The group walked around with Penny now joining them. It didn't really matter since things were awkward after the mini fight between Weiss and Blake with Alabast trying to mediate the problem.
Even with the atmosphere of the festival things didn't get better.
They ran into Ren and Nora as the sun was setting. They had their arms locked and Ren had a slight smile on his face.
When Nora saw the gang she ran to them with Ren trying to keep up and not fall.
Nora met Penny and greeted her, they got along decently well. But Penny's way of speaking was hard to get used to. But everyone eventually did that day, or at least as much as they could.
Alabast caught Ren up to what happened between Weiss and Blake. He had noticed the heavy mood that was hiding under the carpet.
After a while longer team ANVL and RWBY went back to Beacon and Penny went back to wherever she was told to go by a scroll call.
——————
That night Alabast and Pyrrha were in team RWBY's room.
Alabast was sitting on a chair at a desk and Pyrrha was sitting next to him. The others were on their respective bunks.
Weiss and Blake are sitting on the edges of their bottom bunks and facing eachother as they begin to argue again. Hand sits next to Pyrrha and Ruby sits next to Alabast. They moved after Weiss and Blake started arguing again.
"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!" Weiss states loudly.
Blake motions to Weiss with her right hand. "That 'is' the problem"
Yang and Ruby awkwardly and uncomfortably watch. Pyrrha wants to find a way for everyone to get along, but no matter what she does Weiss and Blake just end up fighting minutes later.
Weiss stands up from her bed in frustration. "You realize you are defending an organization that hates Humanity, don't you? The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!"
Blake then gets on her feet as well. "There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate Humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you, that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"
Alabast wants to cut in. But he's already done it so many times that he knows it won't do anything. Blake and Weiss are in their own world trying to duke it out at this point.
Weiss gets offended. "People like me? You think I'm as bad as Cardin?"
"You're discriminatory!" Blake points directly at Weiss's face and then drops her hand.
Weiss puts a hand on her chest. "I'm a victim!" She crosses her arms as they have a staring contest. Weiss leans in close and leers as she talks. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust any Faunus besides Alabast?" She moves to the window and leans her palms on the bookshelf below it as she looks out the window. "It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War, as in actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear; board members executed; an entire train car full of Dust, stolen. And every day, my father would come home, furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood!" She bang her fist on the bookshelf.
Alabast feels as if she was grabbing his heart and twisting it. He might have taken down a few of the people she mentioned. He doesn't know exactly who he killed. Either forgetting them or not being told. Only pointed in the direction and being taken off the leash. Sure he may not have killed all. But they wouldn't be the same after he got to them. And then there's Ayaka as well. And many others on top of that.
Ruby walks next to Weiss and puts a hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her. "Weiss, I-"
"No!" Weiss brushes Ruby's hand off and turns back to Blake and walks in front of the black haired teammate. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!"
Blake steps forward to try and defend them. "Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" She shouts.
Silence engulfs the room as everyone hears what Blake just said.
Weiss slowly backs away from Blake as she stares at her.
Blake looks around at her teammates and friends and backs away towards her bunk as she grabs her elbows. Her gaze turns to Alabast who stood up as soon as she said that. But she looks back to her teammates. "I... I..."
Blake looks at Alabast again. "Th-this wasn't how…. we were supposed to tell them…." She quietly and shakily says before hastily running out of the room.
Alabast holds his hand out at Blakes fleeing figure. But he grabs his hand with his other and lowers it.
Ruby runs to the hallway. "Blake, wait! Come back!" She shouts down the hall but Blake was already gone.
Yang uncomfortably shifts in her seat and looks around the room.
Weiss looks down at the ground.
Pyrrha looks at Alabast and saw how he reacted. She's surprised he didn't follow after Blake as soon as she left.
The room goes quiet as everyone is frozen in place, not knowing how to move forward.
——————
Blake doesn't stop running until she's outside and arrives at a statue of an armored man with a sword and a hooded woman wielding an axe on an outcropping, staring at the Beowolf under the stone heroes in particular.
She closes her eyes and stands there.
——————
After a minute Ruby looks at her friends. Then she looks at Alabast. "You knew she was part of the White Fang?"
Everyone looks at Ruby in surprise.
Alabast looks down at the floor and grips his hand tighter. He wants to use his semblance to appear next to Blake. He's found a way to track a person if he can slip his Darkness in that persons shadow. But it has a limited range and she was quickly approaching his current limit. "Since I arrived in Vale…. She's also the reason I came to Beacon in the first place. But she was cold and hostile to me as soon as she saw me… I had already left the White Fang as soon as I found out what they were doing and Blake left. I didn't know what to do next so I went after Blake. I cling onto the only thing I had left in this world. But you guys were what made me stay after Blake cut me off…. Not like she saw me to begin with…."
Alabast was extremely tired at this point. Ontop of the exams, he had been studying very hard during the day. And then at night he would train his semblance. It had taken a toll but he could deal with it.
"So you… we're a part of the White Fang?" Weiss looks at Alabast with a betrayed expression.
When Alabast sees this his brain shuts off. "…yes… but I've cut all ties… I was…" he can't finish. The words get stuck in his throat as he looks at Weiss.
Yang looks at Ruby. "How long have you known?"
Ruby stand infront of the door. "Since the first time I met him…" She walks towards Alabast and grabs his hand that was clawing into the wrist of his other arm. "…but I didn't know about Blake…"
"She wanted to tell everyone. But she was afraid of how you guys would react. And I didn't want to force her to do it either. This really wasn't how it was supposed to happen" Alabast takes Ruby's hands into his own. His expression neutral.
"What now?" Pyrrha asks.
"I can explain later, but I'm going after Blake first" Alabast lets Ruby's hand go and sinks into the Darkness leaving the 4 girls alone in awkward silence.
——————
Alabast appears behind Blake. And she can tell. She slowly takes off her bow as she faces the statues. He back to Alabast. Her cat ears point to the night sky as they are finally released.
"I knew you would look better without the bow."
Blake quickly turns around. That wasn't Alabast's voice. She sees Alabast behind her but off to the side she can see the monkey Faunus from earlier.
"When did you get here?!" Sun shouts and points at Alabast.
"I recommend you run before I take care of you" Alabast threatens.
Sun folds his arms. "We're you the one that made her cry? If so you're a shi-"
Alabast makes his right arm engulf in darkness and then he punches out at Sun. His arm seemingly extends and connects heavily in Sun's diaphragm. "Don't talk about things you know nothing about!" Alabast shouts. The darkness fades away revealing his arm back at his side.
He had been training and it wasn't for nothing.
He turns back to Blake. "I'm sorry I didn't defend you. But I couldn't just leave them right away. I explained a little but not much, I'm not even sure. But I'm here for you Blake"
A tear falls down her face as she holds the bow in her hands. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to tell them about us like this. It wasn't supposed-"
Alabast envelops her in a hug and presses her head against his shoulder. "It's not your fault. Things got a little heated between you and Weiss. What do you want to do now?"
Blake holds the bow in her left hand and grabs his shirt with her right. "I don't think I can face them right now"
Alabast rubs her back. "That's alright. We can go to Vale for the weekend and work things out…together"
"Together" Sun says as he appears next to them and leans on the base of the statue.
Alabast looks at Sun. "You really do have a death wish"
Sun holds his hands in the air. "Hey! I'm not going to try and steal your girl man! I'm just offering to be a third party to listen to her problems. I'm unbiased" He smugly and confidently says.
Alabast wants to punch him again but doesn't want to let Blake go. "Everyone is biased on this. One way or another. It's about Humans and Faunus. Thanks bu-"
"Maybe he could help" Blake says.
Alabast feels a burning sensation in his chest. Even with Blake in his arms, it makes him want to lash out at everything in the immediate area.
"Really?" He asks his girlfriend.
"Yes. And I also want to make sure the White Fang aren't involved in the robberies like everyone says they are" Blake looks at Alabast in his eyes.
He can't deny her when she looks like this. Alabast moves the hand that was on the back of her head to her ears and rubs them. "Alright, but he needs to find his own place to sleep"
Blake leans her head into his hand. "Do we even have a place to stay?". She already sounds to be in a slightly better mood.
"I've got my own place in Vale"
Sun interjects. "So where at I supposed to stay?"
"That one is for you to figure out" Alabast says.
But then he remembers Weiss's expression, the way she looked at him. Like she doesn't even know who he is anymore.
And then there was how Yang reacted to the whole thing in a disbelieving manner. And Pyrrha too, but it seems she had her suspicions already. She was too smart for her own good sometimes.
And Ruby. She actually made Alabast feel a little better.
He was torn about who to go to. It was a hard decision but he decided to go with Blake for now. As much as he wanted to go to Weiss and the others, they had eachother. But Blake would have been alone out here…. With the stupid monkey.
"Let's get going" Alabast let's Blake go and turns to Sun. "I'm Alabast. And this is Blake. We're going back to Vale"
Sun puts his hands behind his head and moves out of the way. "After you~"
Alabast takes Blake's hand and walks back towards the Bullheads and off they go back to Vale.
——————
Ruby is in the room explaining what she knows about Alabast being in the White Fang. It isn't much but she explains that he didn't mean to hurt anyone and that his feeling were genuine and all that. She surprisingly doesn't stammer, mumble, or get off track. She was in leader mode and tried to help her friends.
"….. We just need to give them a little time. I'm sure they will come back!" Ruby ends her speech with enthusiasm. Only a little bit. She still is shocked about Blake.
Yang just sits back in her chair and is in deep thought. Weiss is laying in the bed holding herself with her back to the rest of the room. And Pyrrha was sitting on a chair going through her thoughts and listening to Ruby.
"….and we can go looking for them tomorrow!" Ruby adds to try and get a reaction. The only one she gets is a small nod from Yang and Pyrrha. Yangs nod was a little unsure.
——————
"They've been gone all weekend…" Ruby groans as she walks with Yang, Weiss, and Pyrrha, down the streets of Vale.
"Blake's a big girl. And Alabast is a big boy. I'm sure they can take care of themselves!" Weiss says with a bit of worry and venom mixed together.
"Weiss, come on. She's one of our teammates. And Alabast is our boyfriend" Yang is very worried. About Blake and Alabast. And Weiss.
"Is she? We all heard what she said! And Alabast hid it from as well!" Weiss complains.
Ruby looks at her teammate. "Weiss…"
"I'm sure they had their reasons. It's not exactly like they could just tell us easily. And it's not like the White Fang were always violent" Pyrrha says in Alabast's and Blake's defense.
"Pyrrha is right. And who knows! Maybe they were, maybe they weren't… it doesn't matter right now! They're both missing, and we need to find them!" Yang adds.
Weiss continues her complaining. "Two members of the White Fang! Two! Right underneath our noses!"
Ruby looks around the street. "I just hope they're ok…" She mumbles in great worry.
——————
Blake, Alabast, and Sun are sitting outside a cafe.
Blake takes a sip of her tea and sets the cup down. She looks up across the table and sees Sun holding his cup with his tail and has his head propped up with his hands. Alabast is sitting beside Blake and also facing Sun.
Blake puts her cup down. "So, you want to know more about us…"
Sun takes a gulp from his cup and then moves it down. "Technically, I want to know more about 'you' specifically, Blake"
"Did I hit you too hard or are you just a masochist?" Alabast says as he clenched his right fist on the table.
Blake puts her hand over Alabast's. She shakes her head and looks to Sun. "You either listen to the whole story, our story, or you leave"
Sun looks between Alabast and Blake. "I get it already, I'm just saying I'd prefer not to hear Alabast's version. But after two days of nothing I'll listen to anything you say at this point. We've only had small talk" he points at Blake. "You've only given me weird looks" He points at Alabast "And he's only glared at me and tried to kill me"
"If I did try you wouldn't be saying I tried" Alabast says while glaring at Sun.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Sun asks.
"It means you would actually be dead if he really did try" Blake clears the confusion.
"Oohhhhh. Anyway~, back to finally talking?" Sun changes the topic.
Blake closes her eyes and sighs. "Sun... Are you familiar with the White Fang?"
Sun sits up and puts his hands on the table. "Of course! I don't think there's a Faunus on the planet who hasn't heard of them. Stupid, holier-than-thou creeps that use force to get whatever they want. Bunch of freaks, if you ask me!" Sun says in a matter-of-fact tone.
Blake takes a sip from her cup before she speaks. "We were once members of the White Fang."
Sun goes cross-eyed and chokes on his drink, making him put it down and wipe his mouth as he holds up a hand to process this information. "Wait a minute, 'you' were a member of the White Fang?!" He points at Blake.
"You aren't shocked that I was a member?" Alabast asks with a raised brow.
Sun points at him. "You kind of look the part my feline friend. The whole grumpy and scary attitude when it comes to anything besides Blake here"
Blake puts her cup on the table. "Anyway, I was a member for most of my life, actually. You could almost say I was born into it..."
"And my earliest memories are of a protest when I was 6. Can't remember anything before that. And after the protest I was a member from that point on" Alabast adds.
Blake looks into the distance but at nothing in particular. "Back then, things were different. In the ashes of war, the White Fang was meant to be a symbol of peace and unity between Humans and the Faunus. Of course, despite being promised equality, the Faunus were subjected to discrimination and hate. Humanity still thought of us as lesser beings. And so, the White Fang rose up as a voice of our people. And I was there. I was at the front of every rally. I took part in every boycott. I actually thought we were making a difference. But I was just a youthful optimist."
"I went to the protests and events. I was just supporting from the back until I grew up and eventually got strong enough to be a guard for the events" Alabast gives his side. This is also the first time Blake hears this in destabilize as well.
Blake looks down at the table. "Then, five years ago, our leader stepped down, and a new one took his place. A new leader, with a new way of thinking."
Alabast thinks back to the past. "The old leader was the one to save my life and give me a place in the White Fang and who encouraged my training. It was a big deal when he left since I mostly originally joined because he saved my life at the protest I was at before I joined"
"Suddenly, our peaceful protests were being replaced with organized attacks. We were setting fire to shops that refused to serve us, hijacking cargo from companies that used Faunus labor. And the worst part was, it was working. We were being treated like equals. But not out of respect... out of fear." Blake remembers how it felt to be doing those things. They didn't hurt people, but their actions did.
Alabast thinks back to the early days of their new leader. "The things we did weren't great. And they eventually got worse. And the missions I was eventually put on also got worse. There were things not even Blake was aware of that went on behind the scenes"
Blake looks at a stunned Sun. "So, I left. I decided I no longer wanted to use my skills to aid in their violence, and instead, I would dedicate my life to becoming a Huntress. So here I am: a criminal hiding in plain view, all with the help of a little black bow" She wiggles her cat ears hidden by said bow.
"And I followed her. I didn't know what to do after I found everything I had lived for was for nothing. I mostly stayed with the White Fang after the old leader left because of Blake. So after she left I followed her to Beacon. I couldn't hide my Faunus traits if I wanted to" Alabast points out his ears, tail, teeth, and claws.
Sun was even more shocked now. He tries to sort through the bomb that just went off. "So... have you told your friends any of this?"
Blake looks down in shame and squeezes Alabast's hand.
Alabast looks at Sun. "No, we didn't. I only slipped once and Ruby found out. I explained very little when they all suddenly found out…" He looks down at Blake. "…but it wasn't very good. I was overwhelmed and couldn't think of what to do. I wanted to immediately chase after Blake but stayed behind a little to make sure they weren't going to have a breakdown. Then I thought of Blake being all alone and went to her. You know what happened from there"
Sun looks between Alabast and Blake and sorts through his thoughts. This was a lot to take all at once. He wonders what his team would say if he dropped this on them out of the blue. It might not have been pretty, but he was their leader and he believed in his team to not shun him. But how does he comfort the two Faunus across the table? It won't be easy…