[Sporking] The Plus One of RWBY - Chapter 11 part 3
AJ would wake up later in the night, seeing he was still in the same position as he fell asleep in. He tried to go back to sleep, he really did, but he couldn't, which was odd. Normally if he had just woke up he could go back to sleep if he closed his eyes, but while he was trying to go back to sleep he found he was more and more awake, till he was strangely wide awake. He gently stood up and looked at Blake's cute sleeping face, he felt something was forcing him up, and he didn't like the familiarity of it. He felt a presence rushing towards him, he looked around and couldn't see anything, but he could feel it coming closer, it felt like it was going to come out of a dream… why did he think that? What could come out of a dream? Whatever he felt struck him with absolute terror, and just as he felt it on top of him, he then saw Yang come out from her watch, and he felt the strangely familiar presence retreat.
[Kirby]: I don’t know what this is, but I hate it.
[Fufu]: It’s a load of contrived bullshit, that’s what it is. Plus some dead herrings, given the repeated use of how “odd” this is, how “strange” it is, and how he couldn’t help but feel as though he had to stand up.
[Talon]: I just have to add that despite at how he’s supposedly describing himself as being anxious and afraid, he still has time to look at Blake’s face and comment on how cute it was. Bleh.
"Hey Weiss, it's your… Ruby?"
[Kirby]: *picks up a White Rose* The hell? *looks around quickly* Y’all saw nothing. *burns it*
Yang asked looking down at the red cloaked girl's bed and found she wasn't there. "Hey! Where's Ruby?" Yang asked and everyone woke up.
[Fufu]: Oh yeah, and this is another thing that we’re missing from canon due to this fic focusing entirely on AJ; during the night, Ruby got woken by Zwei - cause he’s a good boy and is actually house trained - when she noticed some White Fang goons, who have now taken her hostage.
"What?" Oobleck asked and Zwei ran in.
"Zwei?" Yang asked seeing the dog come up to her.
"What's going on?" Blake asked as she stood up.
"Grab your weapons. Your leader may be in trouble." Oobleck said.
[Kirby]: It bothers me that, at no point in this scene, does the author describe anyone as being worried about Ruby going missing.
They all got ready and ran out following Zwei. AJ was worried about the feeling he had, but he had to focus on the present now, whatever came for him wouldn't get near him when his friends were around and awake it seemed.
[Talon]: In other words “I don’t want to deal with this now because I have no talent to write more than one thing happening at a time, but IT IS IMPORTANT, which is why Boy will forget about it until it comes up again”.
[Fufu]: Author: *Holds up a flashing neon sign reading “REMEMBER THIS FOR LATER CAUSE I’M A HACK WRITER”*
They found a large hole in the street that seemed to lead way down.
[Kirby]: Apparently, it was right the fuck outside their camp. Also, you should have mentioned that Crescent Rose was lying near the edge of the hole.
"Do you think she fell?" Weiss asked.
"Looks like it, seeing as her weapon is nearby and there is no sign of anything attacking." AJ said.
[Talon]: You know, the weapon that was described being there in so much detail in the narrative, that how could anyone miss that? God, Weiss, keep up!
"Of course. Of course! Of course! Of course!" Oobleck yelled realizing something.
"What is it?" Yang asked, wanting to know what happened to her sis.
"HOW COULD I BE SO STUPID!?" Oobleck continued ranting.
[Talon]: It’s okay, Doctor Oobleck. It’s not your fault. You can only be as smart as the person writing you, and sadly, the Stuthor is not that bright.
"OOBLECK! SLOW DOWN!" AJ yelled and the Doctor did NOT slow down!
(I don't wanna type all this…)
[Kirby]: THEN SUMMARIZE IT!
[Fufu]: You lazy fuck, you’ve already spent most of this fic transcribing 99% of canon exact as it was in the show, and yet only now are you half-assing shit that you are already half-assing?!
"Mountain Glenn! An expansion of Vale that was overrun with Grimm! Previously home to thousands of people! They developed a subway to the inner city! Grimm attacks increase! People in danger now searching for shelter! City evacuated into the metro tunnels and what do they find!? The Southeast quadrant of Vale is known for deep caves!" Oobleck yelled.
"Wait, are you saying?…" AJ asked.
"We aren't just looking for an underground crime network we're looking for anunderground ([Talon]: *an underground, two words, Stuthor) crime network!" Oobleck yelled.
"They're working in caves!?" Blake asked surprised.
(Alright, I'm sorry, but I'm not typing everything he says… just…. No… Sorry for being lazy but I just can't…)
[Kirby]: Oh, let me play you a song on the world’s smallest violin.
[Talon]: So don’t. Really. Anyone looking for RWBY fanfiction already knows what happens in this scene. You honestly don’t need to transcribe everything for them.
"The kingdom officially sealed off the tunnels… making the world's largest tomb. If Ruby is down there," Oobleck started and his thermos became his weapon, "We must find her."
It was simple enough, charge in, start shooting people, eventually they would find her. They had to right? Well they did, just barely saving her from a group of White Fang soldiers with guns, courtesy of a White Flash! (The explosion was larger than normal in canon so it being a White Flash is a good excuse)
[Kirby]: Or it was Dr. Oobleck.
[Fufu]: Because anything that’s overly supercharged has to be caused by AJ!
"Ruby!" Yang cheered as she hugged her little sister.
[Kirby]: Well that was easy.
"Are you ok?" AJ asked.
"I'm fine! I'm fine! But listen!
[Talon]: Ruby: “The Torchwich deal at Subway is about to end! Let’s hurry before we miss out!”
Torchwich has all sorts of weapons and gadgets and stuff on that train!" Ruby said.
"Wait, Torchwich?" AJ asked.
"YaNext time on Zorc and Pals, he's here guys! We gotta move!" Ruby said, everyone looked and saw AJ looked about to kill someone.
[Kirby]: “looked like he was about to kill someone.”
[Talon]: When isn’t he? I swear this fic has him looking murderous as a default expression.
"TORCHWIIIIICH!"
[Kirby]: *Bursts out laughing*
[Fufu]: This isn’t helped by the fact that his name is still being spelt wrong by the author.
He yelled creating his bow and using it to get on the train as it started to move and the others chased him to get on as well.
"AJ STOP!" Blake said as she grabbed him by the shoulder once they got on top of the train as well.
[Talon]: Well, if Blake can catch up to him that quickly, then it goes to show how useless this teleporting with a bow thing really is. He literally could have ran in the same time it takes him to teleport with that bow!
"I am going to kill him! Don't try to stop me!" AJ said and started running towards the White Fang soldiers that were in his way, he plowed right through the group without even bothering to take out everyone.
[Fufu]: He’s going to go kill someone guys. This person who wants to be a hero, who is supposed to be the main star of the fic and someone we (ostensibly) want to see grow and mature into a responsible and experienced human being has just gotten angry at the very name of someone he hates and he already wishes to kill them. And we have seen this before, back when Weiss was still the biggest bitch that ever bitched, and absolutely needed to die.
He jumped down a hatch and landed in the cart, he started walking through the doors while the others fought up top and dealt with bombs in the carts, and realizing the ultimate plan of this train.
He walked through a couple before the Blake, Yang, and Weiss fell through a hatch and landed in front of him.
[Talon]: The Blake? Somehow, I didn’t expect Blake to be so up herself. Or is that just Boy adding the title on her? What about Yang and Weiss? Don’t they deserve to be called The Yang and The Weiss?
"AJ, wait, you can't just-" Weiss started.
"I'm fine now, I vented, broke a couple boxes and surprisingly feel better now, don't know what came over me, I'm sorry." AJ said.
"If you say so…" Blake said concerned that he might be lying.
[Fufu]: And Blake doesn’t even trust him! And they’re supposedly a couple who love each other!
[Talon]: This is looking more and more like Blake knows if she doesn’t pretend to return Boy’s feelings that he’ll kill her. Which is just lovely.
"I promise I'm ok." AJ said.
"Well, alright then." Weiss said before giving Blake a few Dust rounds for her weapon. "Here, this should help you."
[Fufu]: And we leave out the meaningful look they share because they’re teammates and they’ve already been through so much, and this is a nice gesture from Weiss to Blake which will help her while she fights.
As they were running towards the door a familiar girl landed in front of them and smiled at them.
"Hey Yang, recognize her?" AJ asked.
[Talon]: Why are you asking that? You were there during that fight! You know Yang has met Neo already! In fact, she blocked a combo move you had with Yang, so you more than anyone would know she’d definitely recognise Neo.
"YaShut up, I am Lady Gaga, I remember her. This one's mine." Yang said angrily.
"You sure?" AJ asked. Yang didn't answer.
[Talon]: This just seems like faux concern to me. Boy asks, to appear he’s concerned about Yang, but she doesn’t answer him and you’ll see he’ll continue on without her. This is where some description on how resolute and determined Yang appeared to let us know that Boy didn’t need a verbal reply to answer his question. Instead we just get Yang ignoring Boy and Boy only asking once to pretend to care, before running off and proving that he really doesn’t care.
The other three charged the girl, Neo was her name, and just before they reached her AJ tried to punch her, she blocked with her parasol/umbrella but AJ had actually created his double and let him attack while the real AJ tripped the girl then kept running with the others.
[Fufu]: ...whut. Did he just- to who is currently the most badass and untouchable character in the damn-
[Kirby]: You can’t just trip Neo! She’d recover and kick your face in with the same move!
They reach the next room and AJ sees a familiar mask.
"Hey! Chainsaw Guy! C.G! How's it goin'?" AJ asked smiling.
"Damn traitor." C.G. responded.
"Is that all you can say?" AJ asked chuckling.
"I'm gonna kill you." He said.
"There you go!" AJ said satisfied.
"If you are done talking now, go on ahead." Weiss said.
[Fufu]: ...Well then. Myself and Kirby mentioned that we wanted to see what would happen with this particular scene since it showcased just how vile the White Fang had become in the present day. In canon, this was the scene where this chainsaw wielding psycho expressed joy at the thought of having a Schnee handed to him that he could kill. We wanted to see how this was adapted considering AJ was so staunch in his defence of every single Faunus, including the White Fang.
And there it is. And it is nothing like how it was in canon. Because rather than feature the very telling and very establishing line of “Finally, I get to kill a Schnee,” we instead have some banter between AJ and the White Fang goon here.
…What?! Are you so fucking desperate to keep the White Fang and thus this group of “misguided” Faunus in a good light that you’ve removed this blatantly sick and twisted look into their goals? Or is this the author realising he wrote himself into a hole while having AJ stick up for them so, rather than have a sudden realisation on AJ’s part as he realises he was wrong (Cause that would mean character development, and we should really stop aggravating the author’s allergies by saying that), he just sanitises this entire scene and removes the sick aspect of it????
[Kirby]: I love this scene in the original, mostly because it does slap all the “faunus are oppressed and therefore can do no wrong” fans in the face. This White Fang chainsaw guy doesn’t say anything about the Schnee’s hurting him, he doesn’t say anything about “revenge” or “justice”, he just wants to kill a Schnee. Any Schnee. And that proves that everything Weiss said in “Black and White” is true. Her family and friends are being killed by the White Fang, just because the White Fang wants to kill them. Not for justice, or even revenge, but just because. The White Fang aren’t the good guys, and this character makes that more than clear.
Blake and AJ went on past C.G. and went to the next room.
[Talon]: I just realised, but where is Ruby? *looks back* The last mention of her was when she told everyone that Torchwick was here and that they had to hurry after him. After that she literally disappears. Worst is, at no point does Boy ask Blake, Weiss and Yang what happened to Ruby. You’ve just entered a train filled with White Fang, and you never at all think it was odd that Ruby didn’t make it to the train? And no, it’s not possible Boy knows that Ruby was busy fighting outside of the train as he rushed ahead AND there was no mention of it in a narrative that’s in his perspective. For someone that supposedly is the most caring of the group, he surely gives little fucks about the safety of these friends when there’s people to kill!
Torchwich was waiting.
[Fufu]: Torchwich: “Ah AJ, I guess you didn’t know I was the champion. Well, you’ll have to go through me to get to the Hall of Fame.”
"Hey Blake! You miss me?"
[Kirby]: The line was “Hey there kitty-cat. You know, we should stop meeting like this, people are gonna talk.” Which is SO MUCH FUNNIER!
He said. Then AJ walked through as well and terror took over in Torchwich's mind. Everything went red from AJ's view at the sight of him until he saw the fear on his face and was satisfied.
[Talon]: My fucking god. Are you at all reading the bullshit that you’re typing, Stuthor? Because look at that last sentence again. Focus on that last part now: “until he (Boy) saw the fear on his (Torchwick) face and was satisfied”. Your character is instilling fear into a man and he’s feeling satisfied by it. This is not the sort of thing you’d write a hero feeling when someone is cowering in fear from them. This is something a VILLAIN would feel. So congratulations, Stuthor! Boy has out-villained the Big Bad of the season! *slow clap*
"Have fun." AJ said to Blake before running past Roman and going through the next door.
[Fufu]: And even then?! For all AJ postures and says he wants to brutally murder Torchwick since he absolutely despises him, he just leaves it to Blake?! I know that’s because that’s how it was in canon, but for the love of fuck, author, follow through on what your damn character wants to do! Not to fucking mention that every single one of these guys the team are fighting? They’re meant to be tough! They’re meant to showcase that the girls have gotten themselves into some deep shit and that the White Fang mean business! You cannot then have your OC kicking their asses so easily, cause it undermines the canon characters and the very purpose of the fights.
Cause I’m sitting here, and I see AJ kicking Chainsaw Guy’s ass in a previous chapter, I see him trip up fucking Neo, and I see him incite fear in Roman motherfucking Torchwick, and I think, “Well, why are the girls even here? Clearly, they don’t need to be here if AJ can do this on his own!”
He saw this was clearly the driver's room seeing how small it was and with the window at the end letting you see forward. He saw the driver at the front of the room.
"Look, Boss, we aren't there yet and no, I can't make this thing go any-" The driver stopped talking when he stood up and saw AJ there, they both stared at each other for a sec, AJ starring
[Talon]: as Tree #2! Sadly, he couldn’t make it to the show as Zwei was so convinced by Boy’s acting that Zwei well… you know how dogs are with trees.
at his mask and the bandage on his left hand.
"YOU AGAIN!?" They both yelled.
"I guess I do get to see the last of you three! Get any messages from the other two? Or can they not do that either since I shattered their hands?" AJ said smiling evilly.
[Fufu]: Oh my god you legit sick fuck, you’re still gloating over that?! Not only have you been defending the White Fang, but you’ve also been fighting them brutally and you are now taking joy out of their pain? AUTHOR, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!
[Talon]: Seriously, this Stuthor needs someone to read over this shit before it’s published, because the Stuthor clearly refuses to read what he’s writing! I honestly refuse to believe that anyone could read this over and legit still think “yep, my character is definitely a hero!”. My God, this is just awful.
[Fufu]: I’m legit worried for the girls here since he’s their teammate and this is how he’s acting to the bad guys. I’m worried for Blake, who’s his freaking girlfriend, I’m worried for Ruby who’s supposed to be like a little sister figure, and I’m worried for freaking Weiss! Yang, still worried, but not as much since she could probably take care of herself. I refuse to accept the fight from chapter 9.
The soldier growled at him and struck with his left dagger, AJ redirected it
[Talon]: *knee jerk reaction* ARE YOU SERIOUSLY FUCKING STEALING PYRRHA’S SEMBLANCE OF POLARITY?! *calms* Okay… maybe it’s just a poor word choice on the Stuthor here. No need to spear Boy with a spork… yet.
into the wall seeing as they had little elbow room in the first place. The guy struck with his right and AJ redirected that into the wall as well, the elite tried punching him and AJ got bored at this point and punched him hard and knocked him into his controls.
[Fufu]: He got bored, guys. That does not display any sense of urgency like, “Holy shit, gotta stop this train!” It tells me, “Well, I’m done playing with you.” Not to mention that those controls are actually important and AJ has actually screwed them all over. If he’s supposed to be so amazing, he could’ve stopped the train and made it so that episode 12 didn’t have to happen. But nope! Episode 12 is happening guys! Even though jack happens in the fic to do with episode 12.
AJ brought his fist down on the guy, or at least where he was, and instead broke the controls trying to hit him.
[Talon]: How hard was he hitting to break the damn controls?! Seriously, I just get the idea he wanted to break this poor driver’s skull open.
The elite tried another predictable swing and AJ leaned out of the way and punched the guy in the face as hard as he could and sent him out the side window. "And then there were none."
[Fufu]: Aaaaand right into an oncoming hoard of Grimm. He’s definitely dead now. And if AJ were still on Earth - since we don’t know how the law works in Remnant, or in the City/Kingdom of Vale - he’d be done for first degree murder.
[Talon]: Not to mention he broke the poor guy’s face. I mean, if a punch before was powerful enough destroy the controls, and this hit is presumably harder, bones are definitely being broken here. I wouldn’t be all surprised if the impact could have snapped the guy’s neck, which means he was already dead before his body reached the Grimm outside.
AJ said then noticed the controls sparking and broken. "Oops…" He grabbed one of the guy's daggers to keep as a souvenir and went out to see how Blake was doing.
[Fufu]: OH MY GOD AND HE’S CONTINUING WITH THE CREEPY PSYCHO VIBES! HE TOOK THE DAGGER AS A SOUVENIR! AND HE’S NOT EVEN BOTHERING WITH TRYING TO AT LEAST USE THE CONTROLS, SEE IF ANY OF THEM ARE STILL USEABLE. AND IT’S HIS FAULT IN THE END!
[Kirby]: I’m pretty sure the brakes on a train are a large heavy lever, they wouldn’t break easily and aren’t usually on a control panel.
He heard something hit the door before it opened and showed Torchwich had been sent into the door and was still in the air from bouncing off the door, so AJ grabbed him by his face and slammed the back of his head into the metal floor.
"Well, that was easy."
[Talon:] Oh, because hitting someone after they had been beaten by another person is really something that’d exert so much energy. Isn’t Boy just so amazing for virtually kicking someone while they’re down and taking the glory for someone else’s hard fought battle? Bite me, bastard. *flips the bird*
AJ said feeling much better after getting to really hit Roman. Weiss suddenly rolled out of the other door and Chainsaw Guy stepped through.
"Really Weiss? You lost to C.G?" AJ said disappointed before sighing.
[Kirby]: SHUT UP YOU LITTLE SHIT! THAT FIGHT WAS AMAZING! WEISS GAVE EVERYTHING SHE HAD AGAINST AN OPPONENT FAR OLDER AND STRONGER THAN HERSELF! JUST BECAUSE THE AUTHOR GIVES YOU EVERYTHING ON A GILDED PLATTER DOESN’T MEAN MONTY IS SO IRRESPONSIBLE AS TO MAKE EVERY FIGHT EASY FOR HIS CHARACTERS!
[Fufu]: AND HERE HE IS SHOWING DISAPPOINTMENT THAT WEISS IS LOSING. HE’S NOT WORRIED ABOUT HER, NOR IS HIS ANGER FLARING UP BECAUSE ANOTHER TEAMMATE OF HIS COULD BE GETTING KILLED. HE’S JUST LIKE “AH GEEZ WEISS, YOU’RE MAKING THE TEAM LOOK BAD.” YOU BOLLOCK LICKING SHIT SMEAR!
[Kirby]: THESE ARE SOME OF THE LAST FIGHT SCENES WE’LL EVER SEE THAT MONTY ANIMATED, AND HE JUST FUCKING STEPS ALL OVER THEM!!!
[Talon]: Seeing as Kirby and Fufu have gotten the rage on why crap is not okay covered, and I really have nothing I could add, so I’ll provide us with a spitefic!
“Really Weiss? You lost to C.G?” AJ said with disappointment, before sighing.
The boy - no, young man - walked meticulously to the heap of a girl, whom struggled to lift herself up to at least her elbows. He could see the evident pain in her face, and it only sickened him further. “You’re so weak. It’s pathetic. I don’t know why any of us puts up with you when you can’t do something as simple as beating the one opponent you had.”
“AJ, stop!” There was Blake, beginning to approach the two with evident concern in her voice. “What are you saying? You can’t mean any of that. Weiss could have-”
That was all she was allowed to say before AJ had turned to her, glaring at her for daring to question him. Immediately, Blake was cowed, unable to speak. For a split second she appeared shocked as her mouth had continued moving but not a single word came out, then her expression became dazed. Almost as if she had lost all sense of what was going on around her aside from the fact that AJ looked angry. “Oh, are you okay, AJ? I’m so sorry… you didn’t get hurt saving me, did you?”
Satisfied that his control on Blake had been restored, AJ smirked that cocky grin of his, which thanks to his hold on Blake’s character was making her swoon. He mentally reassured himself that all was right again. “Ya, I’m fine. Torchwich was easy to take out. As if he could hurt me!”
Now that he was sure Blake wouldn’t interfere again, he could finish dealing with Weiss. Honestly, he wasn’t sure why he never thought to take care of her earlier. She was always such a pain to deal with; she always fought the hardest on his control-
“You didn’t take him out. Blake fought him on her own.” It was just then that AJ had realised he was so focused on restoring his control on Black that he had forgotten all about Weiss. He looked down at her, and noticed that despite that she still couldn’t get up on her on her own, she was managing to shoot him a fierce glare. “And it’s pronounced Torchwick.”
Suddenly, Weiss had created a white glyph just beneath AJ’s feet. Not that it mattered to him; with all the power he had there was nothing her glyphs could do to even harm him. “Whatever trick you had, failed, Ice Queen.” This was his chance to finally kill this bitch. He could make Blake forget what happened, and then he can blame the damned Ice Queen’s death on C.G guy. “Too bad, you had one chance and you blew that too. And now you won’t live to make another mistake again.”
His leg began to glow, using his Aura so that he could supercharge his kick. Her Aura levels had to be in the red, so he was sure that she wouldn’t be able to survive the impact of this kick.
As he made to kick her, suddenly she pointed at the glyph and turned her hand palm up, causing the glyph to turn black. AJ couldn’t move his foot off the ground. Startled by this lack of motion, he almost fell down except he didn’t - he couldn’t since his feet were stuck in place. “What?!” He kept trying to move his legs, willing himself to be freed from this trick. There was no way he wasn’t strong enough to break this glyph.
By now, Weiss was pushing herself to her feet. Albeit, she wavered a lot, looking ready to fall over any time, but she looked so determined that as AJ looked back at her, he could tell that she would keep getting up no matter how many times she was knocked down. He growled, hating how defiant she was being.
“So what?! You can’t keep me here with this glyph forever. And I have other powers that can take you out even if I can’t move my legs!”
“I know.” She spoke calmly then turned around for a moment. AJ saw C.G now focusing on them, holding his chainsaw ready to strike with.
“The Schnee is still alive?” That was all C.G said before rushing forward to attack.
Weiss couldn’t possibly move fast enough to get out of the way in time. Heck, she wasn’t even trying to run for it while she could now. AJ smirked; he may not be able to kill her but he’d get to see her die right in front of him. Unfortunately for AJ, he hadn’t realised that Weiss didn’t need to dodge the attack.
“You fight as mindlessly as a Grimm, except even a Grimm has more of a heart than you.” Those were Weiss’ last words before she suddenly grabbed onto AJ’s shoulder and spun behind him, using him both as a balance and shield.
AJ was beginning to open his mouth to tell Ice Queen exactly how stupid she was, but he never got that chance to. The split second she had moved was when C.G had struck with his weapon. AJ had been hacked up before he could realise that had been Weiss’ plan all along.
It felt as if Blake had been walking through a fog this entire time and only now had it lifted. She stumbled but quickly regained her footing, holding onto her head due to the dizzying feeling. “Wha… what happened? Weiss…?”
Her eyes felt more focused and suddenly she could see Weiss was on the ground besides the misshapen mess of a male’s body - oddly enough, she felt as if she should know him but she couldn’t place a name to him - drenched in blood as well, as the chainsaw guy loomed over her. Eyes widened and instantly Blake rushed forward with her Gambol Shroud, shooting it at the enemy that was about to slaughter her friend.
Not expecting an attack from another person, Chainsaw guy had little time to prepare and his chainsaw had been knocked slightly off path to completely miss Weiss and smash into the floor just left of her.
Although Weiss recognised the weapon, she was still looking quite surprised when she turned to see Blake running up to her. “B-blake?” Her tone was incredulous, and although Blake was having a hard time remembering what had happened recently, she felt guilty. Something told her that she knew why Weiss wasn’t expecting her to help.
“I’m here for you now, Weiss. Let’s get out of here.” As Blake kneeled just besides Weiss, Chainsaw guy was hurling his chainsaw down on the two girls to finish them off.
However, his chainsaw met nothing but a shadow of the girls once before him.
Blake was carrying Weiss on her back, already having made her way to an open window of the train. “Hang on.” That was all the warning she gave Weiss before beginning to carefully climb out of the window.
Behind them they could hear a battle cry, followed by thudding steps. The chainsaw guy had noticed their escape. “Focus on escaping. I’ve got this.” Weiss said as she was letting go with one hand to put up a blue glyph behind them.
Blake had to move slightly slower, being wary that she wouldn’t drop Weiss once they got outside. Making sure she had securely grabbed onto a railing that led up to the top of the train, she swung the rest of her and Weiss’ body over the ledge of the window.
In that instant, the Chainsaw guy smashed his giant chainsaw into the glyph. Though it repelled the attack, the impact of the hit was enough to break the glyph and almost knock Blake from where she was hanging.
Weiss suddenly tighten her grip onto Blake, as Blake scrambled to get her footing balanced on something. “Weiss! Are you alright?!” She turned her head to look at Weiss, and could see how worn out her teammate was. It was a wonder she hadn’t fainted yet.
“I’m fine. Just keep going!”
Blake nodded and began climbing to the top of the train. As she climbed she could both hear and feel the tremors of Chainsaw guy banging against the wall of the cart he was in, but by now Blake had a secure hold and footing. Unless Chainsaw guy knocked the entire train over, Blake was sure she and Weiss weren’t about to fall.
It wasn’t necessarily easy, but it had been a fair deal easier than climbing out of the window.
Getting to the top, Blake had to heave herself over the edge and then collapsed in relief on the roof of the train. Weiss wasted no time in getting off Blake’s back, unfortunately in her condition, she fell unceremoniously off Blake and found herself too exhausted and beaten to try push herself up immediately.
Noticing this, Blake quickly forced herself to sit up and shift over to Weiss. Carefully, she scooped her arm under Weiss’ back to slowly help her friend sit up. “Will you be alright? Should I get you to-”
“I’ll be fine.” Weiss suddenly cut Blake off, although she was panting heavily as she spoke. “I only need a moment to-” With a groan of pain - as Weiss had attempted push herself off of using Blake as support - she had to pause and resign herself to being aided in sitting up. “...recover some Aura.”
Blake nodded in understanding. As much as she hated the idea of having to do nothing as her friend was obviously suffering in pain, she knew Weiss needed some time to regain some of her strength more than anything. Even though Torchwick was unconscious, there may still be others on the train that could attack them at any moment - such as the man with the giant chainsaw inside the cart they were on top of.
Thinking about Torchwick suddenly reminded Blake how fuzzy her memory was of the events after her battle with him. He hadn’t been unconscious when the fight ended, so how did he…? Then she remembered the dead boy that had been near Weiss. A sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach told her that he had something to do with Torchwick being unconscious.
“Weiss, was there someone else who was with us inside the train? I remember seeing the dead body of someone but… my memory… I don’t remember who he was or what he was doing there.” For some strange reason, she didn’t feel sorry that the boy had died; rather she felt as though this was how things were meant to be.
That was the first since escaping the Chainsaw guy that Blake had seen Weiss’ determined expression slip. She looked quite sad for a moment, but then shook her head, and the expression was gone. “I’m sorry Blake. I know you were close to AJ, but I had to. There was something about him… I don’t know how, but whenever he looked at you, you seemed to change. Everyone was different around him, but you… you weren’t even you when he was around.”
“Ay... Jay… ?” Something about the name was familiar, yet Blake couldn’t remember meeting anyone by that name. If it even was a name - maybe Weiss had gotten it wrong and it had been two people in a team. That would have made more sense to Blake.
“I’m very sorry, Blake. I am.” Weiss was now facing Blake, looking very worried. However, Blake very quickly spoke over Weiss before she could say more.
“It’s okay. I’m not angry at you. Honestly, I can’t remember meeting someone or some team by that name.” Although she was confused by the matter, Blake managed to look calm and collected, mostly to reassure Weiss. “I know it must sound strange that I can’t remember someone or some team that I was supposedly close to. And I’m not sure how, but it reminds of times where I haven’t been such a good friend to you, Ruby and Yang.”
At this point, Weiss was able find the strength to sit up on her knees, turning around on Blake to face her directly with a fierce expression. “That’s not true! You couldn’t help it when he was around. He made you that way. I’ve seen him do it ever since he was assigned to our team...” Her tone wavered, and Blake could see that in that instant, Weiss looked so vulnerable. “And I couldn’t stop him. I wasn’t strong enough to…”
Now it was Blake who was quickly turning to Weiss, looking determined. She put both of her hands on Weiss’ shoulders, willing her to listen. “But you did stop him. You didn’t give in to him.” It was strange how even to herself, Blake could hear how her conviction was true. She shouldn’t have remembered anything, but this was something that she knew was true, regardless. “I trust you, Weiss. I know you would have done the best you could have to save us. And tonight, you did just that.”
Naturally, this wasn’t about to resolve everything, and Blake didn’t expect it to. However, she had to tell Weiss what she was thinking- correction, what she was feeling.
There was a long moment, where Weiss appeared to scrutinise Blake’s face, though whatever Weiss eventually saw, Blake couldn’t know. “Thank you.” It was only a whisper, and Blake was sure that without her Faunus hearing she may have questioned if that was actually what Weiss had said, but it was very clear to Blake. She couldn’t help but to smile - a small, slight smile, given their current situation.
“No, thank you.”
Things were right again in their world known as Remnant.
Note from Fufu: And that is where we shall leave off until Sunday. And as an aside, I apologise that this didn't go up on Sunday the 5th. That is entirely my fault, partially cause I'm a lazy shit and then partially because I was distracted with other things. thank you for your patience. The end is in sight!
[Kirby]: I don’t know what this is, but I hate it.
[Fufu]: It’s a load of contrived bullshit, that’s what it is. Plus some dead herrings, given the repeated use of how “odd” this is, how “strange” it is, and how he couldn’t help but feel as though he had to stand up.
[Talon]: I just have to add that despite at how he’s supposedly describing himself as being anxious and afraid, he still has time to look at Blake’s face and comment on how cute it was. Bleh.
"Hey Weiss, it's your… Ruby?"
[Kirby]: *picks up a White Rose* The hell? *looks around quickly* Y’all saw nothing. *burns it*
Yang asked looking down at the red cloaked girl's bed and found she wasn't there. "Hey! Where's Ruby?" Yang asked and everyone woke up.
[Fufu]: Oh yeah, and this is another thing that we’re missing from canon due to this fic focusing entirely on AJ; during the night, Ruby got woken by Zwei - cause he’s a good boy and is actually house trained - when she noticed some White Fang goons, who have now taken her hostage.
"What?" Oobleck asked and Zwei ran in.
"Zwei?" Yang asked seeing the dog come up to her.
"What's going on?" Blake asked as she stood up.
"Grab your weapons. Your leader may be in trouble." Oobleck said.
[Kirby]: It bothers me that, at no point in this scene, does the author describe anyone as being worried about Ruby going missing.
They all got ready and ran out following Zwei. AJ was worried about the feeling he had, but he had to focus on the present now, whatever came for him wouldn't get near him when his friends were around and awake it seemed.
[Talon]: In other words “I don’t want to deal with this now because I have no talent to write more than one thing happening at a time, but IT IS IMPORTANT, which is why Boy will forget about it until it comes up again”.
[Fufu]: Author: *Holds up a flashing neon sign reading “REMEMBER THIS FOR LATER CAUSE I’M A HACK WRITER”*
They found a large hole in the street that seemed to lead way down.
[Kirby]: Apparently, it was right the fuck outside their camp. Also, you should have mentioned that Crescent Rose was lying near the edge of the hole.
"Do you think she fell?" Weiss asked.
"Looks like it, seeing as her weapon is nearby and there is no sign of anything attacking." AJ said.
[Talon]: You know, the weapon that was described being there in so much detail in the narrative, that how could anyone miss that? God, Weiss, keep up!
"Of course. Of course! Of course! Of course!" Oobleck yelled realizing something.
"What is it?" Yang asked, wanting to know what happened to her sis.
"HOW COULD I BE SO STUPID!?" Oobleck continued ranting.
[Talon]: It’s okay, Doctor Oobleck. It’s not your fault. You can only be as smart as the person writing you, and sadly, the Stuthor is not that bright.
"OOBLECK! SLOW DOWN!" AJ yelled and the Doctor did NOT slow down!
(I don't wanna type all this…)
[Kirby]: THEN SUMMARIZE IT!
[Fufu]: You lazy fuck, you’ve already spent most of this fic transcribing 99% of canon exact as it was in the show, and yet only now are you half-assing shit that you are already half-assing?!
"Mountain Glenn! An expansion of Vale that was overrun with Grimm! Previously home to thousands of people! They developed a subway to the inner city! Grimm attacks increase! People in danger now searching for shelter! City evacuated into the metro tunnels and what do they find!? The Southeast quadrant of Vale is known for deep caves!" Oobleck yelled.
"Wait, are you saying?…" AJ asked.
"We aren't just looking for an underground crime network we're looking for anunderground ([Talon]: *an underground, two words, Stuthor) crime network!" Oobleck yelled.
"They're working in caves!?" Blake asked surprised.
(Alright, I'm sorry, but I'm not typing everything he says… just…. No… Sorry for being lazy but I just can't…)
[Kirby]: Oh, let me play you a song on the world’s smallest violin.
[Talon]: So don’t. Really. Anyone looking for RWBY fanfiction already knows what happens in this scene. You honestly don’t need to transcribe everything for them.
"The kingdom officially sealed off the tunnels… making the world's largest tomb. If Ruby is down there," Oobleck started and his thermos became his weapon, "We must find her."
It was simple enough, charge in, start shooting people, eventually they would find her. They had to right? Well they did, just barely saving her from a group of White Fang soldiers with guns, courtesy of a White Flash! (The explosion was larger than normal in canon so it being a White Flash is a good excuse)
[Kirby]: Or it was Dr. Oobleck.
[Fufu]: Because anything that’s overly supercharged has to be caused by AJ!
"Ruby!" Yang cheered as she hugged her little sister.
[Kirby]: Well that was easy.
"Are you ok?" AJ asked.
"I'm fine! I'm fine! But listen!
[Talon]: Ruby: “The Torchwich deal at Subway is about to end! Let’s hurry before we miss out!”
Torchwich has all sorts of weapons and gadgets and stuff on that train!" Ruby said.
"Wait, Torchwich?" AJ asked.
"YaNext time on Zorc and Pals, he's here guys! We gotta move!" Ruby said, everyone looked and saw AJ looked about to kill someone.
[Kirby]: “looked like he was about to kill someone.”
[Talon]: When isn’t he? I swear this fic has him looking murderous as a default expression.
"TORCHWIIIIICH!"
[Kirby]: *Bursts out laughing*
[Fufu]: This isn’t helped by the fact that his name is still being spelt wrong by the author.
He yelled creating his bow and using it to get on the train as it started to move and the others chased him to get on as well.
"AJ STOP!" Blake said as she grabbed him by the shoulder once they got on top of the train as well.
[Talon]: Well, if Blake can catch up to him that quickly, then it goes to show how useless this teleporting with a bow thing really is. He literally could have ran in the same time it takes him to teleport with that bow!
"I am going to kill him! Don't try to stop me!" AJ said and started running towards the White Fang soldiers that were in his way, he plowed right through the group without even bothering to take out everyone.
[Fufu]: He’s going to go kill someone guys. This person who wants to be a hero, who is supposed to be the main star of the fic and someone we (ostensibly) want to see grow and mature into a responsible and experienced human being has just gotten angry at the very name of someone he hates and he already wishes to kill them. And we have seen this before, back when Weiss was still the biggest bitch that ever bitched, and absolutely needed to die.
He jumped down a hatch and landed in the cart, he started walking through the doors while the others fought up top and dealt with bombs in the carts, and realizing the ultimate plan of this train.
He walked through a couple before the Blake, Yang, and Weiss fell through a hatch and landed in front of him.
[Talon]: The Blake? Somehow, I didn’t expect Blake to be so up herself. Or is that just Boy adding the title on her? What about Yang and Weiss? Don’t they deserve to be called The Yang and The Weiss?
"AJ, wait, you can't just-" Weiss started.
"I'm fine now, I vented, broke a couple boxes and surprisingly feel better now, don't know what came over me, I'm sorry." AJ said.
"If you say so…" Blake said concerned that he might be lying.
[Fufu]: And Blake doesn’t even trust him! And they’re supposedly a couple who love each other!
[Talon]: This is looking more and more like Blake knows if she doesn’t pretend to return Boy’s feelings that he’ll kill her. Which is just lovely.
"I promise I'm ok." AJ said.
"Well, alright then." Weiss said before giving Blake a few Dust rounds for her weapon. "Here, this should help you."
[Fufu]: And we leave out the meaningful look they share because they’re teammates and they’ve already been through so much, and this is a nice gesture from Weiss to Blake which will help her while she fights.
As they were running towards the door a familiar girl landed in front of them and smiled at them.
"Hey Yang, recognize her?" AJ asked.
[Talon]: Why are you asking that? You were there during that fight! You know Yang has met Neo already! In fact, she blocked a combo move you had with Yang, so you more than anyone would know she’d definitely recognise Neo.
"YaShut up, I am Lady Gaga, I remember her. This one's mine." Yang said angrily.
"You sure?" AJ asked. Yang didn't answer.
[Talon]: This just seems like faux concern to me. Boy asks, to appear he’s concerned about Yang, but she doesn’t answer him and you’ll see he’ll continue on without her. This is where some description on how resolute and determined Yang appeared to let us know that Boy didn’t need a verbal reply to answer his question. Instead we just get Yang ignoring Boy and Boy only asking once to pretend to care, before running off and proving that he really doesn’t care.
The other three charged the girl, Neo was her name, and just before they reached her AJ tried to punch her, she blocked with her parasol/umbrella but AJ had actually created his double and let him attack while the real AJ tripped the girl then kept running with the others.
[Fufu]: ...whut. Did he just- to who is currently the most badass and untouchable character in the damn-
[Kirby]: You can’t just trip Neo! She’d recover and kick your face in with the same move!
They reach the next room and AJ sees a familiar mask.
"Hey! Chainsaw Guy! C.G! How's it goin'?" AJ asked smiling.
"Damn traitor." C.G. responded.
"Is that all you can say?" AJ asked chuckling.
"I'm gonna kill you." He said.
"There you go!" AJ said satisfied.
"If you are done talking now, go on ahead." Weiss said.
[Fufu]: ...Well then. Myself and Kirby mentioned that we wanted to see what would happen with this particular scene since it showcased just how vile the White Fang had become in the present day. In canon, this was the scene where this chainsaw wielding psycho expressed joy at the thought of having a Schnee handed to him that he could kill. We wanted to see how this was adapted considering AJ was so staunch in his defence of every single Faunus, including the White Fang.
And there it is. And it is nothing like how it was in canon. Because rather than feature the very telling and very establishing line of “Finally, I get to kill a Schnee,” we instead have some banter between AJ and the White Fang goon here.
…What?! Are you so fucking desperate to keep the White Fang and thus this group of “misguided” Faunus in a good light that you’ve removed this blatantly sick and twisted look into their goals? Or is this the author realising he wrote himself into a hole while having AJ stick up for them so, rather than have a sudden realisation on AJ’s part as he realises he was wrong (Cause that would mean character development, and we should really stop aggravating the author’s allergies by saying that), he just sanitises this entire scene and removes the sick aspect of it????
[Kirby]: I love this scene in the original, mostly because it does slap all the “faunus are oppressed and therefore can do no wrong” fans in the face. This White Fang chainsaw guy doesn’t say anything about the Schnee’s hurting him, he doesn’t say anything about “revenge” or “justice”, he just wants to kill a Schnee. Any Schnee. And that proves that everything Weiss said in “Black and White” is true. Her family and friends are being killed by the White Fang, just because the White Fang wants to kill them. Not for justice, or even revenge, but just because. The White Fang aren’t the good guys, and this character makes that more than clear.
Blake and AJ went on past C.G. and went to the next room.
[Talon]: I just realised, but where is Ruby? *looks back* The last mention of her was when she told everyone that Torchwick was here and that they had to hurry after him. After that she literally disappears. Worst is, at no point does Boy ask Blake, Weiss and Yang what happened to Ruby. You’ve just entered a train filled with White Fang, and you never at all think it was odd that Ruby didn’t make it to the train? And no, it’s not possible Boy knows that Ruby was busy fighting outside of the train as he rushed ahead AND there was no mention of it in a narrative that’s in his perspective. For someone that supposedly is the most caring of the group, he surely gives little fucks about the safety of these friends when there’s people to kill!
Torchwich was waiting.
[Fufu]: Torchwich: “Ah AJ, I guess you didn’t know I was the champion. Well, you’ll have to go through me to get to the Hall of Fame.”
"Hey Blake! You miss me?"
[Kirby]: The line was “Hey there kitty-cat. You know, we should stop meeting like this, people are gonna talk.” Which is SO MUCH FUNNIER!
He said. Then AJ walked through as well and terror took over in Torchwich's mind. Everything went red from AJ's view at the sight of him until he saw the fear on his face and was satisfied.
[Talon]: My fucking god. Are you at all reading the bullshit that you’re typing, Stuthor? Because look at that last sentence again. Focus on that last part now: “until he (Boy) saw the fear on his (Torchwick) face and was satisfied”. Your character is instilling fear into a man and he’s feeling satisfied by it. This is not the sort of thing you’d write a hero feeling when someone is cowering in fear from them. This is something a VILLAIN would feel. So congratulations, Stuthor! Boy has out-villained the Big Bad of the season! *slow clap*
"Have fun." AJ said to Blake before running past Roman and going through the next door.
[Fufu]: And even then?! For all AJ postures and says he wants to brutally murder Torchwick since he absolutely despises him, he just leaves it to Blake?! I know that’s because that’s how it was in canon, but for the love of fuck, author, follow through on what your damn character wants to do! Not to fucking mention that every single one of these guys the team are fighting? They’re meant to be tough! They’re meant to showcase that the girls have gotten themselves into some deep shit and that the White Fang mean business! You cannot then have your OC kicking their asses so easily, cause it undermines the canon characters and the very purpose of the fights.
Cause I’m sitting here, and I see AJ kicking Chainsaw Guy’s ass in a previous chapter, I see him trip up fucking Neo, and I see him incite fear in Roman motherfucking Torchwick, and I think, “Well, why are the girls even here? Clearly, they don’t need to be here if AJ can do this on his own!”
He saw this was clearly the driver's room seeing how small it was and with the window at the end letting you see forward. He saw the driver at the front of the room.
"Look, Boss, we aren't there yet and no, I can't make this thing go any-" The driver stopped talking when he stood up and saw AJ there, they both stared at each other for a sec, AJ starring
[Talon]: as Tree #2! Sadly, he couldn’t make it to the show as Zwei was so convinced by Boy’s acting that Zwei well… you know how dogs are with trees.
at his mask and the bandage on his left hand.
"YOU AGAIN!?" They both yelled.
"I guess I do get to see the last of you three! Get any messages from the other two? Or can they not do that either since I shattered their hands?" AJ said smiling evilly.
[Fufu]: Oh my god you legit sick fuck, you’re still gloating over that?! Not only have you been defending the White Fang, but you’ve also been fighting them brutally and you are now taking joy out of their pain? AUTHOR, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!
[Talon]: Seriously, this Stuthor needs someone to read over this shit before it’s published, because the Stuthor clearly refuses to read what he’s writing! I honestly refuse to believe that anyone could read this over and legit still think “yep, my character is definitely a hero!”. My God, this is just awful.
[Fufu]: I’m legit worried for the girls here since he’s their teammate and this is how he’s acting to the bad guys. I’m worried for Blake, who’s his freaking girlfriend, I’m worried for Ruby who’s supposed to be like a little sister figure, and I’m worried for freaking Weiss! Yang, still worried, but not as much since she could probably take care of herself. I refuse to accept the fight from chapter 9.
The soldier growled at him and struck with his left dagger, AJ redirected it
[Talon]: *knee jerk reaction* ARE YOU SERIOUSLY FUCKING STEALING PYRRHA’S SEMBLANCE OF POLARITY?! *calms* Okay… maybe it’s just a poor word choice on the Stuthor here. No need to spear Boy with a spork… yet.
into the wall seeing as they had little elbow room in the first place. The guy struck with his right and AJ redirected that into the wall as well, the elite tried punching him and AJ got bored at this point and punched him hard and knocked him into his controls.
[Fufu]: He got bored, guys. That does not display any sense of urgency like, “Holy shit, gotta stop this train!” It tells me, “Well, I’m done playing with you.” Not to mention that those controls are actually important and AJ has actually screwed them all over. If he’s supposed to be so amazing, he could’ve stopped the train and made it so that episode 12 didn’t have to happen. But nope! Episode 12 is happening guys! Even though jack happens in the fic to do with episode 12.
AJ brought his fist down on the guy, or at least where he was, and instead broke the controls trying to hit him.
[Talon]: How hard was he hitting to break the damn controls?! Seriously, I just get the idea he wanted to break this poor driver’s skull open.
The elite tried another predictable swing and AJ leaned out of the way and punched the guy in the face as hard as he could and sent him out the side window. "And then there were none."
[Fufu]: Aaaaand right into an oncoming hoard of Grimm. He’s definitely dead now. And if AJ were still on Earth - since we don’t know how the law works in Remnant, or in the City/Kingdom of Vale - he’d be done for first degree murder.
[Talon]: Not to mention he broke the poor guy’s face. I mean, if a punch before was powerful enough destroy the controls, and this hit is presumably harder, bones are definitely being broken here. I wouldn’t be all surprised if the impact could have snapped the guy’s neck, which means he was already dead before his body reached the Grimm outside.
AJ said then noticed the controls sparking and broken. "Oops…" He grabbed one of the guy's daggers to keep as a souvenir and went out to see how Blake was doing.
[Fufu]: OH MY GOD AND HE’S CONTINUING WITH THE CREEPY PSYCHO VIBES! HE TOOK THE DAGGER AS A SOUVENIR! AND HE’S NOT EVEN BOTHERING WITH TRYING TO AT LEAST USE THE CONTROLS, SEE IF ANY OF THEM ARE STILL USEABLE. AND IT’S HIS FAULT IN THE END!
[Kirby]: I’m pretty sure the brakes on a train are a large heavy lever, they wouldn’t break easily and aren’t usually on a control panel.
He heard something hit the door before it opened and showed Torchwich had been sent into the door and was still in the air from bouncing off the door, so AJ grabbed him by his face and slammed the back of his head into the metal floor.
"Well, that was easy."
[Talon:] Oh, because hitting someone after they had been beaten by another person is really something that’d exert so much energy. Isn’t Boy just so amazing for virtually kicking someone while they’re down and taking the glory for someone else’s hard fought battle? Bite me, bastard. *flips the bird*
AJ said feeling much better after getting to really hit Roman. Weiss suddenly rolled out of the other door and Chainsaw Guy stepped through.
"Really Weiss? You lost to C.G?" AJ said disappointed before sighing.
[Kirby]: SHUT UP YOU LITTLE SHIT! THAT FIGHT WAS AMAZING! WEISS GAVE EVERYTHING SHE HAD AGAINST AN OPPONENT FAR OLDER AND STRONGER THAN HERSELF! JUST BECAUSE THE AUTHOR GIVES YOU EVERYTHING ON A GILDED PLATTER DOESN’T MEAN MONTY IS SO IRRESPONSIBLE AS TO MAKE EVERY FIGHT EASY FOR HIS CHARACTERS!
[Fufu]: AND HERE HE IS SHOWING DISAPPOINTMENT THAT WEISS IS LOSING. HE’S NOT WORRIED ABOUT HER, NOR IS HIS ANGER FLARING UP BECAUSE ANOTHER TEAMMATE OF HIS COULD BE GETTING KILLED. HE’S JUST LIKE “AH GEEZ WEISS, YOU’RE MAKING THE TEAM LOOK BAD.” YOU BOLLOCK LICKING SHIT SMEAR!
[Kirby]: THESE ARE SOME OF THE LAST FIGHT SCENES WE’LL EVER SEE THAT MONTY ANIMATED, AND HE JUST FUCKING STEPS ALL OVER THEM!!!
[Talon]: Seeing as Kirby and Fufu have gotten the rage on why crap is not okay covered, and I really have nothing I could add, so I’ll provide us with a spitefic!
“Really Weiss? You lost to C.G?” AJ said with disappointment, before sighing.
The boy - no, young man - walked meticulously to the heap of a girl, whom struggled to lift herself up to at least her elbows. He could see the evident pain in her face, and it only sickened him further. “You’re so weak. It’s pathetic. I don’t know why any of us puts up with you when you can’t do something as simple as beating the one opponent you had.”
“AJ, stop!” There was Blake, beginning to approach the two with evident concern in her voice. “What are you saying? You can’t mean any of that. Weiss could have-”
That was all she was allowed to say before AJ had turned to her, glaring at her for daring to question him. Immediately, Blake was cowed, unable to speak. For a split second she appeared shocked as her mouth had continued moving but not a single word came out, then her expression became dazed. Almost as if she had lost all sense of what was going on around her aside from the fact that AJ looked angry. “Oh, are you okay, AJ? I’m so sorry… you didn’t get hurt saving me, did you?”
Satisfied that his control on Blake had been restored, AJ smirked that cocky grin of his, which thanks to his hold on Blake’s character was making her swoon. He mentally reassured himself that all was right again. “Ya, I’m fine. Torchwich was easy to take out. As if he could hurt me!”
Now that he was sure Blake wouldn’t interfere again, he could finish dealing with Weiss. Honestly, he wasn’t sure why he never thought to take care of her earlier. She was always such a pain to deal with; she always fought the hardest on his control-
“You didn’t take him out. Blake fought him on her own.” It was just then that AJ had realised he was so focused on restoring his control on Black that he had forgotten all about Weiss. He looked down at her, and noticed that despite that she still couldn’t get up on her on her own, she was managing to shoot him a fierce glare. “And it’s pronounced Torchwick.”
Suddenly, Weiss had created a white glyph just beneath AJ’s feet. Not that it mattered to him; with all the power he had there was nothing her glyphs could do to even harm him. “Whatever trick you had, failed, Ice Queen.” This was his chance to finally kill this bitch. He could make Blake forget what happened, and then he can blame the damned Ice Queen’s death on C.G guy. “Too bad, you had one chance and you blew that too. And now you won’t live to make another mistake again.”
His leg began to glow, using his Aura so that he could supercharge his kick. Her Aura levels had to be in the red, so he was sure that she wouldn’t be able to survive the impact of this kick.
As he made to kick her, suddenly she pointed at the glyph and turned her hand palm up, causing the glyph to turn black. AJ couldn’t move his foot off the ground. Startled by this lack of motion, he almost fell down except he didn’t - he couldn’t since his feet were stuck in place. “What?!” He kept trying to move his legs, willing himself to be freed from this trick. There was no way he wasn’t strong enough to break this glyph.
By now, Weiss was pushing herself to her feet. Albeit, she wavered a lot, looking ready to fall over any time, but she looked so determined that as AJ looked back at her, he could tell that she would keep getting up no matter how many times she was knocked down. He growled, hating how defiant she was being.
“So what?! You can’t keep me here with this glyph forever. And I have other powers that can take you out even if I can’t move my legs!”
“I know.” She spoke calmly then turned around for a moment. AJ saw C.G now focusing on them, holding his chainsaw ready to strike with.
“The Schnee is still alive?” That was all C.G said before rushing forward to attack.
Weiss couldn’t possibly move fast enough to get out of the way in time. Heck, she wasn’t even trying to run for it while she could now. AJ smirked; he may not be able to kill her but he’d get to see her die right in front of him. Unfortunately for AJ, he hadn’t realised that Weiss didn’t need to dodge the attack.
“You fight as mindlessly as a Grimm, except even a Grimm has more of a heart than you.” Those were Weiss’ last words before she suddenly grabbed onto AJ’s shoulder and spun behind him, using him both as a balance and shield.
AJ was beginning to open his mouth to tell Ice Queen exactly how stupid she was, but he never got that chance to. The split second she had moved was when C.G had struck with his weapon. AJ had been hacked up before he could realise that had been Weiss’ plan all along.
It felt as if Blake had been walking through a fog this entire time and only now had it lifted. She stumbled but quickly regained her footing, holding onto her head due to the dizzying feeling. “Wha… what happened? Weiss…?”
Her eyes felt more focused and suddenly she could see Weiss was on the ground besides the misshapen mess of a male’s body - oddly enough, she felt as if she should know him but she couldn’t place a name to him - drenched in blood as well, as the chainsaw guy loomed over her. Eyes widened and instantly Blake rushed forward with her Gambol Shroud, shooting it at the enemy that was about to slaughter her friend.
Not expecting an attack from another person, Chainsaw guy had little time to prepare and his chainsaw had been knocked slightly off path to completely miss Weiss and smash into the floor just left of her.
Although Weiss recognised the weapon, she was still looking quite surprised when she turned to see Blake running up to her. “B-blake?” Her tone was incredulous, and although Blake was having a hard time remembering what had happened recently, she felt guilty. Something told her that she knew why Weiss wasn’t expecting her to help.
“I’m here for you now, Weiss. Let’s get out of here.” As Blake kneeled just besides Weiss, Chainsaw guy was hurling his chainsaw down on the two girls to finish them off.
However, his chainsaw met nothing but a shadow of the girls once before him.
Blake was carrying Weiss on her back, already having made her way to an open window of the train. “Hang on.” That was all the warning she gave Weiss before beginning to carefully climb out of the window.
Behind them they could hear a battle cry, followed by thudding steps. The chainsaw guy had noticed their escape. “Focus on escaping. I’ve got this.” Weiss said as she was letting go with one hand to put up a blue glyph behind them.
Blake had to move slightly slower, being wary that she wouldn’t drop Weiss once they got outside. Making sure she had securely grabbed onto a railing that led up to the top of the train, she swung the rest of her and Weiss’ body over the ledge of the window.
In that instant, the Chainsaw guy smashed his giant chainsaw into the glyph. Though it repelled the attack, the impact of the hit was enough to break the glyph and almost knock Blake from where she was hanging.
Weiss suddenly tighten her grip onto Blake, as Blake scrambled to get her footing balanced on something. “Weiss! Are you alright?!” She turned her head to look at Weiss, and could see how worn out her teammate was. It was a wonder she hadn’t fainted yet.
“I’m fine. Just keep going!”
Blake nodded and began climbing to the top of the train. As she climbed she could both hear and feel the tremors of Chainsaw guy banging against the wall of the cart he was in, but by now Blake had a secure hold and footing. Unless Chainsaw guy knocked the entire train over, Blake was sure she and Weiss weren’t about to fall.
It wasn’t necessarily easy, but it had been a fair deal easier than climbing out of the window.
Getting to the top, Blake had to heave herself over the edge and then collapsed in relief on the roof of the train. Weiss wasted no time in getting off Blake’s back, unfortunately in her condition, she fell unceremoniously off Blake and found herself too exhausted and beaten to try push herself up immediately.
Noticing this, Blake quickly forced herself to sit up and shift over to Weiss. Carefully, she scooped her arm under Weiss’ back to slowly help her friend sit up. “Will you be alright? Should I get you to-”
“I’ll be fine.” Weiss suddenly cut Blake off, although she was panting heavily as she spoke. “I only need a moment to-” With a groan of pain - as Weiss had attempted push herself off of using Blake as support - she had to pause and resign herself to being aided in sitting up. “...recover some Aura.”
Blake nodded in understanding. As much as she hated the idea of having to do nothing as her friend was obviously suffering in pain, she knew Weiss needed some time to regain some of her strength more than anything. Even though Torchwick was unconscious, there may still be others on the train that could attack them at any moment - such as the man with the giant chainsaw inside the cart they were on top of.
Thinking about Torchwick suddenly reminded Blake how fuzzy her memory was of the events after her battle with him. He hadn’t been unconscious when the fight ended, so how did he…? Then she remembered the dead boy that had been near Weiss. A sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach told her that he had something to do with Torchwick being unconscious.
“Weiss, was there someone else who was with us inside the train? I remember seeing the dead body of someone but… my memory… I don’t remember who he was or what he was doing there.” For some strange reason, she didn’t feel sorry that the boy had died; rather she felt as though this was how things were meant to be.
That was the first since escaping the Chainsaw guy that Blake had seen Weiss’ determined expression slip. She looked quite sad for a moment, but then shook her head, and the expression was gone. “I’m sorry Blake. I know you were close to AJ, but I had to. There was something about him… I don’t know how, but whenever he looked at you, you seemed to change. Everyone was different around him, but you… you weren’t even you when he was around.”
“Ay... Jay… ?” Something about the name was familiar, yet Blake couldn’t remember meeting anyone by that name. If it even was a name - maybe Weiss had gotten it wrong and it had been two people in a team. That would have made more sense to Blake.
“I’m very sorry, Blake. I am.” Weiss was now facing Blake, looking very worried. However, Blake very quickly spoke over Weiss before she could say more.
“It’s okay. I’m not angry at you. Honestly, I can’t remember meeting someone or some team by that name.” Although she was confused by the matter, Blake managed to look calm and collected, mostly to reassure Weiss. “I know it must sound strange that I can’t remember someone or some team that I was supposedly close to. And I’m not sure how, but it reminds of times where I haven’t been such a good friend to you, Ruby and Yang.”
At this point, Weiss was able find the strength to sit up on her knees, turning around on Blake to face her directly with a fierce expression. “That’s not true! You couldn’t help it when he was around. He made you that way. I’ve seen him do it ever since he was assigned to our team...” Her tone wavered, and Blake could see that in that instant, Weiss looked so vulnerable. “And I couldn’t stop him. I wasn’t strong enough to…”
Now it was Blake who was quickly turning to Weiss, looking determined. She put both of her hands on Weiss’ shoulders, willing her to listen. “But you did stop him. You didn’t give in to him.” It was strange how even to herself, Blake could hear how her conviction was true. She shouldn’t have remembered anything, but this was something that she knew was true, regardless. “I trust you, Weiss. I know you would have done the best you could have to save us. And tonight, you did just that.”
Naturally, this wasn’t about to resolve everything, and Blake didn’t expect it to. However, she had to tell Weiss what she was thinking- correction, what she was feeling.
There was a long moment, where Weiss appeared to scrutinise Blake’s face, though whatever Weiss eventually saw, Blake couldn’t know. “Thank you.” It was only a whisper, and Blake was sure that without her Faunus hearing she may have questioned if that was actually what Weiss had said, but it was very clear to Blake. She couldn’t help but to smile - a small, slight smile, given their current situation.
“No, thank you.”
Things were right again in their world known as Remnant.
Note from Fufu: And that is where we shall leave off until Sunday. And as an aside, I apologise that this didn't go up on Sunday the 5th. That is entirely my fault, partially cause I'm a lazy shit and then partially because I was distracted with other things. thank you for your patience. The end is in sight!