No one spoke for several moments as Sun and Blake stared Ilia down, and she returned their combined gaze. Sun was tense, Blake was furious, and Ilia's eyes were narrowed into dangerous slits behind her mask as she kept the scroll in hand, seemingly at the ready for something. Blake finally dared to move, and took up position next to Sun with one hand on Gambol Shroud and the other around his waist. Ilia's lip twitched in response as Blake began to speak.
"Funny you should say that. We did get a room, and you continued to spy on us anyway. For all I know, you've seen every little thing we've done together."
Ilia hissed her reply through grated teeth, her raised hand trembling slightly. "Keeping tabs on you is my job, Blake. Do you think I want to see you shacking up with him?"
"He has a name, Ilia, and he was nothing but nice to you when you first met, from what I've heard. Leave Sun out of this," Blake retorted. Her ears flattened against her skull as she squeezed Sun's side, and he shifted uncomfortably at the unintentionally tight grip.
"Ilia," Sun began. "Listen, I know we're on opposite sides of the White Fang, and what you want for Kuo Kuana is probably very different from what's going on. But is it really worth antagonizing your best friend over? Blake is here, now, and the two of you can't-"
"You stay out of this!" Ilia screamed as her free hand disappeared behind her waist before bringing out a long, thin weapon. She snapped it downward and let the black and yellow shaft crack into a whiplike state against the roof of the building with a harsh thwack. "You know nothing about me! You barely know Blake!"
Sun kept a firm grip on his staff as he slipped his hand behind Blake's waist, partially to hold her back. Her muscles were tense against his touch, and he decided to commit to trying to find a peaceful solution. "Ilia, it's true that you've known Blake for a longer time, but the Blake you grew up with and had as an ally in the White Fang has grown, and changed. You should take that as a sign. If your best friend is questioning her path, maybe you should question yours."
"The only question," Ilia shot back as she wrung her hand around the hilt of her weapon, "is why she abandoned me without a word. She never even told me that she was thinking of leaving the White Fang, let alone gave me any warning before she did." Ilia turned her gaze toward Blake, and her voice became pitchy as she addressed her former friend. "I could have helped you! I could have covered for you! We could have left together!"
"And you could have left on your own and found me, afterward!" Blake leaned forward into an attempted charge, and Sun steeled his grip around her waist. He successfully prevented Blake from moving, and she glared up at him with angry breaths. "Let me go, Sun. She's not going to listen!"
Sun returned her look, as Ilia began to tap against the screen of the scroll. "No, Blake. We can fix this. I know that this can be solved without a fight." Slowly, he let his hand slip from around Blake's waist as he took a step forward. Ilia's attention snapped to him as he approached, and she slammed the whip against the ground again as a warning. Sun jumped ever so slightly, and prayed that she didn't notice.
"Stay back! I might have some trouble hurting her, but I've got no love for you."
"I don't care," Sun replied. He stopped his forward momentum, and rested his staff into the surface of the roof below. "Ilia, please. All I'm asking for is a chance to talk. The three of us, the two of you… whatever you need. Think about how you feel, right now. Blake lost two friends, by making a choice to protect others. This isn't easy on her, either."
"You don't speak for her," Ilia said as she snapped the scroll closed and readied her weapon.
"He's not speaking for me. He's speaking for you," Blake replied as she stepped forward to join Sun's side once again. "If it was up to me, there would be no second chance. Sun's giving you options. I wouldn't have been so kind, if you'd caught me alone. Take off your mask, or we'll take it off for you. You can't take us both, Ilia," Blake threatened as she converted her sword into its gun state.
"No, I can't," Ilia admitted while shaking her head. "But I won't have to."
The sound of several pairs of footsteps echoed throughout the rooftop as three members of the White Fang emerged at the top of the steps. Sun kept his eyes trained on Ilia as Blake whirled, and pressed her back to his. She let out a feral growl as she flipped Gambol Shroud around in her grip, and began to whirl the weapon by its ribbon.
"Sun… Ilia and I have sparred together for years. She knows me, and I know her. It'll end in a stalemate, and I can handle these three and whoever else comes up those steps. White Fang grunts are nothing to the woman who helped train them."
"So, Ilia's all mine, then," Sun mused as he tensed up.
"Knock that bitch out," Blake spat as she charged for the trio. Sun pushed off into a sprint for Ilia, only to watch her fade into nothingness.
"Hey! Get back here!" he yelled as he skidded to a stop where Ilia had once stood. Sun looked over the railing to find her falling down the side of the building with her back to the ground, before she extended her weapon and wrapped it around a flagpole jutting from the side of the structure. Ilia floated gently to the ground and broke into a run as the sound of clashing weaponry rang out behind Sun. He spared a glance over his shoulder at Blake, and his stomach twisted into knots at the sight of her in the middle of a four on one brawl, with another grunt ascending the steps.
For the briefest moment, their eyes met, and Blake yelled as she whipped her weapon around into the side of an opponent's head.
"Go!"
Sun let out an irritated grunt as he looked away, his heart pounding and urging him to stay and fight alongside her. Despite his anger at himself for leaving Blake, he vaulted the railing and began to dive toward the ground, headfirst. Ilia had ran straight into an alley some distance ahead, and Sun did his best to keep his eyes on her as he tossed his staff upward while falling.
With great dexterity, he wrapped his tail around the weapon and held it tight as he clasped his hands together. Sun drew in a deep, focused breath as he summoned forth a glittering projection of himself upon the ground. The golden doppelganger turned toward its falling master as Sun let his feet fall forward beneath himself and grabbed Sun's foot in a tight grip. With great effort, the clone flung Sun forward at high speed as it dissipated into golden sparkles, and he transitioned his staff back into his hand as he tucked into a roll while impacting the ground.
Sun began to sprint as hard as he could, chest heaving as he cracked his staff into a pair of nunchaku. Ilia disappeared around the corner of a building, and Sun hurried to catch up.
"Ilia! I just want to talk! You and me! No Blake, no weapons! We can figure this out together!" he shouted as he kept up his speed. The moment Sun rounded the corner, he felt a heavy impact against his face and found himself tumbling backward into the dirt. He let out a cry of surprise as his aura absorbed the majority of the pain, and he scrambled backward to put some distance between himself and his assailant.
Ilia seemed to appear from the wall as her skin color changed back to its natural dark shade. She kept her palm thrust forward from the ambush strike for a moment, before shaking out her hand as she approached. "Your skull is just as thick as it looks. We have nothing to talk about. Drop this little chase, or you'll find out what a White Fang huntress can do."
Sun leaned back into the dirt and tucked his legs inward, before springing them forward to vault himself up. He whirled his nunchaku and tucked them beneath his armpits as he sank into a ready stance, eyes narrowed. "You have your orders. I have mine. You could have used your weapon, and you just went for a palm strike instead. That tells me that you're hesitating. Come on! Either commit to a fight, or hear me out! She misses you!"
"Well, I won't miss you!" Ilia yelled as she threw her weapon arm outward. The extending prod shot forward toward Sun, and he deflected the strike with a whip of one of his nunchaku. As the barrel came back around from its loop, he pulled the trigger on the device and sent a hail of spread shot straight for Ilia. The girl gasped and turned to the side as several pellets careened into her aura and a crackle of deep orange flared around her torso where the shrapnel would have penetrated flesh.
Sun held back his semblance as he continued to spin his armaments, firing off round after round while Ilia dodged and deflected the barrels of his nunchaku with her sword. They clashed several times while Sun continued to advance at an angle, and Ilia found quickly found herself backed into a wall. With quick thinking, Sun snapped his weapons together into a staff in the middle of a looping spin and turned, throwing his entire body into a sweep. The whirling weapon smashed into Ilia's ankles and sent her tripping backward into the wall with a cry of pain.
"You ass!" she shrieked as the back of her head smashed into the hardened clay of the building, triggering her aura to flare once again. Sun didn't let up, and yelled as he moved to tackle her into the structure. Ilia grit her teeth and brought her weapon in close to her chest as he pressed into her, before triggering the shock mechanism.
Electricity pulsed through Sun's body as the wire-like weapon pushed up along the center of his chest, and he felt all of the muscles in his core tighten painfully as he was shocked. Never having been electrocuted before, he cried out in both surprise and pain as he found himself quite literally falling onto Ilia and maintaining his contact with the pulsating weapon. His aura swirled around his body completely as the pair fell over into the dirt, and he felt himself rapidly being drained as smoke began to rise from the pole.
Ilia heaved with all of her might to push Sun off of herself with her palm and the handle of her weapon, and immediately regretted the decision as he threw a punch for her face. The right horn of the grimm mask splintered against Sun's fist at the contact, and she found her face whipped to the side as the mask flew off of her and tumbled into the wall of the building. Sun pressed his fist into the dirt and pushed himself up, only to backpedal away from Ilia and lean against his staff as he planted it into the dirt. His chest muscles contracted painfully against his will as he stood, staring her down. The pair of them were breathing heavily, and neither dared to move.
"Ilia… I'm not going to hurt you any more than I have to. There's another way! Don't you trust Blake?"
"Trust her!?" Ilia spat as she stood shakily. "She has no idea what she's doing! When Adam finds her, he's going to make her life even more of a living hell than he did last time! If anything, she should come back to me! The White Fang gets results, and it's getting more as Adam climbs the ranks!"
"He's a murderer!" Sun shouted. "Blood for blood is only going to result in all-out war! Humans outnumber faunus, and it's a war you're going to lose!"
"We didn't lose at Beacon!" Ilia said as she threw her free hand out to the side for emphasis. "Humans are weak! They're sitting pretty, and blood is the only thing that will make them respect us! Soon, Vale will belong to the faunus, and it's all because of us!" Ilia's lip quivered as she rose the volume of her voice, and she dropped her gaze into the dirt. Sun took note, and began to take calming breaths through his nose as he softened his tone.
"…you don't believe that. I know you don't. Beacon and the surrounding city weren't liberated for, or by the faunus. You're being manipulated."
"We were given a deal! The faunus are going to have their own place, now, at the top, where we c-"
"And what do you have to say about the faunus who died defending Beacon?" Sun interrupted. He took an angry step forward, and pointed at Ilia with an accusatory glare. "How many homes were destroyed? How many families were chased out, because of grimm? Even if you really do want to exterminate humans, 'our' people were displaced and sacrificed for a cause they never agreed to! You're no better than the slave-driving corporations keeping some of our brothers and sisters in chains! You're worse! At least the humans don't kill us! Not in the numbers you did in a single day! Tell me what you'll say to the mothers and fathers who lost their faunus children to grimm in that attack, when you stroll in to proclaim victory. What will you tell the orphaned kid who lost their parents because of you? Are you ready to face either of those situations? I guarantee it won't be just one kid, or one set of parents. You have blood on your hands, and you can't even see it!"
Ilia froze, her gaze locked on Sun's angry face as he ranted. She felt moisture beginning to pool at the edges of her eyes, and she snapped them shut as she looked away. With all of her remaining spirit, she tried to yell back at him, only to find her voice coming out weak and strained as she looked back to Sun, full of guilt and painful memories.
"I… I-I…"
Sun's expression remained firm as he slowly transitioned his hand from a damning point into an outstretched, open palm. "…you know this is wrong. Ilia, please. I'm not even mad at you. I get it. At the end of the day, I want Blake to be happy, and living without you is a hole that I can't fill completely. She needs you."
Ilia's breathing picked up at the mention of Blake, and her shoulders tensed as she stared down Sun's offered hand. Her eyes flicked up to meet his own as she furrowed her brow, and snarled. "And I needed her! Stay away!"
The whip lashed out too quickly for Sun to move his hand out of the way, and he drew in a sharp, pained breath as the flexing metal slashed across his glove. He pulled the hand back into his chest and looked it over, only to find the material split open and a painful, raised scar already formed upon his flesh. Ilia took the opportunity to turn and run once again, and Sun twirled his staff and held it close against his back and shoulder as he ran to follow.
"Shit! Shit!" he cursed, trying to block out the pain in his hand as he flapped it out to the side. Though he had no idea how Ilia's weapon worked, he knew that it had somehow pierced through his aura and left him with a painful parting gift. He turned into another alley as quickly as he could, only to see nothing before him. A small plume of dust rose from a specific place in the dirt, and Sun pretended not to notice as he walked into the narrow path.
"Ilia? Ilia! Please!" he cried out, trying to sound convincing as he advanced. He slung his staff up and across his shoulders, behind his neck, with a finger on one of the triggers. "I'm not giving up that easily."
Sun feigned a turn to look back at the path he'd come from, and smirked as he heard a hard footstep behind himself. Without hesitation, he twisted his body sideways to aim the staff at where he had seen the plume of dust, and fired.
The sound of shattering glass echoed through the alleyway as Ilia was propelled through a nearby window by the full force of spread shot, and Sun turned to face the shattered portal. "Gotcha!" he stated victoriously as he leaped over the windowsill, into a darkened kitchen. Ilia was on her side in the center of the room, leaning up as she kept a hand wrapped around her waist while sitting in the broken glass. Blood ran down her right arm, stemming from a glass shard embedded into her shoulder. She tried to inch away as Sun approached, cracking his staff back into two sections as he walked.
"Fuck… you…" Ilia stated through heavy breaths as she continued to scoot backward, into the darkness. Sun's face twisted into a grimace as he noticed the trails of tears running down her cheeks, though whether they were from pain or his words, he couldn't tell.
"Your aura's gotta be drained, right? Come on, just stop this, and come back to the manor with me. Blake and I will patch you up," Sun offered as he stopped mere feet from her. The pair of them squinted as the lights in the kitchen were suddenly turned on, and Sun moved an arm up to cover his eyes as a deep, masculine voice called out.
"Who the hell are you!?"
Sun lowered his arm to peer over it, and found himself staring down the barrel of a large firearm with a broadsword-like bayonet attached to the end. Holding the gun was a faunus just smaller than Ghira in both stature and musculature, with what appeared to be three rows of gills lining either side of his neck.
"Whoa, whoa! Sir, hold on, I can explain!" Sun scrambled as he held out his arms with open palms, letting his nunchaku fall and clatter to the tile floor. "I… my friend and I, here, were messing around in the alleyway, and she uh, she fell through your window! It was my fault, I pushed her a little too hard! I'll gladly pay for it, and even help you put in the new one, but she needs to get to a hospital? Or, uh, a medical tent? I don't know what you guys have here…?" Sun finished lamely, as he brought a hand up to scratch his head.
All the while, Ilia had managed to drag her way behind the large male, and struggled into a standing position. She glared at him with tear-filled eyes as the other faunus kept his gun trained on Sun, and spoke to her.
"…he's not your friend, is he, Ilia?"
Sun's eyes widened as Ilia replied. "No, he isn't. He's causing trouble for the Fang, and he got the best of me. He's with the Belladonnas." The statement earned a growl from the male, and Ilia turned her gaze toward Sun. "Did you really think I'd lead you into a part of town I didn't know? White Fang live on this side of Kuo Kuana, and that means you're screwed. You can't take us both, Sun," Ilia smirked.
"…like hell I can't."
The male fired, only to wince as he found the projectile flying up into the ceiling and rocking the lighting fixture while a shimmering, bright yellow clone gripped the barrel and held it upward. Sun grinned and kept his hands together as another double rushed forward from the center of his body and delivered a powerful punch to the adult's gut, causing him to double over while the first wrenched the gun from his grip. Ilia cried out in surprise and disappeared into the darkened hallway, running full tilt as her footsteps echoed throughout the house.
"You aren't getting to her!" the male wheezed as he stood and tried to charge at Sun, only to receive two punches to the face, one from each double. The clones dissipated as Sun panted with effort, and stooped to retrieve his weapons from the floor. He rolled forward and flipped his nunchaku upward in a double strike aimed for the male's chin, and the stranger stumbled backward into a nearby counter as he took the hits.
"Yeah, I figured that out already, genius!" Sun retorted with annoyance as he slapped one of his weapons around his side, before drawing it back across his body and using the momentum to deliver a hard blow to his opponent's face. A blue crackle surrounded the adult's entire body, and Sun reconnected his staff to deliver a jumping, two-handed overhead that resulted in an immediate knockout as the male crumpled to the floor.
For a moment, Sun considered giving chase, before instinctively reaching into his back pocket with his tail to pull out his scroll, only to find nothing. He knew that is aura was dangerously close to breaking from sheer effort, but without explicit knowledge and Ilia either hiding in the house or long gone, he resigned to give up the chase with a noise of frustration. He took a moment to catch his breath as he panted, considering his next move. After some time, Sun whirled and collapsed his weapon as he began to head back for the window, only to pause as something on the floor caught his eye.
Among the glass shards was his scroll, collapsed and waiting. He smiled as he stooped to pick it up, assuming that it had fallen from Ilia's pocket as she broke through the window. Immediately, he snapped the device open and navigated to the stored contact list to call Blake.
"Come on… come on…" he begged as he slowly and carefully climbed back out of the window.
The device rang several times before a connection was made, and Blake's screaming voice caused him to nearly drop the scroll.
"What did you do to him!? Ilia, I swear to the gods, if you hurt him, I'll te-"
"Whoa, whoa!" Sun interrupted. "Blake, it's me! I'm fine! Ilia managed to get away, but we'll figure that out later! Are you alright?"
A long pause broke up the conversation, before Blake replied. "Sun… yeah, I'm fine. I managed to take several of them down and escaped to the docks. But… why are you calling me from Ilia's scroll? Didn't she have yours on her?"
"I… what?" Sun inquired, as he blinked in surprise. He minimized the call display and went back to the contact list to verify the claim.
Just above Blake Belladonna was one other stored name.
Adam Taurus.
"…Blake, stay where you are, and don't make a ton of noise, in case they followed and they're looking for you. I'll come to you, and let's see what we can get out of this thing."
Sun smirked as he snapped the device closed, and began to walk.
"How the tables have turned," he mused to himself.
Author's Note:
I mentioned a long time ago that I would throw up a warning before some Volume 6 spoilers. Even though the vast majority have already seen it, this is that warning. The next chapter will contain spoilers for Volume 6, Episode 11 specifically. I'm sure you all know what that means in terms of who is going to get a scene in the next chapter. Someone potentially unexpected will also be making an early appearance, to help flesh out some future events.
Speaking of Volumes, I don't think I'm going to say when in RWBY canon this story will end. The only vague hint I'll drop is 'probably not where you think it will'. Funny how this was brought up by Constipated Genius' review, where they also begged me not to maim Sun, right before Sun was maimed. I swear this chapter was already written before that review went up. At least it's a small maiming? It'll keep his hand from doing terrible, filthy things for a while.
I meant stealing, people.
Next update on Wednesday, 2/20. If it helps, I'll usually be posting around 4:00AM CST if it's a weekday, and whenever the hell I drag myself out of bed if it's a weekend, but usually no later than 8 or so.
-RD