The Creed of a Huntsman
Yang, Vale
No matter how many times Yang had been to Vale, she could never get over how great they city looked this time of year. That didn't mean she couldn't keep herself composed at the sights she had seen many, many years. Weiss however, was in awe.
"The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!" Weiss beamed in excitement, bringing her arms up in amazement.
"I don't think I've seen Weiss this smile this much." Marcus said, surprised to actually see the 'Ice Queen' chipper.
"Yeah," Ruby chimed in, "It's kinda creeping me out…"
"How could you not smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances! Parades! A tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!" Weiss squealed, as they continued walking through the city glancing at the various decorations.
"Yeah, reminds me of the Olympics." Marcus said just out of nowhere and grinning at the décor.
"Uhhh, the what?" Yang inquired.
"Um, no-nothing. It's a sports thing from Mistral. Very low-key."
"You guys really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring, ya know?" Yang sighed.
"Quiet you!" Weiss hissed as they appeared near the docks of Vale, transport ships docked as foghorns blared.
"However, I've got to wonder why we are at the docks." Marcus asked, and Yang had to agree. The campus had decided to cancel classes today so that students could see the new arrivals pull in from Vacuo. Yang didn't really care about greeting the new students, she'd let her fist do the talking when the tournament arrives. As for now, she was hoping she could get Marcus into Junior's club so they could kill it on the dance floor, with a few drinks in hand and call it a Friday night.
"Ugh! They smell like fish!" Ruby's nasal voice squealed in disgust as she pinched her nose. Marcus's face scrunched up in confusion and was about to roast Ruby, but Weiss cut him off.
"I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today. And, as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom!"
"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament." Blake elaborated for them as stoic as she always has been.
"You can't prove that!" Weiss clapped back a little too quickly, to seem innocent. While they were about to take off, Marcus had looked to the right and nudged Yang lightly on the shoulder.
"Holy crap…" he muttered as they witnessed the scene. A dust shop had been ransacked to hell by the looks of it, with shattered glass everywhere and yellow tape all over the front door, and Vale detectives taking notes.
"What happened here?" Ruby asked as the team approached the crime scene, her leadership skills kicking in.
"Robbery. Second dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle." The detective with brown hair answered as he continued to assess the scene.
'Detective Burns' his badge read.
"That's terrible." Yang said with a hint of sadness in her voice. She turned to Marcus to see what he thought when she swore she saw the oddest thing. His green iris had twinges of bright yellow flowing through them, before it seemed to dissipate.
"They left all the money though." He deducted, looking past the second detective into the store, where he could barely see Lien scattered on the floor.
"Sharp eyes kid." The second detective, Heyman, complimented him.
"It just doesn't make a lick of sense. Who need that much dust?" Burns asked his partner with confusion evident on his face.
"I don't know, an army?"
"You thinking the White Fang?"
"Yeah, I'm thinking we don't get paid enough."
"Hmph!" Weiss huffed, "The White Fang! What an awful bunch of degenerates!"
"What's your problem?" Blake asked, taking offense to Weiss's statement, scowl plastered on her face.
"My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane."
"The White Fang are hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're a collection of misguided Faunus." Blake crossed her arms in her confrontation of Weiss.
"Misguided? They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!" Oh, boy. Yang could tell that someone other than Ruby was going to explode.
"So then they're very misguided. Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale."
"Blake's got a point." Ruby chimed in before the situation could escalate, "Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago… maybe it was him?"
"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum. Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal." Weiss stated as if it were a fact, much to Blake's annoyance.
"That's not necessarily true…" Yang tried to interject before a sailor cried for help.
"Hey, stop that Faunus!"
Come on, man…
Marcus, Vale
'Just can't catch a break, huh?' Marcus pondered as his team rushed to the docks to investigate the disturbance, catching a monkey Faunus hop onto the edge of the boat he was on and turning to the sailors.
"Thanks for the ride, guys!" he cockily remarked as he laughed like a madman, jumping off and climbing a lamppost and seemingly pulling a banana out of nowhere.
"You no-good stowaway!" the other sailor insulted the Faunus.
"Hey, a no-good stowaway would have been caught! I'm a great stowaway!" he almost stuffs his mouth when one of the detectives' threw a stone at him.
"Hey, get down from there this instant!" Burns scolded the young Faunus, before he was rewarded with a banana peel to the face, seething with anger. The monkey Faunus perched himself on the lamppost and laughed at the detective before hopping off the post and running past the po po and up the docks. As he began to pass RWBY, Marcus managed to catch him give Blake a wink and a grin.
'Awwwwww, Blake's got a cruuuuush!' Marcus's asshat side sung in singsong to himself as the Faunus managed to rush past them, leaving Blake in awe.
"Well," Yang started, "Weiss, you wanted to see the competition and there it goes…"
"Quick, we have to observe him!" Weiss ordered as the group gave chase. Marcus turned behind him to see Blake still in shock.
"Uh, Blake? You wanna get a move on?" Marcus called back at Blake as he gave chase, catching up to his team quickly. As they rounded a corner, both Marcus and Weiss managed to bump into something and trip. Marcus, flat on his back saw the Faunus jump onto a building and onto a rooftop.
"No! He got away!" Weiss exclaimed, and Marcus kipped up, ready to give chase, before ultimately deciding against it. He'd better make sure Weiss was all good.
"Uhh… Weiss?" Yang pointed towards the ground as a strange girl was grinning at them all… weird like. Marcus made sure to take 3 big steps away from Ultron Jr.
'Sucks Marvel hasn't done robots right in the MCU,' he thought as he stood next to Blake and Yang, 'bet Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D would kill it with that shit.'
"Sal-u-ta-tions!" the ginger girl beamed with energy as she still lay on the concrete. Doesn't she know that's where the roaches were?
"Um… hello?" Ruby didn't know whether to say it or question it.
"Are you… okay?" Yang question carefully, as she and Marcus shared a confused glance, before doing so with Weiss.
"I'm wonderful! Thank you for asking!"
"Do you wanna…"
"…get up?" Marcus finished for her as he had his right foot ready to pivot if she went ape shit. The girl agreed and kipped up and faced them. The group naturally took a step back.
"My name is Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you!"
"Hi Penny. I'm Ruby."
"I'm Weiss."
"Blake."
"Name's Marcus."
"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang broke the flow and Marcus gave her a bump on the side, "Oh, I'm Yang."
"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Penny said once again. Was she programmed or some shit?
"You stated that already." Marcus informed her, with a hint of sarcasm.
"So I did!" she responded after a short pause, optimistic as ever.
"Um, apologies for running into you!" Weiss barely managed to get out as they started to walk away.
"Take care, friend!" Oh no Ruby didn't…
"Ruby," Marcus gave her a harsh whisper, "did you really call her 'friend'? Are you crazy?!"
"What, it's a normal everyday expression!" she whispered back at him.
"Yeah, 'take care', not 'friend'! You want that weirdo fraternizing with us?"
"She seemed nice!"
"Nice? She acted like a Atlas drone!"
Their whisper argument was cut short when the same ginger girl appeared in front of them.
"What did you call me?" Oh fuck. Yang, Weiss, and Marcus were bewildered and trying to cover their backs as they explained that they hadn't seen the girl there, however, she simply told them that she didn't mean them.
She meant Ruby.
"Me? I-I don't know. I, what I, um, uh..." Ruby flubbed her words as she tried to come up with an excuse. She didn't say anything wrong, did she?
"You called me 'friend'! Am I really your friend?" Penny asked with a childlike curiosity.
"Um.." Ruby looked over Penny's shoulder to see all her teammates telling her to shut that shit down, "Y-Yeah, sure! Why not?" A distinctive gong sound could be heard as all of Ruby's friend fell backwards comically. Penny was joyous and laughed with glee.
"Sen-sational!" We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!"
"Agh, is this what it was like when you met me?" Ruby asked Weiss.
"No, she seems far more coordinarted."
"Anyways, what are you doing in Vale?" Marcus inquired to the newcomer.
"I'm here to fight in the tournament!" she responded chipperly.
"Wait, you're fighting in the tournament?" Weiss asked with mild surprise.
"I'm combat ready!" Penny saluted to the group not even breaking character. Marcus had to admit, he was rarely unnerved, but this chick was really giving him mad 'St. John cannibals' vibes.
"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part." Weiss confessed, something that Marcus would second without skipping a beat… as soon as Penny left of course.
"Says the girl wearing a dress." Blake deadpanned, which Marcus would have agreed with, but Weiss was in poking ranged, so he'd have to refrain from that.
"It's a combat skirt!" Weiss argued as she crossed her arms, with Ruby speeding over to her side.
"Yeah!" Weiss lowered her hand so that Ruby would give her a low five and she happily obliged, then the realization hit Weiss.
"Wait a minute," she walked towards Penny and grabbed her shoulders, "If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed... rapscallion?" This left Penny confused.
"The who?"
"The filthy Faunus from the boat!" Weiss pressed as she pulled out a terrible drawing of the Faunus. Try as he might, Marcus couldn't stop himself from showing the agitation on his face, and he could tell Blake was pretty fucking pissed.
"Why do you keep saying that?!"
"Huh?" Weiss turned her attention from Penny to her teammate.
"Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!" Blake walked over to Weiss with a rage in her eyes, with Marcus taking place near Blake to stop her from assaulting Weiss if it came to it.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can, or this lamppost as a lamppost?" Weiss motioned to said objects as she released Penny, only serving to anger Blake and Marcus.
"Weiss. Stop." Marcus bluntly told the heiress and she was really beginning to get on his nerves.
"Stop what? He clearly broke the law. Give him time; he'll probably join up with those other Faunus in the White Fang!" Weiss stated, and Team RWBY could swear they say a vein in Blake's head pop as she clenched her fist.
"You ignorant little brat!" Blake exclaimed as she walked away to vent her anger, with Weiss following suit with pure disgust on her face.
""How dare you talk to me like that! I am your teammate!""
"You are a judgmental little girl."
"What in the world makes you say that?"
"The mere fact that you would sort that Faunus boy with a terrorist group solely based on his species makes you just as much of a scoundrel as you believe him to be!"
Marcus sighed as he backed away from his arguing compadres to join Ruby and Yang as they stood there awkwardly with Penny just standing there smiling like the weirdo she is.
"C'mon guys, lets bounce. I doubt they can argue for this-"
Marcus, Beacon Dorm Rooms
"-long." Marcus dragged his hand down his face as he groaned. It was about 3 hours since they ditched Penny and these bitches were STILL arguing.
"Dear god, when will they stop?" Ruby whined as they exited the elevator to their hallway. Team JNPR was walking towards them and they gave a collective wave. Blake and Weiss didn't bat an eye and gave them a wave back. The rest of the team stopped next to JNPR while the other two walked on by.
"Jeez, what's up with Blake and Weiss?" Jaune asked out of concern.
"Weiss went off on some tirade about the Faunus and the White Fang, it ticked off Blake." Yang answered for them, not even trying to hide the sadness from her face.
"Please help us guys, they have been going at it for the past couple of hours and I'm going to lose it if I have to hear it any longer." Marcus pleaded with them.
"No problem!" Nora exclaimed as she grew an evil grin and cracked her knuckles and her neck, which made Marcus seriously regret asking for help.
"Nora." Ren simply put his hand on her shoulder and stopped her.
"As much as we'd like to help, maybe it's better for Weiss and Blake to solve these differences themselves." Pyrrha told the group, giving them a reassuring smile.
"Sorry guys. Hopefully they can agree on something before dinner, it can pretty lonely without you guys." Jaune told them before fist bumping Ruby and walking towards the elevator.
"I don't think I've ever seen someone defend the Faunus as passionately as Blake. It's actually pretty great." Ruby remarked, as she turned to Marcus and Yang.
"Yeah," Yang thought about the situation, "it's almost as if she knows this kind of crap first hand."
"I'm pretty sure it's just that she has more Faunus friends aside from Velvet, y'know? Like, wherever she lives and shit?" Marcus nervously tried to deflect them from the fact that Blake was a Faunus herself. Though they look a bit unsure, they eventually agreed.
"Brace yourselves." Yang sighed as she opened the door to their room, where the duo was still berating each other.
"Are you really so full of yourself, that you would just dismiss an entire species based on the actions of a few individuals alone?" Blake scolded Weiss as rest of RWBY stood there awkwardly.
"Wha-I-full of myself? We all have seen what the Faunus are truly caparable of doing! I still don't understand why this is causing such hostility from you!" Weiss stood from her bunk fuming at Blake's words, Blake following suit.
"That is the problem! People like you, Cardin, the rest of his team are the reason that the Faunus have become so desperate in their attempts to become equals!"
"People like me?"
"You're a bigot!"
"I'M a victim!" Weiss almost shouted as the room went silent, all eyes worryingly turning to her, unable to look at her teammates straight, she turned to the window.
"You really want to know why I've grown to despise the White Fang? Why I don't trust the Faunus? It's because they have been on my family's ass for years, actively hunting us. All they ever wanted from my family was to see every one of our corpses paraded around the world, like it would solve all of their problems. I've seen close friends disappear; board members executed; scores of train cars stolen. And every day, my father would come home beyond furious. And I fucking hated him." She revealed as she banged her fist against the bookshelf, head sunk down as she tried to stop herself from breaking down. Marcus shared a worried glance with Yang as Ruby tried to comfort her partner.
"Weiss, I'm-"
"Stop." She halted Ruby in her tracks and turned back to Blake, "I despise the Faunus because they are nothing more than a bunch of lying, murdering thieves!"
Finally Blake snapped.
"Maybe we were tired of being pushed around!"
As the air in the room grew still, Weiss slowly backed away from Blake as the entire team gaped at their teammate. Blake realized her error, and gazed at them with tears welling in her eyes.
"I… I…." she couldn't finish her sentence as she quickly dashed out of the dorm and made a beeline for any exit she could find, Ruby calling out for her in vain. Marcus turned to Weiss.
"Weiss… you…" he groaned as he couldn't form a coherent thought, rather walking to the window and began to crawl out, much to their surprise.
"Marcus! What are you doing?!" Yang called out to him as he began to scale the dormitory.
"I'm gonna see if I can fix this conundrum!" he yelled back as he dropped from one window to another, finally landing on the ground with a roll.
'Let's see if I can intercept her at the front of the building.' He though as he hopped over a bench in a attempt to catch up to his cat eared friend. While he used his eagle vision to search for Blake, he couldn't seem to find her. Accepting defeat, he rubbed his eyes as the strain of Eagle Vision began to take its toll from too much use. However, when he turned back he saw Blake standing at the statue in Beacon's courtyard, signaling mankind's triumph over the Grimm. He sprinted over there when he saw the monkey Faunus from the docks on top of a light post once more. He must've gotten her attention because she turned her head towards the Faunus.
Marcus eventually caught up to them and skidded to a halt besides to two Faunus, the monkey descending from his post.
"Hey, man unless you-."
"No, no, no! He's my teammate!" Blake stopped the blonde from engaging him, the man relaxing.
"Blake, what are you doing?"
"I can't stay here Marcus. Weiss… she'll never accept the fact that she is teamed up with a Faunus. I need to get out of here and-and lie low for a bit." She starred at him with nothing with but regret.
"I can't let you do that Blake. Whatever beef Weiss has with you, its placebo. She'll come to her senses if you just talk to her. Civilly."
"Are you kidding me man? She's a Schnee! She will just have her expelled and sent to Atlas to work in the mines!" The blonde guy stood in front of Blake in an effort to dissuade Marcus.
"What the- who are you?!" Marcus quizzically looked at him, Blake stepping in front of the man.
"That doesn't matter now Marcus. I'm leaving, and I won't let you stop me."
"Blake, you can't just very well dip like that! If Weiss goes to Ozpin with that information, or even worse the authorities, she can seriously destroy your life!"
"I highly doubt that Weiss would go that far dude." She scoffed at him, and Marcus just sighed as he pinched his nose.
"You're serious about this, aren't you?" Marcus asked her, to which she nodded, "Fine then, I'm coming with you."
"What?" both Blake and her friend were befuddled.
"I was the only one who knew your secret before you exposed yourself, so it makes sense. Besides, I'm already here." He made a good point to Blake, and she nodded to her friend who lowered his guard.
"Look man, sorry I got all defensive here. I'm usually more chill than this." He extended a hand to both of them, giving a cheeky grin, "Sun Wukong."
"Nice to meet you."
"You too," They let go of his hand, "I know a place to stay not too far from the docks. We can settle down there, besides, my team isn't gonna be here for another two weeks, so it'll be find."
"You have a team?" Blake raised her eyebrow.
"Yeah, team leader!"
"Why didn't they follow you here?"
"…It's a long story. I'll tell you on the way there."
A/N: A year late like a fuckin' asshole, but hey, I still didn't let this story die! What a fucking miracle! But, getting a PS4 will definitely divert your attention like that. Seriously tho, I'm really sorry for not pushing this out in time. I started this chapter after finishing the previous chapter. That was the beginning of my Junior year. I've now graduated from high school, and am stressing out over starting college next month. It's amazing to think I started this story all the way back in my freshman year dude. I'll try not to keep you folks waiting for a new chapter, but I certainly can't keep a promise now can I? Seriously tho, I'm really sorry for being inconsistent with my writing. But, enough of that.
Zeus501 and Gamelover41592: Thank you guys for the love! I appreciate you guys reviewing and reading the story!
Guest: Do you not know what a beanie is? Like the headgear for when it's cold?
Well… that's about it I guess. Catch y'all later!