XxX-XxX-XxX
Official Supporters:
Obsessive Readers, Laurel
Compulsive Reader, The Impossible Muffin
Commissioner, Gib, Death Daddy, Le Spork, Polemoduke, Lea the Rosenwulf
If you want to be on the Supporter list, PM me for details or join our private server for details. Hope you enjoy reading my stories, please leave me a comment to let me know if you did, or where I can improve. Link here, where able to be seen : /2UZncAm
Second link here, remove ( and ) and it SHOULD work : D(i) (slash)kfhkfUb
Beta(s) :
XxX-XxX-XxX
Requested by :
Lea the RosenWulf
XxX-XxX-XxX
"None of you are ready for this… And I hate it." The dark-skinned tiger Faunus whose hands rested on her shoulder and, across from her, on her best friend Adam's as well. Quietly, Sienna Khan went on, looking up at the roofs to either side of the fetid and frigid alley the eight of them were huddled in. Blake shivered, cold in spite of her thick coat and Aura, and Sienna laid a hand on her head, pulling her closer and giving her a smile before she turned to the others and went on, "But we have a lead on a lab-site being closed down in two days. And all our teams are committed, and too far away."
"We do what we have to." Adam rumbled quietly, flicking Blake a look and frowning thinly. "Even when we don't…"
"What's the plan?" Blake cut in when he paused, good eye bright behind his mask and frown trembling slightly - she knew he was scared for her, younger than him and only barely trained. She was scared, too, but… She smiled nervously, "We do what we have to."
"Your parents would be proud." Sienna murmured, "Trifa, Yuma, you're our fastest - I want you on the rooftops, eyes open. Pair up with Alabaster and Ruby. The rest of us are going to breach. Ilia, you go first - get that door open and we'll move in behind you, and see what we can find."
"Or," Adam murmured, hand tightening around his sword, "who."
"We can only hope…" Sienna sighed, "And dread. Ilia, go."
"Yes, Ma'am." The chameleon nodded, scales washing into the same warm brown as the rest of her skin as she stood, pulled the hood on her thin jacket up, and jogged up the alleyway and around the corner, into the honeycomb of back-roads and access alleys that made up Mantle.
A few minutes later, Sienna's Scroll chirped quietly and she flicked it over to Yuma, who took it and vanished up the fire escape beside them with the rest of the look-outs.
The door they stepped through was far too new for the heap of trash bags Ilia had obviously pushed aside to get at it, and inside was no different. Silver-painted metal walls stretched up a few yards to a heavy, reinforced door. Recessed lights cast the whole thing in a bright, sterile white that hurt Blake's sensitive eyes after the dark of night outside - which, she figured, might have been on purpose - and were way off base for the crummy tenements at the front of the building and in the floor above. Which was exactly what Sienna had told them to expect.
The second door was also locked, and this one with a code-lock that Ilia and Sienna both knelt to work at, popping it off its fastenings and plugged Ilia's Scroll into, working on it while she and Adam watched the door.
And Blake's pistol trembled in her hands.
"Breathe." Adam instructed quietly, "Deep, slow, and count to five between. Nothing coming for us will come anywhere but that door. We will have the element of surprise."
Somehow, that didn't do much to calm her nerves…
But when he stepped forward, shielding her just a bit from the door, that did manage to help. Just a bit.
Finally, Blake heard the door-lock chirp a quiet affirmation and turned, watching Ilia push it open for Sienna to head into first. And, when nothing happened and a light flicked on, the three of them followed her in.
Inside was a wide, open-floor lab with a pair of barred cells at the back. Storage crates lined one wall, and dark-tinted glass covered another. Rows of dark-stained work-tables split the room between them, with cleaning supplies stacked up on top of them with rolls of paper towels and the like beside them. Rolling trolleys were waiting by the glass and the crates, ready to be loaded and emptied out the next day no doubt, just like Sienna had said to expect.
But all Blake could smell was iron, tangy and heady.
"Spread out, but be careful…" Sienna whispered, headed towards the cells and flicking the snowflake emblazoned on the ceiling above them a dark look and scowl, "We need to see if there are any survivors here. Or… Or evidence of where they might have been taken."
Blake was focused on a little alcove beside the tinted glass, though. Where the smell of iron was heavy. She reached for it and a smaller light flicked on inside, showing a handful of little spoons resting in a cup built into the wall under a water nozzle. She tapped the button and a spurt of water shot into the already mostly-full cup.
And, beside her, something electric hummed as the tinted window beside her lightened and a light inside flickered on. Rows of jars filled the space, full of… Things.
Including a bright green eye, floating in amber liquid, that Blake swore was looking at her - and drew a startled, ragged scream out of her.
XxX-XxX-XxX
Blake jerked awake with a familiar roiling in her stomach and shiver from the sweat on her skin. Sighing, she rubbed her eyes and turned to stare at the wall beside her bed. She pulled her Scroll out from under her pillow and, as usual, it was only a bit after four. So she sighed, rolled over, and dropped silently out of bed. The rest of the girls were all sound asleep, again as usual, so she padded quietly over to her drawer to pull out her clothes - a simple set of dark jeans and a loose button down, for a nice Saturday she'd been told she'd be spending out with her team for 'bonding'. A shower, brushing her teeth, and most importantly, brushing her ears out always helped her relax, though, and by the time she came back out to let a yawning Yang take the bathroom she felt better.
Not much better…
But better, and now she had time to sit in bed and read on her Scroll while the others started to get up and ready.
"So…" Weiss finally started several hours later, after Ruby had gone to get them all breakfast and come back. Blake watched her take a breath, and a sip of her morning juice to hide the fact, before she went on, "While I understand the urge you all feel to meet my partners-"
"What?" Yang smirked, "Shy?"
"Yang, hush."
"Betrayed…" Yang sighed, "And by my baby sister, too! She didn't even say the magic wor- Mph!"
"Yang, hush please." Ruby reiterated while the blonde pouted and pitched her sister's pillow back at her.
"Thank you, Ruby." The young Schnee sighed, shaking her head, "As I was saying, I understand the desire, and they, of course, have agreed. But… Well, there are some things you should be apprised of. Before meeting them."
That, at least, had Blake's attention. Not that she showed it, flicking the woman a look, humming and nodding, and going back to pretending to read the novel on her Scroll. Which was somewhat harder than it looked - it was a good book, and right at the head of a long romantic scene Blake had been waiting for all week. But falsify her attention she did, listening to the Schnee's very breath for a suggestion she might be hiding something. Some trick or trap, meant to test them for what they were - Faunus or otherwise - and catch them out.
Instead, almost meekly, she explained, "Penny is… She was hurt, when she was younger. Much of her, more than you might think, is… Well, false."
"False…?"
"Medical prosthetics, Ruby." Weiss explained quietly, staring into the floor and sighing wearily. "My wealth allows me to make certain her maintenance is thoroughly handled. But often-times she is- Well, often enough she is missing something. An arm, a leg, an eye- Something being maintained, either by her or Akitsu. Or myself, if I am there."
"Well." Yang coughed, clearing her throat awkwardly and struggling for words until, finally, she just said, "Shit."
"Is she okay…?" Ruby asked more gently, her whole face the picture of worry - and for someone she hadn't even met yet. "I-If she isn't feeling well, we can wait until-"
"No, Ruby, she's- She's feeling as fine as can be." Weiss sighed, smiling her appreciation at her partner and pacing over to the window to watch the tree outside sway in the breeze. Quietly, she explained, "Her arm has been causing her issues, so she is foregoing it while her shoulder's replacement parts are coming and… And I did not want you to be taken by surprise. Or say something upsetting without realising it, and… Well, I would rather avoid that, you understand."
"We'll be on our best behavior, Weiss." Ruby promised, flashing to her side and pulling the Schnee into a hug she struggled weakly against. Giggling, the young leader hopped up onto the balcony and pointed at Yang, "Isn't that right?"
"Why are you pointing at me?!"
"Because," Weiss sighed, "we all already know your proclivity for making what you likely assume to be 'jokes'."
"Hey!" The blonde whined weakly, "I'm funny! Right, Blake?"
"No comment." She muttered, still too caught off-guard by the… Sincerity she'd heard in the Schnee's voice, both now and when she'd talked about what she understood thoroughly now could only have been Sekirei before. Shaking her head, she sighed and asked, "Are you sure they even want us to come?"
"Oh please." The white-haired woman scoffed, "The moment I mentioned you lot wanting to meet them, I thought Penny was about to leap through the Scroll then and there. At this point, a Grimm invasion would not sway them away from expecting to have you."
"I see…"
"Oh?" Weiss raised an eyebrow, sharp eyes locking onto Blake suddenly, "And why does that sound disbelieving?"
"Because you're paranoid?" Blake smiled, chiding herself gently for not considering that Weiss would have grown up to be very perceptive living in Atlas - and blinking when she realised how naturally the smile came. Shaking it off, she changed the subject - somewhat - and asked, "If we are going, when are we leaving?"
"As soon as someone," Weiss drew out the word, turning back to look up at her leader, "gets out of her pajamas and into a shower."
"In that order, I hope?" Yang hummed as Ruby blushed and hopped down, shuffling towards the bathroom, "Cuz if you're trying to add to your harem-"
"Finish your sentence, Xiao Long, at your own peril." Weiss cut in, pointing a long finger at the larger woman while she laughed and Ruby scuttled away, blushing brightly. After a moment, and a blink, Weiss added, "And it is not a… One of those debauched things, either. We are all together with each other."
"Oh?" Yang's smile widened, "Big bed, then?"
"I am going to have to fill out so much sexual harassment paperwork, aren't I?"
Blake just listened to the two bicker back and forth and turned back to her Scroll, content to actually start reading again, now that that mess had been settled.
By the time they got into Vale and walked to Weiss' apartment, it was around ten in the morning, and Vale's streets were clogged with traffic. As usual.
Still, the street Weiss lived on was quiet enough, by Vale's standards, and her apartment was… Shockingly small. Quaint, even. The building was about ten stories tall, with a rather narrow walkway built along the front of each almost like a motel, and stairs spaced out evenly along it every few apartments. The front was solid-looking brick, with iron fencing enclosing a tiny area of space around the door with little garden beds of flowers were sitting at the front ends, where they could get sun. Wide windows were covered by thick, red wooden shutters and, inside, curtains Blake could see with her more sensitive eyes.
Weiss let them in and, inside, the apartment was… Cozy.
It let into a small living room with a wide, curved couch in front of a wide television. A few game consoles sat under it, with boxes for their games scattered across the floor at the base of the television stand. To either side were shelves, one covered in books and vials of Dust and the other in manuals stacked up around and between tools, parts and, in one case, a mostly disassembled hand resting on a little cloth. A pair of tables right behind the couch were filled up with even more tools and spare parts, with cables in a bucket under them and another full of smaller bits Blake couldn't make out as Weiss lead them to the counter and waved for them to sit at the mismatched stools set on the living room side of it.
The kitchen was painfully clean, though - and Weiss knew her way around it, stepping around and opening the fridge to pull out tins of browned meat and cheese.
"Tacos. Or, well, Atlesian tacos, at least." She explained, laughing brightly while she worked, "Penny adores them, so when she doesn't feel well-"
"I make them." A woman spoke, stepping around the corner and pulling Weiss into a hug from behind, burying her nose in the crook of her neck and sighing. "Ah, I missed you… I even cleaned the sheets already…"
"T-Thank you, Akitsu, I-I appreciate that," Weiss shot them an apologetic look, smiling sheepishly, "b-but we have guests."
"I know." She sighed, releasing her and turning to face them with a pleasant smile of her own. "Hello, all. I am Akitsu as, I'm sure, you've been made aware."
"Yeah." Ruby smiled, leaning over the counter to offer the Sekirei her hand.
And it was obviously a Sekirei, her crest emblazoned right on her forehead. It was barely hidden by her short, light brown hair, but nothing would have truly hidden it. Not in any way that would truly matter. She was dressed in light robes, more Mistralian than anything else, and padded across the kitchen on bare feet. But Blake couldn't take her eyes off the crest and, in turn, the Sekirei didn't break eye contact with her until she turned her back to them to get down plates.
Blake didn't miss the way her other hand lingered on one of the dozen knives in the knife-block beside the stove, though.
"Thank you." Weiss smiled, emptying the meat out onto the plates so she could reheat them while she asked. "How is Penny? Is she up?"
"She should be around in a few-"
"Weiss!" A bright voice chirped, suddenly zipping around the corner in long, loose cargo pants and an equally loose and long shirt, one sleeve tied up around her empty shoulder, and her hand was hidden in a thin black glove. Her hair was waist-length and an impossible seeming bright orange. Weiss let her hug her, leaning into her good side, before she leaned back and turned, smiling widely. "Hi! I'm Penny! Penny Polendina!"
Blake saw bright green eyes she hadn't seen in years, set into thin black frame-sockets…
And screamed.
She felt the sun on her shoulders before she even remembered to breathe.
XxX-XxX-XxX
Kaleido Librarian :
Conflicts are more than 'developing' lmao.
Also, yes, Sekirei are capable of Aura.
