Sora and his friends gathered in the Vestibule to celebrate their victory with Phil and Hercules. "I never thought you'd do it. Not bad." With Phil ever being the critic, of course. Hercules of course didn't believe his seemingly pragmatic air and heartily laughed. "Oh Phil, you're just as stubborn as ever. Don't pretend you're not happy for them."
The satyr cleared his throat as he tried to ignore his student's words. Looking right at Sora and Jaune, he continued speaking in the manner one would expect of a professional coach. "Ahem! Now, kids, you've still got a long way to go. The next cup'll be just around the corner. And next time, it'll be the real thing, so ya better keep up the pace or get left in the dust!"
"And we'll win that, too. Because we are their JUDGES! JURIES! AND EXECUTIONERRR-*Hack* *Cough*" Try as he might to sound like a dark, hardcore warrior, Jaune's throat apparently disagreed with his constant attempts and finally caused him to start coughing from the forced voice. Pyrrha was at his side immediately, rubbing Jaune's back while everyone else either looked on with concern, pity, embarrassment, annoyance, or amusement. "Nincompoop..." Weiss muttered under her breath.
Fortunately a certain huntress managed to get things back on track. "Come on guys!" Ruby cheered, turning and pointing back to the gates leading out the coliseum. "Our adventure isn't over yet! We've got plenty more worlds to explore!" Now THAT everyone unanimously nodded at. Even Jaune once he ceased his self induced coughing fit.
Once they were all back on the ship, Donald noticed one of the monitors around the ship's controls blinking. "Hey, look at this. Cid's Nagi-gummi piece is showing us there's more places not that far from us." Sora and Ruby were the most excited out of everyone to see where they would be going next. "Let's check out the closest one!" Sora cheered, earning an enthusiastic nod of agreement from Ruby. Donald looked at the radar and steered to the closest unexplored worlds available to them. "Alright, our destination is set. It'll be a while till we get there, so get comfortable." he said to the group before looking ahead again.
"I hope the next world is at lest more civilized." Weiss piped up as the ship followed its designated course. "It's been nothing but fighting for all the places we've been. Even Traverse Town." And to nobody's great surprise, it was a complaint. "Aww, come on Weiss. You say that like it's a bad thing. These Heartless have been a great break from just fighting Grimm. And there's lots of other worlds we can go to to keep people safe from them too!" Yang interjected, leaning back in her seat. Her comment earned a deadpan stare from the Schnee heiress who realized her blunder talking negatively about anything to do with fighting in front of the thrill seeker on their team. "...Why do I even bother?" she muttered to herself, deciding to just keep her complaints to herself for once.
Blake, meanwhile, had been completely quiet since they finished the Phil Cup. Her focus had been mostly on Sora, realizing that he must have seen what she had hidden under her bow. She'd been going over how to explain her secret to him. The secret her friends found out about the hard way in the worst possible way. Sora however didn't seem the sort to judge her for something she'd grown so used to being judged for, so she finally came to the decision that it was best to tell him straight out. "Sora?" she spoke up, making everyone stop and look to her. "There's something I want to tell you."
"What is it?" Sora asked curiously as he tilted his head with concern over her serious, even for her, tone. Blake took a deep breath, steeling herself for what she was about to do. She reached for her bow and pulled at one thread. Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Jaune, and Pyrrha looked at her with surprised and concerned expressions. They knew why she wore that bow and why she kept what was under it hidden. The bow came undone and to the surprise of Sora, Donald and Goofy, they saw a pair of black cat ears sticking up where the ends of her bow previously were. "I haven't been entirely honest with you," Blake said as she looked back at Sora. "I'm what's called a Faunus. That's...why I've got these animal ears."
Sora blinked with surprise and...to everyone else's surprise, smiled warmly and responded with a simple, cheerful, "Okay."
Ruby and her friends' gazes immediately shot toward Sora, astounded at how easily he took it, though not nearly as astounded as Blake who blinked in rapid succession. She wasn't sure if her ears heard that right, but it sounded like he just...accepted it right then and there that she was a faunus. Something she REALLY wasn't used to. "That's it? Just... 'okay'?" she asked, showing just how unaccustomed she was to such treatment from anyone except her team and most trusted friends.
"Well, yeah. Why wouldn't it be?" Sora asked, genuinely confused by Blake's inquiry. He looked back at Ruby and the rest of her friends, noticing the surprised expressions on their faces directed at him. "What?" Donald frowned at Sora and whispered, "Sora, don't you get it? She's sharing something with you that isn't easy for her." How could the boy or ANYONE for that matter be so dense about this sort of thing?
Truthfully, Blake didn't know what to expect when she revealed her secret to Sora. Especially after the less-than-ideal way that Ruby, Weiss, and Yang learned about it...for which she only had herself to blame, to be fair. With a sigh, Blake took a moment to gather her thoughts. "I guess this must be confusing. It's...like Donald said. This isn't exactly something I'm accustomed to sharing with people...even people I should trust as my friends." Blake said, passing a guilty glance at her teammates.
Sora of course, still looked confused, but simply shrugged with a smile. "Well...I don't really get it, but I don't see why I should see you differently. Just cause you've got animal ears doesn't make you any less of a person. Or any less of my friend." Yet again, everyone was surprised by how open minded Sora was showing himself to be. Or perhaps he was simply so simple minded that such things just didn't register for him.
As much as Blake wanted to smile at Sora's heartfelt, reassuring words, she felt he still wasn't understanding why it was so hard. And even though she was worried about sharing such tales, let alone thinking of those horrible times, she'd come this far...so it was best for him to know everything. "Sora...the way Faunus are treated back in my world is the reason why I was so worried about you seeing my ears." she explained to the ever confused boy. "Faunus, for the longest time, were thought of as abnormalities. Their mere existence brought fear to humans and rumors spread of them being monsters. Humans were discriminant towards us because of it. It even got to the point we were hunted down, killed, or enslaved. Even when the humans worked together with them to fight the true monsters of our world, they didn't see us as equals...Just tools to exploit and make their own lives easier."
Sora was stunned and turned to her in his seat, his brow furrowed in sadness. "That's awful."
"And it doesn't get any better," Blake said, remembering times from her childhood. "There was a great war some time ago in our home of Remnant and Faunus were finally given rights. At least we were supposed to have been given them."
"Supposed to?" Sora asked, doing his best to keep up with what Blake told him. And indeed, just as Blake implied, things had only just begun to darken in this story. "After the war ended, a group known as the White Fang was formed, intended to be a symbol of peace between humans and the faunus. But even then, the faunus were subjected to discrimination and hate. Humanity still thought of us as lesser beings, and so the White Fang rose up as the voice of our people. And I was there, at the front of every protest and boycott. I thought we were making a difference...but I was too young to understand that nothing was changing." Blake paused, unsure whether or not she could share the part that haunted her most with him. The moment that the White Fang forever changed for the worse.
Regardless, Sora finally understood why she was so reluctant to share this truth with him, and why she was so panicked about her bow slipping off. "But...That's just stupid." His proclamation made Blake blink with surprise and confusion. "What?" she asked as she looked at him. "I mean, why would they even think that about your people? You've got two eyes like I do, a nose, two hands, all that stuff. The only different thing about is you have four ears instead of two. Their way of thinking, treating you and all other faunus that way is just...well, just stupid. You're a person just like me, and everyone else, Blake."
After a moment of surprise from Sora's rather simplistic description made the corner of Blake's lips curve upward. That simplicity reminded her of a certain someone even more than when she first met the boy. "Hm...You know Sora, you really do remind me of Ruby. You're both so...simple."
"Oh. Uhhh, thanks. I...guess?" Sora replied with a confused blink and scratch of his head. He wasn't sure whether he should take that as a compliment or not. Nor did Ruby whose silver eyes were shifting back and forth briefly, trying to figure out if Blake was complimenting or making fun of her. A display which made Blake let out a seemingly uncharacteristic giggle. "I mean that in a good way. To both of you." Thankfully, Blake cleared it up for him, as she gave another genuine smile. "Thanks, Sora. For listening to me." A smile that Sora returned eagerly as he answered. "You're welcome, Blake."
Goofy couldn't help cheerfully saying, "A-hyuck. Aww, yer such a nice guy, Sora." in response to Sora's genuine kindness toward Blake. And while Donald was happy about it, not that he would let Sora know, at the same time he couldn't help but roll his eyes at just how cheesy, Sora was being. "Oh, brother. Listen to this guy." A comment which made Sora turn to look at Donald with a huff of, "Hey, what do you mean by that!?" One which the duck refused to answer.
"Daaawww, Sora you're just the cutest thing ever!" Sora let out a surprised yell when all of a sudden, he was wrapped up in a tight, adoring hug from an adoring Yang. "Ghhk! Yang...You're choking me..." he gasped out as he squirmed in her embrace. Ruby couldn't help giggling at the display of Sora's compassion. The feeling of cheer he presented seemed to spread to everyone else. Even Weiss who was griping mere moments ago was smiling as Sora was getting smooshed by Yang.
Pyrrha seemed particularly touched by Sora's compassion and kindhearted honesty. She could see why Blake compared Sora and Ruby. They were both such simple souls of unwavering virtue. Of course, in other ways he also reminded her of Jaune. A bit misguided with a few things and needing a bit of help steering himself in the right direction when it came to combat, his heart in the right place.
The friends' moment of musing and bonding was interrupted by a beep from the navi-gummi. Jaune looked out the window and his eyes widened with surprise at the sight of what was drawing closer to them. "Hey Donald, is that the world we were heading toward?" he asked.
"Uh-huh." Donald said as he slowed the ship and stopped it for them all to see. It appeared to have a palace with a wall around it and a city beyond, at the top. Past that and making up most of the middle area was nothing but sand. At the bottom was something like a dark tiger's head with a gaping maw filled with orangish-yellow light.
"It kind of reminds me of Menagerie." Blake observed, looking at the vast area of sand as she began to put her bow back on. The comparison caused the white haired rich girl among their group to cringe with disapproval. "Oh no. That means we're going to be walking through a desert, doesn't it?" Weiss said with a sigh of annoyance.
"Not if Donald doesn't park us there." Yang said, teasing the spellcasting duck with a nudge to his shoulder. "Why would I drop us in the middle of a desert!? If anything, that's something Sora would do!" Donald's statement drew an annoyed protest of "Hey! That was just one time, Donald!" from the Keyblade Master. To which the court wizard retorted "And it was one time too many!" Goofy and Ruby let out a mutual sigh as Donald guided the Gummi Ship toward the arid world that awaited them. Hopefully things would go smoother on this world. Both in terms of trouble, and...those two.
