Unity
Earlier that day…
Neo stood atop a tall building, smirking as she saw the chaos unfold. Countless Ursa's, Beowulf's, and a few Giant Snake Grimm ransacked the streets of Vale. Their only deterrent, a few teen hunters in training and one school professor? Neo would honestly laugh right now if not for the fact she would give her position away. Then there was the fact she was mute, something that irritated her to no end as she wanted nothing more right now than to mock these seemingly pathetic children's attempts to play hero.
"Might as well kick back and let the carnage unfold till Roman gets here." Neo thought to herself as she sat on the edge of the roof, kicking her feet merrily as she looked at her scroll waiting for a reply from her lover. She had sent him her coordinates earlier, confidant he wouldn't have been captured and would meet up with her soon. Confidence that began chipping away as a half hour passed and he still hadn't responded.
"Where is he? I know he's no martial artist or hunter, but he could handle a few teenage girls and a train crash…. Right?" That question to herself brought a chill to her spine that made her already pale skin turn ghost white as she eyed the wrecked train and began to have doubts of his survival infect her heart. It was pretty messed up, flames spewing out the sides and windows shattered, a few tracks from underground being upended and lodged in the walls.
She almost gagged at the possibility one could have pierced him. As if that wasn't bad enough, those teenage girls she mocked earlier, they began cutting down the hordes of Grimm near effortlessly. Neo was shocked as she saw little red twirl and gun down a dozen hounds circling her in an instant. Blake and Weiss used the latters semblance to enhance multiple shadow clones with her glyphs to crash into a group of Ursa's, creating an explosion of ice dust and black ash that nearly rocked Neo off the roof. What really shocked her was the blond girl Yang she had beaten up earlier.
"She still has aura?" Neo thought, amazed at Yang's resilience as the girl's hair ignited and she jammed her fist into a Snake Grimm, incinerating its innards at the beast spewed fire from its mouth and painfully screeched before disintegrating.
Neo's jaw in fact hung open as she eyed this teams amazing abilities. With her awe came a deeper sense of dread and fear that Roman was captured by these girls or worse….
"N-No he… they couldn't have…" She thought fearfully. The blond girl practically had reeked of bloodlust in their fight earlier whenever she lunged at her or tried to pound her fist into Neo's head. She honestly didn't put it past these girls to try and kill Roman, a fear growing ever more powerful. That fear was soon sensed by a Nevermore, whose screech startled Neo, almost threatening to knock Neo off the roof as she managed to frantically push herself backwards, falling awkwardly on her back on the rooftop painfully.
The bird Grimm didn't fail to notice her vulnerability and dive-bombed towards her, blaring razor-sharp talon's that grew ever closer to the pink and brown haired assassin, who struggled to collect herself. As she wobbled and stood upright, she gasped as she caught sight of those blade-like black claws inches away from her face. Was this it? Was she going to die? Become bird food?
Her question was soon answered as the claws suddenly pulled away from her face as the bird Grimm screeched painfully. Neo gasped as she saw a hole in the bird's chest from a blast. The bird Grimm head spasm as it soon fell backwards like she had, falling down the building Neo stood on before crashing to the ground, black feathers scattering in the air like snow.
Neo shook as she plopped on her knees, crawling to the edge of the roof to see the beast that nearly killed her turning to ash. She was about to question where that blast came from before a shadow enveloped her and she looked up to see the source, a large Atlesian military gunship with its forward canons smoking.
"Why is the Atlas military in Vale? Wait…. Did these kids call them in?!" Neo thought to herself, shocked by the possibility. She assumed by the uniform of that Beacon professor with them those girls were also from the Academy, so how did they have ties to the Atlas military? Neo's question's would have to wait, as she the teenagers team up with the Atlesian's and decimate the remaining Grimm, actually impressed once again when she saw Ruby and a white haired teenager with a demon transformation semblance rip apart a large Grimm within seconds. Her respect for those two vanished quickly, however, when she saw their bosses come out the wreckage of that ruined Train with non other than Roman himself.
"Hey! Watch the hat!" Roman yelled so loud she could hear him on the roof. She grunted in anger as two Atlas soldiers roughly handled her lover and shoved him into the gunship that had previously saved her life. She gripped her umbrella; it's hidden blade shining as it shook as Neo was itching to stab them with it. How dare they handle her man like that?!
She soon took a deep breath and eyed the scene before her. 2 Teams of teenage hunters, 1 professor of Beacon, a teenage demon girl, and 2 Atlas detectives plus a gunship. She'd have to have an army with her to handle all that head on. She shook her head, as she knew it was suicidal, so she decided stealth was the best bet. She grinned as she eyed the ship holding her man, getting a wicked idea.
Using her semblance, Neo turned into an Atlas guard and smirked, confidant she could infiltrate the ship and then take off with the added bonus of maybe using those blasters to gun down those teens and hunters for daring to capture Roman.
"Interesting Semblance." A rough voice roared behind her, making Neo jolt as she twisted her back, aiming her umbrella blade at the source of that voice, a red haired bull Faunus wearing a white fang mask, whose red sword parried the blade and kept it in place. Neo's eyes widen as she felt her arms freeze in place with her weapon. She could feel immense power in this man's blade and firm arms that held her back. He was clearly stronger than her, that revelation making her shudder a bit as she realized she couldn't win head on, she had to be smart but wasn't coming up with any ideas on the spot.
The bull Faunus, Adam Taurus, smirked, enjoying the hell out of this girls fear, it was fitting to him, making him glad he stole Roman's scroll before he was arrested and found her location per his partners orders. He took out said scroll and waived it at Neo, who formed a bitter death glare as she realized how the Faunus found her, which amused Adam to no end.
"Scared? Angry? Good, you filthy humans are finally beginning to understand how you made us Faunus feel for decades! Believe me, I'd rather let that Roman asswipe get wrecked in jail, but my partner could really use him. So I have a proposal for you." He said as he slowly reached for his mask.
Neo raised an eyebrow as she undid her transformation, her eyes soon widening in terror as she saw his face unveiled. His left eye was burned and scarred deep red, with the Schnee Dust Company logo imbedded in his skin, there was no way the eye was functioning. She was really grateful the other wasn't the same, as she grew sick to her stomach seeing the scar, almost gagging. Adam groaned seeing her reaction, it fueled his anger for Atlas and the SDC whenever people reacted like that, which was the only reason he wasn't slicing up this human before him, as he knew she had something to give him right now.
"Gross right? You can thank Atlas and the rest of your shitty kind for that! So here's the deal, you come with me and help me do a little errand. Then we can go to Atlas with some friends of mine bust Roman out of prison, and I get to gut a few humans there other than you while we're at it, DEAL?" Adam asked menacingly, his tone hoarse with a calm rage that made Neo tremble.
As much as her instincts screamed to run away and avoid this dangerous man, the thought of hers rotting in an Atlas jail cell was an even more sickening fear. Not to mention she felt the second she turned her back or fought back she'd be sliced open by that menacing blade of Adam's. All Neo could do was slowly nod her head in compliance, to Adam's amusement.
"Good, now come along. My partner will tell you the plan and help us get ready." Adam sternly said as he sheaved his blade and motioned her to follow him.
As Neo slowly walked with the man, she paused before heading downstairs as she heard the sound of engines roaring and turned around. She saw the gunship that carried her lover in it fly off in the distance, which fueled a fire within her to burn her fear away. She was going to get him back even if she had to sell her soul to a devil.
"Hang on Roman, we'll be together again soon." Neo thought solemnly as she entered the dark staircase, vanishing with Adam into the shadows.
Later at Beacon…
A chilling silence filled the room occupied by Ruby and Blake. Ruby's eyes widen as she heard this shocking news from her teammate.
"She was involved…. With this murderer?!" Ruby thought to herself, willing with all her might not to scream this shocking revelation as she saw Blake fold her arms and avert her gaze shamefully as she spoke this. Those amber eyes Ruby briefly saw were ripe with venom and disdain, but she couldn't help but wonder if they were really for Adam Taurus. Ruby could tell this was tough for Blake, she use to be so vocal in her defense of Faunus and the White Fang of old she was apart of… no really a family member of. Now she finds out one member of that family committed a murder, and it was her ex-boyfriend and teammate of all people.
"God almighty, you… really know how to pick em Blake." Ruby solemnly said, trying to lighten the mood a bit to get Blake to talk in more detail only to have her eyes be met at last with those amber one's, filled with sadness and anger.
"Yeah, clearly my type is destructive jerks who only know how to hurt those that love them. I guess he and I were actually perfect for one another, I shouldn't have left him right?" Blake asked mockingly, a few tears forming in the corner of her eyes.
This filled Ruby with guilt once again for having to drag her friend into this investigation, but it also filled her with a sense of determination. Ruby's gut burned with rage seeing Blake's pain, it pained herself knowing she was a part of that. This wasn't like before where she let Blake and the others have it for talking trash about her; Adam had betrayed Blake's very principles of peace by stooping so low as to commit murder and mayhem, he had to be stopped now.
"I have to ask, is this what that sabbatical you went through a few months ago was all about? In your quest for finding more about the White Fang, were you really just looking for Adam?" Ruby asked seriously and Blake widened her eyes before looking down.
"I can't lie, part of me was hoping that he would show up so I could try to talk some sense into him. But I really was thinking for the good of everyone, I would never put you guys through those ordeals for something like that." Blake answered truthfully.
"I'm sorry. Subtly was never my strong suit. I get, to a degree, how much this is hurting you. I want to help you so I'll promise I'll try not to kill him when we arrest him and hear his side of the story, but my unit and the General will need any information on him, semblance, past relationships, business ties, anything you could give us to handle his capture better. Please Blake?" Ruby asked with a stern but empathetic tone that made Blake wince a bit as she gathered her thoughts. Blake soon gave off a heavy sigh as Ruby got out her notepad, ready to write down the information she needed.
"When I was 14, Adam and I met at a White Fang protest rally. We hit it off pretty quickly and thought we could make a difference for the Faunus. We started to do everything together. Spray paint racists businesses, steal SDC dust and food shipments to get by, and beat up the owners in alley's… but only for hitting their Faunus employees." Blake said nervously, careful not to make herself sound more like a criminal.
She still feared Atlas retribution despite Ruby and the General's promise. After all, a corrupt politician here, a bribe there, and presto! Blake disappears for good.
"But after a couple of years, Adam started to change. He began to feel we really weren't making any headway. Sure a few businesses treated our people better, but just out of fear, not respect. Adam still felt it wasn't' enough respect, he wanted bigger, better results and, like a Grimm, was drawn to the fear and pain and thought they were the best options. He started dragging the others and me into attacks on the SDC. He used grenades he smuggled to attack them and kidnapped and beat up kids of SDC employees for ransom. I never did it, but I never stopped it." She shamefully admitted to Ruby, who paused her writing and looked at her with an eyebrow raised confused.
"Why not? You advocated peace, why stop there?" Ruby asked calmly. Blake sighed as the guilt in her increased.
"I was either too scared to stop him as I saw his rage grew or…. Maybe I felt a bit happy. Weiss's company abuses Faunus the most, I probably felt good they were getting what they deserved. That's why I turned a blind eye for a bit….until Adam did something to me I could never forgive." Blake said as she slowly lifted the right corner of her white shirt. Ruby's eyes widened as she gasped, terrified to see the small cross-shaped scar on her friend's waist.
"He said wanted to start assassinating the members of SDC and the Atlas council. He thought they were the guiltiest for how badly that kingdom treated us. I didn't disagree with that last part, but I drew the line at murder. I told him we would be worse than how they viewed us and it wouldn't lead to peace. How did he respond? He attacked me, his OWN GIRLFRIEND!" Blake yelled bitterly.
She could still hear the tearing of flesh and her own screams of pain when he slashed her that night. It made her shudder as she rubbed her scar; it still burned painfully despite having closed almost year ago.
"I get the kingdom isn't fair to Faunus, but what happened to him that was so bad he'd hurt you like that!?" Ruby angrily asked, rage fueled her question as she eyed that scar. She wanted to know as a detective, but the huntress in her wanted an excuse to beat that bastard within an inch of his life.
"*Sigh* The SDC kept it under wraps, but one higher up once indulged in cruelty of the worst kind. He started branding Faunus with the SDC logo, telling him they would always be his "property"'. Blake bitterly said, making Ruby recoil in terror and disgust.
"Adam was one of those victims. He killed that bastard and managed to escape back to us but…. It changed him forever. He once thought like me, peace between humans and Faunus was possible and he was passionate about it. It's what drew me to him. But later I found his trait had changed for the worst." Blake somberly said.
"Trait? I don't get it." Ruby asked confused.
"What I mean is, when I meet people I associate them with a certain characteristic. When I got to know you I thought "this girls the embodiment of purity" really." Blake said with a smile, something Ruby reciprocated, as she felt touched by those words. It was making her seriously consider fully forgiving Blake deep down.
"Weiss I found was willpower, Yang's was passion…. Something I thought Adam's was. But I later realized it wasn't passion, strength, or persistence like I thought at times. His trait is spite. He hates the SDC, he hates Atlas, really he hates all humans. He's become the very thing he seeks to destroy because he can't see past race and his hurt. That's why I left him and the White Fang. They were becoming too much like him, like our enemies and I wanted no part in that." Blake sternly said. Ruby nodded in approval as she heard this, proud of her friends moral fiber.
"Good to hear, what else can you tell me about him." Ruby asked.
"His semblance his a lot like Yang's, but unlike hers that's makes her take the hit, he can absorb the damage, the kinetic energy into his red blade and unleash it in powerful strikes back at the enemy. Like a full counter." Blake said nervously, she looked down at her scar, a result of such semblances ferocity.
"So he gets to deal out damage without taking any in return? Well hello Mr. Broken Game Mechanics." Ruby joked, making Blake chuckle.
"I know right? He fights a lot like Ren and Pyrrah though. Nimble, and tends to parry rather then engage frequently. He's the worst kind of opponent for Yang and me. I just hope your unit has guys that can counter that." Blake said.
"Jago's ability allows him to have a power up and he's already strong as hell so adam may not be able to handle that. Also, my boyfriend Seth has an electricity semblance like Nora's. He can paralyze opponents so Adam won't get a drawn out battle. Really, I picked the right guy because now Yang won't be able to smash his nuts for having the "audacity" to date her little rose." Ruby chuckled, making Blake snort a bit as she found this hilarious.
"Yeah, that's sound like Yang alright… and Adam too, he was a bit possessive of me when other boys looked at me. Now, on to where he might be so your unit can stop him. We moved pretty frequently, but Mistral was a common place we hid in, despite some tribe of bandits coming into conflict with us as they hid there a lot as well." Blake said. Ruby's eyes widened as she realized something.
"The bandits! If my unit can find one of their bases, we can interrogate them for sightings of the White Fang! Plus we can put away some thieves, two birds one stone." Ruby said with glee. "
Now, one more thing, any ideas what his plans could be? If he'd work with Cinder and other humans despite his bigotry he must have a major target he couldn't take without help." Ruby asked.
Blake held her hand to her chin pondering this for a while. It certainly was a good point Ruby made, his bigotry made the partnership make no sense until her eyes widened as she thought of something.
"To kill Sienna Khan! Oh god I can't it. –I mean he complained a lot but-" Blake said horrified before Ruby raised a hand and caught her attention
"Whoa, whoa Blake! Who is Sienna Khan? and why would he want her dead?" Ruby asked.
"Sienna Khan is a tiger Faunus. She took over the White Fang after my father retired. Unlike him, she was fine with hurting or killing humans and resorting to violence. But a bit of him did rub off on her. Unlike Adam, she does like some humans and was willing to cooperate with civil rights groups that had humans that supported us. Adam used to complain about her mindset a lot, saying she wasn't fit to lead if she mingled with the enemy.
However, he never challenged her because she had a semblance she calls grudge. Hers was a perfect counter to him as it took advantage of an enemy's aura being weakened or flaring up, allowing her traits like speed and power to skyrocket. Maybe he thinks with those terrorists backing him he can usurp her at last and take over White Fang's to amp up their attacks?" Blake said, her theory chilling Ruby's spine as she jotted this down on her notes.
"Yeah…that makes sense. The more the bad treatment of Faunus goes on, the more impatient the White Fang will become and go to Adam's side. If that happens…no it won't we'll make sure of it. Thanks Blake, that will go a long way helping us. I have to let the General and my unit know all this. Hopefully we can stop him in time before more people die." Ruby said as she took out her scroll and texted the information to her superiors.
She didn't want to call while Blake was around, but didn't want to send her away just yet. She wanted to express her gratitude. 10 minutes later, she received some texts back from her superiors and her unit, praising this information she got, they let her know in the coming days she might have to meet back at Atlas for something important the General wanted to do.
"A raid." She thought to herself, careful not to let mission details leak to Blake. This part wasn't her business. A raid on the bandit tribes would be dangerous, and Ruby had the sneaking suspicion Blake and the others would grow fearful of her safety and ask to join. She trusted their skills, but this was her units fight not theirs and she wanted to avoid an argument again, she was in such a good mood right now the investigation was finally heading somewhere and one of her friends had come through for her and earned her forgiveness at last.
"Blake…. Thanks a lot. We couldn't have done this without you. Consider the slate clean." Ruby said with a tender smile that warmed Blake's heart as she choked on a sob, having wanted to hear that for weeks.
"T-Thanks Ruby. You don't know how happy I-I am to hear that." Blake stuttered as she tearfully hugged Ruby, who soon wrapped her arms around her friend. It felt good to get this monkey off her back, before she chuckled at the thought.
"Speaking of monkey off my back, I saw you and Sun at the dance before we took Cinder away. Finally got yourself a new man?" Ruby said teasingly making Blake blush heavily. Her makeup was black and purple, but she was as bright as a tomato right now as she slowly nodded in confirmation, making Ruby chuckle with amusement at her embarrassment. Blake pouted seeing her friend's smug look and needed to fire back.
"Well speaking of boyfriends. I heard from a guy at the dance you and your boyfriend were hugging pretty hard on your way to vale. Was it the first time you "hugged" really hard."? Blake teased, making Ruby blush just as much to the Cat Faunus's joy at the suggestive question. Ruby squinted her eyes menacingly as the cat Faunus laughed; she just had to get payback.
"I'd be lying if I said we each never had a "taste" if you get what I'm saying." Ruby said seductively as she licked two of her fingers making Blake's eyes widen in shock as her jaw dropped. Of course Ruby only meant kissing, but was enjoying herself seeing Blake's face blush as her imagination went wild. Ruby had seen the smut books in Blake's collections and knew she had "curiosity" in her.
"DETAILS RUBY! DETAILS! What was it like!?" Blake asked as she leaped towards Ruby with gleeful curiosity, but her leader shut her down as she folded her arms and gave a smug smile.
"That's for me to know…. And you to find out." Ruby sang as she strutted out of the silent room with Blake running behind her.
"TELL ME!" Blake yelled with glee, but Ruby waved a hand without looking back as she ran.
"NOPE!" She yelled teasingly as she ran and laughed down the halls.
Meanwhile…
Speaking of dates, Pyrrah and Jaune were enjoying one at a restaurant in Vale, or at least trying too. Both sat silently at their table, too nervous to utter a word. Pyrrah averted her gaze from Jaune; despite internally gushing over how hot he was to her in a nice suit and tie with his hair spiked up with Jell. She could tell he went all out for this date, not just by his looks, but also by the subtle yet romantic ambiance around her.
"Jaune…. You picked a nice restaurant." She sheepishly said, blushing as she tried not to look at Jaune but at the venue. It was a small steakhouse with small amounts of art, cushioned seats, dim lights, a piano played lightly by a musician, and a dance floor in the center where patrons could enjoy themselves. Jaune was grateful Pyrrah wasn't looking at him as he was fidgeting in his seat right now, suppressing the urge to scream from the pressure he was under.
"Aaaaaaagh, I DID IT! I NAILED THIS DATE! TAKE THAT SAPPHRON! I SO CAN GET A DATE!" He thought to himself as he grinned madly before his spine jolted as Pyrrah slowly looked at him, her emerald eyes gazing upon him curiously before he gasped a bit and realized he never properly responded.
"Shit! Come on Jaune you idiot! Don't be rude just say something!" He thought as he twirled his fingers nervously, trying to find the right words.
"Uh… Yeah… I mean, I-I looked up nice restaurants a student could afford, but many of them seemed a little too… I don't know snooty. I figured a simple one would be nice and quit, considering celebrities don't usually like to be hounded." He sheepishly said, making Pyrrah giggle to his amusement.
"Guess since you stopped gushing over Weiss you've gotten better at reading woman Jaune." Pyrrah joked, making Jaune pout a bit.
"Your never letting me live that down huh?" He asked annoyed as he slumped his arms.
"No way! I was waiting forever for you to take me out. You're not hearing the end of this for weeks mister." She proclaimed as she leaned over and tapped his nose playfully as he groaned. Soon their dinners arrived, both having ordered sirloin steaks with potatoes and broccoli, Pyrrah having weirdly ordered a well-done steak to Jaune's confusion. Pyrrah snorted as she saw his judgmental look.
"Hey! Your not the only one with weird tastes." Pyrrah said teasingly, making Jaune pout as she once again brought up Weiss to her amusement. But the two barely ate their meals as they kept feeling the pull to gaze at their partner's eyes.
"God I want to kiss her right now but…." Jaune thought, but fear froze him in his chair. Pyrrah's beauty was like a fishing lure, attractive, but taste the wrong area and your dead. He'd rather mess up and drop his sword and fight an Ursa bare handed rather than screw up his first kiss.
"When is he going to try and kiss me already? I threw a few winks and wore nice lipstick, can he really not take a hint after all?" Pyrrah thought. She had long accepted her feelings and was screaming inside that Jaune understood his, or at least had hoped he had. She really wanted a man to make the first move, it brought her no end of embarrassment as the urge to do it herself crept in her head.
The two were broken out of their thoughts by the lights growing dimmer and the sound of romantic music playing in the background. Jaune and Pyrrah were startled as they saw a few couples at tables pass theirs by and headed for the dance floor, locking in their partner's arms as they slow danced to the tune. Jaune watched in awe as the scene unfolded, it reminded him of the night he danced with Pyrrah at the Beacon Dance… except he was glad this time as he wasn't forced to wear a dress.
God he was grateful everyone was so focused on Ruby and her boyfriend capturing terrorists they forgot about it…. Well all except one person that is.
"Want to go dance milady?" Pyrrah asked teasingly as she smirked at him and offered a hand. Jaune rolled his eyes as he grabbed her hand, but as they arrived at the dance floor, they both blushed heavily as their fingers intertwined and they slowly began taking their steps. A few times their shoes and heels stepped on each other's foots, their grunts of pain and quick loud apologies drawing eyes from the other patrons, some even chuckling a pointing fingers as they silently mocked the amateur slow dancers to the couples embarrassment as they ceased their attempts.
"Oh, uh… sorry I-" Jaune said ashamed, he was feeling bad about making a fool of himself and Pyrrah in public. His first date wasn't going anywhere so he felt the need to apologize before being cut off by Pyrrah.
"It's fine. I… don't mind us just standing here right now." She said softly as she embraced him in a warm hug. Jaune was grateful he wore 2 undershirts tonight as the anxiety and stimulation right now made him sweat so much one must have been drenched by now. A part of him wanted to break off the hug and run straight to the restroom to hurl as his stomach had butterflies from the situation, but he froze in place as he saw Pyrrah slowly meet his eyes and give him a warm smile.
For a few silent moments, neither dared to say or do anything, fearful they'd kill the romantic mood before Jaune was bumped in the back accidently by a couple heading back to their seats, his head pushed onto Pyrrah's as their lips connected. Pyrrah and Jaune's eyes widened as they kissed, both were shocked beyond belief their first one was an accident, but as the music grew even more mellow and romantic, the two slowly closed their eyes as they felt each other's warmth invade their bodies.
The moment became so magical for them they couldn't think to separate from one another. Pyrrah in fact, was screaming with joy in her mind as she embraced the boy she loved more than any other. He had always treated her as an equal and friend, with no attempt to take advantage of her status as a celebrity, something she was always grateful for just like she was grateful to Ruby right now for making this perfect date night happen.
"I so owe you one girl!" They coincidentally both thought as they enjoyed each other's tongues and grabbed the other's heads, drunk on the softness of each other's faces as they didn't want this night, this moment to ever end.
ACHOO!
Ruby yelled as she sneezed. Blake jolted as she jumped back a few feet at this sudden action.
"Whoa Ruby! You okay? Not sick are you?" Blake asked concerned as her friend rubbed her nose.
"Nah, someone's probably thinking about me right now." Ruby said nasally as she sniffed.
Back at their dorm room, Yang was sitting half naked in a yellow bra and sweatpants on her bed rubbing Zwei's dog ears, silently wishing they were Blake's right now as her thoughts dwelled on her partner right now.
"It's been over an hour now. What could she and Ruby be talking about? Can't they get back so I can rub those ears and pinch my cute sisters cheeks already." Yang thought, little did she realize though, she was saying her thoughts out loud as Weiss couldn't help but break out laughing as Yang began to blush, realizing what she just did.
"H-Hey! I didn't say that! It's just your imagination Weiss!" Yang stuttered as she jumped off her bed, causing the corgi in her lap to plop on the ground on his back, yipping with excitement at the sudden stir not that Weiss or Yang could tell as the former just had to tease her partner's sister.
"Say what? How you want to "rub Blake or pinch something sensitive on Ruby" naughty girl?" Weiss snickered, making the Xiao Long's eyes and face turned bright red as she grew angry and flustered at the suggestive joke.
"WEISS!" She hollered as she lunged at the Heiress to the Schnee's shock as she soon found herself and Yang in a cartoonish dust cloud as their hands and legs went flying as they played fight and crashed into desks, Zwei, and Blake's books on the bunk beds causing an avalanche as Blake's top bunk came crashing down on Yang's.
Ruby and Blake were laughing as they joked about their boyfriends when Blake's cat ears twitched as she heard the commotion going on in their room from down the hall.
"Ruby! I heard a crash, something's going on at our room!" Blake said fearfully as she and Ruby soon began running towards their room.
Ruby actually grabbed Blake to the cat Faunus's surprise as she encased them in a flurry of rose petals and instantly arrived at their door at Break-neck speed, which served to make Blake dizzy as she experienced such a power and motion for the first time. It almost made her nauseous as her head began spinning.
"Okay! I never want to do that again." Blake announced before Ruby pushed passed her and busted the door down, raising her fists up ready for a brawl. Since Mira trained her, she was growing more confidant in hand-to-hand and was honestly surprised herself she went for that over her scythe right now, but shook her head as she focused.
"Okay Freeze! Detective Rose what's the problem here!?" Ruby yelled.
"Always wanted to say that eeeeeeeh!" Ruby squealed in her mind with excitement as she soon eyed the mess in her room. Yang and Weiss's childish fight sent books all over the floor, Zwei was hanging upside from room chandelier panting, and Yang had Weiss in a headlock for some ridiculous reason.
"Say Uncle!" Yang ordered as Weiss began to turn red from the choking.
"Uncle, Uncle-" Weiss gasped as she tapped the ground a ton of times, yet Yang was slow to let go, wanting to enforce the punishment for teasing her longer as she enjoyed the seeing Weiss's butt in that position. She wasn't going to say it out loud, but Weiss had a nice ass.
Blake, despite also getting a good look, focused less on Weiss's butt and more on something more important to her.
"MY BED!" Blake yelled at the top of her lungs as she frightfully saw her bed frame split in two and the legs shattered into small chunks of wood from the crash. Yang and Weiss slowly looked over to see the Cat Faunus run past them and kneel before her ruined bed as Ruby walked up to them before putting Zwei down. She folded her arms as she gave a bitter death glare at Yang and Weiss who stood attentive and froze in place like soldiers normally would when addressed.
Yang especially felt nervous as she felt that same glare from Goodwitch earlier from Ruby now, almost tempted to jump right out the window, confidant her aura would break the fall. But Ruby was more focused on breaking her team's bad habits and getting them in line as she drew her sisters gaze to her with a yell.
"Okay… listen up everyone! Play time ends now!" Ruby hollered, making even Blake soon join Weiss and Yang in standing firm side by side, her lips tightened as she feared to say a word and risk pissing Ruby off like the others, though Ruby's glare told her that ship already sailed.
"Zwei isn't hurt so I am in a very good mood today, so count yourselves lucky. This isn't even the first time you girls got lucky, but your luck ends after this. There isn't going to be anymore of these shenanigans from any of you. Especially YOU Yang! Bad enough you girls crashed that train into Vale this morning, but now you crashed our room?!" Ruby yelled exasperated and clearly pissed off as Yang could tell.
"Oh come on! Yang started thi-" Weiss attempted to say before a yell form Ruby cut her off.
"I DON'T give a crap! You girls have done nothing but caused trouble since we got to Beacon! You made yourselves look like total jackasses and lunatics during the Mt. Glenn mission and your doing that again now! Well I have had it. Get ready for bed girls, we are getting up at 7 AM sharp!" Ruby yelled, her tone wrought with disappointment, making the girls shudder.
"Why so early Cuz? Is it just because I trashed the room?" Yang asked sheepishly before Ruby sighed.
"Being childish was part of it, but that's not all. Even if you girls apologize to me, or clean up this mess, it didn't change the fact it still happened. The train crash still happened, and that's because you disobeyed me and broke your promises. Since promises aren't enough anymore, you girls are going to prove to me you can be trusted to handle things responsibly. " Ruby said sternly before giving a wink to Blake as she saw Yang and Weiss hang their heads shamefully, unable to see the reassurance.
Ruby didn't want the others to know she forgave Blake, lest they pester her or act entitled and demand the same again, and she was getting annoyed with that behavior already. Truthfully, she was still bit annoyed with this mornings fuck up as well, even with Blake, but if Blake could earn her forgiveness it gave her a slight bit of hope Weiss and Yang could too.
"How do we do that?" Blake asked, making Ruby smirk as she grabbed Crescent Rose from her waist.
"Were heading to the training rooms tomorrow morning before anyone gets there and can get in our way. We need to be in sync for future missions and you girls are going to learn respect for command and for me if I have to beat that lesson into you. You're not going to give me anymore crap! And believe me… I hope you try to test me so I have an excuse to beat that out of you instead." Ruby said sternly as she slowly approached Yang and Weiss, her wicked grin unsettling the two as they could swear they saw behind her a red aura and Grimm reaper cackling as he raised a scythe of his own towards them. This girl was serious, and wasn't going to hold anything back on them when training with them with that deadly scythe.
"Please have some mercy on us Cuz!" Yang pleaded, giving puppy dog eyes that put Zwei's to shame as she desperately begged for mercy using her trump card. She turned pale as her hope was dashed as Ruby merely gave off a fake exaggerated maniacal laugh like cartoon villains and got in her face.
"There is no mercy in hell. Goodnight girls, now pick up this mess or it will be 10 hours rather than 6 we train." She smugly said as she grabbed her pajamas and headed to the shower. WBY gulped as they saw her put that heavy scythe down by the bathroom door, hearing the clanging and pounding from the impact, knowing she plans to smack them hard with its power.
"We're screwed." Yang said dejected. Taking deep breaths, the rest of WBY nodded in agreement and they began steeling themselves for tomorrows training day from hell.
Takeover
Love wasn't the only thing in the air that night; the foul smell of blood would soon filled the air of a Mistral mansion. Adam Taurus walked towards said mansion, undeterred by shouts in the distance from two guards at the front door.
"Halt! Identify yourself!" An alligator man Faunus yelled, brandishing a heavy mace with spikes while bearing jagged teeth.
Adam, despite carrying bruises and cuts on his mangled suit, was not intimidated by the weapon or by the razor sharp fangs flashing at him, merely giving off a cocky smirk as they amused him instead.
"Buzz of, I got business with your master, pets." Adam said with a sneer. To him, these lackeys who followed someone he derided as weak were nothing more than that, blindly obedient animals that followed a master who bottle fed them to keep them complacent like dogs.
The mere mention of that word made the two guards groan in anger, a dragon Faunus soon loading a fire dust crystal into his rifle and aiming it at Adam's head as he stopped his advance.
"Final warning! Leave now!" He ordered, his finger trembling on the trigger, daring Adam to move. It would honestly amuse the dragon man, having an excuse to kill this man who was pissing him off, especially for that "pet" slur. To his and his fellow guards irritation and confusion, Adam simply started laughing a bit.
"Did he say something funny bull!?" The gator man asked enraged.
"Yeah, thing is… you should have just shot me on sight. You would have lived longer." Adam coldly said as he ceased his laughter. Before the two could charge or shoot, Adam's body vanished into thin air.
"What the! Where did he-" The Dragon faunus said in shock before he was stabbed through the chest by a thin blade. As blood oozed from his chest, he jerked his head behind him to see his assailant, Neo, smirking as twisted Hush, causing him to drop his gun and spams in pain before he collapsed on the floor to his fellow guards shock.
Before the gator Faunus could charge at her, he felt an immense pain in his tail as he screeched in pain and collapsed on his knees. He turned to see a red blade glowing next to his severed gator tail. Above him was Adam, glaring down at him.
"Amazing what a little ventriloquism can do huh?" He said as he kicked the mace out of the gator man's hand. Neo had used her semblance to create an illusion of Adam to distract the guards while she and Adam sneaked up on them, Adam himself throwing his voice to make the illusion more realistic. They didn't wish for a drawn out battle as he was tired from having Neo spar with him earlier to enhance his blade. He wanted to save all his power for is mission so he didn't have time for this small fry who roared as he lunged at Adam, teeth bared, intending to bite out the bull Faunus's throat.
"I don't have time for this crap." He said as he waved his sword arm without care.
In her throne room, Sienna Khan sat at her throne attentive as she and her guards heard the commotion outside. As the door to her mansion opened up, revealing her two guards, both bruised and covered with cuts, carrying Adam's body and the corpse of a pink and black hair girl, riddled with bruises and holes they threw on the floor. They smirked at Khan, as if expecting praise for their victory, only to be met with teeth grinding and a scolding glare from the White Fang leader.
"That rug you just got blood all over was expensive you know! What? You expect me to reward you with gold for simply doing your job!?" Khan roared.
The Dragon Faunus, really Adam in disguise, gripped his hand on his blade, itching to end the illusion Neo was casting on them to kill Khan already.
"Not yet, not close enough yet." He thought to himself. As he and Neo stayed silent, careful not to give their identities away, Khan's face flushed from rage as she walked towards them from her seat.
"Did you not hear me? I asked you deaf imbeciles a question! Did you-" Khan yelled before glancing down at the corpses before he and noticing one was Adam, her old teammate. She still remembered the day Ghira left the White Fang, and how Adam exposed him as the weak willed coward who wasn't fit to rule them he truly was.
It was a bright day in the forest of Mistral. The white fang had blown out the tires of a SDC cargo truck carrying food they needed. White Ghira restrained the driver with rope, the passenger who pretended to be unconscious lunged at him with a simple knife. Adam brandished his red blade and sliced off his hand, making the SDC employee scream as blood gushed from his bloody stump.
His screams alerted Ghira to his presence as he jolted up and turned around. What he saw next made the Faunus chief grow pale. Adam slashed the man's chest, despite being unarmed, killing him something Ghira growled a bit as he slowly approached Adam and gripped his hand, making the bull man drop his blade.
"Why did you kill him?! You already disarmed him and could have easily restrained him."Ghira had asked before shoving Adam to the ground. Khan walked up to Ghira, giving him a deadly scowl as she was not intimidated by his own.
"In case you didn't realize genius, Adam just saved you from that filthy human who tried to stab you. Maybe show a little gratitude to the man who saved you." Khan said with disdain, but Ghira merely shook his head with disproval.
"That and this are different. He did save me, but then he did something completely unnecessary. That "filthy" human, was already beaten, an unarmed prisoner. He might have had family for all we know, and now they and others who knew him are going to mourn his death, a death that didn't have to happen. We all started this cause to promote peace with humans, not look down on them. We only stole today to get food, not to get revenge like Adam did." Ghira ranted, but his speech only aggravated Adam and Khan.
"How is it revenge if he saves your hide?" Khan argued.
"Because he didn't kill the man to save me, just cut off his hand and disarm him… no pun intended. I saw that look in your eye Adam, you did it for yourself, not for me." Ghira said disappointed, but Adam merely grunted in anger as he approached Ghira and removed his mask to reveal his branded face.
"And so what If I did!? Those Schnee's and their snooty servants deserve that for what they did to me, to all our people!" Adam roared, but Ghira merely squinted his eyes as he grabbed Adam's neck and tightened his grip, though careful as to not snap his neck.
"So power and revenge will bring peace? No it only brings more hate and suffering. When will it end?" He asked.
"When… they are all… dead!" Adam yelled as he choked, making Ghira drop him in shock. Adam's response shook the peace advocate to his core.
"Adam! Genocide will not bring peace! We'll only become the animals those Schnee's see us as. A war like that will leave no winners, only losers." Ghira said but Khan had enough by then and spoke up as she grabbed his collar.
"And being soft won't bring peace either! These humans only understand two things aside from money, Fear and Power! We tried your way and nothing changed, humans still treat us like shit! If we keep following your ways and letting these pests step all over us or gut us like animals in a slaughter house, our kind won't get anywhere in life. We need start thinking for our people first, humans be damned!" Khan yelled, drawing cheers of agreement and anger from the fellow White Fang soldiers around her.
Ghira merely sighed as he eyed them, seeing the hate and anger in their eyes. He also saw the fearful gaze of the driver tied up near the crates of food they had stolen, obviously wondering if he was next. Ghira was disappointed in how low they had stooped, stealing and murdering was not what he wanted out of this organization he started, but today he had played a hand in all of that. Ghira no longer even had the support of his people, especially Khan as she clearly showed. It was that day Ghira left the white Fang to her, no longer able to keep up the fight, if it was an actual fight.
Adam soon left her after that as well, the bull Faunus having argued with her who should be in charge. Khan disagreed with Ghira on many things, but did agree deep down Genocide wasn't the answer.
"Why not!? Our people will only know peace when those roaches are squashed!" Adam had argued.
Khan soon kicked the corpse that looked like her old teammate and rival and leaned down toward him.
"Because you being a bloodied corpse showed you were weak and short-sighted. I was the one who advocated fear and violence against humans because peace brought complacency like yours. Not all humans are bad, just like not all Faunus are wise, *snort* you're a prime example. You thought could waltz in here, that you were stronger than me, and could kill me to get your way like humans?" Khan asked the corpse mockingly, before hearing a chilling whisper infect her cat ear and freezing her spine.
"Does this answer your question?" Adam's voice whispered as a dark glowing red sword shot out from the Dragon Faunus guard's hand and shattered Khan's aura instantly as it pierced her chest to her and the guard's horror.
Neo's illusion soon faded as she and Adam revealed themselves, carrying a sadistic smirk as they eyed the bloodied chest of the now former White Fang leader he had slayed. Adam yanked the blade, he endured a beat down earlier to power, out of her chest, causing her to clench the hole in her chest drenched in blood as she choked on blood in her mouth, struggling to breath without a lung. As she plopped on her knees, Adam firmly grasped her hair, the sight of her cat ears down had made him envision her as Blake, making Adam's rage grow as he wanted to end this as fast as possible to move on to her.
"That's another thing you and my Ex's stupid father had in common, you both are the short sighted ones." He coldly said as he sliced her head off and showed it off to the guards, one puking at the gory sight before him.
"Take her head and go tell the others immediately! The White Fang has a new alpha!" He hollered to the frightened guards. He was in charge now, and soon Blake and the humans she sided with at Beacon… no! Every human she and her "treacherous" family kissed up too were going to fall to his blade like Khan did.
Authors Notes
A special thanks to TheDemonHei for letting me write for him. Unity refers to the relationships of others, how they can be forged or severed. After 28 chapters, Blake has finally mended hers with Ruby, which I felt was fitting seeing as how her comments were the least hurtful of her team compared to the others who mocked her skills or said she didn't belong like Yang. Arkos has begun early thanks to Ruby, but can it survive this story, and will WBY survive the ass kicking coming their way from Ruby? Adam has usurped Khan and become alpha dog, or bull in this case. Will he keep his word and free Roman and Cinder with Neo, or will he slice her head off instead? Stay tuned to find out.