I don't own anything.
"I just can't believe her. She's so… so… UGH!" Blake threw her head back as she raged at the absent Weiss. As we walked down the street, people on the sidewalk parted for us. Maybe it was the obviously upset girl, or just the weapons that were plainly visible, probably both actually. But I was thankful for it.
I kept my hand on Blake's back as we went, gently rubbing circles between her shoulder blades in an effort to calm her down a little. "I'm sure she didn't mean it like that." I told her, even if I wasn't entirely sure about that myself. Blake, it would seem, wasn't sure about that either.
"Really?" She turned to me, and seeing the look on my face, continued. "You don't even believe that. She's just like the rest of her family, painting all the Faunus with one brush and washing her hands of it. She might not have meant to upset me, but she sure meant what she said."
"Come on, Weiss might be a bit callous, but she doesn't hate all Faunus or anything." I told her, "Like… that girl in the cafeteria. The rabbit Faunus, Weiss was glad that I went over and stopped Cardin from bullying her! That has to count for something, right?"
"That's… that's true." Blake conceded. As we passed a park, I gently guided her towards it. It was a nice place, with lush, green grass covered in brown and red leaves that fell from the thick oak trees that dotted the place. The park's path was a nice, light beige gravel that wound through the entire place and circled a small pond.
We were silent for a while, simply walking through the little park while Blake mulled everything over. Eventually, we sat down on one of the park benches overlooking the pond. On the water's surface, there were a couple of ducks lazily swimming around, making rippling little waves that made the water lap at the pool's edge.
"Thanks." Blake suddenly broke the silence, and I turned to look at her, meeting her golden eyes. "For all of this, I mean." She waved a hand around and to my hand, which was still on her back. I gave her a light smile, and she scooted a little closer on the bench.
"It's nothing." I told her, swinging my arm around her shoulder. She had gotten close enough that rubbing her back was an incredibly awkward affair, making this a much easier alternative. "You're a friend, Blake. What are friends for, right?" She smiled back at me.
"Yeah, friends." She muttered as she leaned further into my arm, shivering lightly as she did so. Was she cold? She was wearing a skirt, and her jacket was a bit thin, too. I pulled her in a little closer, and the black-haired girl gladly leant into my side instead, the little black bow on her head tickling my jaw as her head rested on my shoulder.
Even with all of that, I could still feel how tense she was. The argument with Weiss must have been more important than I'd realized. So, I did what I knew best, I distracted her.
"Tell me about the White Fang." I said, getting a confused look from my teammate, so I rushed to explain. "I don't actually know much about them, but you and Weiss seemed pretty serious about the whole thing. So, now I'm curious."
That, and we would have to talk about the fight later, and I'd prefer it if I actually knew what we were talking about. Weiss and Blake both obviously had pretty strong feelings about the matter, but I just didn't know enough to actually have an opinion. As far as I'd heard from the news, which I rarely watched, they were a former civil rights movement turned violent. That didn't exactly paint a pretty picture, but there might have been more to the story.
For a little while, everything was quiet. I was about to ask her if she was okay, but then Blake began.
"After the Faunus Rights Revolution, The White Fang was founded to be a symbol of peace between the Faunus and Humanity. But when people continued to discriminate against the Faunus after the Revolution, they became a civil rights movement." She explained, and when I nodded, she continued. "Flyers, protests and boycotts to companies with discriminatory practices were their way of fighting back. And then when that didn't work…" She trailed off.
"Things turned violent." I finished for her, and she looked at me, chewing her bottom lip softly as she nodded.
"They did. Nothing was working, and someone else took over, they believed that the only way to change things was to fight. Instead of boycotting, they turned to vandalism, destroying stores and businesses that discriminated. Eventually, they turned to the biggest offenders, like the SDC. Destroying cargo, making dust mines inoperable, even kidnappings." She said, no longer looking at me. Her head was tilted down, looking at her knees as she spoke.
"I… kind of get it. I think." I said, and Blake almost gave herself whiplash looking at me. "I mean, I don't agree with the methods, but they're just fighting for their rights. I can respect that if nothing else." I explained, and Blake nodded softly, her hair rubbing into my shoulder lightly as she did so.
"It's like I did with Cardin and that girl, right?" I continued. "Hitting him might have been against the rules, but what he was doing wasn't right either. If breaking the rules meant protecting that girl, then I'd gladly do it again, even if I know punching people isn't right."
"Right." Blake said, her eyes laser focused on my own as I spoke. "They feel like they have no choice but to fight now. None of this would be necessary if people like Cardin or the SDC didn't exist. These people, the White Fang, they've been pushed into a corner, and now they're pushing back. No matter the cost."
"But two wrongs don't make a right." I said softly, catching on to her point.
For a little while longer, we sat there, huddled up on that park bench. Eventually, though, I got a message on my scroll. It was from Pyrrha, she'd managed to calm Weiss down, and the white-haired girl was going to apologize back at Beacon. I let out a little sigh of relief. Disaster averted. Just then, I noticed that it was getting pretty late. We must have been sat on that bench for hours.
"Hey Blake." I nudged the girl gently with my shoulder. "We should go back, I still need to pass by the pharmacy, and then we can take the 5PM airship back." She nodded idly, stretching her arms above her head as we stood up. The motion did interesting things to her bust, and I looked away quickly. Heat rushed to my cheeks, and I quietly hoped she hadn't caught me looking.
When I dared to look back, she didn't seem upset, and I let out a sigh of relief.
"Let's go."
We made it back to Beacon in no time, this time without me voiding my stomach thanks to the medication I'd picked up on the way to the bullhead docks. It was the first time I'd been able to appreciate the view of Vale's skyline as we flew past it, and I spent the entire flight glued to the window.
When we arrived, we were quick to go back to our dorm. Weiss and Pyrrha were already there, having taken the previous bullhead, and I wanted to get this whole argument behind us as fast as possible. When we entered, it was to Pyrrha and Weiss sitting on their beds, both reading the new books they'd bought at Tukson's earlier in the day.
When we walked in, both of them looked up and put their books aside, preparing themselves for the incoming conversation.
"I… I want to apologize." Weiss began, her lips downturned into a little frown and her nose scrunched up as if she was smelling something foul. She wasn't used to apologizing, it seemed, but the fact that she was trying was good. It meant that she cared enough to do so.
"Not for what I said, but for how I said it." She continued, picking up speed. Blake went to interrupt, her eyes narrowing at the heiress, but I put my hand on her shoulder. The black-haired girl stayed quiet, though she gave me a strange look that I couldn't quite identify over her shoulder before she turned back to Weiss.
"I still think the White Fang are criminals. How could I not, after what they've done to me and my family." She said, and now I understood. Blake had said that the SDC had been targeted by the White Fang, but I hadn't clocked that that might mean the Schnee family as a whole. Weiss had probably been, if not directly affected, at least caught in the crossfire of the White Fang's more extreme elements.
"But," She continued. "It wasn't right for me to assume that it was them who robbed that store, when it's equally possible that it was that Torchwick fellow. It was not my intention to imply that the White Fang, or the Faunus in general are responsible for a crime, just because they were near when it happened." She finished.
Blake didn't look entirely happy with the apology, but I did get where Weiss was coming from. Blake probably did too, but sometimes it was hard to think of things like that when you were angry. When neither of them went to speak, I cut in to try and help this all along.
"Weiss, I can understand why you don't like the White Fang. I don't know what they did to you or your family, and you don't have to tell us if you're not comfortable with that. But, I can guess that it probably wasn't very nice." I said, "That doesn't mean that all members of the White Fang are monsters, though. The group was a civil rights movement first and foremost, and it's not right to judge them by their most extreme and militant elements. Some of them are just people with nowhere to go and no one to turn to." I finished, echoing the conversation I'd had with Blake earlier.
"You think I don't know that!" Weiss snapped, and for the first time in a while, I could see genuine anger on her face. "We had Faunus staff at the manor once, before all of this started. They were great, until one of them let in a group of White Fang that ended up almost killing one of my cousins!"
"Weiss…" It was Blake who spoke up, her voice soft as she trailed off, but before she could continue, Weiss spoke again.
"I don't want to judge them all, I really don't." She sounded so small in that moment, her quiet tone almost the complete opposite of the heated words she'd spoken just moments earlier. "But when I can't know who is out to get me and who isn't, I prefer to err on the side of caution. It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you, right?" She questioned with a bitter laugh.
The girl stood and waved us all off when we went to join her. "I'm fine. I'm glad I got that off my chest. But I just need to go clear my head for a bit. I will see you all at dinner." She told us before walking out and closing the door with a quiet click.
Blake, who had been halfway to her feet when Weiss left the room, dropped back down onto my bed. She almost looked deflated, the way she was hunched over. Like before, I reached out to her, gently rubbing circles into her back in hopes of calming her down. In the silence of the room, I never noticed the way Pyrrha seemed oddly focused on the gesture, her emerald eyes locked onto my hand as I tried to comfort the black-haired girl.
A/N: Hey guys, this was a very dialogue heavy chapter, and I wonder what you all thought of it. Aside from that, this is also where we really begin to deviate from Canon since Blake doesn't reveal herself and run away.
Anyways, as always, have a good one!
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