A/N: Chapter 10 of REKT. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or teams of RWBY, those belong to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum. What I do own are the characters and teams of my OCs: REKT, GTSY, KACE and DAZE.
Special thanks to the reviewers and to the readers who Fav/Alert this story, I really appreciate it.
Chapter 10: The Stray
The next morning...
"I can't believe it's Friday already!" I was saying as we walked through the town. It was our day off from classes so Ruby suggested that both her team and my team go outside to enjoy the day as well as visit the nearby shops and restaurants. "And the weather is really pleasant."
"The streets are bustling as well." Kairos noticed a banner saying Welcome to Vale being lifted between two buildings, the words written big and bold with black paint. "I've never seen this many people in one place besides inside our school."
"The Vytal Festival!" Weiss exclaimed with excitement as she led us around like a tour guide. "Oh this is absolutely wonderful!"
"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much Weiss." Ruby commented. "It's kinda weirding me out..."
"Right?" I nodded my head in agreement. "You'd think that an ice princess' face must be frozen in place, stoic even. If anything perhaps just the slight hint of the mouth curving upwards into a smirk but definitely not a huge grin."
"How could you 'not' smile at this?" Weiss asked as she turned to look at us. "A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances, parades, a tournament!"
"A tournament!" Efram exclaimed and rubbed his hands together with glee. "Alright! That's what I'm talking about!"
"Oh the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breath taking." Weiss swooned as she led us down one of the non busy streets.
"You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring." Yang released a sigh as she folded her arms across her chest, matching Blake's stance entirely without knowing it.
"Quiet you." Weiss replied irritably. As we were walking around, the boys wanted to break away and do some touring on their own so I let them go before reminding them that they had to go back to the dorms before dinner.
"Thanks Leader! You're the best!" Efram said as he wrapped an arm around Timber's shoulders, leading him away and blended into the crowd in the blink of an eye. Kairos and I decided to stick around with the rest of the girls.
"Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?" Yang asked as a boat horn sounded through the air, attracting our attention.
"Ugh, they smell like fish." Ruby pinched her nose with disgust though Blake had a different expression on her face; it was like the dark-haired girl actually loved the smell of fish.
"I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today." Weiss explained as we lined up by the docks, watching the ships pulling up and docking by the pier. The sailors were busy running around loading and unloading cargo. "And as a representative of Beacon I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom."
"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament." Blake suspected correctly as we turned away from the docks.
"Ah! You can't prove that!" The ice princess said hotly as she gave Blake a look.
"Woah." said Ruby as she noticed that a nearby Dust store had been vandalized and robbed. The entire store had the caution type taped all over but that didn't stop people from getting a quick glance of the crime scene. On of the windows have been smashed into pieces and the insides of the store was a complete wreck. We walked up to see a couple of detectives from the Vale Police department still working on the case, their expressions grim as they scribbled notes on their scrolls.
"Excuse me, what happened here?" I asked the detectives.
"Robbery." One of them answered, looking at us from behind his dark sunglasses. "Second Dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle."
"That's terrible." Yang scoffs as the man walked towards his partner and they were in the middle of a conversation.
"They left all the money again." The second detective commented, getting Ruby's attention. The two men were now standing beside the broken window, assessing the situation of stolen goods but not the lien.
"Yeah, just doesn't make a lick o' sense." The first one agreed as he jotted down some more notes. "Who needs that much Dust?"
"I dunno, ya know what I mean?"
"You thinking the uh, White Fang?"
White Fang? I thought as I listened to their conversation. Who are they? Are they famous celebrities or what?
"Ya I'm thinking we don't get paid enough." The second detective complained before finishing up his work.
"Hmph." Weiss humphed as she crossed her arms across her chest. "The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates."
"What's your problem?" Blake asked, narrowing her eyes at Weiss. Somewhere in my mind I felt a mild flare coming from the black-haired girl but I also felt that similar strange flare coming from Kairos, as if she was also insulted by Weiss' comment.
"My problem?" Weiss turned to face Blake looking quite baffled. "I simply don't care for the criminally insane."
"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths." Blake argued. "They're a collection of misguided Faunus."
"Misguided?!" Weiss raised her eyebrows at that statement. "They want to wipe humanity off the face off the planet!"
"So then they're very misguided." Blake said before looking off to the side. "Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale."
"Hmm...Blake's got a point." Ruby mused as she agreed with her black-haired teammate. "Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago...maybe it was him."
"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum." Weiss stated hotly, almost snobbish in some way. "Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal." That caused Blake to glare at her though the ice princess had her back turned.
"You take that back." Kairos immediately stood before Weiss, her lavender-colored orbs flashed briefly. She moved so fast that I didn't have time to react quickly. "Not all Faunus are like how you perceive them as 'lying, dirty cheats'."
"How would you know?" Weiss asked back as she looked up at the taller girl with piercing blue eyes, unfazed by the height difference. "You aren't a Faunus are you?"
"C'mon Weiss, you know that Kairos is right." Yang said as I quickly held my teammate back before she did something she may regret, her arm was trembling with rage in my grasp. I made a mental note to ask her about it when we get back to the dorms.
"Hey! Stop that Faunus!" Suddenly a sailor's voice rang out, interrupting the conversation. We rushed back to the docks to see the commotion happening on top of a ship that was in the process of coming into the pier. A couple of sailors were running around trying to catch a certain tan-skinned boy with short spiky light-blonde hair and dark-gray eyes.
He had on two red wrist bracers and an open loose collared white jacket with no shirt underneath, displaying his muscular physique. Blue cargo pants tied up with a white belt were his choice of bottoms and there were white bandages on his legs. He also had a chain hanging from the belt loop on the right side of his pants.
He sported black and yellow sneakers and had on a twisted golden necklace around his neck, with a round pendant bearing a monkey emblem. As a result of a Faunus lineage, he has a long prehensile monkey tail the same color as his hair.
"Thanks for the ride, guys!" The boy hollered as he hopped up onto the ship's bow, his yellow tail streaming out behind him. "Hehehe." He chuckled and jumped, landing on the wooden pier before taking off.
"You no-good stowaway!" One of the sailors yelled after him as he raised a fist into the air.
"Hey! A 'no-good' stowaway would have been caught." The boy commented as he used his tail to hang upside-down from the light post, peeling a banana with his fingers. "I'm a great stowaway."
"Hey. Get down from there this instant." The detectives we spoke to arrived on the scene but all they got was a banana peel thrown in the face. The boy let out a mischievous laugh as he darted away with the pursuers on his tail. Just as he was passing our group, he thew a small wink at Blake whose golden eyes widened in surprise at the gesture. As her mind slowly started to process what had happened, the boy continued running followed by the detectives.
"Well Weiss, you wanted to see the competition and there it goes." Yang said with a smile.
"Quick! We have to observe him!" Weiss exclaimed and we were all giving chase. Running a little further ahead of us, the ice princess suddenly skidded to a halt before disappearing around the next corner.
"Weiss! Slow down!" Ruby shouted when she lost sight of her teammate, spurring us to run faster.
"Oof!" We heard her grunt and stumbled upon her on the ground with someone underneath; apparently Weiss couldn't slow down and ended up running into another person, knocking them both down. Shaking her head, Weiss looked up to see the boy parkour into another alley and vanished. "No! He got away!"
"Uuuuhh, Weiss...?" Yang pointed out that the ice princess should probably do something about her position as well as apologize to the person she knocked to the ground.
"Euh!" Weiss quickly stood up in embarrassment.
"Salutations!" The girl greeted us kindly even though she was still laying on the ground. Short, rather curly orange hair framed her face and there was a pink bow on the back of her head. She also had bright green eyes, light skin and freckles. For attire purposes she wore an old-fashioned blouse with short feminine overalls, as well as a black and green collar with a matching pair of stockings.
"Um...hello." Ruby said.
"Are you...okay?" Yang asked hesitantly.
"I'm wonderful. Thank you for asking." The girl chirped, before turning her head up to the sky. I sensed a lot of confusion around me and somehow I wasn't surprised at all. The girl was indeed a mysterious case.
"Do you...wanna get up?" asked Yang.
"Yes." Putting her hands near her head and drawing her knees close to her face, she sprang back up with a chuckle and turned to us. "My name is Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you!"
"Hi Penny. I'm Ruby."
"I'm Weiss."
"Blake."
"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang continued to ask questions before earning an elbow to the ribs, courtesy of Blake. "Oh. I'm Yang."
"And what about you?" Penny turned her gaze to me and Kairos. "Are you guys part of them as well?"
"I'm Reina." I introduced myself before pointing to the girl next to me. "This is my teammate Kairos. We aren't a part of Ruby's team but we're great friends."
"Charmed." Kairos said.
"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Penny said excitedly after looking at us as a whole.
"You already said that." Weiss commented. Penny frowned for a minute before smiling.
"So I did!"
"Well, sorry for running into you." The ice princess apologized before walking away with Blake and Yang.
"Take care, friend!" Ruby said before following her team. Kairos and I bid Penny farewell as well as we brought up the rear, leaving Penny to stand rooted in place. Her eyes focused on Ruby's back in awe and wonder before chasing after us.
"She was...weird." Yang said, getting a couple of nods of agreement. It was getting a bit late, the sun had barely settled down over the horizon so some of its radiant light splashed the sky a semi orange-pink hue.
"Now. Where did that Faunus riffraff run off to?" Weiss paused and stared wide-eyed when Penny stood before her. Blake and Yang were immediately on their toes, unsure whether or not to consider the orange-haired girl an enemy but kept their guard up just in case.
"What did you call me?" Penny asked in a small voice.
"Oh, I'm really sorry, I definitely didn't think you heard me." Yang apologized, deciding to lower her guard while Weiss looked utterly confused.
"How did...? What...?" The ice princess was at a loss for words as her head moved back and forth with her finger pointing as well. "You were just behind...How did you...what?"
"She's fast." Kairos muttered and I nodded with agreement.
This was the second time I couldn't track someone base on their aura...wait...I frowned to myself. Aura...Penny doesn't...have an aura. Is she not...fully human?
"No, not you..." Penny walked through us and approached Ruby. She was a bit taller so she ended up towering over the younger. "...you!"
"Me?!" Ruby squeaked as her silver eyes darted frantically from side to side. "I-I don't know, I- what I- um, uh..."
"You called me 'friend'." Penny reminded her, leaning her face closer and closer to the smaller girl. "Am I really your friend?"
"Uuummm..." Ruby craned her neck to see most of her teammates were shaking their heads no or making an 'X' with their arms over Penny's shoulder. She turned her gaze back to Penny with a small smile. "Ya, sure! Why not?"
"UUUUUUGH!" The rest of Team RWBY fell over comically, releasing a collective groan at how naive their leader was; Kairos and I just stood to the side and watched the conversation with interest.
"Ahahaha!" Penny lifted her hands into the air ecstatically. "Sen-sational! We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys."
"Oooh, is this what it was like when you met me?" Ruby whispered as Weiss picked herself up.
"No, she seems 'far' more coordinated." Weiss replied truthfully, causing Ruby to pout.
"Sooo, what are you doing in Vale?" Yang, ever the questioner, continued to interrogate their 'new' friend.
"I'm here to fight in the tournament." Penny answered and that got Weiss' attention.
"Wait...you're fighting in the tournament?"
"I'm combat ready!" The girl gave her a straight-up salute.
"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part."
"Says the girl wearing a dress." Blake remarked humorlessly.
"Weiss you can't just judge your opponent based on looks." I reminded her. "After all, enemies can take on all sorts of shapes and sizes."
"Yes I get that Reina. And Blake..." Weiss huffed as she crossed her arms with annoyance. "It's a 'combat skirt'. Not a dress."
"Yeah!" Ruby agreed and the two of them high-fived each other.
"Wait a minute. If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed rapscallion?"
"Weiss, it's my job to ask questions..." Yang said while Blake bristled with anger, infuriated at the comment.
"The who?" Penny asked, causing the ice princess to hold up a poorly drawn picture of the boy that we ran into earlier.
"The filthy Faunus from the boat!"
"Why do you keep saying that?" Blake spoke up, getting their attention but her golden eyes were fixated on Weiss. "Stop calling him a rapscallion. Stop calling him a degenerate. He's a person!"
"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to stop referring to the trashcan as a trashcan, or this lamppost as a lamppost?" Weiss used her arms to gesture at the said items.
"Stop it!"
"Stop what?" Weiss questioned, clearly noticing that Blake was getting riled up. "He clearly broke the law. Give him time, he'll probably join up with those other Faunus in the White Fang."
"You ignorant little brat!" Blake growled, her hands clenched into fists. Leaving it at that, she turned on her heels and walked away, leaving the rest of us to look at her back side.
"How dare you talk to me like that! I am your teammate." Weiss spoke up, walking after her in long strides. Blake stopped walking and waited for her a few feet away so that the two of them could argue.
"You are a judgmental little girl."
"What in the world makes you say that?"
"The mere fact that you would sort that Faunus boy with the terrorist group solely based on his species makes you just as much of a scoundrel as you believe him to be."
"Uhh, I think we should probably go." Yang whispered to Ruby as we continued to watch their squabbling.
"Where are we going?" Penny chirped, popping up on Ruby's other side. Releasing a sigh of defeat Ruby and I bid Penny farewell before making our way back to our dorm, all the while listening to the argument.
"So you admit it; the White Fang 'is' just a radical group of terrorists." Weiss exclaimed.
"That's not what I meant and you know it." Blake retorted.
That night...
"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem." Back in their dorm room, the argument between Weiss and Blake continued to rise while Yang and Ruby could only stand and watch the girls banter with little to no help of separating them.
"That 'is' the problem!"
"You realize you're defending an organization that hates humanity, don't you?" Weiss asked, standing up from where she sat on her bed. "The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil."
"There's no such thing as 'pure evil'!" Blake argued as she stood up as well, her voice level rising. "Why do you think they hate humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like 'you' that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"
"People like me?" Weiss questioned.
"You're discriminatory!" Blake stated bluntly.
"I'm a victim!" There was a sharp intake of breath as Blake just stared at her in silence, her eyes widening at the statement. "You want to know 'why' I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus?" Weiss moved to where the window was and gazed out in longing, deep in thought. "It's because they've been at war with my family for years."
"Your...family? War?" Blake asked.
"War. As in actual bloodshed." Weiss explained. "My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear, board members executed, an entire train car full of Dust...stolen. And every day, my father would come home furious, and that made for a very difficult childhood."
"Weiss, I-"
"No!" The ice princess shrugged Ruby's hand away before staring Blake in the eyes. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang?! It's because they're a bunch of liars! Thieves! And murderers!"
"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" Finally pushed past her limitations, Blake couldn't hold back her feelings and accidentally revealed her actual identity, not as a Faunus but also a former member of White Fang. Weiss looked at her in surprise, Ruby looked at her in surprise and even Yang couldn't help but have her mouth open and close like a fish. "...I-"
"Blake! Wait!" Ruby shouted when the girl darted out of the room in panic. "Come back!"
"What happened today?" Efram asked after we heard the commotion happening in the room next to us. The boys had a great time exploring the town by themselves after branching off from our group; they even bought some souvenirs that were hanging around the room in various places. "Something seems off."
"I-It's not surprising really..." Timber spoke up from where he was sitting on his bed, a book in his lap. "Efram and I, we could feel the a-angry aura coming off you all..."
"It's nothing you guys should be concerned about."
"But..."
"Please leave it as it is." Kairos replied curtly before standing up and making her way across the room. Efram and Timber looked at each other before looking at her, clearly the girl was a bit on edge and it must have been after witnessing the confrontation between Blake and Weiss. Adhering to their teammate's wishes teh boys decided not to press the issue any further and returned to their work.
"Kairos..." I spoke, hearing her footsteps coming to a halt by the door. "Where are you going?"
"Just outside...for some fresh air. Don't worry too much." She replied curtly and closed the door. After running out of her room in a panic, Blake finally came to a stop when she arrived at the stone statue at the end of the wide walkway. Catching her breath and gazing up at the various marble figures she then proceeded to remove her bow in a slow manner, holding the ribbon in her hand. A pair of cat ears sprang into life atop her head, finally free of their constraint and she released a sigh.
"I knew you would look better without the bow." A voice spoke, jolting Blake out of her thoughts.
The next morning...
When Ruby opened her eyes and stretched her arms over her head she noticed that Blake's bed hadn't been used at all, signifying that the girl didn't return for the night. "Oooohh..."
"What's wrong Ruby?" Yang asked when she and Weiss tagged along for a walk through town, noticing the lack of enthusiasm and bound of energy her younger sister would normal show off. "You look a bit down. Are you getting sick?"
"No..." Ruby sighed. "She's been gone since last night and I have no idea where she went."
"Blake's a big girl, I'm sure she can handle herself." Weiss commented, totally not worried at all.
"Weiss, come on. She's one of our teammates." Yang said, feeling sad about the whole situation.
"Is she really?" Weiss questioned. "We all heard what she said."
"Weiss." Ruby frowned at her.
"Maybe she is, maybe she isn't. Either way, she's missing and we need to find her." said Yang.
"A member of the White Fang. Right underneath our noses!"
"I just hope she's okay. Oh hey, there's Reina." Ruby chirped as I strolled along the sidewalk, hands in my pockets and absentmindedly enjoying the wind blowing through my hair. "Reina!"
"Hmm? Hi Ruby." I greeted them with a smile on my face. "Weiss. Yang. What's up?"
"Have you seen Blake recently?" Ruby asked. "She didn't come back after last night."
"Sorry but I haven't seen Blake yet." I said apologetically. "In fact, Kairos hadn't come back either...but knowing her, she'll turn up sooner or later."
"So you're missing someone as well." Yang replied, her finger tapping lightly against her cheek as she pondered different scenarios in her head. "This is definitely mysterious and weird."
"Oh I'm not too worried about her going 'missing'. If she has things that she needs to handle by herself then it's not my place to question her. As leader, I want my teammates to still hold onto their individuality and free reign over the decisions they make. I can only hope that they take responsibility afterwards." I turned on my heels and started to walk off. "Well then, let us be off. We have a kitty to find."
