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Requested by :

Lea the RosenWulf

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"T-They're just… Wandering around the campus." The overly-excited voice on the other end of the call said, sounding breathy and nervous like all raw recruits did. It was near-dark outside but, when she asked, the girl stammered, "N-No, they aren't heading toward the docks. The, uh, chesty one, she's mad. But the smaller one is saying something. I c-can't hear, but they're wandering in the direction of the dorms? Not the docks?"

"Good." Blake sighed, kneeling at the top of the roof of the building the Schnee's apartment was built in. There were very few people out around now, and most of those were heading home. Seeing the empty walkway below her, she said, "See them reach the dorms and then break contact. Getting caught helps nothing."

"R-Right…" She answered breathily, "Got it. And, um, thank you."

Blake just hung up without answering, muttering under her breath, "'The chesty one'? Rookies…"

Still, it was an easy job to cut their teeth on - and Sun could get away with it easily, if anyone came to ask why they'd put one of their raw horns on it. Some, she knew, would argue that this was too personal for Blake. And that, once she'd been caught out, they should have broken the operation. That was the standard, after all, and what she'd hoped they'd do. But…

Sun was right.

This was too great a chance to give up on so easily.

Rolling over the edge, Blake held on with one hand and turned, dropping onto the walkway soundlessly. It was empty and, when she stood, she paced along calmly, pulling her hood up tighter and holding the box she'd brought with her in one hand while she pretended to check her Scroll for directions. Without her mask, and with the hood up and khaki pants on, she looked like a lost delivery worker. It was a trick that was older than the uniform she was pretending to wear, but one that worked. She passed two people on the way, and both pretended not to even see her. They probably really hadn't even noticed her, not properly at least, at all.

Not her or, when she reached the ground floor and looked across the road, the other woman doing the same thing.

The woman gave her one nod, dropped the box at a random door, and strode away without looking back - the signal that no one had left.

"Perfect…" She murmured, turning for the closest door and dropping her package off, "Just perfect."

Leaving it there like the other Faunus had across the street, she made for the corner of the building and slipped around it. The second she found a dumpster, she slipped behind it, too, and dropped the khakis and zip-up hoodie she was wearing in one smooth motion, taking off at a jog in the lighter sport-shorts and fitted running shirt she'd had on under them. Now, she looked like a jogger, headed up the alleyway and watching her wrist as if she were minding her time. Another person that would just blend in - and muddy reports later, if it came to that, when different people described the same woman on two sides of the street, in different clothes.

Ideally, the coverage wouldn't be needed, but…

It was better safe than in Atlas' custody when that could so easily become the SDC's custody.

"It should be… This one." She murmured, pacing to a stop at one of the dozen or so back-doors, meant for people taking trash out to the dumpster around the corner or sequestered in its little wooden holding area at the other end of the alley. They weren't numbered, but she'd counted the doors when they first came, and the count matched.

Worst case, she'd break into the wrong one, slip out, and pretend never to have been there…

It was locked but Blake had learned long ago how well a thick credit card and a screwdriver could handle simple door-locks. The trick was simple, when you had a handle on it, and after a moment of pulling the door open with the driver and pushing the card in, she felt the little lock-bolt slide free and turned the knob, pushing in quietly and slowly easing the bolt back out, so it wouldn't so much as 'click'. It was dark inside, for all that mattered to her, and she still couldn't be sure she was in the right place, but…

The prosthetic arm resting on the dryer, sitting in a little plastic tub with tools, was a good hint.

The back room was clearly meant as a washer-room and a place for trash, with a bin by the door and the appliances opposite it. But shelves had been installed wherever there was space and they were crammed with tools and… Parts. Nothing organic, thanks the Stars, but plenty of very real looking eyes, fingers, ears- Pretty much everything, all neatly packed away beside medications and tools. Nothing moved or anything, though…

Even if it felt like stepping through one of her nightmares, it wasn't.

The hallway felt tight, though, as she made her way up it. She heard electric sounds from one as she passed it, but left it alone for now. Instead, she peered into the next door, which had been left open…

The bedroom was tight, too, with a huge bed that took up most of the space. It was neatly made, with nice black blankets and pillow-cases, but the room was clearly not disused. Not for show. Shoes were haphazardly tucked under the edge of the bed - three sets, and she recognized Weiss' - and one of the dressers had a few of Weiss's dresses neatly folded on top. Along with a few other things, including a robe she recognized heaped lazily at the corner.

"But why so tight…" She murmured, stepping back-

Into a cold wind she spun to face as a voice answered her, "We cuddle."

Blake moved, but the Sekirei was faster, ice shooting up and pinning her against the wall, points skewering into her Aura painfully. The white-haired Sekirei was on her in a heartbeat, pinning her by an ice-covered hand around her throat and pressing a frost-lade knife to the side of her face with the other. Her robes were gone, revealing a fitted white bodysuit that cut off at the knees and elbows.

"Why," she pressed the knife closer, cutting at her Aura and lacing chill in every breath Blake took, "are you here?"

"I-I…"

"Broke in?" The Sekirei snarled, "Into our home?! Like a thief in the night, I wonder? Or like a knife?"

"I-I'm not here to hurt anyone!" Blake argued, following the Sekirei's gaze when she scoffed and flicked a look up above her. To where a flat of ice had her hand pinned, grip tight around Gambol Shroud's hilt on her back. "T-That's… Instinct! I just want to talk!"

"Talkers tend to knock." The woman growled, "On the front door."

"Please, I-"

"I should just end you now." The woman cut off, flexing her chest and free arm and driving dozens of icy spines into her stomach, legs - everywhere, really, stinging and burning icy paths up her entire body. It reminded her of her time in Atlas, of the cold and how it could bite even through Aura sometimes. The ones on her throat pressed in so hard she could only suck air, eyes watering while the Sekirei went on, "Better here and now, when you can't hurt my-"

"Akitsu!" A sharp voice cut the air apart, "Stop!"

"But…"

"No!" Weiss hissed, appearing at the Sekirei's shoulder, barely visible beyond the frost that had overtaken the hallway, and the vapor it put off. "We do not kill people in our home! Least of all my… Team mates!"

"But she-"

"Deserves a moment to defend herself, at least, Aki." Weiss argued, laying a hand on the Sekirei's arm and giving her a soft, almost pleading look that Blake didn't understand. She could just demand it if she wanted - most Sekirei were biologically programmed to obey their Ashikabi's demands.

Instead, she asked…

"...Fine." The Sekirei finally sighed, withdrawing the knife and the ice just enough it didn't hurt so much. Not enough Blake could get free, though. And from the sharp look Akitsu gave Weiss when she sighed, that wasn't up for much negotiation.

"So… Why are you here?" Weiss sighed, crossing her arms over a… Suddenly very skimpy shirt Blake was only able to see now, splotched with oil and stains and ripped off at the stomach.

It was enough of a break away from the very put together Weiss she knew, Blake couldn't help but blurt, "I-Is that a tank top…?"

"Yes…" Weiss sighed, "I was working on Penny's shoulder - it gets warm when the machines are on and she's… Open, so- Why am I explaining this? You answer first."

"You know who I am, I'm guessing…"

"We can hazard a guess." Weiss drawled, leaning against her Sekirei's side and letting the woman hold her comfortably. Gesturing at her with a hand, and using the other to rub little circles into Akitsu's bicep, Weiss rattled out, "Faunus, last name Belladonna, and you panicked when you saw my Sekirei. Not just Penny, either. You were anxious when you saw Akitsu in the picture, too."

"How could you possibly-"

"I'm a Schnee." Weiss cut her off, "Being perceptive is something we are thoroughly taught. Business negotiations go far more advantageously for your side when you pick up the little details, you understand."

"I suppose…"

"That means you're White Fang." Weiss nodded, watching Blake impassively with those bright, cold eyes, "But the three of us don't understand why that could be, and you haven't even tried to hurt me. I have to be near the top of your little hit list, don't I? So why hold back… Even if something important were in Beacon, something you needed, arranging an accident would be easy enough. A drone whose programming is off, unstable Dust misplaced… These things happen. So, why not?"

"...Initially, that was my thought." She admitted quietly, flicking the white-haired Sekirei a look when she hissed and the hallway, somehow, grew even colder. Weiss held her bicep, though, and that kept her from acting, so Blake went on. "Then I… Before I could even think of a plan to propose, I-I heard you talk about them. Those two."

"My girlfriends."

"That." Blake nodded, grimacing, "And… And that made me hesitate. Schnee don't call Sekirei anything like that…"

"I do."

"Yes." Blake nodded, heart beating thunder in her chest. "You do… But, why?"

"Why not?"

"Your family-"

"Your organization once bombed an airport and, incidentally, killed fourteen children." Weiss cut her off, making Blake's stomach turn. She hadn't been involved with what happened in Vacuo, but… Every Operative knew about it. How could they not? "Should I then brand you a child-killer? After all, our groups are being judged collectively, no?"

"That was different…"

"How?" Weiss asked, "You weren't there? I've never run the labs your people raid. You had no control? This all started before I was born. What excuse can you have which I can not match or beat?"

"...None."

"Exactly." Weiss nodded, smiling toothily like she'd just won some great victory. "So do not speak as if I am my father, or my family. I am not. My grandfather would never have countenanced what Jacques," she spat the name like the worst slur Blake had heard, "has done, and neither would I, regardless of whatever oblique reasoning he has."

"Which," Weiss went on, turning to Akitsu now and revealing to Blake's surprise that she'd not even been arguing with Blake at all, but her irate Sekirei, "is why Blake has not hurt me, and did not come to. She came to talk, and she can hardly do that while I am half-dressed and she is pinned against a wall."

"...You've made your point." The ice holding Blake withdrew suddenly enough Blake stumbled and nearly fell, only managing to catch herself by leaning on the door, and Akitsu turned to Weiss. "Be careful with her."

"I will be." Weiss nodded, smiling, "Close up Penny for me? I… Left in a rush."

"I will." Akitsu nodded, stooping to steal a kiss that made Weiss simultaneously roll her eyes and lean into it. Pulling away, Akitsu slipped by while Weiss cleared her throat.

"Forgive her." The Schnee sighed, "Akitsu… She took a long time, to open up after we met. And now that she has, she'd incredibly protective."

"I can tell…" Blake murmured, rubbing the numb spot where the knife had dug into her Aura. Straightening, she murmured, "You… Must treat them well, then. To earn that kind of loyalty."

"Why do you think I'm in Vale at all and not Atlas?" Weiss sighed, turning and walking away, waving for Blake to follow. She lead her to the living room, where she collapsed on the couch and sighed, waving for Blake to sit at a chair closer to the door in a way that couldn't have been any more overt an offer for Blake to leave - or a show that Blake could leave - if Weiss had set up a sign saying as much. When Blake sat, Weiss said, "I know what the Fang do, and what that has lead your people to think about my family. But… We're not all monsters."

"Logically, I can understand that." She'd gotten to know Weiss at least enough to see that. "But…"

"You've seen the labs."

"My first mission was raiding one…"

"Oh, of course it was." Weiss groaned, rubbing at her eyes and sitting up in one motion. After a moment, Weiss said, "We came to Vale to escape that hell, Blake. Whatever happens after tonight, between us, I need you to know I would kill or die for those I risked the latter already."

"You did…?"

"Jacques," again, Blake could taste the hate in the word, touching a finger to her scar, "believed that I would just use them to do all my fighting. And, worse in his eyes, that I would do poorly at that. So, before he agreed to let me leave for Beacon, he… Demanded I agree to a wager."

"A wager…?"

"Do you know what a Gheist is?"

"Yes."

"Then you know what an Arma Gigas is, too."

"He didn't." Blake blinked, "Arma Gigas are- Are rare, and powerful. He made you fight one?"

"All three of us, yes." Weiss nodded, gesturing again at her scar. "This came when Penny's leg failed, and I had to hold it at bay. Akitsu was able to destroy it, but… Well, I couldn't exactly dodge all that easily."

It was… A hell of a story, and one that would change Blake's mind, if she believed it. But believing it was hard. She'd grown up on Schnee lies. Lies about the labs, the mines, the death rates for the miners, benefits, protection - it all stacked up in her mind. Like a wall blocking out the story. How could all that be true, when everything she knew screamed that it couldn't?

"I can tell you don't believe me." Blake blinked and Weiss smiled and shrugged, "I'm not asking you to. Only… Only to give me a chance, as Akitsu did. To earn that trust."

"It's… Why I'm here." Blake smiled thinly.

And that wasn't even a lie - even if the reasons weren't ones she could, or would, share.

"You can stay here tonight." Weiss nodded, standing and gesturing at the kitchen. "We still have taco meat left, if you're hungry. But…"

"But?"

"No cheese." Weiss grinned, turning to leave, "And you have to come up with what you tell the other two!"

Blake watched her leave and, after a moment, sighed and took her spot laying on the couch. Staring at the ceiling, Blake wondered just what would come next… And what she wanted to come next. Aside from some more of Bane's fresh-cooked fish, that was.

"Lemon pepper sounds divine right now…"

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Weiss eased into Penny's side when, intact, she returned with Akitsu and both curled up beside her. Letting them rest their heads on her shoulders, she listened to Penny's rhythmic, automated breathing while Akitsu traced little circles around Weiss' belly button. Finally, quietly, Weiss asked, "Lien for your thoughts?"

"You hardly need Lien…"

"To be fair," Weiss chuckled, "the saying means I'd pay you."

"If you don't need Lien, why do I need it?"

"I dunno." She sighed, "Why are you being evasive?"

"...You're planning something." Akitsu accused her quietly, sitting up enough to just meet her gaze over Weiss' chest. When Weiss nodded, Akitsu straightened more and leaned over her, looking down at her. "What?"

"I need help, for our eventual goals." Weiss hummed, watching Akitsu's neck as she breathed and shifted. "Blake and the Fang could be that…"

"It's dangerous."

"When is any of this not?"

"Fair." The Sekirei sighed, stealing another kiss before settling in beside her. Pouting, Akitsu poked Weiss' side, right where she was ticklish even though moving would wake Penny, and she complained, "You ruined taco night…"

Weiss just rolled her eyes and stared at the ceiling.

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Essiter :

Sun is her direct superior in this, in Vale. Hence the joke about pulling rank.

Nine Yetis :

Yes to both, and both are linked.

Phantom 117a :

Yup! XD