Author's Note:
Sorry about the wait. Happy Holidays. Think of this as a late Christmas Present. Anyway, enjoy the next part of Chapter 1.
-Chapter 1.2-
After the pilot finishes counting the Lein cards and checking the amount the girl was paying, the man relents.
"Alright, you can hide in the cargo hold…" he says to her.
Weiss sighs in relief and nods her head.
"However, it might be a bit… cramped back there." he adds.
Weiss rolls her eyes, "Let me guess… a lot of cargo crates?" she asked as she picked up her suitcase and weapon.
"Yeah." he says, "Now hurry up before someone notices you." he said as he boarded the airship.
Weiss boarded the craft as the engines began to roar to life. She quickly made her way to the cargo hold, where she found a place to sit that was next to the window. Soon, the airship was off to the Kingdom of Mistral.
This was it for her.
Weiss was officially leaving her only home behind. Gods above know what her future will hold. But if she has learned one thing, she does not want to be tied to her father ever again. He had become corrupted by power and wealth. And that, the ex-heiress does not want to be a part of. She'd rather lose her ties than become corrupted herself.
And now, she has gained something she had taken from her since the Fall of Beacon.
Freedom.
And she was NOT going to have it taken from her again anytime soon.
As she watched the world outside go by through the window, her eyes started to feel heavy. She thought she heard something, but by the time she tried to register it, her head was already resting on the window.
All the stress she had been holding in left her quickly and before long, it was lights out. For had found true peace.
But as she found peace and sleep, she had failed to notice the pair of glowing embers staring at her from behind a crate. It was a small Centinel type Grimm. And after a few moments of staring, it simply faded away into mist.
~o0o~
After drying off from getting drenched by the rain, the Belladonna family reunited after a long time. Blake had not seen her parents in years, not since she told them off for being cowards and not staying with the White Fang with her. She was expecting them to hate her for what she said to them that day, but this was not the time for thinking about such things.
They had enough negative emotions as it was. They don't need any Grimm attacks right now.
Sun was the first to speak and break the tension at the dining table, "So, any idea who is picking the White Fang off one by one?" he asked.
"Sadly, no." Ghira said somberly, "We have yet to even find out why they are being targeted in the first place."
Blake's eyes widened in shock. She and Sun quickly shared a look and the monkey faunus spoke up again, "Wait… you… you guys don't even know?"
Kali Belladonna raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean? Know what?" she inquired as she and Ghira shared a look of confusion on their faces.
Blake was stunned. They really didn't know about what happened at Beacon? But before she could start explaining what happened… a shrill scream of horror echoed throughout the house.
Blake was already on her feet, her weapon, Gambol Shroud, at the ready to be drawn from her back. At first, there was only silence. But then a sudden crash from the second floor of the Belladonna household shook the whole building. Before she knew it, Blake was off like a rocket, with Sun right behind her. More crashing noises were heard as she reached the source. It was coming from what was her bedroom.
She skidded to a halt in front of the door and, not really caring at the moment, kicked it off its hinges, her swords drawn and ready.
But her will to fight was almost dissolved for a moment by what she saw.
There was a close friend of hers, the White Fang's top spy and infiltrator, Ilia Amitola. And she was currently on the floor bleeding from the loss of both her legs. She was trying to crawl away from her attacker with her hands, but it was hard to do when said attacker was walking to her in a calm demeanor.
As for the attacker… Blake was only just barely making out the appearance in the dim lighting from her window on the rainy, evening sky.
It was humanoid in appearance, with long charcoal black hair tied into two braided ponytails and pale, ash-like skin. It was female in figure and she had cat ears as well atop of her head, somewhat like Blake herself. She wore a black kimono with red fur lining on the ends of the sleeves and around the neck area. A steel corset wrapped around the belly section that had the gise of an enraged beast on it. To complete the look, she wore a fierce looking, beastly-like muzzle with red fangs around the mouth region.
But it was the girl's hands and eyes that drew Blake's attention the most.
Or, when it came to the hands, the lack of them. For instead of hands, two long, pitch black tendrils danced around with dark blood-red spear-like hooks on the ends. The barbed tendrils pointing at the downed Ilia, making mock lunges at her occasionally.
Then, there were the eyes. Midnight black replaced the whites of the eyes with red, glowing irises looking down at the girl's target with murder intent clear in them.
Then the eyes shifted to glance at Blake.
There was hunger in those eyes. Like how a cougar stares down a deer before it pounces and kills the prey. And Blake found herself almost shaking in place by the look in those eyes.
Had it not been for Ilia's pleas snapping her out of it, Blake might have lost her composure and fainted by fear alone.
"Please… leave me alone… I didn't do-" the chameleon faunus tried to say.
But a black, hooked tendril just wrapped around the girl's midsection and started pulling her toward her demise. Frantic, Ilia started babbling and crying in complete fear.
But Blake had seen enough, using her ribbon, she threw her Shroud in an attempt to cut the black tendril off in one blow. But the second tendril whipped around and smacked the blade away, but it did give Sun an opening to attack. Using his gunchucks in a quick action, he forced the creature to break off its assault on Ilia and jump away. Irritated by the attack, the thing started slashing its barbed tendrils around like steel whips. They cracked on the floor, smashed furincher, and left slash marks in the walls around it.
Sun backed away from the flurry of attacks, making distance between himself and the attacker, only to find that was what the creature wanted from the start.
With a crack like thunder, the barbed tendrils lashed out and wrapped around his leg and knocked Sun off balance before yanking him off the floor. In a display of pure destructive power, the boy is sent crashing through the wall that led outside. Leaving Blake, Ilia, and the thing alone in the room.
Blake got in between Ilia and her assailant. She shifted Shroud into its pistol form and took a few shots at the creature. But the attacks were deflected by the tendrils as they started whipping around the thing's body again. Going so fast that they seemed to whistle through the air. And then, before she could fully react, there was a crack and Blake found one of the tendrils had wrapped itself around both her wrists. It yanked her up off the floor and suspended her.
The cat faunus struggled for a moment, but a sharp barb at her throat ended that in a second. All Blake could do was hang there and watch as the thing walked toward her with terrifying slowness. She kept watching as the second tendril hooked onto the muzzle and, with a clicking sound, removed the metal mask from its face.
And Blake honestly wished it was still on the creature's face.
Spreading from left to right cheek was an unnatural smile that was carved into the white flesh. Uneven and repulsive to look at. Fear was creeping into Blake's mind at the idea of what would happen next.
Then… it spoke.
"Do you mind NOT interfering? I'm doing this for the greater good."
Blake's blood froze. It sounded almost exactly like herself. No, it did sound exactly like herself! That was her voice! A complete match!
And now that she was looking at the thing in front of her, it was like looking into a broken mirror. A shattered dark mirror. Whatever this thing was, it looked like a twisted version of herself. But, something it said to her was making her blood boil.
"... Did you just say 'greater good'?" Blake whispered.
"Yes." it responded, "Just removing an evil tumor with bloody force, that's all."
"They don't deserve the crap you've been doing though!" Blake screamed, "They don't deserve to die like that! Nobody does!"
The thing growled at her and looked ready to retort but another set of footsteps made it turn to the left, just in time to deflect a gunshot from Kali Belladonna's pistol.
"The next shot won't miss, you monster!" the enraged mother shouted.
There was a moment of an eerie pause as the thing stared at Kali and Blake felt her binding become looser. Not understanding but not wanting to waste the chance to escape, Blake took it and struggled free.
Blake hit the floor and quickly picked up her swords and was about to attack… but something stopped her.
It was the look on the thing's face that halted her. Even with the sinister smile permanently slashed onto her face, the dark copy of Blake looked as if she had seen a ghost. And the next words that came from her mouth only left Blake more confused.
"... Mother?"
Author's Notes:
Sorry its so short. I kinda rushed through this one to get it ready in time for the Holidays… and I still failed at that. Sorry for that. But I do hope you had fun reading this part.
Until next time, Peace out!