XLIX - Den Tree

~~~(XLIX)~~~

Like the White Fang officers had said, he was kept in his beach side shack and prohibited from leaving. He heard a few of the people he'd met try to ask for him, but there was no way he was going to put them at risk. Those bastards threatened to remove anyone who was a threat to their new grand order.

So he played the part of an obedient human; he rested and waited, eating food provided to him by White Fang agents. It was definitely not as good as the food cooked for him the previous day, he missed the unique flavors and ingredients the people of the village had made for him. He had seen the agents every once in a while, inspecting whether or not he'd tried anything, he'd give waves to them, causing them to frown. Oxon had a feeling some of the fanatics just wanted to get rid of him, probably not fans of using a human with dubious loyalty.

And they were correct to think so, he wasn't on their side, never again. He had been brainstorming ways to foil their plan. He couldn't do anything to stop the attack on Haven on his own, but he could hopefully warn the leader of the island. With the whole island aware, maybe the Fang could be disbanded.

The issue he had was they wanted him to assassinate the chieftain and his wife. They had a cover for him that would get him inside, he would be posing as a huntsman from Vale here to talk about Adam and his attack. They apparently knew and were quite upset, which was the reason they "had to go" as the brothers say.

"There has to be some way I can stop them…" There was one big issue he faced, he didn't have any backup available. "If I try to warn anyone, whoever I tell will be in danger. I have to do this on my own… Great… Little ol me versus an entire damn island."

He could do nothing but prepare himself as the sun began to set. He donned his full combat regalia, if he had to face what was likely a large force of radical faunus, then he'd need all the protection he could get. Fresh oil for his weapons and shield would make sure no errors occurred when in a fight.

In a pile on the table were his belt sashes. He couldn't find it in him to wear them, not now. Perhaps if he succeeded here tonight, maybe then. Revolvers on each hip, Bulls Breath on his back, he gazed at his newest weapon. Despite the betrayal the weapon signified, it was still in good condition. There wasn't any faults in the entire thing; no broken pins, no false screws, no cracks or breaks in the machined metal. He and this weapon would work together to turn over a new leaf.

He wouldn't be anyone's pawn any more.

~~~(XLIX)~~~

In the Belladonna household, the three family members and Sun watched as a group of fishermen and women left back to their village. The news was surprising and gave them more questions than answers.

"You think they were telling the truth?"

Her father grunted at the skepticism. "I've known Coriacea for years now, he's not one to lie. If he says there is a human huntsman on this island, then I believe him."

"A human with a shield, an ax, and multiple firearms… It's just that we used to know someone who fits that description." Except that he couldn't possibly be here. One, he had no reason to be here; and two, last she saw him, he was under arrest in Vale. It's not like Oxon is the only person on Remnant to use those weapon types. "Though they said he only had loose pants and a shirt, hardly the heavy armor he bragged about before."

"It's definitely not him." Sun seemed much more confident than her. In her mind, she agreed with his words, but she was afraid of being wrong. "Besides, even if it is that disgraceful lumberjack, I've kicked his ass repeatedly already. So he's not a threat."

He stroked his beard at that, something he always did when deep in thought. "It would make things easier for us if we could have humans among us. The people of Wai'ānapanapa vouch for his character, which will help us convince the people that not all humans are bad."

Her mom laid a hand on her elbow, giving her a kind smile. It helped reassure her that they would be able to make it. She then turned to her father, smiling at his faith in this human. "Yes dear, it will help us bring more of the fence sitters onto our side as well. Once people see a human and faunus fighting side by side, they will realize that there is still hope."

"We should try and meet him tonight, I know we wanted to hit the nocturnal district, but I'm not sure how well it would have gone. With this new lead, we can hopefully get some of the previous "no" folks and turn em into "yes'" instead. What do you think Blake?"

She looked at Sun's cheery expression and smiled a bit herself. She needed to stop leaping at every shadow eventually, and he was right, their progress had been frustratingly slow lately. This could be a chance to shake up the apprehension that had enveloped the island.

~~~(XLIX)~~~

Oxon waited in the trees as he waited for the signal to go in. The original plan had been an ambush and gunfight inside the large home. With him present, the plan was to use his race and precious affiliation as a huntsman student to get a private audience with the leader and his wife. They had created a diversion on the far side of the city in order to lead the local police away. There was also apparently an issue of the chief's kid, Oxon was told that she had been causing issues, yet was cleared to live. Once alone with the elders, his orders were to execute them.

Like that's going to happen. The first chance I get with them, I'm going to spill it all. Those brothers along with the rest of them won't use me as their little instigator. To do so, he was going to protect the two in case the terrorists tried again, hardly any of them had aura. He'd just take pot shots and take them out at range, easy.

Eventually he got the signal that the nuisance child was out of the home. He walked around to the front stairs, and he had to admit, it looked impressive. The building was definitely the largest one in the surrounding area, maybe even on the whole island. There was a single flower sigil on the pillar by the entrance which reminded him of his former friends at Beacon, most of team RWBY along with Ren used flowers as their own sigils. These ones reminded him a bit of Blake, their striking purple and black colors. He recognized the shape of the plant as the Deadly Nightshade flower, Atropa belladonna.

Belladonna… Could it? No, that would be absurd. There's probably more than one family with the name, or she just stole it after leaving the Fang. Maybe she made a fake name to hide her identity, she hid her ears after all.

As he walked up, he saw a pair of faunus in fancy armor, finally a people who understood the need for more than reinforced cloth. Good to see people of culture and intelligence here. Not even the White Fang wore such sturdy looking gear. And they fought Atlas!

"Halt! Who are you!?" The guards aimed their spears at him in clear distrust, understandable, he was dressed for war after all. Oxon raised his arms away from his weapons to show his intent. The two were armed with spears and simple firearms, though they were at least half a foot shorter than he was. They probably didn't like his sudden appearance much.

"My name is Oxon Adhmad, I'm here to seek an audience with sir Ghira and lady Kali. I am here from Vale with news about Adam Taurus. I heard that the chief is trying to stop the man." The truth went in hand with what he'd been told to say. He would not stick to the White Script for long though, only enough to get him in the door and out of their sight. They couldn't stop him if they couldn't hear him.

The two looked at each other before one moved to enter the home, probably to report to the leader of his arrival. Hopefully he would get an audience, the other plan was loud and guns blazing. It wasn't a plan he very much liked. He waited as the other looked over him and his gear in obvious curiosity.

"I'm a fan of guns, as you can see." He gave a little spin, showing off his revolvers, his lever action ax, and his newest addition. He'd fashioned a rudimentary holster to keep it on his lower back; he didn't show his back long enough for the man to see the engravings on them. He realized halfway through that they might raise flags while reading them. "Armor too, so it's nice to finally meet folks that don't have an obsession with speed or dodging. Cotton and wool won't stop a blade half as good as steel."

The man wanted to say something, but was stopped when the female guard returned. "Ghira will meet with you. Please, come inside." He followed the short guard into the home, where he saw a familiar looking woman.

He must be in front of lady Kali. For a moment he'd thought she was Blake, they were strikingly similar, but she had a much different aura about her. She was cheerful and kind if the smile she gave him meant anything. Also, it was probably racist to think ever faunus with black cat ears were related.

"Welcome, my husband is getting a room ready to speak with you." She led him further into the spacious home as he took the decor in. It was sort of similar to what he saw in Mistral, but yet not. He saw more flowers, a few held some nightshade flowers, further feeding his likely wrong line of thought.

"Thank you for meeting with me ma'am, I have news that will hopefully do a lot of good. I apologize for popping in out of the blue and late at night as well, I hope I didn't disturb you." She gave a light giggle at his words, further proving that Kali and Blake were not related. There's no way someone as jaded and paranoid like Blake was raised by this woman.

"Oh it's no issue, my daughter and her friend were actually on their way to meet with you themselves. it is rather amusing that you came here instead, you must have barely missed each other. We were told by some people of Wai'ānapanapa village about you, good things, I assure you."

He could only hope that the fanatics did not retaliate against the kind people. Eventually he was led into a living room of sorts, where he saw possibly the largest man he'd ever seen. The man had a thick black beard and impressive coat which was held together by a large metal stomach guard.

"Dear, this is Ox, the one we were told about." Oxon took a step forward and gave a slight bow to the man.

"I'm honored to meet you, sir Ghira. You have quite the home."

The man smiled at the act and walked confidently up to Oxon, making the late teen to crane his neck up. It wasn't something he was used to doing due to being six foot three, the man was a full head higher than he was. His great size seemed to not match the gentle handshake offered to him. No crushing fingers or powerful shaking, just a polite grasp.

"Thank you. It is a pleasure to meet you, I hear you came here all the way from Vale?"

The last person of authority he'd met was Ozpin all those months ago, he didn't count Adam, so this was a bit surreal. "It is not where I was born, but it's where I was before coming here, my home was founded in order to escape the iron chains of the kingdom of Mantle." The two seemed curious about that, but instead of asking, they gestured for him to take a seat at the central table. It didn't have chairs and was quite low to the ground. Awkwardly, he copied the way the other two sat down.

"Were you a student at Beacon? You dress as a huntsman does, but you don't look old enough to have graduated yet." He nodded to the large man to confirm. "That's wonderful, you see, our daughter also attended the school. Perhaps when she and her acquaintance return, you could have a reunion. That is if you knew each other there."

"Yes, our dear kitten was even in the Vytal festival!"

Their daughter went to Beacon? Looking at the two, the wheels in his head began to turn. The similarities were just too glaring to try and write off now. The eyes, the hair, the ears on Kali, the abundance of nightshade flowers and imagery…

"You're… You're Blake's parents!"

The mention of her name got the two to perk up. The man smiled and the woman cheered lightly. This… this was not something he had anticipated. Blake was the daughter of the leaders of Menagerie, she was as close to royalty as it got these days. Kali leaned over the table to look closely at him, making him flinch slightly at her close face.

"Oh, it's so good to meet another of her friends, I bet you have plenty of fun stories about our little cat? The one she brought with her has been fun, but he's not an elegant speaker." The large man grunted in agreement with his wife. Oxon just wondered who else was here? Jaune? Ren? Some old friend from the White Fang?

"Kali, I'm sure you can ask him later." A gentle hand pulled her back to her seat, giving Oxon room to breathe. "He said he has important information."

"I do, and the fact Blake is your daughter both complicates and uncomplicates things." The two shared a confused look as he continued. "It's true I was at Beacon and that I know Blake, but my… relationship… with her isn't exactly what you might expect."

"Are you dating my daughter?" The stern man spoke suddenly and gave him a questioning glare, though the bemused expression on his wife reduced the panic slightly.

"No! No, I'm not anywhere close to dating her." Why did they assume that?! "I, uh, well… it's not like there's anything wrong with her, she is a nice girl, I don't judge her based on race. I didn't mean to ramble, it's just that we were more like acquaintances than friends. There's also the fact that I didn't exactly leave Beacon in the best of ways. I was arrested in fact."

Fighting the urge to slam his head into the table in embarrassment, he continued before they could speak, he had to say everything at once before any guards were called. "I was forced to work with a woman named Cinder Fall and attack Beacon with aid from the White Fang. I helped her and Adam attack and cripple the school and it's CCT. I didn't have any choice in what I was doing, but I decided to betray them the night Beacon fell. I tried my best to make up for what I did, I still am. Taurus freed me afterwards and asked me to deliver a letter for him in return for information on Cinder, who I plan to end."

"Well…" The woman, Blake's mom he had to remember, seemed to still be processing the information he'd given them. "I can't say I was expecting that."

The man continued to gaze at him with a cautious look. He hoped the man would not call the guards on him, that would complicate things.

"I've done bad, I know, but tonight I'm trying to start atoning." He placed his shotgun hatchet on the table in front of the two to show he meant well, though the action caused them to tense slightly. "I was hoping to leave this place when my job was completed, but the people in charge of the White Fang here have not let me. Also, there's more you need to know about the White Fang, the ones keeping me in Menagerie are not your allies, they sent me to kill you. Corsac, Fennec, and Adam want to incite a race war. They want to spread the word of a human killing you both in order to unite the faunus, they intended to use me to do so."

"But I can assume that you have no intention of doing so. You are here to warn us, aren't you?" Kali smiled at him as she lost the tension in her shoulders. She placed a hand on his weapon and slid it back to him, where he put it back in its holster. "Our daughter and her friend spoke about someone they knew, a certain heavily armored boy with weapons that match what you have. The sparse times they mentioned you, they only had mistrust and anger."

He let out a depressed sigh at the words, he didn't expect anything less. It still stung nonetheless. "That's… more than understandable…" He was surprised when she rested a hand on his, looking kindly into his eyes.

"You've been through a lot, haven't you?" He felt a few tears form, but he shook his head and blinked them away.

"It's- it's been hard, but I don't matter." Kali frowned a bit, seemingly unhappy by his words, but he kept going. "What matters is that Adam is going to try and raze Haven Academy, there has to be some way to stop him. I don't know how Menagerie works, but I'll help you however I can."

After listening to everything he'd said, Ghira spoke up. "I have a few ideas, I must meet with our guards. I didn't trust the Fang, but now we know they are after us. We'll need to increase security here." The man got to his feet and walked to the door.

"If the things you say are true, and you truly wish to make amends for your previous actions, then I will trust you. After all, you could have killed us at any moment, but you haven't. I'll try and talk to Blake when she gets back, to keep her from attacking first, asking questions second." He left with a chuckle, leaving him alone with Blake's mom.

"Um, thank you lady Kali for being understanding. You and your husband are truly good people."

The woman laughed lightly at him, confusing him for a moment. "Oh child, there's no need to be so formal. You can just call me Kali or Mrs. Belladonna if you prefer. A friend of my daughter doesn't have to be so formal."

He raised his eyebrows at that, did she mean what she said? "Uh, Mrs. Belladonna, I don't think I'm friends with Blake. After everything that I have done, I'm pretty sure she hates m-" He was cut off when she put a finger on his lips.

"Yes, you've told us that you made mistakes. I would be a hypocrite if I held your past against you while overlooking the wrongs my own daughter has done. Besides, it's obvious that you regret them and want to make things right." She removed her hand and laid it on his other unoccupied one. He couldn't look away from the look she gave him either, it reminded him too much of his own mother. "You just need to find it in you to forgive yourself, once you do, I'm sure things will get better."

He opened his mouth to say something, but a sudden burst of gunfire from outside the room made him freeze. He was confused for only a moment before he realized what was happening and quickly got to his feet. The White Fang must have gotten Impatient or realized they'd been betrayed. It was made all too obvious when a group of militants came crashing through the window.

"Down with the Belladonnas!"

"For the White Fang!"

There were four of them, all with various weapons, most had rifles but one had a hatchet. Thinking quickly, he deployed Virginiana and shielded the smaller woman from a hail of gunfire. A few shots pinged off his aura, but his gear protected him for the most part.

"Lady Kali! Get behind that table and flip it up! I'll deal with these unwanted guests!" He didn't see her go, but he heard her footsteps and the sound of wood hitting wood. The table was thick, hopefully it would be enough to protect her while he dealt with the enemy.

"Human! Why didn't you deal with them!? We had a deal!" He didn't bother replying verbally, but a quick draw and fire of Patris gave a clear enough answer. The sight of the man hitting the floor, clutching his bleeding thigh further emphasized it.

"I've altered our arrangement, and if you peons think you can break my aura, then go ahead and try." He blew the smoke out of his barrel, spun the firearm, and holstered it. Next, he drew his new weapon, finally with a name after it had slain its first Grimm the other day. "I wanna see how New Leaf handles against people."

The three glanced at each other before two of the gunmen unloaded on him as they moved to encircle him. It was a smarter tactic than the ones used at Beacon. Virginiana blocked one, but he took the brunt of the other. While that was happening, the hatchet wielding faunus charged him, a battle cry in her throat.

"Die, human!"

Oxon blocked a few swings easily enough, the girl wasn't particularly quick or strong enough to make him struggle, but he was waiting for when the two had to reload. And once they did, he fired two electric dust buckshot at the man on his right.

He fell with a painful looking spasm. Now he was in a much better position. The girl closed in on him again, trying and failing to land a solid blow. In response, Oxon flipped New Leaf around and let the handle/ stock fall, ejecting the spent and scorching shells. The girl was hit in the lips and throat by the burning hot metal firing caps, causing her to yell in shock and pain.

Capitalizing on that, he hit her in the temple with the flat of his ax and grabbed her by the face. He threw her unconscious form at the final assailant but missed, slamming her into the wall instead. He must have hit the light switch because the room suddenly became much darker. It wasn't pitch black, but he was definitely at a disadvantage now due to his light glow from hitting the faunus earlier. His semblance ruined his chance of hiding.

Sliding in a new pair of shells, he scanned the area for movement. The last one seemed to be going for stealth, so Oxon walked backwards towards Kali, tossing her Fratris.

"I can't see well in the dark, and a cloud is covering the moon. Do you have an aura?" She nodded and peeked over the wood to help him find the final attacker. "Thank goodness, keep it up, we don't know where-"

He was interrupted by a spray of bullets impacting the back of his head. Even with aura, it hurt something fierce. The first few were negated by his semblance, but the majority went right past it. He and Kali fired at the direction of the assailant. One of them hit him, making the man fall to the ground.

"Is that it?" The older lady glanced around the room and made sure none of the others were moving to get up. The one he had shot first was clutching his leg in pain, but the blood loss didn't look bad enough to be fatal.

He walked up to the man and shoved the double barrels in his face. It was empty after he'd fired on the last foe, but he probably didn't know that. The man flinched in fear before putting on a paper thin snarl. "I'm gon' give ya one chance, where are those creepy ass twins?"

He never got the answer since he heard the sound of shattering glass from above him. Looking up, he saw a winged form briefly before two boots impacted his teeth. He was knocked hard into the floor and saw a bat winged faunus above him, trying to choke him out.

Too bad the guy was lacking a few dozen pounds of muscle and aura. With a flex of his own, Oxon ripped the hands off his throat and headbutted the man. The bat man stumbled back a few feet before glaring at him. "You shoulda played nice, human."

"And you should watch your back." The man looked confused for a moment before his eyes widened and he turned around just in time to see Kali Belladonna rushing him with a serving tray.

"Get out of my house!" The White Fang agent didn't have enough time to react before she slammed it into his temple, dropping him instantly. With the man dealt with, there was likely no one else coming to this area.

"Lady Kali, you stay here." She tried to protest but he simply handed her Patris and a few rounds of ammo. "Tie up the garbage here, I'm going to deal with the rest of the Fang."

She nodded before grabbing his arm as he was leaving the room. "Please, find my husband! He's likely under attack as well." She was probably right, there were still sounds of fighting throughout the estate. He gave a curt nod before heading out. With any luck, he'd track down those twins too.

Time to see just how bad y'all done fucked up.

~~~(XLIX)~~~

Like his now named weapon, Oxon's chance at turning over a new leaf is beginning. This chapter took a bit to write due to me being in a "mood" and feeling some writer's block. We're all good now!

~~~(XLIX)~~~

Omake: Filth, pure filth…

Oxon and team RWBY were in the library studying for an upcoming test over the faunus rights revolution. A lot of it was information he had been told was common knowledge, but not to him. His world history knowledge only went as far as just before the great war.

The study session had been going well. Weiss and Blake were very knowledgeable about the subject, both go no doubt wildly different reasons.

"Blake, are you paying attention at all? I know you know this subject well, but it's still good to study." He glanced over at the faunus that was disguised as a human. How long she planned to keep that up, he didn't know. Did her team even know the secret?

"Don't worry, Weiss, I'm confident that I'll be alright." The girl rolled her eyes but accepted it and went back to helping him out.

He was grateful for her help she had offered, even though he was really required to do well here, his lack of knowledge definitely helped get closer to the two targets. Ideally he'd have tried for the disguised cat girl, but he might have tripped a few alarms if he asked her specifically about the subject. For now, he'd work with the heiress.

After a few hours of studying, well, of him and Weiss studying. Blake not so subtly was reading some non school related material and the sisters had given up half an hour earlier. They were more than confident in their preparedness, which was not true for Oxon. Sure, he didn't really care if he did well or not, but Weiss clearly expected him to do well. He didn't really understand why she was so invested in his grades, but it helped him with his mission. So he wasn't going to look a gift bull in the mouth.

"Well, I'm sure now you have a good enough grasp on the subject, I hope you will do well on the test." He nodded at her as the three began to pack up their books.

Blake seemed in a rush for whatever reason and left in a hurry, he shrugged and placed the books on the table in his backpack. He and Weiss waved goodbye to each other as they went their separate ways. She seemed to go in the direction of the dorms while he went to the fish pond he so enjoyed.

Once there, he opened up the non Beacon related tome and began to read. Except, this wasn't his book on forest management. It was some kind of story between a faunus woman and a human woman. It wasn't his thing, but he was curious as well as bored. Though when he flipped to a random page, his face erupted into a massive blush.

This… this is…

He slammed the book closed after only reading three paragraphs. That little had been far more than enough for him. He didn't know how this book ended up in his possession, but he was going to make sure nobody knew he had it, let alone read a bit. Shoving it as far down into his pack as he could, he splashed some cold pond water on his face in an attempt to get his face under control.

"What in the gods damn…"

Elsewhere, Blake Belladonna went to look for her novel that she had been in the middle of reading. Grimm Behavior, no. Faunus Rights War, no. Silviculture for a Modern Remnant, no.

Wait, where's High Seas Love?

She looked over her books once more, realizing it wasn't there. She hadn't dropped any books on the way here. She would have seen and heard it. Nobody bumped into her, she hadn't seen anybody else on her way from the library. The library…

Panicking, she looked at the boom that was wildly out of place, not just in Beacon, but her collection. She had no idea where a book about forest management came from, but she had a guess as to the proper owner. Realizing just who had her… mature literature… made her ears push her bow down on her head.

"Oh no…"

~~~(XLIX)~~~

And that's how Ox knew all that stuff in the last chapter. Poor guy definitely wasn't prepared for something like that.

On my flight west, I was behind a woman brazenly switching between reading smut on her phone and playing candy crush. It was quite a shock. It was pretty kinky shit… (-_-;)

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