And here we are with another chapter of Fallen Snow! I'm very grateful for everyone that has read up to this point.
Volume 7 is now complete as I write this and I was so glad to see our lovable icecream girl kicking ass(Even if it was the good guys ass she was kicking).
I hope everyone enjoys, and if you do please leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts.
Now, on with the story!
By the time Fen and Neo made it to Vale it was already past sunset. They had to deal with a few roaming grimm on their way, but so few that it could barely be called an inconvenience. The two stood just inside the treeline as they observed the state of the city; It had been decided along the way that if Fen wanted to join Neo in her plan for revenge then it would be easier to do so if he was considered dead.
With the Atlesian Command Cruiser destroyed, there would be no logs of where his transport crashed. On the off chance a search of the forest was done, and Fen's crashed transport found, team FRST would likely just be added to the list of the fallen without much investigation. Meaning that, at this time, Fen was just a walking ghost.
The patrols are scarce, Neo observed as she calculated their best point of entry, not like that's surprising.
Fen gave a dry chuckle before responding, "Yeah, your employer's plan certainly wreaked plenty of havoc." Looking at the city sorrowfully he added, "Their concern right now is more grimm. Slipping in unnoticed should be easy."
Should, yes. But those on sentry are not nearly as spread out as they should be. I wonder why that could—
Fen tapped her shoulder, "Neo. Look up at Beacon."
She looked at him to see his face was a mix of awe and fear, and when she turned to see what caused it, her's turned much the same.
Clinging to the side of the center spire of Beacon Academy was the petrified figure of the giant wyvern grimm that had appeared last night. Along with it, the top of said tower was missing, meaning the CCT relay was destroyed. The whole world was now unable to communicate outside their respective kingdoms.
Snapping out of his shock, Fen finally asked, "Is it dead?"
I'm… not sure. Neo replied as she continued to stare. I'd never even heard of a grimm like it until the maiden bitch told us about it. All I can say is that it doesn't look to be moving, and the sentries don't seem too concerned about it. She focused back to looking for a way in.
Finally tearing his gaze away Fen commented, "Well I suppose it makes sense why sentries are basically keeping within eyesight. Scroll signal strength is pathetic without the CCT network." Looking down at Neo, he asked, "Any reason we can't use your semblance to sneak in?"
Shooting an annoyed glance back at him, Neo turned back to watch the sentries' routes as she answered: My semblance allows me to create physical illusions, either around myself or separate from me. Normally I can't use it on more than one thing at a time. So trying to hold invisibility over two people is incredibly taxing for more than a few seconds. I also need to be very close, ideally in contact, with whatever I'm using it on.
"So in other words, you can't use it while we move from the treeline to the buildings." Fen said with a sigh, "That doesn't give us many options. My semblance will definitely not be of help."
Neo perked up at the mention of his semblance. Speaking of which, what exactly is your semblance? I realize it's what let's you become that… thing. Neo says with a shiver. But you don't exactly seem to be in control when that happens.
Fen stared away for a few moments, contemplating what to say. Finally, he simply replied with, "Let's get into the city and to that hideout you told me about. To tell you about my semblance I need to tell you a story, and I'd rather tell it when I'm not in rags and covered with grime."
Looking him over as he avoided her gaze, Neo just shrugged and went back to looking for a way in. Thankfully, Neo's luck still seemed pretty good; she noticed one of the sentries walk into the city to take a smoke break. It was always a disgusting habit to her, even when Roman did it, but she could always rely on it to make people neglect their duties.
Neo signaled, snapping Fen out of his thoughts. Let's go. The two of them darted as quickly and quietly as possible until they were safely within the cover of buildings. Checking around them to make sure their way was clear, they began making their way through the city. They were currently in the residential district, and needed to get to the commercial district, which was annoyingly on the other side of the city.
Thankfully the majority of law enforcement must have been diverted to perimeter watch, as they only saw a single unit patrolling the streets while moving across the residential district. Though that didn't mean the streets were devoid of activity. Ambulance sirens were a constant sound as the two darted between alleys, occasionally hearing the sounds of people shouting and crying. These were ideal times for the darker parts of the city to make use of the chaos to raid and loot any places heavily affected by grimm.
At that same time, for even the lowlifes of Vale, this was home. Neo spotted more than one group of Junior's men patrolling the streets, probably with orders to keep panic to a minimum. Considering this place had been a warzone for less than a day, both Neo and Fen were a little surprised to see things in such a stable state. It wasn't until they crossed into the commercial district that things seemed more like they had pictured.
As they made it further in, the sounds of yelling, gunfire, and the occasional sound of something breaking replaced the odd peace of the residential district. The two became much more cautious as they made their way through the streets. Turning between back alleys they stumbled upon a group of five White Fang members arguing between themselves. Before they could backtrack and find another way, one of the members noticed them and called out:
"Hey boys, we got two little rats poking around where they don't belong." Said a muscular faunus with alligator scales coating his arms. Unlike the rest, his grimm mask covered his entire face, denoting him as a higher ranking member.
"Dude! I'm part rat!" One of the others cried, his rat tail lashing in annoyance.
As the gator faunus was about the retort, the sound of metal on stone pulled their attention back to the two that had stumbled upon the group. Neo used the spike normally hidden in her parasol to create the sound to catch their attention as she strolled forward. She had a lot of frustration built up, and this was a prime opportunity to let it out. She smiled sweetly before pointing her weapon forward, her smile changing instantly to a cocky smirk. Fen was about to unhook the handle of one of his whips but paused when he heard Neo say to him:
Don't interfere. I've seen some of what you're capable of, allow me to return the favor. He hesitated for a moment before stepping back and crossing his arms. If she wanted to blow off some steam against criminals, then who was he to argue, since it also indulged his curiosity of her skills.
Three of the five, including the leader, brought out guns and rained bullets down the alleyway. Neo simply opened her parasol to block the barrage, retracting the hidden spike, and miming a yawn that made Fen chuckle. The other two members flanked around the edge of the alleyway to attack Neo from either side with simple one-handed swords. As they were about the strike, their comrades stopped fighting. No longer under fire, Neo closed her parasol and did a split, causing the two sword-wielding grunts to stumble as they redirected their blades to not strike each other. Neo simply held her parasol up next to their faces and opened it, the force enough to send both of the grunts flying into the sides of the alley; they didn't get up. Neo simply sprung up with a tiny flourish and made a taunting bow towards the remaining three.
The gator faunus shoved his way past the other two and changed his gun into a large twin-sided ax, roaring at Neo as he charged. She held her bow until he was right on top of her, and with grace and ease she brought her parasol forward as she crouched under a swing of his ax, using the brute's charging momentum to launch him into the air. Though in an unexpected twist, the brute actually righted himself in midair and landed on his feet. One edge of his ax glowed red with dust before he swung at Neo, sending a wave a flame at her. Anticipating she would block the blast with her parasol the brute rushed forward to try and catch her with a raising blow. While she had to give the dumb oaf credit for trying to fake her out, it was still far too easy to read.
Neo closed her parasol and dodged with a backflip as she caught the oaf in the chin with a kick. The other two grunts could only look on as their leader roared in rage, taking several overhead swings at her. Neo nimbly dodged each blow while making a different mocking face with each swing. She spun around the brute and struck him in the spine with the end of her weapon, causing him to hiss in pain as he arched backwards before she followed it up with a spinning kick to the same spot and sent him flying back to his fellow White Fang members, his aura flickering a dull green. Neo blew a mocking kiss at them as she waited for retaliation.
Fen shook his head at her playful antics; he almost felt pity with how badly she outclassed these crooks. At the same time, he was learning quite a bit about her fighting style. While her own amount of skill was quite high, she added to it by taunting the enemy with her little gestures and actions. With how well she could outmaneuver opponents like these, her taunts did well to make her foes increasingly emotional. Then making use of the openings created from a heightened emotional state to strike. Thinking about it, unless her opponent was more skillful than her, few fighting styles would do well against what Fen witnessed. Another roar of anger focused Fen back on the fight; The brute shoving away the other two as they tried to help him up.
Staring at Neo with utter hatred he said, "You little bitch. I'm going to enjoy making you break."
Slamming his fist into the ground the area in front of him started to liquify. Fen reached for his whip as he saw Neo sink into the liquefied stone up to her ankles. She appeared to be unable to escape as she struggled to free her feet. The gator faunus deactivated his semblance and cracked his knuckles. He strolled up casually to the struggling Neo, a look of surprise on her face as she looked up at the large man.
About to jump into the fray, Fen was stopped when he heard Neo's voice: Don't worry. Was all she said as the gator faunus brought his ax overhead and swung it downward, only for Neo's form to shatter like glass when the ax reached her. As a result, the brute stumbled forward at the unexpected lack of resistance his weapon met. He felt something slam into his face and send him sprawling backwards onto his ass, his aura finally breaking in a small burst of embers. Neo dramatically reappeared in a cascade of rose-colored glass-like particles over her form. She had her closed parasol held in front of her, no doubt what she used to send the oaf on his ass, before she casually started walking forward. Drawing the hidden misericorde blade from the handle of her parasol and holding it over her foe.
She stood over the groaning brute as she shot a look at the two remaining grunts, daring them to do something. They just quaked in their boots as Neo dangled the blade over their unconscious leader. It was Fen calling out that caused Neo to pause.
"Neo, stop playing around." He said as he approached her. "They're beaten and we've wasted enough time here."
She looked at him for a moment before nodding, I suppose you're right, she replied before thrusting downward and stabbing the gator faunus through his mask and into his eye socket. The body spasmed wildly for a few seconds before Neo twisted the blade and the body fell limp like a puppet with its strings cut. They heard grunts behind them as the first two Neo defeated picked themselves off the ground. All four of the remaining White Fang grunts got to watch as Neo's blood-stained weapon was extracted from their leader's skull. She flicked the blood off her weapon like it was a minor inconvenience before returning the blade to its sheath.
Finally one of the grunts reacted, the one with the rat tail, "T-they killed Vert! Let's get out of here!"
Neo and Fen didn't even pay the two grunts with swords any mind as they ran past, rejoining their comrades before running for their lives. The two were too busy staring each other down. The frown on Fen's face prompted Neo to return the look with one of annoyance.
What? You said to stop playing around, so I finished it. She stated as if it was common sense. Before turning around and starting to walk. Taking one last look at the corpse, Fen shook his head before following.
"Was that really necessary?" Fen asked as he walked beside Neo. She shot him a questioning glance so he continued, "You know he wasn't a threat at that point. We could have just left without you killing him."
Neo turned her head away indignantly with a small hmph. You know they were trying to kill me too right? Why should I need to hold back? She asked while speeding up to walk a few steps ahead. They could have run away to try and ambush us later. Even letting those grunts go went against my better judgement.
"You know if I didn't know you were a criminal from Vale, I'd mistake you for an Atlesian Noble with that attitu—"
Wheeling on him in a blink of an eye, Fen found himself at blade-point from the spike protruding from Neo's parasol just under his chin; though he hardly batted an eye at the move as he had his glave activated and resting on Neo's shoulder. The sneer of anger on Neo's face was probably the most unfiltered expression Fen had seen to this point, his comment had really gotten under her skin.
Do not compare me to those pieces of degenerate filth! Neo spat, the topic apparently hitting stronger than Fen intended. Even so, Fen had a weapon in his face and wasn't about to back down.
"Lower. Your. Weapon." Fen spoke each word pointedly. He could feel the thing inside him stir as he did his best to keep his emotions in check. Neo saw his eyes start to glow, causing her sneer to falter ever so slightly, eyes flashing white for only a blink. An action not missed by Fen.
Taking a deep breath, Fen deactivated his glave and returned the two halves of his weapon to their spots on his hip, the glow also fading from his eyes. Neo still held a deep frown on her face, but with a press of a button, retracted the spike back into her parasol and turned around to continue on without another word. Fen followed close behind.
They continued like this for a time, silently winding through the mess of back alleys. Neo gave Fen the cold shoulder the entire way, not even looking back to see if he was keeping up. The stuck-up strut she walked with made Fen smirk at the action, he found it sort of cute with how diminutive she was in stature. Though more seriously, while he didn't agree with killing that White Fang member, he understood Neo's logic. To defeat your enemies in a way that ensures there will be no future attacks. It wasn't a new concept by any means, but he felt there were better ways to go about it.
"Neo." He called out to her. After a few steps she stopped, but kept her back to him. "I apologize, my choice of words earlier were… out of line." She actually turned slightly, enough to give him a sideways glare.
Fen waited for Neo to respond. She glared at him for a few moments longer before turning back around. I suppose I let my frustrations get the better of me. Neo replied, her tone a mix of annoyance and tiredness. Now that I've killed one of them we won't be able to use the safehouse for long. The longer we wait the more White Fang will start searching around here.
"Speaking of the safehouse, how far are we?" Fen asked, thankful to see that Neo wasn't too upset.
About three steps to our right. Neo said before walking to a door exactly three steps away. There wasn't some hidden passageway, or special way she had to open the door, in fact it wasn't even locked as Neo turned the handle and walked inside. Fen stood there blinking for a couple seconds before shaking his head and following after her.
He entered to find himself in a large and empty warehouse. For a master thief like Roman Torchwick, Fen imagined the place would be packed with his exploits, but there was little more than a thin layer of dust on the floor. Hearing the echo of Neo's heels clacking on the stone floor brought Fen out of his musing as he noticed her walking towards another doorway on the far side. He did a little half jog to catch up just as she made it to her destination.
Throwing this door open without a care Neo walked inside, Fen followed but froze just a step over the threshold. Inside was what could be mistaken for some elaborate millionaire's tacky but exquisite home. The walls looked like the insides of a rustic log cabin, complete with fireplace and mantel on the far side of the room. Fancy rugs, expensive looking tapestries, all manner of very expensive looking knicknacks scattered around —including a very gaudy gem-encrusted gold ashtray— cluttered every corner of the room in sight.
Going to keep standing there slack-jawed or would you like to actually take a shower and change out of those rags? Neo's voice snapped him out of his daze, Fen closing his mouth as he coughed into his hand.
"Yes, please." Was all he trusted himself to say as he walked further in and closed the entrance door behind him.
Neo, not really having much choice, led him to what had been Roman's room, showing him connected bathroom before leaving to her own. Clean yourself up and look for something to wear. Roman had plenty he took just for the hell of it, something is bound to fit. Meet me back in the living room in ten minutes. We'll be leaving here in fifteen. Neo instructed, her tone leaving no room for argument.
Deciding to trust that she probably knew what to do best in this situation, Fen just gave a nod before he was left alone. He let the silence of the room sink in for a moment before he entered the bathroom. Compared to the living room, this was severely more mundane. It was nice, like one would see in an upscale apartment, but nothing that really could be considered flashy. If it wasn't for his aura and semblance having mended his body, Fen suspected he would have felt very tired and sore as he stripped off the tattered remains of what had once been his jacket and uniform.
Opening the door and stepping into the shower he turned on the water and let the initial freezing blast hit him. Shuddering as the water soaked his long hair and sent a chill up his spine, he found some comfort in the cold; it reminded him of home. As the water slowly warmed, Fen could feel it as the layers of sweat, grime, and… blood, started to wash away. Looking down at his hands, images started to flash in and out. They were ones of his other side, soaked in blood.
Fen clenched his hands, knuckles turning white, as emotions flooded through him that he could not stop. It wasn't until a sharp pain in his right hand snapped him out of downward spiral he had almost been consumed by that he noticed the water was freezing again, and a layer of frost coated the interior of the shower. Taking deep breaths, the water slowly warmed and the frost melted as Fen opened his fists. Like he expected, there was a cut, already slowly mending. It oozed out a near-black crimson liquid, many times darker than normal blood. He knew it was simply a side-effect of his semblance, like Neo's bonded telepathy or her changing eyes, but it sometimes made him question if he could be considered a person.
A thought of Thrud lecturing him about having such thoughts made him give a weak chuckle. Though with the thought came the reminder that he would never get to experience another lecture from her ever again. Rema's and Sena's constant bickering about their favorite foods, how they would team up when Thrud mentioned how unhealthy said favorite foods were, or how all the chaos would stop on a dime when he would interrupt with the suggestion to go out to grab dinner. All the little things he had grown appreciate about living with his team, lost to him forever.
Fen stopped his thoughts before they could spiral out of his control once more. He looked at his hand, the cut now nothing more than a memory. He finished cleaning himself off and turned off the shower. It took him several minutes of digging through the chaos of Roman's collection of clothes before he managed to find ones that he could stand, he lucked out in that apparently the two of them were of similar build. Fen ended up with a plain black shirt, black slacks, and a grey jacket with a white lining. Finding suitable replacements for his combat boots as well, he made his way to the living room.
Walking into the room without a sign of Neo, Fen checked his scroll to see that they only had a couple minutes left before they needed to leave again. He honestly would have loved to stay and rest, but he wasn't naive enough to think that the White Fang were not going to be wanting revenge. He was about to sit down and wait for Neo when he heard a door open and the sound of her heels coming down the hallway. When she appeared she was holding a large pack, which she tossed to Fen with the simple instructions of, put it on.
He gave her an inquisitive look but complied, "I suppose these are our supplies we'll be needing for where we're heading?"
Some of it. We will need to obtain a few more items before we leave. There is someone I know who will be able to get us what we need. Neo explained as she checked for things around the room. What that pack does contain is plenty of lien cards to get us what we need here and along the way. She looked nearly the same as before, though Fen did notice how her hair now had a clean luster to it and that her makeup was fixed.
"I'm almost surprised you didn't just say we would steal what we need along the way." Fen jabs, earning a mild glare in return.
With a silent huff Neo replied, What do you mean we? I would end up having to do all the work as I doubt you have any experience in the matter. Considering Roman and I collected a sizable sum of lien through our ventures, I see no reason not to make use of it in our quest for revenge.
Fen shrugged, "Considering all funds I had access to were supplied by the Atlas military, I'm broke. If we don't have to worry about cash along our journey, I'm not going to complain."
Enough chit chat, we need to leave. Neo said as she slid one final thing into a pocket. The residential district should have some vacant places we can make use of for the night.
The comment made Fen frown, considering the reasons why there would be vacant places did not sit well with him. Even so, there was nothing he could do at this point. With having made his peace with the idea, he simply gave Neo a nod and the two of them exited the safehouse. Neo lingered for a moment, taking one last look, before closing the door and heading out.
Once on the streets again they could hear several shouts of orders being relayed; it appeared White Fang were searching for them faster than even Neo had suspected. If they were to make it out of the commercial district without getting caught, it would likely be a miracle. Not knowing the city nearly as well as Neo, Fen let her lead the way as they did their best to move about undetected.
It took substantially more time than entering the district, though slowly but surely they were making progress, that is until Neo froze when she checked around the corner of an intersection they came to. As Fen was about to ask her what was wrong he noticed her shaking, and not in fear. Before he had a chance to stop her, Neo stood up straight and walked around the corner. With subtlety out the window, Fen just sighed as he walked around the corner to join her.
Upon joining her, Fen took stock of the situation. He could see a group of White Fang grunts raiding a store as their leader waited in the alleyway while barking orders. Like before, this leader had a full-face mask. His animal characteristic was a muscular gator tail, possibly even related to the one Neo killed earlier. Though one aspect that appeared out of place on the leader was the presence of a black bowler hat with a red band on it. It took him a minute, but noticing that the leader was the object of Neo's rage, he remembered why he recognized the hat; it belonged to one Roman Torchwick.
One of the grunts walked out of the store and noticed them, it was the same rat-tailed grunt that had been with the other leader, dropping his loot he called out, "V-V-Verde! It's her! The bitch that killed your brother!"
Everybody froze, the grunts in the store poured out into the alleyway, ten in all. The leader pushed through them all, his murderous intent palpable. He wielded a trident equalling his height, making it easily six feet long. Upon slamming the end of it into the ground, the stone within a couple feet cracked. His strength was not to be taken lightly.
Neo started him down with equal amounts of hate to his murderous aura, her parasol resting on her shoulder as she stared up at him. The aesthetic of the showdown was nearly comical, but no one even thought of laughing. Neo only relayed one thing to Fen as she pointed her parasol forward, Translate.
Fen raised his voice so that he could be heard clearly, "The lady has a message for you." The leader's tail lashed the ground in response. Taking that as the most he'd get, Fen continued.
"Return the hat... and maybe you might survive."
I'm such a prick, aren't I.
I would have written more but I felt two big fight scenes in the same chapter wouldn't have felt right. Don't worry, with all the ideas I have the next chapter will be out before you know it.
Until then, I thank you for reading and hope you'll come back for more.
Stay awesome everyone, WRW out.