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Vale was irritating.This was not a surprise to Nacht, who had long come to the decision that people, especially large groups of them were generally irritating, and cities were the largest collections of people. So yes, Vale was just as irritating.Still, he was hoping that it would be calmer at night. It was not. He couldn't walk more than a few blocks before running into a bar, or a club, or some other cesspit of people that didn't have more than ten brain cells to share between them all. Vacations were supposed to be relaxing, and he wanted nothing more than to stroll down the street and bask in the quiet ambiance of the area. Maybe read a book, buy some junk food if he had any change on him.Tonight was different, thankfully. The citizens didn't seem to be in a party mood at the moment and few establishments were open this late, so Nacht was free to roam the streets. Sleep was a necessity to him, however, and he was one-hundred percent human, so he would have to head back to the hotel soon enough.His family would be catching a flight back home early tomorrow, and he would want what little sleep he could get. However, he hadn't eaten much and another 15-20 minutes out could still leave him with a few hours of rest.As he was debating this with himself, he caught sight of a small little corner store that had somehow survived competition with the big name brands in this city. A small light was shining from within it, so he might be able to pick up a small snack. Domina had been complaining about groceries. Maybe if he picked up a carton of milk, he could pass his purchases off as a small act of altruism.A small grin made it's way onto Nacht's face as he made his way over to the building. /-/ Ruby Rose absentmindedly turned the pages of the magazine she was reading before stopping on a page, her eyes widening as she scanned the picture, checking out the specs of the weapon. Now that was a katana. Even had a sniper modification and everything. . .Someone grabbed and tugged on her shoulder. She spun quickly to face a man dressed in all black with a red tie and glasses. He opened his mouth soundlessly before closing it with a frustrated look and jabbing a finger up at his head. Ruby's brow furrowed for a moment before she remembered her headphones. She took them off quickly, feeling a brief flash of embarrassment. "Yes?""Get on the ground," the man growled, trying to sound intimidating. Ruby tilted her head slightly, wondering what would make someone ask that. It's not like he was. . . Wait."Are," Ruby hesitated, "you robbing me?""Yes!" the man said, a bit annoyed.Oh. Ruby blinked. "Oh." /-/ Five hundred and fifty lien. Five fifty lien. Nacht grumbled as he stepped out of the corner store. Gods, that was not okay. The bag of chips was more air than food and the only other thing he had gotten was a small carton of milk that would last his family two or three days at the most. It was tiny.In the man's defense, he would have to raise prices to stay in business, which made less sense how a small corner store with raised prices was still surviving in a big city, but it wasn't really too important at the moment.Shrugging his shoulders, Nacht ripped the top of the bag open, grabbed a few chips, and lifted them to his mouth, preparing to get whatever little enjoyment he could out of these few handfuls of chips.
CRASH!!!
The sound of broken glass came just as Nacht bit into his snack. His gaze snapped down the street, his mouth full of chips and his frustration rising. A red-clad girl had jumped through a window and appeared to be taking on a group of men with. . . what seemed to be a scythe. He thought it was a scythe, at least. It had gone through so many metal shifts and transformations already, so he wasn't even sure if a scythe was its final form. After that brief moment of inspection, he turned away with a sigh as the sound of gunshots echoed behind him. It was a hunter against, what, six or seven of those guys from that one club twenty minutes from here? She had it. He could just go home, try to salvage what little he could from this crappy vacation, and just relax-Something popped in his store bag as a bullet passed next to his legs.With the kind of dawning horror akin to that of reaching for a roll of toilet paper while using the bathroom and feeling nothing but cardboard, Nacht's dropped his chips and dug through the bag, praying that he had just mistaken a sound of a gunshot for the destruction of his purchase, that the milk was fine, that he was not about to deal with any more shit today, that-The milk was leaking into the bag. Close to a quarter was gone in those few seconds. Nacht turned back to the store, hoping that he could go back in and get another carton. It was not to be, however, as the shopkeep had shut the door and likely hidden in an attempt to avoid whatever the hell was happening down the street. And as the metaphorical final nail in his metaphorical coffin of ruined milk, Nacht had made his purchase minutes before the store closed, so he would be unlikely to get any more milk. By the time the owner felt brave enough that he was not going to get shot tonight, the store would be past it's closing time.Nacht had had enough over the course of this shitty vacation. And one of the two people left standing - Little Red Riding Hood or the pumpkin looking headass - were going to give him the perfect opportunity to let loose some of that excess stress./-/"Well, little red," the orange-haired man said, twirling his cane about before pointing it at Ruby, "it's been fun, but I'm afraid I've got to-""Excuse me."Ruby and her opponent turned in the direction of the voice and found a lone figure walking toward them. He looked about Yang's age, with hair as black as Uncle Qrow's which eventually tapered off into grey highlights. He had strong, defined features and eyes in similar colors to his hair. Through the light of the nearby store, she could see a spot or two of light freckles on his cheeks. Dressed in a simple light red t-shirt and black pants, he opened his mouth to speak once again."I can see that you all seem to be in the middle of something," he said in a low voice, stepping over the body of one of the goons, "and I apologize for my interruption." He stopped and stared up at them."But one of you shot at me and damaged a possession of mine. Which one of you did it?"Ruby immediately felt guilty. This poor citizen had been nearly injured because of the fight that had been happening, and as the only person here who had fired of a series of shots, she was fairly certain she had done it. She opened her mouth to admit her guilt, but then paused. . .She loved her sister a lot, but due to the way Yang's semblance worked, she had developed a knack for learning when people were mad. She still had to check sometimes, but everyone had a few tells. His hands were clenched into fists so tightly the blood seemed to be draining from them and he seemed to be twitching slightly. Shaking was never a good thing.Now that she thought about it, why did he feel it was necessary to walk into a fight between a group of armed people? Unless he was part of the police or a hunter, getting shot at would just mean he'd want to move to cover. No normal person would just walk into a fight like this. Ruby was getting a bad feeling about this whole situation, and when she was under pressure in a situation that required any human contact, she tended to just blurt things out. Such as now.Ruby jabbed a finger in the direction of the white-clothed man. "He did it!""What?!" the accused stated incredulously. "No I didn't! You did!"Ruby giggled. It was a nervous giggle, but she hoped it convinced the stranger. She couldn't tell. "With what, a gun scythe?""Yes! That's what you're holding right now!"Ruby felt bad about making fun of her baby, but she knew Crescent would understand. In a situation like this, who would fault her? "A gun scythe? That's ridiculous!" Every word was a pain, deep within her very soul, one not even her aura could protect her from. "How would that even work? Why would anyone even make that? What purpose would that serve? You, on the other hand," she paused for dramatic effect(and to draw breath) "have a cane. A rifle cane! Which you are literally pointing at me!"The man realized his mistake, repositioning his cane to the ground. "Wait, I-""Thank you." the stranger spoke to Ruby before walking toward the other man. "Sir? A word."Ooohhh, he was angry. That was the kind of fake politeness that Uncle Qrow and Dad used on the people that came to the house to talk about religion and the one Yang used on annoying people. Maybe lying wasn't such a bad thing all the time. Nice one, Ruby, she thought, giving herself a mental pat on the back."Now, hang on just a minu-"Then, the stranger blurred.And any regret Ruby may have had left somewhere deep in her soul was immediately wiped away.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Now, Roman was pretty confused at the moment. First, his robbery went south when his men got jumped by a teenager, and then some random mart shopper was trying to pick a fight with him. He was half sure the kid was drunk or high. Seriously, who got milk this late at night and then walked into a gunfight? No problem, he'd dealt with the Fang and they were basically aggressive drunk people. He opened his mouth, ready to give the kid the old Tortchwick charm, and then the kid punched him. The next thing he knew, he was picking himself up off some broken glass as the kid hopped through the shattered window.Roman growled, lifting his cane up to point it at the window and fired as Grey-hair's feet hit the floor. Heat exploded from the window as his shot detonated, eliciting a cry of pain from the area of the blast zone. Roman stood up, preparing to take a shot at Little Red before yelping as he dodged a left hook from Grey, who emerged roaring from the flames.Roman's cane swung down to block a kick from Grey aimed for his ribs, stumbling back from the sheer force of the impact. He slapped away an incoming punch and stepped in to counter, but backing off with a growl of anger as Red fired at him from the window.Oh, to hell with this, Roman thought as Grey's follow-up punch barely whiffed over his head. "Neo!" He shouted, jabbing his cane into Grey's chest and firing./-/Ruby gaped as the second blast engulfed the two fighting. The shopkeep had already gotten outside when the fight started to move back into his shot, and she had made sure that he wasn't being immediately chased before firing, but his shop was going to need serious repairs! It shocked her that no one had set off any of the dust in the shop yet, but that was unlikely to last if the fight kept going on. She squinted into the flames, trying to spot a hint of either of them.There! She spotted the criminal rolling out from the flames, scooping up his hat as he ran for the door. Quick as a flash, she raised her sniper up, pointed it at him, narrowed her eyes, and-Nearly got stabbed, apparently.Ruby let out a cry as she swung Crescent Rose up into the path of a . . . parasol? A woman with pink and brown hair smiled at her from the other end of their clashed weapons before kicking Ruby in the shins. Ruby lurched back, barely managing to swing her weapon into place to block the woman's strikes. Ruby gritted her teeth, starting to get overwhelmed. If only I could find a way to shift my weapon-Suddenly, the woman backflipped away from Ruby as the shop's front door came flying at her. Ruby managed to react quickly enough to shift Crescent into its scythe form, glancing up to see her new acquaintance(Friend? Combat Buddy?) land in front of her to pick up the door. Ruby stepped around him to get a better look at the woman, who had disengaged from Ruby down the street. Her parasol opened up as she floated slowly down to the ground before giving the pair another small grin. Her teammate(that was appropriate, right?) held the door out in front of him like a shield, letting out a low growl. Ruby tried to muster her best glare, hoping she looked intimidating enough. The smirk on the woman's face was telling her that she wasn't.As Ruby glared at the woman, she managed to spot something out of the corner of her eye; the criminal from earlier climbing up the side of a building. Ruby shuffled in place, wanting to go after him but unsure if she was willing to leave her ally behind. However, if she used her semblance, she might be able to catch up to him. . ."Can you take her?" Ruby whispered to her teammate, who paused for a moment before nodding. At the sight of their interaction, the woman cocked her head questioningly, still smirking.Okay, Ruby thought, you can do this. And then she ran./-/Neo blinked as the red-haired girl dissolved into a cloud of rose petals before flying past her in Roman's direction. A speed semblance, she thought. Don't see that one every day. She bent her legs in preparation to jump at the red-haired girl, but the boy from earlier lunged at her in the same moment, the door lowered in front of him like a barrier. She might as well take care of him first; Roman could handle one child, after all.Neo shifted her position before lunging at the boy, who slowed down to kick the door at Neo. Neo tucked her legs in before shooting them out, breaking the door in half as well as attacking her foe. To his credit, the boy reacted quickly, bringing his arms up in an "X" shape, blocking her kick and shoving her off and away from him. He then lunged forward with a flurry of punches to her head, Neo dodging every one of them with a slight sway. He was quick - blindingly so, he deserved credit for that - but he was unrefined. He knew how to block strikes and how to throw good punches and kicks, but he had no specific style or combat training that didn't seem to be self-taught, and so she was able to duck and dodge past every attack. She had her fun, now it was time to get back to Roman.She flicked her parasol up into his face, blinding him for a moment before slamming the handle of her parasol into his solar plexus, knocking the air out of him. He wheezed, attempting a retaliatory swipe, but Neo vanished with a sound of shattering glass the moment his hand made contact. He looked stunned for a brief moment before Neo reappeared above him, flying into the back of his head and grabbing on as momentum carried both of them to the ground, her opponent's face slamming straight into it.Neo stood up and turned away, ready to teleport back when the boy lunged at her from behind once again. She sighed, popping the blade out of her parasol before stabbing through his heart. She really didn't like having to kill kids.He staggered back, a look of shock on his face before collapsing, eyes glazed over as blood began to stain his shirt. Neo tugged the blade out before turning away. Honestly, she was surprised the slam didn't kill him. He had already been shot at nearly point-blank range from two of Roman's explosive shots, it was a miracle he had taken as much punishment as he had. She cast one last look back at her fallen foe, perhaps to pay him a bit of respe-He wasn't there.Neo's eyes widened. What the hell? And then, she felt something press into her stomach.Time seemed to slow down as her gaze snapped back forward into the face of the boy she believed she had killed. Her eyes bulged as his fist sank into her stomach, pain blossoming deep within her. The world sped up around her, Neo letting out a silent scream as she flew back into the dust shop.HOW THE HELL! Neo ranted inside her own head, HOW EVEN THE FUCK! What was his semblance? Super speed? Teleportation? Wound healing without aura? Fucking illusions?! What the actual fuck?!The boy stared at her from outside the window, Neo returning his gaze with one of hatred. She pushed herself up, then paused as he seemed to reach into a back pocket for something. The boy withdrew a gun, pointing it at her. She ducked as he fired, snarling at him before she remembered she was in a dust shop, which sold some of the most volatile materials known to Remnant.
Oh, motherFUCK-
Neo's world became an inferno./-/I mean, Nacht thought, shopkeep's got to have insurance on this, right? It just made sense if you were going to sell elemental explosive weaponry. And only that little patch was on fire. The surrounding ice dust that had been caught in the crossfire had put out the rest of it and would likely keep any more fuel from spreading. Still, it was a little surprising how much damage his little peashooter had done to that spot, even with dust. Guess Domina was right. Always carry a gun on him, because apparently, he'd need it on a goddamn shopping trip. A loud sound suddenly roared out from behind him, somewhere past the building the brunette with the scythe had run off to.A quick run, jump and climb, and he reached the top of the building in time to see a bullhead flying away from the roof, where there was not only the previously mentioned brunette but also an older blond woman with glasses and some kind of wand/stick/baton in her hand. He'd need a closer look to be sure. They both affixed him with a look of surprise, which was fair. His clothes were burned and his skin slightly seared through his aura as well as his hair having blood matted in it."Young man," the blond woman started, "who-""OOH!" the brunette interrupted her. "He helped me fight off the bad guy from earlier and held off his friend for me to catch up to him and for you to get here and he's really fast and can punch stuff good and I thought he was a hunter like you're a hunter and can I get an autograph from both of you?!" The girl took a deep breath and smiled, eyes sparkling./-/There were no autographs. But, there was something better. She was going to go to Beacon with her sister!Ruby squealed to herself on the way out of the room where she talked to Headmaster Ozpin. Her family would be so proud of her! Uncle Qrow would give her that little half-smile that he always gave whenever he was happy but didn't want to show it, her Dad would bake her some send-off super-chocolatey cookies and throw a celebratory party, and Yang would give her a bone-crushing hug. Speaking of her sister, they were both going to Beacon and could both be on the same team! Maybe that other teenager - who somehow wasn't a hunter - could also be on her team!The teenager himself was sitting on a bench outside of the room and was looking a lot better than he had been after the fight, his wounds healed up thanks to aura boosters and the blood cleaned out of his hair. He turned toward the sound of her opening the door to leave. A moment of silence passed between the two as the door shut behind her. Ruby broke the silence.“Hey!”“. . . Hey,” he replied, narrowing his eyes. Ruby smiled to try and dampen her nerves. She already hated social interaction and having someone who looked like they wanted her to leave wasn’t making this any easier. Still, he had helped her out, and she wanted to at least thank him(and maybe be friends who knows). Ruby wanted to make an attempt. Time to give talking another try!“You, uh,” Ruby floundered for words as he somehow managed to look down on her while sitting on a bench. Come on, Ruby, it’s “thank you.” Just say that. At least compliment him or something if you can’t even get that out! “You fight good.”The sound of a pin dropping could be heard in that hallway. The boy’s expression was inscrutable save a slight cock of his head. Ruby’s smile stretched wider, hiding the maelstrom of chaos roaring throughout her mind.
THAT WAS NOT A THANK YOU! THAT DIDN’T EVEN SOUND LIKE A THANK YOU! THAT WASN’T EVEN A PROPER SENTENCE!
How did she mess that up?! No one was that bad at talking to people. The two sentences shared one word! This is why you have no friends, Ruby. God, she was just awful at-“I fight good?”Ruby blinked, realizing that she might still have a chance in this conversation. “Uh, yeah. You do.” She cringed but soldiered on. “You’re really fast and super strong without a weapon, even for someone with aura. I can’t, um, really do much without my scythe in a fight, so that’s super impressive!” He didn’t smile, but he did relax his posture. Ruby took this as a minor victory.“Thanks. For, uh, helping me.”“With what? Torchwick?” He snorted. "Please. The man wears mascara and his hair makes him look like a pumpkin. You could have taken him."Ruby giggled. "A pumpkin? I mean, maybe. But the other woman, the one with the pink and brown hair. I don't think I could have beaten her on my own. And you did!"A faint smile rose to his face. "Yeah." He stuck a hand out to her. "I'm Nacht.""Ruby." They shook. "I'm going to Beacon. For fighting the criminals off.""Even after what happened to the shop?"Ruby blinked. "What do you mean? Just a plane of glass broke, and no dust went off."He opened his mouth, paused, then coughed. "Right. That's, uh, good for you."Ruby furrowed her brow. Was she missing something? Well, if he wasn't going to talk about it, then it probably wasn't important. "You know, you could probably also get in if you wanted. Do you think. . . we could meet up there?"He hesitated. "I-""Thank you, Miss Rose." Both the teens turned toward the now opened door, Ozpin standing there. "But if I may speak to Mr. Corrigan, I would appreciate it."Corriga- Oh, Nacht. "Oh! Yeah, um, see you?" she hesitantly asked Nacht. He nodded, but she had the feeling that he wasn't paying too much attention to her anymore. Ozpin waved and smiled at her as Nacht passed through the door. She waved to him one last time before leaving./-/"Would you like a cookie? Fresh batch, no one's had any."Nacht side-eyed Ozpin, who smiled back. Eventually, Nacht snatched up a cookie and took a bite, collapsing into the chair."So, Mr. Corrigan," Ozpin started, "it seems you've made friends with Miss Rose. That's good.""Why?" Nacht growled, his arms folded as he sat in his chair. "So I can have friends when I go to Beacon?""Not necessarily. It's always good to meet new people and get along with them. Although speaking of Beacon, you did impressive work stopping Roman Torchwick and his associates despite the damage to the shop, and I would like to-""No deal."Ozpin frowned. "And why not? Your brother came here and became quite an accomplished huntsman. I assumed you would want to follow in his footsteps.""Well, you assumed wrong. I'm not going."Ozpin leaned across the table, his hands supporting his chin. "You know your mother, upon finding out your invitation, would send you here.""Yes." She would want him to be stronger, and in her mind, there weren't many better places than a huntsman's academy."You know that you would go, despite your protests.""Yup.""So why are you fighting me, Mr. Corrigan? Are you just trying to be difficult to spite me?"Nacht smiled, but it never reached his eyes. "Yeah, kinda."Ozpin said nothing for a few moments, then sighed. "I was hoping this conversation would be polite, Mr. Corrigan.""You'd have to take me to Beacon by force.""As long as you weren't hurt, I honestly doubt your mother would mind."Nacht raised his eyebrow. "Are you gonna fight me?"Ozpin shook his head, smiling again, but something about it. . . "Oh, no. Of course not, Mr. Corrigan.""Right. . ." Nacht said hesitantly, finishing off the cookie. "I'm gonna head out, now.""Oh, I wouldn't do that, Mr. Corrigan.""Why not?""This batch of cookies was laced."Nacht blinked. "I'm sorry, they were wha-"And then he blacked out.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The whole room was cheering. How could they not? The students were graduating and ready to move on to the next step: Academies such as Beacon, Shade, Haven, and Atlas Academy. Teachers smiling either out of pride or relief of never having to see these kids again. Parents sobbing for the success of their little angels. And of course, the students themselves. The ordeal of basic huntsman education finally over and the option of not only applying their newfound power on the Grimm of the world but also to join with their own teams, the thrill of the hunt and the promise of true companions not far off. And then there was her. Delia.

"Delia Lavender Komurasaki," the headmaster started.

A dead father, a bedridden mother, and no close friends still with her. She had been forced to move beyond them twice now and at the top of her class, how could she acquire any real ones that didn't just want to suck up to number one?

"Despite starting out at such a deficit-"
Shut up, stop saying that, I don't want you to say that about me.
"-you managed to rise above it and take your place at the highest spot in this class-"

I want this to be over. I want to go home. This place makes my skin crawl.
"-and it is my honor, as headmaster, to say that you are this class' valedictorian," he finished, the deafening applause ringing out shortly afterword. Her smile felt like glass on her face, about to be shattered if that man said one more fucking thing, but she managed to keep it together and walked up to the podium, opening her mouth to give her big bullshit speech-
"I'm just a singer in a rock and roll band, A thousand pictures-"
"HOLY-" Dalia flailed out of bed, yanking the sheets with her off down to the floor. Breaking news, hunter valedictorian defeated by sheets. She lay there, hoping she could melt into the floor and wipe herself from existence.
"So if you want this world of yours to turn about you, and you can see exactly what to do, please tell me-"
Unfortunately, she had a job to sign up for-Delia tore the blankets off herself with wide eyes. The Schnee's private tutor! Oh Gods, oh Gods, oh Gods oh Godsohgodsohgods SHE WOULD BE LATE! Well, she wasn't yet, but with a family like the Schnee's, early might be considered "on time." Even if it wasn't, it would still look good for her! She hit the alarm's off switch, ending the song and snatched up a pair of pants. She quickly tried to sit up to put on the pants before slamming her head against the side of the bed."Owwww!"Rubbing her head, tears in her eyes, she could only hope she made a better impression upon the Schnees.----Well, she hadn't hit her head on anything yet. Although, she might have and was just having a strange fever dream that happened to have her in a training room. A great fever dream, but a fever dream nonetheless."So you're my new tutor?" asked Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company and Delia's student. And very hotDelia somehow managed to make eye contact with Weiss' beautiful cerulean eyes. "Yes, I am, Miss Schnee." Amidst her internal turmoil at the sheer beauty of the figure before her(her perfectly white face, her porcelain-like features, those eyes, and she was so adorably short) she cheered for herself managing a coherent response.Her lip curled. "You?" Gods, even distaste was att-Wait. Distaste?
Excuse me?
"I-I'm sorry, what?" Yes, that was it. Delia must have misheard her."You couldn't possibly be my tutor; you're my age. If this is some sort of prank. I assure you no part of it is humorous." Oh no, Delia had heard her just fine. She took a deep breath and focused not on any of Weiss' superficial traits, but on this conversation."Miss Schnee?" Delia narrowed her eyes at Weiss, who responded in kind. "I have come here and taken the time out of my life to tutor you in sword combat, and you are, quite frankly, insulting me."Weiss barked out a laugh. "If I was going to be seriously tutored, I would be getting someone with renowned skill.""The application," Delia growled, running a hand through her lavender hair, "was on a first-come, first serve basis as long as my skill was up to standard, which it was.""Don't be silly; we don't even use the same type of sword. Did Whitley put you up to this?""It's general swordplay instruction meant to simulate true combat with someone that isn't trying to teach you how to use your weapon. I will be teaching you basic combat rather than rapier-specific fighting. General swordplay can also apply here.""Wow," Weiss drawled, "isn't that such a long sentence. Impressive.""Miss Schnee, you are starting to push me."Weiss smirked. "Well, of course only a child would react that way.""You're a lot more of a child than I am." Oh fuck.Oh fuck, did she just say that? Judging by the look of stunned shock on Weiss' face, yes, she did. In all honesty, Weiss was being a brat for no reason, and she kind of deserved it. On the other hand, AAAGHHHHHHHHHH!"You. . . I. . ." Weiss' didn't seem to be able to formulate a sentence of any kind, her face rapidly turning red. "What do you possibly mean by that?"Oh god, oh shit, oh fuck. She had two options. Dial it back and beg for forgiveness or. . . No Delia. Don't do it. Don't-Delia smirked, then squatted down to put herself at Weiss' level. "Well," she said, feigning humor, "that whole height thing is one." Weiss' face somehow darkened even further, her eyes widening.
Stop. Stop. Stopstopstopstopstop-
Delia got back up, raising a hand and gesturing to her ample chest. "Secondly," her shit-eating grin widened, "this." Weiss began to twitch, a strange growling sound emitting from her."And thirdly?" She was in too deep. Delia was committed. "I'm not a brat who just happens to lose her shit when something doesn't go her way. What, did Daddy only buy you four limos instead of five?" Weiss' eyes bulged, her hand went for her rapier, and she lunged forward, screaming.Quick as a flash, Delia drew her saber and slapped the rapier thrust away before aligning her own weapon with Weiss’ throat. The two locked eyes for a moment; Weiss was red in the face, pure anger in her eyes and her weapon trembling. Delia was much more composed, her brow slightly raised, blade held steady, the point resing under Weiss’ chin.“Well,” Delia said with a sigh, withdrawing her blade, “I think we should try and start over. I can wait for an apology.” She turned around. “First, we should. . .”She noticed a tint of white light out of the lower corner of her eye. Looking down at her feet, she saw a slowly spinning snowflake beneath her. Her eyes widened before she threw herself forward into a somersault, dodging the ice erupting behind her."AN APOLOGY?! YOU WANT AN APOLOGY?!" Weiss' face was approaching a similar shade of purple to Delia's own hair, spittle flying from her lips. "OH, I'LL GIVE YOU AN APOLOGY, YOU DISRESPECTFUL SCUMBAG!" Ooohh, damn. Delia probably shouldn't have pushed the other girl this far. She had spent her early years at basic hunter training dealing with a bunch of entitled little shi-people, and that old persona tended to just. . . spill out when she was stressed.Probably wasn't a good idea to do that to her once-future-now-probably-not employer.Delia flipped up her saber, deflecting a shot of white energy sprouting from a glyph behind Weiss. Weiss brought her hands up, her rapier mimicking that of a conductor's baton as another two glyphs spawned into space behind her. Delia slapped away another shot and quickly hopped backward as the third struck the ground in front of her. All right, she thought, smirking, if it's a ranged battle she wants, it's a ranged battle she'll get. She raised her sword, pointed it at Weiss, and. . . blinked, realizing that she left the gun sword back at home. She didn't think she would need it because she was planning on just seeing what Weiss could do with just her rapier and then do some melee practice.Fuck. Delia shook her head, then sprinted at Weiss.Weiss grinned, noticing the rapidly dawning look of horror on Delia's face. She fired twice more, twisting her free hand into a different gesture as Delia weaved between the two shots. Delia's eyes narrowed. Wait, what's that one do-Delia had leaped over the previously summoned ice and as such, failed to notice the black glyph below her. It suddenly exploded from beneath the ice, forcing the shards up into her. She crossed her arms in front of her face, protecting herself from the worst of the attack. She hit the ground and managed to make a somersault out of her fall, rolling up and coming face-to-face with another black glyph. Behind it, she could see the heiress smirking just before her hand splayed out.The glyph's expansion hit her like a truck, sending her flying away from Weiss and actually skidding and bouncing across the ground. On the second bounce, Weiss took a step forward, making a single spin before driving her blade into a glyph created below her. Upon impact, another storm of ice shot out of the ground behind Delia, causing her to crash into it.Crashing through the ice, Delia released her sword into the air, Weiss hopping over the shattered ice a second later. She stood above Delia, who lay groaning, the left side of her face completely obscured by her purple hair. Weiss laughed at her, before leaning down to speak."Well, I hope you understand what you've just done and who is truly the better combatant. I would like my apology immediately, cur. Apologize to me and my family, and if you beg, I may let you off eas-"Delia's saber, which had been flung into the air moments earlier, came falling back down and slashed Weiss across her back. Now, while this would normally just hurt Weiss, Aura didn't do a whole lot to protect someone from an attack they weren't aware of, and even less from an attack in a situation where they believed there wouldn't be any fighting whatsoever.Weiss let out a screech of pain as her clothes were torn, the blade drawing blood. Delia, taking advantage of this distraction, kicked Weiss in the leg. Now in shock from the cut and the kick, Weiss stumbled backward, giving Delia enough space to kick up onto her feet.The Heiress tried to form another glyph, but Delia was too close and slapped her hand to keep her from forming the gesture. She tried again, failed and got punched for her efforts. Weiss attempted to strike with her rapier one last time but was caught off guard when Delia grabbed the blade with her left hand and Weiss' sword arm with her right, and before Weiss could react, Delia slammed her back into Weiss' chest and threw Weiss over her. The Schnee heiress cried out as she hit the ground and tried to push herself up, but froze as Delia's saber, now retrieved, pressed into her neck. Delia's foot was also resting on one of Weiss' hands and her eyes occasionally flicked over to look at Weiss' free arm.After a pause, Delia spoke. "I'm going to head out. You can talk to whoever about firing me, and I wouldn't blame you, but otherwise, I'm coming back tomorrow. Get your back patched up." She turned and left the room.----
OH GODS WHAT THE HELL WHYYYYYYYYY!!!!!
Christ, what was that about?! She had hurt her and then, what, just left?! Gods, to anyone just watching that out of context, she would seem like an abusive tutor. Weiss provoked her, but she could have just talked to the person who physically employed her and confirm the job or, you know, not mocked her. She needed to apologize.The next day she met Weiss back in the training room, probably ready to fire her. Still, she needed to get this off her back. She opened her mouth to apologize, coincidentally at the same time Weiss did."I'm sorry."They both blinked. “What?” asked Delia. Weiss looked similarly surprised but soldiered on.“I apologize, Ms. Komurasaki. I was incredibly rude in conversation with you yesterday, and I shouldn’t have made those assumptions or spoken to you that way. It was wrong for me to lash out like that in anger and I-”“H-Hey, whoa!” said Delia frantically, her hands waving. Weiss stopped, staring at her questioningly and perhaps a bit hurt. “No, I- uh. . . I’m sorry,” she said eventually after a moment of floundering for words. Weiss, if anything, seemed a bit more confused.“I kept egging you on instead of dealing with it in a mature way, and then I literally cut you. Like, blood. Not okay on my part. I’m supposed to be the instructor, and I reacted like an abuser.”Weiss shook her head, her eyes wide. “N-No! I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did.”Delia nodded. “You shouldn’t have, but you did.” Weiss hung her head in shame, but looked up when Delia continued, “But you don’t seem like the kind of person to just. . . react like that for no reason. Did. . . something happen that was similar to this?”Weiss’ mouth was open, surprised, but closed it quickly enough. “Y-Yes,” she stuttered, looking down at the floor. “A few years ago, someone led me to believe that my sister Winter would be coming to train me. I trusted them and showed up, but it was just some kind of. . . twisted prank.”Delia didn’t say anything for a few moments. “That’s messed up,” she said quietly when she finally spoke. “Brother?”Weiss’ eyes shot up to meet hers. “Why would you-”“I can’t see a family servant doing that, I doubt your father would either, I haven’t seen any children servants, and I can’t see any of the upper class who hate you that much to directly insult a Schnee like that, so. . .” Delia trailed off awkwardly. “I mean, you don’t have to tell me if it was, or anything. I don’t know you yet. A-anyway, I came here to apologize and ask to start over, if you don’t want to fire me.”Weiss shook her head. “No, no, it’s fine.”Delia smiled. “Great. Now, why don’t you show me how much you know about fighting with just the rapier?/----/When Delia Komurasaki showed up at the Schnee family's training room and told Weiss that she was going to be her trainer, Weiss thought it was some kind of joke. A simple violet skirt with lines of gold, a similarly purple top with a bluish-purple edge as the cutoff between her skin and a sash of gold tied around her stomach. She didn't look anything like the professional tutors she had in her earlier childhood. As such, she challenged her, believing Whitley had decided to try a similar joke from earlier and had just been lazy. Delia showed her, however, that showing up not in "formal" black and white and without heaps of books on the subject of rapier fighting didn't make her any less of a warrior and managed to best Weiss. Intrigued, Weiss tried to not only learn from her in how to fight but also what kind of person she was. And doing so led to a discovery that confused her.Strangely, after their abysmal initial meeting and subsequent apology, Delia seemed a bit anxious around Weiss and even the Schnee family servants whenever she met any of them. She spoke kindly enough, but it was with a degree of formality and separation that it seemed almost forced, almost as if she was trying to imitate the way someone would speak to a subordinate rather than how the relationship went between her and the workers of the manor. Their first meeting would obviously produce a different reaction from Delia, who was angry and fighting Weiss at that point, and maybe it was strange to judge the strangeness of her actions based on that, but the moment someone loses control of themselves is when the parts of their true character tend to be revealed. Delia was blunt, honest, confrontational, and perceptive, but not even a hint of those qualities showed itself, even when she wasn’t aware of Weiss’ or anyone else’s presence.Strange. She felt like during the apology, she got a good glance into Delia's true character. . . Well, no mater. She could get a better look at it during today's session, she reasoned, walking into the training room where Delia was waiting. Delia caught sight of her as she walked into the room and smiled."Good morning, Ms. Schnee! How was your-" Her eye widened. "WHOA, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR EYE?!" Immediately, Delia slapped her hand over her mouth, horrified.Weiss blinked, then grinned. Honesty. The entire day, people had noticed her new scar, but not dared to say anything about it. It was almost refreshing to have someone say something about it. "I'm going to Beacon," she replied.Delia blinked. "I, uh, congratulations?" she replied hesitantly, confused.Weiss' laughed, glad to see a hint of the person she had met on their first few meetings. "No, it's related. I had to win a fight to prove I could go, and. . .""Ah," Delia nodded, understanding. "It, uh. . ." Weiss tilted her head, wondering what Delia was going to say. "It looks pretty badass. I think.""That's a first," Weiss replied, "no one's really made any comments about it." Delia raised an eyebrow."Really? Huh." Delia stared off, silent for a moment before refocusing on Weiss. "So, Beacon, huh? Nice.""Thank you. Honestly, I was half expecting surprise for not wanting to go to Atlas Academy.""Nah. I think it's pretty fair, considering-" she stopped.Weiss furrowed her brow. "What? Considering what?"Delia waved her hand, a slight grin on her face. "No, no, never mind.""What!" Weiss cried, frowning. "Tell me!""Nah." Amusement could be heard throughout Delia's tone. "You'll find out. Give 'em hell at Beacon."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Vespian Greenwater was not a stowaway. He had paid for a ticket, for this train, for this particular trip, so it was perfectly fine for him to be on the train. He was just in a different spot than the rest of the passengers. Specifically, the cargo area. Nothing wrong with that.Not illegal.Nope.Okay, maybe it was a little illegal. He had just taken a bit too long to get his ticket out, and the attendant had asked him to kindly move to the side while the other people got their tickets. A little weird, considering he didn't see anyone else in the line before him, but it was fine, Vespian could be the good Samaritan. And yeah, he probably could have taken less than thirty seconds trying to get his ticket out, but he had a jacket and pants pockets to go through and his pockets were already stuffed with. . . uh, other things. He liked to grab things, sue him.However, by the time he had gotten it out, the train doors had closed up and it was getting ready to pull away from the station. He had begged the attendant to let him on. It wasn't that late, Mr. Train Person, it hadn't left, Mr. Train Person, money was tight, Mr. Train Person. Nothing. The man did look genuinely sorry as Vespian walked sadly away from the train as it pulled away.And then completely astonished as fifteen seconds later, Vespian jumped the gap and threw himself into one of the empty cars on the back.He had shown off his ticket, so Mr. Train Person would hopefully understand that he was totally doing this legally. Yup. Only a little illegal. If he was extra lucky, there wouldn't be security or any that would come after him specifically.And he was a faunus, so if he got in legal trouble, he could hope his trial would be in a more faunus-sympathetic area where he could play the racism card.Actually, scratch that. That was scummy. Bad Vespian.Please, Vespian thought stashed away in a corner surrounded by boxes to hide where he was, don't pull any kind of crap on me this trip./-/"INTRUDER. IDENTIFY YOURSELVES," boomed the robot, it's gun pointed directly at Blake. If not for their voice, they could probably pass as human. Maybe that was why it made her feel a little bit worse about killing this particular model of robots. Still, they were just robots, and they all had guns and were surrounding her and Adam. She would have liked to avoid conflict in general, but there wasn't really much of a chance for that anymore, seeing as they had just dropped into a room full of Atlesian bots. Blake tightened her grip on Gambol Shroud and prepared to leap into action./-/Vespian jolted in his hiding place at the sound of muffled gunfire. It wasn't quite right next to him, but it was still close enough that it made him nervous about what could possibly be nearby. He could just stay in here, as the sound wasn't from immediately outside, or he could leave and investigate. While Vespian usually liked to avoid conflict, there were normal people on this train, and genuine danger was something he could handle. As long as it wasn't an army of Grimm, he could probably handle himself.He pushed the door open and stepped outside before halting at a giant metal foot. Looking up, he locked eyes with an Atlesian spider droid. He swallowed, his throat dry. On the other hand. . ."INTRUDER," the droid spoke, leveling one of its many cannons at him."WAIT NO HOLD ON WAIT!" Vespian screeched, digging through his pockets, scattering a broken pocket watch and a bottle cap across the ground before digging out his ticket. The droid didn't lower its weapon, but it didn't fire. A nervous smile wavered on Vespian's face. "See? I'm supposed to be here!" Please don't shoot me."IN THE CARGO AREA?" the droid asked. Oh right, that little tidbit of information."Well, no, but I didn't have a choice." True. "The person at the station refused to let me on." Also true. "I think he might be racist." Probably not true, but he didn't have proof it was false, so technically it wasn't a lie.The robot tilted it's head, staring at him. Vespian strained his smile, hoping he looked very convincing. After a tense moment, the droid lowered its cannon, satisfied. "UNDERSTOOD," it stated, "PLEASE MOVE TO THE FRONT OF THE TRAIN AND/OR A SAFE PLACE.""There's, uh," Vespian swallowed, "no need. I'm coming with you.""UNACCEPTABLE. CIVILIANS ARE NOT TO ENTER COMBAT ZONES.""I'll be fine. I'm a huntsman." Well, huntsman-in-training, but the spider droid didn't need to know that. It still looked unconvinced, so Vespian tried his Plan B."Could I go if I agreed to not hold you, your makers, the train company, or Atlas responsible for any injuries I may sustain as a result of accompanying you?"/---/Blake sprinted down the car, firing a shot into the head of a robot. Behind her, she heard a screeching tear of metal as Adam's sword tore through another. Blake ran through the door of a train car and nearly ran into another figure. She came to a halt in front of a pale skinned person in a greenish hood, their eyes the color of flame with a black slit through them. A faunus. Maybe a snake or some kind of reptile. You could see it in the eyes. Blake let out a sigh of relief before remembering to question why exactly they were here."What are you doing here?""I heard a gunshot from one of the cars up ahead. What are you doing here?" the faunus replied, squinting at her. Before Blake could reply, a series of footsteps sounded out from behind her. Adam stopped next to her, panting slightly."Blake, what are-" he stopped, noticing the faunus, who had stopped and stared at Adam - or more specifically, his mask."The Fang," he whispered, a tone of. . . something in his voice. Adam nodded at the Faunus, a faint smile gracing his face."Correct. We are here to strike back against the humans by destroying the dust supply aboard this train."The faunus didn't reply, his mouth slightly falling open as he stared at Adam. Adam seemed to be interpreting this as awe, which Blake thought was fine, but they still had a mission to finish. She gripped the side of Adam's jacket, tugging him slightly. "Adam, we need to move on."She turned to the other kid, smiling slightly. "Look, kid," she started placing her hand on his shoulder.At that moment, none of the parties in that train car had any idea of what was going to happen. When looking back upon this moment, Blake would recognize it as the moment their mission went to complete and utter shit. However, present Blake would only discover that in a few moments.Shock and awe are said together for a reason and look very similar, and silence, while frequently used for awe, can also be indicative of shock, fear, and even burning hatred.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The world was dark. He couldn’t see. Why couldn’t he see? All that existed was sound.

He heard screaming, sobbing, yelling. It was a cacophony of sound. He needed to shut it out. Shut it up. He tried to ignore them. It didn’t work.

He brought his hands up to his ears and felt something wet. He brought his slippery palm to his face but remembered he could not see. The noise continued, building up within him, becoming something physical.

He had infrared vision, he remembered. Use it. He did. A splatter of heat against the black background of the world. What liquid would be hot and at his ears?

Blood.

His ears were bleeding. Bleeding from the noise. It had become deafening, roaring even, and his chest felt like it was about to explode. More blood dripped - poured - down his neck, slipping past his hood and staining his clothes red.

There were other sources of heat around him in the shape of people. Their heat, however, was rapidly fading from them, with trails of heat leaking from their bodies that had been thrown about like dolls.

His head pounded, aching from the pain. He brought his hands up to his face but felt something cold and hard rather than his bloody palms.

What was it? What was on his face? He wanted it off, he needed it off. He gripped the edges of whatever it was, preparing to tug it off him-
 “Look, kid.” Something came down on his shoulder. He jolted away, a scream starting to rise from his throat.He managed to catch himself, staring into the shocked face of the cat faunus and the man behind her, who was wearing it.The bone-white mask of the Grimm, the trademark of the Fang. Fighting back the bile in his throat, he managed a nervous smile. “Sorry. Just, uh, a little shaken up.”“Right. . .” the cat faunus nodded slowly, her face uneasy. "So, we're gonna go. . ."Vespian bit his lip, a pointed fang pressing into his skin. "The Dust." The cat and the bull faunus nodded, the former smiling."Right! Now, if you could just let us by, then..."Vespian let out a sigh. "Yeah, sure. No problem." The cat faunus nodded gratefully and passed by him, her partner following. After a few seconds, Vespian drew a pair of knives from his pocket and flung them at the two./-/One of the qualities Blake possessed which made her useful for the White Fang was a good sense of danger. Her ears would prick up before flattening rapidly and her hair and fur would start to . . . tingle. Her breathing would start to quicken and her vision would sharpen. She’d been told by those around her that her pupils tended to dilate. She didn’t quite know how she could sense it or how it happened before she was aware of it herself, but it had happened enough times for her to know it was generally trustworthy. And right as she passed by the snake faunus, she felt that familiar prickling on her head.She ducked and spun to face behind her as a knife passed through where her head once was, Adam letting out a cry as a second knife struck him in the head. Blake went to draw Gambol Shroud as the snake faunus rushed her, a knife in one hand and the other reaching inside his jacket.He lunged forward and dropped low under a shot fired from Blake before tossing his jacket in Blake’s face, hearing a large metal thud while she was blinded. She grabbed the jacket and threw it down before bringing her sword back to swing at him, but he had somehow disappeared from her vision in that time. Okay, she thought, the sound of something hitting metal and then he’s gone. What could he have hit that hard that was next to him? Half a second passed.The floor. He was too far away from the walls, so he had to hit the floor. What would that mean for him? Half of another second passed.It had happened right in front of her, and he would have to disappear immediately after. What would the sound. . .
He jumped.
Blake turned around fast enough to get kicked in the lower stomach rather than her tailbone. She let out an explosive gasp as air tore itself from her body, stumbling back into the doorframe. The boy snatched his jacket up off the ground before rolling back as Adam swung his sword down toward him."Traitor!" Adam shouted, bringing his blade back up into an offensive stance. The snake slipped his hoodie back on, affixing Adam with an icy-cold glare and saying nothing.Blake raised Gambol Shroud and fired thrice, the boy dodging two shots and Adam’s swipe before slapping the third bullet away with another knife. He drew a second knife before jumping at Adam and slashing with his twin blades. A sword will tend to have more range than a dagger, however, and Adam made it very difficult for the faunus to close the distance by simply stepping backward and slashing at the knife-wielder.Blake finally managed to land a shot as the snake faunus jumped back from Adam’s blade, unable to dodge the attack. The faunus stumbled, dropping his guard for a moment. Only a moment, but quick enough for Adam to step in and slam his sword into his opponent's side.The faunus let out a shout as he flew toward a wall, crashing into a crate of metal parts. Adam walked over to them, Blake following behind.“Disgusting.” Despite herself, Blake flinched at Adam’s cold tone. “A faunus fighting for the humans. It’s like you don’t even want equality. What are you, their pet?” The viper hissed at this, his hood falling back as he gazed up at Adam.His slitted red eyes were sharpened, fangs poking out from his lips. His cheeks darkened with a greenish tint, a forked tongue slipping out for a moment.“I’ve just recognized that murdering people who say we aren’t human to prove that we deserve the same respect as humans is incredibly counterproductive,” he hissed. “What about after the Fang? Who intimidates people into giving equality then?”Blake scowled. “We have no choice! You should understand that! Nothing we were doing before worked!”“Nothing?” He let out a raspy laugh. “Twenty-five, thirty years ago, faunus couldn’t vote. The right to do so was achieved through law from a court.” The faunus continued, lifting up his fingers to count. “Legal public segregation was ended through the use of sit-ins and civil disobedience. Schools were integrated because people decided that there was no real reason to separate people by race.” His piercing gaze locked onto Blake. “The Great War was necessary because the law explicitly placed us below people and no one had an opportunity to change any of it. Beyond that, all we got was some tiny island out in the middle of fuck-off nowhere populated by some of the most dangerous Grimm known to Remnant. And now you want to start another one.” The faunus turned his head to the side and spat derisively. “Go to Hell.”Adam’s face contorted into a mask of anger as he drew his sword up. “Your ancestors would be ashamed of you, traitor.”“Adam, wait!” Blake cried. “We don’t have to kill him! We’re here for the dust!” Adam shook his head, glancing over to her.“Blake, if I let him go, he’ll stab us in the back the first chance he gets. He’s working against his own race. It’s the only choice we have.”“But-” Adam’s hand suddenly flew up to his face, snatching a knife tossed at him from the ground. He turned back and kicked the faunus in the stomach viciously, the faunus gasping in pain. Adam flipped the knife so he was holding it by the handle, chuckling to himself.“Cute.” He gazed down at the faunus again. “Any last words?”“If you’re going to monologue,” the faunus said, smiling through the pain, “make sure it has a purpose. Otherwise, you’re just giving me time.”“Wha-” The knife in Adam’s hand beeped, flickered, and exploded, all in less than a second./-/Adam roared in pain. Blake shrieked in surprise. Vespian laughed. Idiots. Never give anyone any time to plan; that’s how you lose fights. The bull faunus hit the ground and rolled, trying to put out the flames. To her credit, Blake managed to react quickly enough to slice at him with her gun-sword thing. Vespian’s body contorted, letting the sword pass by his face before lunging at her, grabbing her shoulders and swinging onto her back.Being a snake faunus had its perks, one of which being flexibility to the point of where he could convince someone that his semblance was the ability to break and heal his limbs at an incredible speed. It wasn’t, but the look of horror, shock, and disgust on the woman’s face was totally worth nearly getting arrested over the bloodcurdling scream that she let out, alerting the police.Good times.Blake grabbed onto one of his hands and held on, trying to stab up at Vespian. He snorted, dropping farther down her back and pulling out one of his good knives. Honestly, it was probably closer to a shortsword than a dagger. What did the Mistralians call it? A Baselard? Something like that. He called it Mōdoku.Activating his actual semblance, he wreathed his blade in a greenish glow, trailing emerald fog behind it as he swung the blade into Blake's back. Once, twice, three times until Adam reached out to grab at him, forcing him to jump off. It didn't matter too much, though. The damage was already wait why was Adam's sword glow-/-/Blake shook her head, growling. Aura kept her from bleeding and provided some pain resistance, but not nearly enough to take away the sting of whatever was up with her enemy's sword. A semblance was the most likely cause for this much pain, so she'd have to keep an eye on him.The sound of tearing metal and a flash of red light brought her back to the present as Adam's semblance exploded from his sword, blasting the other faunus through an entire train car. He turned to Blake, giving her an appraising look. "You alright?"Blake nodded, then placed her hand on the wall to support herself as her vision swam. “I…” Blake shook her head, groaning. “I should be alright in a minute or two. He just got me with… something.” Adam grimaced, looking through the warped wall of their train cart into the next one over, checking if their opponent had moved.“Okay,” he said, “I’m going to move in. Hang back and provide support for me.” Blake let go of the wall she was leaning against, managing to stand relatively steady. Whatever was wrong with her wasn’t gone, but was fading.“Right.” She nodded to Adam, who then started to move to the other car. “Watch out for his semblance,” she called to his back, “it’s some weird greenish-”She stopped, her ears pricking up. A metal thud had been heard from directly outside. With a sense of creeping dread, she dashed over to the door of the train cart. Blake froze halfway out of the door, staring up at an Atlesian Spider Droid, its cannons whirring and preparing to fire.“TAKE COVER!” Blake cried to Adam as she threw herself into the next car over moments before the droid opened fire./-/Was that the droid? Vespian wondered. That sounded like the droid. There wasn't much he knew of that could unload that much ammo into a train car. Was Adam alive? Was Blake alive?Did he care?They were Fang; so probably not. Having to kill them if they hadn't, though...Vespian heard shuffling ahead of him from the train cart. Oh, that must be one of them. Vespian pushed himself up and sure enough, Adam was digging himself out of the wrecked train rubble. Vespian withdrew another knife from his pocket and snagged Mōdoku off the ground. Stepping over the rubble, he snuck up behind Adam and raised Mōdoku, ready to stab down into his back-The spider droid stepped over the half-destroyed train cart and focused its barrels upon Adam… and then Vespian by association.
'Could I go if I agreed to not hold you, your makers, the train company, or Atlas responsible for any injuries I may sustain as a result of accompanying you?'
Fuck.Vespain dived right while Adam dived left. The droid’s cannons traced Adam’s path, Vespian letting out a sigh of relief as he was no longer in range of collateral damage. The droid locked on to Adam, who was now backed up into a wall.“REPENT, TERRORIST,” the droid echoed, before staggering as a blast of fire exploded upon its back. Peering around the bot, Vespian spotted Blake, who was running by the side of the droid, raising her weapon to shoot up at it.Vespian jumped over the rubble before coiling up and lunging at Blake, both his blades coming down to stab into her shoulders. They both sunk into her flesh - and then passed through her.Vespian had about half a second of ‘What the hell’ before something soft but strong wrapped around his neck. He twisted back and swung a knife over his shoulder. Blake caught his hand, and currently had some ribbon thing connected to the end of her gun-sword stuck tightly to his neck.How, Vespain thought, tugging on the ribbon; many attachments does this fucking thing have?! Vespain heard a cracking sound from the direction of the droid. Ice had somehow frozen over its visor, and it was now firing blindly in Adam's general direction. Adam rolled out of the way and placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. The air crackled with energy, the sword glowing red.Vespian paled further, both from fear and lack of air. He needed the droid's extra firepower if he wanted to beat both of them, and Adam was taking much longer for this energy strike than he had the last.Okay, he thought, steeling himself as he sucked in the last bit of air he had; Ultimate Attack Time./-/Surprisingly, the Spider Droid hadn't made things too much worse. After the initial bout of surprise shots from the droid, she had managed to flank it with a fire clone and blind it with an ice clone and even managed to trick the snake faunus into attacking her shadow and managed to bind him.From how this fight had been going the past two times she thought everything was fine, this should have been an indicator that things were about to go awfully.The faunus detonated the knife she was holding, damaging both him and Blake. Her grip slackened from surprise, and her weakness due to the sickness allowed him to yank himself and Gambol Shroud away from her. He leaned back from her retaliatory punch before pulling his leg into his side. A small click sounded out as a blade poked out of the heel of his boot, coating itself in that green glow. He kicked out at her, his heel trailing emerald smoke. Without a weapon, Blake was struck dead in the chest as that sick feeling spiked once again.Blake flew back a few feet and hit the ground face-up, coughing up blood upon impact, her aura flickering weakly. She shifted onto her side and started to push herself up, glancing back at her enemy- and then she froze.His body was coiled taut like a spring, trembling with tension. He was resting on the balls of his feet, one hand lightly placed against the ground and the other drawn down to his waist. His hood was thrown over his head, exposing his widened, slitted eyes and a flickering, forked tongue. His form was wreathed in the same glow that had previously only covered his weapons, the sickly-looking smoke gathering around him as an accompaniment to the hissing sound he was producing.This happened in the space of a few seconds, culminating in the faunus drawing back as his hissing rose to a crescendo. The smoke wrapped around him, enveloping him and continuing to grow, eventually arching inward near its peak. At full height, the smoke-crafted structure brushed up against the roof of the train cart. A burst of green light from within the tower, solidifying the smoke.A viper the size of a King Taijitu was now in the place of the snake faunus. The body was a dark green like that of a forest, it’s crimson eyes a contrast to the green color scheme they had been tending to follow. It’s jaw opened up, the inside of the fanged maw an emerald green.Blake managed to wrench her eyes away from it and turned to Adam, who was too busy charging his semblance to notice.She yelled out a warning as the snake exploded into movement, lunging at Adam in an attempt to devour him.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Adam smirked as the power of his semblance came to a head, the sword vibrating with energy. After he would strike down the spider droid, he would finish off that race traitor faunus. Then, he would move on to the front of the train and make a statement to all of Remnant for all faunus, that the White Fang would not-“ADAM!” Blake cried. Adam turned in her direction and finally caught sight of the monstrous serpent bearing down on him, it’s black maw widening to consume him. Adam’s hand flew to the hilt of his sword, drawing it and unleashing the energy stored within.Bright crimson clashed with deep green, the ensuing blast of energy blowing away Blake and the droid as well as tearing the train cart apart. The colossal viper ruptured, the faunus inside collapsing to the floor, drained. Adam, however, was much more grievously injured. The faunus had managed to get a tooth by Adam’s chest and had been able to pierce his shirt - and his aura - before Adam cleaved the giant snake’s head off./-/Adam had blacked out when the two of them clashed. Blake had managed to pick Adam up and carried him out of the wreckage of the cart on her back. She coughed, stumbling from Adam’s weight which strangely felt heavier and was much harder to lift than it should be.Blake’s mind was racing, ears flat against her head and her heart full of fear. Not only was there was a stowaway and not only was he brave enough to fight the White Fang, but he also had one of the deadliest semblances she had ever seen.It was poison of some kind. If the snake being his animal race or the green glow didn't make it immediately obvious, then the cough and sudden weakness she had developed after being hit from him was a dead giveaway.A series of coughs exploded from Adam and he flailed wildly for a moment, nearly pulling Blake down with him. “Calm-” she hissed, trying to keep herself upright, “calm down!” Adam seemed to realize where he was and stopped struggling.“Where- did we… did we win?” he groaned out. Blake scoffed, immediately regretting the action as it nearly brought another bout of hacking coughs.“Win? As much as we could have, I suppose.” Blake glanced around furtively, trying to see if anyone was coming. She still would probably hear any robot coming even as sick as she was, but if the snake faunus had survived, only lightly unconscious - or if the droid was still active - they could manage to sneak up on Blake and Adam or blast them from a distance.“We need,” Blake started before breaking into a cough, “to get off,” she finished, her voice raspy. “Cut our losses and leave. Pick a different target.”Adam was silent for a few moments before finally speaking. “Alright,” he spat, “we’ll leave. They live another day. Hopefully the race traitor is dead.”Blake nodded and started moving to the edge of the train before freezing. “ They? Who’s ‘they?’” Who was he talking about if not the snake faunus?"The humans, Blake. Who else is on the train?"“I thought we were just going after the dust!”“Dust is materialistic. The only people that will get angry are shop owners, suppliers, and investors-” He broke into a series of coughs before continuing. “Even then, the powerful ones - the SDC - won’t care if a few shipments go missing.”“So now killing people is the next step?!” Blake cried incredulously.“Lives,” Adam growled, “will always be seen as more valuable.”Blake opened her mouth to speak, but found she was too horrified to say anything. Murder. The word, even the thought made her feel sick inside. The closest to killing she had ever done was dismantling robots. What had happened to the Fang? To Adam?
“I’ve just recognized that murdering people who say we aren’t human to prove that we deserve the same respect as humans is incredibly counterproductive.”
How had it gotten to the point where she was agreeing with someone who tried to kill them over her lifelong friend and someone she had abandoned her family for?"Blake-" Adam cut himself off with a hiss. "Behind you! He's coming!" Blake spun around and saw the snake faunus run over the railway coupling, a knife pulled back into his hand and ready to throw.Blake had been disillusioned with the Fang only moments earlier, wanted to protect herself, and was incredibly angry at Adam. This combination of emotions caused her to be unable to react quickly enough to move herself - or Adam - out of the way.Adam let out a screech of pain as the knife tore into him, slumping unconscious on Blake's shoulders. Strangely, Blake didn’t feel horrified about her partner possibly dying. Yet. Probably the sudden anger and/or pain and/or fear blinded her. She’d probably feel it later when she wasn’t in danger of being killed. Speaking of which…
She crafted a shadow clone and sent it running at the snake faunus. He instinctively slashed at the clone, causing it to burst into an obstructive dark vapor. Blake used this opportunity to toss Adam into an open compartment on the car, hearing a

hiss

emanating from the shadow cloud. Blake turned and gasped, bringing up Gambol Shroud just in time to block the overhead sword strike of the snake faunus, who lunged at the

exact

spot Blake was standing, his forked tongue flickering out and producing that hissing noise.

Blake swiped out at his exposed tongue, which he quickly pulled back into his mouth as he leaned back. His free hand pulled a knife from out of his tattered jacket and slashed across her chest in the same motion. She stumbled back in pain, the faunus following up with a stab from the same knife, which was now glowing green. Blake used Gambol Shroud to deflect the blade of toxic energy and yanked a capsule of fire dust out from her pocket. She created a fire clone and leapt back just as the faunus went for a leg sweep. His eyes widened as his leg slammed into the clone, causing it to explode onto him.

Blake glanced over to the compartment that she had thrown Adam into as the snake faunus thrashed on the ground in flames, yelling and screaming. She could go for Adam and try to get him out of the train cart… but for what?

To continue this endless struggle and the violence between the two races?

To rescue someone so full of hatred they would never accept peace?

Even if she didn’t blow up the train, there would be another mission where she would have to do something similar and her and Adam would come into the same conflict again. And who’s to say the droid or the faunus wouldn’t attack her while she was picking Adam up?

The snake faunus was blinded when she tossed Adam into the container, there was a chance Adam could just rest there and get away on his own when his aura came back.

She could run.

/-/

Vespian had extinguished most of the flames while he was rolling around, thankfully in time before his already low aura supply ran out. He stood up, slapping at his jacket to put out the last bit of flame. His head turned as he heard two

clicks

coming from the train car ahead, his eyes bulging as he realized they had been detached by the cat faunus, who had quickly darted ahead and out of sight.

Vespian sprinted and lunged across the rapidly widening gap, barely grabbing onto the edge of the train and pulling himself up with no small effort. He could go and hunt her down, but he was weak and could lose. She wasn’t in the best condition either, so it was unlikely she’d try anything. Some residual poison from his semblance, while it would purge itself eventually, still rested in her system. That could prevent her from trying to do anything difficult or strenuous.

Now that the battle was over, Vespian felt he had earned his seat on the train and a calm, well-deserved rest during the ride was in order.

Heads turned toward Vespian as he entered the train cart, first dismissing him and then snapping back as they did a double take, their eyes widening to the size of dinner plates as they took in his burn scars, tattered jacked, and bloodstained face. He walked past them, staring straight ahead and avoiding their looks of shocks boring into him.

He collapsed into an empty seat between a pale, older man and a young, tan-skinned girl, letting out a deep sigh as he did so.

Get to Beacon

, he thought.

Just get to Beacon, and then you can become a hunter.

Actually, if he asked, he could probably get this whole train mess to count for some experience. Maybe he could move up classes, or learn on some expert courses, or-

Vespian turned to meet the gazes of the people he was sitting next to, the man’s eyes wide with fear and apprehension and the woman’s mouth a perfect O.

“What?” Vespain snapped.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Junior's club had hit it's peak this time of night. The party was in full swing, the music was roaring, and the drinks were great. Or at least, that is what the Release Candidate assumed. It's not like they had much experience with any of those things. A "life" in a laboratory would do that to someone. Speaking of which... Their head under their cowl turned to gaze across the room trying to spot anyone from the lab. Considering what the Release Candidate could do, it would be unlikely they had been trailing it, but they would have to check if there were any "associates" from the lab or such. However, a party club was likely the wrong place for them to be. They'd be at places that were better known for having an information brokers or similar individuals. And while they hadn't been talking to anyone so that they could continue to remain undercover, this club was almost certainly not one of those places.Almost.The Release Candidate laid it's head down on the table it was at. They were confident in their ability to awaken from rest to deal with any arising problems if something came up. They closed their eyes and decided to rest for a few minutes before moving on.Their eyes immediately then shot open at the sound of a gunshot. Several gunshots, actually. It's head shot up, focusing immediately upon a tall woman in a tan jacket and ludicrously short shorts with long flowing locks of golden hair down to her waist. Upon her wrists were yellow gauntlets, which the Release Candidate determined upon another second of inspection that they doubled as shotguns and were a model of Dual Ranged Shot Gauntlets, or DRSGs. It's time in the laboratory had taught it much about weapons.Screams rang out around her as the people in the club ran for cover. The Release Candidate stood up, ready to go running out with the other people. The scene going on right now would soon attract people or some kind of unwanted attention, which they needed to avoid. They hopped out of their seat and sprinted to the doorway, pushing past the other evacuees. It was almost to the exit when it heard someone cry out somewhere behind themselves. Spinning around, the Release Candidate noticed a woman that had tripped over and struggled to push herself up. However, another gunshot came from the direction of the blonde, currently fighting the bar owner and two other women. Blasts from her gunshots, however, dislodged a light fixture that came crashing down toward the woman. The woman looked up and let out a screech of terror, throwing her arms up over her face.The fixture shattered over the back of the Release Candidate, who had fallen over the woman and shielded her from the object. She slowly lowered her hands and stared disbelievingly at the figure crouching over her, arms spread out over her body. The person above her had their hood fallen back and torn away by the fixture, revealing their face. She squeaked as she was suddenly lifted into a bridal carry by her rescuer and moved outside."Can you stand?" they asked, staring into the woman's eyes. She shook her head slowly, her mouth slightly open."N-no," she replied after a moment, "not r-right now." The Release Candidate nodded."I see," they replied. "Then I will put you down and come and move you where you need to be after I take care of-" They looked back to the club, where sounds of fighting could still be heard. "...whatever is going on in there? Alright?""A-alright," she said, back resting against the wall of the building across the street as her savior walked back into the club.Speaking of the Release Candidate itself, they were walking back to the club, not even sure of the decisions they were making.Why did they rescue that woman? Why did they let their face be shown? Why are they going back into the club? Yes, the blonde girl was irresponsible by putting people in danger and causing damage to the club, but there still was no reason for the Release Candidate to put themselves at risk. They could have let someone else take care of the problem, such as the police, or simply not helped the woman. Were there still some residual traces from-No, they decided. That was immaterial. If it was so, then they would fix the problem later. After this situation with the blond girl had been dealt with./-/Yang Xiao-Long let out a light laugh, looking down at her defeated opponents. It was a fun fight, but not something to really push her to her limits. They had damaged her hair, though. Might have to make 'em pay for that one still."You there!" The conscious heads in the room turned to face the entrance doorway. Standing there was a woman maybe an inch or two shorter than Yang in a black torn cloak. The woman had short, curly orange hair with a small ahoge poking out of the top. Her pale skin helped her spots of freckles stand out as well as her azure eyes. She was standing with her shoulder facing outward, her right hand extended forward and pointing at the group. "The blond woman. You!" Yang stared for a moment before a grin formed on her face. Another fight? Yang turned and faced the woman, a confident grin on her face. "Yeah?" she said, sizing up her possible opponent. She was a bit thin and there wasn't any obvious muscle on her, but the cloak could be hiding much of it. Or she could have a dangerous semblance. Yang liked to consider factors at the start of a fight, finding it hard to do so in the middle of one."Do you even realize what you're doing?" the woman asked, annoyance oozing out of her voice. Yang raised a brow, grin still present."Beating up some thugs," she replied."Only thugs?""Where are you going with this?" Yang asked, cocking her head. Was this woman going to jump her or just keep giving a lecture?"I'm asking if you think I'm a thug."Yang blinked. "Sorry?"The woman's lips turned downward into a harsh frown as she pointed with her other hand over to a shattered ceiling fixture. "That broke over my back due to your wild shooting dislodging it from the ceiling. If I didn't have aura, I could have been seriously injured or have died."Yang thought for a moment, looking around the establishment. She did actually feel kinda bad now, thinking about it. "Okay, yeah. Sorry. But, that was the only thing I shot onto someone and I did avoid random people, so we're good!"The woman lowered her hand, visibly confused. "You... you have caused mass property damage. Likely in the hundreds of thousands. Did..." she squinted at Yang, "did you seriously overlook that?"Yang's smile dropped and she glared at the woman. "Okay, but do you know what any of these people-" she gestured to Junior and the Malachite twins, "-are doing?"The woman's head tilted strangely, almost a bit too far than a normal person. "Running a business?"Yang groaned. "I mean, technically, but-" She was cut off as the woman shushed her."Irrelevant. I am going to assume that you will not wait and allow yourself to be arrested by the authorities?""Wait," Yang started, "but they're the-""I assume not, then? Very well. I suppose I shall have to hold you off in the place of the workers at this fine establishment until law enforcement arrives," the woman stated before assuming a combat stance.Yang still didn't quite get what was going on, but threats? A battle stance? A fight? Now, this was starting to move back into familiar territory. Her smile reappeared and she leaned forward, slapping her knees twice as if she was calling Zwei. "All right then, let's do this. See if you can entertain me more than these losers could," she said as the two stared off, the air crackling with tension.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The Release Candidate decided to size up their opponent in the few moments they likely had before their fight. The blonde woman stood at around five-feet-and-eight-inches. While she had a muscular figure, her much more muscled arms and her bracers alluded to a primarily hands-based fighting style. Given the unnatural way her hair was standing up and the golden aura around her, she likely had some kind of semblance activated at the moment. Likely a close-range one to explain why she was a melee fighter.

The blonde woman, likely becoming bored with the lull in action, slammed her gauntlets together and charged. The RC stepped to the side to dodge, reaching behind her and calling upon her power source to craft a shortsword, the scattered guns behind her tearing themselves apart and pieces forming into a blade. The sudden appearance of a weapon from seemingly nowhere caught the blonde off guard, and she grunted in pain as the sword dug into her shoulder. However, the blonde woman followed up by doing something completely unexpected. Instead of stumbling away, like many would after being stabbed, she shot out her arm and

grabbed

onto the Candidate's arm. Before they could react, they found themselves tugged forward - and face-first into the blonde's fist.

They staggered back - or would have, if the blonde didn't possess a grip of steel. The RC dropped the sword and brought their arm up to defend themselves from a second punch, grunting as their body shuddered from the impact. This fight wasn't working. If they wanted to win, they would need to break away from the simulations and fight the blonde like they were a person rather than a scripted event.

As the blonde brought her arm back for a third strike, the Candidate surged forward and slammed their head into their opponent's.

/-/

Yang staggered back with a cry, releasing her opponent's arm. Was there a plate in that girl's head? It made a

clang

when she rammed their heads together! A

CLANG!

The girl rolled back after the headbutt and snagged one of the goon's guns off the floor, pointing it at Yang.

Yang sprinted at her, trying to close the distance before she could get a shot off. The ginger woman sidestepped the attack and unloaded the gun into Yang's side, driving her back a few steps. Yang shot twice with her gauntlets, which the woman dodged by backflipping behind the bar's counter, bullets shattering some of the bottles on the back wall. Yang prepared to vault herself over the counter to get at the girl, placing her hand on the counter and pushing herself over to-

BLAM!

An explosion of force catapulted her back away from the bar, throwing her back onto the ground with a huff. Craning her head up, she saw the ginger jump over the counter, now sporting a gauntlet in a blue color that were oddly similar to hers, the difference being that the gun on the end was a rife rather than a shotgun.

Wait, where did that arm cannon come from? The other girl had nothing like that on her body that could be seen. Was it hidden under that cloak?

Yang rolled to the side, avoiding the spray of bullets and quickly returned fire, temporarily halting her opponent’s attack and forcing them into cover.

She looked around the club, trying to find something,

anything

to-

Yang blinked. And then she smiled, reaching out to the object on the goon’s body.

/-/

“Melding”

the rifle into their body had been a quick, snap decision that had paid off in getting in a surprise point-blank barrage, but there hadn’t been enough time to

“create”

a compartment for more bullets. They had planned to be conservative with the clip that they already had loaded, but after landing that direct hit, something…

happened

. To the Candidate.

Seeing those bullets drive into the blonde, watching her be driven back and sent flying away… something roared inside of them, and they were overcome by the urge to immediately empty the entire clip. Even now, something in her system was urging her to fire. A small voice in the back of their head.

Again

, it whispered insistently,

more. Again.

This did not make sense to the Candidate. They knew they were out of ammunition, but the urge did not go away. Strange.

They shook their head to clear their mind, which was an unnecessary action for them, but it still helped for some reason. These were thoughts that could be considered at a later date. Now was the time for combat.

Yang had not yet attacked since the previous exchange. From what they had seen of the blonde’s fighting style and personality, they would have thought the woman would have rushed in to attack by now. They did hear a

clicking

sound coming from out of sight, however, so she was likely preparing something.

The Candidate shot their head up over the counter ready to attack and blinked as something clattered on the counter in front of her.

A brown ball connected to a clip, a pin on the ground a few feet in front of the object.

A grenade.

They did not feel pain, but the grenade still had a lot of force that knocked them back to the other end of the counter, their head

cracking

into the wood and their ears ringing from the sound. They lifted their head up, trying to spot the girl, who wasn’t anywhere in sight-

A hand grabbed onto the back of their head, covering one of their eyes. Through their unobstructed eye, the blonde woman could be seen grinning a few inches above them.

‘Ah,’

the Candidate thought, swinging their right arm up to attack the blonde. ‘

Using the grenade to mask her approach.’

The Candidate was not expecting any moderately complex strategy to come from the woman, and now she was being punished for it. The blonde blocked the attack with her right arm and lifted the candidate up with her left arm before slamming them into the counter.

The wood splintered under the impact, the Candidate’s vision going static for a moment as something

buzzed

in the back of their head. They blinked, growling, their vision coming back to reveal the blonde’s smiling face again as she prepared to lift them up again. The Candidate pressed their open hand to the blonde’s face and concentrating, their power rushing through their body and into their hand.

/-/

Yang groaned and pushed herself off the wall, her hand coming away from her face, stained with blood. She had the girl pinned and was ready to break either her or the bar counter, but then the girl shoved her hand in her face and this blue energy rushed out, assaulting her body. The worst part wasn’t how hard it hit her - and it hit her

hard

, but that the attack had

passed through her fucking aura

.

On the bright side, her aura did block some of the attack, which was why her head didn’t have a hole in it, but not only did it hurt a

lot

, but if the girl could pull off more attacks like that, then Yang was in actual danger.

Her semblance was powered up, however. Her body was starting to vibrate, the familiar heat and energy flowing through her, empowering her. Yang turned toward the girl and slammed her fists together, smirking.

She wasn’t down yet. And she wouldn’t be.