Chapter 22 – sodium Khloride
"She'll forgive you in time," said Adam, lying back in his far more comfortable Beacon bed. The doctors at the hospital had been so astounded by Ilia's act of thaumaturgy that he'd managed to get a few awestruck signatures and slip out before anyone realized he wasn't supposed to.
"She already did," answered Blake. "It was just the hurt look in her face. She took that bite so I wouldn't have to. To find out that it was only because of my stupid, stupid…stupidity that I was ever in that situation in the first place, it must have been upsetting to say the least. She died, Adam! I killed her!"
"Literally, yes, but she's alive right now, so…"
"If Jaune hadn't pulled a miracle out of his ass, she would have. Don't pretend that us getting lucky absolves me of my fault in this."
"Yes, but if the crocodile Faunus hadn't pulled a miracle out of her ass, you would've come back to Beacon carrying her head. It was bad luck that Ilia got hurt, and it was good luck that she recovered. Don't ruin your relationship with her by torturing yourself. That does her no good."
"I just can't help but feel like I'm getting off too easily."
Adam sat up and took off his eyepatch to air the skin out. "Didn't Ruby declare you a persona non grata?"
"I guess. We're on speaking terms again, and I convinced her that it's not okay for her to do that to herself."
"Or you…?"
"Or me. But mainly herself. Did you know that–"
"Yes. You keep bringing up her tragic history up instead of telling me what you found."
Blake shrugged. "Nothing. Penny 'n' I got sidetracked by some sea water pipe and didn't locate anything good."
"Sea water? What would Beacon use sea water for?"
"I dunno. Seaweed gardens?"
"Whatever. Let's get out of here." Adam cracked his knuckles. "I've been cooped up for days, and I need to go out and kill something. Let's go to the Emerald Forest – I wanna punch an Ursa right in its dumb face. Smug pricks…"
Blake looked at him like he was crazy. "Maybe we should just spar instead."
"Fine. Do you want to invite the rest of the team?"
"Ilia said she wants a little space."
Adam cringed as he donned his coat. "It'll get better. Ruby was upset, but she got over it; I'm sure Ilia will, too. Just give it some time."
"Yeah. Let's hope. Hey, we'll actually have to visit Beacon's weapon shop first. I don't have a sword anymore."
Adam pushed Wilt towards her. "You could use mine."
"Yeah, but then what'll you use, dummy?"
"Blush?"
"Adam, it wouldn't be much of a spar if we're that unevenly matched."
"Blake, I know I'm a lot better than you, but you don't have to rub it in."
Blake bumped her hips into Adam as they stepped out of their dorm room. "Dipshit."
"Shop?"
"Let's go."
Unlike the majestic forges that were several floors underground, the Beacon weapon shop was a more modest affair. The basic premise was that most students tended to damage their weapons in some severe way during the school year, and they would at some point need a replica while the original was repaired at the forge. Thus, Beacon pre-emptively commissioned slightly inferior duplicates of every students' weapons and kept them on hand. The cost was moderate in comparison to the time that would be lost if a student were unable to participate in classes due to being unarmed. Ozpin was once quoted by the media as having said that time was the most valuable resource of all, and Blake supposed that that would be true when you had a multi-billion lien annual budget to burn through before you went broke.
Adam waited outside as Blake entered the small front lobby. Blake gave her name to the attendant, and he came out with her weapon.
"Bargain bin Gambol Shroud, come to mama."
The sword's weight wasn't quite balanced, and it didn't have any of her real weapon's aesthetic modifications, but Blake didn't care. A gun-sword was a gun-sword. Unlike sentimental hunters like Ruby, Blake wasn't interested in anthropomorphizing her blade. One member of the White Fang had once gone back for his chainsaw when SDC forces were closing in on them, and he was peacefully buried with said chainsaw. The committal was actually quite touching. Tears were shed.
"Quite the fine sword," commented a nearby woman.
"Thank you," said Blake. She slung the new sword over her back and prepared to exit.
The woman, though, didn't seem finished talking to her. "You know, I have one just like it at home."
"A Variant Ballistic Chain Scythe?"
"N-No. A sword."
Blake smiled proudly at her discount blade. "Then I suppose it's not just like it."
"Impressive. Hey, do you know if there's any place I can peruse the weapons they have here? Like a gallery or something?"
"Unfortunately, no. Weapons are considered private and won't be on display anywhere. Only the staff who work here can go into the back where the backups are stored."
The woman frowned. "That's a shame. I was hoping to have a look."
"It is, but I think it's for the best. My team leader is a weapons nut and would probably die from a heart attack if she got to look at everyone's weapon in one place." The mention of Ruby made Blake scrunch up her nose. "Hey, why are you talking with me?"
"I-I-I'm just trying to be sociable, and I thought you might have been able to help me."
"No, I mean, no one talks to me."
The woman's gaze drifted to Blake's ears. "Well, they're all fools. Ignorant, close-minded fools."
"Not like that. My team leader asked people to shun me for some silly punishment, and news of the ban being lifted spreads slowly. Actually, I don't recall having seen you around campus before. Are you new?"
"I'm a transfer student."
In the aftermath of the docks, Blake had completely forgotten that people from around the world were coming to visit Beacon for the tri-annual tournament. She put on her best welcoming face. "Welcome to Beacon, then. I hope you like our school."
"It's simply lovely."
"BLAKE!' called Adam from outside. "We goin' or what?"
"Well, that's my cue. My friend and I have made plans, so I'm afraid I'll have to cut our chat short."
"I understand. I'd bet my own teammates are probably wondering where I wandered off to. It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss…?"
"Blake Belladonna." Blake put forth her hand.
The transfer student shook it.
"Cinder Fall."
It turned out that hate and love weren't the same as positive and negative. Ilia had found this out the hard way. You see, when you add positive numbers to negative numbers, they cancel out and leave you with nothing. However, Ilia had been in love with Blake before she found out what Blake had done, and even though she was angry as Dust about it, the love hadn't gone away. Thus, love and hate weren't additive inverses. They were just on different axes altogether, coexisting but not negating or cancelling one another out at all.
The worst part was that she didn't want either. She was desperately trying to get past her romantic feelings for Blake, knowing full well that they would never be returned, but she didn't want to stay mad either. The best case scenario would be friendship, the likes of which she had with Adam or maybe Ruby, not this weird 'caught-in-the-middle' amalgamation of emotions flurrying back and forth in her heart.
Her exasperation grew until she could take no more, and she hurled the textbook she'd been n̶o̶t̶ reading across the library. Its pages flapped open as it hit the ground, causing many of them to crumple up loudly. Ilia immediately regretted it. Now, in addition to her girl troubles, she also would have to either pay for a replacement book or smooth out the creases herself. Walking over, she carefully picked up the book and inspected the damage.
The corner of one of the pages was torn.
Ilia didn't care about this book, nor its subject matter. It was so insignificant to her that she couldn't even remember the title. But right then, in that brief moment, she hated that stupid fucking book more than all the Grimm on Remnant.
Shreds of paper flew into the air as Ilia unleashed her pent up aggression. The book was already damaged, so what was a little more? She needed this. She deserved this. After every shitty little turn life had taken in the past day…the past few days, actually, as she'd been asleep for a while…Ilia felt like the universe owed her this one source of relief.
When all of the pages were torn out, Ilia grabbed the front and back covers with both hands and pulled them apart with all her might. They split, but Ilia's arms flew apart, and she bumped into a bookshelf. Several of the large tomes within fell to the floor, splaying out, crinkling up, and making even more tearing noises.
FUCK! FUCK THIS! WHY CAN'T JUST ONE THING GO RIGHT FOR ME?!
Ilia hurled the destroyed book covers at a nearby window, cracking it.
NO! NO NO NO NO NO! I HATE THIS! I HATE YOU!
Ilia fell to her knees and tried her best to hold in the tears that threatened to pour out. She failed.
"I-Ilia?"
"Oh. Weiss." Ilia straightened herself out. "I didn't know you were there."
"I only just arrived. Are you okay?"
"Peachy," Ilia said, wiping a tear and trying not to choke.
"Uh huh. It's good to see you out and about."
"It's…"
Ilia was going to say that it was good to be out and about, but she couldn't finish. Weiss stared at her blankly.
"Was that you?" Weiss asked, pointing to the window.
"Yeah, I just kind of tripped, and I had a book in my hands, and you know how it is when…"
"When you get upset?" Weiss finished.
"Weiss, I swear I didn't mean to–"
Weiss drew her rapier. Ilia retreated a few steps, unsure if this was truly an appropriate response for school property destruction. However, the target of Weiss' actions was not the chameleon Faunus. Brown flashed at the hilt of the sword, and a weak stream of Rock Dust-based sand flew into the cracks of the window. The rapier's Dust chamber rotated, and the sand seared red hot as Weiss pressed Myrtenaster into a Glyph she made on the floor. When it cooled, the window was repaired, albeit crudely.
"There," said Weiss. "Good as new."
"T-Thanks," Ilia weakly managed.
This was not how things were supposed to be. She was supposed to be strong, not falling to bits while another carried her through a crisis. On top of that, the crisis was Blake, the very woman she loved, inadvertently killing her twice, and the person carrying her was none other than Weiss Schnee.
"Think nothing of it," said Weiss, sheathing her sword. "I have my fair share of broken windows."
"You? Really?"
"I realize that I may seem perpetually composed, but there was a time when I was…less than what I am today. Having Cardin and Dove has helped me get through it, and I feel as though I karmically owe it to the honor of Team Sword to assist you in any capacity I can, no matter how small."
It burned Ilia up to think that it was the honor of Team Sword coming to her rescue, but her anger at Weiss was puny compared to her anger at…someone else. "That's kind of you, Weiss."
"Why don't we sit together?"
Ilia saw no way to decline without throwing away the rapport she'd built, and she honestly wasn't sure she wanted to decline. True, Weiss was a witch when it came to Faunus, but Ilia was a human right now, and she needed an outside shoulder to cry on. Blake was the problem, Adam would be forced to take sides if she went to him, and Ruby was too immature. Right now, Weiss fucking Schnee was the best option.
I mustn't get used to pretending to be a human for comfort. I just need to fix myself up until I'm mission ready again. I refuse to have another Iridium on my hands.
"Things are just horrible right now. I…it's so bad I can barely say it."
"That's alright. I think I know what the problem is," Weiss said knowingly. Ilia looked at her in surprise. "I don't wish to sound rude, but it seems pretty obvious."
"I'm that poor at hiding my feelings?"
"Let's just say I had a hunch, and the window confirmed my suspicions."
"You don't seem awfully bothered by it. I would've thought you'd be disgusted with me."
"There's no shame in the way we feel."
Huh. Maybe she really is getting better. I guess it can't hurt to open up. I already played the damsel in distress card, and the vulnerable maiden bit comes next.
Ilia looked away. "The worst part is that if she came to me and said she loved me back, I don't think I could even accept it. Even if it wasn't her intention, she hurt me, and our relationship can't go back to the way it was. I still love her, but I can't ever be with her. Not that she'd ever want to be with me, though."
"O-Oh. Who?"
Ilia suddenly went to high alert. "I thought you said you knew."
"I was under the impression you were feeling fear, pain, or distress over the near-death…er, uh, death-defying experience you had? At the docks?"
"Ahhhh, well, I am, but that wasn't what had me in such a tizzy."
"W-Well, my assertion that I am not disgusted in you stands. Even if it is to be made in regards to your sexual orientation rather than your vulnerabilities. I would never judge you for that. Man or woman, Valean or Vacuoan – if you love them, then any human on Remnant is an acceptable person in my books."
Any human, ergo not any Faunus. Same old Weiss, I guess. Thank the Brothers I didn't use Blake's name, or everything might have gone to shit.
Weiss' involuntary Faunophobia actually made Ilia feel a bit better. The universe had stopped throwing her for a loop, and things were getting back to normal.
"Very well." Weiss abruptly rose. "I vowed to support you, and I see now how I must support you."
Ilia looked up at her in confusion. "How?"
"I shall escort you to the Beacon dance. If you show up with a beautiful woman on your arm, that's bound to show whoever it was that hurt you that you've moved on and are living your best life."
Ilia stifled a laugh at Weiss' overinflated ego, masking it as a grateful smile. "You'd do that for me?"
"Of course. I…I carry some of the blame for your injuries. It was my rash actions that brought your team to the docks and put you in peril. Allow me to atone as best I can by accompanying you as your date."
"I wouldn't want to inconvenience you."
"Please, you'd be doing me a favor. If I went with one of the gentlemen on my team, it might stress out our currently stable dynamics or lead them on, so to speak. Plus, this will have the added benefit of getting that Arc nincompoop off my back. His incessant propositioning of me is now bordering stalking. I swear, I'm going to make that dunce pay for thinking himself worthy of my hand. Did you know that he's asked me out four separate times? Once while offering a white heart-shaped balloon, once while throwing rose petals at me produced via your dolt of a leader's semblance, once while strumming that damn ukulele of his, and once while wearing a dress!"
Ilia let out a genuine snicker at Jaune's antics and offered Weiss a hand. "It's a not-a-date date. Just promise you won't fall in love with me."
Weiss took her hand and kissed it, her lips just barely refraining from curling into a coy smile. "That is unlikely to be a problem, my lady. I shall make a clean breast: I have no interest in the fairer sex."
"Careful now, Weiss. Breasts are a subject very near to my heart."
"I…oh, you clever little thing," growled Weiss playfully.
Iridium.
Don't get too comfortable, this isn't real.
Make it about the mission.
"It'll be a girl's night out," Ilia said, feigning a girlish squeal. "We'll dance the night away and stay up 'till midnight telling each other secrets. It'll be a blast!"
"The food at this place sure is sensational," said Penny.
"But you don't eat," pointed out Ilia. "You didn't even order anything."
"I suppose that is correct. May I perchance sample a bit of your burger, Friend Ilia?"
Ilia tore off a sesame seed from her bun and flicked it into Penny's open mouth.
"Mmmmmmm." Penny patted her stomach. "The food at this place sure is sensational."
Blake watched their interaction with a slight touch of jealousy. Of course she was happy that the two had become fast friends over a shared love of Ilia finding Penny's naïve innocence hilarious, but it stung a bit to see them getting along so well when her friendship with Ilia was strained.
Adam pushed aside his salad. "Yes, the slop here is marginally sloppier than the slop at Beacon. But we need to focus on planning our next slop. Er, step."
The diner was swept for bugs (all they found were roaches), and there were no other customers present. This little hole in the wall was on the Faunus side of town, and it had fallen on some hard times, so patronage had declined to zero. Their waitress was out on a smoke break, and the chef was in the back, twiddling his thumbs now that his only four customers for the lunch rush had been served.
"What's there to discuss?" asked Ilia. "We know where the machine is. Just break into the elevator and go on down."
"The CCT's security software is Atlas tech," said Blake. "And the command codes were placed in the exclusive control of Beacon as a show of international unity when we deployed the towers worldwide. This is the real deal. We can't hack it, we can't crack it, and we can't hijack it. Unless we know Ozpin's security code, that elevator's going to be off limits even to us."
"We found one pipe," said Penny cheerily. "I have no doubt that we shall be able to find another."
"And then what?" asked Adam. "It'll be good to follow it to the device, but then we'll just have confirmation that it's there. We still won't be able to get down there."
"I still think it's worth it to confirm it first," said Blake. She'd initially felt confident when she'd surmised that the machine was down there, but the more that time passed without her seeing definitive proof of it, the more her fear grew that she'd made some grave error and misinterpreted the whole thing. Verifying that it was down there – a high voltage line with the right current, a tube feeding coolant, anything to corroborate her hypothesis, really – would do a lot to ease her nerves.
I really hope this isn't a repeat of the invulnerability semblance. Please let it not be my mistake again.
"Blake?"
"What?"
"You're staring at me…again."
"Sorry." Blake looked away from Ilia and leaned back into her padded seat. "I'm absolutely sure that I saw him type in a code without a zero, and I'm just as sure that the zero button had his fingerprint on it. I just think we should find something to substantiate what is, at this point, just me speculating."
"Don't let this," Ilia tapped on her neck scars, "make you throw away a good lead on the mission. We still trust your judgment, Blake. You just need to trust in yourself."
Adam nodded in agreement and took a sip of water. "She's right, Belladonna. This is the most conclusive lead we've gotten on where the machine is being kept so far. You and Penny can keep scanning the ground for sea water pipes as long as you need to feel confident. But me, personally? I trust you."
"As do I," said Ilia. "I'm...still a bit, hmmm, miffed about the whole dying thing, but I choose to trust you."
"Me too! And it wasn't sea water, it was salt water."
Penny's eyes blinked mechanically as she spoke. That was one of her few tells as a robot. The scientists who made her had done a bang-up job otherwise, but blinking was still a trait that firmly fell in the realm of biological behavior.
"What's the difference?" asked Ilia.
"Sea water has a consistent salt content of 35mg/L, whereas the salt water we found is much less concentrated at only 9mg/L."
If Adam's horns weren't perpetually rigid, Blake might've thought she just saw them perk up.
"9? You said 9mg/L sodium chloride?"
"Yes, sir."
He leaned closer to her, placing both hands on the table for support. "Are you sure? Exactly 9?"
"I chemically tested it and verified it twice."
"Hold on a second," said Blake. "You double checked it two whole times? We were on the verge of getting caught, and you had time to–"
Adam's face fell into his hands, and he dashed the salad plate onto the floor. "They've used it. By the Brothers, they've already used the machine."
The table fell silent.
"That's saline solution, used for a life support intravenous feed.
All three women turned to look at Adam.
"What? I'm a hypochondriac. I know this shit."
"Why would that mean they used the aura transfer device?"
"Well, unless Ozpin normally keeps critically injured patients on life support in an underground chamber beneath his office, I think it's safe to say that he's trying to hide something. Or someone."
"A test patient? And the machine harmed them?"
"What else could it be? The pipe was going in the direction of the CCT. I'd wager that he threw someone in the machine to see what would happen, and the poor sap's now half-dead. No offense, Ilia."
"S'cool. I'm actually twice dead, so it's sort of the opposite of offensive."
"If you're right, that changes things," said Blake. "Our assignment was to get the machine, but that was so the scientists back home could check that Vale hasn't used it or reverse engineered it. If they've tried it on someone, we're going to have to get them out of Vale and into Atlesian custody."
"I'd guessed it would be Ruby," Adam admitted. "I thought he was going to put her in the machine first. I guess I was wrong on that."
"Join the club," Blake said, only to realize a second later that he'd only said that for her sake. She decided to be polite and not chide him for it.
"If they did do an aura exchange, there should actually be two people," said Penny. "The person receiving the aura, and the person being stripped of it. We'll have to capture them both."
"Remind me – the prevailing theory was that Ozpin brought the machine to Beacon to test it on students right?" asked Ilia. "Because there're so many of us here with aura?"
"Right."
"Then I think we should try and steal the school's files on all the students. We might be able to find out if someone's missing, or if Ozpin has a bookmark stuck to the next candidate. That'll also give us a chance to find out more about Schnee, Nikos, and Thrush."
"I thought we were putting the whole Amin case on ice," said Blake.
Ilia shrugged. "Just an added benefit."
"The headmaster's office–"
"–is too high a risk," Blake finished, cutting off Penny. "We discussed this early on. That's something we do when we're ready to peel, not when we're still gathering evidence. The records are kept in an administrative building that doesn't have as much security. Not nearly enough…"
"I'll do it," said Ilia. "I've been waiting for a chance to stretch my legs."
"Great. Blake and Penny will keep looking for underground wires, Ilia will get those records, and I'll…uh…"
"Oh, poor baby," said Ilia. "Useless already?"
"No spy skills to speak of," continued Blake, shaking her head in mock pity. "It's sad, really."
"Can't keep up with us big girls," joked Ilia.
"Just you wait until the next fight breaks out," said Adam. "Then you'll be signing a different tune." He pushed away his food and finished his glass of water. "Well, if that's all…"
"Actually, I have one more thing to add," said Penny.
"The floor is yours."
"The general recently relayed some information to me. We have identified the crocodile Faunus and her companions."
Omake
Ilia: Love and hate aren't like positive and negative. They don't cancel each other out.
Penny: I suppose that means one of them must run along the imaginary axis while the other is a real number.
Omake 2
Adam: The poor sap's now half-dead. No offense, Ilia.
Ilia: S'cool. I'm actually twice dead.
Canon Penny: Wow. It must be crazy to die twice. I mean, to be brought back to life only to die again? Wild!
Author's Notes
It's titled this way because Ilia's being a salty biatch. She's sayin' she's okay with it, but she ain't.
So, who do you think the crocodile is going to be? Me, personally - I think it's Vernal. If you rearrange the letters in 'e Vernal il gato' (Italian for 'and Vernal the cat'), it spells 'alligator even'. That can't be coincidence.
Forgot to say it for the past few chapters, but happy rats, and don't do crime!
