REAP WHAT YOU SOW
Coffee. Regardless of my cover, the one thing that remains constant throughout all of this is coffee. Keeps me sane. Keeps me grounded. Keeps me, me, because the more I do this job, the more I invest in different personalities, often times to get close to people- my targets. You do it enough times, and you start to lose sight of who you really are, your motivations, and your ambitions, and if you lose sight of who you are then what's the point of living?
"How much sugar are you gonna put in there."
Yang leaned her back across the counter, and watched me pour an insurmountable amounts of sugar and cream in my coffee. I quickly glanced at her with a smile on my face then watched the sugar and cream in my hands change the color of my coffee.
"Till it starts to taste like chocolate milk."
She took a sip of her coffee then leaned in closer, taking a peak of my now brown coffee.
"Diabetes."
I laughed at her remarks, as I put both the creamer and sugar down. I turned my back against the counter and slid myself right next to her, close enough that I can feel her breath as she blew the steam off of her pitch black coffee.
As an extra member of the team, I wasn't able to get a room with the girls. Ozpin set me up with a room of my own, small and modest, but it's more comfortable than the bed I have in the slums. The dormitory kitchen on the first floor pretty much became our Team's hangout spot… well, me and Yang's.
"Been a couple weeks already huh? How do you like Beacon so far?"
Yang raised her cup high enough to cover half her face, only revealing her bubbly eyes pointed straight at mine.
"It's pretty… normal so far surprisingly. Not any different from my old stomping grounds. People still get bullied, people still hate faunus… I don't know, I guess I expected a little bit more class from the people aspiring to be the defenders of Remnant, you know? At least that was one thing I was really excited about."
Yang looked down on the floor, with a sad smile on her face.
"Unfortunately..."
I cut her off mid sentence. I don't why but a part of me wanted to cheer her up. Maybe it's partly because I answered her question in an unexpectedly gloomy way.
"But hey, normal ain't necessarily a bad thing. In a way, seeing the familiar – good and bad, made it easier for me to transition here at Beacon. Sides, there's one thing Beacon has that my old school outside didn't." I winked at her, then took a sip of my extra sweet coffee. "Totally makes it a 1000% better."
She smirked at me, pretending like she's not interested, but the look on her face says otherwise. It took her a couple of seconds, but she eventually gave in to her curiosity.
"And that is?.."
I grinned at her, then nudge her shoulder with mine as I answered, gently knocking her off balance.
"You! Dummy."
Her giggle turned into laughter. Yang turned to me and playfully slapped my shoulders while she tried to hide her face with her cup.
"You're feeling extra cheesy today with your pick up lines huh?"
I looked at her, instantly wiping the smile off my face and replaced it with a serious look.
"Well, is it working?"
I asked, then immediately smiled back at her jokingly. I looked her straight in her eyes, while I waited for her reply, but just before she could say anything back, Weiss popped her head out of nowhere and caught us both by surprise.
"There you guys are! Geez, I've been looking for the two of you. Yang wasn't in her bed when I woke up, and you, Ez wasn't in your room. What are you guys doing anyways? No… wait!"
Weiss paused for a second with her mouth wide open. She rested her arm against the doorway while she leaned forward, this time, wearing a mischievous look on her face.
"Are you two...?"
I put down my cup and walked away from Yang till I'm side by side with Weiss. I shrugged my shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes with the cheekiest grin I can muster.
"Coffee. Weiss. Caffeine. I probably need all the energy I can get if we're going to scout the competition."
Weiss crossed her arms and growled at me.
"AH! Excuse me, I wanted to go to downtown Vale to welcome the students attending the Vytal Festival. Now hurry up, or we'll miss the ferry!"
She threatened us, then left. Yang tried to comply, happily trotting her way out the kitchen, but before she could go, I slammed my hand against the doorway, creating a blockade between her and the hallway then leaned in closer to her face.
"SO.. are we?"
Yang, unfazed by my question simply raised an eyebrow.
"Are we what?"
I quickly answered back without hesitation, not wanting to be intimidated by her confidence.
"A thing, of course!"
Yang immediately laughed at my answer. She clenched her stomach before ducking under my arms and walked backwards while she followed Weiss.
"In your dreams bud."
Me and Yang joked around with each other till we eventually met with everyone at the docks. Coincidentally, our meeting place is also right next to the crime scene caused by the White Fang's dust robbery hit, coordinated by none other than my associate...
"Torchwick."
Ruby muttered under her breath. It's no surprise she knew Roman's name. She crossed blades with him at one point, and his bravado about inducing fear throughout Vale, as silly as it sounds, has worked. As annoying as the guy is, his plans has worked. I certainly need to give him more credit, but of course, I'm never going to tell him that.
"Ezra… Ez!"
It felt like Ruby was close to slapping me in the face, the way she was yelling at me. It seems I spaced out after staring at the crime scene for too long.
"W-wha? Ruby, I told you before, you don't have to rename Team RWBY just cause of me, I'm just a sub after all, not likely to even participate in the tournament-"
But Ruby cut me off.
"No, that's not it. Weiss and Blake are arguing about the White Fang, and faunus stuff."
Really, Blake? Arguing? I tilted my head out skepticism and sure enough, Blake had a furious expression on her face, one I didn't know she was capable of making. Me and Yang tried to step in before it escalated any further, but we could even budge in on their conversation, a gust of wind stopped us right in our tracks.
"Don't let that stowaway get away!"
The five of us immediately tilted our heads to the running sailor, as a man with blonde hair, with long golden tail, and wearing a half open shirt ran past us. He had a childish look on his face and winked at Blake the moment he passed us.
"See! This is what I meant when I said faunuses are nothing but lowly criminals! Now come on!"
Weiss pointed her finger at us, then quickly ran after the stowaway faunus. Me, Ruby, and Yang, looked at each other, confused and feeling like we had no other choice but to run after the guy - so we did, with Blake not far behind us. The whole chase took us all over downtown Vale, taking corners and alleyways even I didn't know existed till all of a sudden, our chase came to a screeching halt.
"W-why are we stopping? We've almost got him!"
I complained, but immediately shut my mouth after looking down at Weiss, who was literally on top of another person. Startled, she quickly stood up, bewildered at the fact that the girl she fell on top of is still lying down at the pavement, motionless.
"Sal-u-ta-tions!"
She had a smile that stretched from ear to ear, as she glared at Weiss, completely freaking her out, and frankly, it freaked me out as well.
"Um hello."
Ruby hesitantly answered back. Yang looking concerned, reluctantly joined in.
"Are you… okay?"
The weird girl then turned her attention to Yang.
"Yes! Thank you for asking." Not convinced, Yang looked at me and shrugged her shoulders. "Do you wanna get up?" She continued.
Seconds of pure silence passed, before the girl finally decided to do what everyone was expecting her to - what anyone would expect someone to do in their situation. Stand up.
"My name is Penny, it's a pleasure to meet you!"
We all went through our introductions as common courtesy, before we FINALLY decided to leave this weirdo behind, but she was persistent, all because Ruby decided to call her 'friend.' Forced to endure another conversation, Yang decided to ask what Penny is doing in Vale, and her answer quickly snagged my attention.
"I'm here to fight in the tournament!"
Penny… Penny… Don't tell me.
"Wait, you said you're name's Penny right? You don't mean Penny Pol-"
Weiss constantly interfering with my conversations today is starting to really piss me off.
"Wait a minute… if you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed rapscallion?"
She grabbed Penny by the shoulders, completely ecstatic by the idea of her being acquainted with the faunus that we were chasing. I, on the other hand, am more ecstatic about the fact that the Penny Polendina is here in Vale. I was in Atlas recently prior to this mission. Word around the street is that they were able to create a synthetic human – a robot capable of producing an aura named Penny Polendina. Sounded like a load of crap back then, but now that she's standing in front of me. I wonder... If I kidnap her and sell her in the black market... the amount of money I'd make would easily trump what Cinder is paying me.
"..."
The thought quickly vanished as soon it came. I'm not foolish enough to do that. Cinder is quite the troublesome client, and besides, there is value in loyalty.
"You ignorant little brat!"
Blake's yelling brought my mind back down to reality. I didn't catch what they were arguing about, but I have a feeling it's because of Weiss's discriminatory tendencies towards the faunus. Soon, their argument evolved into a full blown shouting match that the four of us couldn't stop. It was painful to watch them force feed each their own ideologies down the other's throat. This charade continued till we got back to the ladies' room. It was entertaining at first, then it became embarrassing the more we passed by people, and now it's just irritating. The only reprieve I got from this god awful argument was when my scroll vibrated in my pocket, forcing me to pull it out and step away from the conversation.
[From Auntie C: Haven't seen you around in a while, you promise you'd visit regularly]
It was a coded message of course. My real Aunt was long dead. The 'Auntie' in my scroll is none other than Cinder. Receiving humiliating messages from your family is probably the most normal thing a student can get during their time at school. Doesn't arouse suspicion. It also gives me an alibi to walk out of here, but Blake beat me to it.
"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!"
Blake's anger got the best of her, and from the looks of it, she said something she didn't want to say. Everyone else was shocked at the revelation that she was a faunus. Blake looked around with her jaws wide open, desperately trying to find a way to undo that things that she said but couldn't. Feeling like she had no other choice, Blake fled.
"W-ELLL. That was a… mess."
I put both my hands behind my head and slowly made my way towards the window.
"I think I'll follow Blake's lead, and call it a night too."
I hoped on the window frame, getting ready to jump when a concerned Ruby stopped me.
"Wait, Ez… what are we gonna do about Blake?"
I sighed and bowed my head, not wanting to look back at her.
"Nothing. She's a faunus apparently. Can't say I have much experience in that department. Better to shut my mouth than say something stupid."
I stopped myself and glanced at Weiss. She can pretend that she doesn't care, but I can tell from the look on her face right now that she very much does. Deeply in fact.
"We're just gonna have to figure out, how this will affect us as a team. Well- it realistically shouldn't since-"
The more I talked, the more irritated Yang got. Her lilac eyes turned into a frightening bright red color as she began yelling at me immediately after she cut me off.
"WE!? It's pretty funny that you're preaching about WE when you're ditching us right now? Ditching Blake! Who obviously need us right now."
I scratched the back of my head, still refusing to look back at them.
"Blake's a grown woman, she can handle-"
But Yang just wouldn't let anybody else have the last word.
"No! We are Team RWBY! You're name might not be part of the acronym, but you're part of the team nonetheless, why are you deciding to abandon us now!? And you lecture us about 'we'. Ain't that a bit hypocritical?"
She then diverted her attention towards Weiss.
"And you, Weiss, how can you say such rude things to Blake? Is it really that difficult to hear someone out-"
Weiss stood up from her seat, fully prepared to start another argument, but I figured I'd put my foot down and finally end this day long, worthless conversation.
"Hypocritical!? You wanna talk about hypocrisy? How about the three of you, acting all buddy buddy, bragging about how close you all are, but not even realize that one of you're closest teammate is a faunus!?"
Great, even I'm yelling.
"So what if Blake's a faunus? Does that invalidate the time you've spent with her? Is all that really enough to break this team apart?"
Yang looked at me dumbfounded, upset that I called her out and yelled at her and everyone else, though I admittedly don't know which of the two she's more upset about. I turn my back on them once more and continued.
"If you ask me, the five of us have been focusing on the wrong things about each other. We ignored our weaknesses, hid our insecurities, set aside our needs and focused too much on how to work around them, when the wiser move would have been to confront our issues head on and grow together… and this where it led us… this is where we are unfortunately… divided. You reap what you sow."
I glanced at Yang one more time. There's something about the angered look on her face that made my heart ache, that made me want to run away. It was... too much for me. I feel cornered by my emotions and the only thing I could do is to run away from her.
"If you need me… just… send me a message."
And with that, I too, left. I quickly ran to my hiding spot, changing into my OWL persona in a matter of minutes. I found myself traversing the rooftops of Vale, as fast as the wind can take me, but not in the direction I was supposed to be heading. Something about Yang's look a minute ago… something about how we parted ways that was bothering me. I know it's because I couldn't handle my emotions, but it's this very emotion that leading me to where I'm going now.
The irony of it all is hilarious.
But I couldn't help it. It was like Yang was counting on me to be on her side, but I failed her. Maybe it's because of her that I found myself on a rooftop a couple of yards away from where Blake is standing. Somehow, I felt obligated to find her and make sure she's okay, the way Yang wanted to. Somehow, I felt like this was more important than meeting Cinder tonight.
[Auntie C: No more codes OWL. Where are you?]
I glanced at my scroll, still debating whether or not I should respond. My gaze shifted back and forth between Blake and my scroll, unsure of whether or not I should ignore Cinder or talk to Blake. I know it's a bad idea but…
"Alright Yang, let's do it your way."
I whisper to myself, as I begin to take off my mask, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw the same faunus that we were chasing earlier, approach Blake. I tried to activate the sound amplifier in my mask, but Cinder's patience finally ran out and decided to call. Left with no other choice, I knelt down and leaned my scroll along the ledge of the rooftop while I watched Blake and the other faunus.
[OWL! I will not tolerate you ignoring me. You work for me, don't ever forget that.]
Not knowing what kind of threat this faunus possess, I dare not take my gaze off of Blake for even a second, and decided to just answer Cinder without looking at her.
"Polendina."
You can almost feel the anger in Cinder's voice the way my scroll was vibrating.
[Is that supposed to mean anything?]
I tapped the corner of my mask, activating the scope on my owl eyes to zoom in and focus on both Blake and the other faunus, still more concerned about them than Cinder.
"Black market news network. According to my sources, Atlas was able to manufacture a humanoid robot capable of producing aura, and I believe she's here in Vale. Penny. Penny Polendina."
Hearing what I had to say, Cinder started to simmer down.
[Interesting. Now this… this is a game changer. I'm surprised you haven't taken this into your own hands and make more money off of this Polendina girl. Not that we don't have contingencies of course.]
Cinder continued to talk, but unfortunately, it coincided with my sound amplifier picking up bits and pieces of Blake's conversation.
"The name's Sun Wukong … bzzzt… WHITE FANG… bzzt."
[… Me and my crew… Vale… in a few days.]
Sun Wukong? From Team SSSN? Wait a minute, did they just say white fang?
"They're going after the White Fang!?"
Hearing Sun and Blake's conversation about the white fang caught me off guard, and I accidentally said some of the details of their conversation out loud, and unfortunately, Cinder heard.
[Someone's after the white fang? OWL? OWL? Who?]
I've never been so glad about my mask, the fact that it's hiding my panicked look right now is nothing short of miraculous. I quickly picked up my scroll and briskly jogged to the other end of the rooftop. I glided behind a tree that's perfectly angled away from Sun and Blake's point of view. I slowly stood up, to confirm whether or not they can see me, and sure enough, the two of them couldn't. Armed with this knowledge, I took the opportunity to throw a small feather shaped tracker up Sun's shirt without him noticing.
"Vale police is starting to get close to Roman. I'll cut em' off here and lead em somewhere else."
[Good. Do that and report back. And OWL. I won't tolerate distractions any more. Money's not the only thing that binds you and me now.]
I paused for a second, trying to process what Cinder could possibly be referring to, and I can only think of one reason.
[Image received. From Auntie C]
The moment I opened her message, fear immediately took control of my whole body.
[Stay obedient OWL, and nothing happens to them, cash keeps flowing through your account, and they stay happy and well fed.]
Cinder sent me a photo of my family, my younger siblings… or rather, fake ones. Money is a universal language, no matter your motives. In my line of work danger is second nature, almost more so than actually walking out in the field as a hunter or huntress dealing with Grimm. At least out there, all you have to worry about is Grimm. In my line of work, you worry about them and your peers. That's why most of my haul ends up in the pockets of other conmen to set up some contingencies of my own. However, the fact that Cinder found my fake sibling means she's snooping around, and it'll only be a matter of time till she finds my real family. Guess I shouldn't be surprised that Cinder is doing the same thing.
[Understood] I replied. I waited a couple more minutes, and got no response in return. It seems Cinder trusted me not to act stupid enough at least after sending me that photo.
I was careless. Information is a two way street, I can acquire them, my enemies can acquire them, and so can my allies. It's common sense, the key is to play your cards right and not take risks when it's not necessary, and ignoring Cinder tonight to look for Blake was risk I did not have to take.
All because of…
[Voicemail Received. From Yang X.L.]
Yang.
[Hey Ez, I-I'm sorry I lost my cool tonight. I think you're right honestly, I just didn't wanna admit it. It's stupid, this whole situation I mean… I really don't know what to say now hahaha. I-I just wanna make things right with you. I MEAN THE TEAM! TEAM RWBY! So… uhh, coffee as usual? Tomorrow morning?]
I gritted my teeth in anger. I clenched my scroll so hard I can feel it slowly cracking on the side, but the more I think about Yang's words, both from the conversation we had in the room, and her message now, the less angry I got at my situation.
Again, I know I shouldn't... but resisting her is starting to become nigh impossible.
[Sounds great.]
Immediately, she replied.
[AWESOME! I'll make it up to you. Diabetes right? I mean, till it starts to taste like chocolate milk?]
Reading all that made me feel so light, I felt like I was floating. Choosing the wrong thing has some upsides sometimes. Cinder is salvageable, it's not the first time I've hit a rough patch with my employer, nor is it the first time my family has been threatened.
Some things were said that shouldn't have been said and decisions were made without proper thought. All of these actions have consequences, and sometimes you reap what you sow. Somehow, reading Yang's message made me feel like it'll all work out. In a weird and morbid way, and all things considered, I'm glad today turned out the way it did.