Author's Notes

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT - NEW STORY

Hi everyone! A new story, my third, has launched. It's called Living The Dream, and it's a comedic/serious tale of Jaune Arc, the first huntsman to attend Beacon without aura - mainly because he's still busy trying to unlock it as he attends! Be sure to check it out!

Happy rats, and don't do crime!

Chapter 64: Hostile Takeover

In which Weiss and Penny launch a daring rescue, and Yang works out some emotions.

Blake's bow felt heavy on Weiss' head.

She wore it for a number of reasons. Firstly, it was something with which to remember her late partner, or perhaps to remember the idea of her late partner. Blake may not have been the woman everyone thought she was, but Weiss still cherished the good memories of sororal love the Rainbows had shared. Sometimes, when Weiss was alone, she liked to close her eyes and pretend that it was all a lie, and Blake had been a good person all along. It felt disrespectful to Russel, may the Brothers rest his soul, but it wasn't like it would hurt him now. She'd done the same with Winter, and…as much as it ashamed her to admit it, but there was a time when she used to shut her eyes and pretend that Faunus were still animals, way back when. It meant nothing…just a way to cope.

Secondly, the bow reminded her of her promise to the Faunus. Her family and the company behind it had done so much to hurt them, but now she had a chance to turn it all around. The bow was a constant reminder of her responsibility to restore honor to the Schnee name. It was the heavy burden she'd laid upon her head, and yet it was the crown of opportunity with which she adorned herself.

Thirdly, she couldn't bring herself to take it off.

It ruined her all monochromatic aesthetic, but Weiss liked the contrast of black and white that faced back at her in the hand mirror. She offset the bow slightly, making her look slightly like a palette-swapped Penny, who sat next to her. The robotic girl had accompanied her from Beacon back to their mutual kingdom of origin. As they'd travelled, they'd spent some time producing evidence quashing rumors of Weiss' death. Videos of Weiss announcing her and her team's survival were circulating around private social media sites, but there still remained major companies broadcasting about how tragic her untimely end had been. Newspapers could be daft, but never had they been this daft; Weiss suspected that someone was trying to manipulate the narrative, though she knew not who.

The White Fang and their mysterious backer were obvious potential culprits, but Blake claimed that they'd recorded Weiss calling Faunus animals with security cameras in the hospital. If they truly wished to discredit her, as their original plan had been, they stood to benefit more by embracing news of her survival and releasing said video. It would've been perfect for them too. The public, both those aware and unaware of her death, was still under the impression that she was opposed to positive Faunus-human interactions due to her falsified comments in the Vytal Festival Tournament. Ruby had filmed testimony corroborating Weiss' account of Blake's actions, but without concrete evidence it must've looked to most like one human defending another. The public was ripe for the manipulating…so why wasn't the White Fang pressing their advantage?

Weiss didn't believe it was them. They were a guerrilla terrorist organization, so she doubted they even had the means to control the media. Besides, Blake had wanted to keep all of her ties to them secret, and several news agencies were slowly beginning to connect the White Fang to the attack, even if they were still mistaken about the total body count.

Either way, she and Penny had more pressing matters.

"Are you sure you would like me to accompany you, Friend Weiss?" asked Penny. "This appears to be a familial matter. I am not sure your brother would appreciate an automaton interloper as you two reunite."

"We'll do this together. It's the only way we can."

"It is your choice, Friend Weiss."

Weiss nodded. "Besides, I need a partn– someone to watch my back. If the White Fang has truly infiltrated the Schnee manor, things may get hairy."

"Worry not. I am–"

"–combat ready," she finished. "I know, Penny. I know."

General Ironwood had provided the pair with a bullhead for transport, which they'd happily accepted. He'd offered to lend her a specialist squad, but Weiss declined. This was her home, and she wasn't going to turn it into some sort of shooting range for soldiers. Besides, given how fondly Winter had written of her trusted commanding officer in her letters, Weiss wouldn't have put it past the general to assign her sister to her in some misguided attempt to reconcile the two. James Ironwood was supposedly akin to a second father to Winter. Actually, he was probably the first father, since Jacques had never been the paternal type.

Weiss had blocked her sister's number from all calls and messages. She might've given Winter a second chance eventually, but the text she'd received the morning after the attack on Team Rainbow had killed any possibility of that. Then-Deputy Goodwitch had informed the other academies' headmasters of Ozpin's death and the White Fang plot that had transpired simultaneously (apparently a coincidence, though Weiss didn't buy a word of that). Ironwood had told Winter, and Winter hadn't hesitated to send a few words of support to Weiss following her trying ordeal.

Weiss felt a minor stirring of guilt at having shut her well-intentioned sister out of her life. Fortunately, a brief glance at Winter's message managed to quash that weakness.

Winter: I'm so sorry to hear about what happened, Weiss. Don't worry – I don't blame you for not listening to me. We all make mistakes. Even I trusted one of their kind once. It's not your fault, and I forgive you for what you said when we fought.

Penny leaned over and glanced at Weiss' scroll. "She may have been right about Blake's allegiances, but that does not make her right about all other matters, Friend Weiss."

Weiss snorted. "I'll say."

"Father often suggests I be more judicious in my determination of friends, as not all have my best interests as heart. He says that although I may wish to befriend and please everyone, I should never feel that I owe someone my friendship. It is advice most prudent, which you may wish to heed."

Penny had shown up on the scene first and had been instrumental in saving Yang's life, not to mention minimizing the damage to Ruby's eyes, preventing her from bleeding out or getting them infected. There was no one in Solitas that Weiss trusted more, so she'd taken the robot on as a confidant in the matter of her sisterly spat. Advice from a peer within her age group was a blessing.

H̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶a̶l̶r̶e̶a̶d̶y̶ ̶f̶o̶u̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶ ̶r̶e̶p̶l̶a̶c̶e̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶p̶a̶r̶t̶n̶e̶r̶,̶ ̶W̶e̶i̶s̶s̶?̶ ̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶o̶d̶y̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶s̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶w̶a̶r̶m̶…̶

"Are you ready?" Weiss blurted out. "Uh…for our arrival, I mean. At the manor."

"The bullhead will not land for another twelve minutes, Friend Weiss."

"Yeah, but…let's check that we're good and ready now."

"Very well. Are you ready, Friend Weiss?"

"I'm ready."

"Sensational! I am ready as well."

"Me too."

The next twelve minutes were probably the most awkward of Weiss' life, though Penny did not seem to mind. Or notice.

The silence of solitude was calming. Yang wasn't exactly in a talkative mood as she pounded the trees around their cabin into sawdust with her fists. An axe was nearby, but she was feeling like using her hands today.

Stupid Beacon.

Headmistress Goodwitch said she would be welcome back anytime, but it wasn't like Yang could just solo the next two and a half years. It was a perfectly polite gesture that was completely devoid of any real substance. But hey, at least Goodbitch could feel good about herself. She'd offered, and that's all that counts, right?

Stupid Ruby.

Yeah, what a great idea, Sis! Run away! Weiss fled, so you might as well too. It's not like your sister might have needed you after losing an arm and learning that her girlfriend died. Nah, Mistral and your stupid boytoy are more important. Zwei will be enough to pick up what you left behind.

Stupid Castles.

Inviting her to join them on some Grimm hunting trip like nothing had happened, like it was time to go back to business as usual. Oh, you guys need a little backup on some mission and thought of me? Well, did you think that maybe I want to be alone for a little while?

Stupid Weiss.

Murdering Blake.

Stupid Dad.

Yes, I'm sure Ruby's arm fits fine. Yes, I'm sure I don't want anything else to eat. Yes, I'm sure that I don't need another blanket. Yes, I'm sure I'd prefer not to talk about it. Yes, I'm sure that I want you to leave me alone.

Stupid Dove.

Wishing her prosperity when he and Ruby left Patch had to be some kind of cruel joke. Did he not see the state she was in? Things were not exactly looking prosperous for Yang at the moment. It was just like Goodbitch – asking because they wanted to sleep easier, not because they genuinely had anything to offer to Yang.

Stupid Russel and Russel and Pyrrha.

Going and dying and…and…

They weren't the only ones who suffered that night. Yang had suffered too.

Stupid Bla– Stupid B– Stupid Uncle Qrow.

What mission or whatever he was doing could he possibly be on that was so time-consuming that he couldn't be bothered to visit his own niece? Yang bet that he was out with Ruby, frolicking in Mistral on some fool's errand. She wasn't even his own blood relative, but Qrow seemed to care more about her than Yang.

Stupid Team Rainbow.

They'd all turned on Blake at the first chance they could. Blake was not White Fang – she used to be, but she left of her own free will. Everyone on Team Rainbow knew that, but for some reason they chose to pile up the blame on an easy target. Blake wasn't even alive to defend herself as they all slandered her to the world. Something bad happened? Oh, it was the filthy Faunus. Probably a terrorist. Yang expected that from Weiss, but she thought she'd raised her Ruby to be better.

Yang had watched that video again and again and again and again, on loop for hours at a time. Weiss had accused her own partner, a woman she claimed to love, of being a murderer. Yang couldn't believe she'd defended the rich bitch after the racist shit she said in the doubles round.

Had everyone gone as blind as Ruby? Weiss' weapon was what had been used to inflict the damage. There were still the remnants of a Schachmatt shaped hole in Yang's stomach. Weiss flips out, goes on a killing spree, and somehow it's all Blake's fault. Typical Schnee. The rich could literally get away with murder. It wasn't fair.

It wasn't fair. Blake had kissed Yang. Blake loved her. Why couldn't Weiss have just accepted that? Why did she have to decide that if she couldn't have Blake, no one could?

Stupid Weiss.

Stupid, stupid Schnee.

The last tree collapsed. Yang now stood alone in a field of stumps.

And she cried.

She cried for the horrible things she was thinking about her family. Ruby had begged Yang to come with her, only to be rebuffed every time. Dad cared about her, and he was desperately trying to protect Yang from falling into the same depression that had destroyed him when Mom died. Uncle Qrow was nowhere to be found, but Ruby, with her blindness and her perilous quest, needed more help than Yang did, with her petty tantrums.

And blood had never mattered to him. It shouldn't matter to Yang, either.

She cried for the way she pushed away her friends. The Castles were trying to break her out of her funk by taking her mind off things. Goodwitch couldn't change the fact that Yang had no team, and it was unreasonable to expect that of her. She was doing her best. Dove didn't deserve to have his head bit off when he'd said goodbye to an old friend. Team Adventure had been torn apart, and Yang was a coward for being bitter that their pain distracted people from her own.

She cried for Weiss.

Weiss, who may have saved her life. Weiss, who may have saved her baby sister's life. Weiss, who she still couldn't bring herself to forgive, and she still wasn't sure.

It was tough to make a choice. Yang hadn't been there, or she hadn't been conscious at least. One moment, she was swapping spit with Blake, the next she was waking up in Patch, down an arm and down a teammate. Yang trusted Weiss with her life, but she also would've trusted Blake the same. It was an impossible dilemma – a close friend claiming self-defense and a dead body that wasn't going to be giving its side of the story. Ruby tipped the balance in Weiss' favor, but Yang had been desperate for something and pressed her, and Rubes had admitted to only hearing part of the conversation. She'd missed the part where Blake apparently confessed. All that Ruby could say for certain was that Weiss had accused Blake of being White Fang, and Blake hadn't explicitly refuted it.

It was possible that Weiss had prevented a terrorist plot, or it was possible that Blake was innocent and Weiss had tricked them all. Yang couldn't be sure, but she knew which one she wanted to be true.

"This reminds me of the night we met, Friend Weiss," Penny noted as her swords batted aside White Fang grunts.

"They put up more of a fight back then," said Weiss. "This feels too easy."

Penny had done a heat scan of the manor before they rushed in, but there had only been about eight heat signatures, all located in Father's study. Five of those Faunus had gone down without much of a fight. Blake had made it sound like there was an army of White Fang soldiers that had seized her family's home, but these guys went down easier than any of the other factions she'd fought. Maybe, between the damage she'd done to their numbers at the docks and Mountain Glenn, they'd run out of competent soldiers. Or maybe not.

"Stay on your guard, Penny. This reeks of a trap."

"Affirmative!"

Of the three remaining White Fang members, only one was armed with a real gun. His trembling companions held a candelabra and a faux lance from the decorative suit of armor. The armed one screamed and fired at Weiss, but a well-aimed laser bolt from Penny's sword cut his weapon in two. The other two dropped their makeshift weapons and raised their hands in surrender.

"Cowards!" raged the first. He drew a knife that Weiss hadn't seen, but instead of leaping at the huntresses, drove it blade-first into one of his companion's chests. He pulled it out and tried to stab the other remaining soldier, but Weiss hastily summoned a Glyph and blocked the blade before it went further than an inch deep.

Penny shot another laser, burning his hand. The wounded Faunus cradled it, then made a biting motion. His mouth grew frothy, and he fell to the floor in spasms. Weiss ran to his side and grabbed his collar, hoping to interrogate him, but it was too late.

"Friend Weiss. This Faunus is still alive."

Weiss dropped the dead Faunus and inspected the one who she'd saved. Blood was pouring out of her chest, but she was still just barely conscious.

"Where's my brother? Where's Whitley?"

"Why…tell…Schnee?"

"Because your plan has failed, but mine hasn't. I'm going to change the SDC and make it better, but I can't do that if I'm busy looking for Whitley."

The dying Faunus coughed up blood. "Belladonna has him in the…"

She continued talking, but Weiss zoned out. Blake. It had always been about Blake. No matter how far she ran, life always wrapped back to her. How long was Blake's specter going to haunt Weiss? How wide was her partner's shadow that she could not escape it even across the vast oceans and swaths of land separating the kingdoms?

"Friend Weiss?"

Weiss looked down. The Faunus was dead.

"Shoot. Now we have no idea where they're keeping Whitley!"

"The Faunus confessed that his location was in Generator Room 3 of the Annex with the last agent of the White Fang that was assigned on this mission. Did you not hear her? Perhaps you should run a diagnostic of your audio systems –"

"No, I just got distracted. I'm sorry. I'll be more focused from now on."

"Understood. Let us rescue Friend Whitley."

Weiss sent Penny to fly overhead and act as a sniper in the sky, in the event that negotiations went south. They weren't going to be able to punch their way out of this one while Whitley was still held hostage. Weiss just hoped that the White Fang holding him would see logic and admit that their cause was a lost one.

If it was someone like the noble lieutenant in Mountain Glenn, Whitley may yet live to see another day.

If it was someone like Adam…

Let's hope they're more like the lieutenant.

Weiss entered the security code and walked through the door. It was impossible to hear anything as the rows and rows of monstrous generators whirred. Weiss stepped slowly past the machines, checking the space in between each of them as she went. It took a conscious effort on her part not to reach for her weapon as she peered into the tight spaces and hidden nooks of the large annex building.

The generators were organized in a pair of four by four grids with several feet of space between them, which meant that no matter where Weiss stood, there would always be multiple blind spots in the large building. Whoever had Whitley knew that Weiss was in here, and they knew she was searching for them…if, of course, that Faunus had been telling the truth and this wasn't all just a wild goose chase.

If Blake or someone as stealthy as her were in here, I'd never be able to find her. She could knock out Whitley, carry his body, and just lose me in the maze of generators. It's too noisy to hear footsteps. How do I do this?

Weiss reached the other side of the room without seeing hide nor hair of her brother or the White Fang agent. Looking around blindly was a waste of time. If she was going to save her brother, she needed to be crafty. Weiss pulled out her scroll and texted Penny, receiving an instantaneous reply.

Weiss: Can you see anyone in the building with your heat sensing?

Penny: Negative. The generators are too large and produce too much waste heat to identify a human signature nearby. Do you need me to enter?

Weiss: No. Just stay outside and make sure nobody leaves.

So, there they were: her, her enemy, and her enemy's hostage were all stuck in a birdcage. Slowly, she walked along the walls of the building, circling around the generators in hopes of seeing something. Still, not a glimpse. Going around and around was not a valid strategy. What if the enemy got tired of hiding and decided to harm Whitley?

An idea popped into her head. Unhooking Schachmatt from her belt and placing it gently upon the ground, Weiss covered the floor around her in a thin sheet of ice – just enough to still remain invisible. When she was done, she continued in the direction she'd been heading. Now, it was just a matter of time before–

THUMP!

Weiss turned around and dashed to the location of the ice. Whitley and the Faunus with him were frantically trying to pull themselves to their feet. The White Fang agent wasn't wearing the characteristic uniform or Grimm mask.

"No!" she screamed at Weiss. "No! I won't let you hurt him!"

Weiss locked eyes with the Faunus and fell to her knees.

"B-Blake?" Weiss asked.

Omake

Weiss: I can't bring myself to take off this bow.

Penny: I understand. You wear it to keep the memory of your partner alive.

Weiss: No, it's literally stuck on my head. It won't come off.

Blake's ghost, holding a bottle of glue: Heheheh. Revenge…

Next Chapter: Bounty – In which Penny plans ahead, Jaune sees more than he was supposed to, and Yang moves on.

Author's Notes

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT - NEW STORY

Hi everyone! A new story, my third, has launched. It's called Living The Dream, and it's a comedic/serious tale of Jaune Arc, the first huntsman to attend Beacon without aura - mainly because he's still busy trying to unlock it as he attends! Be sure to check it out!

Okay, that's the last of my promos for Living The Dream.

From now on, imagine Weiss with a Blake bow. I kinnnnnda forget to mention it after this (sort of like Yang's short hair), and it would feel cringey just for me to go in and drop lines about the boy being on Weiss' head without it coming up naturally in the conversation. so just remember to visualize it from here on out.

Expect heavy Yangst from here on out.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!