get your ass to the airship, we leave in ten."
Li looked at Jon, "Remember who your real family is. Thank you for everything Lil Jon!" Lil Jon smiled at the return of his nickname.
The airship journey was long, and quiet, like the one that brought Li to the airfield.
Roman barked out some orders, about the acquisition of some large dust containers. Li was starting to fear that he really was found out.
He started sweating when Roman told him that he would have to jump out alone, and check the area was secure.
It was over an hour when the airship door opened, and Li was pointed towards the door and given a small sabre sword. They were quite a distance from the ground, but Li saw a way down; he also noticed the large number of 'Schnee dust Co' symbols on the containers below.
He quickly looked towards the city past the docks, trying to determine if he was in Vale; he was.
Roman yelled at Li to jump out, and Li complied, jumping over to the top of a container pile, only 20 metres away from the airship, rather than taking the 50 metre drop towards the ground. Li could hear an audible groan from Roman, just as quickly Li could also see a number of shadows moving at the nearby loading crane.
Li looked at Roman, and saw a smile plastered across his face. Li gave Roman a wave and a large gaping smile right back. The disgruntled Roman gave a grimace and pointed his cane towards Li.
The smile never left his face as Li activated his semblance, and somersaulted to the ground behind the containers, out of sight of the airship. Li heard no explosion and could only assume no shot was fired; he was glad for it as he noticed the sound of footsteps. The sounds came from his right and left, Li knew he would be fighting either a couple skilful assassins, or a number of hired goons. As the footsteps seemed more and more out of time, Li knew it was the latter.
Li quickly looked each way; he counted 13 men, all in suits, wearing red ties, bowler hats and red sunglasses. Li smiled again, until he realised something. He had to lose, otherwise Roman would not stop.
Li somersaulted over a number of slashes from red swords and dodged a couple shots ringing out from pistols; he couldn't start attacking until he knew how to lose, and not die.
He thought of something, and he realised he had nothing better.
Quickly Li pulled his sword out, swinging into the legs of the closest individual, the man fell hard. Li activated his semblance, and sidestepped through the group, to the outlying men, trying to find someone that no-one was looking at. There's one; activated his semblance, and flew into the man, rocketing away to a remote spot .As he was trying to hold his semblance for as long as possible, it was already 8 seconds in, and the limit he had ever held it had been 13 seconds. His semblance finished, it had been a record 17 seconds but Li could pat himself on the back later, because he had a lot to do.
Li was not around the corner of the nearest container tower when his semblance kicked out, and he heard yells; Li knew he only had a few seconds to fulfil his plan. He quickly propped the man, clearly still dazed and confused from the quick trip, up against the container and started to quickly unbutton his clothing. Li managed to wriggle out of his own clothing at the same time, and quickly switched clothing, making sure his ears were hidden beneath the bowler hat.
Li adjusted the hood and mask back onto the still dazed head, and readied his weapon, quickly noticing that he needed to switch weapons, he threw the sword to the ground and grabbed the pistol from the honorary 'White Fang' man.
Li positioned the pistol to the man's head, and as the first of his reinforcements turned the corner, shot.
The next moments were hard for Li, he had never killed a human before; he needed to put on a hard face though. He looked at the other men, and gave a hearty smile. "Barely put up a fight, stupid freak." He said coldly, daggers in his heart at every word.
The other men, congratulated him, and cheered. They moved to signal at the airship. Li and the other men turned the corner, waving and lifting thumbs up to the airship. Shortly after, the airship left, which Li was grateful for.
The men returned to the body, and Li argued that it was his prize, so he should do the honours of taking out the trash, the men conceded. Li slowly carried the body to the water's edge, and whispered a small prayer and apology when everyone was out of earshot.
Li got out of any post drinks with the 'lads', as they called themselves, explaining that "The mongrel got a couple kidney shots in, I feel like vomiting already" They all seemed happy with the explanation and let Li go off on his own. Once Li was a few blocks from where the others left him, he suddenly broke into a sprint. He had somewhere he needed to be.
During his sprint he lost the hat, the glasses, and he slowly removed the jacket and shirt from his attire, revealing his bare chest, and removing all the bloodied items of clothing.
Li reached the airfield, and asked frantically if there was a ship to Beacon tonight. "I'm sorry; there is no more services to Beacon tonight." The receptionist responded, trying to ignore the shirtless nature of her guest.
Li pleaded, begged her to help him. "I am sorry; there are no more pilots here tonight. But there is a path up the cliff if you are so desperate." She picked up a map, and quickly jotted a path for Li.
"Thank you so much, I owe you one!" Li let out, beaming. He ran out, looked at the map, and shot off, ignoring the pain in his legs.
The route was long, it took Li an hour to reach the bottom of the cliff, and another 2 hours to reach the top of the cliff, but nothing was going to stop him.
He ran into the school, not caring about the noise he made, he had somewhere to be.
It was well past 2:00.
Li came to a familiar door, and rapped on it loudly.
Li felt water on his face, he wasn't sure why.
When the door opened everything in Li's life felt complete.
Velvet looked wide eyed at Li, before a word could leave her mouth Li fell into her arms, bringing her close. Velvet could feel a wet area forming on her shoulder, she wrapped her arms around Li's neck, stroking his hair and ears, "It's only been a week, silly!"
Li let out a laugh, but the tears never stopped; Li couldn't understand why he couldn't stop, not until Velvet pulled away and looked at his face. She saw the specs of blood and took a step back, fearful, "What have you done?"
Li looked to the ground, "I… did… something… I will not soon forget what I have done tonight, to survive, to come back to you… but… I did the right thing…" The words struggled out of Li.
The feeling was difficult to comprehend, Li went silent, and went into the bathroom, he turned the shower on, and sat in the bathtub. He saw the red washing away from him, tinting the white porcelain a pink. Not a single drop of this was his.
He suddenly felt a hand on his back, and a hand run through his hair, "What... What are you doing?"
A long pause followed, "I am cleaning off the man I am in love with, so that he can come back to me." Li looked down into the bathtub, tears leaving his eyes, mixing with the fading red colour. The water soon turned clear, and Li got out of the bathtub.
He stared at Velvet, and kissed her nose, "I promised you that I will never leave you, that I would protect you with all my heart. I broke that promise this week. I left you alone, with no warning and no explanation. I have been punished by the world for that, and I will never leave you alone again. From this day forward, you are my priority mission, nothing else."
Li leant into Velvet, expecting to meet her lips, "You better start with an explanation! I have been worried sick!" Velvet said with a smile on her face, teasing Li.
She quickly leant in, giving Li what he craved so deeply. Once they pulled away Li responded, "Tomorrow, I promise to tell you all." Velvet nodded. They retired to bed, and slept peacefully. Both felt complete once more. Li dreamt, and was happy he did.