Renegades (Act XV)

2-DAY EARLY RELEASE FOR ALL OF MY PATRONS!

Please enjoy the final chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

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															Act XV.

"NO-!"

Even before Blake had finished speaking, the distraught plea was already halfway out of her mouth.

Although Blake was trying to prevent her from arguing, Weiss didn't care. She tightened her grip on her, curling her fingers into the fabrics of Blake's shirt, drawing her back a step.

"Blake, you can't do that!" she cried. "You can't! Whatever happens, we'll face it together-"

"Enough of that!" her father shouted. He turned his anger unto Weiss once again, and her grip on Blake started to tremble.

"Father-"

"No more of this," he commanded. "This is over. You're not going to be doing anything 'together' ever again. Not with this putrid animal. You're never going to see her again, do you understand me? With the charges I'll be pressing, she'll be shipped off to the mines for the rest of her life like she deserves. Chained. As animals should be."

"Father, I-!"

"And you," he went on. "I've already told you the arrangements have been made. Your husband is not happy about any of this. You're going back to him first thing in the morning and you will bow your head and beg for his forgiveness."

Appalled by his words, Weiss cried out.

"He is not my husband! I won't accept that kind of life!"

His next words struck a gripping terror into her heart.

"You don't have a choice."

His decisive voice was followed by a footstep. When he advanced, Blake pushed her back, still defending Weiss with her own body. Weiss clung to her, feeling the tears beginning to drip down her cheeks. A misstep caused Blake to stumble, aggravating the injuries she'd sustained in the struggle back at the motel. Weiss could only choke out her name and try to hold her up, try to hold on...

"I'm sorry..." she whispered. "It's all my fault... I'm so sorry, Blake..."

...

Weiss' apology broke her heart. It had been broken many times before, for many different reasons, but never quite like this. Blake could feel so many things burning in her veins in that moment – adrenaline, terror, anger, panic – all pounding in her blood in a boiling, acidic mixture.

She could feel Weiss huddled behind her, small and trembling, nothing like the brave quick-witted girl she knew and loved. She was quivering, crying, just like she'd been on the night Blake had first held her - pale, withering, and sick with worry in her bed. There was a pulse pounding through her body, hard and thick, and she couldn't tell if it was Weiss' or her own.

She needed to protect Weiss. She couldn't let her go again, not if this man would be the one to take her.

She needed a reason not to give her up. Blake had a million for herself, enough to fill a small library's worth of books. But she needed one that would satisfy him.

A sudden jab of pain shot through her torso, and she swayed. She could feel Weiss' weight compensating for hers, bringing Blake back to her feet.

Again, the man before them snarled.

"I said to get away from her." He was now directing his orders at Weiss, since it was she who was now majorly in charge of both hers and Blake's positions. "You'll never be clean at this rate. I shudder to imagine how much filth you've accumulated from being around this Faunus scum for so long. Now get away from it."

He lashed out, but Blake tugged Weiss out of his range, once again putting the girl behind herself. She didn't even have the time to be offended by the fact that he'd reduced her from a person to an object within the course of three seconds.

Her mind was racing as quickly as her pulse now. An inkling of an idea had crept into her head. Acting on it couldn't hurt when they'd already been hurt this badly.

It was worth a shot. She'd try anything at this point.

Blake curled her lips into a sneer and conjured up the smuggest voice she could muster in spite of it all.

"You won't want her back."

Her words were oddly stern, surprising even herself. They echoed through the hallway, and everything fell silent for a split second. She could almost hear the breeze just beyond that exit door...

"What was that?" Their tormentor returned his attention to Blake. "You really must be stupid. Do you even know what she's worth? Men from all over the kingdom would come just to look at her. Do you know how much they'd pay? How much one already did pay?"

Blake's stomach gnarled and twisted as she listened to him talk about Weiss as if she weren't even there, as if she were nothing more than an object, a bargaining chip. Disgusted as she was, she couldn't stop now, not when she had him hanging on her words. He almost seemed mildly interested when he asked of her now.

"For all she's worth, why wouldn't I want her back? Tell me, Faunus."

Blake stood her ground. She could definitely feel Weiss' heartbeat now, beating against her back until it synched with her own. It was all Blake could do to act on this final thought.

After all, she only had one thing left to lose.

And that just so happened to be her everything.

...

This was it for them.

Weiss tried to stifle her sobs and stop her tears, but it was very difficult to do so when she listened to her father talk about her in such a way. She'd only ever been a paycheck to him, just as her elder sister had been. But her being younger put a higher value on her head, a better price.

All she'd ever been meant to do in his eyes was marry a rich man and bear him a son. Her father seldom let her forget that.

That was all she was good for, all she was worth.

Blake had taught her otherwise. She'd let Weiss see it for herself, that she had infinitely more worth than what her father had decided for her.

And again, having experienced the kinder alternative during her time with Blake, it only made the present reality all the more crushing.

/I don't want to... live that kind of life... I just want to be free... with Blake.../

"You won't want her back."

Blake's voice snapped Weiss out of her thoughts. She hadn't anticipated any way out of this. She'd more or less accepted the fact that she and Blake would be torn apart once and for all this time.

So to hear the unexpected declaration from Blake unsettled Weiss.

There was... something about the way she'd said it. Something harsh and unforgiving in her tone that made Weiss feel as though she might not have a place anywhere, not even with Blake.

Her chest started aching in an entirely different way now as she stared numbly at Blake's profile.

She didn't know what was happening. But whatever it was, it seemed both sides were at a temporary stalemate. Her father had taken an interest in Blake's declaration, so much so that he'd paused long enough and offered to hear her out.

"Tell me, Faunus," he ordered.

But for some reason, Weiss wasn't sure she wanted to know.

...

"Because she's tainted."

Blake didn't hold anything back. She needed to be blunt and blatant with it, so that there would be no room for misinterpretations. Her eyes remained focused on the cold gaze before her, and she feared to glance at the one behind her.

She heard Weiss' sharp intake of breath, as though she'd been physically struck.

And Blake hated it. She hated what she was doing, hated that she needed to do it. All she could do was squeeze Weiss' hand and pray she still trusted her.

The man in front of them was silent for a moment, his calculating eyes searching hers in an effort to detect traces of untruthfulness.

But Blake didn't flinch, not this time. Lying was one of her best skills, second only to running. Deceit was her very semblance that could get her out of almost any physical confrontation. Now, she just had to have faith that it could do the same for her verbally.

Weiss' father was unamused, but clearly perturbed by her implications. He needed more clarification than that.

"What do you mean?"

If his voice was a rolling rumble of thunder, Blake's was a sharp strike of lightening.

"Your daughter is no longer pure," she snapped. "She's tainted. By a Faunus. No one will marry her now. Her worth has fallen below repairable levels. There is no value in her any longer."

She felt like she was going to be sick.

She hated this. She hated this so much.

She knew that every word out of her mouth was like a knife in Weiss' heart.

She knew she was hurting her.

But she had to.

She had to.

All she could do was squeeze the trembling hand in hers and pray that Weiss understood.

/It's not true. None of it's true./

...

A whimper escaped her lips when Blake's accusation reached her ears.

"Tainted" was such an ugly word, so vile and demeaning. It was beyond shocking to hear Blake call her such a thing without warning, without reason.

It hurt. She didn't understand...

Not until she felt the grip on her hand tighten once again. Blake's fingers were trembling, but it was different now. She wasn't scared of Weiss' father so much anymore. She was scared of something else.

She was scared that Weiss might believe her.

Weiss blinked, ridding her vision of a few tears, allowing her to see the reality more clearly.

Blake's jawline was taut, her ears flattened, eyes sharp. She was terrified that Weiss might believe what she was proclaiming, might accept those words as Blake's honest feelings and thoughts.

But Weiss knew better. She knew Blake better.

A squeeze in return to her hand was all she could give to reassure her. Weiss stroked her thumb lightly over the bone-white skin of her knuckles, and her message was clear.

/It's okay. I understand./

She saw what Blake was doing now.

Because it was working.

Her father was trapped somewhere between rage and disgust. There was even a bit of confusion in his eyes, as though he were too incredulous to fathom what he'd just been told. That his prized possession had been damaged irreversibly. That there was no value in her any longer.

He was in turmoil just trying to comprehend it. He turned his penetrating gaze back to Weiss.

She'd never been more terrified of him in her entire life.

"Is it true?" he uttered.

Weiss knew what she needed to say, but she didn't know what kind of results it would bring. She'd seen his anger manifest in many different ways before, from the kind of silence that made her ears ring, to the violent physical swings of a bottle.

But Blake had gotten them this far. Now it was Weiss' turn to play her part in this little act.

So she stepped forward, now standing at Blake's side, exposed just as much as she was, equally as available to be on the receiving end of his fury if it came down to that. Weiss gave a little sob, lowering her head as if in great shame.

"Father... I'm sorry... but it's true."

He let out the shout of a madman, hurling the taser at their shoes in a fit of sheer rage, and it shattered.

Weiss stood her ground against him with Blake at her side.

...

It was strangely satisfying to watch her little scheme unfold with such favorable results. Weiss' father didn't know what to do with himself. It told Blake that Weiss' value to him had only ever been measured in her chastity. To say that was gone was to say he'd lost everything in terms of her marriage arrangements and finances. Because no husband in his right mind was going to pay for a "tainted" wife.

Now that Weiss was playing along, Blake felt confident that she knew what this meant.

They could only stand there, pressed against one another, fingers entwined so tightly it was making their hands go numb. Blake was still in pain from the taser, and from everything else she'd sustained back at the hotel. And she could sense Weiss' panic too.

This act of Blake's had yet to give them definite results. It very well could end with her death, right here where she stood, and she knew that.

She knew that, and she wasn't at all prepared for it - not if it meant she'd have to leave Weiss behind in the hands of her father. Blake would go down fighting, that was for certain. She'd fight him until her last breath.

She knew Weiss would fight for her, too. Just as she had been all this time.

They were still surrounded by his men, all of whom were unmoving with the absence of direct orders. All eyes were trained on the man in charge of it all.

He looked like he was going insane, his eyes now hollow as he watched his fortune crumble.

It was agony to wait. Their fate with one another hung in the balance. Blake knew she'd either get out of here with Weiss or die. It was black or white. There was no gray area.

They waited, each beat of their hearts striking through their bodies in shockwaves.

Blake dared to look down at Weiss, at the girl who'd changed her, who'd reminded her of what it felt like to live.

This was all for her.

Her ears flicked, picking up on a loud, seething gust of air. Blake redirected her attention to the man holding their verdict on the tip of his tongue. She watched him cast those horrible, hollow eyes onto Weiss once again-

-and for the last time.

"Get out."

He wasn't asking.

...

Weiss couldn't believe her ears. Something told her that Blake didn't either.

For a split second, she didn't know what this meant, what they were supposed to do.

But her father soon made himself very clear.

"I said get out of my sight!" he bellowed. "Don't you dare show your face around Vale ever again you filthy, worthless, good-for-nothing whore!"

His words lodge themselves like bullets in her chest.

Even though Weiss herself knew none of those things were true, they were still said viciously enough to turn her blood cold. For her own father to be calling her such terrible, dehumanizing things, as though she hadn't spent eighteen years of her life being exactly what he'd told to her be. As though she'd never meant anything to him.

Even though he was a horrible excuse for a man he was still her father, and some foolish, deeply-buried part of herself still wished she could savor some part of that relationship.

But he only continued to curse and shout at her, even going so far as to verbally disown her.

And she didn't know why, but she couldn't stop crying.

...

The words being spewed at Weiss by the man who was supposed to care for her were horrendous and disgusting to say the least. Blake had half a mind to rush at him and slam her knuckles into his teeth, but her injuries and the men surrounding them made her think twice.

And there was something else.

She and Weiss were... they were...

"Get out of my sight!"

They couldn't waste another second.

Blake tugged on her wrist, barely even feeling her own body as it moved, taking one step, then another, leading Weiss forward. It was surreal, and she felt like she wasn't even inside her own body, like she was watching this all from afar somehow.

But it was their last chance, so they needed to take it.

The hand that hadn't left Weiss' all this time now squeezed even harder, her nails all but digging into the pale, delicate skin. She tugged, and Weiss went with her, though Blake couldn't afford to look back at her now. Her eyes were focused on that exit door, their path to which was now unobstructed.

Even as they passed by Weiss' father, Blake made sure to put herself between them. She knew most of what this man was capable of, but in his fury she was unsure if he'd try to lash out at his daughter again. Blake shielded Weiss with her body, putting her free arm around her shoulders and hurrying her towards the door.

No one was stopping them. Not this time.

She shoved her shoulder against the hard metal and pushed with all her might.

And the calm nighttime air revealed their path to anywhere.

...

Moving was a subconscious act now. She was still so numb from the shock of it all, from being hollered and cursed at so contemptuously, and also too from Blake pulling her by the hand.

It terrified her when they passed him by. She thought he might lash out again and hurt Blake.

But it seemed he was finally done hurting them. Done chasing. Done caring.

And even though she was crying because of him, Weiss couldn't help but look back. She left a small part of herself behind with her father, but it was a part she felt she could live without. Especially when she knew she wouldn't even be missed.

And the next thing she knew, she was running again. She was running alongside Blake, a scene she'd lived and witnessed a dozen times over from the very same angle.

Only this time, no one was chasing them.

The air that rushed into her lungs was cool – liberating. Everything was more lively to her senses now, from the sounds of passing cars to the sights of buildings and streetlights. She didn't know where they were, but she didn't care. She didn't care anymore. Because Blake was with her.

Weiss could still feel the warm tears drenching her cheeks, marking a small trail in her wake that would soon be forgotten with the memories of the life she was leaving behind.

She still couldn't believe it, that this was actually happening, that her father had let them go...

No. That they'd earned their freedom. They'd fought, both physically and mentally. They'd used their minds just as much as their hands, fought with fists and words alike. They'd engaged when necessary and abstained when they could. They'd ran, fought, and survived.

This victory was all theirs for the taking.

And they took it.

They took it with them across the foreign streets, down the lamplit sidewalks, between the slumbering buildings, and through the midnight forests. They carried it until they could no longer carry themselves, but even then, they held it close.

...

A quiet park was the last place they managed to get to before everything caught up to them. Blake's shoulder was throbbing with pain again, and her chest was stinging from the panicked thrill of it all. She could feel Weiss stumbling behind her now, hear her gasping sobs. Blake knew Weiss' legs were probably aching and trembling just as much as hers were.

They'd made it this far, and for the first time, it was finally far enough.

They collapsed into a field of soft grass, falling to their knees. Blake hunched forward, panting, barely even able to swallow. Her nails was still etched into Weiss' palm, and only now did she feel at ease enough to loosen the grip.

As she caught her breath, the disbelief faded away gradually, like the receding tide. It was replaced by fresh waves of acceptance for what was now the genuine reality.

They were free. Well and truly. There was no one left to come after them anymore.

She tried to smile, but found she couldn't – not yet. Not when Weiss was still shaking and crying so hard right beside her. Blake looked her over, a new surge of guilt pushing over her.

Shifting in the grass, she turned just slightly to face her, reaching up to put both hands on her shoulders, searching for her eyes.

"Weiss...?"

Each breath from Weiss was strained and clipped, and it almost made Blake falter. But what eventually did her in were her eyes.

Those sky-blue eyes looked almost as vibrant to her nocturnal vision as they did in the daytime, only now, they were overflowing with a million tears and different emotions. Blake could discern better emotions there, but it was the bad ones that scared her. She thought it was her fault.

"Weiss..." Voice trembling, she tentatively curled her fingers into the fabric of her dress. "Weiss... You know I... I didn't mean any of it, right? Not a word."

She couldn't be sure of Weiss' expression due to how hard she was still crying. That had always been the one thing Blake could never bring herself to bear - the sight of Weiss' tears. Even after all this time when Blake had kept it together, the sight of Weiss' tears broke her down within seconds.

"I-I'm sorry..." She leaned forward, wrapped Weiss in her arms, and held her close. "I'm so sorry..."

...

She melted – absolutely melted – into Blake's arms.

The second they were finally able to come together like this, Weiss' sobs only grew louder and fuller. She threw her arms around Blake with fervor, clinging to her now for all the times she'd let go in the past.

There was so much raw emotion between them, wafting off of them in waves, rippling through their veins. Blake was crying too, and Weiss was ridden with the temporary fear that it was for all the wrong reasons. Her bitter apologies not a moment later only confirmed Weiss' uncertainties.

Weiss nestled into her shoulder, breathing in the familiar scent of earth and midnight. She stroked through the dark waves of her hair as she'd done so many times before, her palm mapping a familiar pattern over Blake's back. She fumbled to configure her words, and when she had them arranged, they spilled out.

"It's okay..." The words were not only a reassurance, but a reminder of what was now fact. "Don't be sorry... I know you didn't mean it. I know, Blake."

There was just so much happening all at once, so many feelings, so many words.

As the seconds passed them by, Weiss kept count with the beats of her heart until she could remember how to breathe. But it wasn't the same as she'd always remembered it. Rather, she felt as though she were doing it for the first time. Now that they were free.

Every breath felt fuller. Every second lasted longer. Every heartbeat meant something.

That wasn't just being free – that was being free together with the person who gave meaning to her life.

Soon, Weiss' tears stemmed from a different place in her heart, somewhere softer, warmer. She cried not because she was scared anymore, but because she was overwhelmed by better things.

Happiness, Joy. Perhaps a bit of confusion, but that didn't hinder her.

She let her voice out, unobstructed, except by the faint press of fabric against her lips as she tucked herself deeper into the side of Blake's neck. Against that pale skin, she whispered as though recanting a prayer.

"We made it... we made it..."

...

The first major relief for Blake was to know Weiss hadn't believed in the lies she'd told. To know that she hadn't hurt her with those lies, to know she hadn't been crying because of Blake.

She remembered the red swollen cheek and pulled back briefly, tracing her fingers delicately over the injury marring that porcelain skin. She brushed over it as if trying to erase it, then replaced it with a kiss, leaving her own kinder, gentler mark in its place.

The second was when Weiss returned her embrace, as passionately and tenderly as she'd ever done so before. She always put her heart into these things, especially when Blake needed it most. It was just one of the many, many things Blake had come to love about her.

And the third was hearing those three words, because it opened her eyes to the reality of it all.

"We made it..."

And it took her this long, but Blake understood now.

They really, really had.

It was a moment before she could reply, swallowing down thick sobs in favor of her wavering words.

"We... we really did... we really did..."

And she laughed.

She laughed, and Weiss laughed with her.

The kind of laughter that comes from emancipating tortured souls from endless weeks of harrowing torment.

No more running. No more losing sleep by keeping vigil. No more looking constantly back over their shoulders.

They laughed. They cried. They kissed.

And Blake knew she'd never felt more alive.

...

Blake kissed her, and Weiss kissed back. She couldn't kiss back enough, it seemed. In between the little sobs and hiccups of laughter, there was hardly enough air between them to keep their mouths together. But somehow, they managed. They always did.

One hand curled at Blake's hip while the other ghosted up to rest on her sore shoulder. Ever so gently, she massaged the pads of her fingers there.

The next chance she got, she dipped her head and kissed the junction between her neck and shoulder, beneath the collar of her shirt. In turn, she could feel Blake's lips on her scarred cheek, covering the old wound after having tended to the new ache in her jaw.

Their lips, much like the sides of their faces, were wet with the salt of their tears. But that didn't stop either of them from trailing their way over cheekbones and jawlines, and ultimately back to lips.

The kisses were everything. They spoke of all they'd done, all they'd been through. They were the banishment of the terrors and anxieties, and the welcoming of a newer, kinder beginning. The taste and scent of salt on Blake's lips reminded Weiss of the ocean, the only thing that had ever meant freedom to her. Until she'd met her.

The night persisted, shrouding their hard-earned endeavor in cool, calm darkness and the songs of crickets. When Weiss kissed Blake once again and closed her eyes, she felt she could hear the rush of the sea.

...

Blake accepted every kiss, perhaps a little too eagerly, a little too easily. But after all they'd been through, she felt they deserved this.

But it wasn't long before the intensely enervating events finally caught up with her and took effect.

It was all she could do to maintain her grip on Weiss as she lightly collapsed onto her back, thankful for the plush grass beneath. She made sure to draw Weiss close again as quickly as possible, resting a hand on her back as she curled in. She coaxed Weiss to rest her head on the front of her good shoulder, then pressed a kiss into her hair.

Weiss was still shaking, but not as severely as before. The tremors that ran through her now were softer, and mainly had all to do with laughter.

She felt an arm drape lightly across her stomach, fragile fingers curling loosely on her shirt just above the spot where Blake's pulse beat.

She could feel Weiss', too. It was a dull but steady rhythm that danced beneath her palm on Weiss' back. But she could feel it even more strongly from the front, at the spot where Weiss' chest pressed softly into her side.

Blake closed her eyes, ears flicking idly as she imagined the sound of its melody, the one she'd heard only a few precious times before.

She replayed the song of Weiss' heartbeat to herself for a time, until she felt herself starting to slip. At that time, she reopened her eyes, finding them trained on a vast velvet canvas, splattered with sparkling flecks of stardust.

For a time, she simply breathed, and Weiss breathed with her.

And that was enough.

...

Eventually, Weiss felt a shift in their positions. When Blake leaned back to lie in the cushioning grass Weiss gladly went with her, and at last their aching bodies were allowed to rest.

For a time, it didn't feel safe being out here, unprotected under such a vast, open sky.

But she just had to remember they weren't being hunted anymore – not by the White Fang, and not by her own father. Knowing that, they could take refuge anywhere they pleased.

That concept still seemed so surreal to her. It was still so fresh and new, so recently won she could hardly accept it just yet. If there was one thing she could accept, it was the warmth pooling at her side, the breath in her hair, the arm around her back.

The memories replayed from start to finish.

The first night she'd jumped out of her window and onto the drunken man harassing Blake, how they'd run off and gone tumbling down through the thicket and onto the sand, how Blake had tended to her cuts and carried her back.

They'd decided to meet again and again, on the rooftop, on the ladder, making covert midnight runs to the cafe and back.

Blake had promised to come back for her, and she had. She'd crashed the wedding and stolen the bride.

From there they'd gone to Tukson, taken trains, traveled on foot, taking shelter wherever it appeared, plucking apples and rationing milk for meals.

They'd gone to Belmere in search of Blake's family, and had come up heartbreakingly ended-handed.

Then the hotel, where they'd tried so hard to heal.

They'd cried, kissed, and danced. Only to be torn apart yet again, ripped from each other's arms...

But that had been the last time. It never had to happen again, and she knew Blake would help her ensure it never would.

For so long, they'd been aimless in their search for something more, fleeing from the dark pasts that never ceased to haunt them, hopelessly hoping for a brighter tomorrow.

But now, their fight was over. They didn't have to run anymore.

They were aimless, but in the best of ways.

They could go anywhere.

Anywhere they wished.

Anywhere at all.

Anywhere...

It was a bit of a scary word.

But it was also so limitless and full of possibilities.

And there was another word there now as well.

Together.

So long as that was the case, nothing could stop them.

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A/N: At the time we were writing, my partner and I weren't sure how to end this. This was my original suggestion, but after she dropped the roleplay, I couldn't think of anything else, so this is what I stuck to in the end.

Stay tuned for an epilogue!