Chapter 12: Faunus
"What do you mean she's missing?" Suzaku asked Ruby.
Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Suzaku and Euphemia stood at the entrance of the school. They all stood clustered together as to keep their conversation quiet. Few students were out and about, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Suzaku had been informed of some grave news. Apparently, while Suzaku and Euphie were out and about, Blake had ran off. She might have been a faunus, but that wasn't determined yet as no actual animal part had been evidently seen on her. Right now, Suzaku was thinking about what they should do.
Should he go looking for her? If she was running, then the chance of them actually finding her were slim to none, but… if she really was apart of the White Fang, and they did find her, Suzaku, being a knight, was obligated to bring her in.
Suzaku sighed as he spoke, all present members of team RWBY listening to what he had to say closely. "We can split up into groups of two," Suzaku said. "Ruby and I will be the first group, while Weiss and Yang will be the second."
All nodded in agreement. Yang waved for Weiss to follow her, while Suzaku and Ruby began to leave in another direction. That is, until Euphemia grabbed Suzaku's hand.
"Suzaku," Euphemia spoke, prompting he and Ruby to turn their heads towards her. "I know what you're thinking, but I ask that you push such thoughts out of your mind. Blake is innocent until proven guilty."
Suzaku and Ruby stood silently in contemplation until Suzaku grabbed Euphemia's soft hand and slowly moved towards his chest. "I know. Thank you for being so concerned," Suzaku quietly spoke.
Euphemia smiled as Ruby watched on. Euphemia removed her hand from his. "Go."
And with that final word, Suzaku and Euphemia left.
Both headed into town and began to search in the best way they could. They began to ask questions. Each one of them went into several shops, asking everyone they could find if they had seen Blake. Sadly, with each shop, their hope began to dwindle. No one had seen her.
Ruby walked out of another shop downtrodden. Suzaku looked at her in pity. No leads, no clues… nothing. He understood her frustration and shared it with her.
"Nothing?" Suzaku asked.
Ruby shook her head. Suzaku cursed himself for not being able to find Blake. If he were Lelouch, he would…
Suzaku's eyes widened as he remembered Lelouch. It had been so long since he had truly thought upon Lelouch. Of course, he had talked to Euphemia about it, but it was a short lived thought.
"Suzaku?" Ruby asked.
Suzaku drew his thoughts away from Lelouch. Besides, Lelouch would want him to find Blake. All the other pieces would fall into place. "I'm fine," Suzaku replied, relieving Ruby's worries. "We need to have hope."
Ruby nodded in agreement, but as Suzaku and Ruby turned to head to the next shop, they were surprised to see the green eyes of a ginger girl staring back at them.
"Hello again, Ruby," the ginger greeted. "Is this another friend of yours?"
Suzaku jumped back in surprise, nearly drawing his gun. He didn't even realize she was there!
"Penny, where did you come from?!" Ruby asked, startled by her surprise entrance.
"Is this a friend of yours?" Suzaku asked.
Ruby turned to Suzaku and replied. "Yeah, her names Penny. Weiss kinda accidentally bumped into her while chasing the monkey Faunus."
Suzaku nodded. "Alright. Now…" Suzaku looked to Penny to see her standing in the same position they had previously seen her in, nothing had changed, from her posture to expression. Frankly, it was weird.
"Ms. Penny… have you happen to see Blake around by any chance?" Suzaku questioned her.
Penny thought upon the question, before she ah'd in remembrance. "You mean the faunus girl."
Suzaku was surprised. "How did you come to the conclusion that Blake was a faunus?"
Penny was happy to respond as she pointed to the top of her head, saying, "The cat ears were a dead giveaway."
Suzaku was about to retort that statement, but his eyes widened. That did explain the bow.
"She does like tuna a lot," Ruby whispered.
A gust of wind blew past the three, sending a chill up their spines. "Boy, it sure is windy today," Penny stated.
Suzaku sighed. "Yes, it is," Suzaku agreed. This girl was really weird. "Even still, have you seen Blake?"
"I'm afraid I haven't," Penny responded, before rushing over to Ruby. "But don't worry my friend, I will help you find your teammate for sure," Penny confidently said.
"Thanks, Penny," Ruby replied nervously, looking to Suzaku for help.
Suzaku chuckled at the display. "The bonds of friendship certainly run deep with you two." Suzaku turned around and waved. "I'll see you two later. Keep searching for Blake," Suzaku said.
"Wait! Don't leave us!" Ruby begged, but Suzaku had already turned the street corner.
Penny and Ruby stood awkwardly on the sidewalk. "I think he wants to cover more ground by splitting up," Penny stated.
Ruby sighed, but agreed with Penny. That does sound like something Suzaku would do.
However, a ways away, Blake and the monkey faunus walked down the street. "So, what's the plan now?" the monkey faunus asked.
"I still don't believe the White Fang is behind these robberies, Sun. They've never needed that much Dust before," Blake responded to Sun.
Sun thought about it, before he removed his hands from the back of his head in a sense of eureka. "What if they did?" Sun inquired. "I mean, the only way to prove that they didn't do it is to go to the place that they would go to most likely do it and not find them there," Sun stated.
Blake nodded her head in agreement. "The only thing is, I have no idea where that would be," Blake responded.
Sun gave a grin as he spoke. "Well, while I was on the ship, I heard some guys unloading a huge shipment of Dust coming in from Atlas," Sun revealed.
"How huge?" Blake asked.
"HUGE!" Sun emphasized with an exaggerated expanding of his hands. "We're talking about a Schnee Dust Company freighter docking at an Indiana Trading Company port."
Blake agreed once again. That was huge. "We should get going then. Lead the way," Blake said.
"Sure, why not," Sun stated as they began to head towards the docks.
In another part of town, Yang and Weiss left yet another shop. "Thanks anyways," Yang said as she closed the door of the shop. They had little luck finding Blake as well.
"This is hopeless," Yang said. "You really don't care if we find her, don't you?"
Weiss had remained quiet throughout the entire search process, only speaking when necessary. Yang was concerned that Weiss truly didn't want to find Blake.
"Don't be stupid," Weiss retorted. "Of course I do. I'm just afraid of what she'll say when we find her. The innocent never run Yang."
Weiss walked away from the shop, her hands on her hips, before she turned her blue eyes back to Yang. The glance was quick before Weiss turned back to her original path. Weiss continued to search with Blake.
Meanwhile, Suzaku jumped across one roof after another. He figured a higher viewpoint would help with the search, but no such luck. Simply looking wasn't working. He needed to think more long term. What would his target do?
Suzaku needed to know what his target was trying to accomplish. Well, she was trying to run away, but why? The most likely answer is that she is a White Fang member. So, if she is a member of the White Fang, he needed not to know her objective, but the objective of the White Fang. For if she is with the White Fang, then she will go where they go.
Sadly, an objective is hard to think of. Obviously, there main objective is equality by force, so in order to obtain that force they needed power.
"Maybe they need the Dust," Suzaku thought aloud as he jumped across another building.
Suzaku was building a model in his head. A scenario in which he could follow and correct as he discovered more information.
"Ok," Suzaku stated, "if Blake is apart of the White Fang, and the White Fang is after Dust, where would I go to obtain a vast quantity of Dust?"
Suzaku was trumped there. He didn't know the topography or geography of his surroundings. He was unfamiliar with this world in general. He needed a map.
Suzaku leapt down from the building he was on and onto the empty streets below. The shadows of the streets began to grow darker. Night approached. He needed to find Blake before then.
Suzaku searched around for a Dust shop. Perhaps they would have some information on what he was looking for. Suzaku kept running until he found a Dust shop.
"From Dust Till Dawn… ok," Suzaku shrugged. He opened the shop door and walked inside to find a rather old fellow sweeping the floor of dust.
"Hello, can I help you?" the old man asked.
Suzaku stepped closer to the man before he spoke. "Yes, do you know where someone might go to find a large supply of Dust?"
"Yes, give me a moment," the old man replied, walking around the counter. The old man reached down below the counter, before he suddenly rose with a rifle in his hands. "Put em' up."
Suzaku was shocked that this old man would pull a gun on him. "What's the meaning of this," Suzaku asked.
The old man gave a gruff reply. "Don't play dumb. You must be working with those thieves who robbed my Dust shop a couple months ago. Well, don't worry, I don't need that red girl to help me anymore. I can deal with you myself."
"Listen, I don't know… wait, are you talking about Ruby?" Suzaku asked, confusing the old man. "Silver eyes, wears a lot of black with a red hood."
The old man lowered his weapon. "You know her?"
"Yes, I do," Suzaku replied. "We're friends. In fact, she was with me just a few hours ago working with me to find our friend, Blake."
The old man put his weapon back under his counter, before he began to apologize. "I'm sorry about that. You see, my shop got robbed of some of its Dust a couple of months ago. They didn't want any of my money, but they did want the Dust. The only reason I didn't get everything stolen was because of that red girl."
"I understand," Suzaku replied. "I would be wary about anyone asking about where a large supply of Dust is. I suppose the fact that I have my weapons on me is suspicious enough."
The old man nodded in reply. "I assumed you were another one of those Torchwick goons," the old man said.
"Torchwick robbed this place?" Suzaku asked.
His model was wrong. The White Fang wasn't after Dust, Torchwick was.
Torchwick was a criminal he had seen on the news. Apparently he had been robbing stores for a while. Sadly, the police had yet to catch him.
Even if it wasn't the White Fang, perhaps it would be good for him to continue to search for the largest Dust supply. At the very least, he could make sure that Torchwick didn't steal anything.
"Yup, walked right in here with his goons," the old man answered.
"Thanks for telling me this, but could you answer my initial question?" Suzaku said, refocusing on the reason he was here.
"Sure, but why? You suspecting your friend to be their?" the old man asked.
Suzaku nodded. He was coming. To whom was the real question.
At the docks, Blake and Sun laid quietly on roof of a storage facility at the docks, silently waiting for their hypothesis to be prove either true or false. Sun laid on his back, his hands cradling his head while Blake watched on. The sun was about to set and the scene remained quiet.
"This is boring," Sun groaned. Blake sighed in annoyance. It was like he didn't even take it seriously.
"Why don't you go somewhere else then," Blake replied as she continued to gaze upon the docks.
"Fine," Sun said. "I'll come back in a bit."
Sun jumped jumped off the edge of the building to do lord knows what. Blake didn't really care. She simply wanted to find the answer she had been seeking.
The sun finally set and night steadily approached as the docks lost their luster. Shadow encroached upon the scene and shrouded all in an unsettling tension. The wait was nearing a close, Blake felt it in her gut, but that was nerve racking - the waiting.
"Blake," a voice called out. Blake turned around in surprise, recognizing the voice.
Standing on the roof with her was Suzaku who looked at her with a curious stare. He was analyzing her, trying to understand her reasons for being here.
Blake scowled. "How did you find me?" Blake asked.
"A bit of deduction and intuition," Suzaku replied cooly. He closed the distance between them and kneeled to her right. "Why did you run? Are you a member of the White Fang?"
Blake choked on her words for a moment before she replied. "I was when I was a child, but I am no longer associated with the White Fang," she stated.
Suzaku nodded. "Then what is your purpose here? To find the man who has been stealing the Dust?"
Blake looked back onto the shadowy docks. "To prove that the White Fang aren't the ones responsible."
"You still hold some empathy towards them," Suzaku stated. He then proceeded to sit down upon the roof of the warehouse and gaze upon the docks as well.
"I do," Blake replied. "I don't think they're responsible."
"How do you know?" Suzaku inquired.
"I-" Blake was interrupted as Sun landed onto the roof with a couple of apples in his hands. "Hey, I stole you some-" Sun stopped to realize that their was a strange man sitting beside Blake glaring at him. "Uhm… who are you?"
That was the last Sun spoke as Suzaku charged him and pinned him to the ground. "Suzaku!" Blake called out.
Suzaku tightened his grip on the monkey faunus as he continued to glare at him. "Would you care to repeat that again?" Suzaku harshly asked. He most certainly was not happy about the thief.
"Blake, a little help over here," Sun asked, waving his tail, signalling his location to the cat faunus.
Blake rushed over to Suzaku and kneeled before him. "Suzaku, let him go. He's helping me?"
Suzaku looked back to her with confusion. "You got the help of a thief? What were you thinking?"
"He was the only one I could trust," Blake retorted.
Suzaku sneered. "You didn't trust your team? Your friends? How naive are you, Blake?"
"Hey, I'm still down here," Sun commented.
"Quiet," Suzaku stated.
However, before the conversation could continue, a bright light fell upon the dock below. A ship could be heard descending to the ground, slowly, cautious as to not create too much of a ruckus. As it landed, a door on the side of the craft opened and a platform extended to the ground, allowing the people inside to disembark.
People isn't exact. They were faunus - and members of the White Fang, clearly told by the uniforms with the red wolf struck by three talons on the backs of their white robes.
Blake knew she was wrong. She had thought that the White Fang weren't responsible… actually, perhaps she did, but just couldn't accept it.
"Blake, Sun," Suzaku whispered, "we need to bring these men in, before they can finish what they are here to-" Suzaku was interrupted by the rude and sinister voice of a certain red-headed thief.
"Hey! What's the hold up!" Roman Torchwick asked. "We're not the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment, so why don't you animals try to pick up the pace?"\
Roman Torchwick was a thief that had been on the loose for a while now. The authorities hadn't been able to catch him, yet here, on the roof of the storage building, were three huntsmen in training, ready to do what the authorities have failed to accomplish.
Blake spoke first. "This isn't right. The White Fang would never work with a human, especially not one like that."
"Let's go then," Suzaku said, lifting himself off of Sun and following Blake down to where the thieves were working.
Blake rushed over behind a crate, while Suzaku made his way to the ship. He needed to disable Torchwick's escape route.
As Suzaku was finding a way to disable the ship, Blake glared at Roman as he scolded one of the faunus that were helping him with his heist.
"No you idiot," Roman shouted. "You think it's a leash?"
That was as much as he said before Blake snuck up behind him and put her blade to his throat.
"Nobody move!" Blake demanded as she removed her bow with her free hand, revealing her cat ears to all the other faunus who were there. "Brothers of the White Fang, why are you aiding this scum?"
None of the faunus stepped up, though they all lowered their weapons at the sight of her ears. Roman Torchwick smirked as he spoke. "Didn't you get the memo, kid?"
"What are you talking about?" Blake asked him, glaring at him with the ferocity that made evident her disdain for the man.
"You see, the White Fang and I are going on a joint business venture together," Roman replied calmly.
Blake moved the blade closer to her hostages neck, threatening him. "Tell me what it is or I'll put an end to your little operation," Blake threatened.
Suddenly, two more ships appeared above them, hovering just above the clearing of all the crates. "I wouldn't exactly call it a little operation," Roman said.
Both Blake, Suzaku, and Sun were surprised by the appearance of the ships. This clearly showed the amount of resources their opponent had. Then again, this was the White Fang.
While Blake was distracted, Roman's smirk turned into a small grin as he pointed the end of his cane at Blake's feet, before pulling the trigger and firing his secret weapon, causing a large explosion to occur.
Ruby and Penny looked behind them as they heard the boom and saw the smoke billowing from the docks.
Subtlety was out of the question. Suzaku pulled out his revolver and shot the pilot in the cockpit of the landed craft, before unsheathing his sword and cleaving the thruster attached the the right wing clean off, making the ship unusable.
Meanwhile, Blake was dodging the fire coming from Roman Torchwick, rolling out of the way and sometimes creating shadows of herself, using her semblance to avoid attack. She ran behind the cover of a crate as Torchwick pursued.
"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty," Roman taunted. A banana peel dropped onto Roman's bowler hat, prompting him to look up, only to receive a kick to the face by a certain monkey tailed faunus.
Sun performed a few flips, before turning back to Roman Torchwick with a glare. "Leave her alone."
The ships above opened their doors, allowing the soldiers onboard to drop down to the ground and surround Sun. Roman stepped up with a wave of his cane and spoke. "You are not the brightest banana in the bunch, now are ya kid?"
The White Fang members charged at Sun, in which Sun retaliated, punching a few before pulling out his compactable staff and using that to continue.
As Roman watched, Suzaku decided to try and bring the criminal in by himself. Suzaku fired three shots - one which was dodged, and the other two which were blocked. Suzaku began swinging at Roman, coming in from all different angles at a quick pace, sometimes jabbing to see if he could get a strike off. Roman was having a bit of trouble defending himself from the strikes coming from Suzaku, but managed. Roman tried to kick Suzaku's legs out from under him, but Suzaku flipped over him, firing three more shots which hit, but were deflected by Roman's aura.
Blake appeared from nowhere, prompting Suzaku to flip back. Blake most certainly wanted to deal with Roman herself, but more… cooperation would be required. Luckily, Blake had two other huntsmen in training with her, who quickly joined the battle.
Blake used her semblance to try and get in several different slashes and stabs, but failed to, while Sun used his staff which divided and turned into a pair of shotgun nunchucks to try and overwhelm Roman, until Suzaku and Blake came in with a surprise attack and managed to break his defense.
Roman knew he couldn't beat them together, and saw a solution. A crate dangled above the three students, something which Roman took full advantage of. Roman fired another round at the crates wires, destroying them and causing the crate to begin to fall towards the huntsmen in training.
Suzaku saw the crate and pushed Blake back while he rolled forward with Sun. Now, however, both laid in front of Roman as he aimed his weapon at them. Both wouldn't be able to reach their weapons in time to deflect that type of shot.
Luck was on their side as a young voice shouted, "Hey!"
Ruby Rose walked up from the warehouses roof and readied her massive scythe, crescent rose.
Roman Torchwick turned his attention to the young girl. "Oh hello, Red. Isn't it past your bedtime?" Roman taunted.
Suzaku and Sun watched as she glared at Roman, before her attention focused to something behind her. Suzaku growled. What was Ruby thinking turning her back on the enemy?!
Roman did what Suzaku expected. Roman aimed his weapon away from Sun and Suzaku and towards Ruby before firing. The shot hit and sent Ruby flying back. Suzaku winced at that, but heard a faint shouting of his friends name. There was someone else on the roof with Ruby.
In the meantime, Roman gave a sinister laugh, but to Suzaku, it made him wince even more. It was so classic! Seriously, that laugh was just plain ridiculous! It sounded like something from a kids cartoon.
Rants aside, Penny, the friend Ruby was with stepped up to the task of fighting Roman, but before she departed from the warehouse roof, Ruby called out to her. "Penny, wait… STOP!"
"Don't worry, Ruby," Penny said, determination in her eyes, "I'm combat ready!"
Penny's back opened as a single sword emerged, before elongating and dividing into ten. Penny then jumped off the roof. Several blades found their way into several White Fang members, before she landed and drew the weapons back to herself.
Several faunus charged her, but she directed her blades, spinning them and hitting any target that came close to her. A large group of faunus were clumped together, getting ready to overwhelm the girl with sheer numbers, but she simply sent her blades flying towards the group like a frisbee and sent them all flying.
Suzaku and Sun got up and began to back away from the scene. Penny seemed like she had everything under control.
Three ships began to fly towards them, each armed with a machine gun which they began firing at the ginger girl.
Penny used her swords as a shield, before drawing two more swords from herself and sending them to the wall of the warehouse. Suddenly, she was sent flying back to the warehouse, her swords following her as she went. She landed on her feet and started having her swords circling a green glow that began shining. Suzaku had an idea on what she was about to do.
Penny brought her palms back, before quickly pushing them forward, causing several lasers to fire from the green center and cut the ships in half.
All looked on with amazement. How did she do that?
One of the ships began taking off with one of the crates, but Penny did not allow that. She directed several swords into the side of the ship, before she began backing up and pulling the ship to the ground. Suzaku spotted the shimmer of the wires that connected from her back to the swords.
With a mighty tug, Penny brought the ship crashing down to the ground. The ship crashed into all the crates. So much for wanting to keep the cargo safe, but hey, at least they got Roman Torchwick.
Suzaku looked around to see Roman fleeing into another ship. "Don't you dare run!" Suzaku shouted as he began to close the distance between him and Roman Torchwick. The criminal saw Suzaku coming at him, so he raised his cane and fired another shot at Suzaku's feet. Suzaku flipped over the explosion, but the ship was already taking off.
Roman spoke with annoyance. "These kids just keep getting weirder and weirder." Then the doors of the ship closed as it flew away.
Suzaku tried to shoot it down, but the target was too far away. Suzaku lowered his weapon and clenched his fist. "I can't believe I lost the target!"
(=+=)
Sun, Suzaku, Ruby, and Blake sat quietly on a small crate as the police investigated the crime scene. The dock was a mess as crates were littered everywhere from the aftermath of the battle. Signs of explosives and bullets were clearly evident on the ground.
Weiss and Yang walked towards the group of four with shock. What happened?
Ruby saw the two and stood up, before walking over to Weiss and speaking quickly. "Look, Weiss, it's not what you think. She explained the whole thing. You see, she doesn't actually wear a bow, she has kitty ears and they're actually kinda cute."
Weiss ignored Ruby and went straight to Blake. Blake stood calm as Weiss stopped in front of her, waiting for an answer.
"Weiss, I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was li-"
"Stop," Weiss interrupted Blake. "Do you have any idea how long we've been searching for you?"
Blake looked confused by the question, which Weiss answered. "Twelve hours. That means I've had twelve hours to think about this, and, in that twelve hours, I've decided I don't care."
Blake was surprised by Weiss's statement. "You don't care?"
Weiss shrugged. "You said you're not one of them anymore, right?"
"No, I- I haven't been since I was-"
"A-bup-bup-bup!" Weiss interrupted again, raising her hand telling Blake to stop. "I don't want to hear it. All I want to know is that the next time something this big comes up, you'll come to your friends, and not some…" Weiss looked at Sun, before sighing, "someone else."
Everyone was happy everything turned out alright. Suzaku had a small smile on his face. Yet another test, strengthening the bonds of friendship. Truly, this was an interesting year. Suzaku didn't pay attention much after that. His thoughts were on other matters.
"Alpha," Suzaku thought, "Is this the enemy you were referring to? Or is it something bigger?" Suzaku looked to the sky. The stars shined brightly tonight. "Oh, what are you planning?"
(=+=)
"The reclamation was a success. We have slaughtered them like the filthy animals they are," a strong voice spoke. The man was tall - eight foot six inches to be exact. His hair was a spiky blonde that was encrusted with diamonds, emeralds, and other precious gems and metals, holding the hair in place and making it shine.
His armor was a fine set indeed. Every inch was detailed and engraved. To even explain a single part would take a considerable amount of time. It was silver and black and ornately designed with the rose and dragon as design pieces.
"Very good. Continue on as planned. I have to welcome another guest," a familiar voice spoke. Though it was different, it was recognized as the voice of Alpha.
He was taller than what we have previously seen him as. Eight feet nine inches. He stood proudly and with a blank expression. His armor was far more ornate and detailed than his counterparts, made of gold and nothing more. However, all that you need to know is that his right gauntlet held five white pearls and a green diamond, signifying his rank as the High Artifex.
"My Lord, do you not wish to discuss further plans?" the man asked Alpha. Alpha gave a concise nod to which the man sighed. "Omnia cedere potest."
Just as the man was there he was gone. Alpha closed his eyes as heavy footsteps emerged from the shadows of the stars. Space surrounded him and a lone Alpha waited for the arrival of his guest.
"Lord Alpha Sanctus Triva Ulrich Cristo," a booming and deep voice spoke. It pierced everything it touched and went down to the marrow of the bone, "why do you waste your time with that world?"
"Your Majesty," Alpha acknowledged with a nod as the hulking figure approached, towering over even him, "I find that one entertaining, so I shall continue to do what I want with it."
"You toy with the lives of others for your own amusement," His Majesty said bluntly. "You have more important matters to frivolously use your time on. The war comes to mind."
"I shall do what I please with my time. For I must find enjoyment. Nay think of what I would become without toying with the mortals," Alpha said with a small smirk.
"This world," His Majesty started, waving to the massive world of Remnant that now floated below, "is not important. Do what you will with your time, but do be sure it does not interfere with your job."
Alpha bowed to his Majesty. "Of course."
His Majesty turned his back to Alpha and began to walk away. "And tell this author to be gone. He is a bother that I do not wish to toil with."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Alpha said, as His Majesty too left him. "Author. I think you have heard enough. Be gone."
And I shall leave.
Author's Notes: Wow, I'm really enjoying this new chapter. I hope you do too. Anyways, make sure to read my upcoming story FullMetal Alchemist: Reborn. I have a feeling you'll love it.
Thank you for reading my book. If you like the book, please do follow and favorite it. If you like me, please do follow and favorite me. Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day.