Blake's immediate reaction upon hearing that alarm and understanding its terrifying meaning was to walk out the door without a second thought, again being able to feel the fear expected from exposure to this sinister Aura, filled with anger and frustration, but not only for that but for the outcome completely unwanted by anyone with a head on their shoulders.
The scenario in which she was received was one that Blake had no time to consider.
Chaos, pure and simple.
For a moment, she couldn't understand this level of reaction, perhaps because she herself was relatively well, despite the undeniable fear. No, Blake forgot that she had been exposed to this Aura before and possibly created some resistance to its influence by knowing that the one exuding it wasn't necessarily a bad person. However, the same could hardly be said about those unaware of that fact.
After all, Blake's earlier experience in the presence of that boy had been so sinister that she had mistaken him for death itself!
Now, just like her, her fellow faunus were those suffering for the same reason.
On this street alone, she could see dozens of faunus falling to their knees as they suffered to merely breathe, about to collapse.
Given how absurdly vast this Aura was, and the result present in this area alone, how massive wasn't the damage in the entire kingdom?!
To imagine that literally thousands of faunus were suffering like this made Blake boil with rage at her inability to cope with this distorted reality.
No! She couldn't allow herself to think like that! While I cannot help everyone, I must do something for those before me!
Even if there was no time to think, Blake would certainly rephrase her opinion of that boy for causing such chaos and oppressing practically every faunus in the kingdom!
So what if he was too handsome to be real?! That didn't give him the right to manifest this dark Aura, most likely a representation of what he was really like deep down, she would know because of Adam, whenever he felt like it!
Just in time, she moved as panic reached its peak and the humans lost the line to flail at each other and run in the opposite direction of the walls, where the shelters and emergency means of transportation stood, dragging with them any and all faunus who could hardly do more than struggle to breathe.
Ignoring the temptation to open fire on some of these people to force them into order, Blake used her weapon, Gambol Shroud, a versatile katana capable of changing into a hand scythe and being used at a distance with the flexible band attached to its hilt, to lasso an elderly woman about to be trampled in the middle of the street.
Thanks to the Aura and the superhuman abilities that accompanied this power, she had enough strength to pull this woman out of imminent danger even from a considerable distance.
Unfortunately, she wasn't the only faunus in danger and Blake kept moving without time to check on the well-being or to be kind in releasing this lady where she would be relatively safe.
For the next minute, Blake did her best by using the light poles as a base to stay off the tumultuous ground and advance into town in the hope of preventing as many faunus as possible from being hurt, reluctantly including a few humans here and there.
Anything to avoid being the same as a Schnee.
However, that didn't change the fact that she was alone and that there were still people getting hurt regardless of her efforts.
Besides some humans who never failed to show how despicable they could be.
"Out of the way, you animal!" sounded to the disgust of her attentive ears, this being the sort of thing that any and every faunus should expect to hear at least once during their life, and seeing a child being knocked down when she could have easily been avoided or even helped.
That was to be expected even in normal situations, but in the midst of this turmoil, it only made what was already bad enough worse.
Blake should have known better than not to expect something like that.
As much as she wanted to believe that equality and acceptance could ever happen, reality always proved otherwise.
Even worse, she wasn't close enough to help that little girl in time!
Then, just when that child was about to be trampled alive, white in its purest color appeared next to a Glyph that any faunus in the world could and should recognize in order to be avoided at all costs.
"A... Schnee?!" Blake had her eyes and mouth open to the limit, even halting in her steps at the impossibility occurring before her in the form of a princess of that family, carrying a faunus, or as they would say "a dirty animal", in her arms. "This isn't real..."
However, the beautiful girl with white hair and icy blue eyes, dressed in a red and white combat dress looked very real as she jumped through the air with refined elegance next to that hateful symbol in the form of a snowflake.
A Schnee saved a faunus... Blake couldn't believe it and no one could blame her for it, only her incredulous reaction didn't seem to please this unexpected ally.
"What are you doing standing there with that stupid face?! Keep moving!" Weiss yelled as soon as she left this child out of danger, turning to the girl...faunus, with black hair and amber-colored eyes, dressed entirely in black and white to embrace her form with a certain level of daring that Weiss would never dare to show, but all that didn't matter beyond the fact that she was probably a Huntress apprentice like herself. "There are still more people needing help!"
At once, she made her weapon, Myrtenaster, a fast-acting rapier for efficient Dust use, and her Semblance to have more people in imminent danger being lifted off the ground and launched into the air. Fortunately, the fau... she stopped there and decided to change the way she referred to her to 'black-haired girl' for the time being, which had regained her senses in time and moved in a way that made Weiss hesitate to make a comparison without considering herself prejudiced.
Blake decided to ignore the typical and more than expected tone of someone coming from that family and made use of her agility and flexibility to get all these people, human and faunus, out of danger efficiently and with much less effort than it would take without help.
In this respect, she had nothing to complain about this little princess.
At least she helped everyone, Weiss relaxed a little when she saw that this girl was not prejudiced, or probably wasn't, because she didn't hesitate to help other humans. Still, I can't stop even for a second near her.
History taught the hard way that carelessness and abrupt trust in the presence of a faunus could result in death.
Involuntarily, such a pessimistic but not unfounded line of thought led her to think about Sasuke and why she was on the streets at this moment.
Not more than a minute ago, she was in her room preparing to do what she had been trained to do in this kind of scenario since childhood. Weiss might have mentally hesitated about the cause of all this, but she moved independently to be ready for whatever her decision might be. Only, even though she was prepared to put all her training to use and fight if necessary, her mind was still elsewhere.
Finding her future partner and... who knows, maybe something else, was her main goal!
If he was the cause of this unexpected chaos, he could also be the solution!
His Aura, being as vast as it was, could in theory be used to do the opposite and perhaps reverse the situation!
For such a reason, Weiss had jumped from the balcony of one of Vale's highest buildings in order not to waste time with elevators, and thanks to her Semblance, she could do the unthinkable and venture over the concrete jungle that Vale was.
The landing strategy certainly came in handy, even more so combined with her unique and extremely versatile ability.
At times like this, Weiss was thankful for being a Schnee.
Unfortunately, Sasuke's Aura completely disappeared when she was halfway there, where she decided to continue forward believing that he had restrained himself by realizing his mistake.
At least, that's what she wanted to believe.
However, she didn't get a chance to verify any of this when she heard the screams and finally noticed the chaotic turmoil going on below.
Civilians, as expected of normal people, were terrified for more than one reason and Weiss didn't feel like she had the right to blame them for it. But again, as expected, there was no empathy for their reckless actions.
The saying 'Save yourself if you can' seemed to have manifested itself in the worst way and in the midst of it all, there was a single girl her age acting where the authorities should have been but were nowhere to be seen.
The most surprising thing about it all was the fact that this girl had saved humans besides the faunus who, apparently, had been much more affected by being exposed to Sasuke's Aura.
It made sense if she thought about it. After all, faunus were, by essence, humans with animalistic traits, where keener instincts were present in any species.
As she considered all this and even saw with her own eyes the terrified state they were in, Weiss felt bad for the opposing race.
Empathy, she never imagined that she would show such a feeling more than once on the same day. First with Sasuke, and then at this moment for those sworn enemies of her family for generations.
That aside, and realizing that the black-haired girl was having a hard time helping those in need of help, regardless of race, Weiss decided to help.
Sasuke would have to wait...not that she was looking forward to seeing him again or anything!
Fortunately, their joint effort was efficient to the point of being strangely synchronized and revealing on more levels than they could say, but they kept at it independently until the inefficient alert left the noise, that only served to propagate fear, aside and gave voice to Beacon's Headmaster speak.
Along with that announcement, there was good and bad news; the bad news being that a horde of Grimm really was on its way to the Vale walls, confirming the alert as true. The good news, to Weiss's surprise, was that Atlas's forces were moving to support Vale!
With everything being clarified and encouraging words having been used, chaos gave way to order and the danger diminished for those affected by the malevolence, as Ozpin had described Sasuke's Aura, as well as providing relief and momentary tranquility to Weiss and the black-haired girl.
Still, why didn't Winter let me know she was coming? Weiss took the opportunity to regain her breath, something she needed to seriously work on improving, check her Scroll, and understand what had happened. Ohh, I forgot my scroll in the hotel...
It must have happened when she changed her clothes and ran out without thinking about anything else.
Winter probably tried to contact her, more than once, knowing her sister in situations like this, where she didn't respond immediately and was freaking out with reason!
Her sister was going to give her quite a scolding!
As for Blake, she was standing nearby deciding whether or not to approach this princess who suddenly seemed like a normal girl with the reaction she was having about something beyond her, yet who was nonetheless part of and the heir to the family that made White Fang and Adam change for the worse.
While she was thinking about all of this; whether she would be able to keep herself composed and not let her emotions stand out in an attempt at a...friendly socialization, a small, very familiar child approached Weiss along with someone else, probably her mother.
"Hmm," the little girl began but stopped when she gained the desired attention of this super-beautiful white-haired girl, looking away to her mother who seemed almost terrified for some reason, standing a few steps away with a look that screamed 'bad idea' on her face.
"What is it?" Weiss sighed, deciding she would face her sister's punishment later, and raised an eyebrow at this little girl, not understanding what this was about, yet refraining from... well, acting like she normally would, even more so upon seeing the way the woman right behind this little girl was acting, showing fear... of her, apparently. Considering their shared traits, she must be the mother.
A sight that unexpectedly made her feel bad for several reasons. Not only was she reminded of her own ever-absent mother in her life, but how bad her reputation was with the opposing race... and with reason, if the worst of the rumors about her family turned out to be real.
Still, this reaction lost its meaning when the little girl finally found her courage and spoke her mind,
" Th-thank you so much for saving me!" she managed to say, almost shouting it all at once!
For Weiss, who was expecting cold and maybe even hateful words, because it wouldn't be the first time, surprise couldn't describe how she felt with this.
"I..." she tried to say something, but by irony she found herself speechless for a second, but only for a second, and eventually smiled as she knelt down, and did the unthinkable for many, even for her on any other day, stroking this child's hair. "I was just fulfilling my duty as a future Huntress, so obviously I was going to save you no matter what."
Words spoken in a light-hearted way, but which had an impact without measure, resulting in a glow full of life in that pair of brown eyes before her.
"So cool!" the little girl lost her fear and shyness all at once, almost bouncing with excitement! "Big sister is so cool and pretty! I want to be just like you when I grow up!"
Again, Weiss was stunned as words decided to escape her mouth. The fact was that she had never in her dreams expected anything like this from anyone, let alone a faunus, regardless of age.
To be the object of admiration was unheard of, but only on the receiving end, knowing full well what it was like to look with those eyes at someone else. That way she was quick to pull herself together and smile again, only in a much more natural and perhaps even happy way.
"So start training, get some cute dresses and you'll surely get there, Okay?" Weiss stroked her hair one last time before standing to this little one's dismay and addressing her mother, "You must go now, to the shelter as instructed before."
"Oh, y-yes," the woman recovered from the shock of everything that had just happened before her, as if it were a dream or illusion provided by that evil Aura, but one that couldn't have been more real. "Thank you for helping my daughter!"
"Yes! Thank you, big sister!" the little girl followed her mother as she bowed to thank her hero before reluctantly leaving in the direction of the shelter with the others, but not without waving goodbye.
Weiss couldn't help but return the gesture, again having some memories, ones about herself as a little girl and the similar way she behaved around Winter.
Unfortunately, all good things were short-lived and she wasn't alone.
"That was unexpected," Blake spoke her thoughts as she approached. Seeing all that was... confusing, perhaps even more so than for this princess, but it served as a reason to try and start a conversation. Only, the opposite side didn't seem to share that line of thought as she greeted her with a defensive posture and weapon in hand. Definitely an abrupt change, but one she had hoped to see from the beginning. "Now, that is what I would say to be nothing but expected."
"Your expectations of me are irrelevant." Weiss didn't let the teasing get to her, more aware of this approach and warning as she stood on guard, "Just stay where you are and we won't have a problem."
It may have seemed like a warning, but to Blake, it sounded more like an order; proving that this girl had more than just the blood of that detestable family running through her veins, as well as the arrogance.
"You seemed pretty receptive with that child," she didn't move, not for what she was told but rather to avoid an unnecessary confrontation when it wasn't remotely the time for it, just wanting to understand before she left this place to continue helping those in need and never see this girl or any other Schnee in life again. "So tell me, what triggered such a change?"
Weiss only considered the question asked, unsure if she should continue this conversation when she had so much more to do, only to realize what was in those eyes that stared at her with a well-known intensity.
"If you really want to know, I did it because the chances of that child pulling out a knife and trying to stab me in the heart are almost non-existent, considering that my presence in Vale is unknown, with reason, not to mention the current situation," Weiss still remembered what she was taught, with real examples of similar scenarios that occurred in the past, this being only one of many and that didn't get to be the worst, besides confirming the more than expected animosity coming from this girl. "You, on the other hand, have a sword and know how to use it. Considering the way you look at me, as expected," the irony was present and Weiss liked to make it present, "I would be a fool not to show that minimum of caution."
Blake had her fingers tightening on the fabric of her clothing at what she heard and was unable to refute her apparent hostility, but the rest said wasn't something she could let go.
"You talk as if something absurd like that has happened before," she would never believe that one of her fellows could stoop so low, or that White Fang was remotely behind it, to the point of using a child to do their dirty work.
Unfortunately, just remembering the interaction that had occurred just now gave reason for temptation.
A child would never be the first suspect and basically, everyone let their guard down in their presence and that logic only made the act even more repulsive.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I speak exactly because it happened before." Weiss didn't expect her to believe an incident covered by the media that happened a long time ago but the familiar feeling that was increasingly present in those eyes narrowed into a silent threat. "What?" She couldn't hold back a smile and let her tongue drip with sarcasm, "Did you really think you were the only one with a reason to hate?"
Again, right on her nerves and Blake wanted to make this girl swallow her teeth, but unfortunately, she understood where this was coming from and the undeniable fact that both sides had their motives.
"Then why help at all? Or even let that child get close?" Blake wanted to know; she needed it to justify how she felt and give reason to her resentment.
If this girl before her wasn't what everyone believed her to be; was different from the family she was part of, what did that make of the White Fang and all its hatred?
With this hitherto non-existent piece of doubt, Blake was beginning to notice an unpleasant truth that this cunning princess, in the worst way, didn't seem to mind shoving in her face.
"I could ask you the same, but I imagine your answer would be something predictable like 'I don't want to be the same as a Schnee', right?" Weiss knew, having heard it before and she wasn't the only one if she counted her sister's experiences and be sure she got it right with how visible the anger in this girl was becoming. "And before you try to get smart and say that I did it to 'not be the same as White Fang', you are wrong. No, I did it because, unlike what you and your people believe, I am not a monster."
Blake listened to everything more and more feeling her emotions building up to the breaking point, even more so when this girl was arrogantly deciding what was going on in her head and speaking for her!
The audacity of that little!
So what if these two lines of thought existed?! That didn't mean she would rely on that alone!
Blake was not Adam and didn't want to be!
Soon, however, the little princess made her swallow her anger with another existing line of thought said by her at the end.
I did it because I am not a monster.
That was something her parents used to say when they extended a helping hand even to humans...
Even worse, this girl didn't seem to have finished and went on to say another phrase often used by her father,
"I did it because I don't want to hate without a reason," Weiss shook her head, remembering her meeting with Sasuke earlier that made her notice things ignored until then, about what she needed to change in order to be better. "That's what my father does, and I'm not him...not anymore"
The last bit was said in the form of an almost emotional and embarrassed whisper, revealing that while this girl wasn't a hypocrite to deny that there was a mutual resentment in her family, not only towards the faunus but between themselves, the truth was that she didn't want to be a part of it; not anymore, to be different and change.
So, even though she knew there was a tiny possibility that that child was a threat, who knows even those ordinary faunus when they became aware of her identity, which made sense regardless of how hateful such a possibility was, knowing some of the most extreme members of White Fang, this girl took the risk to demonstrate her change and that they were not part of the reason.
The resentment between humans and faunus wasn't new, nor was it even exclusively related to White Fang and the Schnee family, as the media liked to portray it. No, it was present in the direct conflict that had been going on for generations to become a hateful cycle that would continue to exist as long as there were those unable to put the past aside and try to glimpse a better future.
That way, there was the possibility of such change beginning at this moment.
Maybe, and only maybe, it wasn't a mere coincidence that the daughter of the man who created the White Fang had met the daughter of the man who currently led the Schnee family, and saved humans and faunus alike, side by side.
Who knows, perhaps fate was making a bold move whose unpredictable outcome could culminate in either a revolution or an unprecedented catastrophe.
Update at the end of the month as promised and no Ruby for you to complain about.
I don't have much to say other than that the next chapter also focuses on Blake and Weiss and will be out on the 15th.
If you want to support me and read ahead take a look at my P t r & on (slash) Bertoti
That's all for now, review and I'll see you all in the next chapter.
Until then.