Chapter 16: Devils and Demons
Yang was alone, lying on her back on top of the roof of the White Fang's warehouse headquarters. She was in her human form, but she wasn't too worried about getting caught. None of the White Fang members ever came up here, and why should they? Although Yang almost wished one of them would. She was in a particularly foul mood, and it would have been nice to have some poor chump she could use as a punching bag to vent her frustration on.
It was an overcast day, and Yang was staring up at a bleak and dreary sky. She was trying to figure out how everything had gone so wrong. Despite the fact that her cunning plan to trick Blake into finally getting some sleep had worked flawlessly, the White Fang attack on Weiss, fake or otherwise, had instantly dragged Blake right back into the same self-destructive habits Yang had been trying to break her out of. Yang was certain that at this rate Blake was going to work herself to death before Yuma could get around to overthrowing her. And Yang couldn't seem to do anything about it. There was no way Blake would fall for her tricks a second time.
Yang raised her hand up into the air like she was trying to grasp the sky. For the first time ever, a tiny part of her asked why she didn't just leave. She could literally fly away right now and be free of this whole catastrophe. But was that really freedom worth having?
The thought crossed Yang's mind that she'd never really lived on her own. She'd spent twenty-three years with her mother and her tribe, and she'd only truly escaped them once she'd met Blake. She wondered if maybe it was time for her to learn to live for herself. The only problem was she didn't want to live for herself. She didn't want that kind of so-called freedom. Her life with Blake, both the one on an adventure to kidnap the daughter of the richest man in the world and the one quietly living on the outskirts of Atlas in a cabin, had been everything she'd ever dreamed of. She would pay almost any price to have that life back; if only she could figure out what price the universe was demanding of her.
Yang lowered her arm. In her opinion, the White Fang was the real problem. But what could she do about them? Even if she beat up and personally delivered every last one of them to the police, she'd end up driving Blake away in the process.
As Yang lay there brooding, a voice began filtering up through a broken skylight nearby. Yang didn't pay much attention to it at first, but her ears perked up when she caught a snippet of conversation that sounded like someone saying Blake's name.
Yang tilted her head up until she was looking across the roof at the skylight, although it was upside down from her perspective. More words were drifting up through it, but Yang couldn't quite make them out. She rolled onto her stomach and crawled closer to the skylight. Once she reached it, she peered in.
Below Yang was the small section of warehouse floor that had been walled off by old cargo containers to serve as the High Leader's throne room. The throne itself was empty, but Yuma and Tock were standing in front of it. Yuma stepped up onto the dais and sat down on the throne. He struck a regal pose and asked Tock, "How do I look?"
Tock was holding her sheathed saber. She set its tip on the floor and leaned on it like a cane. Then she cocked her head to the side before shaking it.
"Funny," Yuma said in a manner that made it clear he hadn't found it funny at all. "But you'd better get used to seeing me sitting here."
Tock arched one of her eyebrows.
"What?" Yuma asked. "Still not planning on sticking around once the job's done?"
Tock shook her head no.
"You should reconsider," Yuma said. "You and me would make an unstoppable force. You can even cut your 'partner' in on the deal if you want. Despite his shortcomings."
Tock's perpetual grin got a little wider. It was obvious to Yang that Tock had found Yuma's offer to be tritely amusing.
A small voice suddenly said, "Hello?"
Yang looked over toward the curtain that functioned as the throne room's door. A woman with white hair and sheep-like ears was poking her head inside.
Yuma stood and stepped off the dais. He and Tock started walking toward the woman. Yuma said in an approximation of a friendly tone, "Fiona. Don't just stand there. Come in."
Yang saw an opportunity with Yuma and Tock distracted. She transformed and hopped through the skylight. Then she unfurled her wings and silently glided over to the top of one of the cargo containers near the curtain. There was just enough space between it and the warehouse's rafters for her to perch on the ledge there.
The woman Yuma had called Fiona slunk the rest of the way into the throne room. She was rather short, and her White Fang uniform looked like it was slightly too big for her. She appeared to be incredibly nervous, and she was clutching her hands tightly against her chest.
Fiona asked, "W-why did you want to see me?"
Yuma said, "Because I need your help."
"My help?" Fiona asked, sounding surprised. "With what?"
Yuma gave Fiona a creepy smile. He said, "Belladonna's got to go."
"Now? Already?" Fiona asked. "I thought you were going to give her more time!"
"You heard her the other day," Yuma said. "Some of our brothers and sisters finally struck a blow against the humans again, and what does Belladonna do? Gives us a lecture on being good little submissive members of society. She might as well have been telling us to roll over and surrender."
"But I heard the attack wasn't even us! The White Fang that is," Fiona said.
"That's even worse," Yuma said. "That means we're letting others fight our battles for us."
"I don't know…" Fiona said. She looked down at her feet.
Yuma put his hand on Fiona's shoulder. He said, "You should know better than any of us. Belladonna's methods won't work."
Fiona grimaced. She didn't look up, but she did pull far enough away from Yuma that his hand slipped off her shoulder.
Yuma lowered his hand and said, "You worked so hard to get Robyn, sorry, 'Councilwoman Hill' into power, and what's come of it? I'm sure she thinks she's doing her best. But you can't use legitimate power to force the humans to treat us as equals. Not when they get to decide what's 'legitimate'. If the world worked that way the White Fang would've never needed to exist in the first place."
Fiona's eyes started creeping upward.
"Don't make the same mistake twice," Yuma said. "Not when you can do better this time."
"What do you need me to do?" Fiona quietly asked.
"Belladonna won't go down without a fight. And she's dangerous. Very dangerous," Yuma said. "But with your semblance…."
"It doesn't work on living things!" Fiona interjected.
"But I'd bet it'd work on Belladonna's sword," Yuma said. "If you disarmed her with your little black hole hand—"
"Pocket dimension!" Fiona corrected.
"Pocket dimension," Yuma said. "Then maybe we won't even need to fight her. I'm sure Belladonna's got enough sense in her head to know when she's outgunned."
Fiona's lips pressed together. Then she nodded yes.
"That's a good girl," Yuma said. "Don't try anything until I tell you. The opportune moment is almost here. I can feel it."
"Okay," Fiona quietly said. She reached for the curtain.
"Oh, and Fiona," Yuma said.
Fiona paused and glanced at Yuma.
"Don't tell a soul about this," Yuma said, his voice suddenly dripping with menace.
Fiona swallowed hard. She nervously nodded and rapidly made her escape through the curtain.
Once Fiona was gone, Yuma said to Tock, "Cute kid. I hope she lives. If not, oh well."
Tock, unsurprisingly, didn't have anything to say on the matter.
"Make sure everyone knows the last piece is in place," Yuma said. "And tell them not to go off half-cocked. We only get one shot at this. It needs to go perfectly."
Tock nodded.
Yuma, apparently satisfied, left through the curtain as well.
Up above, Yang's heart was pounding in her chest. Things were already so much worse than she thought. But she didn't fly away to warn Blake yet. Maybe, just maybe, she could learn a little bit more by observing Tock.
Tock turned and started walking away from the curtain and toward the throne with a spring in her step. She lifted her saber and rested it against her shoulder. But then she did the last thing Yang would have ever expected her to do. She paused, slowly spun around, lifted her head, and looked directly at Yang.
Yang would have been sweating bullets if she'd been capable of sweating at the moment. She had obviously been caught, but she knew she needed to play it cool. As far as Tock was concerned, she was just a bird. A well-trained and unusually intelligent bird perhaps, but still just a bird.
Tock looked amused by something. She lowered her sheathed saber and touched its tip to the floor. Then she used it to trace out the shape of the letter Y.
Now Yang was nothing short of panicked, but she refused to give up her charade just yet.
Tock waited for a reaction. When she got none, she traced out the shape of an A. Her grin got even wider. Then she traced out an N.
Yang finally reached her breaking point. She didn't wait for the G that was sure to follow. She hopped off the cargo container and immediately transformed. Her boots hit the concrete floor with a resounding thud, and solid Dust blades extended from both of her bracers. She marched up to the smaller Tock and loomed over her with as much menace as she could muster, which was a lot. She angrily asked, "How do you know who I am!?"
Tock's smile took on a sinister edge. She blinked very overtly. And when her eyes opened again, they were no longer yellow. One eye was now pink, and the other was brown. She blinked a second time, and the colors swapped sides.
Yang took a few steps backward, her bravado fading. She said, "Neo!?"
Tock, or rather Neo, lifted her saber. It shimmered for a moment before the illusion covering it faded, revealing that it was really a pink parasol.
Yang's mind was reeling. In an instant, so much had been explained, and yet so many more questions had been posed. But among Yang's frantic thoughts, one in particular rose to the surface. Blake was in even more danger than she'd thought.
Every instinct in Yang's body was screaming at her to attack Neo right then and there. But she knew the commotion would bring more White Fang members running, and all they would see was a human fighting one of their "sisters". As much as Yang believed she could take on any White Fang goon in the warehouse, the more rational part of her brain was telling her not to fight Neo when it wouldn't be a one-on-one. And even more important than any of that, she had to warn Blake right away.
Yang's blades retracted back into her bracers. In an instant, she transformed into an eagle and flapped her wings hard. She shot up through the skylight and then dove back down again toward the side of the warehouse. Within seconds, she was whizzing through the window that led into Blake's office.
Yang had just enough time to see that only Blake and Ilia were in the office before she transformed back into a human. She'd built up considerable momentum, and her feet skidded against the floor as she touched down. However, she managed to stay upright.
"Yang?!" Blake said. She had her mask on, but it was still clear to see that she'd been startled by Yang's dramatic entrance.
Yang rushed over to Blake, saying, "We've got to go, and we've got to go now!"
"What are you talking about?" Blake asked, sounding confused.
Yang quickly glanced over at Ilia who looked just as bewildered as Blake had sounded. Yang wasn't surprised Ilia was there. She'd been helping Blake investigate the attack the other day. However, in Yang's mind, none of that mattered now. She said, "Tock is actually Neo! Which means Torchwick is in on this too!"
"What?!" Blake exclaimed.
Ilia asked, "Torchwick? Isn't he…? Does that mean the attack the other day really wasn't any of us?"
"Who cares!?" Yang said. "Blake and I are leaving!"
"Yang!" Blake said. "I'm not going anywhere."
"You told me you would, if things got too dangerous!" Yang said.
"It's not to that point yet," Blake said.
"Yuma's openly plotting against you! He's somehow got Torchwick and Neo working with him! He's convinced Fiona you're no good!" Yang shouted.
Ilia muttered, "Fiona too?"
"When does it get dangerous enough!?" Yang demanded to know.
Blake didn't respond. Her mask hid her expression, and for the first time in a long time, Yang was having difficulty reading Blake's body language.
Out of frustration, Yang grabbed the front of Blake's robes with both of her hands and asked, "When, Blake!?"
A suffocating quiet settled over the room. Yang suddenly realized that something was very wrong. She looked down at her hands which were still clutching Blake's robes. She knew for a fact that under ordinary circumstances she would have just inadvertently triggered a panicked response from Blake. Whatever Blake was feeling at the moment, it ran even deeper than any trauma Adam had left her with. That must have been why Yang couldn't read Blake's body language. This was something she'd never seen before.
"Yang…" Ilia of all people said. She even had the audacity to sound sympathetic. "What you've never understood is that some things are worth dying for."
Blake reached up and removed her mask. There were tears running down her cheeks, but her face was hardened with resolve. She whispered, "I'm sorry, Yang."
Yang let go of Blake. She finally understood what was happening. Blake had no intention of abandoning the White Fang. She'd never had any intention of abandoning them. She was willing to die to try to save them if it came to that.
Yang quietly asked, "Aren't some things worth living for too? Aren't I worth living for?"
"Yang…. I…." Blake said.
Yang took a few steps back.
Blake reached a hand out. She said, "Yang, please—"
Yang never heard the rest of what Blake had to say. She transformed and flew out the office window at top speed. Atlas rushed past her as she flapped her wings harder and harder until the world around her faded into a blur. Dread chased after her, nipping at her talons, and a solitary thought ran through her mind, playing on repeat. Blake was going to die, and she had no idea how to save her.
Author's Note: Yes, as I know some of you figured out, Tock was Neo the whole time. The real Tock suffered the same fate as her canon counterpart. Also, if she was still alive, she'd be really old. Why did Neo use Tock as her disguise? No reason really other than I like Tock. Her character design is magnificent.
I don't think there's anything in canon that says Fiona can't use her semblance on living things, but I decided she needed a nerf. Got to keep the dramatic tension preserved and all that! Her semblance is basically an I Win button.
As always, I welcome constructive criticism. Please feel free to leave a review. And if you like what you've read, taking the time to favorite and/or follow really helps me out. You can also find me on tumblr (electronicyarn) if you want to send me a message or be notified of updates.