A/N: The events of Consequences occur concurrently with the events of A Yin to Her Yang.
The shuttle to Vale was far more crowded in the middle of the afternoon than it was in the morning. Virtually every faunus in Beacon was crammed onto a single ship, causing Ruby, Weiss, and Yang to be separated. Needless to say, faunus with tails were not having an enjoyable ride to Vale. "Ouch, watch where you're stepping," Yang snarled at the rabbit faunus guilty of the offense. Her tail was proving far more sensitive to pain than she would have imagined.
The woman in question was a rabbit faunus team RWBY was familiar with. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't see your tail. Are you alright?" Velvet asked. Her eyes trailed up the lioness's body meeting the woman's eyes, widening in surprise. Yang's lavender irides were unique amongst the students of Beacon; anyone who saw them could recognize them. "Yang? Is that you? I didn't know you were a faunus."
Yang scratched the back of her head. "Oh, hey Velvet. How are you doing? Go to a lot of rallies?" Weiss would kill her if she blew her cover. What was the team's cover story? Did the team have a cover story? Yang wrapped her tail around her waist, hoping people would think it was a furry belt.
"I like to practice my photography at these events. I would offer you a look, but I'm afraid I can't quite reach my camera. Do you go these events often?" Yang was saved from responding by a fresh surge of people, pushing the two apart. "I'll see you later," the rabbit faunus called to Yang, only to be lost in the crowd. Yang could only breathe a sigh of relief. Velvet was a wonderful person but her shy nature would guarantee she wouldn't gossip. Most people tended to ignore Velvet, much to their loss. Had Nora or Coco discovered her, everyone in Beacon would know her current condition within the hour.
Thankfully for the passengers, the journey to downtown Vale was a short one. The shuttle platform was a basic concrete platform raised fifteen feet off the ground, surrounded by safety railings. A pair of stairs on either side of the platform and a ramp in the middle were the only ways on or off the platform. The shuttle dropped the students off on the right side of the platform. Yang left the shuttle to hunt her sister and teammate down, her eyes scanning the crowds, looking for Weiss's calico hair dye or her sister's telltale cloak. She caught sight of the crimson cloak of Ruby walking towards the exit of the platform on the far side, Weiss nowhere to be found. After a moment's hesitation, she leaped on the railings and ran after her sister. Her new tail ensured she wouldn't lose her balance. Having no crowds to deal with on the railings, she readily caught her sister. "That was a thing," she muttered to herself. "Ruby!"
Ruby turned to find her sister running on the railings. "Yang? Yang! Did you run on the railings all the way here? So cool!" A slight pang of jealousy rippled through Ruby. Her augmentation granted her heightened hearing and vision, but she was already in the top one percent in both senses. Her canine senses were wasted on her. But her sister's change gave her increased mobility and grace. It just wasn't fair.
"Have you seen Ceinwen yet?" Yang stepped off the railings with enough grace to make Weiss jealous. For once, she was likely the most graceful member of the team. She had no complaints about her body, but sometimes agility was better than sheer strength.
"Who? Oh, you mean Weiss. Nope, haven't seen her. She'll find us." Ruby saw no reason to look for Weiss. She was a big girl; she could take care of herself. She caught sight of her partner in the corner of her eye heading towards the two sisters, Velvet by her side. The two were in the middle of a lively discussion though Weiss did not look thrilled by the talk. "Found her," she said, pointing out the duo. Their conversation died out as they approached the sisters though Ruby's new ears allowed her to overhear them talking about Weiss attempt at a disguise.
Velvet reached the sisters first. "Hi, Ruby, Yang. How are you?"
"Velvet!" Ruby bounded up to Velvet. Startled by the normally more restrained leader, Velvet shied away from her. Ruby took advantage of the opportunity to play with Velvet's ears. They were the softest ears yet! It did feel weird the rabbit faunus did not lean into her attention like Weiss and Blake had done earlier in the day. Perhaps rabbit faunus were less sensitive than feline ones. Ruby scratched the ears harder in hopes of granting Velvet the pleasure her team had enjoyed.
"Please stop…" she begged Ruby to leave her ears alone. She was saved by Weiss dragging her partner away. What was wrong with her? She had never acted so impulsive and rude before? Was it related to her wolf ears?
"Sorry Velvet, Ruby isn't feeling quite herself. Did she hurt you?" Weiss asked. She had wrapped her arms around Ruby's elbows and stomach, holding her squirming partner. Not for the first time, she found herself cursing the twist of fate leaving her with this child wearing her partner's body.
"I'm fine," Velvet responded, checking her ears for any harm. "How are all of you faunus? I thought I knew all the second-year faunus." The three faunus froze at the question.
"Faunus? I have no idea what you're talking about," Yang answered, her feline tail rising behind her. Velvet looked pointedly at the tail, causing her to blush. "Yes, well, Weiss can answer that question better." Yang took her sister from Weiss, holding her out of arm's reach from Velvet.
"Yang! I thought we agreed to call me Ceinwen in public," Weiss scolded her partner's sister.
"Weiss, you never disguised your voice," Velvet pointed out. "And we've already talked. So how did you do it?"
Thinking fast, she confided, "Experimental energy reserves. We found a way to implement temporary changes to faunus. I thought we would use it to show support for the faunus rights today." She hadn't lied, the pen was experimental and the change was temporary though Weiss did feel a bit guilty about misleading her. Her father's lessons were normally worthless for dealing with people, but lying was not something a 'proper' lady should do.
"You found dust capable of changing someone? How is that even possible?" Velvet was awestruck. As an adept dust mage, she was confident she had seen every type of dust in the world. If this new dust could change someone into a faunus, what were the limits? Could this dust be used to change Grimm into harmless animals?
"I'm afraid everything about it is confidential information," Weiss bluntly told her. Velvet was mollified by the answer, but doubt still remained written on her face. Weiss couldn't shake the feeling this lie would bite them before all was done, but there was nothing she could do about it. The only other answer was to reveal the existence of the pen. How would the world react to power belonging to fairy tales actually existed? She softly scoffed at the notion. Fairy tales were just stories intended to teach children. No one would believe her even if she shouted the truth from the roof of Beacon.
While Velvet and Weiss were having their discussion, Yang quietly pushing for Ruby to apologize. "Velvet, I'm sorry for playing with your ears without permission," Ruby apologized to her friend. She still didn't understand what the problem was. Scratching the ears was just like giving someone a hug, only you got to feel the softest thing known to man or faunus. She managed to worm a single arm out of Yang's grasp to touch her own ears. Her shoulders slumped a bit at the lack of sensation. No one wanted to scratch her ears.
"It's fine, Ruby. You startled me, that's all." Velvet was very careful to keep her ears from straying too close to the young leader. There was no telling what she would do.
"Can we see your weapon? I never had the chance to it during the breach last year." Quickly bouncing back from her bout of melancholy, Ruby turned her puppy dog eyes towards Velvet. For most people, the sheer adorableness was enough to slip past their guard. For Velvet, the complete attention of a canine faunus was fear itself. She had seen Ruby fight enough to know how fast she can truly be. Cute or not, this was still a predator and should be treated as such. Sanity quickly seized control from her more primitive reactions, squelching her instincts to run. Her friend would never do anything to hurt her intentionally.
"Oh, I don't have a weapon. Would you like to see how I fight?" Ruby managed to accomplish a reasonable impression of a bobble head doll, so vehement was her nodding. "Would you mind activating your scythe?" Ruby slipped out of Yang's grasp, triggering Crescent Rose. Velvet opened her box to remove an ornate camera. She took a picture of the weapon. Her reddish brown aura rose around the camera, then plunged it into the instrument producing a picture of the scythe. "As long as I have an image or a replica, I can make it real. The image is consumed by the effort, so I try to take as many pictures as I can." She glanced at the other two women standing nearby. "Perhaps if you aren't busy, I could take a picture?" Velvet shyly asked. Yang shrugged and triggered her shotgun gauntlets. Velvet snapped a picture, then looked to Weiss.
"I'm afraid I don't have my weapon with me," Weiss replied.
Ears drooping slightly, Velvet said, "Oh, that's okay. Maybe I can take a picture of you later." Velvet stiffened when she realized what she said, blushing furiously. Yang raised an eyebrow at the faunus's reaction then glanced at Weiss.
"That is awesome!" Ruby was spellbound by Velvet's weapon. She could have any weapon in Beacon!
"Anything? Velvet, does that mean you can create dust?" Weiss asked, ignoring Velvet's blush. The comment was perfectly innocent. The fact a certain brute assumed the worst was her problem.
"Yes." Velvet's scroll chirped, interrupting the thought. She was saved from embarrassing herself even more by Yatsu. "Oh, I'm sorry. I have to meet someone before the rally starts. Take care." Velvet hurried off the platform, fleeing with wild abandonment. How could she say that to Weiss Schnee?
"Ruby, what's wrong with you? Do you know how rude it is to touch someone without their permission? Or to ask a huntress what their weapon is?" Weiss yelled at her partner. The others might find her behavior 'adorable' or 'innocent' but there was no excuse for what she did to Velvet.
Ruby shrunk in the face of Weiss's rage. "I'm sorry. It just felt like the right thing to do."
"Let's just find Winter," Weiss huffed and stormed down the nearby stairs. She had to find out what happened to Ruby. This was unacceptable.
"What did I do?" Ruby asked her sister.
"You just seem more impulsive than usual, that's all. Weiss will cool down. Just don't start touching everyone." Yang hugged her sister, then followed after Weiss.
Ruby triggered her semblance to catch up with her partner. The world slowed to a crawl for the young team leader, allowing her to effortlessly slipping through the crowds. All of this was typical for her. What wasn't typical was the steady weakening of her limbs and the creeping pain in her chest. She readily caught her partner near the local hotel, only to collapse once she ceased her semblance.
"Ruby! What's wrong?" Weiss cradled her partner's head, relieved to see her eyes open. "Ruby? What happened to you?"
A/N: I know I promised you a chapter earlier this week, but it turns out being able to see is a useful skill for writing. I've spent the last week nursing an eye injury. Thankfully, everything is alright now, but there is a limit to how long I can look at a computer screen. So I'm posting half of the chapter tonight and the other half soon. I won't make a promise as to when it gets posted, but it shouldn't be too long.
As for all the comments about Penny being fine that I got, thanks! I'm sure she'll be fine, but that episode reminded me why I don't write darker fics. I have this horrific thought of Penny's soul being trapped in her broken body, screaming in silent pain.
Anyways, thanks for reading!