บท 107: 9
Chapter 9 - Jaune's Play
Sun, no, Jaune - whomever it was flexed one hand experimentally, head tilting as he looked down at the fingers as though in awe. He seemed fascinated by the skin on the back of his hand, turning it before his face.
Blake grit her teeth as she pushed herself towards him, golden eyes barely able to look away from the vibrant blue flames flickering behind Sun's dark-grey eyes.
"Hey there, you look like you could use a hand." His voice echoed, partly heard through her ears and partly originating almost within her mind. There was no doubting it though, his spectral tone overlapped with Sun's natural timbre. This was both Jaune and Sun somehow.
"Since when can you do this?" She gasped out as he kicked Gambol Shroud towards her. Jaune stepped cautiously between Torchwick and her, providing the chance she needed to gather herself and collect the weapon.
"Like I said, this is new. I tried to wake him up, he was right on the boundary of how far I could travel from you. And then… something snapped."
That was vague as usual, but she supposed he knew as little as her, and really in the end - what did it even matter? There was still Torchwick to deal with, not to mention his reinforcements in the White Fang – who were appearing in new Bullheads.
"I hope you know how to fight with that then," she nodded down towards the staff in Jaune's grasp, "otherwise this isn't going to go particularly well."
"Heh," he chuckled as he gripped it tighter, "I think I've got an idea."
"Enough of this crap," Roman Torchwick sighed as he turned away, "why don't you animals make yourself useful for once and deal with these two."
The uniformed faunus nodded, hefting weapons as they cautiously began to surround them. Blake turned on the spot as she watched them, cataloguing the way they moved, the weapons they had available. After seeing a group of them taken out by Sun they were apparently wary, she just hoped that fear would give them the edge.
"Banzai!" Jaune yelled as he dove forward, shoulder hitting the ground as he rolled below a clumsy strike, right before Sun's staff broke into three pieces, whirling in his hands as they cracked heads and bones alike. Blake blinked in surprise, even as Jaune leaned back from a blow before acrobatically delivering a kick to the bottom of the faunus' chin. The staff snapped back together as he finished with a final spin, using centrifugal force to smack another away. "How's that?" He asked cockily as he landed back beside her, back against hers. He'd taken down four relatively quickly, but there was still at least twelve left.
"How did you know how to use his weapon?" It took years to learn something like that, even more if you were learning three different weapons like Sun's turned into. Jaune had died to a single Beowolf…
"Heh… it's all in here," Jaune tapped the staff lightly against the side of his head, even as one of Sun's grins bloomed across his face – and it was Sun's grin. Not the kind of smile Jaune would normally give. "I'm pretty much Sun Wukong right now, right down to the memories I have. And luckily, that also includes all the training he did."
That's more than lucky… she thought to herself as the White Fang charged. With a brief nod to Jaune, she ducked below the first attack, leaving a clone to disorient her opponent before kicking off his back for some air. Two more poorly trained grunts paused to look up at her as she sailed above them, Adam would have never allowed such idiots to take part in a mission, not if they were going to gawk at their enemy instead of fighting. Still, in this case it was to her advantage – as Gambol Shroud barked angrily, dust rounds impacting off their aura as they ducked for cover.
Her legs ached as she hit the ground, her defeat at the hands of Torchwick still stinging both her pride and her body. A brief look showed Jaune enjoying himself as Sun's complex weapon flipped through all forms, quick shots snapped out between nun-chuck combos.
An explosion further down the docks made her wince, before a bright light seemed to cut through the air – literally tearing through an approaching Bullhead. It wasn't only her who stopped to stare as the two neatly cut pieces crashed with a loud explosion. The entire combat around her seemed to pause. What the hell was that?
"Looks like your team came to back you up," Jaune landed next to her in a crouch, one hand coming up to physically twist her head in the direction of a nearby rooftop. Ruby? But… how had they found her?
"Why are they here?"
"You still don't get it? That's kinda sad… they're your team Blake, it's not like they were ever going to just abandon you."
"I'm White Fang," she said angrily as she kicked one such faunus aside, ducking below another who sought to take advantage while she was distracted.
"Were." Jaune slapped another aside with his staff, grinning at her the whole time. "You're not anymore, and besides, what does it matter?"
"Don't be stupid," she hissed as she locked blades with a White Fang grunt, forcing him back before delivering a backhanded strike to the faunus' face. "The White Fang have killed members of Weiss' family, for every bit of good we did there was someone else who suffered. There's a reason we were called terrorists, and not just violent criminals."
"And maybe if they knew that before they met you it might have changed things, but they didn't. They became friends with you first, and it's surprising what you'll forgive a friend for."
It couldn't be that simple. That just didn't make sense.
Not to her.
Being a terrorist, or having once been one. It wasn't the same as bumping into someone or insulting a person, it wasn't exactly something you could forget or wash away with a simple apology. How could he even suggest such a thing, to get her hopes up at all?
But if they had sought her out. Then perhaps they deserved to at least hear her side of things. Without her running away like she usually did when things got tough, they deserved better than that.
Her team deserved better.
"Just promise me you'll try Blake, a simple apology is all I ask."
"Fine!" She snapped as she flipped away from another attack, was she really going to be forced to have a conversation in these circumstances? "Just get rid of these guys."
"Heh, no problem-oh…" His voice halted, as a curious expression came over Sun's face, right before Jaune's spectral form was roughly catapulted from it – clipping straight through Blake as he yelped. Sun collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily as he looked about in confusion. "Okay, yes problem…"
"W-what happened?" Sun gasped, dark grey eyes blinking heavily. "I remember… Torchwick? Blake?"
"He was unconscious while I had him," Jaune said quickly, "as soon as he woke up I was expelled."
"You took a nasty blow," she stepped closer to the downed teen, just in case any of the Fang decided to take advantage of his lapse. "You just woke back up." It… probably wouldn't be taken well if she mentioned Jaune. She still wasn't convinced someone wouldn't try to lock her in the loony bin over it.
Another nearby explosion had them all ducking, as shrapnel rained over their position. Some of the White Fang took a single look at the strange orange-haired girl – who was literally pulling a Bullhead from the sky – and decided sticking around wasn't in their best interest.
Blake couldn't blame them… was that honestly the same weird girl they had bumped into the other day?
Well… at least she'd been accurate on the weird part…
"I-I think we're done here," Sun said as he clambered to his feet – swaying briefly before he managed to catch himself. "The baddies are on the run, cops are on the way – and y'know, since I did stow away to get here, that might be my cue to skedaddle too."
"Okay," Blake said casually, before sighing at the deadpan stare on Jaune's face – which was hovering two inches before her. She let out an aggrieved sigh, but acquiesced. "Thank you for your help Sun. I wouldn't have been able to do it without you."
"Heh," the blonde faunus grinned, "no probs. I'll see you round eh?" He dashed off with a quick wave over one shoulder as he vaulted a nearby fence.
"There, I said thanks – are you happy?"
"You know… I really do think he fancies you." Blake rolled her eyes at his insight. "But yeah, I'm half-happy now, just need you to say sorry to your team and it'll all be good. And hey look, here's your chance."
"Blake!" A chorus of voices shouted as the sound of stampeding feet reached her ears. Her faunus features flicked back nervously as they approached, how was she supposed to broach such a terrify-
"Oomph!" Something blonde and heavy collided with her, dragging her to the floor as her aching legs gave way under Yang's not-so-insignificant weight.
"Hey guys, look what I caught," the damned blonde girl crowed happily, sat atop Blake's midriff. For her part the faunus girl simply laid one hand across her eyes, desperately wishing she could be anywhere else. Damn it Yang…
"Blake…" her white-haired teammate said softly, even as Yang clambered off and helped her up. Golden eyes met ice-blue as she looked upon the girl who should have been her mortal enemy. And yet what had she done?
Sure Weiss had been a bit of a bitch to Ruby at first… but they'd sorted that out quickly enough. Other than that the girl hadn't done anything to Blake… she didn't even hog the shower (that was Yang), she didn't snore (Yang), and she never once said or did anything to truly piss her off… like Yang did every time she cracked a pun.
All her animosity towards Weiss was just things she'd carried over from the White Fang. She needed to apologise for that…
"Oh God, is this the bit where you say sorry? I need a camera!"
If only Jaune would make it easier…
"Weiss I'm so-"
"I don't want to hear it," the shorter girl snapped, one hand cutting her off immediately. "Are you still with the White Fang?"
"No, bu-"
"Then as far as I'm concerned this matter is resolved, just…" she paused, the concern that briefly flashed across her features a near-blow for Blake's exhausted nerves, "just come to us next time, okay? Instead of running away."
"I promise…" They didn't hug, not like Yang probably would have done – but the smile Weiss gave her was just as good, even as she nodded back. Yang cheered happily, while Ruby giggled. And for the first time since she even joined Team RWBY, she finally felt accepted.
"No! Weiss why? I worked so hard to make her apologise, arghhh!"
And she also felt strangely satisfied as well, as she watched Jaune tear at his own hair.
"I'm gonna have a shower," Yang shouted as she poked her head around the bathroom door, "I'll leave you two to Blake the ice as it were." The door slammed shut, with one of Weiss' shoes bouncing off it a second later.
"I don't know how you put up with her," the Heiress groaned as she flopped back on her bed, "I genuinely don't."
"Me either," Blake shrugged, "one day I'll snap – no one will find the body."
"Come find me, I'll help you bury it." The two shared a brief laugh, before the silence descended over them once more. Above Weiss Blake could see Ruby plug in some earphones and turn away, making it clear this was her issue to solve.
She guessed Yang was right… it was time to Bl-break the ice.
"I know you said not to talk about it," she said hesitantly, waiting for Weiss to interrupt. Instead the white-haired girl lay still on her bed, though she was clearly listening intently. "But I still wanted to apologise for the way I treated you in Beacon."
"It wasn't anything unusual," the heiress spoke from her bed, eyes on the bottom of Ruby's bunk. "Wherever I go there will be people who want to take advantage of me because of my name, and the connections I bring. But it works in the reverse too, some people will hate me because of my name."
"That doesn't make it right though, it's a little hypocritical of me to complain about people judging faunus without getting to know them, if I did the same to you."
"No worse than me lumping all faunus together. Especially when it's clear that blonde one came to your aid against the White Fang. I'm sorry for that."
Blake shook her head quickly. How was this getting out of control so quickly? She was the one who was supposed to be sorry, not Weiss. It was her who had run off, broken their team apart, nearly gotten killed and even brought Sun into a situation that could have meant his death.
In comparison Weiss' comments had been cruel, but not exactly murderous.
"I'm the one who should be sorry, and I am. I promise I'll come to you or Ruby in future if I have any problems."
"Not Yang?" Weiss pushed herself to a sitting position, a small smirk on her lips. Blake grinned back, pleased to feel the tension between them diminish. She wasn't perfect yet, there was still a little bit of lingering doubt – but she thought they would get on just fine.
"I'd sooner go to Goodwitch for advice than Yang."
The two laughed as they settled down, though Blake's sensitive hearing caught the quiet thank you the heiress gave. It still amazed her how Weiss could forgive her so easily, how any of them could really, but Weiss had been the one personally wronged by the White Fang in the past.
At least Jaune would stop moaning about how she needed to apologise.
Speaking of which… where was he?
"Hey," Yang called as she stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body – her hair still dripping with water. She held something out with one hand. "I found this little guy in here, he belong to either of you?"
"Not mine," Weiss said as she spared a glance from above her book, "also can you not drip water all over the carpet?"
Blake didn't hear Yang's response, for all she could do was stare in horror at the fluffy thing that dangled from Yang's outstretched fist. Covered in light yellow fur, with round limbs and two little ears – a stitched smile adorned its face – while two black button eyes stared out at them. The small yellow teddy-bear swung gently from her partner's hand.
It wouldn't have been quite so terrifying, were Blake not able to see the blue flames flickering within those black eyes.
"I have seen the valleys of the promised land," the bear said dreamily – it's stitched smile obviously not moving, and its voice apparently inaudible to any but her. "And they were glorious…"
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