I have a Cat Problem (RWBY Comedy)

Chapter 1: Get out of my flat!


My life was a simple one. One where things were dictated by common logic, a sense of peacefulness and… order.


That was before the strangest anomaly decided to come and storm everything with its mere presence. Such an oddity… that even now I couldn’t help but snort at the unpredictability of fate itself.


Vale wasn’t close to the Kingdom of Atlas in terms of technological benefits, but it still offered the chance of having the most satisfying experience of life. The kind of life that only those who faced the hardships of the Civilian life in a world that favored huntsmen before anyone else.


It wasn’t much of an issue considering that Hunters weren’t there to just strut around and get easy benefits. They were the protectors of today and tomorrow, the heroes of our time… and beyond.


I never had any issues with the neighbors. I actually enjoyed the little interactions I had with the elder couple that lived by the flat across mine. A little less about the numerous but still young family occupying the apartment in the front and providing with no little noise-related issues.


The little kids, especially the toddlers, tended to turn in minor annoyance past dinnertime.


Still, despite this negligible problem, I was glad about the home I got out from working hard and determinedly.


My job was one of the few ones that just offered a graceful balance of safety and income. The small establishment that was ‘alive’ by early morning had been searching some waitress back when I moved here in Vale. I remember getting hired mostly thanks to the references provided by my former teachers.


Years spent at school to try and get hold of the basics of what a normal life away from the dangerous workplace that were the Academies resulted in an impressive paper detailing my capacities as a waiter, chef, shop-keeper, and much more. I was an all-around worker. One that many would’ve paid gold to have around… but I just settled for this very activity.


The pay was decent, if not quite generous for the limited labor behind the daily tasks. Plus it went to modestly cover for the various expenditures of my peaceful life, rent included.


My flat was fairly spacious, but I knew that it was mostly because this was the kind of building that had been built with the purpose of housing large families families rather than single occupants like me. And this opportunity gave me the chance to have enough space to enjoy having my good hobbies there too.


My little garden was filled with various pots. A small line of proper wet dirt was used to keep the flowers and plants that I was trying to grow there there. Some were from my collection that I taken from my home in Mistral, while others had been planted a little after I had the rest of my equipment set for a small, but efficient farming operation.


With the dutiful caring and proper ministrations applied to the plants, I was guaranteed a slow but steady production of delicious fruits that I could either eat or offer around to anyone that wanted. In the end, this hobby also worked to reduce some of the expenses related to fruits that would come from trips at the local stores. It wasn’t much, but it was honest work.


I was glad of what I had achieved in so little time spent away from my family’s home. I was happy of the seemingly lonely but satisfying life that I got now. No longer was I going to be dreading to be attacked by any bandits or thugs that were known to live on the territories near the old manor.


I wasn’t poor, but neither I was rich enough to avoid dealing with the violence from the criminal issue troubling Mistral. Mom and Dad had long decided to settle by the capital once we were out of the old house. Their new place had plenty of security that was provided by the quite-flamboyant council ruling over the country.


I wasn’t savvy about politics, but I could recognize full-fledged idiocy when I saw it. Especially when in one instance a good majority of the year’s budget was burned in artistic renovations of some cathedrals rather than improve the already lacking military budget for the Militia Departments.


This is why, compared to Mistral, living here in Vale had left me at ease over the simplicity of things and the general lack of murderous gangs. The loneliness that comes with that lifestyle could easily be considered a terrible thing to praise, yet there was a proper reason why I didn’t care much about it.


I hated being in large crowds.


Mistral’s Transportation Network was (and possibly still is even now) the most obsolete in Remnant. Vacuo didn’t count since there wasn’t a genuine regulated system, nor a railway to begin with, that helped around the desert-based Kingdom.


With just a handful of rail-networks and with slow and small trains, people were hardly pleased with the means to reach their destinations. Large crowds were forced to get squeezed together and… some were certainly prone to sweat a lot either for agoraphobia or for something a little less complex, like obesity.


The Regency Council of the Kingdom of Mistral, despite having shown impressive liberal ideas in the last few years considering their easing over some rules, was still formed by a group of nobles that would eventually leave their seats as inheritance to their own children. Essential reforms were nowadays ditched for the sake of reviving old arts… or expensive tournaments.


I could still remember watching my first and, hopefully, last competition.


I was partially irritated by how dull some fighters had looked to be. After years spent training with dad… that just didn’t sit well for me. Too easy, too flashy. It was all a farce… except for the final match. It couldn’t exactly be considered a fair one.


The ‘popular choice’ was a flashy joke with hardly some serious experience in his bones. It would be a lie to say that I hadn’t cheered for his opponent, at the time unknown Pyrrha Nikos, in putting an end to that nonsense.


The serious-paced speed and the timed reactions were just on point, delivering a ‘brilliant’ victory for the young redhead.


But while the fight had easily won me over the fact that the girl was meant to go far, I didn’t bother watching any of the following seasons from that one onward.


After what had happened there and… after hearing brief details about the girl easily getting a second victory out of the next tournament, I felt my interest over that kind of stuff dwindle away for more ‘honest’ stuff.


Invincible Girl? She was mediocre, something my father had been keen to drill when he took me to see her fight for the first time. Very nervous, her footing missing essential steps and her last victory wasn’t even that sensational to the old man.


A retired Huntsman that had seen far too much in his past job to be impressed by a young girl being able to get some ‘important’ win because of the circumstances rather with her ‘invincibility’.


Dad wasn’t certainly a pushover, never lost his touch since he retired as proved when he went to teach temporarily at Haven Academy. Several students were forced to work even harder than previously to just pass his class, some giving up mid-way because of the peer pressure the veteran was keen to display when bored or annoyed.


Both my parents had been supportive of my decision to move out, saddened by the fact I was a Kingdom away from them, but glad that I had settled well in the better-defended nation.


But I think I’m digressing a little too much. Let me explain why… I lost my balance and found myself dealing with the greatest issue I had to ever face in my entire life. With a pleasant surprise by the very end of it all.


It all started when I finished my shift at the bar, just an hour or two after lunch. I had managed to eat something during my break and thus I didn’t feel the need to wander around before going back home. I was tired, and I didn’t have a reason to stay away from a few hours of rest.


Work was simple, but also tiring because of how long the shifts tended to be, especially when those ended up taking longer turns than usual when certain seasons were turning in, like the Vytal Festival. I wasn’t by any mean unnerved by this as the extra hours were paid extra, thus giving me the proper incentive to give my best with my assignments.


There were still some men and women walking around the streets, and the sun was still high in the sky. The blue was starting to give away to a lighter-orange, it was getting late. Vendors had their shops still open and continuing to help the various clients browsing their products. The peacefulness of these scenes were more than enough to bring me a sense of easiness that Mistral would have never been able to give to me.


I bit down a yawn, my lips twitching to suppress the tiny noise. I was feeling quite tired from the draining day at the job I had just concluded.


Starting fairly early in the morning, I was expected to wake at some unholy hour… thus I had to go to sleep even earlier than I used to back when I frequented college.


Was I annoyed by this? Just a little bit. I wasn’t a morning person, but I knew that it wasn’t a labor without rewards as the pay was worth it.


My walk back to the flat was uneventful and lacking any major crowds obstructing the strees. Even the hallway leading to the front door was deserted much to my immense relief.


I was ready to go for a brief nap of an hour (or who knows, maybe two) before focusing on tending the small garden I had set up in there.


Being that it was still before afternoon, I had my own plans about it and I knew how I was going to spend the rest of the day. Or at least until it was dinnertime.


My tomato plants needed some nutrients to recover from some parasites that had almost killed it. The pesky bugs had managed to enter through a small opening by the nearby window, prompting me to invest in something to solve this very issue.


Humming quietly, the key to the entrance door slipped correctly inside the lock’s mechanism and then clicked a single time to dignify the opening of the final barrier between me and my house.


I blinked in minor surprise as I was greeted by some darkness. I eased as I remembered that I had forgotten to lift up the windows’ curtains earlier this morning.


I went ahead to slowly pace around the place, calmly pulling the fabrics aside and letting the light shine and making all corners and objects in my desolate living room clear and-


Just as I turned around to greet the sofa and the small couches by its side, my eyes found themselves fixing upon something- no, someone sleeping on that very sofa.


I was tense, unwilling to move and cause the figure in there to stir awake from their slumber. My eyes were wide open as I silently studied the display given, and I was able to discern quickly that… it was a young woman.


And someone I knew nothing about.


Quietly snoring with her head resting by one of the small pillows of the comfy furniture, I could see that the girl had quite the fair-skin. It was rather pale, and it presented itself as an interesting contrast to her long, dark hair. Her locks reached right down to where her lower back began.


She was wearing a white, sleeveless shirt and some same-colored shorts. Her legs were warmed by stockings that had a gradation of black to purple.


I noticed that an unfamiliar black vest, presumably hers, was currently folded on one of the couches, and there was a pair of black low-heeled boots that had been set right by the floor beneath the couch.


My attention moved back up to her face and… hair. A twitch above her fringe caught my attention and I locked my eyes onto the pair of relaxed cat ears perfectly visible from there. Twitching once in a while, the feline appendages offered some insight over her current state of self.


The half-attentive tension in those just made it clear that she was still sleeping, but that my previous actions might have stirred her a little bit from her rest.


It was a few moments later that I finally lessened the tension within my body as I knew that she was still unconscious.


My eyes were still wide open as my mind was failing to grasp how this Cat Faunus had managed to sneak inside my apartment when I had my windows and door closed…


And why did she invade my house?


A burglar? Quite a dumb one if she decided to take a nap on the sofa of the poor moron she was trying to steal from. Usually one would take the stuff and leave rather than just settle down by the couch.


A murderer? I couldn’t see any weapons and, just like the previous guess, it would’ve been a dumb murderer if she literally decided to sleep in her victim’s couch… before killing said victim.


Do I even know her? I was certain the girl wasn’t someone I had met before, nor I think I’ve ever seen her before today. A complete strange. And she was sleeping by my couch.


What the fuck!?


I slowly tip-toed my stunned self away from the living room, reaching for the kitchen where I knew I had left my house’s phone. A simple cordless device that was a decade or two old but still worked efficiently and well for my daily needs while I was at home.


My brain was riddled with prayers and hopes of managing to get a distress call out. Maybe even leave the girl slumbering until the authorities arrived here to deal with this, but I sure failed to realize that I was doing a terrible mistake by stepping so quietly by the floor.


A few days ago I had found a weakened spot between the hallways and the doorstep that led to the kitchen. The cause of the instability supposedly related a tiny infiltration of water that had lessened the cement around the section and made it easy to break if applied some pressure against it. Too much weight and the thing would just collapse under anyone’s feet.


I had already planned to call some professional to fix it as I really didn’t need to have any guests trip and die because of it. Aura or not, that wasn’t something I really wished to keep this issue around forever.


In that very moment where I needed the utmost silence from the world around me, and I had completely forgotten about that very problem, my right foot ended up pressing down right on the middle of the frail bit of floor.


The part gave away, the ground cracking and creating a small hole in which my foot ended up unwittingly pushed into. And I was stuck in there with a horrified look look plastered on my now pale face.


There was a noise at that development, and it was loud enough to make me pause and panic as I heard footsteps coming from the living room.


I stared down in shock and, biting down a not-so-kind word, I ditched my shoe to save my foot. I didn’t sneak anymore as I knew my trouble was now awake and in alert. Fear was a good motivation and I was soon bolting across the room and reach for the phone.


I grabbed it, my fingers frantically pressing the numbers that would compose the emergency phone number of the VPD and-


SHLINK!


My jaws dropped when a dark-gray blade proceeded to cut the receiver in half before I had the chance of bringing it close to my ear. I tumbled, a moderate kick pushing me away and causing me to fall on the floor with a pained look.


I snapped my eyes open at the woman, now wielding what looked to be a short sword and… a ribbon folded around its hilt?


“L-Look, I don’t wish to hurt you,” The Faunus said with a calm but nervous voice, her amber eyes locked onto my frame as I stilled at her words. “I just need a place where to sta-!!”


Before the girl could manage to finish whatever explanation she had planned to dispense about her current illegal stay at my flat, her eyes went wide in sudden shock as she found herself tripping… on the shoe I had abandoned mere moments ago.


It was an opportunity to reverse the hostage situation she had created as she started to slowly fall towards me. I pounced right as I saw her falling toward the floor, both of my hands swiftly going for her weapon and carefully slipping it off from her hold.


She was just too surprised by the fall to notice what I just did, trying to halt her fall only for me to roll away with her blade and… aiming it at her.


Intrigue but also annoyance were now displayed by her feline eyes, but I could care any less about her reaction as I quickly discovered that, much like the majority of the new generations of blades, this one was provided with a gun.


A… machine gun? I wasn’t savvy about it so I merely switched to it and prayed it wasn’t a single-shot handgun. Now that would be a sad development for me.


“I ask you to return to the living room and not move as I call-”


“You are not going to hurt me,” The dark-haired lady stated calmly. “Knowing about your lack of weapons in the house, I know that you are just lucky to know how to hold-”


Bang


She tensed quickly as the warning bullet slammed on the floor just a few centimeters away from her. Eyes now once more wide, the girl stared at my growing smirk.


“Dad was a Huntsman,” I explained curtly. “And he taught me a thing or two how those things work.” I shook her weapon to dignify my point and… she sighed.


Moments of quiet passed and I was tempted to go for another warning shot, but then the girl slowly stood up and started to walk back to the living room, hands up and visible for me as she went back to sit by the couch.


There was silence and, while I continued to hold the gun aimed at her with one of my hands, the other one slowly trailed back to my pants’ left pocket as I went to get my Scroll. T


he reason why I hadn’t used it to call the cops rather than mess up my attempt with the now-gone phone in the kitchen was actually a fairly embarrassing one.


During one of my duties as a waiter at the nearby bar, one of the patrons’ children had spilled their drink on my pants and… drenched the then recently-acquired device.


The last gift from mom so that I could have called her without having to resort to the CCTV’s system and make senseless walks around the large capital.


So while the small thing managed to send and receive calls, its receptors weren’t fully-operational and sometimes words ended up failing to register to the device. The issues created by this phenomenon led to no little problems with various contacts saved in there.


Mom was confused when I said some ‘foul words’ back to her, but she calmed a little bit when I explained that it was just an issue with the damaged phone.


I still tried, the number composed and… I waited patiently for someone to take up the call.


Just four seconds passed before someone actually picked up the distress call.


“VPD Emergency Line, how can we help you?”


“Y-Yes, I call from 745 Torrent Street, Flat 45, Floor 2.” I started quickly, a little stutter slipping through much to my chagrin. “There is a burglar that invaded my home. It’s a young woman, dark-hair, Faunus and-”


“Sir,” The woman on the other side scoffed in annoyance and I frowned. “I can assure you this is a serious Emergency line and I can’t keep up with this call.”


My frown deepened without hesitation at that sudden comeback.


“Say what?!”


“The Emergency Line is for special cases of distress and need,” The operator replied with a somewhat angry tone. “We can live without your depiction of the foreplay you have with your Faunus girlfriend, sir. Good day to you.”


The call ended and my jaw dropped at what I ended up hearing.


Some red was spreading on my cheeks and, from what I could see by the couch, the girl was blushing herself, sharing the same mortification I was enduring at that unexpected quip from the operator.


I blinked at the device and… the dark-haired lady spoke once more.


“I understand that I might have caused you incredible distress-”


“And damage.” I interjected flatly, her ears twitching still as she flinched.


“And damage,” She admitted to that higher fault. “But I can assure you that I didn’t mean to cause you any harm and-”


“You cut my phone and then pointed your blade at me,” I pointed out with a stern voice. “And I reckon you were possibly going to ‘cause me harm’ just to keep me quiet.”


My accusation was legitimized by the fact she had been advancing on me before tripping on the shoe.


The Faunus didn’t dare to contest that very point, preferring to silently look away and play the naive one. But seriously, I wasn’t in the mood for that.


“Look, how about you just get out of my house,” I pointed at the door behind me. “And you never return?”


There was more silence, this time her bright eyes were on me once again. Surprise and confusion at my sudden ‘defeat’, yet she didn’t budge from her seat.


“What?” Her voice trailed the very confusion I could see in her face.


I sighed, I really didn’t need this madness. As much as I wanted to haul her ass off to jail for that stunt she pulled on me, I really didn’t need this.


I was too tired to think straight as of now.


“Look, I know you aren’t here to steal from me and the cops aren’t going to help me with removing you from my home,” I said with a tired tone. I just wanted to nap, nothing more. “Just get out and we forget this even happened-”


“I-I can’t.” She interrupted unexpectedly, causing me to double-back at that.


“What? I’m giving you the chance to-”


“I really need a place where to spend some time away from… some people,” The Faunus admitted. “And I had planned to spend this time here so-”


“No,” I shot back with an angry tone. “Also, how the heck did you get inside my flat?!”


She flinched again and… her eyes briefly staring up at the ceiling and I followed her stare right onto the newly-created hole in there.


I breathed calmly, but I could feel anger rising from my chest. “You destroyed the ceiling-”


“There was a small opening and… I just increased it?” Her attempt to lessen the fact she had damaged my roof was enough to cause a scowl to appear on my lips.


“Get out of my house-”


“Look, I know that-”


“Out!”


“There is no need to-”


“I will yell as much as I want!” I rebuked furiously. “Get the fuck out of my home!” I screamed back at her.


There was silence from the brunette, amber eyes once wide were now narrowed at me in silent anger.


“It’s because I’m a Faunus,” She started with a soft tone, making my own fury simmer down just a little to let my surprise known to her. “It’s that, isn’t it?”


The Cat-girl had to literally go there.


I was a middle-class Mistralian-born young man that studied with, befriended and proudly had some relationships with some Faunus back home. And to hear this incredibly slanderous lie was enough to make my blood boil to the maximum.


“How dare you!” I shrieked back, the girl flinching at the sudden outburst while also looking fairly surprised by it. “Out, now!”


This time I aimed the gun with more decision and she tensed.


While I was sure that she had Aura, a bullet was still a painful thing to be hit with. Thus, silently and defeatedly, the girl stood up from the sofa, slowly walked from the furniture and towards me.


She wanted her weapon back, but like hell I would have given it back before I had her out of the apartment. I turned around, ready to lead her out of the flat when I felt the blade yanked away from my hold as the girl quickly jumped through the hole in the ceiling and… left.


I stood just a handful of moments to stare at the roof, expecting her to resurface just to mock me or something like that but…


Nothing. She was gone.


...Hallelujah!


I sighed in relief, my mind slowly drifting away from that surreal encounter as I started to write down in my mental ‘to-do’ list that I had to call some carpenter to fix the damage on the roof and… get someone to fix the phone by the kitchen.


I yawned, but I didn’t want to nap. Not yet at least.


After what just transpired, I didn’t feel safe enough to close my eyes just a moment before having that hole fixed.


I decided to message someone nearby that I knew was a professional in fixing roofs and… he ended up applying something that looked like a large tape, but it was meant to be a preventive measure.


The job itself would take a full afternoon and the man was busy for the day, giving me some availability by tomorrow.


I gladly accepted the offer and felt a little safer with the fact I had that ‘tiny cover-up’ to deter anyone trying to pull the same stunt as the Cat Faunus.


I didn’t need to deal with crazy hobos because of that bizarre encounter, and I really didn’t want to make a redo of what happened with my disrupted call at the cops.


Yawning again, I had just enough time to fix myself a quick bath, make a delicious dinner and then I was off for some dreamless sleep.


The day had been indeed the weirdest I had ever since I had arrived in Vale, and part of me labeled it as just a unique deviation from normality.


It wouldn’t change anything from now on and I had nothing to truly worry about, I thought soundly as I fell asleep with my head snuggling on my pillow.


Yet that little hope I had until the next morning was dashed when, after waking up from that good sleep and walking in the living room, I found the same Cat Faunus sleeping on the very sofa I saw her occupying the day before.


Without hesitation and with much of my renewed energy, I let out two words that would end up becoming a constant in the relationship I had with the girl, the one I would learn much later was Blake Belladonna.


“GET OUT!”


-------------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d--------d-d-d-d---------d-d-d-d--------d-d-d-d-------


AN


From the contorted mine of this very Author, here is a light-hearted but terribly crass fun story about the one and only Blake Belladonna.


It’s sudden, me knows, but I’ve been having this pending idea for a while. An idea I’ve thought well about, altered, butchered and then reformed in this very plan of mine.


What is this? A comedy with some hints of an altered main plot.


Altered main plot? Cinder has been reworked a little. She is patient and will not go ham at Vale itself for the Maiden. And yes, this means that any horrid derails from Vol3 is now… erased, or Thanos-snapped.


Timeline? It happens the same day as the ‘Black and White’ episode, but instead of Blake regrouping and apologizing for running away the first time… she decides that running is her thing now and bolt away from the docks before speaking with her team.


Why the MC’s house? Something that will be explained next chapter. Leaving you on your tip-toes, you lovely fellows!


Lastly, I know this is sudden but… if there are errors, I will be more than happy to have proof-readers. That is if those that volunteer willingly are actually willing about this and not joking around, ‘cause I ain’t a super-dummy! (LeHmph!)

 

Chapter 2: I don’t want to!

The battle at the port has been… quite a close call for Blake.

There wasn’t another way to properly describe the mix of external dangers and internal struggles that had characterized that specific night.

The black-haired girl couldn’t still make her mind over what she had seen there, what she had been forced to do just for the sake of survival. The White Fang, men and women from the Vale Branch that the young Belladonna had once known on a friendly basis, had been ruthless and lacking any of the hesitation freezing her at first when they engaged for the fight.

With the odds of two Hunters-in-training against a large contingent of militia-level armed people, Sun had been quite correct to swear foully at how things had gone to hell so quickly. It had been his words, when he had almost begged her to not jump out of their cover and not to blow up their surprise element.

Yet she had gone up to mess things up by trying to force answers out of Torchwick, the Criminal Boss gleefully asserting his crass command over the grunts dispatched on the first wave. People that were clearly irritated by the attitude taken by their supposed leader, deciding to stray away from the very essence that even Adam had been keen to abide to.

Do not trust criminals, nor try to even be on friendly terms with the scum.

It had been a golden rule during her father’s leadership and Sienna had been more than happy to respect it, quite adamant in denying the chances of seeking out alliances with shady groups, fearful that one of those senseless thugs would have easily besmirched their reputation for the sake of avoiding too many years in jail.

The policy was logical and, knowing Adam’s declination of the Fang’s purity, Blake could hardly make head of what had happened on that very night before this blatant unity between the two distinct parties.

Torchwick in particular wasn’t someone that could be trusted, many of their groups having been slaughtered by the man’s men and… his assassin. Not many knew the identity of the close guard of the ‘classy’ scumbag, but the fact none had survived to tell the tale, people that weren’t certainly pushovers by all means, was enough to deter the leadership to fish more info about the ‘slayer’.

Her mind shifted back to the numerous questions regarding the Fang’s current alliance with the criminal boss, baffled by the fact this was actually an official mission from the leaders of the branch. Maybe it had been a rebellious branch, someone that had grown disgruntled of Sienna’s rule and went to offer their services to lesser associations in Vale.

It was a possibility, her vivid imagination agreed wholeheartedly, but what if something a little worse had happened after her unexpected departure?

Dark thoughts reigned for most of the fight, even diluting the surprise rising from the sudden appearance of her team and other familiar students.

What if… he had died? Something that made her skip her beat just for a moment, shock grasping in quite the unforgiving manner at her chest, inner whispers calling her a cause of problem, the reason why the White Fang had fallen so low.

The man had shown interest in her, pointing out in a half-subtle manner that she represented the light from not falling in the madness of emotions. Adam wasn’t a monster, no matter how much people depicted him as such, but he wasn’t never going to be a saint for her.

Blood stained both his hands and his blade, some were from self-defense while others were easily caused by the active role he had in the missions. Death was forgivable only when extreme resistance was met during their tasks, only when they were attacked with lethal force first.

The Bull Faunus’ concept of self-defense was a loose thing in his mind already, the fact that Sienna had been so foolish to give him so much political power within the hierarchy had been more than enough to increase the stress perceived by the man.

Adam was strong, always coming on top of any trouble or challenge, but he was also mortal. No matter how much he trained, how much he said that he would have got control over his raging thoughts, Blake knew it would have been a matter of time before he did something too much stupid and… perished in action.

But no, her logical side had corrected with a cold but incredibly relaxing certainty, if Adam had been killed recently, something of a procession would have been planned for the occasion. He was one of the ‘valiant heroes’ of the Fang and there was no way in Hell that Sienna would have passed the opportunity to milk the moral high ground from the ‘martyrdom’ itself.

The girl’s focus was quickly restored to the battlefield, a little confidence reasserting more energy in her actions and then… she realized that things were far from peachy even with the fight seemingly won.

The Fang was close to retreat from the sound beating they were receiving, Torchwick had ditched the group for a safe evacuation, and her team was slowly starting to have time to reach out for her.

Sun’s words drilled deep in her consciousness, drawing guilt and hesitation in avoiding the group she had lied to until now, yet her thoughts about what had just happened to the Fang was more than enough to create a stalemate.

Weiss was looking particularly angry, the heiress not even sparing a glance at her and the Belladonna didn’t need anyone to tell her that it was a bad omen. Their discussion still fresh in her mind, the hurtful words repeating in a sickening pattern as the dust started to settle in the now ‘conquered’ port.

She saw her team approaching, Sun was quite near to where she was and… her mind was instantly planning out her escape.

Nervousness and general unwillingness to resume what had been quite an aching development for her new cover drove her to move away from hoping for some redemption at her lies, to actually buy some time out of the golden opportunity presented by the current lack of enemies.

The Monkey Faunus let out a quick ‘eep’ as her shadow clone slammed into him and made him trip backwards before disappearing in thin air, disabling temporarily the closest concern. Ruby was the furthest of the bunch and she looked quite winded by the previous fight, the chances of her using the semblance to catch up to her rather slim.

The rest of the people weren’t as fast as she was… if she didn’t hold anything back for the chase.

The Cat Faunus breathed in and then out. Her eyes settling for a small alley that led right out of the district and back to the main road.

Blake bolted with all the strength left in her body without hesitation, ignoring the girls calling her name, her attention and legs giving more importance to the need of getting out from some unwanted encounter.

The girl managed to get inside the alley without any issue and she also managed to reach the roofs while retreating several buildings away from the docks and back to the industrial district of Vale. She could feel her breathing itching and then… her pacing slowed down to a full stop.

Both pair of ears were twitching attentively as she waited for some telling noise that there was still an ongoing chase, that the pursuit was still persisting or not, and she carefully turned around to find nobody behind her.

Relief washed over the Faunus’ mind as her sore body was hit by the cool breeze of the nightly wind. Eyes narrowing tiredly, the girl realized in that exact moment that, despite having indeed dodged the bullet with that run, she also remained homeless and without any shelters to make use of.

She had nowhere to rest and recover from the fight, her Aura running a little low and her body was aching for some rest. It was late, her attention span had quickly reached the lowest degree possible after the eventful day and then... her nose picked a familiar but intriguing smell.

Her body tensed up and her eyes shot wide open as she felt a new purpose renewing her strengths. The scent was strong, terribly strong and also terribly familiar.

Blake could still remember perfectly the first time she actually discovered catnip and… the dangers about it. It had been back at fifth grade, she had been very surprised to learn that the teacher was going to teach a lesson about the ‘drug-like’ plant for Cat Faunus, but from there she learned about why this was borderline addictive.

The plant itself caused little issue, it was the pheromones released from it that caused some unfunny effects on feline-kind of Faunus. Nothing dangerous to the body, nothing that would actually cause any damage to it, yet it was frowned upon for… the effects caused on the mind of those around it.

A single sniff would deprive the Feline Faunus of any perception of pain, tiredness and put them in a euphoric state that could lead to some accidents or… worse.

The Belladonna didn’t have the luxury of having her mind fully there as her senses were invaded by the ‘fragrance’ and she found herself driven to pursue the origin of this delightful scent. It was… beneath her?

There were balconies and thus the girl slowly studied every single one of them, being careful to not cause any noise and… she found the right flat. A small opening gave the Faunus a chance to enter… yet it was small and her frame unable to pass through during her first attempts.

If she had been conscious of the situation, she would have planned it a little better, but the desire of finding the intriguing smell was stronger than her already-tiny common sense. Gambol Shroud tore a larger gap on the roof and… she passed through.

Glee filled her mind as she entered inside what looked to be a dark living room and, as she recovered from the quick fall to enter the room, she noticed much to her grand dismay the smell was gone. Shock surged, her eyes widening as she was deprived of this primal task and… returned to her tired self.

There was no sound, nor noise that could have hinted to anyone being around and…

Her eyes fixed with little focus at the couch.

Mind screaming to not go through with this stupid idea, Blake succumbed to her body’s cravings for the long-deserved rest for the night and, after removing her boots and her vest, she slumped on the attractive sofa.

Her reaction to the soft texture, to the extremely comfy pillow and the overall warmth coming off from it was… to close her eyes in relief at the good luck of having found possibly the best furniture to sleep on.

If only she had known how things would have turned the next morning…

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I was sitting by the couch while I continued to listen the ‘explanation’ afforded by this girl, Blake Belladonna, with an emotionless look plastered on my face as my attention failed to properly understand some of the context missing.

Why running away from her team? And Weiss Schnee? She was in the same group as the daughter of the richest man in Remnant?

Knowing that she wasn’t going anywhere, I was able to quickly go through my bathroom morning routine before truly tackling the issue at hand, part of me begging the Gods to make this something not as infuriating as the one that had happened just the day before.

The Faunus stopped her tale with a nervous look, her eyes hardly able to stay for too long on my face before moving away in embarrassment. She was fidgeting a little, her hands playing with the edges of her vest when I sighed and thought about what I just heard.

There was so much to think about the complicated case, about the fact her narration explained why she entered uninvited in my home and used the couch without permission the first time (because the motivation couldn’t certainly extend to why she returned once again), about the fact I was running late for work with this nonsense and… about the wind coming from the newly open roof of my flat.

There was nothing positive with her stubborn presence, the damage caused to my poor apartment still fresh on my mind and visible at the moment. I didn’t feel angry at first as I felt… determinedly sure of a simple thing about my state of mind.

I blinked with some perplexity, as I felt so calm in the fact there was no mercy in my mind and body about this situation.

“And you returned here. Why?” I asked with a frown, the girl blinking once before nodding.

“I… I wanted to repay you for the kindness-” She tried to appear apologetic, yet there was no promise of economic repairs for the damage caused by her mere presence.

“Yet you are here.” I interrupted without thinking twice about it, causing her to flinch for a moment and sigh.

“I know that it was wrong of me to enter your house, turn your sofa in my bed for a rest and then drink some of milk by the fridge, but it was all in the name of distress and-” She tried to appear appeasing, and maybe she expected to sugarcoat the costs I will have to spend to pay up the reparations, but as she mentioned the milk I had bought the day before, I felt a chill go down my spine.

It was something I had bought for the sake of preparing a cake. The elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Paars, were soon going to celebrate their 35th anniversary of marriage and I had offered to help them by bringing something to eat for the feast.

And now, the opportunity was once again lost because of Blake.

Goddammit.

“Wait, the milk-” I felt anger bubbling again. “You mean to tell me that you also stole food-”

“Beverage-”

“YOU STILL STOLE FROM ME!” I yelled back, causing her interjection to die on the spot at the volume I used against her. Her eyes widened, a little surprised by the outburst and… I wasn’t done with her. “You came back, WHY?!” I repeated with a strained voice, I was starting to regret having not called Beacon at this point.

She blinked and… stared at the floor with some embarrassment. “I might have… seen some of my team-members patrolling the district and… I hid in your roof,” A blink dignified a momentary pause. “Then I decided to… return inside to not be caught by them.” She admitted with a tight tone, expecting the umpteenth outburst out of me.

A legitimate expectation, but one I didn’t go through as I merely stared at her in silence. My eyes burning in fury at the fact that not only did she decide to ‘hide’ in my flat once again, but I was also thinking of the expenses that I would have to pay for her current presence.

I wasn’t doubting that the more I was around Blake, the more I would have to pay for the damage she was committing in my own house. I was angry, but I was also smart enough to know how to solve this situation easily and without any issue.

I stood up from my couch with a somewhat calm and ‘defeated’ expression. “Fine.”

…

“W-What?” The Faunus asked with a soft and terribly confused tone, her eyes highlighting how much she had lost me with that sudden change of mood.

I truly didn’t want to waste anymore time, thus I went for a quick one.

I smiled. “Do whatever you want,” I said lightly. “Do you need to use the bathroom? Use it. Need to rest a little more? You may use the bed. Are you hungry? Mi fridge es tu fridge.” I finished with a bright smirk.

The girl blinked, hopes being lifted to an unexpected degree. She looked like a child that just received a gift ten times greater than the one she asked. What kind of monster would ruin her mood?!

“D-Do you mean it? Can I… Can I stay?” Her childish wonder was dripping in each of the words she used and I felt lifted by the lovely moment. Oh my, the hum- I mean, the Faunus-kind!

I sighed and, still smiling, pointed my finger at the door, waiting for her to turn at it with a half-confused frown.

“Get out of my fucking flat!” I replied in a jolly tone while sternly looking at her, making her tense up at the crud demand. I blinked and kept quiet for a while, waiting for a response for her. “So? Are you leaving?” I pressed on her and the girl seemed to be ready to concede but…

“N-No.” She shook her head. My irritation increasing at her resilience at my rightful demands. “I know it sounds childish and stupid but-”

“There is no but, Blake, you have been childish and stupid right now,” I pointed at the door again, my face hardening again. “Get out, stop harassing me this much and-”

“I-I want to help,” She blurted with a convinced tone, cat ears twitching with her voice. “I-I did some damage, I know that you said that you don’t want me to- but I can offer you help with your work- maybe do some house-chores or-”

“I don’t need that from you,” I said calmly but trembling in utter anger, my face was red now. “I thought that you had understood yesterday that I don’t want any of that and yet-” I huffed. “Get out of my home or I will call the cops-”

“And commit yourself to the same embarrassing scene of yesterday?” The Faunus shot back with some heat. “I bet you will end up getting yourself ridiculed like back then and obtain nothing from it.”

I was fuming, it’s been years since I had this much anger for someone,

“Out.” That was my limit. I wasn’t joking, I wasn’t amused by her tenacious attempt to latch like a leech at my sofa and I didn’t need her to linger any further.

“I wasn’t fi-”

“I said out, Blake!” I repeated angrily, my hand closed in a twichy fist. I wasn’t going to hit her, I wouldn’t hit a woman before she tried to hit me first, something of a gentleman rule. “You need to fucking leave my house, do you understand?!” I yelled one last time and… it seemed to truly work.

Once again silence but this time the girl nodded at my request much to my surprise. She stood up from the couch and slowly made her way to the door while I followed her behind and prepared myself for any trickery she might have planned for that occasion.

No strange tricks, nothing that could hint to any sudden reappearances any time soon and I hoped for the carpenter to start to work earnestly in the afternoon to see that hole completely fixed.

I closed the door behind, finalizing the end of that maddening situation that spanned from yesterday until now and… I sighed as I felt my fury simmering to a calm, my mind feeling fairly drained as was my body.

It wasn’t healthy to have this kind of messes so early in the day and I certainly wasn’t going to put more weight on it with the fact I had yet to even go out for work. I nodded to myself, calmly going through some quick check-up of the rest of the rooms, looking for anything that might have been taken, or ruined, yet I found none much to my growing relief.

I spared a few moments to notice the state of the sofa, surprised by the fabric having been moved harshly around in what looked to be a proper battlefield of sheets and covers. It was a sign of some agitated sleep, of someone that had some troublesome nightmares that-

No. I’m not going to show any kindness to Blake.

She could have asked if it had been a true emergency instead of sneaking inside without permission. It was deceitful and dishonest, something born from thought rather than true emotion and that was more than enough for me to silence any positive attempt to pardon what had just happened.

Feeling prepared for another day at the bar, I left my apartment with a guarded but mostly relaxed pace, looking all around in case the girl had decided to tag along… without my consent.

Paranoia, I tried to give it a logical name, yet the sensation of being watched and followed persisted for most of my walk. I stopped numerous times to look around for the Faunus, ready to get her to stop stalking me around and…

There was no sign of her. I blinked, feeling that I was actually giving weight to the matter even though I had planned to not do that. I was just a little tired and… I felt a smile forming on my face as I spotted the bar.

Without hesitation, I stepped inside and found myself greeting the owner of the establishment. Marcus Cobalt was a man in his early forties, already balding with his red-brown hair while proudly sporting a jolly beard and ‘stache. His frame showed some beer-belly but he was the healthiest possible.

“Good morning, sir,” I said with a relaxed tone, some of my stress dripping off my words and it was quickly caught by the man.

“Good morning, boy,” He nodded back with a concerned look. “By the way, something got you tired already? Is the shift too hard on you?” He asked kindly and I shook my head negatively.

“Some unexpected issues and nothing to worry about. All solved,” I waved back with a small smile.

“I see,” The owner nodded before turning away from me and… smiling. “Good morning, young lady. Are you perhaps friends with Sid or-”

“An acquaintance,” Blake muttered quietly, avoiding my face as I turned around to stare at her in shock. She had somehow followed me back to this place, even though I made sure of not being followed and… I grimaced.

When did she get inside? And why didn’t I hear her!?

“Yet you seem to be quite interested on him- and he seemed interest too.” Mustache winked at the mistaken situation, eyes teasingly darting from her to me before returning back to the girl. “Please, do take a seat as Sid prepares to help around.” Marcus gestured me to go and put on my uniform and… I sighed, unwilling to grace any further glances at Blake as I felt one step from truly exploding at the inanity of things.

The Faunus by the time I ventured inside the locker room, good enough for me as I started to prepare for what looked to be a very long day at work. A shift where I was going to hopefully endure the presence and possibly the damage this girl will cause around herself.

May it be some objects being cut or broken, or may it be my reputation being obliterated by innuendos or misunderstandings.

Yep, this was going to be the day…

Seriously, I don’t want to sounds racist or anything like that-

But did I just get some bad luck from a dark-haired Cat Faunus or what?!

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AN

Just to clarify something quick before the mob stab my butt, the MC will have something the usual MCs in my stories don’t have.

And that is anger issues. (It’s something about the family, btw… and yes, it is an important detail).

While he is good in being polite and neat, precise and calculative, he is bestowed with some easy-to-come fury when the situations… doesn’t need it.

The perspective is purposely shown from the point of view of the MC and by any mean Blake is that bad. His point of view is flawed and that… makes the other perspectives more important than in my usual stories. So prepare for some hatred in a nutshell and Blake pulling an interesting action on… Sid.

Why Sid? It’s from a fairy tale, one that has been explored in RWBY. The connection will be… shocking!

 

Chapter 3: Stop following me at work!

If I have to be honest, I hadn’t expected things to escalate to that very awkward and terribly itching point.

I had planned to spend some hours at work to avoid having to deal with the newfound bane of my simple life, the Cat Faunus that was Blake Belladonna having proved that she wasn’t certainly going to give up with her attempts of leeching off from my current lack of means to contact the authorities.

The black-haired girl had been incredibly sneaky in following silently and undetected me right to the fine establishment I used to spend my time working by, something that gave me even more confirmation that she was indeed a huntress-in-training.

I mean, it wasn’t difficult to see her weapon and proclivity to action to understand that she was one, but the actual idea that she gave chase without me knowing was enough to have me accept this fact a little more than before.

I wasn’t a huntsman, nor I did consider my senses to be above what many civilians had, but I had been given some ‘self-defense’ training by both my parents, my Aura was unlocked and I knew about my Semblance. My special ability was, of course, useless about most of my daily life, but it was good to know what it truly was.

The ‘Morning Sip’ bar was a blossoming activity that had been opened two years ago by the jovial man that was Marcus Cobalt as an attempt to broaden his chances of giving his life a proper improvement.

A family man with two children, both sons, approaching the late stage of teenagehood, he was very attentive to make sure his investment continued to produce enough green to keep up with the growing expenses and the need of preparing some money to leave to his children.

A man that was also playful and understanding with his workers and that was proven right as I started to work for him. The man should have by all means refused the Curriculum I had presented, my grades at Civilian School were mediocre at best and I knew that I was just an inch below the required grade for the job.

It had been desperation, it had been hopefulness, my mind wasn’t truly sure of which one had dominated prior to the hiring, but I was certain of one silly thing. I had been overjoyed to learn about the fact I had finally gotten my first job and, much to my glee, the burden it presented were easy to manage in every situation.

I was glad that I had been given the opportunity to have a stable income while living away from Mistral, the final cornerstone that made my independence from home ever so sweet to obtain after years of trying and failing to do so in the Kingdom I came from. Despite being compared to Vale, Mistral was still a struggling nation with what little good jobs were given to the children of those rich and powerful.

And sure, I could have called my parents to obtain some more money to further search for some more job opportunities, but I felt it would have been like borrowing from them without a proper date set and, knowing them, it would have never had one.

It was one of the reasons the man had decided to hire me for his new economic adventure, knowing the perils of leaving the familial home and the struggle of settling down alone and without proper directions.

He had been a farmer, a diligent hard-worker that ended up selling his property to move inside the capital of the Kingdom, away from the dangerous threat the Grimm posed to the people living outside the safe walls of the large settlements.

With a growing family on his back and with me giving a good show of genuine interest at making a good job if taken in, I was accepted in the fold of his establishment and made into something similar to an apprentice to the bearded man.

Time passed, several months going by as I had this job mastered and rendered permanent part of my daily life, and I was turned out to become quite professional at the simple duty of waiter at the bar.

Being the lone worker at the particularly humongous place, my job wasn’t actually the easiest out there as speedy reactions were a must for the sake of keeping the service quality the highest possible, but it had possibly the best pay compared to other similar activities.

With Marcus not exploiting his manpower and rewarded hard-work with the right money, making the interest to make some quality work during the various tasks subtly expected and needed, but not truly mandatory to force people to do so.

Truth be told, I appreciated that single line of sternness from him as a proper establishment did require some strong-handed action here and there and I found his capacity with planning the future improvements to be… refreshing and inspiring.

I had yet to meet the man’s wife, but if from his lovely comments regarding her, I sure expected to find a lady as kind as the owner was. She had to deal with the house’s duties, the woman being strong enough to perfectly balance the daily chores with the responsibility of being a mother of two young teen.

And knowing how hard it had been for mom to deal with me and my two other siblings, it sure was easy to understand and praise the lady for her efforts.

Of course, I wasn’t certainly as mature and responsible as back as a few years old. I could still remember the issues I would cause in these specific moments and…

I think I digressed again! Curses!

It’s been happening for a while now, my mind wandering far too many times away from the current problem, escaping from what looked to be a perfectly worrying issue to deal about in a normal situation. And this wasn’t even a normal situation.

Returning my attention back at my current situation I couldn’t help but appear quite distracted as I went through my usual tasks. Passing the plates with slices of the various available cakes, preparing steamy and warm coffee, and making sure that everyone was happy and satisfied with their services.

I was attentive enough to make sure to have all the clients I was helping around and taking orders from were content with my hard-work, but I still decided to keep a mindful watch over a certain trouble-causing girl that was now donning the female version of the uniform as she continued to go through the difficult pace of her temporary work without any breaks.

A long-sleeved white shirt with a little black tie, black pants that reached to a pair of dark brown shoes. There was also a black bow partially covering her cat ears.

Why was she hiding her Faunus’ features?

Marcus had been giddy to ‘introduce’ his new ‘part-timer’, saying that Blake’s interest in ‘repaying me for the kindness and the understanding way I had about her’ had conquered his attention and urged him to help her.

Of course, I knew it was because of the Cat Ears. Why would anyone hate them?

It had been a shocker when I left the locker room to find out that Blake had indeed decided to ‘pay back her debt’ by asking for a part-time work at the ‘Morning Sip’ and I was surprised to realize that she had decided to keep quiet over what had happened back to my house, either out of embarrassment or simply accepting the fact it wouldn’t have painted her in a good light to the kind owner of the bar.

Still, I found myself having to deal with the fact I had to keep a mindful eye over what she was doing as a responsibility I had as a senior worker at the establishment. Which was technically extra work for me to go through.

She was completely inexperienced, going quite slow and somewhat shaky with her interactions with the clients, nothing that truly ruined things but it was certainly getting some confused looks from some of the long-standing people that were keen to frequently visit the establishment at that hour.

No mistakes were made for the orders, something that put me at an eased stance regarding my worries of having to deal with an eventual fallout if even the smallest mistake was committed. I went through my own duties without any issue, yet I was given some curious questions from the group I had to serve.

I had imagined some intrigue at the newest ‘waitress’, yet I was surprised when the inquires were mostly directed at the bow she was wearing. Sure, there were people that were asking about her name and why she was here, the last one being replied with the fact the girl was desperately in need of money (which was true, but didn’t bring out any issue related to ‘why’ she needed it).

Soon my eyes caught something interesting happening to the Faunus as tips started to appear by her hands. Tips weren’t a major surprise, but those weren’t much common for me to receive… but the girl was easily gaining several hundreds of Liens from her rookie-ish and shy mannerism.

It was enough to put me in some irritated mood, but not enough to warrant a true reaction out of me, knowing full well that there was some kind of ‘affection’ Vale had for independent female workers.

Nothing specifically explained, but something that certainly had to do with the whole ‘young woman trying to make a future from little’ picture gaining the interest and the pity of those interested in the stories.

Hours passed and the only pause for the shift began. People weren’t around and the building was mostly empty at that point as Marcus had gone to check some documents back in his office and leaving me to face Blake in that thirty-minutes long break.

The Cat Faunus silently took a seat right beside mine as we patiently waited by one of the tables. I blinked, my lips sealed close as I decided that I didn’t have anything to say to her and thus I had no reason to begin any conversation.

I wasn’t angry, but I was tired and annoyed at her subtle action. I wasn’t completely influenced by the recent development of having her work here too, but I was still stomaching the very idea that Marcus had deemed it to be a good idea hiring her too.

Even though it was a student they were talking about. A fugitive one too.

“I’m sorry.”

The words happen to sound more like a bell ringing, my eyes glancing momentarily at the Cat Faunus. The young Belladonna had her stare directed at the table itself, unwilling to deign a stare back at me out of nervousness.

“I know that I did force this decision- and that maybe I could have just… waited there rather than do anything about it,” She admitted with a gulp, amber eyes glancing up at me for a moment, forced away as the girl found my blank stare a little too much to bear. “But I know for a thing that I can’t certainly ‘let go’ of what had happened.”

A sigh, then I stood up and started to walk towards the front door. The girl blinked in surprise at the sudden action and her lips parted.

“W-Where are you going?” She asked with a quiet tone.

I shrugged as I prepared to walk outside. “Going for a walk,” I curtly replied, eyes not bothering to glance at her in that moment. “Feel the need to think about stuff.”

I didn’t deign her further comments as I decided to wander a little in the medium-sized plaza where the bar faced to. People were mostly filling it with their happy appearances, children and young teens enjoying the early hours of the day and chatting all over the place.

It was a mess of noises that surprisingly didn’t annoy nor irritate those that were going all over the streets to reach for their workplaces. The square was a good reminder that sometime loud sounds did also help in the search for clarity and inspiration.

I wasn’t certainly going to debate to myself whenever or not Blake’s decision had been a good one, but I was keen to give some weight over the fact she had indeed accepted to work at the bar for the sake of ‘repaying me’, which was certainly something I had told her to ‘not consider, nor do’ back when she had offered.

A silly development, but one that further cemented a very irritation escalation after we were done with this shift. After this first day at work, I was quite sure that the Cat Faunus was planning to go back to my flat and use it as her temporary shelter until the storm she had created with her messy luck.

Which also meant that she was going to leech off from what I had around and force me to once again hide the catnip pot I had to protect the day before. Seriously, what is wrong with that girl?

Faunus followed some of their animalistic traits to a fair degree, but they never ‘strayed’ too much about those. There was a ‘human’ limit to their needs as to detach them from their animal counterparts.

Blake was seemingly lacking about most of those, appearing and acting more as a troublesome black cat than a normal young woman. Why, even the fact she literally hand-picked my house and ‘deemed’ it a good place to return after some yells was enough to point out her cat-like attitude.

I sighed as I took refuge in one of the benches set right by the side of the road, my legs feeling sore and needing some rest after the intense pacing of walking around the bar to provide the orders to the clients and… then I heard them.

“Do you think Blake is fine?” A young voice called out by the nearby alley, causing my eyes to widen up and turn at the origin of the question. I had to tilt a little to stare at the two girls talking to each other.

One had black-hair with red-tips, she was wearing what looked to be a red cape, a black long-sleeved dress that ended in a black skirt with red trim around and in the front. She was also wearing black stockings and black boots.

The other had white-silver hair and light-blue eyes. She was wearing a strapless dress with a gradation from white to pale blue at the hem that ended right by her thighs, layers of tulle under the skirt. A white bell-sleeved bolero was over the dress, a strangely familiar emblem painted on its back.

Were they the ‘angry’ teammates that Blake had described in her story? From what I could see in the youngest of the two, they hardly seemed to be that much furious about what the Faunus had done.

Maybe, just maybe, if I went to talk to them, I could have the girls ‘apologize to each other’ and get her out of my life and flat. Yes, that would certainly work and-

“She surely is, Ruby,” The pale-skinned girl snorted her eyes filtering some annoyance. “She still has to explain why she is still running if she is truly that much of a good person.”

I blinked at the harsh tone the girl had adopted, making me pause in my attempt to approach the two.

“I-It’s not that bad. Sun did say that-”

“If she truly means well, then she shouldn’t have run away after what happened at the docks,” The regal-looking lady scoffed, her stare hardening at the uneasy-looking brunette. “As much as we are aware about, she might as well have lied to Sun for the sake of covering the fact that she was part of the White Fang.”

There was a pause and then… red-cape spoke once again.

“There is sure an explanation,” Ruby pressed back with some nervousness. “Sun said that she ‘was’ part of the Fang and… she is no longer with them.”

The silver-haired lady huffed and shook her head. “Ruby, I think we can agree that she did run away rather than talk to us,” The girl said with an irritated tone. “I know the kind of Faunus she is and I’m sure that she will not be the one to speak to us.”

...What did she just say? ‘The kind of Faunus she is’?

I felt my stomach churning at what I just heard and I felt like this wasn’t certainly something to be ‘interested about’. If these girls were truly Blake’s teammates… then I think I will make sure of having not heard anything about that.

Actually, I wasn’t even aware of their current presence. Nope.

I sighed as I zoned out from the following words, feeling like I had heard more than enough to pass on some judgment on their manners and rejecting the chances of having some peaceful approach to happen anytime soon.

Blinking, I realized that it was about time for the break to come to an end and went back inside the bar without saying anything to what I had just heard.

My stare went for a brief moment at the Cat Faunus, Blake having started to use the broom to clean some dust trails by the corner of the large room and unaware of my return.

Another blink, I felt my lips twitching in a little scowl as I felt uncertain of what to do about what I just heard. I was still angry about what she had done at my poor flat and phone, but I did feel that I was also understanding some more about her reluctance to go back to her ‘friends’.

Marcus returned from his office and a few seconds later we were back to deal with the final two hours of the shift, people flocking at the now-reopen ‘Morning Sip’ and already asking for some snack and beverages.

But what was I supposed to do with the girl?

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The noises coming from the clients was enough to bring Blake’s mind back to the tasks at hand.

Working as waitress in this warm bar had been an idea blurted without any major thinking put behind and she had almost back-tracked from it as she had seen the man that was Marcus Cobalt, the owner of the ‘Morning Sip’, humming about this offer.

It had been spontaneous, her mind still reminding her guilty consciousness that she had to do something about the damage inflicted to the apartment she had for ‘good reasons’ infiltrated in the last two days.

The yells, the panicked actions committed for the sake of ‘survival’ and the sheer panic at having to avoid certain streets of Vale to not encounter any of her teammates was enough to prompt her mind out from her usual composure. There wasn’t much to recover from the two wacky days that saw her entangled to someone that, by all means, was as average as one could be nowadays.

Sid was angry, the black-haired girl didn’t require any loud vocal proof of such thing as his face told her more than enough about the young man’s current ill mood. She was certain that she was doing a somewhat decent job for her first day at ‘work’, but the constant staring the girl was subject to prior to the pause had been enough to put her in a somewhat tense guard around the object of her ‘damaging’.

The Faunus wasn’t technically afraid of him in an abusive or harmful manner, knowing full well that when he had the opportunity to truly hurt her, he had decided to still use words rather than physical pain to direct his point.

Said words growing crasser the more he would get angrier, but that was something that she could see herself do when an object under her possession was damaged or even destroyed by some stranger.

And that was the very thing that plunged her mind in that guilt, the fact that she could identify herself with the reaction she got back from her ‘bad actions’. While there was a ‘genuinely good’ context behind it all, Blake was aware that some of the escalation could have been easily avoided.

Prime example being the roof she had ‘opened’ twice, knowing from experience that reparation of a roof is more expensive than repairing a simple broken window. Her mind bringing up the very day her father had to pay some really high price to get the roof of their living room fixed after a fallen tree had crashed onto it.

Her lips clicked silently as the second part of the shift began with… some curious difference from the stare she was receiving. No more as intense as before and certainly not as continuous. At first she had been surprised by the interesting change, her mind quickly picking up a trick in the making as it did sound rather similar to the one that had happened back to the flat.

So the tension persisted for a full ten minutes before her confusion started to get a grip over her mind once more. There was no sign of planned trickery, nor any hint of foul play in the making and… that was giving her even more reasons to be paranoid around the young man.

While she knew that Sid wasn’t planning anything dangerous, the sudden lack of attention was duly-noted as something of an anomaly in the waiter’s attitude. Something to be concerned about until the shift ended.

In fact, time passed and nothing eventful happened at the establishment, the work-day ending with a calm tone that put even more uneasiness in Blake. Was he planning something for after the job? Maybe something about having her refused inside the flat?

The Cat Faunus was nervous, rather ready to make a run back at the comfy couch and warm living room instead of letting this possible trap spring on her face. It was frustrating… but she had to keep her composure right now.

Marcus smiled kindly as he handed her the surprisingly good pay-check for the five hours she spent there. The girl had thought that the wage was good enough to allow Sid to keep up with the flat’s rent, but that she would get this much of a good pay too?

She blinked in awe at the amount she received, quickly putting the gained money in her little wallet without thinking too much about it. She would return the proper money once they had reached the apartment.

If they happened to reach the apartment, if she wasn’t barred from entering inside and was ‘evicted’ by the young man. Her mind was a cacophony of nervousness, panic and unrest.

She wanted answers, she craved for them, and yet Blake was aware that she wouldn’t get any in that exact moment. There was silence as they both walked outside the ‘Morning Sip’ and proceeded to make the trip back to the flat.

The quiet calm was unnerving, enough to have her newly-freed cat ears twitch in irritation at that lack of clues for her future stay at the apartment. They continued to walk, the human hardly seeming to mind the fact she was walking beside him and that… lifted her hope just a little.

But Blake was restrained about showing this, her mind reminding her of the chances of this being a trap, an ambush to have her removed from his normal life. He was attached to the idea, rightfully so as he enjoyed the quiet and loved the lack of troubles she was keen to bring around wherever she went.

There was a sigh from him as his stare fell upon the nearby market shop. Was he thinking of buying some groceries? Should she offer now to pay with her newly-gained money?

Maybe not, she confirmed to her anxious brain, reminding that giving out her money so easily could have been seen as a sign of lack of interest and genuine concern regarding the issue she had to repay. So she waited for his next step before planning to do anything.

He didn’t say anything as he suddenly directed his steps away from the line of the street and right toward the little shop. There was just a small crowd of people, enough to bring some life to the normal-looking place.

Sid nodded at one of the cashiers, the young man there smiling and nodding back before giving a glance at her. He blushed, possibly because of her interesting appearance.

It was no secret that she had some beauty to herself thanks to training and careful eating. People in the White Fang had been prime people that had seen this and commented about it, mostly Adam and Ilia but their comments would always end one way or another about her…

Butt.

It was a strangely irritating topic as it had been brought up for an unfair amount of time by both close friends. Nothing that truly warranted a strong vocal response, but enough to put her in some instant nervousness around them.

And while she contemplated about this, the young man beside her went to pick a box containing several milk bags and settling it… in a nearby shopping cart. Amber eyes blinked in surprise as she noticed just now that Sid had picked one before entering inside.

It was something that reminded her that he had truly never minded about her appearance. Even the Faunus features had gotten any reaction out of him and that… left her quite pleased about it. It was nice from time to time to not be considered a good-looking thing to everyone sight and it did remind her of the time she wasn’t as developed as now.

Happier times, she grimaced inwardly before being yanked away from her thoughts by someone poking at her shoulder. She blinked and glanced at… Sid.

“Do you have to pick anything yourself?” He asked calmly, nothing there that reminded her of the enraged tone she had to deal with back at the flat. There wasn’t anything in his behavior that suggested at it.

And that was worrying Blake to no end.

“I-I think I will pass-”

He sighed. “There isn’t no need to give me all the money,” His admittance got her floored for a moment. “We can do installments. I think that you should keep some of it and… you can use it.”

There was a blink or two before the girl truly replied at that surreal instance.

“Is this a trick?” She snapped quietly. “Are you trying to perhaps have me pay with ‘your money’ so-”

“As if I would lower myself to that degree,” He said with a scoff, interrupting her and causing her eyes to widen up at the annoyance displayed by him. “I admit that I might have been a little harsher than the situation required, but I think you have to admit that the damage caused was all on you. I don’t need to exploit that, nor I wish to.”

Another pause, more surprise drowning her mind and then, she hummed.

“Do you m-mean it?” Blake stuttered much to her dismay. “Can I buy something without-”

“Go ahead.” He said with another heavy sigh and with that positive note, the Cat Faunus found her attention directed at the products displayed by the shop.

Some more time passed, her mind finally delving in the chance of getting some good food and proper hygiene products compared to the ones available in Beacon. While Yang’s shampoo was good to keep her hair shining, it did little to get them straight and easy-to-manage and Weiss’ own products were forbidden to even be glanced at by the girl’s high-standard.

Remembering the Schnee’s very passionate speech about her pricey products was enough to leave a bitter taste at what was supposed to be a simple shopping trip for her. What a difficult subject to face, she reckoned with a simple and blank sigh.

Finally, they went back to pay the bought products and soon they were back to the trip to the… flat. She was unsure how to define it now as the word ‘home’ hardly-fitted with how lacking their current situation was, but she was keen to say that whatever was planned for her stay there, it wouldn’t make her Sid’s roommate.

Yet she shrugged as the building came to sight and Blake followed the young man inside. Once they had entered the place, Sid gave clear indication of her current stay. There was some minor sternness but also tension in his tone, possibly because the young man was still unsure about what he was trying to accomplish by helping her.

His sudden change of heart still suspicious, but his lack of faux helpfulness giving her little to do about the strange behavior. So the Cat Faunus merely accepted it and was led to her newest ‘room’.

Formerly ‘Guest’ room (more of an unused section that was meant to be some children’s room), it was given to her to use until their ‘situation was cleared’, subtly implying that the full repay of the costs of her damage was going to end her temporary stay to this flat.

Something that somehow left her irritated, but also confused about such irritation. She tested the room provided, hand carefully pressing on the mattress of the bed and… Blake was sure of it.

The couch would do fine for her.

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AN

I think I can hear people preparing the forks about ‘going too fast’. No, I’m just setting up the base for some more shenanigans. While Sid’s sudden change of attitude might seem too ‘good’ to be true, I plan for his sternness to be more than rather a tone of his voice.

The installations are going to be salty ones and Blake’s usage of the flat’s services will be monitored (where morality allows it) and she will not be allowed to have a key to the door.

Small precautions, but those will have major reasons to be when things will… scale up a notch.

So, Weiss is still racist? I think we can all agree that if Blake had ran from the docks after the fight her already shaky trust would have collapsed all at once. The Schnee is hurt and she retaliate in such a manner.

Does it sound strange? I’m working with a hypothetical scenario, so some attitudes will have to change.

 

Chapter 4: I only wish for some order

If there is something I truly despised as my worst flaw, it was how easily I would become a softie when I heard a solid sad story about someone going through hard times. It was a little something that had been there ever since my childhood, an event which I will not digress myself to explain caused this to become something of a terrible weakness of mine.

I had been used back during my school years, I had been used during my brief time as a sport player and then I found myself dabbling at the realization that I hadn’t truly taken a ‘polite and functional being’ within my humble abode.

Imagine waking up to prepare the breakfast, brain still failing to grasp the concept of ‘waking up’ as of yet and then… entering inside one of the messiest displays in which my poor living room could have been turned in a matter of a few hours spent by my unaware self in blissful and ignorant sleep.

It took me some monumental effort to not outright drop the large plate holding two steamy cups of coffee I had just finished to prepare. There were some cookies too, but I think my mind was experiencing the divine mix of anger and horror as I found the entire place littered with Blake’s clothes.

Well, mostly littered. The entirety of her clothes were all left in utter disorganization, scattered across couches and sofa while the ‘sleeping beauty’ enjoyed the lack of painful sunlight thanks to the curtained windows.

I could see her face, the Cat Faunus sporting a satisfied smile as she snuggled her face onto the pillow I was sure came from ‘her’ room, the sheets covering her lower body originating from the same room and… I froze for a moment as I realized a very shocking detail about her current state of sleep.

While the girl looked to be in heaven from the relaxed expression on her face, the sofa and the clothes she had decided to use as a sleeping wear proved that she had indeed gone through another terrible night cycle.

What truly got me particularly embarrassed, morality being a cruel mistress, was ‘what’ kind of night-wear she was still using. At first, I thought of it as a functional and slightly-conservative night-gown, having seen some distractedly while going through numerous shopping sprees in my life because of my mother’s and sister’s interest in fashion once or twice in a while.

Of course, that had been in the past and… I was proven that my first assumption was possibly the wrongest I could have ever guessed. In fact, I was stunned still as I realized that the ‘conservative pajama’ was none other than a revealing kimono that was partly unfolded to show… some curves.

The curves were evident, the pale skin-color bringing them up to an interesting but somewhat degree. I turned away from the embarrassing sight with a full-blush, my attention returning to the now shaky plate I was holding and I was quick to urge my unnerved mind to redirect the focus to the nearby small table.

I was slow, my pace a little stiffy as I settled the plate down and freeing myself of a limiting burden, one that had forbidden me until now to pick up a pillow in one of the couches and yeet it at the sleeping Faunus.

It slammed softly but true on her unfortunately unaware face, the sudden ‘attack’ being more than enough to get her to jump out from her pseudo-comatose state to a fully-awake and hyperventilating one.

Eyes wide open, darting from one side to another to try and see the cause of this unexpected disturbance, and finally she spotted me. Golden eyes bore onto my blue eyes and… she frowned in minor displeasure at the fact I was the sole possible responsible for this rough awakening.

“Wha-” Her words dying before those could even start to make a coherent speech, her reaction ended by the fact I now had my arms crossing close to my chest as my eyes turned to the closest of the two couches and Blake followed my stare to the ridiculous situation that was caused by her disorder.

Annoyance slowly simmered down at that new sight, in its stead a growing sense of cool realization washing over her sleepy body as she started to grasp the true reason behind her abrupt awakening. The Faunus looked nervous, possibly because she actually was a normally-ordered person compared to my first assessment and…

I genuinely hoped that it wasn’t nothing else other than that new guess.

She was silent for a while, her glance lingering longer through the ‘battlefield’ she had created and she sighed.

“I will fix this,” Blake replied to the mounting group of inquiries coming from my stern staring, her cat ears flapping down in discomfort. I could almost hear her add ‘I promise’ to that curt answer, but she caught herself from sounding too apologetic.

At least she had noticed how I dislike when people repeated apologies without meaning them. It was so unbecoming and annoying to have someone say ‘I am sorry’ and then go to make another mess after the one they made.

Hopefully, today was going to be as tame as it had been yesterday.

Facing another ‘Day One’ wasn’t certainly something I wanted to deal anytime soon, especially with how many expenses I still had to pay. The carpenter had gone to fix back the roof’s issue and I spent the time the man used to work on the damage to glare at the barely concealed girl.

Blake had taken ‘refuge’ in the very sofa she had turned up to sleep onto yesterday, trying to appear as naively innocent as she could. An act that ‘sadly’ didn’t get any more freebies out of me as I did mention that I would still take some money from her wage.

A solid 25% to be exact, the amount of the pay offered at the bar more than enough to have her survive even with that daunting drain for the problems she had caused in the last two days. It was almost impressive how someone could do so much of a grand issue as the one the Faunus had caused in the span of almost 48 hours.

“Why are you not sleeping in your room?” I asked with a somewhat calm tone, some of my irritation still passing through much to my inner chiding and the girl’s flinch. The lack of caffeine was a serious debilitation to my capacity to compose my emotions with how I planned to speak and right now, my anger wasn’t certainly hiding away.

I was just a little pissed, irked even at the fact I woke up to such a disgusting lack of capacity in keeping some orders. I wasn’t even mad that she had gone for the couch, with all due respect finding it unimportant compared to the state I found the living room mere moments ago.

“The mattress is too stiff,” She commented slowly, almost like as if she was keeping track of her words before giving them out. She was thinking before blurting and that was good in my book.

“You could have asked if there was another mattress,” I pointed out with a sigh, this time my stern posture breaking to allow me the chance of grasping the inviting cup of coffee. The first sip was enough to bring some more energy to my body. “I think I have two new ones lying around somewhere.”

She nodded, head slightly tilted towards in shame. “I didn’t want to bother,” Blake admitted with a frail tone. “I thought that it would have sounded a little… demanding from my part.”

I blinked, glancing at her in confusion as she averted her sight away from me. Now, that was actually a first.

“Did you forget what I said yesterday?” I found myself asking numbly. “I admit I went overboard with words and manners, I think you can easily understand why I had to be harsh and-”

I paused, flinching a little as she didn’t even bother turning her sight up to match with mine. I wasn’t expecting her to show defiance at my words, but I truly wanted to make it clear I didn’t truly hate her… completely. I was hating her for her recent actions, which had impacted severely on my daily life and put a temporary drain to my stable income.

This was difficult to watch in silence and inactively, and terribly familiar for how similar it did look to a certain painful instance of my childhood. I hummed, ignoring the little crave for a second sip from my mug as my free hand wandered over the untouched cup as I slowly walked up to Blake with it.

The Faunus didn’t react much at the fact I was approaching her, the only tale-telling sign being the way her cat-like ears were twitching. Attentive, cautious and somewhat curious about what I had planned for her to ‘endure’.

I sighed again, this time bending a little to offer the cup at the student and… she huffed.

“I don’t need it-”

“Please,” I pressed on with a tense but soft tone, feeling my little irritation vanish in a moment of… hesitation. “I understand you are tired and need some strength.”

She still looked a little reluctant at my offer, but now her attention was directed at the enticing mug waiting for her to be held and drunk from. A blink, then two and… still nothing. She was staring at it, with notable interest, but a general unwillingness to try and grasp it in her hands.

I sighed one last time. “I will help you fix things up,” I promised in an attempt to push her in the right direction. “I suppose I can spare some time for-”

“I-I don’t need your help,” Blake replied with a nervous note. “I… I know I did mistakes and- I’m glad that you are at least giving me a chance of paying back the issues I had caused.”

There was an uneasy pause as she let her expression relax just an instant, flashing a tiny grateful smile before returning her focus at the cup. Instead of resuming the stare competition with the object, her hands tentatively went to wrap around the cup, slowly but momentarily touching my fingers as I slipped my hold of the object to her and… she nodded.

“Thank you.”

Two simple words that gave me some relief as she then proceeded to bring the cup close to her lips, the girl taking a quick sip before flinching and let out a soft cough. I blinked, a simple snort leaving mouth cut short at the sight.

“I can bring some sugar if you want-”

“I-It’s fine,” She let out another quick cough. “I like it… bitter.” Finally, a small smirk forming on her face. “Still, thank you for the offer.”

It was all what I wanted to hear and, after that brief moment of genuine re-approach with each other, a finalization of the details that made our strange situation… strange, we proceeded to give a thorough clean-up of the living room.

Her clothes were folded in a thinly-made stack by the sofa. Stockings, vest, shirt, pants, ribbon, arm-wears and…

Underwear.

I was the one that found out personally that the girl was indeed sleeping without anything beside that revealing kimono. It didn’t help that she then caught me freezing me a moment with her panties before me, face flushing a bright red as she mechanically took them away from my hands and turned away from my mortified expression.

Now wasn’t that the proper awkward way to start this brand new day in Vale with someone as peculiar as was Blake Belladonna?

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If someone had told Blake just a week or two ago that she would have ended up living together with a ‘mostly’ complete stranger, the Cat Faunus would have easily scoffed at them, turned around, and waltzed away from their sight with her own eyes drowning in her little books.

It was certainly a sudden change that the girl had yet to stomach to the fullest, the fact that she was now forced to stay away from possibly the safest place in Vale. Beacon was homely but the reason that had driven her to seek out asylum there was because of the strong walls and good people ‘ruling’ over it.

The Headmaster was enigmatic with his mysterious ways, yet Blake knew of his diplomatic and appeasing tones from her father’s past talks about him. A curious elder that wouldn’t indulge much in breaking his own rules for the sake of something interesting happening around him.

Like a mature child with incredible political power and hold, Ozpin was still a trustworthy figure that certainly knew how to keep his own ‘fief’ well-protected and secured from any infiltration by external groups.

She could remember the annoyance displayed by Sienna when numerous attempts of that kind had yielded nothing if not backfiring results against the organization, the man being far too cautious to allow large teams with ‘peculiar’ upbringings and thus foiling any situation of the kind.

Yet Blake’s case had been particular and surely intriguing enough to catch the headmaster’s interest and subsequent intention of allowing her to enroll to the school. She could remember being captured after advancing the request for a secret meeting, panic surging when the officers sent to her temporary hideout said something about jail-time and a trial.

It had been some of the most difficult moments and she would be lying if she didn’t say how it had been a tense night at the police department back then, but then the man had decided to give her some trust and the Faunus was accepted in the Huntsmen Academy with some categorical conditions to keep up with, which she had been more than glad to uphold for the sake of not getting kidnapped back by any of Adam’s henchmen and brought before him… to face a trial for her unexpected ‘betrayal’.

Loyalists were everywhere nowadays, in the streets, in the docks, in the factories and in the farms, all ready to swear fealty to a ‘good cause’ like the one pushed by the White Fang. The lack of initiatives from the councils proving to be a good way to quickly recruit dissatisfied members of the numerous Faunus-led communities in their folds, increasing their ranks to a number three-times bigger than the amount present before Sienna had assumed the leadership.

Yet, just like her tenure in the group had soured before the violence and aggressive tones adopted by Sienna’s authoritarian rule, the little peace the girl had gained by becoming a member of Team RWBY was shattered in a moment of emotional distress.

As much as she had tried to keep things bottled up regarding her hidden features and her own origins, being around someone as pompous and racist as Weiss Schnee proved to be far more than the Faunus could have endured. It wasn’t just possible and her hopes of four to five years of minimal presence over the political landscape unfolding around Remnant were all crushed by the little faith ruined by the very cheeky moron she had allied with two days ago.

Sun was somewhat… easygoing. Kind of like Yang, but terribly easy to push over with how he was crushing on her. It was flattering to a fair degree, the attention he was giving her being rather acceptable compared to the obsessive one promoted by Adam.

Even in a topic of friendship, Sun felt more trustworthy and… less creepy than Ilia. The Chameleon Faunus was sweet and quite accepting of her different views, but she was still quite keen to give her some of the weirdest looks ever.

Something that had been a major thorn to any major ‘closeness’ they could have developed, but not enough to bring it all to a painful end. Cutting down her connection with Adam had left her hurt, but the path he had taken had been more than enough to get her to accept the need to put at end to that failing diplomatic approach.

But the fact that now Ilia could consider an enemy? The mere thought was enough to wager a large bit of her early-morning musings. Almost enough to even reduce the embarrassment of that rather unwanted discovery proclaimed by her ‘creditor’.

She blamed tiredness, yet she wouldn’t be lying to herself. Even when Sid had asked about the reason behind the mess she had left on his wake while folding her vest in a calm but steady way, the girl had been hesitant to give out the real motivation.

Nightmares had been a thing for a long time now, but not was much as they had been in the last few days. Her unconscious reaction was far stronger than the meek ones she would have back in her team’s room and the reasons behind such change was actually easy to point out from small details.

With Yang’s easy-to-hear snores, Ruby dragging her homework up to late, and with Weiss giving some annoying-to-listen lectures to the young team leader, Blake had never experienced a state of complete sleep at Beacon, her senses keeping a state of partial awareness of what was around her.

And that was until she had fallen onto that delightful sofa decorating the young man’s living room.

If Sid snored or not, she wouldn’t be having trouble to deal with it as his roof was still far from the living room, far enough to allow her moments of silent rest to be wasted in… bad memories that didn’t leave her alone for just a moment.

Vivid memories and altered scenes of her pasts that haunted her tired mind, keeping her from fully attaining a proper sleep in that perfect settlement she got in this ideally-good predicament. While she was indeed forced to work for some place in Vale, the lack of violence (human, Faunus and Grimm) was actually proving to be a decent change to her livelihood as her work was… easy.

It wasn’t dull enough as the shift was perfectly halved to allow some time to not lose herself in the tasks provided and the pay was nothing to truly scoff at. It was proof that Marcus Cobalt wasn’t racist, or that at least he didn’t mind having a Faunus worker and giving them same rights as human ones.

It was pleasant to be reminded that there were some good people in Vale, that the case provided by Cardin’s mere existence was actually an extremely-small minority compared to the large approval of equal rights with Faunus-kind. People were receptive for change, but there weren’t serious rules that established that.

Blake was fine with this, but she couldn’t help but be a little miffed by the fact she wasn’t guaranteed in a legal way, that her position was offered out of kindness and good-will. Her musings cut brief as the walk through Vale to reach the ‘Morning Sip’ was as uneventful as the last two times.

The owner greeted them both chirpily, Blake smiling at the older man while Sid merely granted him a quick ‘good-morning’ before they both went to the locker rooms. In a normal circumstance, the mixed area would have caused major problems because of their different sexes, yet the fact that the changing to the uniform required just a tiny bit skin exposure, made the experience bearable if not forgettable.

The human finished first, the elements of his clothes as a waiter being less than the one the Faunus had to put on. The uniform itself had been a surprise, part of her expecting for her to be subjected to some ‘Neko-Maid’ situation rather than being given a professional look and… she was happy about what she got.

It wasn’t the best work in Remnant, but she was happy to say that it was definitively better than boringly spending her days studying things she knew about in Beacon or being restricted by the limited air allowed by the White Fang.

Here she was Blake Belladonna, simple waitress in a morning-only bar. She was deemed a young woman, not a student, nor a fodder to waste in the ‘long and shining path of the revolution.’ She wasn’t a pawn to some mastermind and she wasn’t truly forced to do anything.

The girl chose this road and she was eager to responsibly go through this and… there was just a worry that had superseded anything she had been having nightmares about. A new concern that was as silly as rightfully proposed by her mind.

What happens when she was done with her debt? Would she be allowed to stay?

Naively, she had expected for Sid to bring up the topic either earlier in the morning or even before by yesterday’s dinner, but the young man had been mostly focused on the present rather than in the future.

While his intentions were genuinely good (or at least, she hoped so), he didn’t have any reason to worry about the time the debt she had for him was exhausted by the installments planned. And even though such situation wouldn’t happen anytime soon as of how ‘little’ he was taking from her wage, she couldn’t help but wonder about what would come next.

Would the Cat Faunus have her strained relationship with her team solved by the time? Would she have the means to ‘survive’ by the time this was all over?

Will this ever be over, the peace and the calm she was so happily enjoying?

She couldn’t help but appreciate the rather selfish need of preserving the new status quo, it was far too decent and acceptable, inspiring and endearing for someone as tired as Blake.

The girl sighed as she left the locker room with some heavy thoughts to develop during her mindless working, her hands pressing the door behind her close as she shifted her attention back to the now-open activity, going back to the counter as she prepared with Sid to accommodate the first clients.

She sported a tiny smile, her mind reminding her that she had to give a positive impression to those she was going to take orders from and… then her entire facade dropped in a shocked jaw-drop.

Gone was her composure, gone was her little calm of mind as the very first individual to walk inside the building was someone she was familiar with and very keen to avoid for the time being because of how she had ‘took care’ of him back at the docks.

Smiling eye-to-eye in a rather cheeky way, blue eyes exploring briefly all over the bar while he stretched his arms to the side and giving a full flex of his muscles, and abs freely exposed by his open shirt, Sun Wukong looked rather unaware of the incredibly (un)lucky predicament he had stumbled upon.

Maybe it was karma, she should have been a little less rude to the energetic Monkey Faunus and then, if things couldn’t get any worse in that very horrible development, Sid decided to approach the still-unaware Haven student.

“Good morning, sir,” The human said with a polite tone, catching the attention of the blond. “And welcome to ‘Morning Sip’.”

The smile brightened a little more at the polite greeting. “Thanks man,” He replied mirthfully. “I just wanted to try out this place as I’ve heard good things from some friends of mine and… is it possible for me to browse a little from the menu before-”

The paper containing the entire list of sweet snacks and other delicacies for that early hour was provided by Sid to the slightly-surprised Monkey Faunus. “It is actually how we prefer clients to pick,” The young man replied with his professional voice. “It’s best to know a little more about ingredients and the way some of the food is made for the sake of avoiding causing trouble to those with intolerance to any of the ingredients.”

Blake was quick to exploit the opportunity to get herself away from sight, ducking behind the counter and… getting a curious glance from Marcus, the man noticing her action and casting a confused glance her way.

The Faunus flinched and mouthed a ‘I will explain later’ at the owner, his eyebrow lifting in a curious fashion before he turned his attention back at the coming clients. Several were frequent ones but, instead of finding relief in the mass of people coming inside, the Belladonna felt herself paling as she spotted a familiar blonde cowlick standing uniquely among the other people and…

Yes, her eyes weren’t deceiving her as a slightly-annoyed Yang Xiao-Long made her way towards Sun. The Monkey Faunus pausing the interaction with the waiter to wave at Blake’s girlfriend and… getting a snort back from the fellow blonde.

“Morning, Goldi-”

“Can it, Monkey-boy,” The Xiao Long shot back with a tired sigh. “It’s too early in the morning to be this cheerful and… I’m not in the mood for any fun dates right now.”

There was a pause, the grin on the boy’s face widening at the comment. “C’mon, it’s not just a ‘date’-”

“Before you thrown in your crappy ideas,” Yang interrupted the fellow student, turning her lilac eyes at Sid. “Could you please get me a cup of coffee? I need something strong enough to kick myself awake.”

The young man nodded without much of a reply to the girl’s request, turning a moment to Sun. “I will take your order once hers is done.” He bowed a little as to apologize and accepting the quick nod from the Faunus before going back to the counter and… noticing what was going on with Blake.

He blinked once, then twice. “What are you doing?” He whispered with some annoyance, her whole face cringing at how close the two familiar people were to her current cover right now. That wasn’t the best scenario. Not at all.

“They are ‘that’ friends I told you about.” She replied quickly but still whispering, afraid of getting the two hotheaded teens on her trail if she was too loud. Sid blinked again but this time gave her a slow nod before picking the prepared coffee mug and walking back to the table.

The Cat Faunus had been distracted by the quiet discussion the two were having, Yang appearing rather deflated compared to her usual self, the cheeky tones and the easygoing attitude having disappeared from her current self. Quite surprising and… worth a quick flinch as her mind pointed out it had happened right as she had bolted away at the docks.

Her fault? Possibly.

Was it possible to mend the damage? She was unsure.

The blonde thanked the waiter before taking a long sip from her mug, eyes almost closing in bliss as she took in the bitterness of the normal coffee, a little smile gracing her face as she commented happily about the ‘best coffee she had ever drunk’ which was… rather difficult to judge about as a compliment.

Yang never took a cup of coffee in the last few weeks and her knowledge over her teammate was… incredibly limited. That’s why she just accepted it as a decent comment and ignored the detail altogether.

Then Sid went to take Sun’s orders, returning to the counter and, while the order was being prepared, deigned her an inquisitive look. It wasn’t difficult to understand that he wanted some more answers about the predicament she was facing, possibly also names and descriptions of people she was currently avoiding.

More work for Blake, but maybe it was about time for the girl some more details about her situation. The man had yet to show hints of serious disdain and his complaints were directed at legitimately damaging actions she had committed against him.

It wouldn’t do well for her to continue with her lone wolf attitude, denying herself an ally in those trying times would be akin to shot herself in the foot with Gambol Shroud. Speaking of guns, she had to see if Sid would take her to the nearby Dust shop to buy some ammo.

The girl was technically running on just a handful of magazines and she needed some munitions in case things turned… sour for everyone. Mostly for Sid, especially for Sid. He was an unharmed citizen that had been taken inside a storm in the making, one that she was possibly responsible for.

And thus, blissfully distracted by her own thoughts about the helpful man, Blake was unaware of the fact that Yang had approached the counter to spare some words to the waiter and the owner.

“Sir, I know that it sounds a little demanding, but can I ask you a few questions about a possible client you might have had?” The blonde started with a calm tone, drawing a curious look from Marcus, a kind smile on his face.

“If it isn’t anything personal, then sure,” The man said with a jovial tone. “And I think that the reason behind this request isn’t anything light or to dismiss so soon.”

The brawler nodded and took out her Scroll to show a picture of… Blake Belladonna.

“She is my partner at Beacon Academy,” The girl explained with a serious edge. “She ran away two days ago during a skirmish that happened by-”

“The docks?” Sid’s interruption was the one thing that took Blake out of her thoughts, eyes widening in shock as she noticed how close Yang was to her. This- This wasn’t happening!

The owner blinked at the picture and seemed to be putting an effort to not glance down at where the Cat Faunus was hiding. Instead the waiter was flawlessly pulling a poker face at the picture and Yang’s reaction to his interjection.

“There was a news report about it yesterday night, that means that you are one of the huntresses that went to deal with the theft led by Torchwick.” He twisted the topic, the flattering tone being enough to draw a smile on the blonde’s face.

“We are still students… but yes, we were there for… reasons.” She admitted with some nervousness, still smiling at the compliments. “Still, I know that the photo offers little-”

“Actually, it offers a lot… Miss?” He paused to ask, lilac eyes easing at the simple request.

“Yang, Yang Xiao Long.”

“Well, Ms. Xiao Long, the picture itself ‘says’ that you are searching a Cat Faunus with black hair, amber eyes and a skin-tone paler than many people here in Vale,” Sid pointed out with a polite smile. “I think that offers more than just a ‘little’.”

The blonde’s face… seemed to gain a little more color at that reply. “Really? Then can you-”

“Still, we would have noticed someone with those details and… I can assure you with utmost certainty that she never walked in this establishment,” Sid interrupted again, this time his smile being rather sad about it. “But if you want, we will keep an eye around for anyone like her.”

The suggested offer was met with a quick nod. “That would be cool,” Yang said with some little irritation at not having any hints of her ‘close, but also not’ partner. “Also, can you tell me your name? Maybe exchange Scroll’s number or-”

“Ms. Xiao Long, I didn’t… expect to be subjected to this kind of flirting,” The young man pointed out, causing the blonde to freeze a moment and snort, amusement playing for a moment as her face flushed a strong pink.

“Funny guy too, ain’t ya?”

He shrugged, but still spoke. “Still, I guess you are right.” He passed the number of his scroll and then- “By the way, I’m Sid, Sid Tremaine. Nice too meet you, Ms. Xiao Long-”

“Hush with the ‘Ms.’ thing. Call me Yang and you allow me to the first name basis too? How about that?” She interrupted, bringing surprise to both the waiter and Blake herself.

While the Cat Faunus had pinpointed the ‘forward and expressive’ attitude of the young man as an act, she had certainly felt unexpected how her partner had reacted. Yang flirted light-heartedly with everyone and, it was strange to see her being ‘this much’ forward with someone.

Still, the young man nodded and soon the two students from different academies left the ‘Morning Sip’ without much of a warm greeting, leaving Blake to stand up and face the music she had set up on herself because of fate itself.

“So,” Marcus finally spoke as Sid went to deal with the new wave of clients. “You are a student at Beacon Academy, Blake?” He asked slowly, trying to appear mindful of how strong such an inquiry could be.

“I… am,” The Faunus admitted with a sigh. “It’s just… that things have happened. It’s a long story.”

The man sighed at the mysterious curtness but smiled at the last bit.

“Well, I think there is already plenty of time to chat, especially since I think Sid will not be minding taking some of your burden as we talk about it.” The owner mentioned, causing Blake’s eyes to turn at her ‘colleague’.

While the young man had appeared collected and calm by the time the ‘trouble duo’ had been at the bar, after they had left his facade had dropped to show a rather flustered individual trying to focus only on his job. She could see how he wouldn’t mind to have some more tasks to not ‘think’ about what had just happened.

Yang was attractive and quite keen to point this out so flamboyantly, thus it wasn’t difficult to see how someone as cool and calculative as Sid would have some trouble dealing with the full brunt of that comeback. A cheeky smile crept on her face at the thought that, deep in that armor of irritation and simplicity, there was someone that was could still get embarrassed and teased on by someone like Yang.

It just made the future chit-chat on the way back to the flat even more… interesting, she supposed.

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AN

I don’t know if I should really go for a break. This year I will be spending the Eve and Christmas, even New Year’s Celebration with my close family and so… I will need to get my mind doing something instead of getting bored and dulled.

Of course, I will use some of my newer free time to correct many of the mistakes I’ve left in the stories I’m updating right now so… things like Magical Trickster DXD, Living Bot, and Golden Month will receive a major upgrade very soon.

Also I will update Golden Month and this story very frequently as I’m inspired to muster up the ‘bestest story ever for both cases’.

Lastly (about this chapter, the surname is an anagram and Kudos for the reader that will pinpoint the obscure Disney detail I just used for that name. It will be fun, but it is also a strong clue about the parents and siblings of Sid.

So stay tuned ‘cause we are just starting here!

P.S. I think I should say that this chapter is dedicated to my Sis since today is her B-day. So yay, Happy B-Day, you brat! XD

 

Chapter 5: And I wish for my individual Peace

It’s been two days since Blake had gotten to deal with this new situation. Two days since she had been on the run from her teammates, two days since she had been hired as a waitress in a simple bar in Vale’s industrial district.

The close encounter with Yang and Sun turned out to be the worst case of being found by any of the students of Beacon searching for her. After that unexpected situation, Sid had been partly-accepting of her request of him buying for her a hoodie and a face mask to keep most of her recognizable features hidden from sight.

It had been quite the annoying task to have this much on herself, the unpleasantness of having her cat-ears forced flat by the hood turning out to be far different that how it did felt to have a bow. It was all for the sake of not being found, to not be brought back to deal with the daily life of a student.

The girl was far too advanced in both physical and theoretical subjects to be actually capable of fitting with the role, having learned much from practical experience as a grunt-to-officer of the White Fang. This very notion was proven correct when the last she had to take resulted in an impressive A+.

Weiss had been partially irritated by this detail, thinking that Blake should have flunked it because of her lack of interest in studies. A presumptuous exclamation that came out from the fact she had to headbutt a lot with Ruby.

The Team Leader was young, inexperienced and was lacking two years worth of knowledge. This last bit was actually what caused the Schnee to devolve a large part of her free time in helping the caped girl to actually understand the basis of the lectures given at Beacon.

It was almost impressive how Ruby had actually managed to get enrolled at the Academy, her unique fighting style barely compensating for her lacking capacity in keeping up with the school’s pacing.

Actually, it was interesting how the Headmaster had broken the rule three times for this year, counting Ruby, herself and Jaune as prime examples of laws being ‘forgotten’ by Ozpin for some strange reasons.

Blake was more of a political refuge than else, it wouldn’t have surprised her if the gray-haired man had taken her in for the fact he had connected dots about her important parentage. After all, Kali Belladonna did come to study at Beacon for a few years before returning back to Menagerie to her father’ (Blake’s grandfather) orders.

Jaune was mediocre at best in whatever he did, his grades being just average enough and sufficient to continue with the school year without dealing with major issues with the teachers and the school itself. The blond was also weak in terms of fights, having been seen failing to keep up with someone like Cardin Winchester and other members of Team CRDL. but he was incredibly quick in accepting advice when presented and she wouldn’t be lying in saying that he had good chances of becoming a prominent huntsman by the end of his years at Beacon.

It was Ruby that the Belladonna found to be the blatant error in keeping things under the rug, the girl being an eyesore by the way she failed to catch up with the missing material required for the rest of the lessons. Even with Weiss’ help, the little Rose was still capable of keeping up with a lazy Yang… at the best of her strength.

Speaking of the blonde, the Cat Faunus was actually surprised by the fact the girl did indeed visit two more times the ‘Morning Sip’ and Blake had been forced to resort to have a hat and a pair of sunglasses while she was around. It did made things difficult as the light in the bar wasn’t strong enough to give her a proper sight over the tables and… some mess might have been made for the sake of not getting caught.

Her pay suffered the blunt of these encounters, but that wasn’t actually what got the girl interested over the frequency of the brawler by the simple establishment as she tried to find out more about Blake… and also flirt a little with a stone-faced Sid. After the first time he had to deal with both the brawler’s flirting and the Belladonna’s intense teasing over it, the young man had been smart enough to gear up and endure the advances forwarded by the blonde in question.

There was also the fact that the Cat Faunus couldn’t help but remind herself as of why she had never been close to Yang, the cheerful blonde being what Blake wouldn’t never want to be in a social context.

She was too much an extrovert compared to the reclusive Faunus, something that had put them at odds during their first days as partners. The following step had been silent neutrality with some minor bantering initiated by Yang herself.

Blake never felt the need to start anything as she felt that their relationship would have been affordable as formal team-members than anything else, a feeling not shared by the giddy blonde that would end up pestering her about the silliest of details.

While the Xiao Long was eager for fights, to speak with people and to venture in danger, the Belladonna preferred the peace and quiet of books rather than dealing with real life’s issues, something proven by the way she had decided to not return back to Beacon as it was no longer the fight with Weiss that kept her from going there to seek redemption.

The effort wasn’t… actually worth it. It was actually worse, in her quiet opinion, to let go of the little settlement gained by pure and raw dumb luck. Or lack of, considering the damage she had caused to end up in that curious situation.

Sid was still uneasy to have around, the same she knew was for him when she was around, but they both weren’t there to attack each other. Rather they were making sure the other didn’t pull a foul without any physical damage involved.

One could call it a cat-and-mouse play, where the girl was actually the rodent before someone with much more balance over his own life. He had his own moderation within the sea of extreme ends, something that Blake had failed to obtain after slamming painfully against both directions. The human was also partially-trained as a Huntsman but lacked any of the major skills and weapon that could actually make her consider him a threat to have around.

He was mostly harmless, if not sassy and impudent with his tones when she ended up causing some minor issues. Lucky for her, her attention over her attempt to be conciliating turned out to be a blessing for their curious relationship.

This connection was actually one of the major questions that had gotten the girl thinking about for hours, the extent and limits of their current ‘friendship’. It was odd to even call it friendship, the two of them being more or less simple housemates at this point.

Where they even friends? She was at fault for crashing down from his roof and making some escalation of sort out of panic and ill-thinking, but now they were… neutral to each other. There was a humane understanding of each other and they were both respectful to the barest about the other.

It was that simple bond that Blake found… nice to have in these trying times. There wasn’t any attempt to garner her utmost trust, nor was she supposed to fear every step for the sake of getting betrayed by the waiter.

A peaceful standoff, one where both contenders knew that there wouldn’t be any horrible development coming from it but still didn’t budge from their standing positions. Staring at each other, determination pouring from their souls as they keenly avoided to make the first, and possibly wrong, move against the other.

It was stimulating, it was refreshing and…

“I finished my sets,” Sid proclaimed with a tired sigh, his sweaty form slowly walking away from the living room. “I will take the bathroom for some minutes.”

The comment was enough to bring the Belladonna out of her silence-induced thoughts regarding the last two days of work, her attention once more shifting back to the fact she had yet to finish with her own training.

Two days had passed and the working week was over as Saturday began without a clear plan established by both housemates. Sure, Blake had loved three more hours of sleep by the lovely couch and she had turned up refreshed by the extra time spent resting.

Enough for her to be ready to the schedule she would have to deal while spending her whole day at the flat by exercising and meditating. The idea had came out from Sid, the young man mentioning how it’s been a while since he had last gone for some sessions of training and mentioning how the girl should have planned out something similar for the fact that she was a student at Beacon.

Telling him about the full context of everything that had happened by the docks, her former allegiance to the White Fang and the reason why she was still avoiding her team had helped immensely the Faunus’ plight as the human had visibly appreciated the honesty provided by the girl and offering some minor support in giving her the means of avoiding getting ‘discovered’ by anyone she knew about.

Still, some discomfort from the revelation of having been part of the now-violent organization had created some minor friction between the two as the young man was aware of the fact that the aggressive approach taken by the Fang developed far before her ‘planned’ leave and he had asked for some simple but crude questions.

Did she ever kills someone during service? Only in extreme cases of self-defense. Her first kill was legitimated by the fact she had been merely fourteen and the one she had offed was a rabid officer from Atlas attacking her without hesitation and madly.

Gambol Shroud had tasted blood in that encounter, but the following times the spread of the red color had been limited as she didn’t believe in making examples in that way. It was barbaric, it would have made her an ‘animal’ just like racists have painted her as with the rest of her kind.

With a tired sigh of her own, the girl slumped on the comfy sofa, eyes closing as she quietly basked in the quietness of her free day here at the flat. Sadly, the cat ears that were proud feature and sign of her heritage proved to be strong enough to catch the distant noise of water running from the bathroom.

Her eyes twitched open, a groan turning in an irritated purr as she blinked at the general direction where Sid was possibly taking a quick bath. The human was swift in his activities there but her mind couldn’t help but… wander to certain details.

She had noticed that he was well-developed in his chest, legs and arms, there was a clear attention at making sure he kept healthy, something that was surprising coming from a supposedly-normal civilian. Her brain surmised that it had to do with the particular roles of his parents, both military-related jobs that would end up requiring fitness as a core part of their lives.

Something that had been instilled even to their ‘average’ child, enough to have him become a fairly interesting threat if given a proper gun. Now, Blake wasn’t fairly certain of this particular statement, but she would easily admit that he could have been a good material for Huntsman…

Yet he was a little too old for that. It was two years, he was two years older than her and… he had already gotten ‘enough’ from his time spent completing the regular education and specialization, having his own work and flat… it was kind of a pity.

It would have been an interest addition, but then again he would have gone for Haven rather than Beacon and that would have render it mostly-impossible for her to meet him. It was a series of conflicting thought that followed this extended line that culminated… with someone knocking by the entrance of the living room.

Her attention snapped at the waving hand owned by the one and only Sid Tremaine, the young man having a little towel covering his wet hair as he tip-toed with a simple shirt and short pants, his shoes missing. “Bathroom is clear,” He announced calmly.

Blake nodded and, just as he got up from her seat, the man hummed. “By the way, I was planning to do a movie marathon after lunch,” The human pointed out, causing her to frown curiously at the proposal. “Something to keep entertained until dinner.”

The girl blinked and tilted her head to the side. “Anything specific…?” She asked, knowing that a large majority of movies would have hardly got her attention, thus denying her the ‘entertainment’ promised by the young man.

“The Madonna Arc’s Anthology,” He mentioned absently as he checked on the small stack of discs sitting nearby the TV, ignoring the fact that Blake’s jaws had dropped the moment the name was mentioned. “So, Ninja of Love, the sequel and the spin-off-”

“W-Wait,” The young woman zeroed the distance between herself and thediscs in question and gave them a long look, her golden eyes widening as she had just found out about something… interesting.

She had heard about news of some movies having been adapted from her beloved books, but the availability of the three films had been limited to some areas of Mistral and Atlas. Vale was quick to ban it for the sake of avoiding the ‘halved’ romantic scenes and Vacuo couldn’t just afford to distribute the movie with how expensive the process was for many kingdoms.

But to think that a copy of the trilogy was here in Sid’s possession…

She gulped nervously and slowly stared up at the now-confused look settled on the young man’s face. “Something’s wrong about it?” He asked innocently, seemingly unable to pick up the immense joy vibrating from her features.

“W-Wrong?” Her tone felt trembling too. “N-Nothing wrong. Just… y-you really mean it? Can I… see it too?”

He frowned, his confusion deepening even more but he still nodded at her. “Yeah?”

It was enough for the Belladonna to show her affection at this grandiose offer… by launching herself at the unaware human in a surprise hug. The propulsion wasn’t strong enough to send them both flying back to the floor, but the relative closeness was more than enough to get a quick reaction out of Sid.

He started to pat her upper back, her shoulders hurting a little as he seemed to be struggling in what was supposed to be a show of gratefulness and affection.

“B-Blake! Get off of me-” He started to yell in a panicked tone. Could it be that he was flustered by the closeness she had-

“I just did a bath, Blake- You are stinky!”

Nevermind, any warm emotion she held for the young man flatly vanished with those strong words, she let go instantly of the hold she had imposed upon him…

But decided to deign him a quick headbutt on his chest, the action not strong enough to hurt both of them but… at least she was the only one knowing the meaning behind the gesture, in fact she walked up to the entrance, glanced back and saw immense confusion at what had just happened.

The giddy smile at the prospect of spending the rest of the afternoon in watching the terrific trilogy widened as she was finally granted the peace of mind in the form of a warm bath with bubble.

Bubbles made good things better. Always.

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The movie marathon turned out to be a major success, an idea that I was partly eager to experiment with someone as introverted as Blake was. The fact that the girl had been quite impatient during lunch after learning of this proposal should have been grand sign that I had somehow hit jackpot with the picking of the movies.

I had seen the little book the Faunus had around, the one she would take during their pauses at work or when it was time to go to sleep. It was Ninja of Love, or rather the Uncensored version of the curious literary work.

The trilogy itself as books had been the cause of a major uproar back when it was first released because of the graphic content of some ‘love’ sessions between the two protagonists, forcing the principal editor to re-release it in two versions. An 18+ book that contained the fullest ‘glory’ of the original text and a redacted version with the entirety of the sexual content cut down and removed.

The movies were based from the censored version, the movie-makers had been well-aware of the dangers of stirring another set of conflicts regarding the perception of the perverted book, thus deciding to create, with the author’s permission, some different scenes that replaced the very ones that were to be removed.

The first film gained a massive and positive critic and review from the majority of the fans, some still mourning the fact that the ‘fun bits’ from the series had been denied by some ‘overly-conservatives troglodytes’. And yes, they did use the term ‘troglodytes’ to define people denying the sex scenes.

I suppose I should also explain how exactly I ended up getting the trifecta with how rare it was finding it in Mistral and the answer to that question can be traced back to a mission my father had been part of back when he was still in active duty… three years ago.

He had been called to deal with a sudden increase of Grimm by the lone village of Ansel and there he ended up befriending an old colleague of his and his wife. The woman, which was the writer of the three books, decided to provide, as a sign of gratitude, the copies of the movie to my dad and…

Mom had been fairly angry about that. Considering the content presented by the movies, still a touch above what my siblings and I could have been able to watch ‘without inopportune questions being asked’.

Both my brother and my sister had refused the chances of getting these with them when they both left home, leaving me as the sole owner of the ‘forbidden’ movies as I moved out of my home in Mistral.

I had expected Blake to be a little uneasy at the fact I had provided her with the adaptation of quite the lewd book, the very one she was seen having around more than a few times, and yet she had been… overly-enthusiastic at the prospect of watching the three films in what turned out to be a seven hours long marathon.

I was flinching once or twice of the time as the tones used by some characters before the cut-off scenes were still there to torment with their lustful tones.

Seriously, why weren’t the movie shot down too? Why were they accepted so easily with how many crass dialogues it still had?

Good questions in which the three movies failed to give an answer too and… Blake continued to be the giddiest I’ve ever seen her, with a bright smile, shining golden eyes and cat ears twitching in full-attention as the plots of the stories unfolded from the large screen in front of the sofa.

We had our own mantle of sheets, two bowls of popcorn and chips, and large bottles of soda to keep our hunger and thirst satisfied for the whole duration of the marathon. We were sitting by the two edges of the furniture, our stares fixed at the TV displaying the movies. I had seen this just once before that day and… I didn’t find myself liking it just as I had back when I first gave it a quick look.

The dialogue was okay most of the time, some scenes were fantastic in showing the complexity behind some of the protagonists’ flaws and weaknesses, but the way the shipping was flaunted was… way too speedy for it to appear realistic. The delivery from some of the actors was disheartening at best as these were too dismissive of major details that could have given major weight to the overall stories of the individual characters. A good set of movies… but not the best to watch after three times.

And, much to my chagrin, I was actually contrasted by the way Blake was keen to describe the marathon. Terribly influenced by the love she held for the series, the girl judged it as a perfect masterwork, ‘the culmination of real life and fantasy, the dream and the fiction being painted upon reality itself’.

I was impressed by the use of some precise words to elevate the state of some of the good scenes and I almost fell for that vision of hers. It was pitched in a delightful manner and fairly honest… until a certain degree.

In fact, the only thing I ended up having to endure about this overly-positive judgment was how I had to decide whenever or not it would have been convenient for me to point out how her perception ignored the flaws of the good movies for the sake of lift up the potency of the scenes.

I was half-tempted to call ‘BS’ on her review of it, but then again I had the common sense to know that she was trained in the use of guns and she had a weapon on herself. And that is why, instead of headbutting against an early death, I merely kept quiet until dinner.

Dinner was fairly normal if not for Blake being in the best of moods with what had happened until mere moments ago. The smile plastered there was somehow intriguing to see as it morphed while she starting to eat her plateful of tuna.

The Cat Faunus loved fish and I was pretty sure that, without the scene unfolding before me, I would have felt it sounding more as a racist slur rather than the commentary of what she was doing right now.

She just loved fish, she literally spent half her pay in sea-food and there was nothing particularly wrong about it…

Except that she would let out a purr or two in a normal situation. But now? Now the girl was vibrating on her seat, the purrs loud enough to not appear as mere innocent noises as she continued to happily eat the cooked fish.

It was an overly-adorable sight, one that I had planned to have to see for that day. I had actually expected the girl to refuse the movies out of embarrassment and yet my little plan had backfired to a point where it actually looked I was ‘granted’ such a cute display of happiness.

I might have been aware of the fact that Cat Faunus and Dog Faunus were rather affectionate in showing their cheerfulness, the former being more difficult to render so rather than the latter, something I knew from experience, but… I was completely unprepared with how I was supposed to react about it.

After four days of having Blake around, I couldn’t help but feel nervous at the sudden shift of personality. I was certain it was a temporary thing, but I couldn’t let go of the fact that she was indeed looking terribly adorable-

OMG, her cute kitty-cat ears are flapping so excitedly and-

N-NO! We aren’t having any of that. I might love cats to a degree, but I couldn’t certainly compare a simple animal as a kitty to the purring, happy-looking Faunus sitting in front of me.

I felt by breath itching as I didn’t realize I had walked behind Blake, the girl was unaware of this sudden shift herself and… we both discovered what was going on when I had my hand softly settled on top of her head.

She tensed, and I tensed. I felt nervous, I felt paling and I felt the need to bolt away from the possible bomb I just set off with this careless and greedy action.

I expected her to snap at the sudden gesture, to hit me and maybe beat the crap out of me (kind of an Anime reaction that would be, but I was still fearful of any reaction from that Neko- I mean, Cat Faunus).

Then, much to my immense surprise and confusion, the black-haired girl relaxed and… started to purr even more, seemingly accepting the fact my hand was now on her head. I blinked once, then twice.

Then thrice.

What the heck is going on?!

Finally, I managed to lift my hand off from her soft and silky hair, wide eyes staring accusingly at my traitorous fingers before deigning to answer to the certainly-implicit question generating from the poor girl assaulted in such manner.

The degeneration of mankind in a nutshell!

“S-Sorry,” I tried to apologize, my head burning a little in embarrassment and mortification at the fact I did indeed touched a rather sensitive part of her biology. The cat ears were quite sensible, I remember receiving a lecture out from my mother when a child had been caught pulling on some Faunus child’s animal ears and- “I-It’s just that… it looked-”

“Cute?” She suggested softly, her head lowering a little and yet I could still see the blush spreading to her ears and turning those red. “I-It’s alright, I- You apologized.” There was embarrassment in the girl’s voice, but the purring for some reason didn’t cease even in that moment.

The rest of the evening was spent quietly and silently as we decided to not discuss about that weird and senseless scene. It was just too… senseless.

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AN

Little moment of warmth before something a little deeper. Comedy at the purest, when the awkward is made silent for only the presents to know about.

People are asking for the two to be paired? Well sadly, I don’t wish for them to do that.

Would it kill the closeness? No, I’m actually bringing up the kind of friendship that will be so weird, so crackish and terribly easy to misunderstand for the people witnessing this happen that it will become much better and wholesome than mere romance.

Expect jealousy from Blake’s admirers and the only one hailing from Sid’s camp. It will be a fun brawl~!

 

Chapter 6: And I’m not that bad!

Yang wasn’t having the greatest days as of now.

After Blake had just gone and escaped from them following what had happened in the docks, the rest of the team had taken the material victory as a moral defeat at the fact that the Cat Faunus had decided to avoid them once more.

It didn’t help that the bitterness of failing to ‘calm her down’ was burdened by the harsh lecture the team got from Ms. Goodwitch. It was the first time the woman had looked so incredibly livid and ready to make use of her infamous whip, their grace being the ever-so diplomatic mediator that was the headmaster.

The headmaster had stressed well-enough that the situation had been mostly led by a simple ‘teen-related’ fallout and that the escalation had been out of their hands as a whole He pointed out how they wouldn’t have certainly gone to risk their lives for the sake of stopping a grand theft committed by a terrorist cell.

The Combat Training teacher was still furious even when the man shifted his attention at the three girls, her eyes narrowing at them and promising a multiple-months long detention for how much crap they had caused with their intervention.

But Yang hadn’t been quick to call for relief as the visibly-angriest woman had settled down, her lilac eyes noticing way too well the familiar expression, similar to the one her father would take when some of his students had gone and done something completely wrong and unforgivable, on the calmly, yet furious headmaster.

Ozpin’s lecture didn’t spare them, even the smallest of details and errors committed before and during the fight were brought up to be dissected and displayed in their hideous glory.

Ruby was terribly mortified at the pressure exercised on her as she was still the team-leader and she had been expected to be a little more mindful of the emotions and the attrition born out from her partner and Blake, her hood failing to hide the paleness now present on her face as she merely took the verbal punishment withou much but a nod.

The same was for Weiss as the heiress did seem to have reverted back to a little child as she merely nodded absently at Ozpin’s rant while also giving some ‘yes sir’ where it was necessary, gone was her snippy remarks and her classy tones.

Yang didn’t feel the need to express major worry about the situation, even though she had been afraid herself of what kind of punishment she would have ended up because of her inaction regarding her partner’s fit and… how she hadn’t given her some support.

Not just because the Xiao Long could see the logic in Blake’s words, but because she did know a little about the situation of Faunus after what Uncle Qrow had described both her and Ruby about what was going on in Atlas.

While the White Fang were terrorists, the violent reaction exerted by the most-advanced Kingdom was still worth of some frowning and displeasure. Miners were killed, a large majority of Mantle was dealing with something close to a famine because of the latest reforms and the protests weren’t being denied with the units deployed there.

It was close to war, close to something that Yang didn’t want to be part of and… to think that her partner came from that kind of situation? Sure, the blonde wasn’t sure that the Belladonna had come from the cold territory up north, but the overall situation for Faunus wasn’t different if not in Mistral and partly in Vale.

And seeing the vehemence displayed by the girl, the brawler was also certain that her partner wasn’t from neither of the two kingdoms. Either she was from Atlas, Vacuo (which was a hellhole for everyone) or Menagerie.

The day after the fight, Yang had found herself having some trouble finding rest. Maybe it was the guilt of the whole situation, or maybe the hits she had received the day before were still make her body bitch about the soreness.

It wouldn’t be the first time that the stinging sensation on her aura from numerous attacks she had suffered from a spar or a full-fledged battle had continued to annoy her brain until she found sleep in utter tiredness.

Yet the Xiao Long hadn’t found rest in that singular day, nor the following one and the one after that. Gone was her cheerful morning personality as she felt incredibly sluggish with her usual routine and her attention span suffered immensely because of it.

Not even sparring gave her that same bright fire as the gnawing emotion of having failed someone that she had a responsibility over was still here to spoil her chances of regaining some calm. She was unnerved, terribly so, and the fact that her search through Vale had been inconclusive at best was enough to worsen up her general mood.

It didn’t help that Sun had taken interest in making it a double patrol, following her as he mirthfully commented about everything around them and… it had been quite the irritating, if not infuriating, behavior to not react with a punch.

The Monkey Faunus seemed to really mean well, having been the one that had told the team that Blake had indeed mused over the chance of apologizing and that they had planned to ‘see’ if there would have been a theft to either confute or prove that her thesis was correct or not.

One thing led to another… and the Cat had jumped right on the trouble rather than make some smart decision. Something that led to a brawl in the docks and that ended up with everyone losing everything.

Not the brightest idea, but Yang couldn’t certainly fault the fellow blond over it as it had been her partner to cause this incredible mess.

And it was also Weiss’ fault for instigating the usually-introverted Faunus to this kind of action. She could have been a little less… abrasive while dispensing her ‘righteous’ preaching, maybe even get a lesser fallout out of that predicament.

Still, it was useless to cry on the spoiled milk and Yang couldn’t exactly linger too much over the past now that she had to find out where her elusive partner had gone. She had to be in the capital, the Scroll she had on herself still functioning from Beacon’s database even though her location had been blocked out by the Cat Faunus.

It was a minor relief over the multiple worries besieging the blonde and… she was glad that she found someplace where to rest during the searches. The ‘Morning Sip’ wasn’t a place where she could ever hope to find alcohol to buy, but Yang wouldn’t exactly make use of some Strawberry Sunrises to get her early-day going.

Alcohol was nice when it was used to spice her emotions up, just enough to warm her body and keep her heartbeat drumming as she concluded the last tasks of a difficult day. She never got drunk… too much. There had been some instances but- she was digressing.

The place was nice, it had a warmth system that delightfully keeps her from freezing up with the unholy cold coming to Vale during this part of the year, her clothes and aura offering just little protection from the surreal climate, and the coffee she would order would always aid her to recover from the drowsiness of the uneasy morning while also clearing her mind for further thinking.

The bar was nice, not the Junior’s kind of ‘nice’ as the place was clean and a fine establishment. One that she had found because of Sun’s insistence to expand their operations’ range, something that could easily be described as ‘annoying people until someone actually care and give us some clue’ kind of plan.

It was good plan, she has to admit, but with how overly-irritating Sun was at that early hour, Yang couldn’t help but deem it the worst idea with her ‘buddy’. That very buddy that wasn’t there at the moment as she happily took a sip from her warm mug.

The very mug offered by the usual waiter, Sid having been rather intrigued by the matter but keeping himself distant from getting too attached to the matter. Something that the Xiao Long appreciated as she knew that too many people to keep an eye on were going to create her more issues than help in the long run.

The young man was barely older than her, maybe a year or two, and his politely-quiet manners and tones were more than enough to bring her to relax in that good place. Patch didn’t have much of a daily bar, only a pub that offered ice creams and icicles to those that had enough money to afford it.

It was the first time she had gone to see something like this place and… she was glad that this occasion had come, ignoring the importance regarding what had led her in this part of town.

The very place where she found a perfect target for her teasing. Sid was a gentleman, but Yang was more endeared by how easy it was to get him flustered once or twice in a while. After the first time, the man had been guarded over falling with her ‘tricks’, but the blonde was hardly a rookie in the unfair game of teasing.

It had been easy to pick up hints from his posture and his clothes about what kind of person he was and the most curious topic about them all was… his colleague. The young woman was a little shorter than Sid, her hair and eyes hidden by a little Christmas-themed hat and a pair of sunglasses.

She was rather curt with her interactions around clients and she had been avoiding quite well ever coming close to the curious brawler. Why would she wear sunglasses with so little illumination and… why the hat?

The questions were there poking at her sanity, but she couldn’t exactly man-handle her way into discovering what was going on with the lady. It was the little common sense she had that drove her to not pull a ‘Junior’ on the bar, feeling like this little haven was far too much of a necessity to ditch without a proper reason.

Curiosity was still there, pressing for at least a hint or two that could satisfy her sudden case of interest and… that was done when the waiter came around to pick her empty mug.

“By the way, Sid,” Yang said as soon as the young man had his hand on the cup. “Can you tell me about your lady-friend over there?” She pointed subtly at the unaware waitress and… Sid blinked in minor surprise.

“You mean B-” He immediately stopped, his eyes widening a little more before he corrected himself, faking a cough. “B-Bianca? My colleague?”

Lilac eyes narrowed. “So her name is Bianca?” She pressed on with an intrigued tone, her glance briefly returning to the young woman and… yep, there was something off about that very name.

He nodded and she felt like something was off with that reply. Something about the way he had just stopped and almost panicking about it, as if the Xiao Long had asked him if he still had his V-Card or not.

Very suspicious, she admitted to herself and she decided to continue with her inquiry.

“That’s a peculiar name. Isn’t it… Mistralian?” The guess was met with a quick nod, this time the strange panic subsiding. Maybe it was time to poke a little harder and see if she can fish out another reaction out of him.

“I bet that she is… newer than you,” The brawler commented as her eyes caught just in time another clumsy tripping from the waitress, dignifying her current lack of experience. “I bet she relies a lot on you.”

He sighed. “You could say that.”

The admission was actually a strong clue about a little suggestion about the case, one that seemed the most appropriate by the way he appeared so flustered when the blonde mentioned about his colleague.

There was no doubt that, while the young man was trying to make it appear that they were in a professional relationship… he might have been thinking of the clumsy girl more than he said.

“Oh really?” Yang felt a smile widening on her face at the unsuspecting frown coming from the waiter, the cheeky girl truly feeling at the peak of that glorious teasing session as her prey was soon going to fall for her little discovery.

How could she not see this as the real truth!?

His shyness when talking of the girl, his adorable panicking when Yang would ask more about his ‘interest’ and how he was so conscious of the girl’s flaws and still loved them.

Her smile twitched and… she went for the bite. A big one for sure!

“Then I can only guess that she is rather handful when you are crushing on her.”

Hook, liner and-

Thud

…

Lilac eyes turned to stare at the now-unconscious waiter as he now lied on the floor in a twitchy, the entire bar fell silent as everyone heard the man falling on the ground and were now exchanging glances between him and the nervous blonde.

Yang blinked again, this time it was her turn to panic as the situation had devolved to an uneasy murmuring from the other clients, with the waitress cautiously approaching her colleague and checking on him while the owner proceeded to walk towards Yang.

He looked annoyed, but not angry. Hopefully, she could get just five seconds of her explanation in before being kicked out. Yet, while she had expected to be banned for ‘killing’ one of the workers there, she felt surprise as the older man’s appearance eased with a soft sigh as he momentarily glanced at the unconscious worker.

“To think that Sid would have been taken down by you, missy,” The mustached man said, returning his calm stare at her. “I will let it pass the fact you went overboard with your teasing and… please don’t do that again, I need this one in particular.”

She felt confused, uneasy and terribly embarrassed at what had just happened and, feeling guilty over the matter, the blonde rose from her seat and tried to help the ‘camouflaged’ lady to pull the sleeping young man away from the room-

Only to be hissed at by the fellow woman. She froze, her eyes widening for a moment as she tried and failed to compute the strange reaction she had just witnessed and before she could even proclaim her dumbfoundness, the two workers left her sight to their locker room.

What the heck was that!?

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Blake felt uneasy at the strange demeanor she was being prime witnesses of.

It’s been just twenty minutes since their shift had concluded, the close encounter with Yang gone and partly-forgotten as the blonde left the bar after paying for her coffee, giving to the Cat Faunus some relief over the fact that her stupid reaction hadn’t gotten the blonde suspicious of her identity.

The current camouflage was indeed useless in keeping the usually-extroverted girl from noticing the awfully weird look the secretive Faunus had to cover her unique features. Something that Sid had been quite prominent to point out once he woke up.

Their interaction in the locker room was brief as they both resumed their shift after sparing a few words following his awakening, his curt sentence still fresh on her mind as it was manifesting in their current shopping spree.

“Hat and glasses need to go.”

She understood perfectly what he was referring too and she agreed to this wholeheartedly, but the fact that they were browsing in the wigs section of a costume shop was enough to get the Faunus to some uneasiness regarding what the young man was trying to find.

“We need something… short,” He whispered to himself. “Something that could motivate the hat while also dissuade any connection to the long-haired one.”

There was a pause as he stopped by a pair of dark-red short version of her style, his eyes narrowing at it before he took them and flashed those at her. “What do you think of those?”

The Cat Faunus had been silent until now, the intrigue born from seeing the human going through what seemed to be a panic-induced Plan B had been both an entertaining and disturbing sight. It was just plain odd to see the usually-collected Sid being this much frantic with his actions, showing that the close call had been far worse than the one she had when Sun was around too.

Yang was good at flirting, but it was her teasing that made her a worrisome individual to face alone and without precaution. Something that the young man had paid dearly as he had been aware of what he had been going against… and earned a quick unconsciousness out of it.

And while the sudden fainting had given Blake the worst scare possible, she was mostly confused as of what could have exactly gotten this strong of a reaction out of the human. There was hardly anything that Yang could have said about him to get him to that state and… it didn’t help that the young man was tight-lipped over the matter.

Very suspicious but also concerning, hoping that whatever had gotten him this worked up wouldn’t end up becoming her next problem any time soon. Yet, knowing her partner’s propensity to tease everyone on her reach, it was a sure thing that was going to happen to the Faunus too, whatever she liked it or not.

Blake hummed and nodded at the curious wig, picking it in her hands as she tested the texture and… it was just as soft at hair. She checked around to see if there was space for her longer black locks and… it seemed there was enough to fit her head well.

Seeing her positive answer, Sid moved out of that section of the shop and, instead of leading her to the counter so they could have gone to pay for this product, he decided to wander right to the part of the building that displayed numerous boxes containing… eye-contacts.

She frowned as the young man started to browse onto that section too, her worry about his sanity growing with her need to ask what had gotten him to that particular frenzy. It was now far too pronounced to be ignored and, if she had to be honest, the girl wasn’t a fan of eye-contacts.

The Belladonna had tried them once a few years ago during a Fang operation and the atrocious itchy soreness she had to deal with after she was gone with the blue-colored ones for a full hour of wearing the pair had left her in a particular discomfort when around those.

“Sid,” The girl finally spoke, a twitch in the human’s posture giving her clue that he was at least listening to what she was saying. “I know that this might be weird coming from me but… isn’t this a little overboard?”

The moment the last word from her query left her lips, the young man’s search came to a sudden halt. He stiffened his body and then he glanced back with a serious look, almost making her flinch in response.

“Blake,” He started with a tense voice. “What I’m going to tell you is going to sound disrespectful to a fair degree and I wish you to understand that there is context behind this nervousness about some details that… aren’t good to think about right now.”

She blinked at the way he explained it. She had expected him to pull an angry tirade and… yet he was awfully calm and collected in that frenzy of his. Seriously, what did Yang told him?

Sid opened his mouth once again and… he started to tell her what had truly happened in that brief encounter he had with the blonde and why he had gone unconscious the moment her last sentence had reached his ears.

Blake stood still as she listened to it all, not even displaying any telling emotion about the fact that the main reason that had gotten Sid to faint at work was… the possibility that he was crushing on the ‘mysterious’ waitress.

The temptation to merely bash his skull at the silly and outrageous reason to actually ‘faint’ was terribly growing within her chest but she held back from putting thoughts into practice. Maybe there was indeed something that she was missing from this view, she thought absently, there has to be a better reason for him to faint other than the idea of her being

Sid had yet to pull a ‘Sun’ on her and, hopefully, that wasn’t going to be the case this time.

“But what is what got you scared?” She pressed on impatiently, huffing as he blinked tiredly. “Seriously, you said that there was a context to-”

“If she truly believes that, what do you think she will do the next time she comes at the bar?”

“Apologize?” The Faunus guessed, getting a sigh from the man.

“She will want to know more about the matter and… try to ‘help us out’,” He pointed out without hesitation. “You said that she was the one that usually headbutt onto the problem and what better way to solve a problem about ‘crushes’ than directly investigating the crush itself?”

…Oh Gods.

Her eyes widened and her face paled a little. “Y-You mean that she-”

“Officially speaking, I fainted for a lack of sugar, not because of me pulling an act worth of some Award. Something that I’m solving with more snacks rather than weak medicines,” Sid interrupted firmly as he continued to explain his new plan.

“And you decided to hide yourself a little less than usual as you almost tripped on me when I fainted. That is why you decided that for the sake of work, you ditched the glasses and the hat to avoid meddling with any worrisome situations.”

She blinked, her golden eyes staring in shock at the newly-fabricated excuses and the absurd save proposed by the young man. He looked determined about it and she would be lying if she said she didn’t felt it good enough to be used for their predicament.

It was odd to say, but now the faint felt legitimately the best action to pull in that awkward case. If he had continued to talk or even move away from the situation, the blonde would have taken them as positive things.

While the faint still counted as a possible sign for that, if the legitimate cause was given to a medical issue, the ‘clue’ itself would fall away from the whole ‘crushing debacle’ and so would Yang’s attempt to investigate on her.

The perfect alibi and… Sid had given this to her for her sake. Blake couldn’t certainly deny that something this big would require some effort from the human himself and she felt rather amazed by the show of trust and friendliness coming from that seemingly well-elaborated plan.

The Faunus didn’t expect this much from him, feeling that he was going out of his way to cover up for that glaring issue she would have gotten to deal with alone if it wasn’t for him.

The girl blinked once again and the quick hug that followed that genuine interaction that dripped of intriguing trust towards her was perceived as unexpected by the young man as it was for her. The first time she had ‘consciously’ gone for the embrace, beyond the mere moments of giddiness caused by having her favorite series to watch on TV rather than in the caged dimension of books.

It was the first time in a long time since she had hugged someone as a mean to thank them. Blake couldn’t even remember who was the last individual she had hugged for that.

Was it her parents? Adam? Or even Illia?

It’s been so long and-

“That was quite… interesting,” Sid mused quietly, but loud enough to snap the girl’s out of her depressing thoughts. “And ignoring what did just happen, do you prefer brown or blue ones?” He asked while bringing two small boxes.

She glanced in surprise as her eyes looked at both with a minor grimace replacing her smile. “Do… Do I have to?”

The human frowned at her comment. “What’s wrong with contacts?” He pressed on, seemingly perplexed by her reaction.

A sigh left the girl’s lips. “Last time I used them, my eyes almost got an infection and-”

“That can’t be true.” He huffed with a frown. “Like, I know there are some bad reaction but chances of infection are only when-” The young man stopped as he turned his attention to another set of boxes, leading Blake towards them.

“Where the ones you used contained in boxes like these ones?” Sid questioned with a curious tone, gaining a surprise look from Blake as… those were the ones she had used back then.

“Yes, but why-”

“The ‘Human-only’ ones?” He interrupted with a strong query, catching her off-guard. “The one that can actually damage a Faunus’ eyesight if used by one?”

There was a nervous pause from the Belladonna, her mind trying to squeeze out the details of that specific situation and… then she remembered exactly the possible individual she had to blame for what had been three days of atrocious problems about her eyesight.

The ‘humble and kind’ girl that had given her support on those trying times, the very shy Faunus that had ‘opened up’ for the sake of helping.

Ilia had been the one assigned to buy the contacts, Blake remembered perfectly, her eyes throwing a deadly glare at the boxes as she now had the name of the one guilty part that had caused her so much trouble!

Meanwhile, a certain Chameleon Faunus sneezed without an apparent reason as she continued to stand perched by her usual tree in Kuo Kuana, eyes directed at the mansion owned by the Belladonna family and… where Blake could ‘hopefully’ come back to. The right place to continue with her loving Sta- ‘humble guarding’.

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AN

I don’t have much to say… except that I just found an adorable Blake fanart that I will possibly use as the FF cover in the ‘maybe future’. Why not now and why maybe? Well, it’s almost midnight and I need some sleeping going before I ded on this keyboard, plus I don’t know- I don’t feel it.

I wonder if this will reach 100 follows before 31th…

 

Chapter 7: But your team certainly is!

~Sid POV~

I was glad that my quick-thinking was rewarded just as I had planned it to be.

While Yang has been a little suspicious about the motivation behind my fainting, the fact that both Bianca and the owner were there to vouch for my situation was more than enough to get her to not ask more than just a question or two.

With Blake now showing her new look with a sprinkle of shyness here and there during her job, the blonde was effectively provided some ‘answers’ about the waitress, soothing the nagging need to pester me during my service.

It was a quick change that diverted the whole routine back to normality as the Xiao Long decided to be more subdued and less blunt with her inquiries, restricting herself to get too much teasing and cocky around me.

I didn’t need to hear it from her because I was totally aware of her little pride about having a ‘trustworthy and strong’ personality, but I was now sure that the precise moment when I had fallen unconscious that day, I had completely frightened the student at Beacon to be less annoying than usual.

The girl was now less distracting and more pleasant to talk around. Something that I found, just like Blake was, ideal for our current predicament.

I knew that Marcus did give her a talk when she first returned to the ‘Morning Sip’, getting a little promise to be less-unruly during her time spent there for the sake of not getting banned from the establishment.

After this whole debacle had concluded and two days of relative peace had passed, I began feeling rather confused about the overall ‘terrible’ situation the Cat Faunus had with the entire team, mostly because I knew little about their leader.

And while I could confirm without hesitation that the brawler could turn quite unbearable most of the times, I also knew that she seemed to know how to back down when someone asked her to.

Since they were partners and Blake hadn’t said anything atrocious about the girl’s personality that I could see with my own eyes, I could only assume that the reserved girl would have been able to easily ask for a tone down from the blonde but she decided to not be the one to interact first.

The Faunus could be rather difficult to understand since she preferred silence over saying if there is a problem with her, about her or around her, rather she was more inclined to let a fire expand before genuinely thinking of asking for help over the topic.

Still, from what I could see from the Xiao Long, the situation couldn’t have gotten so bad for Blake to call them terrible and to not even consider possible sharing a civil talk with her whole team.

I could remember perfectly the racist episode I had seen back in the alley where Weiss Schnee was sprouting some bad stuff about the Belladonna with a younger girl, but maybe it was only one of the members that had been this prickish personality rather than the entire squad being unwilling to consider diplomacy.

And Yang was actively trying to search for her partner, her tone seeming a little angry but also quite guilty herself over what had happened back to the docks.

This little perplexity of mine keep floating within my mind but I found myself unwilling to truly ask more about the past circumstances that had led the Belladonna to crash onto my poor roof, damage it again and steal couch privileges.

Our relationship was still tense at best because of the unknowns we had over each other, the little escalation that could have been with the girl back in the costume shop was proof that she didn’t know much about me and I didn’t know much about her too.

We were making steps forwards and some common ground was shared mostly thanks to the fact we were taking uneasy steps into compromising the sudden twist to our lives and the fact she had to depend on me for her current dilemma, but we weren’t certainly going to be knowing of each other overnight.

Plus the girl still had some erratic scheduling regarding showers and baths that had been a problem to face when I finally decided to confront her over the matter, ending up dealing with quite the shout-contest with the Belladonna.

It had taken some effort but the Faunus had finally conceded the fact that a regular routine of showering would be the best now that she wasn’t on the run or sharing a bathroom with three more girls.

Progress was made from that heated discussion, one which saw me as a smug victor and Blake as the blushing moron while she was sent going to the bathroom to wash her untreated hair.

It was after just two days of normality that a new issue arrived to the bar and I was certainly in for some unflattering situations.

It was early in the morning, Marcus had gone out of the bar to check on the current supplies of coffee and had left us to keep watch over the building.

And while Blake was concluding some dust-sweeping with a simple broom, humming and enjoying the quiet moments before the opening hour, I was busying myself by checking on some of the important dates that the ‘Morning Sip’ would have to deal with.

The Vytal Festival was around the corner and knowing how much important the international event was, we were all planning to prepare for a large assault of new clients from beyond Vale.

The stockpile had to be checked on a daily basis just to see if there would have be enough resources to keep up with the approaching increase over the clients’ presence in those intense days.

I wasn’t sure that Blake was ready to deal with something that much difficult as she had yet to truly master her new personality while accommodating with the orders she had to take and serve.

All in all, that day had seemed to begin in rather the normal pace just as usual and I was quite relaxed while checking on the agenda for the ‘Morning Sip’.

The door opened just a minute before the official start of the shift and I nodded at the entrance at the familiar blonde spearheading the ‘true’ beginning of the work day.

It had been something that the Xiao Long had taken upon herself, to be there punctually to ‘open’ the bar for the others to enter and to get some ‘fresh’ service before things would start to get slow for anyone to get anything.

The brawler was smiling as she continued to chat to the two girls behind her, following her inside as the lilac-eyed girl took them to one of the tables inside, I blinked in surprise as I noticed a familiar silver-haired girl with a combat dress and a young brunette being the members of the little entourage led in by the blonde.

They took a seat and I didn’t hesitate to glance at Blake as the Faunus in disguise had noticed their presence too and looked fairly paler than before.

I took the duty to be serving the trio and moved to greet Yang.

“Good morning and,” I said before nodding at the blonde. “Hello Yang.”

She smiled. “Morning, Sid, and I hope the coffee machine is revved for my usual.”

“As always,” I chuckled briefly before turning my attention to the other girls. “By the way, welcome to the Morning Sip, how may I help you two?”

Weiss had her eyes fixed on the menu when I asked this and she took just a moment to pick her own order. “I will take an Atlesian Black with two spoonfuls of sugar,” The Schnee replied curtly and I frowned briefly at that decision.

The Atlesian Black was considered the worst blend for good reasons. I remember having given it a try when I first heard of its horrible reputation, despite Marcus warning me of the atrocious beverage that it was.

I foolishly ignored the signs that it would have been a terrible idea and… I realized why Hell was now a thing for Coffee-Afterlife.

Without mentioning anything to the seemingly-fine (but surely insane) girl, I turned to the last of the trio. “What about you, miss?”

The brunette blinked in surprise at the query, sporting a little blush at being called ‘miss’. I guess she just wasn’t called like that by anyone, she looked very young and I would be surprised if someone had considered her a ‘child’ among the other students at Beacon.

Gulping nervously, the short-haired teen picked the menu and scanned for any interesting snack to pick and… she settled on one in particular, her silver eyes shining brightly just for a moment and I… was that drool?

“I-I will pick a chocolate-milk with vanilla sprinkles.” There was no hesitation, rather I felt her voice skipping a beat at the deliciously-named beverage.

I nodded and turned to walk back to the counter as I started to prepare the three orders, starting from the easiest (being Yang’s simple coffee) and concluding with the slightly more difficult of those (Atlesian Black, ugh).

With the three steamy mugs set on a small metallic tray, I traveled back to their table and settled down the order for the girls to pick up their respective cups.

The brunette, I recalled her name being… Ruby or something like that, picked hers quickly and started to gulp down the content, only to stop, eyes widening and sporting some sudden tears as the scorching sensation of the still-hot liquid going down her throat.

Stopping, the youngest of the trio started to cough a little while Yang went to pat her back to help her recover from the fit, smiling eye-to-eye at the pained expression of the silly girl.

Weiss sighed tiredly, looking at the scene with a frown, and she went to pick up her cup and steal a quick sip. I had expected her to tank the horrible taste of the beverage without any major problem since she had been ordered it with utter certainty.

A few moments passed and then she started to cough uncontrollably while dropping her mug and the rest of the content upon the table and the tray, eyes watering just like it had been with Ruby but this time it was the bitterness instead of the unholy warmth.

“W-What was that?!” The Schnee exclaimed mid-coughing, eyes turned accusingly at me as if I had been the one to commit the ‘heinous act’ of giving her the suicidal brew.

“That was Atlas Black,” I replied with a small frown. “Just like you have requested, mi-”

“T-That wasn’t ‘Atlas Black’!” She shot back with a snarl, ignoring the flinches coming from the other girls. It was quite interesting to see Yang being irritated by someone like that but…

I admit that Weiss does have the shrillest of voices.

“It was ‘Atlas Black, the renowned bitter flavor originating from Atlas,” I repeated back, giving her a serious tone. “Lady, what where you expecting?”

“A decent coffee! But it seems that is too much to ask from someone like you!” Her yell was now starting to get annoying to bear through. Seriously, was this her semblance or what?!

“So you just wanted a normal Remnant coffee and not the Atlas Black you have asked for?” I asked with an irked tone. “I will see to bring you a ‘kind replacement’ once I’m done dealing with this mess-”

“You bring me the coffee,” The girl interjected again. “We will fix your mess by ourselves.”

Think of happy things. Think that I will get a warm bath once I get back home and… that I will nap until tomorrow.

I nodded blankly at that little jab, hiding a scowl from them as I walked back to the counter and prepared a cup with the normal brew of coffee, ready to bring this to the table and then get out of their sight for a while.

Just as I turned around with the new mug, I was provided with quite the spectacle right by their table and… I paused just a moment to watch it all unfold.

“That doesn’t mean you have the right to call him that,” Blake, or Bianca, said with an irritated frown. “Just like he said, the Atlesian Black is infamously known for the bitterness, miss.”

The Schnee huffed with a tired look. “And what kind of waiter wouldn’t give a proper warning about this? No one should be offered this beverage without proper notice.” Weiss shot back, drawing a deeper frown from the Faunus in disguise.

“It’s not one of the policies and that was a rude attitude-”

“You are the one speaking?” The silver-haired girl interjected, her eyes narrowed on the waitress. “You are here, molesting and intimidating me with the fact that ‘I shouldn’t have done that’, yet I think it’s my right as a client of this establishment to critic some lazy job-”

At that little accusation, Blake looked ready to explode on the Schnee but I was already by her side and poking her arm with my free hand while holding the mug with the other one.

The Cat Faunus turned with a hint of surprise and a little anger at what was going on but I give her a tired smile. “Please help the new clients, Bianca,” I gestured her the couple by the entrance. “I will take care of the table.”

The girl opened her lips to protest but… she stopped as she noticed the malicious glint in my eyes, merely nodding as she rushed to help the new arrivals while I turned to deal with this annoying predicament.

While I would have been fine to enjoy some pettiness from the heiress directed at me and only me, the fact that she had even indirectly and deliberately mentioned how what Blake was doing was intimidation, which wasn’t the case since the Faunus was just pointing her shitty attitude, was more than enough to get me interested on seeing this situation dealt with a brutal response.

Something that would be as effective as ‘possible’ within my competences as mere waitress of the bar as I had my own limitations as of what I could and couldn’t do with bad clients… but I just knew what could have worked with the girl.

“So, you have my coffee?” The ‘princess’ asked pompously and I blinked with a tiny smirk on my face.

“I sure do… but I was also thinking,” I mused loudly. “That maybe you are also a good friends to your teammates and… that is why I think this one will be for Yang.”

I pushed the mug right in front of the blonde, the trio’s eyes widening all at once at my little move. “I understand that it’s stressing to keep up with the studies and the fact she is actively searching for your missing teammate, so I guess it would be right to give her something to help up.”

Lilac eyes flashed amusement at the trick I was pulling, knowing myself that it was rather childish from a good perspective but I wasn’t allowed to certainly pull any major stunts against her.

“Excuse me?!”

“Miss, I will be honest with you,” I addressed the girl. “You have ordered a particular beverage that is known to be barely-acceptable for people and yet you pinned this issue on me, then you tried to badmouth me to a colleague while also threatening her with some hefty accusations, and finally you have the presumption to think that, after what you just did, I would just let you have a free coffee?”

I waited for a moment after proclaiming the fairly long question, my eyes steeling onto her face as the girl looked like a tomato with how much angry she was about the verbal beating she just received.

But her anger was also mixed with some embarrassment and logical thoughts over the topic, knowing that everything I just said was just what has happened in the last twenty minutes of so of interaction.

After two minutes of utter silence, I sighed and aimed my index at the entrance. “I would invite you to leave.”

The request was met with silence at first, then Yang tried to salvage the situation by apologizing on her teammate’s behalf but… I wasn’t having any of it and continued to ask them to leave for the day.

I didn’t have the power to ban people out and Marcus had yet to return from the storage warehouse, so he wouldn’t be there to help me with the standard procedure.

Weiss tried to comment furiously at his, she looked ready to explode very soon but a very apologetic blonde and the embarrassed girl with them managed to get her out of the building before anything weird could have happened.

Moments of quiet passed at the building, then Marcus returned ten minutes after with a tired look. He had gone for a quick run to reach the establishment and he wasn’t certainly built to make that kind of stuff anymore.

Just as things settled down back to some peace, I managed to catch Blake’s attention during a moment where there were just a few clients around to thank her for… trying to defend me.

I wasn’t going to hug her and call her lovable nicknames for doing that, but I wasn’t ungrateful enough to not give merits where it was due.

The genuine tone was met with a tiny smirk and a nod. “You are welcome.”

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~Blake POV~

Hours have gone by and it was now night at the flat as Blake went to her lovely couch and tried to catch some sleep on it.

At first, her sleep started particularly refreshing as she hoped for it to be a dreamless one which would deprive her of any vivid imagery about what happened until now.

A feeble hope that soon proved to be as unattainable as backfiring, the girl having to deal with another round of nightmares that took her away from the proper and genuine rest she needed to go with the current routine.

It was all a mix of her experience at the White Fang, now mixed with what had happened just before and during the battle at the docks, the words shared by Weiss were there to remind her how another bridge was burned in her attempt to find peace.

But differently from the usual fun ride, her mind was more than glad to provide a new arsenal of horrible visions that were truly bothering her out of her slumber.

In fact, the Belladonna ended up opening her eyes around three in the morning, tired and panicking over what she had just seen, her body shaking and sweating over the sight bestowed by her infuriatingly-creative brain.

Her golden eyes were directed at the ceiling as she tried to recollect herself from what she had just seen and she couldn’t feel the need to sleep much to her dismay. Her body was just too tense to merely accept what has just happened.

She could remember Sid standing upon her aching body, blood was on his shirt and there was a furious scowl on his face while he handled what looked to be a crowbar.

Was he intentionally hurting her? Did she do something that-

He would never do something like that. Her logical self tried to defend but her brain was susceptible to the minuscule doubts over that idea as Sid was very brutal when provided with a more than rightful reason to react that badly.

He... still cares for me. Until she managed to mess things up again, maybe by running away as a mean to avoid her problems from the past and that was just- irritating and difficult to deal with.

The Faunus waited silently as her labored breathing was the only noise in the entire apartment, her mind trying to lull her consciousness back to the much-needed rest and… her concentration was broken at the sudden noise of the fridge being closed.

Her sight moved away from the ceiling and she noticed that the kitchen’s light was turned on, soon a figure emerged and… she blinked at Sid.

The young man stopped, he was wearing a half-sleeved white shirt and a pair of baggy pants, to look at her with a surprised and interested look. In his hands was a cup of… milk.

“Sorry,” He said with a tired and quiet tone. “Did I wake you up?”

There was silence at first, her mind putting an immense effort to make her realize that this was the real one and not a vision.

The Faunus blinked. “N-No, I-” Blake paused mid-explanation, her stare moving away. “I was just… having a bad dream. Nothing to worry about.”

Once again there was silence and the human was frowning at her much to her dismay. Instead of getting him to not ask more about this, she ended up getting him interested over the matter.

“A bad dream?” He parroted briefly and then blinked. “Do you… want to talk about it?”

The offer was interesting. While part of her was still unwilling to give too much out to Sid, she felt like… talking with someone as level-headed like him would give her some reassurance.

Ultimately, she nodded and made way in the couch so that the young man could sit near her, waiting for him to be accommodated before starting to explain what had happened.

The Belladonna pointed out numerous times that her tale was a corroboration of what she saw in her dream and that she didn’t thought of him as a violent individual, but Sid was quick enough to interrupt her as the whole story was given, his eyes tired but sporting a calm glint as he gave his own thoughts over the topic.

“You are afraid of being put on square one once again,” He started with a hum. “Legitimately-speaking, your fear is partly-honest because after running twice from life-related problems you ended up digging a hole, a psychological one that you feel like is close to be closed upon you.”

Blake blinked slowly, her eyes wide open as her ears caught everything she just heard. Not only the words felt correct to a fair degree, but it was impressive how close he had been to… understand her little plight.

The reason behind her true stay here, instead of returning back to Beacon Academy.

“W-What?”

“You think that doing this for the third time, to run away or to do something that is worth running away from, will be the last time as you think I could go that berserk on you,” Sid pointed out. “You think that you will do something so terrible and horrifying that would end up with me turning murderous on you… which isn’t technically possible for good reasons.”

She didn’t gesture him to continue, but rather he continued himself without prompt.

“The only way you can get me to attack you like that would be if you ever try to hurt or kill someone from my family and… that isn’t actually a viable option for you since they are all in Mistral...” He paused a moment to blink and then frown about it. “Actually, my older sister isn’t there, kind of going around doing… stuff from her unknown boss. She never told us much about her work anyway and I don’t think she will be in Vale anytime soon.”

And while the young man thought about this curious detail he had himself forgotten, Blake began evaluating what she has just listened to. The dream was possible… for impossible conditions for her to accomplish even if she tried to do something like that.

There wasn’t just a proper chance and it would require efforts that she couldn’t muster for proper reasons. So that meant that the nightmare was a stupid one, but a stupidly strong one that had her awake for a while now.

“So… I don’t have to worry about-”

“Do you plan to kill anyone from my family?” Sid suddenly asked, the Faunus’ eyes widening in shock as she shook her head quickly at it.

“N-No-”

“Then there is nothing you can do to get me to that point,” He said and then… offered the untouched glass of milk to her. “By the way, drink this before going to sleep.”

…

“I-I don’t need to-”

“Look, either you drink it or I will have to go to the kitchen, prepare another glassful of milk and come back,” He interrupted dryly. “The second option would make me pissed as I don’t want to make that trip again just because you feel shy all so suddenly.”

Without protesting the little jab at her personality, Blake took the glass in her hands and took a sip out of it. She blinked as she noticed it was quite warm, the milk having been heated before having been put in the glass.

“Thanks,” Her voice was soft and barely reached the young man. Sid nodded and stood up from the couch, ready to walk back to his bedroom and back to his slumber.

But before he could reach the doorstep, Blake decided to inquire about something that had been pressing on her mind for a while. “Sid?”

The human stopped and glanced back while sighing tiredly as he waited for her to speak once more.

“Why were you… awake?” The inquiry reached him and he seemed to tense up a little.

“Just a bad dream,” He said quietly. “Nothing worrisome or-”

“You can… stay here with me?” Blake offered, feeling like she should at least give something back after the positive talk he got from him but… he frowned.

“Blake, how old are you?” He shot back with a sigh. “You can sleep alone and-”

“You can stay on one side while I stay in the other?” She continued quickly. “I understand it sounds weird but-”

“It is weird.”

His final comment got her to finally pause and sigh. “Can’t I just try to help you too?”

“There are other ways,” He pointed out tiredly. “Ways that wouldn’t end up to create some strange predicament for the morning.”

“But I will stay by my side!” She shot back with a huff. “And I don’t think you would move too much to cause that.”

There was a pause after those words, then a sigh from Sid and… the human fully turned around as he walked back to the couch.

A small smile to complete her little victory, ready to try and make up with how many issues she had caused with her how problems.

Giving him one of the covers and one of the pillows, the two remained by the edges of the sofa as they spent just a little while awake before going back to their respective slumber and, much to the Faunus’ surprise, her sleep proceeded to be the smoothest possible since her fallout with the White Fang.

It was odd at first, but then she realized it had to be the fact that she had been aware for the rest of the night and early morning that someone was nearby to ask for… help, thus her mind didn’t feel the need to deprive her of her needed rest.

It would prove to be a single occurrence as the human wouldn’t end up anymore wandering by the kitchen during her troublesome nights, but that day… Blake felt grateful that someone was still around for her to trust even in those trying times.

The faunus fell asleep with a small smile, waking up only when it was time to prepare for work and… she could have sworn that Sid was sporting a small smirk himself as the two woke up together.

How curious.

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AN

Ain’t that sweet, folks!

By the way, I have left in this chapter a massive hint about Sid’s big sister and… she will appear next chapter. Prepare for some surprises and some fun directed at a generally-serious character in the show that had been turned in… a funnier version of herself.

 

Chapter 8: Why does your sister hate me?!

~Blake POV~

The new weekend came quickly much to a certain Cat Faunus’ initial relief.

While the days that followed the little situation that saw Weiss forced to leave the Morning Sip proved to be surprisingly normal, or as normal as her life now was, the constant paranoia of ending up encountering the Schnee around during their walk back to the flat was more than enough to give her some negative thoughts to enjoy.

It wasn’t like Blake was actually worried of being discovered by the pretentious brat that was the Atlesian girl, but rather she was irritated by the fact that the team-member would go as far as ridicule someone just because of her own mistakes.

While the Belladonna was perfectly aware of the petty behavior Weiss has, her initial perception of such foul mood was connected to the Schnee’s biased views on Faunus.

It was blatant how such judgment was actually a complete understatement of the problematic element that was Weiss Schnee.

While the white-haired girl was polite and very punctual with her homework for the sake of showing a proper attitude towards the teachers at Beacon Academy, her overall ego managed to shatter the ‘model student’ character before the eyes of fellow students.

Even others on the team had been targeted by her mood-induced tirades over homework, room-cleaning and general responsibilities.

With Ruby being considered ‘naive and too young to lead’ (ignoring that Weiss herself had wanted to just be a ‘second-in-command’ rather than the ‘official leader’ during their second day at school) and Yang being ‘terribly unruly and crass’, the Schnee was so hopeful of gaining a prominent role in the leadership of the team.

She had almost wanted to try to condemn Blake’s lifestyle, mostly because the Cat Faunus was seen the least around school books compared to the other members but the positive results from the tests at school proved her rhetoric far too superficial to be introduced.

Until her hidden traits had been revealed, the Faunus didn’t have any major quarrel with the heiress, mostly because she wanted to have as little as possible with the bratty girl.

Time passed and… now the situation had changed to a curious degree.

While Blake could have easily let go of the little exchange of words shared by Sid and Weiss, just like she had done back at Beacon, there was something that made the young man worthy of some simple defending.

Maybe it was because for what he had done for her until now. For giving her a home, for giving her a chance to hide away and… for giving her some faith in her good reasons.

It was almost nostalgic, the only time she had gone out of her way to defend someone… had been years ago.

The Belladonna could remember the crying red-haired child, she could remember the chuckling bullies as they ridiculed his scars and she could remember when she went to slap the ringleader of the foul children.

A single intervention and… she ended up meeting with him.

Her chest would tighten at the mere memory, the painful squeeze of a long lost chance of having a peaceful world for herself… deprived by her lack of interest to someone that always needed help along his way.

But despite the emotional burden presented by such sight, the Cat Faunus couldn’t help but remind herself of a major detail she was close to forget.

Sid… wasn’t Adam.

He wasn’t the leader of the Vale-based section of the White Fang, he wasn’t a brutal warrior, he didn’t believe in violence before dialogue and...

He wasn’t the weak child she had met so many years ago. He was strong enough in her eyes to not lay down through the insults and he certainly proved to be better than the violent actor of the tragedies unfolding thorough the kingdom… by just being a sane person.

It wasn’t humanity that made him stand up before the long-lost friend, but rather his willingness to grasp his sanity and never let go out of his hold.

Common sense and… an admirable sense of self-control.

Still, these thoughts were hardly important after some days spent studying more while also approaching the mind owned by human known as Sid Tremaine.

Small steps that drew little results, just like it had been before and… just like it is even now.

Finally, they managed to share some minutes of mutual enjoyment by watching some channels on the TV before going to sleep, ending up finding the programs that they both found common grounds with.

It was incredibly little but her nightmares had started to reduce as this new routine began.

Her mind would just remind her that she wasn’t alone in that place. No more alone for the shadows to ridicule and poke at her with dramatic versions of her memories.

He was here, just around the corner and right to his bedroom, sleeping but always vigilant for any intruders.

A silly development that actually helped her gain some more energy from her sleep, enough to properly sustain the working schedule while also giving her the chance to plan out any contingencies over possible scenarios.

From her Team finding out about her current whereabouts, to dealing with another attack of the White Fang.

The attack by the docks had proved her that they were still… doing something in Vale.

It didn’t just feel right to merely connect the Fang to Torchwick without some further evidence or clue that could consolidate this idea.

The group deployed was far too big to be just a handful of dissenters and since she was sure that Adam was still alive and keeping things from further escalating.

It had to have been the work of someone stronger.

If there was something that Blake was aware of her former leader, it was that strength came before ideals nowadays.

The Bull Faunus was obsessed with strength and pride, his ideals slowly receding to make way to the more animal-like tendencies of his personal brutality and that helped in pointing out that someone had managed to force the man to ally with Torchwick.

Someone that wanted all the Dust available in Vale for some major reasons.

But what kind of reason and why?

A deadend that the Faunus was unable to overcome after two to three days of minimal thinking and… then Saturday arrived to bring some more issues to her plate.

While Sid hadn’t given her any reason to worry for a change over their plans of spending the entire time indoor, the little order established by the two would soon meet a difficult obstacle in the form of a visitor.

It had all began when the doorbell rang, alerting all the occupants of the flat about the visit of someone that wasn’t planned to arrive.

It was an instinct at first, but then the young man confirmed that no one was meant to be coming for that specific day… or month.

The human went to check who it was, both were wearing casual clothes and so there wasn’t a worry for any major misunderstanding, but her sight was honed enough to pick up the sudden shock going through Sid as he went to the door-hole before opening.

He tensed a little, eyes widening in substantial surprise before a little smile broke on his face as he unleashed the sole barrier to this intruder.

It was a young woman with shoulder-length, black hair which covered one of her bright light-orange eyes.

She was wearing a red off-the-shoulders, mini dress with gold-like decorations.

It was incredibly small for someone to wear but the woman seemed comfortable enough to don it without any issues and Blake was no major judge considering her past choices. Battle-kimonos weren’t as comfortable as her younger, giddier self had thought them to be.

But despite the elegance offered by the unknown woman’s graceful display of expression and posture, she seemed to be quite elated to be pulled in a hug by the surprisingly-happy young man.

The Cat Faunus’ mind had to reboot momentarily at seeing Sid being the initiator of the intimate act. It was the easy-to-anger young man, the one that had been so angry to ignore the threat poised by a possible armed robber (which was her only trying to defend herself), the one that would never hug people so easily.

Yet the visitor smiled brightly at the embrace and returned it by wrapping her arms around the dark-haired youth’s neck.

“Cindy! I didn’t expect you to come here and-” Sid went to finally greet, before stopping suddenly and showing now a pout at this ‘Cindy’. “It’s been three years! Where have you been?”

Instead of being shocked by the mood-swing, the woman giggled and pulled the young man back in the hug.

“Already trying to pull the ‘tough brother’ act on me, little Sid?” She asked mirthfully. “And I thought that you would have received me with more… tact.”

Her eyes had been scanning around the living room and had stopped by Blake’s frame peeking by the couch, her happiness morphing in a scowl.

“Sid,” The woman started with a strangely sweet tone, one that the Belladonna had heard only being used by her mother when her father was caught doing something he shouldn’t have done. “Do you perhaps… have something to tell me?”

The tension was visible and palpable, the glare the Faunus was receiving from this intruder was filled with an unexpected degree of anger and hate.

Instead of reacting upon the evident aggressiveness displayed by the unknown woman, Sid merely sighed.

“Oh right,” The embrace dropped with limp arms as the young man turned to gesture at Blake.

“Cinder, this is Blake Belladonna, my housemate- and no, we aren’t a couple,” The Belladonna blinked in surprise at that quick quip, but she was glad that no misunderstanding was created upon the sight. In fact, Blake could now say that this ‘Cinder’ was now at ease about her presence here.

“Blake, this is Cinder Tremaine, she is my big sister and professional troublemaker back in Mistral-”

“I was a troublemaker until I started to work around the kingdoms, little brother,” Cinder interjected with an annoyed sigh. “But yes, I suppose I should also mention that I mean no harm towards you Blake by appearing a little… possessive. I’m only trying to keep my brother safe from certain… bad ends.”

The jab wasn’t missed by the Faunus, but the woman was already moving on to the next topic.

“By the way, Sid, you should do me a favor,” The dark-haired lady said as she turned her attention to her sibling. “Mom and dad, they don’t know I’m here and-”

“You want them to not know?” He piped in with a frown before appearing a little nervous at the sad look on his sister’s face. “I-It’s not that I will not do that, rather I would like to understand why and… where have you been in the last three years.”

She gave a slow nod and soon they were all sitting by the couch, with Sid taking the middle as to divide the two girls from interacting in any sort of violent way as, despite her words of being just ‘protective’, the quick glares were still there.

Seriously, what is wrong with this woman?

Soon Cinder started to tell what had happened in the last years, going through some specific details to add more legitimacy to the overall tone as the beginning of such tale just sounded… quite far-fetched.

“A rich businesswoman has got you roped for some long work with numerous tasks and-” Sid summarized with a confused tone. “And now you are the Logistical Manager for Dust coming by her company?”

“It’s more of a Logistical Director and… I make sure that nothing like what had happened in the docks happen once again,” Cinder nodded with a small smile. “It’s a newly-developing company and precautions are needed to preserve its survival.”

“And you are a strong lady that knows how to make things and people work properly and efficiently,” Sid complimented while nodding, gaining a bigger smile from his sibling. “Still, you should be careful about it. Seems like Torchwick allied to the White Fang and he is doing some funny business with Dust shipments.”

“And that is why we have the most efficient guards to make sure that none of those thugs get to us,” The lady replied with a nod, stealing another glance at Blake, this time stopping a little more than usual. “Still, one would be wary of the company you have-”

“She is fine,” The young man sternly interjected, catching a surprised look from his sister. “We might have some rocky obstacles, but Blake is someone I trust enough to know that she isn’t part of them.”

Still that surprise here for everyone to see looked more like disappointment to the Cat Faunus.

There was some bitterness at the defense provided by Sid and… why should it be a problem for his sibling.

“If you think she is trustworthy,” Cinder commented slowly, her voice dropping soft. “Then I guess I will support your judgment. After all… you are my little brother.”

“I thought we were beyond that nickname!” He exclaimed with a groan. “I mean, I was the one that helped you getting Stacy to back away from calling you ‘little’.”

“That is because he was annoying teasing me with that but… I don’t think I’m that-” She paused dramatically, her lip quivering in a faux sad tone. “Annoying.”

Blake could see it was an act, Sid surprisingly didn’t.

He gulped nervously. “Y-You aren’t annoying. It’s just that… I’m not little.”

In that very moment, the woman pulled the young man in another hug, this time humming happily as she softly ruffled his hair. “Of course you are my little brother and I love you lots,” Then her stare lifted up to Blake an ominous glow emitting from her dark-golden orbs. “And I wouldn’t certainly have you brought to harm by some silly fools all over this dumb Kingdom.”

It might have looked like simple baby-talking the poor owner of the flat, but Blake recognized that this wasn’t just a jab thrown at her… but a threat. A deadly one at that.

The conversation continued with a little while, with Cinder learning about her brother’s new life here in Vale, a fake story how Blake ended up in his flat and that things were going smoothly for them all.

She bought most of the lies told by her sibling, yet even after the woman had left the house and the premises of the building, the Cat Faunus couldn’t help but be wary for the rest of the day.

There was just something that… she couldn’t see about the woman. Something that made her somehow way more dangerous than she looked.

It was instinct.

It was fear.

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~Cinder POV~

Leaving the building, Cinder found herself followed by her two trusted followers, leading them back to their current headquarters.

Mercury looked bored, the waiting spent without ‘an apparent reason’ had left him quite irked if not annoyed at the strange situation that had just unfolded.

Maybe he had expected another assassination, or maybe he just wanted some general actions.

He was that much brutish, but also very submissive with her orders and that made him a perfect pawn to use to do some massacring.

Emerald looked less irritated, a good effort to hide her suspicions over the subtle request of visiting someone that they weren’t aware of and that seemingly had some good relationship with Cinder.

This very individual causing some confusion and distress to the tanned girl as, seeing the pleased mood which Cinder was displaying right now was more than enough to spring some jealousy out of the former thief.

Something that was as endearing as dangerous to have run rampant without ‘proper guidance’ as emotions could cause grand disasters if left unchecked, especially those Emerald harbored for her ‘savior’.

Still, she could also see some legitimacy within the confusion in her pawn’s face and… that was about Sid himself.

He was something that wasn’t supposed to be a target but rather someone that the half-Maiden considered important to keep alive even after the fall of Beacon and Vale.

The very idea clashing horribly with the known-plans involving the attack on Vale during the tournament, the chances of retrieving the young man before evacuating safely from the kingdom being close to zero.

Something that Cinder was aware of and acknowledged that the horrible scenario wasn’t just viable anymore.

Speaking with Sid had been… enlightening.

Especially since now the young woman was now aware of the little traitor he was harboring in his little home.

A stray cat that is bound to bring more harm to him than good, no matter how genuinely happy he looked around this mostly-silent girl.

Blake Belladonna, a name and a face that Adam had been bemoaning for some time, an individual that had initially been proposed to be kidnapped out of Beacon, an impossible action considering the tight security and the risks, before the leader of the Vale Branch settled for the assassination of Tukson.

Yet now that the little brat was out of Beacon and wandering a little too close to her little brother’s life, maybe it was time to consider some punitive expedition to get her removed from that safe environment.

With Adam soon to arrive to the Kingdom’s capital, it was going to be about time for the man to notice the very detail over his little ‘crush’.

The passionate Faunus would surely wage a crusade over her, maybe putting in danger her little sibling and…

Cinder wouldn’t certainly allow that to happen, even if it would end up with her tearing apart the brutish masked moron with her bare hands.

Calming down for a moment as she noticed her powers acting up and her followers tensing at her sudden anger at that impossible scenario, her mind returned back to her original mission.

The Maiden’s powers were hers to take, but the current security and the new unknowns were more than enough to make her backtrack about the full completion of things.

Salem hadn’t given her a time limit over the completion of her tasks, rather she had offered her ‘as much as she needed’ for the sake of success itself.

Joining the Queen of Grimm had been a hard choice, the woman being persuasive while also terribly helpful in pinpointing some clues of her past that were more than anything she ever dreamed of.

It was enough for her to go after the Maiden, to take her powers and to return the ‘favor’ extended by Ozpin several years ago to her previous family.

A family Cinder wasn’t truly aware of, rather remembering just a few glimpses of her mother’s face… before being given another chance with a new family in Mistral.

Charles Tremaine had been part of the Huntsmen sent to take to safety the survivors of that terrible Grimm attack to the village she was born into.

She could remember the comforting words of the man as she fell unconscious because of the ashes and cinders rising off from the ground because of the terrible fire spreading around the settlement.

She was brought back to the capital, her childhood slowing to a full halt as she failed to initially get to know with her new siblings. Estranged by the kind tones coming from the youngest of the two and distraught at the lack of effort from the more serious of the two, the eldest holding some distrust towards her.

But then… something curious happening.

It was slow, it was visible but also not for her younger self.

It all a peculiar route made by small steps committed by a shy but also brave child, a little boy with bright blue eyes and hair as dark as hers.

Sid was there for her from the beginning. He was the one that had dared her refusals until he had conquered his legitimate space in her heart, worming himself in a lovely spot that not many knew about.

It was a childish and innocent endeavor which turned out to become amusing and inspiring.

His stubborn attitude driving deep in her core, shaking her self-imposed shackles of isolation and… she was brought out to enjoy the fullest of her new life in the Tremaine family.

Charles became her father, Antoinette became her mother and the two children became her brothers.

But the youngest become something even more important than that.

Sid was a paradox within the limitations of siblings bonds she was aware of, someone that she would care as a younger brother but she would also considered much more more.

He was always yearning for her attention and she would happily give him some if not all of her free time for the sake of catching one of his bright and lovely smiles.

It was silly at first, but from that degree of stupid it then turned something a little more serious and worth of greater consideration.

Their growth spur in the decade that followed her introduction to the family was undeniably radical, their appearances and their attitudes developing for the best, but their emotions seemingly remaining unchanged… at least that small detail was correct about the young boy’s dense perception of the world around him.

Cinder actually felt something odd blooming about her bond with him, something getting stronger by the passing of days.

She had never made any permanent friends, nor she minded giving more time to her family than to other people.

That was why the girl hadn’t been aware of the full taste of what truly friendship was, thus leaving her to believe that it was mere friendly closeness at work.

The young woman could then remember when she first learned about love in a simple day at school, about that dumb emotion that would make girl go after men without an apparent reason and then she compared her strange interest she had over her adoptive sibling and then the realization struck hard.

It was difficult to stomach, but the signs were far too evident for her to blatantly ignore and...

Leaving home was painful but necessary to dodge the unpleasant repercussions she was suffering in that inner struggle.

Her mother was distraught, her father was shocked and Stacy was floored by her decision.

Sid learned of the news after some time had passed since her departure, his reaction reaching her in small fragments with the contacts she kept with her parents before joining Salem.

The ‘little boy’ had faced a sharp change about his future, deciding against pursuing studies in Haven and preferring to remain a civilian.

A decision that had left her horrified as Cinder had been there to hear her baby brother’s desire to become ‘their’ protector.

Now that dream was shattered and that, she was aware, had been her fault.

At least he wouldn’t be getting hurt because of the cowardly Headmaster in Haven.

It was temporary, she remembered thinking at first, it would go away by getting distant and letting time pass through and…

That idea was obliterated in that very day she decided to visit. It had been a surprise to learn about his presence here in Vale and part of her had wanted to make use of the visit to subtly pressure him to leave the capital and return back to Mistral, where he would have been safe from the dangerous plans she was pulling the strings of.

But then things changed when she was hugged.

From what she could discern from this visit, which should have been just one of courtesy, her mind was still intrigued by him to a concerning degree.

He had grown again, this time leaving the boisterous rebelliousness he had displayed in his teenage years and…

Sid had embraced a more mature and adult-focused mindset. He was slightly-taller, more confident and… that lovely smile of his was still there.

The way he was so eager to hug her, to show his love and support…

And his still-present muscles-

No!

She blinked, her eyes widening a fraction as she was brought back to the real word and she noticed that… she had digressed a lot.

She sighed, realizing that time was starting to run short over the decisions she had to take over the complex plan in her mind.

The initial draft wouldn’t do, especially because Sid was in Vale and living a normal life here.

Hesitation had been there for a long time since she had started with her tasks, her consciousness over her strength being targeted by the bad developments rising from her aggressive pace as Ozpin had indeed increased his security over the city.

The man was dangerous when given too many hints and clues and she would be lying in saying that she was ready to outmatch someone that was far too old and experienced to beat even in an unfair competition.

A quick operation would surely unbalance him in the long-run, but the destruction perpetrated would actually hinder her future plans.

If there was something she had learned from her past works under Salem, it was that old institutions were easier to manipulate and predict.

Killing Vale would only shatter the board and make people within the other kingdoms more paranoid.

Fear can do so much without having enough Grimm dispatched in the various weak areas present in Remnant and… the risk of losing Sid was a big one.

He cared for Vale, it was like Mistral for him and… that meant having to deal with the repercussions of having him hate her if she ended up getting caught.

It wouldn’t be acceptable. It wasn’t acceptable.

So the young woman started to formulate something of a devious plan.

Ozpin was restless, his little clique will surely continue to be causing some issues with their meddling, but given some time and preparation, Cinder was more than sure that something better could be born without shedding unnecessary blood.

Roman would surely be elated at the prospect of not being pushed into risky situations for ‘some Dust’, but the woman remembered that Adam would have wanted to ‘taste some blood’ after his arrival.

Something that wouldn’t just work and… she just had the right idea how to solve it.

Both Emerald and Mercury shuddered as a cool breeze reached down their spines, the two minions completely unaware of the machinations developing in the devious mind of Cinder Fall.

Blake Belladonna shuddered too as she took a bite out of the small basket filled by popcorn and chips, her full attention diverted at the comedy movie Sid had decided to show for the movie marathon of that day.

The Faunus completely unaware that her peace was going to be shattered fairly soon…

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AN

Some have guessed, some did not.

Cindy is here and, differently from the Canon, I actually minded enough to give her a backstory.

And no, it’s not as simple as shown in her POV, her full backstory will be offered later when it will make much… sense to explain.

Still, I can finally offer the full info about the Tremaine Family:

Charles Tremaine (Huntsman/Father) – 45
Antoinette Tremaine (Militia/Mother) – 42
Stasius ‘Stacy’ Tremaine (Unknown/Oldest Son) – 24
Cinder Tremaine, formerly Fall (Agent of Salem/Oldest Daughter) – 22
Sirud ‘Sid’ Tremaine (Waiter/Youngest Son) – 19

Lore behind the family and their names:
1) Tremaine is the name given to Cinderella’s Lady Tremaine (the Wicked Step-mother), she was adopted in their family and… they are good in RWBY;
2) Charles is picked by the best-known version composer of Cinderella’s tale, Charles Perrault;
3) Antoinette is actually not from Cinderella. I decided that, since the mother should dignify Cinderella’s father, which was a merchant, to give her the female version of the Merchant of Venezia, Antonio/Antoine;
4) ‘Stasius’ and ‘Sirud’ are bastardized anagrams of the two daughters of Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drusilla/Drizella.

Yes, I stuck by Cinderella and nobody suspected. Lol! XD

Also yes, I did make Cinder problematic and a worry for the MC. Yay.

 

Chapter 9: I don’t-

~Sid’s POV~

Another day at work, another walk back home.

Yawning as Blake and I left the closing ‘Morning Sip’, we turned the corner to begin our return to the apartment.

I admit I should have expected things to turn a little stale after a while, dealing with the Belladonna had somehow turned manageable after almost two weeks of having the Cat Faunus around.

Maybe it was because I’ve grown accustomed to the few quirks of hers, the ones that would generally unbalance me at first sight but… now were actually easy to deal with as those had became mundane.

There was also the fact that the girl had kept her word over being careful with her peculiar situation.

Her ‘work’ attitude had taken a minor change around the members of her team and those she knew about, displaying a more extrovert-like behavior that proved to be deadly useful in keeping the girls (and the blond) from suspecting anything weird about the identity of the curious waitress.

She established herself as another individual from just a handful of details given to her camouflage, someone that barely resembled the real ‘Blake Belladonna’ and that offered her the means to be hiding in plain sight without having to face the ire or disappointment of her team.

Still, I have to admit that I was also glad that things hadn’t truly escalated back when they could have. The little fright given by Yang had left me quite in an agitated state as I felt the gigs come close to end, concluding the intriguing part of my life dealing with the Cat Faunus.

A part of my life I was having just some issues to come to properly understand as…

I don’t know what to think of Blake.

I still disliked her to a minor degree, some of her unhealthy habits (like reading some forbidden genre) was enough to put me at odds with her and quarreling with her was still a common situation to face sometime.

But my life had regained its original little glint of normality that I loved to feel as I continued to go through the final problems about coming to Vale.

Blake was a new variable to everything about the flat, work, shopping, and… general life.

It was odd to consider the whole idea that someone like her would have ended up becoming something this much essential in my daily routine and yet it was the case.

Weird, but not awkward for some reason, finding her so-different personality a fresh breath of air compared to my previous lifestyle.

Maybe it was because I trusted her and she trusted me in return.

I knew enough to be sure that she was putting herself on the line to keep things from going down any of the grander extremes available in her situation, the chance of settle herself to do a situation that would have her not deal with her team, to not have to work and… to not be dealing with the rules of my flat.

There were so many opportunities for her to bail from her limited role, to gain a better position compared to the one I had presented her and to ditch it all and just go for a better life.

I was confused about Blake, I was confused by her priorities and… I was confused as to why she seemed so happy right now.

Amber eyes glowed happily as the girl seemed to have found something that had taken her interest, her hand reaching and grasping at my arm and pulling at it.

“Can we go there?”

I blinked in brief surprise, unready for the little initiative that she had decided to take. It was unusual but… then I realized what she was looking at.

It was a neon sign that said ‘Melody Aquarium’ and a small fish underneath it.

I blinked again, this time to let my poor brain rest away from the growing need to facepalm at that ridiculous request of hers… but then I realized that it was the first time she had asked me something like that.

I reckon that she had been in the flat for some time now and that she hadn’t asked if she could leave individually or if I wanted to accompany her somewhere else after work.

The oddity of the predicament was enough to give me some restrain over outright refusing the query, my interest peaked by the personal curiosity of seeing why there was an aquarium here of all places.

This section of Vale wasn’t set to offer any entertainment nor rest places to the tourists visiting for the Vytal Festival and I felt like I would have noticed a place like this prior to that afternoon.

I sighed as Blake pulled again, the fish-loving Cat Faunus seemingly growing impatient by my lack of response and daring to poke me for a final decision.

Another sigh, I closed my eyes and then… I replied. “Fine, but only this o-OONCE!!”

She took full control of my arm and started to yank me towards the small entrance that led to an underground level, making me almost trip by the concrete staircase just beyond the door.

I had a little frown plastered on my face as we ventured inside the building, the corridors being quite narrow and giving off the first hint that something was off about this underground ‘Aquarium’.

A minute passed and we were still wandering by the corridors, nothing changing other than the presence of dark mold forming by the edges of the long hallways.

My frown deepened, this time annoyance turning in confusion, while Blake’s enthusiasm seemed to vanish slowly as greater confusion took hold of her expression.

We paused for a moment after a while, I was the one to stop and the girl the one to accept the legitimate pause because something truly felt off about this place.

“This isn’t an Aquarium,” I pointed out with a scowl. “It could have been a prank, someone with a used neon sign trying to get some unfortunate morons out like this.”

She huffed. “Does that make us morons then?” The question was sarcastic, her snappy tone being mostly directed at the fact we got tricked with that rather than with me admitting that we had been tricked.

I sighed and nodded. “Only because we hadn’t checked properly and-”

My lips sealed close, causing the Faunus to frown at my sudden interruption, but then the girl herself tensed up, our stares moving right at the direction we came from.

There was… nobody?

I frowned and Blake’s cat ears twitched attentively as she did in fact catch some curious noise coming from behind.

Footsteps.

We merely blinked and then they were before us, approaching slowly but confidently.

The mask, the dark hood and the armored vest. Those two were part of the White Fang.

I gritted my teeth, chiding myself for having forgotten that the organization could have noticed Blake early on, especially since the attack on the docks could have gotten them angry at the one cause of their misfortune.

The Belladonna’s eyes widened and she reached out for her bag to take out her weapon out of it.

After some legitimately-good pondering from the Cat Faunus, we agreed that she should always have Gambol Shroud around for the sake of defending ourselves… by those specific situations.

“Seems like we found the stray kitty our boss was trying to find,” A masculine voice began, the tallest of the two grunts turning to his partner. “Ain’t that right, gal?”

The girl, I could see that she was tanned as her arms were exposed and showing a darker skin than mine, as if… she wasn’t from Vale.

Denying a response to the young man, the female sighed and lifted her right hand up, ready to snap her fingers. Fingers snapped and I felt a sudden wave of tiredness almost forcing me to unconsciousness.

I blinked as I felt a soft thud reach my ears and I turned to the origin of the noise to find out that Blake had fallen to the floor. There was no damage, no blood but… she was out of commission as she was right now.

“Yikes, your control truly suck as I thought,” The chatty Fang member commented with snark. “Didn’t you tell her that you would have been able to deal with two people at once-”

The girl growled as she prepared to snap once again. “Shut. up.”

But before she could have concluded this action once again, I had my eyes closing up and kept them as such until I heard the familiar noise unfold.

Nothing happened, I was still tired but I didn’t perceive the same wave of tiredness I had felt until now, I opened up to find the silent grunt seemingly surprised while her partner chuckled in amusement.

“Ah! It seems that your plan has failed, little Green.”

Another growl, but I wasn’t minding any longer at their dynamics. My focus was all shifted to what had just happened and why the now-unconscious Belladonna was now on the ground and barely breathing.

It was a Semblance, there was no denying about that, but recognizing what kind of ability it was took me way too much of my limited time here.

My analytical prowess, the one honed from years of studying under dad’s strict but high-rewarding lessons, was now passing to my current thoughts what I was dealing for.

Long-range, non-physical, her power was attached to vision.

Illusions. This wasn’t ideal to face right now without the means of creating distance or blocking the girl’s vision from causing more issues.

“Still, I hope you understand we don’t want to cause any tragic accident by dragging civvies in our problems,” The young man resumed with an appeasing tone, still cheeky and somewhat infuriating. “How about you leave now before things turn uneasy-!!”

I rushed forward, a stupid attempt if the situation had seen the two grunts armed, but I was now sure that the two fools weren’t part of the Fang.

Cheap imitators at best.

Diplomacy with a human? They were far too calm about interacting with me without spitting more of their patriotic sermons about Faunus-kind.

And… they don’t have guns with them.

If they had, then I wouldn’t have been able to even consider anything from their proposal, guns being far too convincing to just let freedom of choosing.

My gamble paid off high-time as their reaction was noticeable surprise, my punch almost reaching the chatty impostor but ending up being caught by a quick kick from him.

I flinched momentarily as I felt how sturdy his leg was. Some armor I couldn’t see? Underneath his pants maybe?

A little detail, one that I used against them as I saw the tanned woman rush towards me, hand stretched out and ready to provide some more illusions and put me out of commission.

I smiled darkly as I waited just enough to slam the extended leg on the unaware companion, she paused and tried to dodge but I quickly increased its speed by providing a kick of my own.

She received the blow right on her mask, sending her slamming on the wall and wobble a little on the floor. Still awake but not enough to return to the assault.

Good for me.

I quickly stepped back, avoiding a punch and a follow-up kick from my opponent.

“That was nasty,” The masked guy mentioned with a sigh. “I mean, I am happy to see her take the hit, but isn’t that uncool for a man to kick a woman?”

I hummed. “Is that how you wish to justify the fact you want to capture a defenseless girl?” I mused quietly. “Is this, I don’t know, an attempt at forced love?”

He paused a moment, raising his hands up in appeasement. “Hey, generally I would use my undeniable charm to ensnare ladies and I would never resort to that.”

“Oh? And how many ‘ladies’ did you ensnare until now?” I asked half-distractedly, noticing that he was already returning to attack.

He lifted his left leg and slammed the sole on my guard.

“Touché.” He declared and soon we started to exchange blow after blow, his pace surprisingly well-kept for an impersonator and I had some trouble getting through that legs-based stance of his.

The fact he was strongly-protected by his lower body made it difficult to disrupt his flow by kicking his legs to soreness but then I realized something peculiar of his protections.

While his legs were armored from the foot up to above the knees, there was a small section of his body that was certainly ‘softer’ compared to the rest and I had to make a decision.

Either I wasted more time trying to get another flaw out of him or I decided to break several rules of the Bro Code.

Tough decision considering that I had to take into account that he seemed fairly good as a ‘criminal’, but there was also the more important detail being that Blake’s life was in the gamble I had to do.

So, much to my inner chagrin and disappointment, I decided I had to be quick in dismissing this fool before things escalated too much.

I had to be quick, my Semblance being important for the fruition of this operation.

As my opponent went to raise his leg to deliver another kick, I proceeded to swiftly counter it by slamming my leg up below his belt. Some smoke left my leg, the after-effect of the Semblance used to propel my kick faster than usual.

He howled foully as I was quite correct with my assumptions but, before I could get the chance to back away from him, I was hit by a stray leg as the agony urged him to react to my horrible move.

The kick reached my chin sending me backing away to the other wall, my sight a little disoriented while I tried to reach out for Blake.

My footing was slightly unbalanced and my brain was scrambled with multiple thoughts, possibly a concussion making things worse, as I finally crouched down to pick up the unconscious Belladonna and bolt away from this situation before-

“Sid, what happened here?” A hand was squeezing at my shoulder, I slowly turned around as I recognized the familiar voice and… I was bestowed with the worried face owned by Cinder Tremaine.

My eyes widened in shock and I felt a little at ease at the known face. “C-Cinder?”

She nodded, her concerned eyes reassuring me of some safety. “It’s me, Sid. You need to rest for a while-”

“S-Sister, we need to- to help Blake and-”

But before I could finish, I heard the sound of fingers snapping and Cinder looked surprised as I started to stumble and fall on the ground, my eyes closing and my mind going unconscious.

Thud.

----------d-d-d------------d-d-dd-----------d-d-d-d----------

~Emerald’s POV~

“Sister?”

Her voice fell mostly silent as the only noises reaching from that cold corridor was the groans and whines from Mercury and the single but meaningful fall of the young man now unconscious beneath her.

Red eyes tinged with confusion and incredible mortification at the realization happening so suddenly and so unexpectedly.

She had gone through numerous theories and guesses over the identity of this ‘important’ individual that Cinder wanted to keep safe.

A former close friend, an important contact for their mission here in Vale… and a lover.

The last supposition had left her angry, annoyed even, at the mere possibility that there was someone that her savior cared and loved so genuinely and so earnestly that wasn’t… her.

She was the one daring to help the craziest woman in Vale, the most daring, the most powerful and… the most beautiful.

Her cheeks almost turned red at the thought of the first time she had seen her, when the thief was granted the chance to be something more other than a mere street rat.

The dark-haired beauty having granted her the opportunity of being worthy of something, but not yet worthy of something else.

And that was-

Being considered a close ally or friend.

She shook her head and glanced down at the results of her efforts, both target lying on the floor close to each other.

The green-haired girl sighed in relief at having succeeded with this task while also confirming that her worst fears were just silly thoughts from her mind, turning a moment to grace the silver-haired dumbass trying to recover from that amusing blow at his pride.

It was amusing to see how the ‘mighty’ had fallen so short and so quickly under a mere kick, especially with Aura still running strong for Mercury.

The son of the professional assassin Marcus Black slowly regained his bearings, glaring daggers at the sleeping dark-haired young man through the mask and that put Sid to a pedestal a little higher than planned.

Still, there was some more work to tend to and that was dealing with Sid himself and how to dispose of him without hurting or killing him too much.

Now that Emerald was aware of the bond that connected Cinder to him, the girl knew that maximum caution was required for the sake of personal attachment and to avoid the wrath of the Half-Maiden herself.

Dropping him by his house would be suspicious, but dropping him here would also render him vulnerable to some criminal or pervert’s ministrations.

Not a good way to get in Cinder’s graces, nor the proper way to not get killed by the woman for lax interest over someone this important.

But it was only the former thief now that knew about the full attachment between the two, making it quite… a grand secret for her to keep away from others.

She might have not been around to know about the other members of Salem’s inner circle, but from her leader’s very words the tanned girl was sure that this sensible information would end up paving the end of the woman’s ambition.

And that was completely unacceptable!

So, ignoring Mercury’s suggestion to leave the unconscious man to the nearest dumpster and his insistence to have him suffer a kick below the belt too before leaving him, Emerald decided that leaving him nearby his workplace would do for the situation.

While the young man had been keen to notice that they weren’t true members of the White Fang, rumors were hardly built on truth and so Vale would only know of the events of today as the result of some ‘stupid grunts’ trying to make some ‘rules’ in town.

With how boisterous the organization was about this kind of stuff, the green-haired henchwoman wasn’t that hesitant to see it as a possible predicament and thus they settled to go right at the now-closed bar near the capital’s center square.

Reaching the place was easy, leaving it proved to be much more difficult for a seemingly-insignificant but immensely irritating instance happening before leaving.

It had all started when the still-wobbly Mercury pointed out that the two unconscious individuals were somehow attached to each other.

At first she thought it as a pun of sort, but then she noticed that the two were indeed attached to each other. Sid’s right hand was grasping tightly at Cat Faunus’ own palm, as if a protective measure born from the sudden catatonic state he was put into.

Impressive, possibly one of the rarest situations ever occurring after disabling some people with her powers, said event proved to be quite an issue when they had to part the two away.

As amusing as it had been during the walk to the ‘Morning Sip’, the fact was something that got them to waste several minutes tried to unlatch one from the other and… they started to struggle in their sleep.

They agitated and got difficult to manage, but in the end the two minions succeeded in their endeavor and got to leave the now alone young man to deal with the aftermath of that day on his own, their next stop being the warehouse where Cinder had asked them to retreat once the deed was done.

Darkness started to take over the day the more time they spent walking up to the place set for the reunion, but soon they were there to drop their last target.

Cinder was here, the young woman giving a neutral but very-demanding expression. She wanted success on a normal basis, but the former thief could see some more incentive to have them accomplish a perfect job.

Her red-eyed stare turned at the second individual in that large room, Adam Taurus tensing up as he spotted the unconscious body of his traitorous subordinate, his loyal guards sharing some looks before glancing at the sleeping Cat Faunus with a glare.

“I hope the mission was an utter success,” The Half-Maiden was quick to point out. “The second target-”

“-was safely placed by his workplace. The area is never visited by criminals or goons so he will wake up without any incidents.” Emerald quickly interjected with a determined expression, gaining a surprised look from the woman and a confused frown from Mercury as the two relinquished the hold of the Cat Faunus to a quiet Adam.

The Bull Faunus seemed to tense up at Cinder’s words. “Second Target?” There was some anxiety, irritation dripping from his lips.

“Nothing you should worry about, Adam,” The woman replied coldly. “He didn’t do anything to your subordinate, I can assure you of that.”

The leader of the Vale Branch of the White Fang slowly nodded at the stern answer, his sight now fixed on the dark-haired girl as he started to move her towards the guards and order them to help him to carry the fellow Faunus away.

Cinder didn’t seem to mind as the White Fang’s entourage then began leaving without saying anything, possibly because some deal had been struck prior to their arrival.

There was a pause and soon Mercury decided to retreat to the hideout to recover from the ‘terrible ordeal’ he had to go through, leaving Emerald alone with their boss.

The dark-haired woman was now looking at her Scroll, uncaring of her minion’s presence, but the former thief knew exactly how to catch the older female’s attention.

She faked a cough and went along the lines written on her mind. “Ma’am, may I ask you something about the mission?”

Cinder paused mid-writing on her keypad to stare up in confusion at the tan girl. “What about it?”

And now it was time for the curious question. “I couldn’t help but notice the maximum care we had to give to our ‘secondary target’ and I wanted to ask something about it.”

Now the Half-Maiden was giving her full attention, but she didn’t seem much elated by the topic.

“Speak.”

Emerald gulped nervously at that cold order, feeling the shivers at seeing such a piercing stare from her savior.

H-How interesting.

“W-Well, the secondary target seems to be rather attached to the primary target and… are there plans to make sure he will not hinder our true mission by trying to save the girl?”

The big question, the one that had long eluded her mind and now… she will see if it would get a reply or not.

She expected a solid yes, a refusal to give her more about the topic and then an order about returning to the hideout too-

“No, there are no plans about it.”

...What?

“B-But Cinder-”

“Sid Tremaine is the last-born of a powerful family of Hunters hailing from Mistral,” The Half-Maiden started to explain. “And while he isn’t a Huntsman by any means, he has been subjected for years to the intense training regiment allowed by the current head of the family, Charles Tremaine.”

There was a pause, the former thief didn’t dare interrupt her boss as she sported a little smirk forming on her face.

“He is resourceful, smart and terribly gifted by a dangerous Semblance,” She admitted easily, drawing some surprise from her minion.

Sure, it was a family member but… why would Cinder allow this many compliments to this singular individual. He managed to keep up with Mercury and her, but it was all because of tricks and…

He was good. Damn, she should have thought about it earlier.

While he wasn’t a huntsman, while he was family to Cinder, the woman didn’t want to protect him for that bond. No, there was something that Emerald was missing.

A piece of the puzzle that wasn’t the described ‘might’, nor the bloodline he came from.

But what could it be?

“I promised to Adam that the attack will happen a week earlier than planned,” The Half-Maiden said calmly, freezing the green-haired girl with these news. “That he would get as much Dust and manpower as possible.”

This… this was bad. This was incredibly bad!

“But-!”

“Yet I think that Adam’s impatience will end up being shattered by an attack to their stronghold,” She pointed out so suddenly and without hesitation. “It will be a wake-up call, something to get him to finally don the leash we gave him without much of a fuss.”

…

“Y-you wish to use Sid to- to attack the White Fang?”

Cinder smiled. “To weaken them,” She replied with a sigh. “To break some of their useless pride and make them the proper pawns I need.”

There was another pause.

“You doubt it will be possible, Emerald?” The woman asked unexpectedly, causing some panic to rise within the minion. “Please, speak genuinely and logically about this. Every thought is important for this plan, especially since you were on the field to see his current progress.”

S-She wanted her opinion? This was completely out of Cinder’s usual modus operandi.

Something just wasn’t right about it. There was some legitimate hesitance, one that the Half-Maiden was trying to compensate with more information about the matter, to gain a better insight over the situation.

This wasn’t the driven woman that wouldn’t ask anything to anyone because she knew everything.

No, this one was using so many honeyed-words, so many careful terms to garner her final results.

This time, Cinder wasn’t forcing her way through… rather she was manipulating it to her own whims while stepping cautiously around.

All for her glorious plan of reforging the world to become a better place.

And she was putting so much effort in it to make sure it worked, for herself, for her family and… for her.

Her heart fluttered just a moment, then Emerald realized that she had yet to respond to her boss.

“H-He almost took out Mercury with his quick thinking,” Part of her wanted to mention the unceremonious kick below the belt, but surely this detail wasn’t something that the woman wanted to know. “A-And I got lucky that he was stunned to recognize I was… masquerading as you, Cinder.”

There was a brief flinch, the girl braced for a moment for any comment about this last bit but-

“Hmm,” The woman looked impressed by the curt report. “So you were forced to make use of that kind of trickery to get behind his guard. Interesting.”

No reprimands, no chiding. The former thief was safe from any negative outcome out from her final decision for that fight.

“Then he will succeed, he will bring Adam down to the knees and make him realize that we are the only solution to his salvation,” Cinder continued, her eyes glowing like fiery embers. “The moment Sid wakes up and remember what had happened… it will be the moment when we will have our pawns back under control.”

It wasn’t a promise, it wasn’t a prediction.

No, Emerald thought before turning following the woman back to the hideout, this…

This was destiny.

-----------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d----------d-d-d-d----------d-d-d-d----------d-d-d-d--------

AN

The bet is raised, the stakes are high and Sid is going to bring Hell to Adam.

Before anyone ask, no, Sid wouldn’t win fairly against Mr. Aggressive Ex-Boyfriend, but there is something that will make the difference. Sid’s Semblance will… be Adam’s literal nightmare.

Like really, it will do much more than grant an advantage or two.

Stay tuned for some more of this epic comedy reaching the first ‘phase’ of the story, the one that will see the greatest twist of all times!

 

Chapter 10: -Want to-

~Sid’s POV~

Of all things that I could have not either expected nor wanted to experience after coming to live here in vale, blinking awake and staring at the familiar starry sky still above the city was possibly one of the top ten.

Why this predicament wasn’t truly a surprise for a Mistralian like me? Well, considering that bandits, thieves and other criminals were easy to encounter in solitary strolls around the minor cities, getting mugged by someone wasn’t a novelty.

Not at all.

It wasn’t a ceiling I wanted to really be staring at and the cold breeze reaching right at my shivering frame was enough to get me to wake up a little faster than planned.

My throat was aching annoyingly, a knot forming as the wind had certainly not spared my unconscious self from its relentless ‘striking’ upon the capital.

My Aura had tanked most of the weather, my eyes squinting around as I tried to understand where I currently was.

I could see wooden tables spread across the small area in my general proximity, familiar tables.

I blinked as I slowly started to stand up from the uncomfortable bench I just woke up into, my brain burning for some time as memories and logical reasoning went to give me a clear picture of what had happened earlier that evening.

The fake aquarium, the exchange of blows between the two masked aggressors, Blake falling unconscious and-

…

…

NonononononoNONONONONO!

My sore back groaned a little as I suddenly went tense, anger breaking the last sleepy resistance I had within my brain in that precise moment.

Worry, fury, and a barely-restrained need to exact some revenge against the poor bastards that had decided to come around to attack us and-

Blake.

My sight regained some more focus, cold realization springing me to start moving, to get my muscle acting against the irritating cold persevering in that district of the city.

My brain started to properly recollect everything and I was given notice of two distinct details:

I wasn’t dead and the Cat Faunus was nowhere in sight.

As much as I deemed the two morons that had attacked us to be mediocre at best, their team-skills lacking to a deplorable degree, the little lucky kick that had gotten me that debilitating concussion had been the very blow that costed me that unexpected fight.

The two ‘White Fang’ thugs weren’t nowhere in sight at the moment and my mind was rightfully repeating that, if they had been the real deal, they should have killed me when I was forced unconscious.

I had been spared. Me, a human, had been spared by the White Fang.

Why is this important about Blake? The answer is terribly straight-forward I reckoned with a dry thought.

If those two weren’t part of the Fang, then they surely didn’t take the girl to one of the hidden outposts lying within Vale and so my chances to find her were close to zero.

Anger bubbling, my irritation sparked numerous possible thoughts as I continued to wander around, still unwilling to retreat back home.

While the fight had drained some of my Aura, my body was still in good-shape and my hope of finding Blake were all tied to a limited window of time.

Wherever they got the dark-haired young woman, it had to be someplace that was still inside town and… if I waited just a day, even too many hours, I could expect the kidnappers taking her outside of the city for security’s sake.

Suppositions, guesses and finally possible routes I could take to swiftly find out where they had taken here were now drowning my mind, rendering me completely unaware of what was happening around me.

The darkness of the night became a cloak and the few lights still on were just enough to allow me a clear vision over the path ahead of me.

Moments of quiet passed, my boiling fury barely reducing, quite the opposite as my hatred was growing more and more.

If before getting knocked out I felt sorry for kicking that chatty kickster right where-all-begins, now I was sorry that I hadn’t delivered a second or even a third kick at his ‘weak spot’.

But then, just as I concluded to plan out any torture I could deploy against those two fools, my mind gave me a half-decent idea.

Actually, it was a half-idea but it was still worth of consideration and interest from my part; Blake had mentioned that Torchwick had been cooperating with the White Fang back during the battle at the docks, that the crime boss had been directly leading the groups as their chief.

It was an odd concept, but it gave a purpose and a reasoning behind the unexpected attack and… why the two thugs had been so mercifully towards me.

Their clothes were standard uniforms to the recruits of the Fang, but their allegiance was possibly closer to Torchwick than to the organization.

A false-flag operation… to try and get back at Blake for interrupting the important heists.

It wasn’t a complete lie to say that the makeup-wearing boss was vindictive when someone came to slight him to this unnerving degree and…

Maybe it was about the girl’s past connections with the Fang?

Did he want to bring her back there? To have the group-

I stopped thinking about it, multiple horrible scenarios keeping me from persisting on that trail of thoughts and focus on the real issue and solution.

If there was someone that would at least know whom would ordain a kidnapping with original WF’s clothes, it had to be Roman Torchwick.

And where to find him at this time of the day? The crime boss wouldn’t surely be walking around Vale in plain sight, the warrant on his head being high enough to turn numerous people against him all for the sake of justice and money.

He was elusive, but for good reasons.

My only hope being the annoyed comments coming from some tuxedo-wearing men that would be coming at the Morning Sip on a weekly basis to rest away from the previous night hangover; comments about being ‘used’ by someone they called the ‘dandy bastard with cane’.

Torchwick was known to make use of local gangs to stage his heists and he was the only crime boss that used a cane as a weapon to personally deal with his enemies.

It wasn’t difficult to connect dots at first and, while I had mentioned this to Marcus, I was told to not denounce any of this behavior for some specific reasons.

The Police in Vale was understaffed because of the numerous cuts applied by the Council in the last decade, the group barely capable of handling someone as influential and entrenched as the dapper criminal.

Plus retaliation at the bar would mean also an attack against Marcus’ family and against me, not the best situation considering the barely-uncovered extent of operations ruled by Torchwick.

Still, while I was deterred from calling the police, the owner of the Morning Sip did offer a detail that now served as a proper clue to this difficult case.

It was about the allegiance of this gang that was common to find around the main streets, their unique uniforms having them stand out to other civilians or Huntsmen.

Hei Xiong, better known as ‘Junior’, was the owner of the pub sited just a few blocks away from the Morning Sip, the place having been around for much longer than the day-shift establishment and being a bigger fish because of the large clientele and the presence of alcohol.

The place had also another function, Junior working as an info-broker for numerous organization, legitimate and not, about the happenings inside Vale; the legitimacy of his sources having proven to be incredibly trustworthy as no one had ever attacked the pub.

Except the curiously-familiar blonde brawler that might or might not have trashed the building for no apparent reasons.

I was already pacing through the mostly-empty streets of the city, my eyes narrowing at the entrance the moment it came onto sight and I was quick to try and appear calm and collected as I approached the guarded doors before the night-bar.

I tensed up as one of the grunts moved to stop me and, before I could do or say anything about it, the man started to check me up.

It was similar to the check-ups one would receive by the airport, he was trying to see if I had any weapons on me and… he backed away, giving a solid nod to his partner as the fellow thug went to open the door just enough for me to pass.

I blinked in confusion, expecting to be asked about some pass or to pay some fees to entry as this was an expensive establishment.

“Should I need more to enter inside?” I asked with a frown, getting a shrug by the door-holder.

“Blonde-bitch drained our cash in reparations, we are trying to-”

“Get some clients to stay rather than be afraid,” The other man concluded with a sigh. “Hopefully, this is going to be another easy night.”

I nodded at the two and decided to not ask any more questions to them as I ventured inside the club.

Music was there as usual, several people having taken some private sections of the pub while the large majority was enjoying some dancing in the area reserved to that specific activity.

I barely bothered the sight as I made my way towards the counter, at the moment having just the bartender and only a man standing by the stools.

Once I was close at the counter, I knocked at it and waited for the calm-looking tall man to approach. “Yes?”

“I wish to speak with Junior,” I said with a cautious tone.

The individual nodded. “You are talking to him.”

I blinked in surprise at that, but I didn’t let my surprise stop me from proceeding with the questions I had to get answers from.

“I require some information about the White-Fang,” I started with a calm tone, slowly bringing up my Scroll and expanding the photo I had taken of Blake when we had to place a picture to the contract she had with Marcus. “Blake Belladonna, she was kidnapped a few hours ago by two thugs from the Fang-”

“I can’t help you,” The bartender replied with a tired sigh. “The organization is a tough nut to get info about and… if this event is that fresh, I don’t have the means to verify if something like that could have happened-”

“What about Torchwick-”

“Even worse, kid,” Junior interrupted with a tired tone. “Ever since the failure he got at the docks, he had been keeping himself out of public eye. I have little info about his whereabouts.”

I gritted my teeth at that double rejection, shaking my head in disappointment at the bad luck I was experiencing in that very moment.

It was my only lead and… no. There has to be something else that I could do about this.

There has to!

But before I could despair any further with that lack of directions, I heard someone knocking at the counter just beside me.

“Junior, a glass of water for me and the kid,” I turned to grace the client that had been quiet until now, his hazel eyes staring right at me. “Name’s Tukson.”

I blinked in recognition, remembering a book-shop called the very same way and… I frowned at him, unsure of why he would be interested on me.

“Sid.”

Tukson nodded and he waited for the glasses to come, taking a single sip from his own and then he started to talk again.

“You are searching for info about the Fang, correct?” The bookstore owner inquired with a curious voice. “I might give you something if you allow me to look at the photo.”

I tensed up a little more at this, slightly surprised at the ‘lucky’ encounter and feeling rather skeptical over this man’s friendliness.

But I had little choice, my means to get some clues were nothing and even a hint over the matter would matter a lot in the long-term planning.

I tilted the Scroll and showed him the picture, his eyes slowly widening at it as he stood quiet while looking at it.

His silence was brief as he soon was nodding at me. “I might be able to help you but… I wish to know just something.”

I blinked but nodded at him, a little hopeful over the matter but still keeping my guard up at him.

“What’s your connection to her?” Tukson asked with intrigue and curiosity dripping from his tone. “Why are you, a human, interested in saving a Faunus? What do you get out of it?”

I was stomped by the three questions, my mind stopping for a moment as to contemplate the essence behind the queries and… I couldn’t help but put in a curious situation.

The man was partly-correct in mentioning the fact that I could have asked the help from… Yang, maybe the rest of team RWBY but…

B-But it was the short time I have- yes, I could see that being the reason but…

Why this reason felt so unfaithful to my current state of self?

A brief struggle of thoughts, ideas and perceptions ensued, my mind turning in a battlefield as I tried to give sense to my current erratic behavior, to my desperate need to get the girl back to safety and away from harm.

It was in that moment, the very instant that I saw a familiar glimpse flashing to my brain.

I could see an uneasy-looking Blake, a hesitant Blake, I could see a frail Blake seeking help from me.

And in return I could also see the moments that she had gone to cover for me, the moments that she meaningfully tried to behave properly and without creating chaos. All for the sake of the trust she has in me… and I have in her.

I gulped, but it was nervousness driving me to the action, rather some minor hesitation.

My dry throat prepared and soon I was speaking, replying to the man.

“She is… someone I care for,” I genuinely admitted. “She can be annoying, terribly stubborn in her own terrible initiatives… but she is someone that I don’t wish to see harmed in any sort of way. She is a good person and… I like her for that.”

There was some silence, Tukson’s eyes widening at the lengthy reply but…

Then the man started to smile, a snort denied as he shook his head in amusement.

“To think that… the roles would have been reversed to this degree with the new generation,” The dark-haired book-shop owner mused quietly, drawing a frown out of me before he actually addressed my words.

“I see that you care a lot for your friend,” Tukson nodded with a friendlier tone. “So I think I will help you as I think I know where she is and… I want you to succeed, so I will give you some material to enter the base.”

...What?

How could he know about Blake’s location if- Who was he? And how did he know so much of the Fang?

“Sir, what are you-”

“Junior,” The man interjected, ignoring my confused tone. “Could you please bring out one copy of the things I’ve left in Deposit 45, 97 and… 164?”

The bartender nodded quietly but stopped just for a moment from going to comply with the request, eyes widening as he heard the last number. “164? Just one bar wouldn’t do much so-”

“Bring them all, in a gym bag,” The client interrupted again with a determined nod. “I think it’s time I make it clear that… I’m no longer affiliated with them.”

I was left confused by this strange comment, Junior sighing but nodding in defeat at the clear words, leaving the proximity of the counter and vanishing in the ‘backstage’ of the night-club, leaving me to give a quizzical look to the man.

“I can see you are curious, but I know that you are angrier at the ones responsible for this attack to your friend,” He commented quietly, hazel eyes glancing in my direction. “So, while I will give you the means to infiltrate and get your friends out, I wish that you do another task for me, something that will work for the two of us.”

“And that is?” I found myself questioning out-loud, trying to make sense of the bigger picture here exposed by the ‘simple’ book-shop owner.

Tukson merely smiled and gave a brief chuckle, stopping as Junior emerged from the unknown sections of the building and bringing everything out and-

My eyes widened at the uniform and at the fake ID to the White Fang, causing me to frown at both objects in renewed confusion.

But before I could ask about ‘how’ the two had managed to get this things if the Fang was so well-secured, I was presented with a glimpse of what was inside the gym bag.

I paled, I was shocked to death at the content but… then color returned back to my skin at the thought of how this was going to be used by me as there was only one thing that could require the presence of the small pale-yellow bars filling the bag.

I smiled widely and nodded.

“So… I guess you hate them too?” I supposed while glancing back at the man.

Tukson sighed, but I could see a familiar smile on his face.

“Oh no, I don’t hate them… I hate what they are doing,” He corrected with a hum. “Now please go and save your friend.”

I nodded, slowly putting everything inside, careful to not use too much pressure on the material inside as I made my way outside of the bar, the small paper containing the precise address confirming my next steps.

And now it’s payback time.

-----------d-d-d-d--------------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d-----------

I admit that I have never seen this specific part of the city, the district looked to be one of the slums that were so common to find in the various cities in Mistral but…

This one truly looked the worst possible. At least in Mistral there were non-profit organizations that helped around to make sure the situation didn’t escalate to this point.

Maybe Vale wasn’t the second best to Atlas as many painted it to be.

The desolate streets nearby the ‘abandoned’ warehouse gave off an ominous feeling as I carefully walked around to try and reach the proper place where to get inside the building.

The uniform that Tukson had given to me and that I was donning looked incredibly well-made, the fabric actually leaving a delightful touch to the skin compared to other military-like uniforms I had the displeasure to try because of mother’s passion with that kind of clothes.

It was doing a perfect job in hiding my identity away from anyone guarding the area, the hood and cloak keeping my body well-covered from giving out any details about my real self.

I finally approached the entrance, my posture calm and relaxed as I ‘casually’ waved at the man keeping the door half-closed, unwilling to give away my cover… until I was well away and safe from any retaliations from the battalion living there.

“Good evening, brother,” I said with a moderated tone, neither too flamboyant nor too dull. I was aware of the fanaticism, but I didn’t want to sound too much desperate or faux with my voice.

The pitch seemed to work well as I was met with a nod from him.

“Good evening,” He greeted back, his tone neutral but seemingly uninterested at me. “Can you please show your ID, brother?”

I was quick to pass to him the fake ID also provided by the book-shop owner, the name written there being ‘Doble Simulado’, a young recruit that had been suffering from some sickness until now and that his treatment had taken way too long to leave a lasting impression on the garrison here.

‘I’ was a worker by the supply section of the building, one of the three cadets assigned there, in that massive room where there were numerous explosives, guns and Dust of all kind.

The guard nodded and returned the plastic card back to me. “Welcome back, brother Simulado.”

I nodded and quickly walked inside the place the moment he made way for me to enter.

The warehouse was actually pretty small compared to the other major ones in the area, the decision of picking this medium-sized one enabled by the fact that the police was trying to find major groups within large buildings, something that this place didn’t actually fit in their investigation’s requirements; So this place was effectively void of any major threats from the law enforcement.

I hummed quietly as I paced calmly through the place, glancing around at the numerous thugs present all in that very place.

Some were training with some make-shift targets, other were compiling reports about the ongoing missions and the rest was wasting their time doing nothing particularly important.

I could see four curious individuals seemingly involved with Remnant: the Game, two girls and two men.

The first girl had white antlers that reached out of her hood and she was giggling happily as their opponents, the group of dudes, was having trouble keeping up with the female duo.

Her friend was shaking her head, but she hardly seemed willing to bring the bubbly cheerfulness down as they were crushing the two other thugs.

One of the men was incredibly tall and… he barely seemed focused on the game as he was tending to what looked to be some pots with flowers sitting right by his feet-

Beside his incredibly-horrifying chainsaw-like weapon.

I shook my head, these four genuinely looking to be having a blast with that tabletop game but…

I couldn’t just ignore the fact I have a much more important mission to deal with, Blake still being confined Gods’ know where and I had yet to locate the supply station.

Asking for directions would cause an unneeded amount of suspicions, so I ended up taking some time searching around for anything that could even resemble my ‘workplace’ here in the warehouse.

A minute later, I found myself walking inside a large room with numerous shelves housing numerous wood crates with different denominations and content.

Crates with guns, explosive and Dust. It was their arsenal and… it was mostly exposed as I saw the ‘guard’ to the place currently napping by the chair at the entrance of this room.

My smile lit, my feet almost itching to skip around and just start placing down the little gifts Tukson had wanted for me to leave to his former group, small bars of explosive charges that were all set to trigger at the mere activation from the small device safely put inside the bag.

I greeted the two other rookies wandering around, the two Faunus checking on the content of the boxes and writing some reports about the current state of supply.

The situation was optimal for me to start to do something about my secondary task. I slowly ‘lost some time’ before joining them by hiding some of the charges in barely-visible corners of some of the boxes with the ‘Explosive’ tags attached to them, humming quietly and innocently as I took my bag and began helping the two cadets in concluding their shift.

A single hour passed wandering around and signing down the small notepad the various objects inside the warehouse, the two unaware rookies nodding gratefully as I decided to take on the ‘burden’ as they left for their break.

By the time they were out of my sight and away from hearing me crack the notepad on my hands, I began displacing more and more bombs all around the area.

Tukson never specified how much I was supposed to leave around, and so I decided to play a safe route and deploy everything available and in strategic positions.

Two hundreds bars were set up in well-hidden sections of the room, some even being left in acceptable quantities by some of the columns as to make sure the place collapsed quickly and without any major issues.

When you make a man angry and said main obtain bombs, you better hope that the Gods are by your side.

With that part of my job done and concluded, I took from one of the crates a tool that would prove to be useful with the next step of my plan.

The crowbar was made with Dust-reinforced metal, the resilience and strength tripled compared to the normal alloy; This object was the best way to pull open the small gated part of the wall that led right into the ventilation shaft.

I stepped inside with a careful pace, mindful enough to not create any noises as I quietly started my little search for the Cat Faunus I needed to recover before leaving this warehouse.

I saw numerous patrols walking by the rooms visible from the gated openings all over the small metallic corridor, the shaft big enough to fit me crouching and not lying on my belly much to my glee and surprise.

Too many action movies, seriously.

Moments of uncertainty continued to linger as I ventured deeper and deeper this little compound and… I finally ended up finding something that did look like what I was searching for.

The room was barely illuminated, but I could see someone tied to some table with some chairs.

A golden pair of orbs was burning in the dark, furious and annoyed as a red-haired man approached… Blake!

“You are making things difficult, Blake,” The masked figure muttered with a sigh. “I’m giving my best to put a good word to Sienna, about the fact that you didn’t betray our cause-”

“The Fang betrayed the cause!” The young woman spat back with an irritated tone, her displeasure of her current conditions perfectly evident. “We wanted to bring peace, not violence-”

“Humans don’t understand peace, my dear,” The horned jerk said with a condescending tone, his hand forcefully cupping her chin and cheeks. “And you should know too since your cover at Beacon failed.”

The Cat Faunus pulled away hastily from his hold, her face burning with anger. “Y-You don’t know what I passed in the last days-”

“A group of silly girls decided to turn your back when you showed your true colors,” The man mused smoothly, a chill going down my spine as I understood what he was referring to. “Just like everyone else in this disgusting world of war and deception.”

“They are… they are not everyone,” The girl replied defiantly, her eyes narrowing at him with renewed strengths. “There are good humans, there is Si-”

But the Belladonna stopped, eyes widening and her… stance retreated.

The red-haired man paused just for a moment to think about this, while my own eyes widened at the cut-short outburst.

She… she was referring about me?

“There is someone that gave you hope for that silly dream of yours?” The man asked mockingly. “Someone that betrayed your trust by filling your mind with foolish ideals that would never come to be?”

He approached again, his right hand pulling at the hilt of the sword sheathed by his side, the red blade burning hatefully while he took some locks of Blake’s hairs in his hand, yanking them painfully.

“Tell me his name,” The man commanded with a stern tone, then dropping to a softer voice. “Please, my love, tell me so… that I can help him out?”

Her eyes stared wide open at him. “W-What?”

“You care for him, don’t you?” The masked man continued calmly. “Then give me his name, I will make sure he is protected by our more violent brothers, that he is safe from harm and-”

“S-Stop lying!” Blake shot back, then yelped as the man yanked harder at her hair. “A-Adam, you are hurting me-”

“Because you hurt me first, dear,” He inched closer, far too close for my liking. “But I think you said that love can mend everything… so please, do love me too, my darling-”

He leaned in slowly, but the tears flowing from the Belladonna’s wide eyes suggested that this wasn’t ‘love’.

This was violence, this was unwanted.

I growled, my eyes tinging in red as I felt my semblance acting up and…

I tensed my leg, pressure building up as white smoke formed beneath my soles and- I jumped through the gated section of the shaft, breaking it with my own body as I prepared the crowbar to take a swing at the bastard!

I roared furiously, the man stopping moments before forcefully taking that kiss as to lift his sword up to intercept the approaching intruder.

His red blade clashed with the reinforced crowbar, sparks erupting for a brief moment before I pushed everything I had in that rush to slam him as far away as possible.

The redhead was sent flying into the concrete wall behind him, the impact cracking and almost tearing down the barrier in mere moments, giving me a little window of opportunity to act up.

I slammed the crowbar on the chains, breaking them as Blake backed away from me in utter fear and shock.

“W-What?”

My free hand reached for the mask and I pulled it up for a moment to frown at her. “Hello.”

Her eyes widened in realization. “S-Sid?”

“In person. We need to go before-”

“You two are going nowhere!” Adam roared through the dust, running towards us as he prepared to take a swing at me, the Muramasa clashing again with the crowbar.

“Who are you?” The man demanded angrily, trying to win the little struggle that was ensuing.

I smiled- no, I grinned madly.

“I’m just a human with a Cat Problem!”

Smoke exploded out of my body, covering the entirety of the room as I was granted full clarity over the area.

Adam snarled at the challenging tone, backing away just a moment before rushing back to the close exchange of blows.

The true battle starts now!

----------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d----------d-d-d-d--------d-d-d-d---------d-d-d-d----------d-d-d-d------

AN

Explosions!

Things are heating up here and… the fight will be truly a grand spectacle!

Especially since it will not be a genuine 1v1.

And yes, I did use that quote. Sue me~!

Muhahahahahaha!

BTW, the reason why this rescue is unfolding so quick is… John Wick logic.

You stole the Cat, you get the owner’s wrath.

Easy and effective~!

 

Chapter 11: -Let go! This is why I will save you!

~Blake’s POV~

It’s been just an hour, maybe two, since she had woken up in that barely-illuminated room, but Blake was glad that the rescue party had come this early on to save her.

Adam snarled as he tried and failed to kill the resourceful human much to his growing anger, Sid managing to defend himself by reflecting the furious blows away with his crowbar or use his semblance to retaliate in quite the incensed return of strikes.

None of the two men was sparing much attention her way, the now-freed Cat Faunus more than happy to use the opportunity granted by her friend to start and search for Gambol Shroud, or even something that could help her the best in aiding the struggling young man.

As trained as the human was, Sid was still far from being able to keep up alone against Adam, the Bull Faunus having experienced enough battles to be considered a fierce veteran of the Fang’s ranks.

A true warrior that didn’t shy to display his full abilities, never holding back against his ‘true enemies’.

The more she thought about the former friend, the more the Belladonna felt saddened and disgusted by what could have happened if Sid had been a little more late.

It wasn’t much of a secret that her companion did harbor strong feelings for her, but to show them so intensively and so uncaring of her own decisions was enough to bring bile at the moral decadence he had now embraced after her departure.

It wasn’t a full-fledged fall as he had been hesitant to go ahead with such a heinous action, but the mere attempt did leave more than enough disappointment to finally make Blake see the issue the fellow Faunus was suffering from.

He was losing the grasp to reality the more he kept representing the idea and leaving his own personality to rot in that twisted monster he was becoming.

Something so horrible that even Sienna had mentioned during one of the few meetings she had spared alone with the Cat Faunus.

As much the tanned woman had been secretive about much of her plans with the organization, it had been a clear detail that she still minded how some of the grunts and officers behaved during several skirmishes in the past.

Radicalism was reached a new height with the reactionary reforms passed by the SDC in the last few years and Adam was slowly and surely unknowingly turning in something that represent this renewed hatred.

No longer was Adam Taurus a free individual, his ideas turning in a cage without lock, a prison for his own loneliness to consume his sanity.

Still, her horrible musings didn’t stop her from going to search for something that she could use against her former friend, her entire body now awake and freed from the chains keeping her stuck at the now-damaged table.

Her eyes scanning swiftly all over the half-room preserved by the ongoing clash, her mind drilling her with the resolve of being quick with her attempts as time was crucial with how unfair the fight was developing to be in that very moment.

Sid ducked away from Wilt, the Chokuto missing barely but enough to allow the young man to return the attempt by slamming the Aura-reinforced crowbar on the Bull Faunus’ ribs; said action was then retaliated with a swift kick pressing on the human’s chest, forcing him to back away for a moment before resuming the close clashing.

Nervousness was all high in her mind, so many thoughts and so little time to attend each and every one of those as she continued with her pursuit of some object to use as a mean to help.

Her attention then flickered at something shining far deep in the shadows, behind some boxes filling that section, something which had some white-metal shining through some of the spots between the wooden cubes.

Blake vaulted the crates which were hiding said object and she went to reach this possible weapon, crouching down as she lifted the short blade up.

She frowned for a moment, her cat ears twitching in surprise as she recognized this particular kind of knife, having seen some soldiers in Atlas using those during close fights.

It was a standard military knife that was mostly-produced and only used in Atlas and…

Then the girl noticed that the boxes had some words painted on them, different kind of classifications that were mostly known with Atlesian Military-grade equipment.

Her eyes widened, panic surging as she quickly realized that this building contained a vast amount of quality guns and melee weapons that were meant to be only available in Atlas, the Council there having forbidden the distribution of this new technology to other kingdoms.

This… this shouldn’t have been possible, how could Adam have gained control of this kind of weaponry with how little control the Fang had over the region?

Even considering Torchwick’s alliance with the organization didn’t offer any means to truly solve this mystery, the man having a large crime network in Vale but nothing worthwhile in Atlas that could see this much equipment shipped to Vale.

Blake blinked as her ears caught the distinct noise of blades clashing once again, her attention returned to reality as she took out the spare bow she had on her pockets.

A seemingly innocuous object that wasn’t removed from her because of its relative harmlessness but, once unfolded and set well around the knife’s hilt, turned the simple blade into a make-shift weapon she was more adept to use, similar in nature to her custom Gambol Shroud but without her gun capacity.

Adam was unaware of her silent steps, the Belladonna looming over him from behind as she slammed the flat edge of the knife by the side of his head, causing him to recoil in surprise and back away from the dual front.

“Y-You- Darling?!” Surprise briefly replaced fury, then the hatred sparked fiercely from his scowl as he tightened the hold over his sword before rushing back against his two opponents.

Sid smiled through his mask, nodding her way as the two resumed the engagement against the furious Faunus, the man snarling as he tried the human first so he could deal with Blake a little later, but the young Belladonna wasn’t going to allow him that kind of mercy.

The sword was flexible, that was something that Blake couldn’t certainly deny, but the fact the Bull Faunus was facing two experienced foes at once in a close encounter made it difficult for him to move around without facing major pressure.

The advantage he had mere moments ago was gone, the leader of the Vale Branch of the White Fang was facing a competent duo that was more than capable of keeping up with his anger-induced attacks.

Suddenly, Adam snarled with renewed energy, slamming the Chokuto on her knife and pushing her a few feet away.

The little development proving to be more than enough for the man to finally return his full attention on Sid, slamming the human with an unexpected fist on his mask and sending him flying onto some of the crates around the battle’s area.

The human groaned, slowly getting up from his downed position while the Bull Faunus shifted his focus on Blake.

The Belladonna soon found herself rushed by the brazen and aggressive stance adopted by her former companion, her hold over the hilt of the knife slowly slipping as the soft fabric of the bow rendered the surface difficult to grasp at with so much pressure against her.

She yelped as her blade was finally forced away from her hold, forcing her to try and back away from that confrontation.

Yet the girl would soon discover that it was too late to retreat away, the fellow Faunus roaring as he slammed his knee of her chest before grasping at her neck to push her to the floor.

The young woman flinched with a pained look as she tried to quickly get up from the floor, only for the red sword to stab right on her shoulder.

More pain surged as the blade twisted just momentarily on her wound, a yelp leaving her trembling lips as the sudden attack had left her unable to resist at the torture.

“I always valued you for being a considerate and smart individual, Blake,” Adam said, his voice transpiring just bits of his current rage, the rest being genuine hurt. “I valued you as a friend and even more with your consent. I wanted you by my side when humanity got the justice it rightfully deserved and now… I will have to destroy everything you love-”

The redhead slowly took Wilt out of her injury, some of her blood trickling down the edges as it was slowly pointed back at where Sid had landed, forcing her to glance right where Adam was pointing up

The human was now standing up, legs wobbly a little as he was possibly suffering from some concussion. His mask came off with the impact suffered mere seconds earlier and now his shocked face was in full display for the two Faunus to notice, either with glee or with worry.

“Starting with him.” The masked Faunus proclaimed smoothly, preparing his stance as the human roared and went to rush towards them. “DON’T YOU DARE HURT HER!”

Her eyes widening in surprise and concern as smoke erupted from his feet once again to propell the young man towards Adam, turning the human in a blur.

The Bull Faunus smirked and… prepared his own semblance, the damage endured by his blade now ready to be released in a single stroke.

Her eyes widened, she struggled up as she knew what was going to happen, many robots and droids having faced gruesome fates against Adam’s ability.

“N-No! Y-You- NO!” The girl screamed as she tried to get up but her body was drained, her aura was far too low and…

Blood exploded in a scene of glorious dread and despair.

The swift strike bisected Sid’s chest and left arm, cutting through without major resistance as his Aura was far too low to tank an attack of this magnitude.

Yet his face was still not showing any reaction to that sudden damage he had suffered, rather he looked perfectly fine and… it had to be a slow-received reaction.

Her brain was burning in fear, worry and confusion as the human seemed to not care at that horrible attack, mere surprise painted on his face as he continued with his attack.

She had expected pain to surface upon his face moments after, but then the crowbar slammed right into Adam’s mask with immense strength and speed, blood quickly rushing out of the quick slam while also forcing the man to be flung right onto some boxes standing behind him.

Silence ensued as Sid looked down at her and… smiled happily.

It was in that instant that Blake’s eyes made a morbid but confusing discovery as she was slowly brought up from the floor.

Sid wasn’t bleeding.

The attack did land, there was some void between the upper chest and the neck-head area, but it wasn’t flesh that greeted her.

It was smoke; Particles of white smoke that were now slowly reforming his body’s full composure without showing any pain in the process.

Rather the human looked drained and tired as, by the time the astonishing process was completed, he almost crumbled on her unstable hold, forcing the girl to put more strength in her own legs as to keep both standing up.

He chuckled weakly. “S-Sorry, that was… quite a difficult trick with low aura,” Sid commented with a quiet stutter, causing her eyes to soften and a small smile to appear on her face.

“A-A trick?” She asked in a half-whisper. “You can do… that?”

He tried to shrug, almost falling again. “I-It’s something I did some years ago, this is… the first time in a long time I’ve tried this.”

...Oh?

“S-Sid, we should be going-” “N-No.”

Blake blinked at the interruption, confused by his stubborn tone as the young man lifted his arm right to point at a certain box of many that have been left untouched during the fight.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she noticed what was on top of it, the dark-alloy of the custom-made weapon familiar to her as she quickly approached it with the tired human.

Her free hand grasped Gambol Shroud, slowly bringing it to her shoulders and settling it here as she made her way towards… the vent shaft the human had came through.

Sid was pointing at it with his wobbly arm and Cat Faunus followed his directions as he made sure to led them out of the unknown building and they indeed ended up leaving from the section of the vents that led outside.

They both descended from the shaft slowly and carefully, their bodies still sore and tired enough that a bad fall could seriously create complications, then rushing as quickly as they could away from the warehouse section.

The sun was slowly emerging and bringing another morning to Remnant as they stopped just a moment by the young man’s request, standing a long distance away from the building they had ran away from, but the place still visible from where they were.

“B-Blake, I know that this request is big but… do you want to really bring the past to an end without running?”Sid asked quietly.

The Cat Faunus blinked in surprise at that question, her eyes frowning in confusion but then the human brought up a… detonator?

Her eyes widened as she returned to glance at him quizzically, silently asking him how he had recovered that device.

“The man that gave me this suit and… the mask, he also was someone leaving the Fang. He said they are too dangerous to be left around and… he wanted this to happen in return to offering me the chance of saving you.”

She blinked, her surprise lessening but her nervousness growing as she stared back at the device.

“You- You want me to-”

“You don’t have to,” He admitted quietly, his tone showing some genuine concern. “I- I know that this is a big step and that you and that I shouldn’t be the one asking you but, I think it’s best you know that you have this decision and-”

KABOOM!

The human stopped, eyes going wide open as his attention snapped at the large explosion ripping apart the warehouse, fire and flames consuming the remaining structure of the place.

His wide eyes then slowly shifted back at the device and… at the index finger owned by the Belladonna now pressing it.

“Blake-”

“I appreciate the fact you wanted to make a speech about it, Sid, I really do,” The young woman interjected with a snort. “But I will also remind you that I’ve had plenty of sights to know that this situation is beyond saving, that… there isn’t much to do about it except accepting reality. This branch of the Fang had gone through the deep end and… it can’t be redeemed.”

He opened up his mouth, ready to say something more but…

Blake’s unscathed arm wrapped around his neck, bringing him in a hug as she felt her remaining energy leaving her tired body.

A yawn left her lips as she voiced one last thing before going unconscious. “Thank you for… caring for this ‘Cat Problem’.”

The smile was palpable in the words but the girl couldn’t see his reaction as his face was not visible from where it was standing, her only indication being his shoulders tensing up at her whisper.

And then… she fell asleep, her mind giving her guarantee that in the end Sid would have her returned to the apartment.

Back in that lovely and comfy couch were… she could get some sleep from.

Meanwhile, a certain young man was having trouble walking back to his flat with the non-negligible weight that was Blake Belladonna, the girl softly resting in his hold as he carried her in a slow and tiring path back to safety.

Truly, what a Cat Problem he got!

-----------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-dd-----------d-d-d-----------d-d-d-----------d-d-d--------d-d-d-

~Cinder’s POV~

The spectacle was proving to be brilliant to look at from afar, her binoculars allowing her quite the fiery sight over the headquarters of the White Fang, the now ruined building bringing some mirthfulness and pride to her eyes.

The fire was still destroying the remnant of the warehouse, fire-fighters and police officers having reached the area some time ago as the explosion had quickly woken up the entirety of the Kingdom with its unholy noise, bringing the attention of the entire administration to the former hideout of the organization.

Some of the thugs had managed to survive, a few of them having been wounded or just lucky enough to have been close to windows and other entrances to escape the growing blast, but their survival ended up with the final moments of their their freedom as the law enforcers arrived on time to arrest them all, their next destination being jail itself.

She could already imagine the newspapers’ lines, the big titles throwing accusations and condemnation to the terrorist nature behind the White Fang and forcing the group to grow more and more desperate to resist the hatred combined against them.

With the explosion surely going to be ruled out as a mistaken care of some ‘high-grade weaponry’ stolen from Atlas, multiple ramifications were going to happen all at once.

First thing first, the Fang would suffer a major blow to their reputation, the current evidence presented about their sudden aggressive nature having been considered until now by a grand majority of Faunus as an attempt to demonize the organization, now the major event surely going to bring unpleasant attention to Sienna Khan and her Clique.

The presence of illegal Atlesian guns, Dust and other military-grade equipment would then result in a tightening of the regulations coming from the Kingdom in the north, simmering the reputation between Atlas and Vale.

The aftermath of the explosion was already causing some small-scale panic spreading all across the capital and attracting even more Grimm to the walls, something that incredibly helped her to avoid any suspicions about a ‘sudden’ increase of Grimm presence that her plan required.

Still, with the White Fang surely requiring to retreat their Valean Branch with the sudden lack of recruits, Cinder will have to find some more canon fodders to fill in the role of backbone for their little invasion.

Her mind was already thinking of having Roman work on expanding his turf and draft some of the other disgruntled criminal, maybe create a mercenary group that was easier to manipulate and use even after attacking Vale.

Promises of wealth, power and betterment of life were surely going to conquer a large majority of the scum lurking in the kingdom’s darkest corners, enough to be made in a true strike force that could genuinely be used better than the Fang’s useless fools.

Yet her job was far from over in that very day as some more tasks were needed before going back to her safe hideout.

The Half-maiden proceeded to bring up her Scroll, accessing to the cameras she had set just outside her brother’s flat, from the entrance of the building up to the corridor before the door that led to the apartment, and woman was elated when she found the tired-looking young man bringing the lucky Faunus back to his home.

He looked incredibly drained from the fight he had to go through, making Cinder question her own cautiousness to not urge her younger sibling to go this far with his mindset, maybe next time give it some more attention instead of being this much trustworthy, and…

She was just so happy that he had proved her right, actually doing much more than she had expected him to do with how things have unfolded in just a handful of hours.

Not only his response had been immediate to the threat, but the magnitude and power carried in that reaction of his… was thrilling to witness from a safe distance.

It made sense to her that her lovely brother would be as brutal and fierce in protecting his things from damage, to retaliate vehemently when he was wronged or slighted by someone so foolish and moronic.

Cinder could almost see how angry he had to be while facing Adam, the Bull Faunus currently missing and surely dead, the hatred materialized with the sheer madness of Sid’s semblance butchering the feeble fool in smithereens before bringing the silly girl to safety in his lair.

For a moment her mind sported some jealousy at this specific detail, the bridal-carry that the Cat was surely enjoying just like the one the young boy used to give his sister when they were incredibly young.

Time made the requirements to accomplish that delightful feat quite difficult to reach for the young man, but now that he was a full-fledged adult…

She could only imagine the sensation of being hold by his athletic form, her smile growing a little more genuine at the thought of that.

Maybe she should visit him? Maybe in a day or two, just enough to see him recover from his own injuries and be a little more at ease around people.

Yes, some time away from him now mattered so little as he was now in her reach.

The Half-maiden just needed to will it and… he would be hers to capture and keep away from dangers.

But of course that opportunity wasn’t viable from the very beginning, her childish trail of thoughts concluding with some reasonable obstacles in the form of emotions.

Cinder wasn’t certainly going to ruin her brother with hasty and brash need to have him around her, like a good sister should, but rather she would have to wait the right moment to strike and get him to ‘understand’ more about their connection.

Yes, she can bear to wait for some more time for said chance to arise.

She had already many things to do before this even happened, so much that needed to be done and completed for her main plans of true justice to this world.

The woman hummed as she made her way back to her own headquarters, ignoring the people all around, looking so afraid and tense to what had happened in the last few hours.

She entered the medium-sized warehouse sited far away from the Fang’s headquarters, finding Emerald and Mercury staring in shock at the TV’s screen, the news detailing the destruction that had lit the city’s collective mind like a true inferno.

Emerald noticing her presence first, her mouth opening as she tried to formulate some questions over the matter, her curiosity clear but her coherence coming to miss as the girl failed to get some query formed.

Yet Cinder knew exactly what the green-haired teen wanted to know. “It was him.”

The comment seemed to finally get Mercury’s attention, the silver-haired mercenary had his wide eyes at the woman.

“You mean to tell me that the guy we had fought is responsible for this?” He asked in pure surprise and with some skepticism. “Surely he got some ally to infiltrate and-”

“Someone gave him a White Fang uniform, some explosives, and the address to the warehouse, but the rest was all him,” Cinder interrupted with a slightly proud tone, having some issues keeping her voice under control. “Roman contacted me recently that one of the White Fang’s target had recently left town after a visit at Junior’s and the owner confirmed that Sid did in fact ask for some information from him.”

“T-This is ridiculous-” The girl paused, tensing up at their boss’ frown. “I-I mean, I think that the Fang couldn’t have been caught off-guard so easily. As much as a strong guy he could be, it couldn’t have been easy to-”

“You mean to tell me you have forgotten the prank we pulled at some lazy grunts?” Mercury interjected with a snort, causing his partner to blink and slowly nod. “C’mon, it was memorable! The poor fools couldn’t recognize us while we wore their uniforms and gave them some fiery sermons about the ‘cause’ and ‘freedom’.”

Emerald sighed. “I admit that was quite disappointing but… I though it was an isolated case,” She said before glancing at Cinder. “Wasn’t it that?”

The Half-Maiden merely nodded. “Adam did give the impression they were professional, but sometime people put on some convincing masks to hide their incompetence. Especially if some of the recruits are mere botanists with no experience on fighting.”

“Ouch,” Mercury commented with a quick flinch. “Still, shouldn’t we be worried about what this guy will do now? He did seem to recognize that we weren’t part of the Fang and-”

“He will do nothing about it,” Cinder stopped him with a sigh. “He will not expose himself or his friend to danger once again without some decent proof that could lead up to you two. He will not risk it.”

The silver-haired teen nodded before frowning in confusion. “You know, boss, you have yet to tell us how do you know so much about him,” He said with genuine interest. “I mean, you seem to know so much about him that it seems you have been close to him.”

“Is there a question or do you want to be punished for being disrespectful, Mercury?” The steel glare reaching from the woman seemed to stun the young man to silence, surprise building up but the son of Marcus Black merely shrugged and decided to not poke any longer at the murderous dragon.

“Just curiosity, I will tune out now,” He decided to conclude with, knowing better from testing his boss’ undeniable sense of wrath.

“What about the ‘friend’, the Cat Faunus?” The tanned girl asked with some genuine curiosity. “She is dangerous to have around him and if her teammates find her out-”

“Sid will surely be able to find a way to get the attention away from her,” Cinder stated with incredible conviction. “Until now he managed to hide her in plain sight, I know that he will manage even in the worst case scenario.”

There was a pause, but Emerald nodded at the woman before turning her attention back to the TV.

Without much else to do, the half-maiden decided to spend the rest of her day planning out the next step in the principal plan, the first obstacle to face in this mission for Salem.

It was something incredibly complicated from a simplistic point of view, the problem ending up being quickly deemed beyond her current capacity much to her growing dissatisfaction.

So, instead of raging and causing a fuss over the matter, Cinder decided to make sure to bring in someone loyal to her that could seriously help her with this task.

Emerald gulped nervously as she walked upstairs and then right where Cinder’s command room was.

Once she had reached her boss, the woman currently reading from one of the personal terminals built on her room, the half-maiden quickly took her by her side and showed her the issue they had to deal together for the incoming infiltration at Beacon.

Red eyes widened in surprise and minor embarrassment, the half-maiden unwilling to specify what kind of problem she was having with the clothes she had now on her bed.

Emerald’s face reddened as she gave a simple but blunt order coming from her ‘guardian’, her mind failing to grasp the ‘complexity’ of such request.

“Help me putting on this uniform,” The woman said without a hint of any second reasons, her genuine concern manifesting in the fact a 22-years old woman was supposed to don a first-year student uniform from Haven Academy.

The thing was… incredibly small and unfairly difficult to put on.

And that is why Emerald was needed, the former thief surely the only trustworthy assistant to get her to succeed in that embarrassing issue.

After two hours of trying and fighting against the blasted skirt and shirt, Cinder ended up victorious from that difficult battle before carefully removing the pieces before those ended up tearing at the stress they were suffering in that moment.

Some knitting will become essential to adjust the size to better accommodate her frame without damaging the integrity of the cloth.

Meanwhile, a certain tanned girl was seen smiling for the rest of the day, not even the crass puns coming from Mercury managing to bring her out from that heavenly mood.

Such was the reward of a faithful minion.

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AN

So yep, the Valean Branch is ‘mostly’ dead and I can already tell that Adam is not dead.

And no, I will not make him an Angsty ex-boyfriend, rather the awkward guy that misunderstand signals that aren’t even there. Yes, he genuinely believes that Blake was into him (which she wasn’t).

Lastly yes, the next phase will see a grand change… that will last for a while.

Some will be shocked, some will call for my execution (not that I’m planning something that massive, but people overreact) and I think some will call me a madlad.

But in the end yes, I will make something epic.

Stay tuned and… always believe in Gravity. Wryyy~

 

Chapter 12: But we will part ways for now.


~Sid’s POV~


Work was going smoothly that day at the Morning Sip, nothing much changing from the usual routine I was now accustomed too.


…


Except that someone was now not here working as a waitress, nor I expected to see Yang passing by today with some of her team.


I was fine, but still far from peachy as my mind couldn’t help but remember the grand topic that domineered from earlier that morning.


While the rescue attempt had been successful and Blake hadn’t suffered any major injuries during this ordeal, I ended up spending the few hours of rest before ‘waking up’ to think about some of the clues I had ignored until now.


With the pressing concern of a kidnapped Cat Faunus now dealt with, I was forced to face two distinct predicaments that certainly left a bitter and unnerving taste at the mere reminder.


The kidnappers hadn’t been from the White Fang, yet they had the uniforms and had contacts with the branch there to release the girl back to the group sited there.


Humans, there was no doubt those two weren’t Faunus and yet they had managed to avoid the disdain from the organization while also scoring some unknown favors with Vale Branch.


Knowing how aggressive the Fang had turned in the last few years, it had been a miracle that I had found Tukson so quickly and that the man had been so inclined to offer me some support in exchange of some explosive ‘I quit’ letter to his former work.


The man was no longer here in Vale, possibly having left the Kingdom altogether as his simple activity nearby the workplace had closed down without notice; the insignia left there detailing the selling of the building and the lack of books in the various shelves being more of a clear sign that he wasn’t there no longer.


Still, despite the overall victory gained the day before, I ended up making steps towards a slightly unpleasant but much-needed decision to avoid any further issues with those mysterious stalkers.


Blake had lashed out verbally at the mere request of returning back to Beacon, the Faunus actually snarling and close to hiss at me for even suggesting such a ‘horrible’ proposition to her.


From a normal standpoint, it was clear that she was taken off-guard by the sudden demand that I had forwarded with little explanation, yet there was some solid reasoning behind this choice.


Whoever had kidnapped here was still on the loose and… the two thugs weren’t the mastermind.


They were too uncoordinated with each other to be actually the brain behind such a complicated hit-&-run and I wasn’t stupid enough to not consider the presence of a third, or even an entire group behind them.


Someone that knew about me, enough to leave me right by the entrance of my workplace to give some sort of sign or… something like that;


Someone that knew about Blake, enough to know that this guy, Adam, wanted to bring her back to the White Fang;


Someone that… knew about Cinder.


This last detail was worrying me to no end as my sister had been cautious with her actions in the last few years, careful as to not get noticed by our father’s contacts spread all across Remnant.


To think that some group was onto us and knew so much about my life was… terrifying.


I knew little of this spies and they knew too much about us, this was dangerous for numerous reasons and I was quick to tell Marcus to keep an eye around for himself and his family.


If they had gone as far as to trace up the Tremaine family just for Blake, then Gods know how far they have gotten with those around us.


So when I considered the overall predicament at hand and pondered over the chances of keeping an eye out for everything… I ended up developing a simple, quite-disgruntling but effective plan.


Ozpin was mysterious, yes, and Blake had been adamant to not wanting to return to her team more as a mean to avoid dealing with Weiss, but if I had to pick between safety and discomfort, I think the choice would be clear as a cloudless sky.


The initial attempts to convince the girl to leave the flat and return to Beacon failed miserably when the Belladonna started to shout and scream, almost showing the cat-like behavior in retaliating at any approach towards her.


She didn’t want to go to Beacon, ‘not yet’ she would repeat so stubbornly and so lying, but in the end the escalation culminated with my own shouts.


I was calm and I was understanding her explosive reaction to all of this, yet I couldn’t just stay put and let her walk me over this matter. Especially if the topic was about her well-being of all things.


There was some hesitation from both sides, then some reconciliation of sort as the girl tried to make it clear that she would have been more attentive for any attempt and apologizing by saying it was her fault that what had happened last night… happened.


A quick-paced, soft-spoken approach from the girl that was curbed by a loud sigh coming from me as I provided a swift logical answer to what drove me to go for this incredible request.


There was surprise, there was silence and then there was quiet thinking from the Cat Faunus, the young woman thinking well about the motivations I was giving her.


Some questions popped out here and there about how then the situation would change for us, like ‘would she be fired by her current work?’ or ‘was she allowed to visit once in a while when she could?’ to which I replied the best possible with how I knew things were going.


It was best to keep the visits to a bare minimum and her job would have to be switched to a weekend-only days, which would entail a lesser wage but also shorter shifts.


I was a little nervous about this last situation as I knew that Yang was surely going to continue frequenting the Morning Sip.


Her interest to the place not a secret as proclaimed numerous times by the blonde, and that would mean having to find a ‘smart reason’ to have Blake joining in the job without seeming like she was Bianca.


Speaking of ‘Bianca’, this topic was going to be another issue to face once people would start to ask about her departure and… Blake taking her role as some-sort of replacement.


But just like it had been difficult before, I knew I could come up with some convincing lies to mask the entire development given the proper time and thought.


I was once again subjected with some more refusals from Blake, the girl mentioning even going as far as to make use of her identity as ‘Bianca’ everywhere we went as to ‘fool’ those stalkers from believing she was still there.


I didn’t even need to tell her it was dumb, the girl catching herself moments after this proposition had left her lips by saying it was stupid and she even quickly apologized about it.


I didn’t blame her, my brain was still trying to make sense of space and time as it was still fairly early in the morning and we both got so little sleep that I was actually surprised that this serious conversation was holding so well in that moment.


A few more pleas to stay, buying the girl some time to plan something that could actually work while also avoiding dealing with her problems and… I had enough.


While I could see some legitimacy in her opposition, I could see some of her worst trait displaying in that very case and I couldn’t help but point it out.


It was a problem that she couldn’t just run away from.


Not this time, not again and… not without a true reason behind it.


Her back was leaning to the silent but strong wall made by duty and need, one that was all in favor of giving her a mean to protect herself 24/7.


Ozpin would still ask for details, but granting herself the sole responsibility for causing the deafening explosion of the night before would have been more than enough to give herself some alibi for the time being.


Only behaving ‘well’ and not rebelliously would give her the chance of getting any suspect off her shoulders.


The Cat Faunus was still hesitant in picking everything up and, once she had everything put inside a backpack I decided to ‘lend’ to her, the girl seemed to freeze by the entrance door, looking back as if waiting for something.


A snort left my lips as I slowly made an attempt to initiate a hug- only to be glomped by an incredibly tense Belladonna, her head softly hitting my chest as she sighed.


“I will visit later,” Blake said so resolutely and determinedly. “I want to watch again the trilogy of Ninja of Love.”


I frowned at that. “But you buy the popcorn, I will not accept full responsibility in watching that trash.”


This time it was her time to snort, leaning away from the embrace to show an annoyed look.


“It’s not trash,” The girl said so genuinely. “You just need some more re-watching.”


That sounded more like a brainwashing attempt than else, but I just nodded and waved at her as she took her leave, her frame disappearing while she walked away and I closed the door of the flat.


In that brief moment of quiet, in that single instance of silence… I felt incredibly tired and…


Cold.


It took me about five minutes to finally shake off this strange sensation, my mind shifting its attention back to the next issue of the day and that was going to work.


I was already late on my morning routine and my already sluggish body was having some trouble going to a pace faster than usual.


After a gesture of inhuman willpower and determination, I managed to reach the bar just in time to begin my shift punctually.


I had to explain some things to Marcus, like the warning over the ‘stalkers’ predicament and what had happened the night before during the pause, but I was granted some peace by the time the second half of the shift began.


Clients poured in, the same quantity as usual, yet I was quickly noticing the sudden lack of my ‘colleague’ as my pacing had to return back to its pre-Blake pattern.


Quite difficult considering I was still tired, but the owner was kind enough to help me around as a mean of not seeing me faint for real during the work hours.


Yet, just as I expected to face a perfectly-normal day in that place, I ended up dealing with quite the unusual client, someone that I hadn’t seen ever come here before.


Why was I so sure of this? Her appearance was just too unique for me to just forget so easily.


She was a petite young woman, her long hair was divided in pink and light-brown with a white streak over the pink side; her eyes were heterochromatic, with one being a soft-chocolate brown and the other being a pale pink.


The lady was wearing a white tail jacket with its interior and wide broad tail pink, under it a brown corset curved in the middle; she was also donning some black gloves, brown pants that ended in white boots with high heels.


She was waiting patiently, yet the strange attention directed at the menu gaining my interest as I approached her.


The young woman blinked and looked up, eyes showing some minor crave as she started to point at a specific spot in the menu, by the ice cream section.


It was in that moment that I noticed how short she was, even shorter than Blake’s team-leader, Ruby, and the girl had to be… 15 or 16.


Still, confused by the lack of vocal input, I merely glanced at the indicated spot and noticed the specific treat the client was alluding to.


“A cup of… Neopolitan ice cream?” I asked quietly, the girl nodding swiftly as I signed down the order as I went to prepare the cup.


While I was doing that, I noticed the young woman’s heterochromatic stare directed at me while I went through the usual process.


It wasn’t nothing too intense, but I did feel quite unnerved by being looked at by someone I was so sure that wasn’t just a civilian.


It was the small parasol folded by her side, something about its form just… feeling completely weird for such a simple and harmless thing.


I decided to ignore it, my mind quick to remind me that there were hunters passing by once every few months and maybe this one was one of those.


Maybe it was this whole idea that people were spying on me that was getting on my nerves, my paranoia needing some proper checking before I started to doubt everyone that just seemed ‘strange’ with their theme style and possible weaponry.


I returned to the woman in question with her order, serving her little plastic cup and tiny spoon so that she could already begin eating.


Just as I did so, I noticed that there was something already on the table, some coins that were equal to… how much the sweet treat costed.


I blinked while I slowly went to pick the Lien, turning my attention to the girl as she seemed to be enjoying the first bite.


She glanced at me momentarily to flash a happy smile before returning to her food, something that just left me… even more confused.


Was she a mute? I couldn’t certainly ask her like that and at a time like this, it would have been far too awkward and rude.


Instead of pressing more to satisfy my curiosity, I merely nodded at her and let a small smile appear on my own face. “You are welcome.”


The young woman paused just a moment, surprised by the reply but not giving a full reaction out as I turned around and walked back to the counter.


While I had expected this situation to defuse by the time she was done with her ice cream, so that my worries could be quietened by reality itself, one can imagine my little shock as the pink-brunette decided to spend the entire rest of the shift there.


She slowly went through her treat, careful enough to not make it too slow but also not fast enough to appear like she had no other reasons to stay in there.


In the end, she concluded by the time everyone was done and already gone and the bar was close to end its activity for the day.


But what truly got me perplexed wasn’t this strange behavior.


It was how she disappeared mere moments after walking outside the main entrance of the building, leaving no trace as I went to check as to where she was going.


It was like I had offered some ice cream to a ghost.


--------------d-d-d-d-------------d-d-d-d----------d-d-d-d-----------


~Blake’s POV~


If there was something that was truly surprising her right now, it was the curious disposition of the hospital ward here at Beacon Academy.


This was the first time Blake had come to visit the place, the first time she had been needing to go in there for some check-up.


It was pretty big compared to a single hospital room, the massive place seemed to be ready to house the entirety of the student body with how many beds and medics deployed in this section of the campus.


But if she had to be honest, the most surprising bit was how the conversation with Ozpin had gone and how she had been sent here of all possible outcomes from that weird discussion.


She could remember taking the earliest airship that was meant to go to Beacon, pretty early considering that some third years students had long decided to live together by the capital and out of their assigned dorm-rooms.


It was an optional choice available to all teams that had a full cast of adults, thus their decision was recognized as an absolute action that didn’t require any parent’s authorization.


Quite efficient considering the cheaper prices and expenses for the single flaw of sharing the house with someone else.


Something that Blake was now well-experienced with after spending two weeks with the young human that had taken her in as a flat-mate.


Trials and tribulations had ensued and now she was back to the school that she had left not so long ago, her mind stormed by doubts and worries over the possible development for her.


To avoid creating any major issues with the headmaster, the Cat Faunus had been quick to call Ozpin in advance as to address the situation.


The man sounded surprised at first, confused even when she started to describe ‘what had happened in the last two weeks’, which was actually a little credible story born from Sid’s quipping over the important subject.


Blake had been kidnapped by the White Fang when she spotted a child Faunus donning the White Fang uniform running away from the docks and she had given it chase.


In the end, it all proved to be an ambush that got her captured and sent to their main headquarters in Vale… and then she proceeded to blow it up before escaping from the area.


It was a plausible supposition for a former saboteur like the Belladonna to know how to mess with explosive bars and thus the man had been quick to incline to believe that the loud explosion had been perpetrated by her.


She felt safer when Ozpin had told her that some more talks would be required before deciding over the matter and he was quick to point out that Ms. Goodwitch would have been waiting by the main heliport by the entrance to escort the girl to his office.


The airship landed after half an hour and, just like promised, she was quick to spot the deputy headmistress waiting by the entrance of the heliport.


The blonde looked partly-concerned, quite irritated and incredibly tired… almost like she was, which was an interesting feat considering that Blake just had two hours of sleep to get ready for this situation.


School wasn’t in session just yet, but their pace was swift and silent as they both rushed to reach the main elevator that led to the peak of the tallest tower in the academy, where Ozpin’s office was sited.


It was curious to see the usually stern teacher this calm, but maybe it wasn’t because of the tiredness. Maybe it was because, despite the massive mess she had ‘created’, the Belladonna was one of the quietest students in class with an undeniably good grades compared to many other hunters-in-training.


There was no song by the elevator, the quiet ride giving her an ambivalent sense of nervousness and relaxation, to which the final ‘ding’ that dignified that they had reached the last floor culminated this duality with some slight panic.


Ozpin was sitting by his holographic desk, the old man sparing her a glance as he nodded the two women to approach, gesturing at the Cat Faunus to take a seat by one of the two chairs in front of him.


“Ms. Belladonna,” He addressed with a calm and quiet tone. “It’s good to see that you have survived your capture with just a noticeable drain to your Aura and no worrying injuries. How do you feel?”


The Belladonna blinked and her stare fell to the steamy cup the headmaster was holding by the handle with his right hand.


“C-Could I have a cup of coffee?” She asked as politely as her tiredness could allow. “I-I… I’ve caught just an hour or two of sleep yesterday and-”


“Sure, there is no need to explain,” Ozpin said with a nod, standing out of his chair and slowly going for the lone coffee machine set on some furniture behind his chair.


The preparation was quick and the steamy little cup of the bitter beverage was in her hold quite suddenly.


It was instinctive as she lifted said cup and took just two sips from it, letting the liquid seep in her mind as she felt more energy coming from her body.


She blinked and slowly nodded. “Thank you.”


“You are welcome, Ms. Belladonna,” The headmaster replied. “But I think now we can focus a little more about the situation you have presented to me by your last call and...”


Blake took another sip, expecting this to be a breeze compared to her worried scenarios-


“How you have lied to us.” Ozpin finally proclaimed with an irritated voice, catching the Cat Faunus off-guard. Almost enough to spill out the coffee in her mouth.


Gulping down the drink was much more difficult, the panic urging her to gulp quickly and uncaring of the heat coming from the still hot stuff.


“W-What?”


It was Ms. Goodwitch to reply to that, a tired look present even now as she addressed the situation.


“While your whereabouts were a mystery to us all, we were able to discern where you were hiding by the second day you have gone missing,” The blonde stated calmly, if not irritated herself. “When Professor Port reported finding a young Cat Faunus that matched your description… working at one of the most frequented bars in Vale.”


...That was before she had been given her fake identity. It has to be.


But how did she miss seeing someone as portly as the old professor that had found her?


And while this was a good question, the one that best garnered her curiosity was a completely different one.


“B-But if you knew where I was, then why didn’t you-”


“Recover you back to safety at school?” Ozpin concluded for her, a hum forming by his throat as he pondered over the proper answer. “I can say it has to do with the peculiarity of the situation we found ourselves to deal with.”


“At first we thought that the owner of the bar was somehow blackmailing you to work for him,” Ms. Goodwitch pressed on. “So we spent some time trying to check and see if this theory was correct or not. In the end, we understand that there was no manipulation from his part.”


The girl’s eyes widened at that absurd supposition. Marcus Cobalt wasn’t, or at least didn’t behave, anything that she could consider untrustworthy and dangerous.


A simple man with a modest activity to keep up with the expenses of the family behind him.


So Blake nodded, quickly enough to confirm her decision. “H-he didn’t do such thing.”


“Yet you still didn’t return back to Beacon, even though you weren’t restrained from doing so,” The headmaster commented impartially. “You could have given an effort to return here, yet you decided to stay back in Vale.”


“For some curious reasons too,” The younger teacher commented as she went to open up an image on the holographic desk, the picture of someone familiar popping up to her sight.


The Belladonna paled a little, her panic rising once again.


“Sidur ‘Sid’ Tremaine,” Ozpin described. “Young man hailing from Mistral, his family is filled with unique individuals that warranted no little attention from the Kingdom and beyond. His father is a good friend of mine and… I did spare some words with him before addressing this issue.”


W-What? What was he talking about?


“Ms. Belladonna, this question might sound invasive or awkward to find an answer too, but I need a genuine reply to properly ascertain what I should do with this individual,” The old man warned carefully. “Did Mr. Tremaine tried to take advantage of you in any shape or form?”


…


…


“What?”


Ms. Goodwitch sighed. “Mr. Tremaine housed you until now, Ms. Belladonna. We have proof of it and the only thing we don’t know about is the reason behind such a predicament.”


“You mean like… that kind of ‘taking advantage’? I-” Blake blinked with her eyes wide open, there was just so much wrong in that statement.


Sid had barely touched her, the closest thing to contact being simple hugs she was guilty of having started herself.


She blinked again and shook her head. “H-He didn’t do such thing,” The Belladonna finally answered. “A-Actually the situation is mostly my fault. I caused the issue.”


“Elaborate please.”


A nod left her head, still nervous as she had to explain the ‘awkward’ beginning of that odd relationship.


“Mr. Tremaine had a… plant of cat nip in his house, the ventilation from within his flat pushing the scent of the plant outside and… I was incredibly drained from the battle by the docks,” The young woman stated, pausing momentarily as to fight back the little blush evolving from that memory. “W-When I entered inside, I ended up missing the scent and… I ended up too tired. There was a couch as I had entered the living room and-”


“You invaded someone’s house, Ms. Belladonna,” Ms. Goodwitch finally showed her known sternness. “Someone that, I guess, was pretty much irritated by such invasion.”


The girl gulped nervously. “H-He was. He wanted to call the police and… I might have cut his phone in the process and-”


“Not only you entered inside private property but you also damaged more of said property?” The headmaster blinked, more impressed at the escalation than embarrassed by such behavior. “Please continue.”


“I was initially ready to leave the flat but… I decided to return to it later that day, by nighttime-”


“And you spent the night there.” The teacher sighed tiredly, her hand on her face as she tried to hold back the headache coming from such a tale.


“He let you stay, didn’t he?” Ozpin asked curiously. “And maybe he wanted you to repay the damage you have created during such panicking moments.”


The girl nodded, but the deputy headmistress jumped at this.


“But still, to have you work at the same place he was… and just for a phone?” She looked skeptical and it was the old man that decided to press the issue.


“Ms. Belladonna, how did you… enter the flat?”


…


“I might have...” She gulped again, this time her stare was fixed away from both teachers. “Broken through a section of the ventilation by the roof… twice.”


…


“Mr. Tremaine has to have been your luckiest bet, Ms. Belladonna,” Ozpin admitted suddenly, warranting a quick glare from his deputy. “But I still think what you have done will warrant some punishment. The story you have forwarded will be used to address the public and your team, but I expect you to never miss any appointment of your detention.”


The Cat Faunus blinked and she slowly turned at Ms. Goodwitch. “Which is?”


“Therapy sessions, Ms. Belladonna,” The headmaster replied instead, drawing the girl’s confused look. “I will be taking control of such duty onto myself, I wish to unfold this case myself as this goes beyond mere school teaching.”


“W-What?”


“You will find me free by the time normal lessons are over by Monday, Wednesday and Friday,” The man continued while he ignored the Faunus’ question.


“And Glynda, please escort Ms. Belladonna to the infirmary,” He concluded while looking at the blonde. “I think she requires some rest and some check-up over her Aura levels.”


There was no space for protests as Blake was escorted out of the office and right to the curiously-immense room that was assigned to take care of people that needed medical help.


Sadly, said realm was overseen by a particularly-creepy individual.


A young woman, a Fox Faunus with a penchant for needles.


She looked like a normal person at first, but Tsune was by no mean normal, especially when she had been so stubborn in trying to administer some needles to the Cat Faunus for the sake of the ‘check-up’.


It was a simple look at her Aura levels, not a transfusion, and so her stubborn attack was rejected with equally if not stronger determination.


She wasn’t in the mood to deal with needles of all things, especially since her mind was having trouble understanding what she was supposed to do with Ozpin’s words.


Therapy? For her of all people?


Sure, the insane development that led to her strange relationship with Sid could be seen as concerning if not worrying to a fair degree, but Blake wasn’t in need of some therapist.


Especially if said therapist was some cryptic headmaster that seemed to require some sessions more than she did with the way he seemed so weary and tired all the times, even though he was continuously drinking coffee and walking outside his office, away from the peculiar stack of paperwork piling by the holographic desk.


Now that she was alone to her thoughts, Tsune having retreated to ‘play’ with some other poor student and with Ms. Goodwitch having to start her lessons, Blake couldn’t help but start to realize how difficult it was all going to be.


With Ozpin knowing about what had really happened in the last two weeks, it sure was going to take a while to ‘rebuilt’ whatever sense of trust the man had over her to not put her under surveillance 24/7.


And yet, despite being spared from continuing to deal with both teachers during this hopefully brief stay at the infirmary, Blake’s eyes ended up widening in immediate panic as she noticed three individuals approaching by the entrance.


Ruby was leading the little group, a nervous look on her face as her silver eyes found the Cat Faunus.


Next was Yang, the blonde blinking in surprise but seeming surprisingly relaxed compared to what she had expected her to be… but she still looked quite concerned herself.


Finally, amber eyes locked onto light-blue ones and… Blake frowned.


The Heiress of the SDC, which the Belladonna had thought to find enraged and ready to spark some new escalation with the newly-returned team-member.


Weiss’ posture was slightly slouched, quite uneasy-looking as she kept quiet while following behind the brawler.


The Schnee’s eyes… those were red and puffy. She had cried, gods know how long ago but it was evident to see some guilt plastered on expression.


What happened to her?


-----------d-d-d-d-------------d-d-d-d-------------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d---------


AN


Ozpin knows… I mean, he has control over most of the cameras in Vale, I think he would know that Blake is lurking around and… why wouldn’t a teacher notice and report?


Yet he didn’t take her back with aggressive diplomacy? There is a deep reason, something that will be expanded on those ‘therapy sessions’.


Ozpin will not be Dumbledore, I think I’ve turned him in that far too much in my stories and… here comes a smart and somewhat reliable mentor. Will he screw things up with everyone else? Not that I plan him to, no.


Also before someone screams ‘REEEE! You had someone screm at Waiss! You meanie dummy, delete, unwatch, unsub, REE!’, I can tell you all that no, no one actually addressed directly Weiss and pushed her to this current state.


It was something… that comes from within.


More will be given out next chapter… when I will pull a mystical and fun move. I think it’s about… chess. Nothing more, nothing else… but expect some more ‘trouble’ for Blake’s own life.


Lastly… what if I wrote a Jojo SI that takes over… DIO-sama!?

 

Chapter 13: To mend our mistakes-


~Weiss’ POV~


The last two weeks at Beacon Academy had been… fairly difficult for a certain white-haired young woman.


Weiss was certainly not expecting so many issues to explode out from a simple morning spent ‘scouting’ for any possible competitors for the approaching tournament here in Vale.


The incredible discovery that one of her teammates was a Faunus and had been part of the White Fang having given the young heiress no little concerns over the overall situation here at the school.


She could remember the particularly-heated discussion, the clashing of two stern minds over something that was sore for both girls and… then she remembered the immense revelation from Blake.


The Faunus wasn’t someone she had been much attached to and the Schnee wasn’t certainly going to deny such thing before reality.


Both had been at odds since they have met each other, starting from the very first day at the Academy by how the Belladonna’s patronizing voice had taken a strong jab at the heiress while Weiss was chiding Ruby’s clumsy behavior.


She should have expected, not truly, that the very intervention hadn’t been a casual-driven one, nor one out of pity directed the red-caped leader of the team, mostly because how in that very case the target of her careful lecture wasn’t the girl herself but the Schnee Family as a whole.


Anger had sparked from the sudden discovery and the soon-to-follow disappearance of the Cat Faunus brought even more irritation to the Atlesian girl’s mind over the matter as it made the whole subject more aggravating.


She didn’t hate Faunus, nor she supported her father’s cruel and cynical vision he had of the little group within humanity but Weiss would never deny the intense hatred she harbored for the White Fang as a whole.


It wouldn’t be a lie to say that, despite having lived in a state of luxury and riches, her childhood had suffered immensely from the radicalization of the terrorist organization as Jacques Schnee wasn’t certainly someone that knew about ‘letting off his frustration’ only on poor fools working under him.


Dinners would became literal battlefields with the man going as far as verbally lynching anyone that tried to bring him any more dissatisfaction for those days, his loud and stern tone bringing out quite the horrible individual to have nearby.


Winter managed to dodge the worst of those moments by the second she was accepted in Atlas Academy, her big sister having long assured that her stay in that ‘house’ wasn’t something pleasant as a home should give to any of its inhabitants.


Whitley was surprisingly smarter as he was quick to notice the higher-degree of positive attention and decided to merely become a shadow to Jacques instead of even considering trying to get a chance at life away from the gloomy prospect of a business-dominated life.


Then there was mother… and she was not here.


Memories of her early childhood did show a more-active Willow Schnee during those moments, the woman clashing more than eagerly against her husband for the sake of keeping some sanctity during dinners.


A strong personality that slowly dwindled down to a husk by the time Weiss was ten, the daughter of Nicholas Schnee preferring to drown her own imprisonment experience in wine rather than try to give better chances to her children.


And… there was grandfather.


Nicholas Schnee was possibly the last element of staunch resistance against Jacques’ cold demeanor, the founder of the SDC doing his best to try and keep the former Gelé from shattering any resemblance of the growing family but…


Then fate decided to bring another reason to hate the White Fang.


Grandfather was a memorable figure from her first few years, even Winter used to muse back at the ‘pretty years’ experienced while the kind old man was alive and giving them attention and care.


But despite the ever-cheerful behavior, it wasn’t difficult to spot some tired sighs leaving his lips once or twice in a while as he would give them some of his time to spend either playing around or having pleasant discussions.


It all changed one day when they were all enjoying a little walk to the park.


Mother had decided to stay back home to take care of Whitley, her brother still a toddler at the time, and Nicholas had been more than elated to take both her and Winter for a little walk around the natural site nearby the mansion.


It was all going well, she could remember the laughs, the sun bathing her with its light and-


Pain.


It had been so sudden, so unexpected.


A quick and blunt hit to the back of her head to maim her while the real target of the assassination attempt was killed away from her sight, the immediate attack bringing her to faint before she could understand what was going on.


Weiss would then wake up a full day later, some bandages applied over her head as her mother continued to sob by the chair nearby her bed back home.


Those tears would be the last time Willow Schnee would try to stand up against Jacques, her husband having been quite uncaring of the passing of his predecessor.


Nicholas Schnee was killed by a ‘rogue’ group of the White Fang that had managed to infiltrate the group of guards keeping watch over them at the park, their surprising assault managing to quickly overwhelm the old founder of the SDC and, despite capturing all of them, the ‘bringer of the modern era’ wouldn’t survive to see what happened next.


Atlas’ outrage at the ‘rebellious cell’ would be the final nail to the coffin of the older leadership of the Fang, the first leader having to step down in shame at the horrible crime perpetrated by his own creation.


With the peaceful but mostly isolated man stepping down, Sienna Khan emerged to render the organization ‘capable of properly bring change to Remnant’.


Violence increased, but so did Jacques’ bouts of anger back home and… with Winter having left to join the military and with Whitley well-aware of not doing anything ‘bad’ before their father when he was furious, Weiss found herself alone before the irritation of her authoritative parent.


A grade a little less than perfect? A two-weeks detention away from any of her hobbies.


A ‘bad tone’ used before her father? She would get a slap for being ‘cheeky’ and ‘rebellious.


Things would only escalate from there, but then Weiss was given a way out in the form of enlisting to Beacon Academy.


Time passed since the first day, some bumps along the way forced her to concede and surrender some of the harsher bits of her own cold exterior for the sake of ‘giving some efforts for the team’.


Ruby proved to not be as problematic as she had initially thought her to be with the two years she had skipped by joining the Academy this early and her older sister was a teaser at best rather than an outright troublemaker within the school’s premises.


It was Blake that turned out to be a… problem.


Not a ‘problem’ in the sense of a pending issue that would cause her to make mistake or endanger the team… but someone that barely connected with the other three girls.


Even Yang had to admit early on that she barely knew the Belladonna to say if she expected or not such a development, thus bringing endless questions to the already overworking mind of hers.


Why did Blake join Beacon Academy?


Why would Ozpin accept her to the school?


Did the headmaster know about her past affiliations, and if so why did he still let her enlist to Beacon?


The first week after the battles at the docks was one where Weiss’ confused anger would cause her to make some terrible bad choices.


First, the Schnee ended missing some of the study sessions she herself had planned to have with Ruby, the Rose asking multiple time if she needed some time to think or even rest by the way the heiress would act out outside.


It was kind of nice considering how latched the younger girl had been to her since the initiation test (if not before if she had to consider the clumsy meeting), but she had then scoffed at her concerns and kept going.


Some tests did suffer with her lack of focus, her mind failing to concentrate and calm down as the frustration continued to pile up within her core.


Finally, her sleeping schedule was ruined by frequently waking up during the night and rending her just a little bit of rest compared to the usual.


She had been tired, unnerved and terribly difficult to get to talk to, especially when that situation at the bar occurred.


It was the culmination of any other interactions with people, the waiter, albeit in the right with his duties for the activity, had been treated awfully out of ill-judgment than with impartial analysis.


This very encounter proved also to be decisive as Yang decided to finally confront her over her attitude, her blunt questions quite difficult to deflect considering whom she was dealing with, but it didn’t turn into a nice discussion to have.


Angry words were exchanged, some shallow insults thrown here and there… before the Xiao Long decided to bring out something she had not considered until now.


“What if Blake isn’t avoiding us? What she got caught by them?”


What if, she mused at that deafening throwback, what if Yang had been correct with this statement?


In a rare instance of lucidity, Weiss finally decided to pause in her furious state to walk back on her step, right to the origin of this issue.


Back to the questions, those little confusing bits that made the whole situation weird to consider.


Why did Blake attack the Fang if… she was still part of them? Why did she fought with them against the criminals?


From there theories stemmed sporadically and mercilessly within her mind, the heiress found her attention once more consumed by this pressing issue, this time her anger turning in worry about the subject.


It was just a minor pulse at first, then the concern started to grow the wilder her thoughts over the matter would get.


What if Blake had left the Fang because they had turned bad?


What if she tried to save people but she was almost killed by this?


What if Ozpin offered her shelter by letting her join Beacon?


Another week passed, her grades continuing a little decline, this time softened by the much-accepted help offered by the rest of the team with her own homework.


It was odd to see how the tables had turned, from a laborious girl that would drive the entire group to pick up the pace for school’s duties to someone unwilling to even turn a page from a thin book.


Odd indeed.


But not as odd as what ended up happening by the turn of the second week after the battle, the message sent by Ms. Goodwitch to their Scrolls notifying them of an important development about their missing teammate.


Blake was back… and her return happened after the destruction of a suspected White Fang’s stronghold.


It didn’t take much for the heiress to connect dots, her pace a little quicker than usual as she followed both Yang and Ruby to the hospital ward of the school and… there she was.


The Cat Faunus wasn’t donning her signature bow, her animal feature in full display… with the various cuts and tears on her clothes. Those hadn’t been there back in the aftermath of the last time they had seen her


The Belladonna didn’t look to have endured too much, but there were signs of injuries on her exposed arms, enough to dignify one of the worst scenarios possible with her capture.


Torture.


Tsune, the woman that was responsible for the ward, quickly notified the rest of the team of the situation, about how Weiss had been correct in the end.


Blake had been captured while giving pursue to one of the younger members of the organization, two weeks spent in that warehouse, to be ‘brought back to reason’ with the ‘proper means’.


It was ‘luck’ that had granted her the means to escape, to destroy the place before they could have tried to attempt anything worse than stealing shipments of Dust.


The explosion had echoed across the capital, even those here at Beacon had heard it.


Ruby and Yang were the more talkative, asking the right questions to the safely-returned member of the team, the Faunus slightly embarrassed by the attention but certainly not unhappy for the concern.


Yet, despite the positive words coming from both girls, the Belladonna’s attention was taken by Weiss herself. Or rather by the reaction the Schnee was displaying in that very moment.


Utter silence, the Atlesian girl’s face was set in a simple blank mask that kept inside whatever emotion was behind her external shell.


She had to also look quite tired because of the visible bags below her eye.


Half an hour passed, Ruby finally noticed that her partner was not taking part in the conversation, her silver eyes frowning in confusion at the lack of intervention from Weiss.


But instead of calling out this strange behavior or even coax her to join in the discussion, the Rose reached for her sister, tugging at the blonde’s gauntlet.


Yang turned with a surprised look at her younger sibling, only for Ruby to sigh. “Maybe we should… leave them alone.” The girl stated with a soft but determined voice.


“But what if-” Lilac eyes widened when the team leader smiled widely.


“I think they will do anything bad if they chat after… what happened in the last two weeks,” Ruby said calmly. “Plus, I think we should prepare something to help Blake with the current school’s homework.”


The brawler huffed but nodded. “More homework- Fine, but you have to help with the math problems.”


Just as the blonde stretched and prepared to go, Weiss noticed Ruby tensing up at this.


“T-There are math problems for today?”


The Schnee would have snort at that. It was just so adorable to see the little Rose panicking over something as simple as mere homework.


The two siblings left the ward moments later, leaving Blake alone with the cause behind her leaving, behind her crescendo of problems and…


This certainly isn’t the brightest idea Ruby could have had about this delicate case.


She could have just avoided the talk, waited for better times and… yet the knot in her chest ignored her little need to leave that unpleasant and unbearable circumstance.


The heiress gulped nervously but… she was ready to give her best.


Her lips parted as the words formed on her tongue.


“I’m sorry-” “I’m sorry-”


--------------d-d-dd------------d-d-d-d-------------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d---------


~Blake’s POV~


Of all things that could have happened in that very moment, this development wasn’t something she had truly expected.


Blake’s eyes widened in noticeable surprise as her apology was met with a genuine one coming from the Schnee, the fellow girl looking shocked herself by their mutual response, somewhat embarrassed by the curious impasse.


Weiss was… a proud individual, someone that wouldn’t just consider apologizing with someone even if her fault was evident to the rest of the people… and yet she was apologizing...


To her.


Blake was the one that bolted, that left the group for the sake of avoiding the confrontation, to ‘help a child out of the White Fang’ and… she was the one in needs of apologies.


Was this a joke? Maybe it was an attempt to-


But to what end?


It was just maddening. The situation was strange, if not awkward considering the strangely frail nature of the Atlesian’s girl current stance.


She looked incredibly tense, quite nervous and-


That wasn’t making any sense to the Belladonna, nor was how the already-odd reply was followed.


“I-I didn’t mean to-” The Schnee resumed briefly, sighing tiredly and nodding. “P-Please talk.”


...She was stuttering. Weiss Schnee was stuttering.


Her confusion increased and she blinked twice before addressing the unexpected predicament.


“I’m sorry for… leaving so suddenly after the battle at the-”


“I-It’s fine,” The heiress interjected quickly, an uneasy smile appearing on her face. “I-It’s not your fault if… if all of this happened.”


…


Blake’s mind was forced to reboot before this insane development, her attention now fully fixed upon the behavior Weiss was displaying in that very moment and the reasons urging her to say things like this.


It just didn’t make sense as the last time she had seen the heiress before returning to Beacon, the girl had been completely angry, terribly irritated by everything and everyone.


But now? Now it was like she was looking at a shadow of what once was a bratty rich girl. Gone was the arrogance, the stern looks and the pompous posture of the young woman.


Now the heiress looked incredibly little, as if she had reverted to a younger state of herself.


“Weiss,” The Belladonna started slowly, still unsure how to deal with this situation. “Do you… think that my capture is your fault?”


There was a brief moment of silence, the girl blinked surprised and then… blinked again.


“I don’t think that, no,” Weiss assured with a nod, her smile deflating a little.


Blake felt some relief at that, happy that this wasn’t what she had thought it to be-


“I… know that it is my fault.”


Nevermind.


Her amber eyes widened. “Weiss, I decided to give chase after the battle. You didn’t have anything to do with-”


“If I hadn’t been so vehement back during our last discussion,” The Schnee interrupted with a stronger tone. “This wouldn’t have happened. The battle, the chase and… the capture.”


“You- You can’t be serious,” The Belladonna commented back, her surprise flooding her voice. “We both went too far-”


“But I could have tried to-”


“Listen,” The Cat Faunus intervened quickly. “I understand that you are upset over it, but I’m fine. You don’t have more fault than I have.”


“U-Upset? You think this- this is just me being ‘upset’, Blake?” Finally, something close to anger seemed to burst within her words. “You said you were lucky- you know that things could have surely gone worse if ‘luck’ hadn’t been there for you.”


Things would have gone definitively much worse than… what happened with Sid’s intervention.


It had been so close for Adam to go and do something she didn’t want, to be forced to… to go that far and-


No, she didn’t need to think that now of all times. Not now that she was back at Beacon Academy.


Her mind tried to calm down at that interesting thought, the dreadful content more than enough to dissuade her from persisting along this line.


Sid had rescued her, they were both fine and she shouldn’t be lingering too much over that tiring night.


Sadly, Weiss didn’t know about what had truly happened with that circumstance.


Just like for Ruby and Yang, the heiress knew only that it’s been only the Faunus to accomplish her own escape with nothing else but… ‘luck’.


“Weiss-”


“What if you had been hurt beyond mere torture?” The heiress interrupted again, seemingly lost in that cycle of eventualities. “What if you had been killed?”


“It wouldn’t have been your fault-”


“I would have been the one to survive from this mistake, as much as you make it appear equal to yours,” She continued while ignoring the Cat Faunus. “I would have had guilt, while you wouldn’t have had another chance at-”


“Stop.”


Blue eyes widened, the Schnee snapping out of her gloomy reverie as she noticed that she was already trembling, shivering as little tears were forming by the edges of her eyes.


“I-I didn’t mean to bring-”


“You didn’t, I know.”


“B-But I-”


“Weiss,” Blake finally said with a tired tone, her eyes softening as she sighed. “Can you please… come closer?”


The request sounded odd even as it left her lips, yet the idea was the only thing that worked to avoid the predicament to escalate even more.


The heiress blinked in minor surprise, but she did comply as she took two steps closer, just enough for the Belladonna’s arms to reach out and bring the girl close.


Weiss was shocked by the sudden action, her head comfortably settled on the Faunus’ shoulder as the girl squeezed her close.


Intimacy wasn’t certainly something the dark-haired girl was known for, but it wasn’t something that was completely awkward considering the extreme confidence behind the act.


“You are a brat,” Blake whispered furiously. “A spoiled brat that can’t just understand when it’s your fault and when it’s not.”


In that very moments, glimpses of how the Schnee would back before this very moment flashed all at once in her mind.


The numerous times she would try to intervene in any study session, to arrogantly had her own ‘experience and knowledge’ to the matter while denying the help of others.


Barking a lot before her peers, trying to appear strong, brave… acceptable.


But that mask did fade just moments before Blake had left the docks, before she had decided to avoid the confrontation.


It had been a little detail, a minuscule speck of time that she couldn’t remember at first but… now she could.


Weiss’ face moments before giving a furious scowl, before giving a ‘proper’ reaction to the situation.


There was shock, there was self-disappointment and… there was fear.


Fear of having failed someone.


“I-I- What?”


“You try to appear so mighty and perfect,” The Belladonna continued. “But I know that’s not true.”


“I’m not per-”


“Even trying, even denying your own attempts; You know that your father isn’t here, you don’t have to-”


“I still have a duty as a-”


“Moron.”


Blurting the word sounded so… apt for the predicament but Blake herself was aware that this wasn’t something born from her own perception of things.


Instead of tackling the highly-emotional predicament with her miser experience over the topic, she had slowly but unconsciously slipped in the kind of personality she had been subjected to for the last two weeks.


“I-I’m not a moron!” The heiress rebuked scandalized.


“If you truly think you have a duty even though nobody is caring for your title,” The Cat Faunus stated with utter certainty. “Then yes, you are a moron.”


Weiss huffed, her trembling starting to reduce. “O-Of course I’m not-”


“Guilty of anything.”


Blake felt in a roll, a strange emotion considering that she had little experience of winning a conversation of this kind.


And the strange amusement rising from her chest as the Schnee was subjected to a ‘Sid treatment’? Was this how the young man felt when he controlled a discussion?


What an addictive sensation.


“Y-You are trying to make me angry-”


“Or maybe I’m telling the truth,” The Cat Faunus continued mercilessly. “Let me ask you something, what if you were wrong?”


“I’m not- what are you even talking about?!” Weiss exclaimed in shock, yet she didn’t even try to end the ongoing embrace. “Wrong? It’s logical for me to be-”


“A silly girl that overthink over simple matters,” She said while squeezing her closer. “I’m here, I’m mostly fine and you are trying to hold back the fact you feel dumbly guilty about what had happened to me.”


“I-It’s not true,” The heiress said slowly, her mouth settling on her shoulder while her arms started to wrap below Blake’s armpits and around her waist. “Y-You are the moron- and a dolt!”


“I thought that was only… Ruby.”


Weiss snorted at that. “Ruby wouldn’t do something as foolish as you did and-” The Schnee paused, tensing a little before sighing in defeat. “In retrospect, I could see her ‘plan’ something far worse than that-”


“Then I’m not a dolt.”


“You are still a dolt for- for bolting like a… moron,” The Atlesian girl shot back with a final huff.


For some reason this exchange just sounded so… good.


It was a lighter version of that little heated discussion they had before the Belladonna had left Beacon to find more about the White Fang, but instead of mean-spirited words it was all about childish comebacks and responses.


Something that wasn’t meant to hurt but to be perceived as a playful tug of war.


“And you are still hugging this moron,” Blake snapped back with a mirthful tone, gaining another snort from the Schnee.


“Just because you are… warm and soft,” The white-haired girl muttered quietly, trying her best to cover the fact she had been crying until now.


But the Belladonna had noticed by the time her shoulder registered something wet falling continuously right where the heiress’ head was settled.


“I guess I am.”


“T-This doesn’t mean anything else,” Weiss stuttered a little, embarrassed by the teasing edge on that comment. “You are just-”


“Someone ‘warm and soft’.”


“Y-Yes but-”


The Cat Faunus snorted, interrupting the little exchange for a brief moment.


“You should probably get something for your tears,” She admitted with a calm sigh. “You wouldn’t want to be seen by Ruby and Yang like this.”


Surprisingly enough, the heiress merely sighed back.


“And you should do something for your purring,” The girl threw back with a small smile forming on her lips while she moved out of the hug, her right sleeve over her eyes to give remove some of the tears on her face. “Wouldn’t want for Xiao Long to tease you to death with Cat puns.”


That very comment brought the Belladonna out of her ‘Sid moment’ and back to her introverted self as her jaws dropped in shock at the comeback, her cheeks sporting a bright blush at that very detail.


She was purring but… when did she started to do that?!


Weiss giggled at the shocked expression. “Y-You might have some backbone, Belladonna,” She started with a somewhat happier tone. “But you are still a dolt.”


Before Blake could reply to that comment, the heiress decided to pick some handkerchief by her sleeves and deal with the tears remaining, walking away from the infirmary with a smug smirk on her face.


Alone in the infirmary, the Cat Faunus was left to finally consider what had just happened until now, her amber eyes widening more and more as the sudden escalation became clearer to her current state of mind.


Her blush grew even more, her confusion intensifying as she thought how her mind had just decided to ‘switch’ with how Sid would usually deal with her.


It was an odd reaction as she wasn’t much elated by how the young man would use logic and reason to beat her in mind-games or simple conversations, but for some reason she found the experience of being the one in control in a situation to be…


Awfully delightful.


It was like she was given freedom over how a situation should develop, if it should be a tame conclusion or a complicated one, positive or negative.


Of course Sid would never know of this. If the human ever so come close to discover that she had made use of his own means of persuasion, she would never hear the end of his gloating.


It was hard enough to endure his smugness when he would outmaneuver her in some conversation, Blake would surely be done for if he got this event as teasing material.


Hopefully, he will never know about this. Just like he will never know that I did stole a milk can before leaving the flat.


Just as a smile finally broke through her confused mask, her happiness deflated instantly as she caught sight of someone approaching her bed with a bright smile and… a dreadful amount of needles in her hands and… tail.


How is she juggling so many of those with just her tail!?


“Ms. Belladonna~!” Tsune declared giddily as she rushed towards her with the pointy ends of the horrible medical instruments of pain. “It’s time for your medications~!!”


Blake didn’t hesitate with her next action as she jumped off her bed and, without looking back, bolted away from the threatening woman now giving chase to her.


And while the Cat Faunus dealt with quite the predicament in the form of pure sadism incarnate, a certain white-haired girl couldn’t help but feel the need to smile.


Ruby would be curious about why Weiss would be this cheerful that day, especially after spending some time talking with Blake, while Yang would tease about ‘the Ice Queen was finally melting’.


Yet, despite the light-heart undertone of such comment, the heiress couldn’t help but blush at the thought of melting.


She had been so close to Blake, her warm breath and her incredibly soft skin driving her to a state of calm she had experienced just a few times in her childhood.


It was refreshing and… somewhat quite strange to think back about.


As strange as the swift pace her heartbeat was going at those comments coming from the Xiao Long, the undertone missing as only a certain innuendo persisted.


But that couldn’t be, couldn’t it?


Then why was her heart beating so loudly?


-------------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d----------d-d-d-d--------


AN


Either a virus or you have been caught by Blake’s undeniable charm.


Let us admit that, given some backbone, the Belladonna can easily get Remnant as a whole as a harem.


Still, pairings are inconsequential to the plot and before anyone throws grenades at me for pulling a Monochrome fluff scene, I do remind you that I will have Ladybug and Bumblebee scenes too.


Why I don’t care for pairings? Well, let me ask just this question: why should I?

 

(Little AN: This story doesn’t have any pairing. Whatever resembles some romantic scenes here is born out of amusing, fluffy and ultimately comedic purposes. There is no Harem, there is no polyamory. If you can’t read this from a two lines-long AN at the end of last chapter, then it’s your fault, no longer mine. And now we start.)


Chapter 14: -And secure our bases


~Sid’s POV~


It would be a terrible understatement to say that I was nervous about what I had planned to accomplish today with the expected visit of a certain sibling.


But my worries started way before the beginning of this day, specifically two days ago when I found myself dealing with my newest problem at the workplace.


The frequent visiting of a certain pink-and-brown-haired ‘ghost’ that had started to be present around the bar ever since Blake had gone for Beacon had left me particularly guarded and incredibly careful of making my trips back home with haste and attention over any stalkers.


Her mere presence leaving me in a strange state of nervousness around this young woman, the kind of psychological warfare that one either disliked and outright hated to face against on a daily basis and… it wasn’t all.


Despite the odd presence of such a colorful individual, I had yet to see her do anything even so remotely dangerous for me or anyone here at the Morning Sip, and I wasn’t certainly going to risk sparking some troublesome predicament without proper evidence to back me up with such a complex situation.


It didn’t certainly help that she would be keeping silent all the time while observing me while I went through my work, merely replying to queries and comments with gestures or by tapping if it was about treats she wanted to buy for that very day.


I wouldn’t go as far as to call her innocuous with her mannerism, but I was still unsure how to tread with such a fascinating client that seemed to have established a fixation over my person; her giddy smile always directed at my tight composure while I addressed her directly, giving me nothing but displeasure over the matter.


To make things a little easier for myself, I merely decided to switch her nickname from ‘Ghostie’ to ‘Neopolitan’, the little nickname born from her surprisingly-obsessive attachment to the specific flavor of ice cream.


It was just… unhealthy how she would just consume so many scoops of the sweet treat on a daily basis, making me wonder if she had some kind of diabetic immunity after consuming so much ice cream in just a few days.


After experiencing two full days of having this individual around doing nothing but creepily watching me doing the tasks required by my job, my mind was given some minor relief when I finally received a message from someone I had tried to get hold onto after the warehouse debacle.


Cinder had been keeping quiet at the few messages I had sent her, asking, if not pleading, for her to spare some of her free time for a personal confrontation over what I had learned from this close encounter with the White Fang.


I hadn’t forgotten how one of the two faux grunts had used some illusion-based Semblance to make me think that I was talking with my own sister, something that was as worrying as infuriating.


Someone was aware of Cinder and those same people were surely going to try and capture the young woman for whatever purpose they might have about me and Blake.


Thinking back about the Cat Faunus, I was presented once more to the simple fact that I was now left alone to enjoy my flat without any disturbance, but the lack of those disturbances were indeed leaving a certain coldness over my time spent there.


Am I really missing her after just two days? Am I that much- Nah.


Instead of lingering over my own pseudo-nostalgia over the lack of a certain black-haired annoyance, I found myself directing my thoughts back at the serious topic regarding both Blake and I.


We were the prime targets of some dangerous group, but our family members were seemingly fair game for this unnamed organization, my perception of the entire predicament painting these unknown individuals as threatening with their knowledge they had over our lives.


It was irritating to be aware of someone trying to do funny business with us all, enraging even that they might even be daring enough to try anything in broad daylight, but I was quite careful to not lose myself in that anger of mine as I knew that cold rationality was what I needed to survive this tight predicament.


With so little clue of what I was supposed do against these hostile fellows, I wasn’t certainly going to leave myself exposed to more issues until I had properly made sure that Cindy had been warned over the matter.


It was another slow day at the Morning Sip and I had been quite busy with a handful of clients when the doorbell rang again.


The noise now long accustomed to my ears and thus I gave it little attention, almost missing the familiar woman with dark-hair, light-amber eyes and a pretty red dress entering the building and taking a seat by one of the unoccupied table.


My eyes fixed on her smile just for a few moments, before I scurried over to Marcus by the counter, the man having just concluded confirming the payout of some clients, and I proceeded to ask him if I could get some moments to spare with my sister.


He was surprised by the request, but ultimately he decided to allow me a few minutes to wrap up any sort of discussion I had planned to have with her.


I was quick to pick the seat in front of Cinder’s, her smile widening as I returned it with one of my own.


“Good morning, Cindy,” I greeted with a happy voice, getting a little amused twitch from the young woman’s lips.


I could remember how the nickname had been one born from teasing in our early years back in Mistral, yet with the passing of time it gained quite the friendly connotation.


Cindy was Cindy.


“Sid, it’s good to see you so soon,” She replied kindly. “But I reckon that I was fairly surprised when you decided to ask so insistently about having a meeting here at your workplace.”


Her eyes spared a quick look around the place, fascination and intrigue rising right in her orbs as she took in all the details of the place.


“A pretty good job, I can assure you that,” I pointed out with a quiet hum. “I assume your workplace is as good, if not more than here.”


“It could be better, but… I’m happy with what I’ve got now that I’m here in Vale,” Cinder commented with a careful voice. “But I think you didn’t certainly call me here to have some pleasant conversation, nor the owner allowed you to slack off without a serious reason.”


I felt a little embarrassed at being called out so suddenly, but I gave a slow nod. “It’s complicated and… nerve-wracking.”


“Then please, don’t restrain yourself from telling me about this,” Her tone shifted away from her previous kind one, to something sporting some genuine concern over the topic. “As your sister, I wish to know what kind of trouble might have gotten you this worried.”


There was a pause, her lips forming a thin line on her face as she pondered over the predicament while I tried to come up with some proper means to explain the matter without making her panic.


A difficult task considering how complicatedly easy to panic Cinder was over important topics as the one I had to bring up.


Just as I prepared to speak once more, her voice ruptured the silence and preceded my intervention.


“Is it perhaps that Cat Faunus, the one that you have had been living in your house?” She inquired with a tightening tone. “Did she do something to you or-”


“Blake did nothing… except be subjected to a quite the crime I’ve resolved,” I interjected swiftly, unwilling to have misunderstandings going with my only sister and… I sighed. “Did you read about the warehouse’s explosion?”


“The one that woke all the citizens in the Kingdom?” She asked sarcastically, drawing a huff out of me, then she continued. “I did hear of such a curious development and I guess you are somehow implicated to the conception of the loud explosion.”


I flinched a little at the sudden assumption, remembering way too well how perceptive my sister was.


The fact that I had addressed the ordeal that had me ‘solving’ a crime committed against Blake and the infamous discovery of mere days ago back to back had to have been enough for Cindy to build up some solid understanding of what I was going to tell her.


At least the general outline of it all since there was still so much left to be described.


“Something like that, yes-”


“Was your friend implied to the warehouse? Maybe she was kidnapped?” Cinder pressed on with growing irritation. “You used to be this kind of a troublemaker, but I thought that habit had gone suppressed after you started to study under father’s-”


“I-It’s not the real subject here-”


“Forgive me, but I found the fact that my little brother has singlehandedly destroyed one of the strongholds the White Fang had in this region of Remnant only to save a friend that I’m not even sure of her trustfulness over your friendship, to be quite important for me to understand a bit more about.”


Her calm chiding got me tense a little, my eyes a little wide open at the annoyed expression on her face.


“I-”


“If you thought of trying to keep me from getting worried about the circumstances that you were subjected to, I can assure you that the attempt has failed horribly,” She continued with a little scowl. “And Gods know what else you aren’t telling me about as this doesn’t seem to be worthy enough to be fully brought up to me.”


I sighed. “Before the whole situation happened… one of the grunts that tried to kidnap Blake used her semblance on me,” I mentioned quietly, gaining an intrigued look from her as she gestured me to continue. “She… she had an illusion semblance and she turned herself into… you.”


A few seconds passed, the young woman tensing just for a while at such revelation as her eyes seemed to show quite the surprise at such development.


“Was there any difference over my appearance or was it the one I’ve right now?” She questioned with some doubts.


“It was how you look like now, she got all details correct too and-”


“This means that whoever these attackers are, they know about who I am to you and thus they used my figure to distract you,” Cinder elaborated with a serious voice, her expression hardening. “Did they hurt you or your friend? If you want, I will make a thorough search of whom might have done this, people that I’ve seen or met in the last few days-”


“I don’t think it would be a good idea,” I blurted out with a quiet voice. “I don’t think that right now it’s best to expose ourselves to search for them.”


She blinked. “And by ‘them’, I can feel that you aren’t referring to just those aggressors.”


“Correct,” I answered quickly. “I’m fairly sure that they were too well-organized to be working without some mastermind or organization behind them. I think they are resourceful enough to know how to pair their men against us and… that is why I want you to know this.”


She frowned and glanced at me with some irritation. “You think that I can’t defend myself, brother? I thought that you were aware that I’m not someone to underestimate when-”


“I want you to not have to deal with any unexpected ambushes,” I replied with a stronger voice, catching her off-guard just in that very instance. “I know perfectly that you can kick anyone’s ass, but I wish that you were prepared if someone decided to plan an attack on you.”


There was some silence, surprise reigning over Cinder’s face as she let my words sink in their mind, understanding the reasoning and the mindful approach I had given in that quick speech.


If there was something that I knew so much about my sister was that she tended to be fairly easy to annoy when someone called her ‘weak’, taking it as a grand insult to be subjected to.


And the consequences behind such a ‘crime’ were far too graphic to describe without some major explanation over each cases about it all.


Albeit a calm and sweet girl, Cindy did always have her own berserk button.


Peace and quiet concluded as she finally conceded a smile.


“I guess you are only concerned about my well-being,” The young woman concluded. “Just like I’m worried about yours, little brother.”


I returned the smile with one of mine and I chuckled. “I guess I was a little stern with my warning-”


“But very careful to not make me appear as if I was weak before your eyes, you know that I’m-”


“A strong, resourceful lady that know how to kick ass while chewing gums.”


A pout appeared on her face. “You know, maybe I shouldn’t have let you watch that movie back when you asked me.”


I chuckled again. “Maybe you shouldn’t have,” I commented giddily and… then I blinked. “Also, this was all I wanted to tell you and… I would like to offer you something.”


“I’ve plenty of money to pay for any of those delicious-looking treats,” She hummed back with a certain opposition at my proposal. “But please, can you bring me a cappuccino with some… of the chocolate cookies here?”


I glanced at the menu she was holding on her hands and I nodded. “I will see for your order to be swiftly delivered.”


She giggled at that promise and I returned back to the corner to resume my tasks as the waiter of the place, wandering around to confirm other orders before rushing to get those all prepared and given to the various waiting clients.


Cinder nodded and gave a soft thank you as I gave her the cookies and the beverage she had requested, but instead of quietly enjoying the meal, she looked distracted.


The young woman’s eyes were carefully glancing away from her cup and her snacks, and right onto the now paler ‘Neopolitan’.


It was a blank stare, no emotions leaving from her face as to give any clues as to why my sister had decided to direct her glance at the curious-looking client.


Maybe it had been because she had noticed the attention I was receiving from the pink-and-brown-haired girl, concern erupting from the fixation the girl had over me and… yep, the creepy staring was now gone.


Instead, I had to deal with the fact that my lovely and normally-calm sister seemed ready to jump on the table and maul the ice cream ‘addict’ I had been having some issues with in the last few days.


I guess insanity never truly went away despite Blake having left his life for just a while.


------------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d--------


~Cinder’s POV~


“Gah!”


Roman yelped as he was sent flying to the nearest wall, his body graciously impacting upon the concrete texture and producing some cracks as his aura did create some extra sturdiness to his entire self.


It had taken her a while to appear calm when she first reached his hideout, to ignore any need to react accordingly at the stupid comments advanced by Torchwick about the loss they were suffering in the form of lacking manpower.


Recruitment was an issue, but it wasn’t as terribly ill-controlled as the crime boss wanted it to appear before his boss’ eyes.


Sadly, this little visit hadn’t been one of business and her spares about those of courtesy had drained right as she concluded the one she had with her brother.


He got himself a job, he is a functional part of society. He has a stable life.


Groaning in pain while slowly getting up from the floor, the man stopped when he saw that Cinder was already crouching right in front of him.


“I gave you a simple order, Roman,” The woman muttered with a disdainful tone. “I asked to have a simple thug from Junior’s group to keep an eye on the target, to not have him subjected to any sort of unnerving situation.”


He squirmed as her heel drove right onto his gloved right hand, almost piercing the flesh.


“And you decided to send Neo after him, you incompetent worm!”


To think that he would have sent his henchgirl, the young woman that had so eagerly tortured some ‘misguided’ White Fang grunts back when they had tried to steal some of the loot recovered from the battle at the docks.


“I-I thought I was just doing you a big f-favor by having him guarded properly,” He wheezed, some of the smoke from his now-forgotten cigar almost choking him up. “This guy, you told m-me he was someone worth of keeping an eye onto.”


Sid was more than worth of Roman’s guarding effort and the maniacal short girl that had been sent to keep a watch over him had been both a horrible decision but a good one in terms of quality.


It had been an attempt to muster some compassion out of the dark-haired woman, yet Cinder had already dealt with the kind of person that Roman was.


Manipulative and ratty, his main objective was survival until it was allowed with what he had around himself.


The coward-like nature of his submission being as legitimate as aggravating in multiple occasions.


“I did, but I never mentioned that he had to receive this much of a noticeable minder,” She pressed the heel a little more, getting another yelp of pain out of the suffering crime boss.


“I-It wasn’t even my fucking idea to send her- She just heard about this mission set at a bar that sells ice cream and she p-pestered me to have it.”


There was some silence after this confession, her pressure over his hand lessening as the dark-haired woman turned her attention at the ceiling of the warehouse, the object of her immense irritation quietly sitting by one of the metal beams used to keep the roof stable.


“Is that true, Neo?” Her voice was calm, yet some of her annoyance seemed to influence its sternness.


Despite the clearly unimpressed look on the older woman’s face, the girl smiled and gave a solid nod before dropping down back to ground level.


“And pray tell, why did you set yourself in stalking him wherever he goes?”


The mute criminal seemed to think about it and… then proceeded to pick up a purely white sign and… words started to appear on it.


He is nice.


A perplexed look settled on Cinder’s face, a result born from the reply itself and the curious usage of the henchgirl’s semblance to provide some responses that required much more than mere gestures.


“If you think he is ‘nice’, then it shouldn’t be a difficult idea to realize that leaving him alone would do well for your lifespan,” The half-maiden pointed out with a strong voice. “Or maybe you just prefer to be put at gunpoint to get things done with you?”


Neo’s smile seemed to widen at the blatant threat, dignifying her lack of concern over any negative repercussions.


The sign reappeared, spinning in the mute’s free hand and revealing some more words on it by the opposite side.


I guess I can moderate myself a little around him.


Cinder eased her mind a little at that concession, yet tension resumed when the sign spun again and revealed some more comments.


But I wonder, why is someone nice like him stuck with someone this horrible?


Indeed, how did he get stuck with someone that is hellbent in going against the world as a whole.


The unpleasant thoughts over this sharp jab coming from the midget were quite difficult to ignore, yet the half-maiden managed through it and spoke against her ‘verbal’ opponent.


“It’s not something that you should interest about,” The woman answered with a newer scowl. “But perhaps I should ask you why the sudden ‘fascination’ for a simple waiter.”


Neo frowned at the comment, going for a quick walk around the proximity of the two bosses as to ponder over the solution to this dilemma and…


She shrugged at her.


Irritation surged even more within her chest at that blatant display of unwillingness to answer, her anger bubbling so achingly that she was half-tempted to skewer the little fool in that very moment.


“I guess that you are indeed interested by him,” The half-maiden probed with dark amusement in her voice. “To be this much defensive over it.”


The parasol-wielder merely huffed in silence at that, her eyes narrowing in a show of faux anger at that attempts.


It was so infuriating to deal with such a complicated being, far more mysterious and difficult to crack compared to the girl’s boss.


Roman was malleable as the man was perfectly aware of the destiny that awaited him at the first sign of treachery or failure.


The crime boss had experienced for several years the unfairness of the ‘big fish, little fish’ mentality of the criminal underworld and his ascension to leader did nothing to wash away for those memories.


But this ‘weak-looking’ girl was far more dangerous than any of the other ‘allies’ she had here in Vale, even more than Emerald and Mercury combined.


And that was without taking under consideration the usefulness of her perception-altering semblance.


Very flexible as an infiltrator and a close-encounter fighter, her experience and training proving to be far superior to any other criminal here in the kingdom.


A pity that this useful pawn had the worst attitude to face in this kind of circumstances.


“Considering that now you have been visiting the bar for three days now, removing you now will spark some unpleasant suspicions from the target.” Cinder had to ultimately admit in front of Neo, the cheeky-looking girl blinked with a smug smirk on her face while basking in the indirect praise. “And that is why you feel so confident that I wouldn’t try to do anything to you.”


There was a moment or two of silence, the parasol swirling around while the henchgirl gave a quick nod over the supposition.


“But there is a little flaw in this plan of yours,” The half-maiden proclaimed softly and with a hint of certainty, enough to draw a frown from the standing-still girl, her heterochromatic eyes widening as fire formed around the older woman’s left arm. “Accidents tend to happen and I would never allow one of my minions recover without my caring watch over them.


A shiver went down the mute’s spine, but she managed to keep herself from outright show panic at that development, something that pleased Cinder a little.


Both because it proved that the short woman still had some fiery spirit with her own tasks and… because the struggling just make things funnier for her.


“So how about you start telling me why do you watch Sid Tremaine so intensively?” Cinder started to probe again, this time having the advantage to back her efforts up. “Why would his actions garner your-”


Respect.


Cinder’s eyes paused right on the sign, the sole word drawing multiple scenarios over what she was referring to.


“Respect?”


The sign spun one last time before disappearing away from her sign… yet she spotted the familiar words and she realized that it was a repetition.


He is nice.


“Are you afraid of being maimed if you give a truthful answer, Neo?” The half-maiden pressed on with some insistence. “Then I guess you are interested to him because of something else, something that-”


Angers you.


The sign made a return, again, and this time Cinder’s eyes narrowed at the impertinent girl.


“I think I will soon have to punish you.”


The girl disappeared, her figure shattering like glass before reappearing right where she had really been until now.


Right onto that damn steel beam where she had been prior to her ‘descent’.


“Do you think this is all a game for you to play and enjoy? To see how far my patience will go before I prove you that your usefulness isn’t essential?”


But the mute didn’t answer at that challenge, merely looking down at her with a bored expression.


Her heel finally moved away from Roman’s hand, the criminal leader rushing his unscathed hand onto the possibly-wounded one, nursing it close as he slowly got up from the floor with a suffering look on his face.


“I-I understand that Neo got you pissed and all,” The crime boss started to speak carefully. “But while I can’t control her wandering, I can assure you that she will not try anything funny with the brat.”


Her eyebrow lifted in curiosity. “And why are you so sure of this, Roman?”


He sighed, calmly making his way back to the table he had been sitting until a few minutes ago, trying to find some more cigars.


“If there is something I know of Neo, it’s that she doesn’t like to harm ‘nice’ people,” The man admitted with a pained smile. “If she repeats that he is nice, then he should be able to avoid any unpleasant bad end.”


Very annoying that Torchwick was the only ‘translator’ of such a dangerous element in her plans and yet there was nothing to do about it.


Neo was a thorn on her side, but one that had yet to display even for a moment something from her behavior that resembled any treacherous thoughts about her commitment to the half-maiden’s cause.


“If you are so certain of it, I suppose you can bet your life on it,” Cinder mused quietly, the man pausing for a moment in surprise at that aggressive development. “I can see it as a good exchange for even a mere scratch being caused by Neo’s own initiative upon the target.”


“Of course!” Roman exclaimed with a little grin on his face. “It isn’t like I’m already on a difficult spot with you trying to murder me for little mistakes-”


“The ‘little mistake’ did force us to let go of Adam’s support,” The dark-haired woman interjected coldly. “We lost men to use as fodders, the Fang was brainwashed enough to be used as the backbone for our operations.”


“And that is why you got us some interesting contacts from outside of Vale.”


“Contacts that now would like some of the cake that was supposed to be only yours,” Cinder shot back coldly, causing the crime boss to grimace at this very issue for his part. “I wonder if it was worth to have the information about your last major theft to be leaked to some unpleasant ears.”


Feline ones to that.


“Meh, could have been ‘my life’,” He conceded with a heavy sigh. “Still, I don’t want to snoop around but why the boy is that important to get his own escort guard?”


The question lied unanswered and Roman didn’t pester any longer as the half-maiden graced him with a strong glare.


“I hope you endeavor with Junior have sparked any good opportunities, some minor thefts that can be done to not warrant the interest of the authorities while we recover from our recent loss.”


“A few ones, I had them planned out to be completed in a week time,” The crime boss finally relaxed at the easier to understand topic. “But there could be more opportunities before the end of the time I’m giving you. Anything that could be alluring in getting some coin without getting the cops on our trails.”


She nodded. “Good, then I don’t see any other reason to be lingering about. You better return back to work.”


Roman nodded, his new cigar now lit on his lips as he alternated his stare between the retreating woman and the paperwork that still required his attention to be concluded.


Neo didn’t glance at the boss, her eyes directed up at the ceiling as she lied onto the steel beam while trying to catch some rest.


The next day was going to be a big one for her after all.


But Cinder didn’t care at all at the lack of ‘goodbyes’ from the two, her mind directing its attention right on the next step of her infiltration.


With the school uniform fitting her ‘perfectly’, her little efforts to find a wig that best conformed with her overall appearance had resulted in a shoulder-length dark-blue wig that had covered well enough her original dark-haired locks.


With the Belladonna now studying once more at Beacon, having some extra precautions was just a good way to avoid more suspicion from Ozpin and his little group.


It was a slow and steady process, one paved with carefully planned steps that were going to provide her with a complete victory over the mind of one of the most ancient souls in Remnant.


---------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d----------d-d-d-d---------


AN


AAAAAAHHHHHHHH! It’s been almost a month since last update and… I’m sorry!


It wasn’t something born from personal desire, the reason behind so much time had passed since last update is more related to my schedule. (I think I have 16 stories up and running at the moment… goddamn.).


Now, some quick comments before I get called a ‘Tumblr Polyamory’ writer (in the very story where pairings aren’t even a goddamn thing. You can try to call me that in Stark Rebirth but… I don’t even have Tumblr to begin with!?) [Also quick advertisement: I don’t consider the term a derogatory one as everyone is entitled to their own writing delights and… I’m not even much of a fun of RWBY’s pairings with how aggressive all sides are right now so… yeah, that’s it.]:


1) No, I’m not pairing Neo with Sid. I’ve decided that her role will actually be a funnier one. It will be actually an apt role for her muteness and mysterious personality;


2) Blake is not paired with anyone. I will throw some mad scenes of the ships but it will be all in a satirical light than a serious one; (The kitty ain’t getting any tuna tonight, instead she is sticking to some napping.)


3) If you have managed to stick in there, then you are commended to be a good reader of mine and one of the few that actually do mind the fine lines instead of falling in fallacious arguments because they don’t want to read the ‘boring AN’. Here is a cookie, a ‘Imma Cool’ t-shirt and a pat on your back.


Lastly. JoJo SI, Chibi Dio starting from Ep1 of Phantom Blood. Name? Absolute Divinity!

 

Chapter 15: It’s good to vent-


~Blake’s POV~


Her life has suddenly resumed some of its burdened pace, there was no doubt about it.


Blake was aware that there was a non-negligible amount of people that would surely love to pester around one way or another.


From morning up to the first pause from lessons, her mind was left in a state of peaceful remembrance as she was once again left to get accustomed back to the school life.


The first obstacle had been the bathroom as the Belladonna was reminded of the fact she had to share that service with three more girls.


Having lived just for a few weeks with Sid, a young man that would be swift with his morning routine, she couldn’t certainly ignore the sudden waiting time she would have to endure.


Yet there wasn’t much of a choice and at least she was the third in line with Yang left for last turn-wise.


The first lesson of the day was with Professor Port, something that wasn’t truly ideal to start a normal day with.


It turned out to be as boring as the Cat Faunus could remember it to be back before the battle at the docks, but while her first impulse was to reach out for the little book she had decided to bring with herself, the Cat Faunus had instead opted to make an effort to listen to the actual lecture.


Some of her fellow students would easily question her sanity at the horrid choice, yet the reasoning within her head was a logical and meaningful one.


There was no hiding from the truth, Blake needed to improve her current fighting capacity.


She could remember the rigorous training sessions she had to go through before becoming a White Fang operative, a mix of formal exercise left by some decent trainers within the organization and… some lessons that her mother had been so keen to tutor her about.


Kali Belladonna had fought much more than her husband has, having trained at Beacon herself and having been one of the top Huntresses before retiring home as per her father’s order, at the time the Chieftain of Menagerie.


With the extra preparation, rising up from the early ranks proved to be easier than she had thought it to be and she had so carefully started to try out to adapt some new means to keep up with her improvement.


But then her free time started to tank the sudden increase of responsibilities with her higher roles, forcing her to train lesser and lesser.


It didn’t help that by becoming Adam’s direct subordinate, she was also left with quite the overpowered companion to trust in any fighting.


They were quick to find some synergy with their unique styles and from there the need of training had silently vanished from her mind.


Maybe it was meant to be seen as ironic that it had been Adam’s indirect presence that had caused this desire to rekindle.


But it was also fairly infuriating how she had been neutralized so quickly against the two thugs.


Sid had managed to hold a steady ground, something admirable for someone that had just some knowledge and training from his parents, but that also highlighted how much Blake needed to restart some proper daily exercise.


Her first step was returning her focus back on writing down notes about battle-hardened teachers.


Albeit Port’s voice tended to get her to distract more than once, the narration he offered was actually useful for someone that most depended on natural instincts.


If there was something that the old professor’s stories shared up to a fascinating degree, it was the importance for Huntsmen to never drop their guard when they weren’t in a place that could be considered a safe location where to ease up and rest.


Not only during mission, but also everywhere that wasn’t their home or something even so relatively close to that.


Scribbling down his accurate and surprisingly-morbid depictions of some of his precise strikes brought back to the Belladonna an interest in resuming her studies of Grimm Anatomy.


Since she lacked considerable firepower, or at least something close to what her teammates had, Blake was left to rely upon her knowledge of the weakspots that were in Grimm’s bodies.


Some were quick to notice because of the different shade, mostly reddish, over the beasts’ skin, yet not many first-year students knew about the ‘unseen’ flaws on the monsters’ bodies.


It had been something that Adam had commented about a couple of years back, when one of their missions had been of clearing up a large area near to one of the bases in Mistral.


He was methodical, almost eager to swiftly decimate the Grimm that they had been meant to kill and his tone, so suave and yet so tense, made it possible for her head to promptly remember it even now.


Once Port was done with his lesson, it was time to face a lecture a little more practical than theoretical.


Professor Goodwitch decided to give about five minutes to describe what was going to happen now that there was a growing number of students coming from the other schools for the Vytal tournament.


The blonde started by citing how the classes would end up teaching the new arrivals too and how the lessons would take a wider approach to best keep up with the different curricula from the other schools.


Once the woman was done with her speech, the sparring sessions were officially started and… Blake decided it was high time to get herself engaged with this new purpose at Beacon.


But just as the Cat Faunus prepared to ask Yang if she wanted to train together in that session, her little attempt was killed as one voice coming from the other side of the benches reached her ears.


“Teach, I want to fight that stray cat there.”


The dark-haired girl tensed a little, her eyes scanning over whom had decided to address her in that racist term and… surprisingly enough it wasn’t Cardin.


In fact, the orange-haired bully looked fairly annoyed by the loud request coming right beside him.


It was one of the members from his team.


The young man had light-brown hair combed to the left and… he looked scrawnier than the team leader.


Was his name… Dove?


“Mr. Bronzewing, I will not accept requests about fighting students that have been recently hospitalized and I will not tolerate any other remarks of that kind,” Ms. Goodwitch cooly replied, her eyes narrowing at the now squirming young man, but then her attention was taken by a hand that had been raised by the very Faunus.


“Ms. Belladonna, I hope you aren’t going to-”


“I think I can do this, Ms. Goodwitch,” Blake interjected politely, ignoring the concerned looks coming from her teammates.


“You shouldn’t exert yourself this much,” Weiss said, surprising the Belladonna a little with her note of genuine worry. “You just recovered from what has happened to you and-”


“I appreciate the concern,” The dark-haired girl interrupted quietly, giving a small smile. “I really do. But I wasn’t hurt that badly to need a day off from fighting.”


The heiress looked a little uneasy about it all, but it was Yang that actually put her at ease.


“If she has any problems, I will intervene myself,” The blonde said calmly as she turned to stare at Blake right up to her eyes with her lilac orbs. “And that is final.”


A mere nod ceased the little tense situation, freeing Blake to go for what was supposed to be some simple sparring session.


…


Disappointment has never been so quick to come to her mind.


While she had expected for Dove to be slightly weaker than her, considering how long since she had last trained and that she had been slouching for some time now, Blake had thought that it could have ended up turning into something a little more… instructive.


Her already-low expectations crumbled when the ‘battle’ began and… the young man proceeded to attack her with some wild swings of his swords.


There was no logic, no planning, only swinging around in a stupid manner.


It was somewhat annoying, if not rage-worthy as she would have expected a little more from the ‘standard Beacon student’.


The Cat Faunus merely used her agility to carefully move through his attacks, press him to keep his footing unbalanced as she continued to stalk him around the arena.


His confidence collapsed after two minutes of futile lashing out, his eyes widening by the moment as he realized that he wasn’t getting nowhere with his attacks.


His team kept quiet during the fight, only Cardin was speaking to him and trying to give him some advice.


But none of the leader’s words reached his mind as he continued to lose more of his ‘dominance’ over the fight and soon he was stolen of the control over his own stance.


He tripped backwards, a panicked yelp cut shortly as Blake decided to intervene at this point as her boredom had reached far beyond what she was usually capable of bottle up.


Gambol Shroud moved silently, the ribbon attached to the end of the katana was swiftly unfolded while she delivered a strong kick right onto the side of his face.


Nothing dangerous, his own Aura had dropped just a little with her attack but the purpose behind this quick physical exchange far complex than it looked like.


Dove didn’t notice the ribbon was now wrapped around his body, pressing his arms into his chest as it tightened under her hold.


This time a yelp did leave his lips, but it was a pained one mixed with a groan.


He dropped to the ground again, trying to struggle out to what was a Dust-reinforced ribbon.


Some time passed as she loomed over him, her dull expression staring upon his nervous-angry look and… soon it was over.


Ms. Goodwitch gave Blake some little praise as there was just so few things that she did, while the woman was more than earnest to chide the freed Dove about his lacking capacity in a normal fight, providing him with a list of what he was supposed to do if he wanted to improve.


Some harsh training for sure, the means that he had to fight were so far close to what Jaune had back when he joined Beacon.


Cardin was mostly silent, only answering when it was necessary as the teacher repeated the situation with him, giving him the burden to see his teammate shaped up in a proper huntsman.


The bully gave her a brief glance, and surprisingly enough it lacked any malicious intent behind it.


The oddity of this case vanished right as she found herself scooped up in a hug by Yang, soon followed by Ruby and… some shoulder-patting from Weiss.


The rest of the lesson continued smoothly, with Blake still taking notes over the spars unfolding after her initial one.


Lunch was the next stop and the Belladonna was ready to enjoy some good time in peace and- sadly, fate was a cruel mistress.


The dark-haired young woman had thought that her team would have been the worst obstacle to face once she had returned to Beacon, yet a certain Monkey Faunus had proved her immensely wrong about this thought.


Sun was over-joyed with her safety.


Yes, the term was the closest adjective that happened to wrap up the sheer giddiness the blond had displayed as he had decided to come and see her when it was lunchtime.


The Cafeteria, one of the few places that she had thought to be devoid of any annoyances, became the ‘battlefield’ for one of the most irritating predicaments she had to face in her entire life.


And yes, that was also considering Adam’s creepy advances.


With a wide smile plastered on his youthful face and the hopeful glint in his blue eyes, the young man decided to coat her in various tales about what the Cat Faunus had missed while she had been ‘kidnapped’.


Stories that were farfetched in most part as they went far and long about the incredible hardship the student from Haven had to go through for the sake of trying to find her.


The Belladonna was almost keen to snort in several occasions at some exaggerated bits over his main theme, one that saw him following some mysterious trail that was somehow connected to the warehouse where she had been taken into.


Of course Sun had never come as close to the truth of things as he was so earnestly pointing out, his summary being quickly sniped down by her own team as she had been sitting beside Yang when this situation escalated.


There was another young light-blue-haired man that introduced himself as Sun’s partner, but while he seemed to be in a friendly relationship with the overly-enthusiastic Monkey Faunus, he wasn’t holding back from intervening in some of the exaggerations.


Neptune Vasilias ended up being quite capable in trying to restrain the eccentric tale-telling from his ‘brother-in-arm’, his efforts almost doubled by the rest of team RWBY.


Weiss proved to be prone in dismantling with the driest tone the ‘outlandish’ remarks lingering in Sun’s tale.


Yang was quick to playfully tease some of the sections that contained innuendos that she keenly exploited much to the fellow blond’s dismay.


But the one that surprisingly got the young man to cease with his little rant was... Ruby.


It had come out as a surprise, yet the naive girl was able to unbalance the already-shaky foundation which this ‘incredible’ story was starting to become the more the foreigner student continued to speak.


Ultimately, it was Neptune that got him to tell the truth over his efforts and… it wasn’t as ‘limited’ as he made them appear.


By the third day Blake had gone missing, the Monkey Faunus had gained some favors with one of the criminal informants in the capital, yet the man had proved to be unable to find out where she had gone.


There was no clue, nor hint for any Cat Faunus that had ‘appeared’ in the underworld, thus denying any chance for Sun to even begin some serious investigations and…


The girl knew that it would have been a shocker if he had.


Since a large period of her ‘kidnapping’ was spent wandering in plain sight (with some alterations to her appearance, but still there for everyone to see her around), no criminals would have had any reason reported her presence as she was just one of the numerous civilians that walked in Vale.


A simple dot in a sea of dots.


Bianca had been a normal individual that spent most of her time around Sid Tremaine, a ‘human’ woman that was merely going with her life by working in a bar by Vale’s central district.


In the end, both Sun and Neptune decided to walk away from the cafeteria with the intention of looking around some more about the school.


It meant some brief peace before she was forced to deal with what was left for her to do today.


Something that she herself wasn’t sure how to deal with.


-------------d-d-d-d--------------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d---------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d----


The office was surprisingly quiet as Blake took her seat by one of the chair in front of the main desk.


Ozpin was mostly silent as he took a sip from his cup of coffee, a minuscule hum leaving his lips as he enjoyed the beverage in relative calm.


He had already greeted her, and he had been quite welcoming by letting her know that Ms. Goodwitch wasn’t going to assist him in this session.


Numerous were the thoughts rumbling within the Belladonna’s mind over what was supposed to happen now that she was there.


She had plenty of time to contemplate what the headmaster had truly wanted to known from her by going through what he defined as ‘therapy sessions’.


As much as the Cat Faunus was aware of, there wasn’t anything that seriously warranted a mental evaluation as she had received a standard one when she was first escorted back to the infirmary just two days ago.


Nothing about the White Fang, nothing about her kidnapping-


Yet Ozpin was sure that something about the last two weeks or so had escaped her attention and it was something important enough that had become reason to make this kind of… afternoon chats.


In her opinion, there was no real reasons that warranted this predicament, and yet there was nothing that she could do about without ending up dealing with more troubles within the school.


The old man’s attention didn’t seem to stem from something negligible and… surprisingly enough, she had to still understand why.


Why would the headmaster be interested in what had happened in these last two weeks if she knew plenty enough that nothing wrong had been done?


The silence lasted a little much more as her musings were left undisturbed, as much as the gray-haired man was finishing up the content in his dark-green mug.


In the end it was Blake herself to spoke up, finding the curious state of quiet to be far too ‘noisy’ to face for too long.


It was the inner pressure that had dictated for a response, something to get her to begin what was going to be quite the irritating circumstance.


“H-Headmaster,” She addressed politely, drawing the man’s eyes on her as he gave her an inquiring look. “H-How exactly are you going to start this ‘therapy session’? Are you going to ask me questions or-”


“Do you want me to ask questions, Ms. Belladonna?”


The sudden interjection caused the girl to tense up in a moment of nervousness.


Her eyes went wide and, a blink later, she frowned. “Wh-What?” Blake asked with a hint of uneasiness.


What kind of game was the headmaster playing? Why was he dragging this situation so much? And why like ‘this’!?


“Do you want to turn this in a test of sort, Ms. Belladonna? Where I act as a teacher, pushing you to give me precise answers about a topic you might or might not be aware of?” Ozpin asked with more details. “While I understand that you are frightened by the concept of someone unraveling the inner thoughts you have, I can assure you that I will not push you to do anything except be at ease with yourself.”


A few seconds passed, his words sinking right deep in her mind as he settled his now-empty cup to the side.


“I can also deduce you are unwilling to spare any major details about what has happened in the last few weeks, your stay at Mr. Tremaine’s home and...” The headmaster paused quietly, a little hum coming right out of his throat as he glanced up to the ceiling of the room. “Can you tell me about Menagerie?”


Another unexpected query, yet this time the young woman recovered faster than before.


“What do you want to-”


“I’ve visited the place several times in the last couple of decades,” Ozpin interrupted with a sigh. “Yet all of those times was for diplomatic purposes, while I admit I would have loved to see the pearly beaches that the island is known for. Tell me, Ms. Belladonna, are the rumors about their pristine state true?”


It was a strange topic to begin what was supposed to be a serious session about herself, but Blake didn’t certainly have a reason to truly complain if she was left alone about the real subjects of her discomfort.


“They look… nice,” She replied quietly, her cat ears twitching in remembrance about her past. “At least, I remember them being quite lovely… until late hours.”


“Aquatic Grimm are still a threat for those people wandering near the water near nighttime?” He asked with some surprise. “I thought that Mistral had offered some gunboats to solve this issue.”


“There was some effort to try and eliminate the threat, but things went wrong when most of the guns broke down beyond repair two days after the acquisition,” The girl mumbled tiredly, thinking back at the scandalous development about the boats being left without defenses against the Grimm assembled against them.


So many lives lost without an apparent reason…


“Was it sabotage?” The headmaster pressed a little more, eyeing her with barely-veiled surprise.


“There were some hints about that possibility,” Blake admitted with a blink. “But the Council of Mistral reneged any possibility of that, offering numerous documents over the proper maintenance of the boats during the years those were under their navy’s service.”


“But it wouldn’t exclude for a willing sabotage, one that happened just before the transaction.”


She felt her fists on her lap tightening into turning white at the remembrance as she kept sitting on her chair.


“Yes,” The young woman replied dryly.


…


Silence resumed from this very point and Blake almost felt glad of this little pause away from thinking about these uneasy memories.


She had been incredibly young, almost nine, when her father had started to deal with the grievances coming from the relatives and the loved ones of those that had perished in that horrible incident.


It had been one of the first issues that had driven Ghira Belladonna to leave the White Fang, as in that very instance a majority of the organization had requested a fiercer rebuttal about Mistral’s almost-mocking reply.


Yet her father had been forced to sternly refused such a course of action, but his reasoning was nothing to truly be displeased about.


While it would have been legitimate to clash against the kingdom, the fear of a naval retaliation was big enough to dissuade any violent reprisal.


There were times where logic had to prevail over the sorrow, and this very circumstance had been one of the ones that her dad had to deal with as the chieftain of Menagerie.


It wasn’t easy, it was never easy for someone to hold that much responsibility, and yet Ghira Belladonna had done that and much more.


“Do you miss your home, Blake?”


Her mind was brought back to reality and away from her memories, right to face Ozpin’s newest question and… the Cat Faunus blinked.


“I do, sometimes,” She admitted quietly. “Just as every student here as Beacon Academy.”


The man had a small smile lingering on his face, and it almost widened at her response.


“Truly?” He inquired with some fascination. “Yet I’m sure you have never thought of calling to your parents and-”


“They wouldn’t appreciate how things had gone for me,” Blake promptly interjected nervously. “They weren’t much keen when I decided to continue with my support for the Fang even when they formally left.”


“But they would still love to hear some news about their daughter, wouldn’t they?”


The Belladonna flinched at the pressure, but she gave a slow nod in return.


“I guess they would.”


There wasn’t truly a grand reason why she had yet to contact them, especially since the true threat of re-establishing contact with her parents had literally exploded when Sid had gotten that warehouse to blow up.


With the White Fang here in Vale crippled from calling back to the main headquarters, Blake certainly didn’t have a serious motivation to not try to call either her mother or her father.


The issue was… beyond logical and it was related to her own uneasiness over the matter.


While they would surely love to hear from her, she didn’t feel ready to take that kind of step by herself.


“I feel myself wondering how they would react if it wasn’t you to speak with them,” The headmaster resumed the conversation with a curious note. “What if it was someone from your team?”


She blinked at the query, confused by its importance within the… everything that this discussion was supposed to represent!


They had digressed far and away from what had happened mere weeks ago to talk about ‘pearly beaches’ and ‘talking with her parents’, things that weren’t truly essential for Ozpin to debate about.


While it was fine to lose some time, it was also best to keep some buttons unpressed.


Yet Blake pondered over his words, deciding to drag the time of her answer a little more as she thought about that eventuality.


Yang would probably be the best candidate… until serious topics were to be brought up.


The blonde was slowly making an effort to make up with the fact she had been ‘uncaring’ towards her about Blake’s own problems, promising to give more attention to her than before, but it wouldn’t be a lie to say that the process was slow and incredibly lacking of grand results so early on.


Weiss would be quite calm and collected while explaining the situation to them, and would surely have been the best option she had if not for the fact that she was a Schnee.


While her parents weren’t going to be prejudiced by such detail, the very notion that their daughter was in the same team as a Schnee would have put them on the edge and probably pushed them to pick some drastic choices.


Drastic choices that wouldn’t be that much acceptable from her part.


And lastly… Ruby.


The young girl would surely endear both her parents.


In the best of scenarios, they would try to make her part of some surrogate family to how much she look as innocent and ‘lovely’ to have around.


Yet the worst circumstance would see that they would be brought to the fact that someone as young as the Rose was leading their child’s team and, albeit cute, that wouldn’t have been much professional within their own standards of Academy’s experiences.


Promptly seeing her asked to leave Beacon Academy as quickly as possible.


Blake frowned at the ceiling, actually surprised by the fact that none of her teammates could technically contact her parents without causing some unwanted developments out of this possible eventuality.


Seriously, when did things turn so much complicated than a month ago?


“I suppose it can be truly complicated considering also the recent situation,” Ozpin pointed out calmly, drawing her attention back to him. “But then again maybe there is something that you could do instead of delaying the inevitable as they will learn one way or another with the Vytal Festival.”


...Oh Gods, her team was going to compete before hundreds of thousands of spectators, among which would be her parents.


They would learn at that point and there was no reason to deny the fact they would surely be the ones to call her.


They would be worried, her father would surely mobilize the entire Menagerie’s guard to ‘pick her up and bring her back home’, while her mom would pester her about the adventures she might have had at Beacon Academy.


The Belladonna gulped nervously at that possibility, yet her concerns were brought to a state of stillness as the headmaster continued.


“What if… the one that informed them of your situation is someone that you know and trust well enough to say the right things?” He inquired with a curious voice. “What if it was someone that has a good background and good relationship with you, Ms. Belladonna?”


There wasn’t much attention to hide about who the man was referencing about and… Blake was unsure about what to think about this newer option.


Sid was sure quick to get angry, even quicker than Yang, but he was usually fairly nice and diplomatic when calm.


The dark-haired young woman could easily see him having some trouble with her father since he was a young man and… since Blake had spent two weeks in his flat.


Still, after the initial annoyance, Ghira Belladonna could probably end up accepting the truthfulness over the matter and, with proper caution, the human could get her story right to her parents without seeing them either go ballistic or extremely worried. Or both.


Yet this situation would be… quite odd.


She blinked at the fact that her mother would seriously tease her about this ‘fascinating period of time spent with Sid’, probably pressing her daughter to tell her about how things had gone by in that curious predicament.


It would be embarrassing, but Blake could at least endure some of the teasing of that caliber.


It wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t even close to have the same drawbacks as the ones of having her teammates deal with this matter.


“It could… work?”


Her voice was soft, almost too difficult to hear herself, and yet the headmaster seemed to catch her reply without much of a trouble.


In fact, his interested expression seemed to grow more intense as his smile widened even more.


“Isn’t that peculiar that you find yourself at ease at having someone that you have known since a few weeks ago instead of anyone here at Beacon?”


…


“W-What?”


“While I can see some minor issues born from having one of your teammates to contact your parents, it wouldn’t be difficult for me to help you in making sure they don’t do anything incredibly… brazen with this revelation,” Ozpin started to explain with a cautious tone. “I think you would prefer best to have someone like Sid Tremaine to try his hand at this curious gamble. I wonder why.”


Was this truly the case?


Sure, she had thought about Ozpin trying his hand to keep the team from breaking apart… but that wasn’t truly the reason why she had been more interested in having Sid to make that call instead of the girls.


It was all about making good impressions over her awkward case.


She would still remain at Beacon, that was undeniable now, but their parents’ reaction would still be a tense one despite Ozpin’s reassurances.


It would become difficult to mend with that kind of relationship and… maybe she wanted to also do something else about it.


But what exactly? What did she want to do by having Sid known to her family?


“I think this session… has concluded successfully, Ms. Belladonna,” Ozpin sighed quietly. “I think your new inner questions born from this enlightening conversation will do well as your very homework for this unique subject. You may take your leave now.”


…


“T-That’s it?” She blurted out of shock, surprised that the headmaster wasn’t asking more from her.


“We have plenty of time for tomorrow or maybe the day after that to discuss about this curious case of yours, but I think we made some progress with this first session,” He replied happily. “You did, in fact, recognize that something is indeed fascinating about your relationship with Mr. Tremaine.”


The Cat Faunus briefly gawked at his words, uncertain about how to reply to those and… so she merely stood up, giving the man a silent nod as she proceeded to leave the office in utter quietness.


Despite the ‘progress’ she had made there, Blake couldn’t help but feel that something was still missing.


What was Ozpin talking about when he mentioned ‘something fascinating’ about her and Sid?


-------------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d-------------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d--------


AN


It’s been a while…


But I feel much more refreshed!


I know, I know, people are surely awed at the fact I’m still alive as an author but… I had to transcend reality itself!


For I, Bukharin, have written the first Dio Self Insert ever! Check out Absolute Divinity, and see how… I got some interesting omakes going among the chapters.


I would also shamelessly plugin two new Fate stories with ‘Tale of Two Kings (Redux version for FFN)’ and ‘Fate/Last Heaven (Redux for FFN)’, and something about the Las Lindas circumstance with Learning: Affection!


Now some little words over the chapter:
1) No, I don’t plan to pair Cardin with Blake in her ‘growing (is it tho?) harem’, but I do plan to make something no fanfiction/story has ever done. Who’s up for a redemption arc? And a redemption with Arc?
2) This is a 100% Blake chapter. Oh my, we are indeed transcending here to a level of writerhood beyond humane! (I can already feel the WRYY!)

 

Chapter 16: -When someone listen.


It was quite early in the morning when she decided to take a stroll around the city.


Vale was still fast-asleep, and just a handful of people was wandering around at that hour, giving her plenty of time to ponder about today’s plans.


She was quiet, her silence putting her in her bubble of indifference with those that walked around her, ignoring her peculiar appearance.


Today was truly going to be a fun day, the young woman could already feel it in her blood.


Neo was never much of a big-planner, especially when she wanted to spend time doing practical things instead of boring herself out with some doodling.


It wasn’t like she wasn’t capable of taking some moments to do such a dull activity, it was more a lack of willingness to spend her time delving in paper and ink as the task was usually left to the pragmatic hands of her boss.


Roman wasn’t good by all mean.


He was respectful and somewhat accepting of her childish thinking of things, but he was someone that rightfully preferred to not dig too deep in her mind out of ‘fear of going mad’.


Technically-speaking, the Criminal mastermind was correct that her mind would haul the sanest individual to the closest asylum as her memories were nothing but feverish nightmares compared to the usual hardships of the normal people here in Vale.


It didn’t actually bother her. Quite the contrary.


The lack of people as scarred as she was left the short criminal to a pleasant state of calm that just drowned her in complete amusement.


The world was her oyster, her semblance granting her the chance of enjoying Remnant to the fullest while also giving her a sense of fiction and reality that strayed away from the common perspective.


Illusions were easy to imagine, but difficult to properly understand.


Some people can make them seem like they are easy to apply to reality, others required years of training and then there was Neo.


A mere thought, a little glimpse from her mind represented in reality. She was sure that she could actually create any images she wanted to, but instead of being limited just in imagery and sound, it was the complete perception of people that was tricked by her ‘pranks’.


A terribly-powerful semblance… left to be used by a giddy girl with no major ambitions and lots of ideas for her current present.


Heck, even her past had disappeared after mere months of being set free, and the memories had been suppressed by unwillingness to let those anchor her down.


Silence welcomed her inner request, and she was glad to accept the delightful calm and peace of the world around her while she twirled around at her unknown tune.


But that was until she felt the need to shake the world for some entertainment.


A mere spin, maybe a kick or two. That’s when things turned so amusing that even a noiseless giggle would leave her lips at the scenes she would get from minimal involvement over the order of things.


It was so simple, yet so complicated and quite the gamble to pull through.


It had been Roman that had given her a proper explanation.


‘Everything is a gamble. Going for a walk, hoping to not be mugged or to not step on some crap, and even your semblance can protect you from when life decides to be a mean bitch.’


A fair thought over the ironically twisted world that housed them all.


Roman tried to appear sane, but even the image he built over his ‘pragmatic criminal’ person was but a façade of his real self.


She could remember meeting him the first time. He had been but just a lone thief trying to make successful heists without getting caught.


The initial operations were all easy activities that were meant to draw rewards with little to no risk.


He was tired even back then when he first began his career, but Neo could remember some oddly-endearing spark in his eyes.


It had given her plenty of reasons to see where he wanted to go, where he was trying to walk into and…


He hadn’t disappointed her despite the lack of sunshine and explosions.


There was still ice cream for her to buy, her favorite delicacy keeping her satisfied in numerous situations.


It was sweet and cold enough to keep her from burning names or claiming buildings- wait, she was switching things.


She hummed silently, her mind budging away from her little deviation into this pleasant, but distracting topic and right into the real issue of her current lifestyle.


Roman was acceptable in her book, Junior fell a little lower in her grading system of people that she knew she could poke around without seeing any retaliation…


But then there is Cinder.


Powerful, incredibly-clever, mysterious-


What an infuriating bitch!


Not only her semblance was strong enough to put some fear in Neo’s mind, despite the fact that the ice-cream addict was conscious of being capable of avoiding direct attacks thanks to her own abilities, but the fact she had managed to get a tight grasp over Roman made things…


Annoying.


She wasn’t mad at her boss for bending at Cinder’s demands, knowing well enough that Roman was someone that knew how to play his cards in this kind of instances.


It wasn’t the first time someone had managed to get him in this kind of predicament, but this time what truly got Neo worried was the fact that Cinder wasn’t planning a mere takeover of some gangs.


Vale was her target, but even now the general lines behind her ‘planned attacks’ were still unknown to her.


One can wonder what the dark-haired woman was planning to do with so much Dust, and one can wonder why she had to be blessed with such a good guy for a brother.


It didn’t take Neo too much effort to discover the connection between the two, especially with how detailed Sid Tremaine’s profile was in the CCTV system.


Born in Mistral in a family of warriors of different branches, he was the ‘youngest’ if she took under consideration the correlation between him and Cinder.


He had some combat preparation, but never went to continue his studies in Haven as he preferred to keep a civilian route for his last school years.


This bit was confusing for multiple reasons since the young man had an enviable certification that could have seen him become quite the influential hunter in Mistral.


There was no comments about this information, driving Neo to fish for some more details to keep herself attentive to what was going to be a long mission.


Not that the young woman minded the extended period of time spent away from the hideout, especially since she was supposed stay at a bar that offered well-made ice creams!


Indeed, this assignment might lack the excitement of fighting her way through some pesky cops or backstabbing grunts, but it did offer her the chance of some relaxing time alone and without worries of getting attacked any time soon.


The city was by now well-defended by the Council’s militiamen and Huntsmen, and no criminal in Vale would dare to try anything funny in broad daylight.


She took the last corner that led right to where the modest-sized establishment was sited, a small smile perched on her face as she decided to skip the usual timing and get in earlier than normal.


There was no client at the moment and both the owner and the lone waiter of the activity were standing near the counter.


The young man’s eyes widened in surprise at her appearance, the state of shock making her almost preen at the detailed expression that she could now enjoy together with some sweet treat.


Taking a seat by her usual chair, she waited for the worker to approach and offer her the menu.


Neo already knew what was on it, but she would enjoy the moment she had to see him so closely and so expressively.


This very scene was enough to dignify the curt depiction she had given back to Cinder.


Sid Tremaine was nice, just not in the ‘kind’ denotation of the word.


Many waiters had come to avoid approaching her in the places she used to visit in the past for some breakfast or after-lunch meal, fearful of how sickly sweet her posture would take and… how her eyes would glint mirthful deadliness once in a while.


She was creepy, she knew this very well, but this wasn’t a flaw of her personality.


It was a fun trait from her unique charisma!


The young man finally offered her the plasticized paper with the list of the various possibilities that she could pick up for to day-


“Again with the Neopolitan,” He muttered with a huff. “You sure have an obsession with that...”


Was that so easy to spot on? Perhaps ordering just that flavor might get that kind of idea out, but there was no way in Hell that she would just surrender her little addiction without a brave and stubborn fight.


She merely nodded with a bright smile, waiting for Sid to go through the small steps required for the preparation of a Neopolitan-filled cup.


The order was served mere seconds later, the girl almost ready to dive in at the enticing treat, but she stopped momentarily to take hold of the waiter’s closest hand.


Sid stopped, with his eyes going wide open as he tensed up under her grasp.


It was as if a big sheep has been caught off-guard by the bite from a tiny wolf.


Now, wasn’t that an image nicer that what was actually going on?


In fact, Neo was almost tempted to squeeze a little more to see how resilient his wrist was… but then again she wasn’t meant to maim her little target.


Also, the pleasure would be abysmal at best if she went through with this since he hadn’t shown anything that had warranted that little play.


“Ms. Neo?”


Oh? Now she was a ‘Miss’? What a novelty! Miss Neopolitan, professional illusionist and hearts-thief!


Maybe she should put this in her business card instead of merely Neopolitan.


But while her mind was eager to lose itself in the spiral of thoughts storming in her mind, the girl merely patted at the table while glancing at Sid, drawing a confused look from him.


“You want me to-” He trailed a little bit as he followed her gesture. “Sit with you?”


She blinked and then gave a quick nod.


His frown deepened, but his hesitation seemed to be attached to the owner as the burly man was staring at the sight from the safety of the counter.


‘Yeah, as if that is safe enough from an attack from me~.’


Giddy thoughts were concluded the moment the young man actually took a seat by the chair in front of her and… blinked.


“So… is there something you wish to tell me?”


...


That was rude. Very, very rude!


He knew well enough that she wasn’t capable of speaking and yet-


“Really, what do you want?” He pressed on with some insistence, getting a silent huff out of Neo’s pouty lips.


Pity swelled deeply as she failed to capitalize the teasing opportunity, merely drawing it within the walls of her head, but then she nodded and took out… one of her business card.


Presenting it to the waiter, his frown seemed to increase even more at how ‘insignificant’ the gesture seemed to be.


“Yes, I know that your name is Neopolitan, but why did you want to show me-”


She flipped it, revealing some words she had written into it with her semblance.


I will talk with you like this.


“-This,” He concluded the pseudo-question with surprise at the development, his eyes widening again as he studied the card.


“That was… your semblance, right?” He inquired calmly, which Neo replied with a nod. “That’s cool.”


Truly a flatterer. Another reason to be surprised about his connection with that fire-bitch, but one that she didn’t mind to be subjected to.


Not many had ‘rightfully’ complimented her incredible powers and she smiled.


So, how are you doing?


He blinked at the query and he hummed.


“Pretty fine considering last few days,” Sid replied quietly. He tapped the table with his fingers for a while before speaking once again “What about you?”


I’m doing more than fine. I mean, I’m getting some ice cream right now!


The waiter snorted. “Seriously, you know that it’s not healthy?”


She pouted again, this time taking her time to contemplate a proper response.


Aren’t you technically the one selling me this? Shouldn’t you just… allow me to have my fun?


“You can eat anything else. Heck, I think even another flavor would be a nice change of pace,” He shot back with a sigh. “i mean, it’s not like this is the only thing we offer here.”


But it’s the best-made in my opinion. In fact, I think this my favorite!


“Oh, thank you-” He paused a moment in his response, his soft features hardening in another frown. “Wait, you haven’t tried anything else other than that.”


She let out another giggle, this one stretching a little longer than the last one.


True, but I want that.


To emphasize her demand, the girl took her mini-spoon and took a quick bite out of the cup.


He sighed. “I guess you are hell-bent about it.”


Damn right, I am!


“But is there… something else you want to tell me?” Sid sobered up a little bit. “I understand you are just enjoying your time here, but I think you aren’t just here for ice cream.”


…


Should she drop some hint?


Maybe she could make a game out of it, something to keep herself amused even beyond this usual things.


But what kind of game would it be and how should it be played?


So many questions and so little ice-cream.


Taking another bite out of her cup, she blinked and nodded.


Maybe?


He groaned, close to facepalm at her purposely-infuriating comeback.


“I feel like you are hiding something big but… I’m not sure what.”


Her lips twitched in amusement at that comment and the card spun around again.


I’m actually taller than I look like.


“I fail to see it being true,” He retorted quickly, catching her off-guard for a brief moment. How could he just shot down her flimsy effort so easily and- “I mean, you look pretty cool right now and I think you being taller would… screw your style a little.”


She blinked once, then twice… then thrice.


It was a first for someone like Neo to be complimented in such a subtle but dastardly amusing way.


Her hands reached for her belly as she let out a silent laugh.


The reaction made the young man jumpy, at first seeming concerned as she did seem like she was in pain, but then he noticed the giddy grin on her face and the tears forming by her eyes.


He crossed his arms close to his chest and huffed. “Now, what’s that reaction?”


I’ve to be honest. This is the first time that someone pulled such a flawless flirt like that.


Sid blinked, slightly confused by the comment he received back.


“What are you talking about?”


Aw, you didn’t even notice? Tell you what- Tomorrow morning, I will be there again to continue this pleasant conversation.


“Wait, what?”


How adorable, trying to stop her by taking hold of her hand… pity that this isn’t how life truly works.


A longing sigh slipped in her mind as she moved through her semblance, out of the two men’s sights and right out of the building with a pretty smile plastered on her cute face.


But not before leaving some money to pay for the ice cream and a little reward for Sid to discover~.


-----------d-d-d-d------------------d-d-d-d---------------d-d-d-d-------------


~Sid’s POV~


Today was truly an interesting day, with Neo providing some information about herself, giving out details about what her personality was and… I was quite tired.


The first thing I did as I returned back home from work was to literally stumble into the welcoming couch in the living room and shut my eyes for a couple of seconds.


I tried to take a brief rest, just enough to lift my spirits long enough to go through making some dinner and get some real sleep by the bed.


Yet the more I tried to ignore the lingering annoyance coming from some recent embarrassing instances, the more those appeared to stick around in my mind.


When Neo had left without notice, she did so by putting some money on the table to pay for her order while also dropping a quick peck at my right cheek.


The little lipstick mark had then been reason for mortification, irritating questions from other clients and much more.


It all started when Marcus had exploded in chuckles at the sight of the pink a shade darker than my skin impressed on my face, enough to get some customer that had just arrived to notice what was wrong.


This little spark was enough to bring up some neverending lines of comments about how ‘lucky’ I was and inquiries from those that had been curious about the identity of the cheek-kisser.


Thankfully, the work-day didn’t stretch beyond the usual and I proceeded to reach the flat as quickly as I could.


Yawning a little, I turned to the side and looked around the illuminated room.


Everything was quiet… like yesterday and the day before.


It was devoid of any strange noises, any signs of people being there and giving more company to the empty apartment.


…


Goddammit, I’m missing Blake.


I can’t believe this is a thing. This shouldn’t be a thing!


While I can show some caring side towards the Cat Faunus, I had no reason to be missing her presence here now that she was gone back to Beacon.


Sure, I had some fun when she was around but-


The young woman was safe if she stayed there and the most important thing was her safety.


After foiling her recent kidnapping, I was so sure of this that I had no reason to doubt the fact she had to stay there.


Yet I was still dealing with the fact I was alone in that flat.


This is supposed to be my home. The place where I’m supposed to be feeling the happiest and the calmest at.


But it wasn’t the case, quite the contrary if I had to mention.


I felt deprived of someone to talk to and could actually reply back. Blake was smart enough to make proper comments and snippets, to be antithesis and my supporter when certain circumstances were brought up.


And now she was away from the city itself and up in Beacon Academy, possibly trying to fit back with the school’s life and messing around with the people there.


I had left people back in Mistral. Heck, I had left my parents back there to start my own life away from that correlation and from Mistral’s general lifestyle.


It had hurt for a while, and settling down had been quite difficult to achieve without dealing with some strong doubts of calling back home.


I knew when both my parents were at home, when they would answer and how they would reply to my words.


Support, love, and affection.


Which didn’t exactly help with the way I was supposed to deal with Blake.


The girl was sure something of a friend of mine, the reason leading her to crash into my place still hanging threateningly over the chances of confirming a true friendship as I was still unsure what to think of it all.


Pure luck, or bad luck considering the damage she had caused on the flat, had made her stumble onto my life but she wasn’t left unscathed herself.


Changes had happened from both sides, with me growing to accept the oddity that was Blake Belladonna, and the girl accepting that some orderly effort was necessary for her own sake.


Time had passed, but it hadn’t been enough to concretely clarify the real nature of our wacky relationship.


Love didn’t exceed into the romantic. I was missing her presence, but I wasn’t certainly fawning over her personality and physique.


She was pretty decent for someone with her background for sure, but she just wasn’t my type.


Friend? Possible. There was no reason to hide the fact that the various challenges we had to go through, the most significant one being her botched kidnapping, cemented the fact that there was something.


A bond that was unique in its own rights, defying anything that I had experienced until now.


It was less than brotherly, but so more intense than any friendship I had back in Mistral.


The more I spent time pondering over this maddening topic, the more questions would come out of my thoughts.


I groaned on the soft pillow of the couch, drowning my face more into its delicate texture, my mind fully delving deep into this immense dilemma.


What was Blake to me? And why was I feeling this much upset over her being not here?


But just as I headbutted the metaphysical problem until something could truly come out to answer this insanity, my brain had to reboot at the familiar sound of… my ringtone.


I blinked, thinking back at the fact that I had gone to fix my Scroll just two days ago.


I took the opportunity of free time to see it finally looked up and properly fixed, giving up some hundreds of Liens to see the device’s problems solved and restored back to a prime degree.


Now it worked properly and it had been upgraded to have the latest update of the system.


Taking it out from one of my pants’ pockets, I glanced at the display to see who was calling and… the number ID was an unknown one.


The initial digits seemed to be from Vale, crushing instantly the chances of dealing with some Vacuo-based ‘harassers’.


Feeling just a hint of curiosity at this unexpected call, I decided to check who it was, especially since Cinder had promised me that she would have called once she was free from her currently-tight schedule.


I waited for a moment, but then the caller spoke.


“Hello?”


...


My entire body tensed and my brain fully woke up from the state of sleepiness it had been drowning into until now.


With my eyes widening in surprise at realizing who it was, I decided to slowly reply.


“Hello Blake,” I muttered quietly.


There was a brief pause but then the Faunus resumed the call.


“Did I call you in a busy moment?” She inquired uneasily. “If you are at work, I can call-”


“Just got home a few moments ago,” I interrupted her before she could have continued down that line. “We can talk right now.”


I could hear her sighing from the other side. “I know that it’s also late. But… we need to talk about a few things.”


I blinked at her sudden serious voice, quite perplexed at the swing up to something that sounded ominous.


“Is everything alright at Beacon?”


“Yes, I- this is not only me, it’s about the me and you,” Blake replied with a sigh. “I’ve been waiting for some time but, I have to tell you that Ozpin knows what truly happened in the last two weeks.”


…


“Care to elaborate, please?”


My brain burned fiercely at the little but powerful sentence she had delivered.


The Headmaster of Beacon Academy was quite the important guy in Vale, not only as the principal of one of the most famous Huntsmen schools in Remnant but also for having an influential position in the Council.


Ozpin was someone that wasn’t meant to be trifled with, even my father commenting that approaching him wasn’t something as easy as it was with normal people.


There was just that weary tone in his posture, that saddening glimpse that made him stand out like a tragic character in a dreadful theatrical play.


The worst thing was… he had the means to achieve the absurd task of knowing what is going on in the city while he is in his office.


“When I returned back here, I was taken to his office and… he told me that he knew about what had really happened in these two weeks,” The young woman continued to explain. “He said that despite that he will still support the little explanation we had planned out for this.”


...But why?


Why would he do something like this?


“Did Ozpin tell you why didn’t he just order for you to return back at Beacon?” I finally asked and I waited for an answer about this heavy query.


Blake stood quiet for some time, but then she spoke up with certain nervousness.


“H-He mentioned that he was interested by… what was happening,” The Faunus replied carefully. “I’m not sure myself what he found to be a good reason to wait and see but… he said that he was actually fine with-”


“Blake, did he do something to you? Anything you found suspicious?” I asked quickly, as I stood up from the couch and started to give a thorough look around the flat for any hidden microphones or cameras.


Gods only know how screwed I truly was in that very moment and my brain wasn’t giving me the happiest of the prospects in the scenarios I might be dealing with.


“He didn’t do anything odd- You mean like trying to get more information or-”


“Anything that might have gotten you in the false presumption that he isn’t doing actually anything,” I pressed on with this interruption. “Did he ask anything odd? Worth of any concerns and-”


“H-He wants me to have therapy sessions,” The girl admitted suddenly. “I know that he isn’t doing anything strange here except asking me questions about what has been going in the last few weeks.”


“Therapy sessions?” I paused for a moment in my search, frowning a little at her world. “Why would you need that?”


“I don’t know,” She groaned a little at the questions. “But he wants me to talk about… nevermind.”


I sighed and glanced briefly at the Scroll. “Blake, if it’s important, I need to know since it’s also about me-”


“He wants me to talk about us,” The young woman admitted with a tired voice. “About what has happened in the last few weeks, how our relationship truly works and...”


She paused again, but this time she didn’t wait for me to press her on.


“I miss you.”


I tensed up a little at that comment, my eyes widened at the three words and I felt my breathing itching to repeat those words back.


“B-But- why?”


There was a sad sigh from the other side.


“He said that the instance was created by a ‘dual paradox’. Something that has to do with our backgrounds making strange stuff happens,” Blake explained once more. “I just concluded the first session and things seemed to be fine, so I don’t think there is some secret operations going on while we were discussing.”


I blinked, ready continue the conversation when I was interrupted by the girl’s tired tone.


“I will be going soon to the cafeteria for dinner,” The Cat Faunus commented quietly. “And since I will be in the dormroom with my teammates once I’m done there, I will not be able to call you again.”


She took a long sigh and then continued.


“I want to tell you goodnight.”


My eyelids dropped a little and I smiled at her words.


“Blake,” I finally piped in with a somewhat uneasy voice, still unsure how I’m going to word out what I had to say now.


While I had been so reluctant to tell her back that I missed her, I wasn’t certainly going to skip returning the favor now.


“Yes, Sid?”


“I want to tell you goodnight too and...” I blinked, doubtful if this was alright or not, if it was proper or not.


Goddammit, since when I’m this indecisive!


“I did find your absence to be… upsetting,” I shakily continued. “I will buy some movies by Saturday, so that we can have a marathon if you want-”


“Yes.”


I froze for a moment, eyes widening in surprise at that sudden reply.


“I-I mean, I’m glad that you… missed me,” She teased a little about that, my cheeks flaring in embarrassment in getting caught so early on. “And I suppose we can spend some time watching movies. Can you spare any of the titles you want to buy?”


I felt a twitchy smile creeping in at that, and then I started to list her the movie titles I had in mind to go and buy for that day.


The conversation lasted for a couple more of minutes as Blake still had to conclude before entering the cafeteria and I… felt a little better about staying at the flat.


Feeling energized by the call, I began preparing dinner, wondering within the safety of my mind what kind of stories the girl would have to tell me once she would visit by Saturday.


And the worst part of this all? I was still smiling like a moron.


I snorted in amusement.


Goddammit… Blake.


-------------d-d-d-d--------------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d---------


AN


Nothing much to say but that I’m fine here! So here we go again!