So I got Baldur's Gate 3. Needless to say that distracted me from this story for way too long for my liking lol. Seriously though, it's an amazing game and it would not surprise me if it wins GOTY. But regardless, I managed to get this chapter done and dusted. And hopefully you'll like it.
On with the chapter!
Whitley Schnee had a decision to make. His Father had made him heir to the SDC, not too shortly after Weiss had come back from Beacon. It was all he ever wanted. He should be glad. He should be ecstatic.
But he wasn't.
The feeling that would have once filled him up with warmth and satisfaction of a job well done, now made him feel physically ill. Like something had wormed it's way into his gut and taken up residence, feeding off any happiness he might have felt.
He knew why. It was Weiss' fault. And for once, he thought that without ridicule or anger. Weiss came back from Beacon a changed person, and had actually started treating him like a brother. It was a sensation he had long since forgotten.
And all it had taken to was Weiss losing someone else that she saw as a brother. Should Whitley have felt anger that someone else took up the mantle of 'Weiss' Brother'? Someone she cared so deeply about.
Or should he feel guilty at the fact he was glad that Weiss was now directing that affection towards him. He didn't know. There was a lot he didn't know how to feel about recently. He watched from the doorway as Weiss practised in her room.
She was wielding both Setanta and Myrtenaster. Using her own weapon she pointed to a point on the floor, as a glyph the Schnee were so well known for shimmered into existence. Whitley often thought the Huntsmen lifestyle barbaric, something not suited for the Schnee name.
How wrong he was, as he watched an armoured hand begin to climb out of the sigil, only for it to flicker and disintegrate into sparkling white dust. "Damn it." Weiss cursed. She grit her teeth in anger, glancing away, and unintentionally setting her eyes on her brother.
"Whitley?" She sounded surprised, but not angry. "What are you doing here?" He had no idea. His mouth opened and closed uselessly for a second before he collected himself.
"Father is taking me into town to introduce me to some of his business partners. I wanted to see if you'd like me to pick you up anything, since... well..." He trailed off, staring at the ground, the knowledge that it was his fault Weiss was confined to the grounds of the manor.
Weiss' expression softened at his words, looking grateful that he had thought of her. "Thank you. I'm fine, however. I just need to practice." She frowned, looking down to the two weapons in her hands.
"But, you've been practising since you arrived back in Atlas." Whitley hesitantly stepped into the room, closing the door behind him for fear of Father suddenly passing by.
"Yes. I have. But, I've been practising so much with Setanta, that I have neglected training my own Semblance. I was so focused on making sure I wouldn't forget Crue..." She scowled at the tiled floor, her light blue eyes staring back at her in the reflection.
"Was that why you finally stood up to him?" Whitley asked. He had been present when Father confronted Weiss about her actions during the Charity Ball. Including when Weiss decked their Father in the face and might have broken his nose.
It was an image that would be forever engraved into his mind. And one he would treasure forever. Weiss looked up at him in surprise, before her face contorted into one of deep thought. "I just remember... not knowing what to do."
"And, I thought of what Winter would do in that situation." Whitley looked surprise at her words. He wouldn't have thought Winter would be one to fight back in such a situation. "She would just grin and bear it."Oh, it appeared Weiss had thought of that too.
"And then, I thought of what would happen if Father had hit you." Weiss' eyes met his, two sets of blue clashing as Whitley blinked in surprise. Weiss hit their Father, because of him?
"And, unsurprisingly, that didn't sit right with me." Her eyes narrowed into chips of ice, and Whitley could see the anger within. It made him feel, warm. That his sister would be so protective of him.
"But, how did that lead to you punching Father? I wouldn't have struck him." He pressed a hand against his chest, the idea sending a wave of cold fear through his heart. He didn't even dare imagine what Father might do if he had to gall to do such a thing.
"I know." Weiss let a small smile bloom over her face. "But, my mind wandered to what my other brother might do in that situation. And seeing as I've already seen him in a similar situation, I had no qualms about my actions."
Whitley wondered what similar situation Crue had been in to this. He dispelled such thoughts, and looked his sister in the eyes. "No one in our family has been able to stand up to Father. Not Mother. Not Winter. Not me."
"You, are the first person to truly stand up to him. If you can do that..." His blue eyes wandered to where Weiss' glyph had appeared when he first walked in. "Then you can do anything, dear sister."
Weiss' breath hitched at his words. The honest praise with which he spoke seemed to fuel her, as she nodded with determination. She took a few steps away from Whitley, and brought her rapier in one hand directly before her face.
With her other, she held Setanta mirrored in her grasp, pointed towards the floor. Before her, a spinning white glyph slowly formed. Weiss briefly glanced to the portrait of a suit of armour next to her bookcase, before taking both her weapons and swinging them in tandem.
She pressed the tip of her rapier into the tiled floor, clipping it, but caring not for the damages. The glyph before her spun faster, as the room around her began to shake from the intensity, books falling and a music stand toppling.
Faster and faster still, the glyph began to glow brighter as well. Whitley took a few steps back, bright blue eyes wide in disbelief, before a shining white light enveloped the room completely with a shockwave that destroyed the window within Weiss' room.
Peaking out from behind his cover of Weiss' bed, Whitley felt his jaw drop. Standing before Weiss was a towering suit of armour with a massive broadsword that was twice as tall as Weiss. The sound of footsteps hurtling towards their location.
An immediate fear of Father finding them washed over Whitley, but to his immense relief, Klein came bursting through the door. "Miss Schnee! Are you alright?!" His eyes quickly scanned the room, noticing Whitley, before they froze at the sight of the summoned creature.
"Yes." Weiss said with a smile, as the ethereal knight before her got down onto one knee, bowing before her. Weiss glanced to the open sky that was now visible. She turned back, looking to Whitley, and then to Klein.
"Klein. I need a favour." The butler nodded in determination. Satisfied, Weiss looked to Whitley. "I'll need your help as well, Whitley." The tone of voice let Whitley know that this was simply a request. She wasn't forcing anything onto him.
However, it didn't matter, as Whitley stood as tall as he could and nodded fiercely, placing both hands behind his back. Whitley Schnee had made his decision.
He would help his sister.
…
"I feel like I should be concerned with how effortlessly you infiltrated a well known crime syndicate." Winter spoke up once The Wolf returned to the run down building they were using as a base of operations.
The helmeted head turned to stare at her for an uncomfortably long time, before it suddenly shook. "Oh, right, helmet. You couldn't see, I was giving you a look." The helmet came off with a pop, dirty blonde hair flopping down and two wolfish ears springing upward.
"Oh, that's better." Crue set the helmet down on a table and then began to massage the base of his ears. "Good helmet, but God is it cramped." He looked to the rest of the Ace-Ops, each of them working with some curious equipment Crue hadn't seen before.
"That for getting Tortuga?" He asked. Clover looked up at his words with small 'kinda' motion.
"We need to report to General Ironwood. We were holding off on it until we actually managed to catch you properly, but with Tortuga in danger, we can't hold off any longer. We'll inform the General, and he'll send proper reinforcements to deal with a hostage situation."
"Did you not tell him when you thought me and her were dead?" Crue asked, gesturing to Winter with a thumb. The woman in question raised an eyebrow in curiosity, clearly wondering the same.
"Uhh..." Clover trailed off. "We were going to." He began. "But we had barely gotten back to camp to rest and deal with it, and then Tortuga ran off. So, our priorities were pretty quickly changed."
"Just as well." Crue said with a shrug, leaning on a dusty table. "I'd hate to imagine you calling Ironwood to tell him Winter died, only to have to call him back to say you were wrong." He'd hate to imagine it because it probably would also involve Ironwood contacting Weiss and telling her what happened to her sister.
It appeared Winter had a similar train of thought, if the way her face contorted in discomfort was any indication. "You know, you'll probably have to take some time off from the leg." Crue spoke up, a hint of a smile forming on his face.
Winter noticed and immediately levelled him with a suspicious glare. "Maybe you could spend the time with Weiss." He said with a shrug, despite the fanged smile on his face.
Winter, despite feeling the immediate urge to roll her eyes, did consider what he was saying. A near death experience like that had certainly put things into perspective. What life was she leaving behind? Who would mourn her?
Weiss, certainly. Her Father, not a chance. He would probably try and use her death to further his own means, hosting a banquet in her honour where guests were heavily encouraged to donate to help ease the pain.
Her Mother, if she ever stopped drinking enough to comprehend the news, would only fall further into her alcoholism. Whitley... Weiss had been getting closer to him before she left. Maybe she should do the same.
Seeing Winter was deep in her thoughts, Crue stepped away and observed the pacing Harriet. She was dangerously close to wearing a groove into the floor. With a small sigh, he made his way over to her.
She looked up immediately upon hearing him approach, and a scowl quickly appeared on her face. Crue came to a stop, as Harriet stood straight and puffed out her chest. Crue said nothing for a moment, looking into her eyes.
"Hit me." He instructed. In less than a blink, the sound of her fist striking Crue's cheek echoed throughout the room, causing everyone to freeze in shock and look to the source of the noise.
Crue's cheek was bright red, as he slowly turned his head back to face Harriet. "Feel better?"
"Yes. Damn it." Harriet spat, most of the tension seeping from her body as she fell into a chair, her arms hanging loosely. "Why the fuck did that work, and how did you know it would?"
"If I was in your shoes I know I'd want to deck whoever the fuck I blamed." He leaned against a wall next to Harriet, while the others, upon seeing no more violence was about to occur, were content to return to fiddling with the device.
"We know that that Vermillion guy knows about Tortuga, and that he's invited me to speak with him more. I'll find out more, and we will save her." His piece said, he crossed his arms and rested his head against the wall.
Harriet nodded, leaning her elbows on her legs as a look of fierce determination showed on her face. "And, after that, you two can go on a date-hgk!" Crue received an elbow to the stomach, folding him in two as he wrapped his arms around himself and Harriet glared at him , face bright red.
"Stop hurting our allies Harriet." Elm chided, though she had a smirk on her face, suggesting she had heard what Crue had said.
"Oh, cool. I've been upgraded from 'criminal' to 'ally'. Talk about speedrunning the redemption." Crue chuckled, standing straight once more.
"Ally of convenience, would be a more suitable term." Came Vine's voice, laying on his back as he worked below the machine.
"You still mad I used philosophy to distract you?" Crue asked.
"No." The answer came much too quickly and much too defensively, which had Crue smirking as he crossed his arms. A sigh came from beneath the machine. "I can picture that smirk you're wearing."
Almost immediately, Crue covered his lower lip with his top as more of an instinctive reaction to being called out about an expression he was making. "Now, now. Stop fighting or I'll turn this booster around." Clover said with a laugh.
"Oh, that's what that thing is." Crue mumbled, content to wait and stay away from it. The Ace-Ops might have finally come around to his presence, but there was no telling how Ironwood would react.
"Alright, that should be good to go." Clover said, as Vine extricated himself from beneath the signal booster. The three who were working on it stood in a half semi circle around the device, with Crue, Harriet and Winter remaining where they were.
Clover placed his Scroll into the booster, and it flickered to life. To Crue, it was a rather strange looking device, though that might just be the fact he wasn't from Remnant that made him think so. It looked like a tripod for a camera, except the camera was replaced with a bright white radar dish, with a dust crystal replacing the feed horn.
The Scroll fit snugly beneath the radar dish, glowing bright blue. Clover tapped it a few times, and waited. And waited. "How long does this normally take?" Crue asked aside to Harriet.
"Few seconds, normally. But that was when the CCT was up and running." She explained. Crue was surprised she did it without any kind of sarcastic comment. Maybe the fact they were so close to getting help for Tortuga calmed her down slightly.
The Scroll continued to buzz, before finally it connected. "Cl…r? Thi… eral… wood. Report." The voice that came through was fragmented and an overlay of static covered most of the words.
"General Ironwood, this is Clover Ebi reporting. Can you hear me clearly?" Clover spoke as clearly as he could into the Scroll.
"Ever… seco… rd." Came the reply.
"God, you could use smoke signals and get better voice quality." Crue whispered. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Harriet barely hold back a snort.
"We discovered a possible threat to Atlas. A criminal syndicate called the Hana guild. They have also taken-" Clover hesitated, taking a breath as he scowled before continuing. "They have taken Tortuga hostage."
"...tage?!" Well, apparently that part got through. "How… appen?"
Clover glanced backward to where Crue was, and though he hardly needed permission, Crue gave a nod. This was his fault, so if Ironwood knowing he was alive helped save Tortuga, he could know.
"In Mistral, we discovered Crue Cullen was alive. He has been under our observation for some time, but unfortunately he escaped during an incident, and Tortuga blamed herself and took it upon herself to finish the mission."
Clover was about to continue, and explain that Crue was with them now, before a voice that sounded distinctly different to Ironwood's came through. "...ALIVE?!" The room suddenly fell silent, looking at the booster with concern.
"Sir?" Clover spoke carefully. "Is this call secure?" There was a concerning amount of time until the Ironwood finally spoke.
"Yes." The single word managed to come through clearly, yet it sounded clipped. "Col… Harp… me." It seemed to sate the Ace-Ops, but Crue still held a frown. He had no idea who Colonel Harp was, but that voice tickled something in the back of his mind, sounding oddly familiar.
He was distracted by Clover's voice suddenly becoming strained. "I'm sorry sir, there must be some interference. Could you repeat that?" Whatever it was that Crue had missed had each of the Ace-Ops in a state of nervous tension.
As if the universe decided to mock them at that moment, Ironwood's voice came through crystal clear. "I am ordering the immediate recall of all Atlesian forces. All other priorities are rescinded."
A deafening silence washed over everyone in the room, only broken by the sudden hissing of static from the Scroll. Ironwood had disconnected. "That… that can't be real. This has to be a mistake." Harriet was the first to speak up, her pink eyes wide.
"That was General Ironwood." Winter said, though even she seemed to be in disbelief of the orders they were just given.
"But he's ordering us to leave Tortuga!" Harriet was on her feet, fists clenched so tightly there were flickerings of Aura.
"You're not going to follow that, right?" Crue's voice cut through the silence. None of them would meet his eye, which immediately became home to a glare. "You're kidding."
"Orders have been given." Clover stated numbly. Crue's own fists matched Harriet's, clenching so tightly the creak of the metal on his gauntlets echoed throughout the empty room.
"You don't have to follow orders if your leader's acting like a daft cunt." Crue spat out. His words caused the Ace-Ops' heads to snap up to him at the insult to their leader.
"These orders…" Winter began, bringing all attention to her. "They do not seem like the kind General Ironwood would give out of nowhere. Something might have happened at Atlas." She looked disappointed in herself for her reasoning.
Both Harriet and Crue were about to speak up, before she continued. "However." Her icy blue eyes snapped to Clover. "The General's instructions were to return as soon as possible. If we wished to follow that through, we would need an aircraft of some kind."
"And that might take some time to acquire."
Slowly, the Ace-Ops dared to hope. "Are you suggesting that we defy the General's orders?" Vine asked, with a probably raised eyebrow.
"We are not defying the General's orders." Winter said crisply. "We are simply… going about them in a different manner."
"I can't tell if I was an amazing influence on you or a terrible one." Crue cracked a fanged smile. Winter levelled him with an annoyed stare.
"I'd rather not think of any influence you've had on me." She said, before sighing. "Unfortunately, we can only avoid these orders for so long. We will need to return to Atlas, even if we do not manage to save Tortuga."
"General Ironwood ordered all Atlesian forces back to Atlas." Elm began slowly, clearly uncomfortable with what she was about to say. "But… not all of us here are Atlesian military." Her brown eyes stared at the one she was referring to.
"Yes." Winter agreed. "That was going to be another of my points but I'm glad you brought it up. We cannot directly act against the General's orders. And we are not going to. But… we still need someone to actively go and find Tortuga while we secure transportation."
Each head stared at Crue. "No shit." He said, much to their surprise and relief. "What part of any of this made you think I wouldn't try and save her myself if you guys dipped?" He looked almost insulted at the insinuation.
"I'll get her back, but I don't think it'll be quiet. If I go to that Pastel place, I doubt Vermillion will be alone. And I doubt he'd let me just run off with Tortuga." He frowned, tapping his foot as tried to think of a plan.
"Is it wise to send him in alone?" Vine asked. "Even if he is the only one who can infiltrate this group, he is only one man." Vine tried to say it in a way that showed he meant no offence. However, he did have a point.
A point that a strange feeling in Crue's gut disagreed with. "Not alone." A shared thought suddenly pierced Crue's mind, and a smile that seemed to hold more fangs than usual slowly grew on his face.
"That just gave me an idea." Crue looked to Vine, grateful for his words. "I can get Tortuga out, and take out Vermillion in one." The Ace-Ops looked at Crue with a mixture of disbelief and worry. The idea of Crue managing that all on his own was a ridiculous one.
And yet, he seemed confident in his words. That he would manage what he had promised. And if there was anything the Ace-Ops had learned in their time chasing him, it was that if Crue set his mind on something, he would do it.
"All I need… is my gun." Crue glanced to Clover as he said it. The man in question raised an eyebrow, his teal eyes curious as to his plan. Regardless, he reached into a small satchel on his back and retrieved Crue's firearm.
He held it out from the barrel towards Crue. The Faunus reached out with a smile to take it, only to find it locked in Clover's grasp. He looked up in confusion, only to find Clover's eyes staring deep into his own.
"We're trusting you with this Crue. With the lives of one of our own. Someone else we trust. I'm only going to ask you this once." Clover's eyes barely even blinked as he stared at Crue.
"Can you save Tortuga?"
Crue's jaw tightened. His resolve doubled. He had lost people before. He had broken his promises before. It wouldn't happen again.
"I can."
"And I will."
…
Neither Kali nor Neo were in the best of moods. The latter was not uncommon, but the former was so rare you'd be more likely to wake up and find Menagerie covered in snow before seeing an angry Kali.
Even so, you wouldn't think they were as upset given their current situation. Both of them were sitting outside a rather lovely cafe, a large parasol blocking the sun and allowing Neo to enjoy the treat before her.
Shaved ice. A little different to ice cream, but still something sweet and cold. However, even such a delicious treat could not stray her mind from what happened the night before. Sun and Blake had run off in chase of a member of the White Fang who had been spying on the Belladonna household.
Neo had stayed behind to make sure Kali was protected, and such missed the ensuing scuffle between Blake, Sun and the member of the White Fang who was apparently a Chameleon Faunus called 'Illia'.
Neo's nose scrunched up at the thought of it. Someone else who could hide and blend in like her. Well, she'd just have to meet her and show her who was the better expert at subterfuge.
And she'd need to make sure the man currently watching them from a few tables across didn't get up to anything that would end poorly for him. Neo glanced at him under the brim of her hat as she spooned another heaping of shaved ice.
He appeared to be Vacuan, with a dusty silver coat and hat, he held an obnoxiously large newspaper in front of himself, but Neo could see the calluses on his fingers. Her eyes narrowed. He was clearly Huntsman trained, if the spear leaning against the table was any indication. Knowing what she did about Huntsmen, it probably turned into a bazooka or something.
No one paid any mind to him, but no one sat with him either. Neo's attention was diverted by the scraping of a chair at their table. Kali hadn't told her who they were meeting, but she seemed to favour discretion.
She didn't tell anyone else they were meeting someone, so Neo could only assume it was someone that they shouldn't be meeting. The person who pulled out the chair sat down, and Neo blinked once, her eyes switching colours as she took in the persons appearance.
A woman with a dark complexion and amber eyes sat before them. A small red gem could be seen in the middle of her forehead, though only barely, as a large white sun hat sat on her head, covering most of her face.
She wore a beige jacket and a pair of khaki pants, which didn't seem to truly suit her. "How nice of you to finally join us…" Kali put down her drink, a curious thing in the shell of a coconut, as her amber eyes glared at those of the same colour. "Sienna."
Neo's own eyes widened. So this was Sienna Khan. The woman who took over the White Fang from Ghira and Kali. "Kali." Sienna gave a small nod, before her amber eyes glanced to Neo. "And who's this? Security?"
"This is Neopolitan. A friend of my daughter." Kali explained. "And I wouldn't be talking about security, if Mr. Dark and Brooding behind me is anything to go by." Her knowing smile never left her face as she spoke.
Sienna let a frown cross her face. "I've decided to outsource. After Beacon, there have been some… concerning whispers floating around of approval." Her expression showed what she thought of that. "Like I would ever endorse attacking a Huntsman Academy."
"And even less, blaming another Faunus for it." Her posture slumped, head hanging down. "I have had to do so much damage control. And paperwork." Her arms spread across the table as Neo finally noticed the bags under her eyes.
"Hmm. Suppose running the White Fang isn't quite as easy as you thought it might be. Now, if only someone had warned you about that." Kali leaned back in her chair, bringing the straw of her drink to her lips as a coy smile made its way onto her face.
Neo was impressed. Sienna less so. The frowning woman brought her head up in an unamused stare to look at Kali. "I hope you didn't tell me to come here simply to mock me."
"No. As tempting an idea as that is, I do actually have a rather important reason for this." Kali sat up straight, bringing her hands together and meeting Sienna's eyes. "Last night, my daughter and her friend discovered a White Fang member spying on our home."
Sienna tensed. "I have ordered nothing of that sort." She seemed to be telling the truth, but her eyes did flicker over to her protection. She was worried that they wouldn't believe her and were going to try something.
"Oh, I know you wouldn't have ordered that." Kali let her words hang in the air, until Sienna let out a hiss of anger.
"Adam." "Yes." Neo felt a little lost. She could vaguely remember someone called Adam working with Cinder, but she had next to no contact with him. Roman seemed eager to make sure of that.
"Was it Illia?" Sienna asked. When Kali nodded, she sighed in anger. "Of course. I don't suppose this just randomly coincided with Illia deciding to spy on Blake on her own, did it?"
When Neo frowned in confusion, Sienna glanced in her direction and made a half-hearted effort to cover her mouth. "She had the worst crush on Blake when they were in the White Fang together. It wouldn't surprise me if she still does."
Well, that was news to Neo. "There's more." Kali continued, surprising the two that she would direct a conversation away from her daughter's love life. "She had a Scroll on her. It said that Adam is planning a repeat of the Fall of Beacon. This time at Haven."
Sienna bristled in anger, suddenly looking a lot more dangerous, even with the ridiculously floppy sun hat. "Oh, he does, does he?" Her mouth tugged downward into a vicious snarl. "Well, he can take the White Fang from my cold dead hands if he plans to do anything like that with it!"
"He does plan that as well." Kali said, without any hint of a smile. Sienna froze, looking at Kali with wide eyes. "He plans to overthrow you, Sienna." Kali's own eyes seemed concerned for the woman before her.
"He-He what?" Despite her earlier anger, she still couldn't believe what she was hearing. Neo had no idea what the history between the two was, but clearly they had worked together, and probably been friends of some sort.
To find out a person she thought she could trust was betraying her… Neo felt something squirm in her heart, remembering what she felt when she saw Crue on the train. She was rarely one to regret anything, but that was certainly up there.
"You're serious, aren't you?" Sienna murmured, eyes staring at a point on the table. "Why are you telling me this?" Her eyes met Kali's, suspicion mixed in with apprehension. There was no love lost between the two of them, so she was clearly wondering why Kali had decided to warn her.
"Despite what you may think, Sienna, and despite everything that has happened between us... I don't want you to die." Kali reached over to gently rest a hand on Sienna's.
Sienna looked as though she might yank her hand away from the contact, but she relented with a sigh. "How are you able to sit there with a smile on your face while you tell me this?" She asked.
"Years of practice." She smiled, patting her hand before bringing it back. "So, now that you know all of this... what are you going to do?" Kali had a smile on her face that truly belayed her feline heritage.
Sienna did not gain a smile, but instead a snarl that promised she would stop at nothing until Adam was quaking under her heels. "I'm going to make sure Adam doesn't do a damn thing to my Whit-" "Eh hem."
Kali interrupted with a small cough, amber eyes shining with a dangerous glint. "With the White Fang." Sienna amended. Kali gave a soft nod, and allowed Sienna to get up from her seat with a determined scowl.
"Thank you for this Kali." She still looked surprised at the help, but grateful none the less. "And I'll be sure to give Adam your thanks as well." A wink showed that those 'thanks' would probably be in the form of severe bodily harm.
"Oh, how thoughtful." Kali rested her cheek against her hand, never losing her smile. "Have fun, Sienna." She gave a short wave as the leader of the White Fang walked away. Shortly afterwards, the man from the table across got up and placed his newspaper down, leaving a few Lien.
He paused to tip the brim of his hat towards Kali, before slinging his spear over his back and following after Sienna. Neo looked to Kali with a new light, immensely impressed by what she had just witnessed.
"Well, that's that taken care of." Kali smiled.
"Why didn't you want the others to know?" Neo signed the question that had been on her mind since meeting with Sienna.
"Well, I know my dear Ghira would worry and fret over every little thing when it came to meeting Sienna. Sun is still too hurt to come along, but he's too kind a boy and definitely would have told Blake, who would have insisted she come, and then sneak along anyway when I said no."
Some fairly good points, Neo had to admit. "And of course, the less of us there are the less of an eye will be drawn." Kali continued, finishing her juice with a content sigh. "When we started the White Fang, Ghira was always the brains, the brawn and the heart."
She smiled dreamily, reminiscing of older times. "But, I was hardly one to sit by and let him do everything. You already know I was the eyes and ears." Her own feline ears twitched, reminding Neo of how easily she saw through her disguise.
"But, I was the claws too." Kali through a wink Neo's way. The smaller girl immediately wanted to know more about her exploits, wondering what she had gotten up to in the earlier days of the White Fang.
Unfortunately, it seemed the stories would have to wait. "Now, there's one more stop I want to make. I think you'll find the proprietor someone of interest." Kali stood, offering a hand to Neo. She took it, but not without a curious glance.
Kali smiled as they left their table. "He used to work in Vale, before coming here. I wouldn't be surprised if you had stopped by his shop once or twice." The two walked on into the marketplace, as Kali finally gave the name of their next location.
"Tukson's Book Trade."
Some people mentioned Tukson being alive, and don't worry, I didn't forget that. He was the first person to be saved by Crue when he decided to change the way the world played out. And he was also the first to be told by Crue that things weren't going to go well. I wonder how Neo and Blake will react to that information. Hmm.
Also in regards to Ironwood, I promise it will make sense. I'm going to be treating him with care after seeing how people reacted to him in Volume 7 and 8. That's not to say some things won't be similar, but just give a little trust. And hey, Whitley making decisions and being a good person! Hell yeah.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, let me know if you did, and as always...
Until Next Time
-Friday
