Chapter Text
“Can anyone tell me why General Lagune lost the battle of Forecastle?” Dr Oobleck’s voice grates from the front of the class. His class is normally pleasant. It was one of her favorites, even if she could never hope to take notes fast enough. But they had entered the Faunus rights revolution, and she kept catching herself clenching her teeth, just waiting for the fighting to start.
Insults had been fired off already, and it was a relief to hear Dr Oobleck shoot them down, at first. Then he lost his backbone. Maybe that was unfair, but Dr Oobleck did lose steam after the 5th or 6th detention in a week. When Jaune predictably fumbles through his answer, and Oobleck calls on Cardin, Blake cannot even pretend to be surprised. Blake isn’t even expecting he’ll be punished.
Pyrrha speaks up, strikes a finishing blow. Blake’s jaw relaxes. She hadn’t even noticed how tense she was. Before she knew it, words were spilling from her mouth. Smug and satisfied. It felt so good to finally stand up for her people.
But that’s the problem. Those shouldn’t be her people. At least out loud. Her jaw tenses again as she tries to subtly look for people’s reactions. No one is looking at her. Are they specifically avoiding looking at her? Did they just stop before she could catch them? What she wouldn’t give for a mind-reading semblance.
The rest of the class was torture. She shut up like she was supposed to in the first place. Cardin did get punished with some extra work, not that it’ll help him.
By the time she escaped the classroom, she needed space. The walls of bodies were making everything worse. Old instincts were kicking in and having her look for the knife at her back. So she waved off Yang and Ruby as they headed to lunch with the Schnee. Instead, she made her way outside to wander the grounds.
The General Dosgurd Memorial Gardens were older than Beacon itself, if the plaque was to be believed. The king, Oric, had it made after Dosgurd led the charge in something called The Elephant Wars. Dosgurd’s face was carved into the plaque, but he didn’t look like much of a fighter.
Though Dosgurd had long passed out of living memory, his garden had not. It was a sprawling thing that covered most of Beacon’s southwest corner. It also had one of the easiest passages to the Emerald Forest, so parts of it were well-trafficked. When one wandered away from the main path and into the maze-like garden beds and hedges, however, humans and their noise quickly fell off. This is where Blake was headed.
It was there that she could find peace. Not peace enough to take off her bow, sadly. There was still too high a chance that someone might pass by and catch her. She had only risked such an action once in the months since Beacon began, to clean her ears after three weeks without. Of course, that was the one day Yang forgot that other people aren’t ok with her just walking in. If it weren’t for the solid shower curtain, Blake would be back on the streets or worse. Probably not by Yang, she’d earned that much trust by now, but the Schnee could do so much worse.
It was as she wandered, both in thought and in action, that she heard a distinct *Vworb* behind her. The faint scent of ozone prickled her nostrils. Startled, she leapt away, spinning to face her attacker. Behind her, lacking any of the menace or weaponry Blake had expected, stood a young faunus girl. She had shoulder-length wavy orange hair that darkened to black at the tips, two cat ears atop her head with the same colour pattern, and wore a yellow sundress with noodle straps and a repeating storm cloud pattern.
“Mommy?” The girl called. She was looking to and fro in confusion. Her arms curled protectively in towards her chest when she didn’t find her mother. She couldn’t be older than 10. Were children even allowed on campus?
The girl spun around nervously, but as soon as she caught sight of Blake her timidness melted away. Suddenly, she was running towards Blake with her arms spread wide and a bi,g happy smile on her face.
“MAMAA!” She cried. Blake instinctually avoided the hug, letting the child’s arms catch around a shadow clone. The girl stumbled as it disappeared, but then she giggled and tried for a speedier hug. This time, Blake put a hand to the child’s forehead. She knew too many children where in the white fang to trust this one.
The girl met her hand and pushed against it for a few seconds before calming down. She instead reached up to grab Blake’s hand in a gentle hold. She didn’t even try to move it, she just held two fingers and seemed contented.
“Did you see me?” The girl chirped. Blake instantly noticed her silver eyes. Not grey and not steel blue, a shimmering metallic colour that she had only seen on one other person.
“Are… you Ruby’s sister?” Neither Yang nor Ruby had ever mentioned a third sister, but with how different they looked, she would have a hard time dismissing another strange-looking sibling.
“.. Mommy?” … WHAT?
“What?”
“Mommy and me were playing, and then she told me I locked my sense,” at this her volume increased proportionally with the radiance of her proud smile, “and then she said to do it again and so I did. But, now she’s gone,” she said with a dying smile. The sadness in this girl's eyes tugged at something deep in the core of Blake. Perhaps the girl just reminded Blake of herself when she was young, lost in the woods and desperately needing someone to guide her back to the home she never should have left.
“Ok, so which way did your mom go?” Receiving a shrug, Blake changed direction, “What about your dad, do you have a dad?” The girl tilts her head at Blake, and a sly smile creeps across her face.
“We’re being silly. Papaaaa isonthemoon,” the girl misunderstands adorably and with pride.
“No, serious…” She doesn’t even know this child’s name.” What’s your name? Serious answer.” Blake does her double best to make a serious frown so the girl doesn’t give a fake name.
“Marigold, because it's Papa’s favorite flower.”
“Marigold, then. Where are your mom and dad?” Marigold shrugs.
“Papa’s at work, but mommy disappeared.” Okay, so she’s been abandoned. Shit. What is Blake supposed to do here? Hunting down her shitty mom would be a start. “Mama, I’m hungry,” Marigold whines, now holding Blake’s hand.
“Stop calling me that, I’m not your mom.” Blake shakes the girl’s sweaty palm off.
“Wha?” Marigold’s voice wobbles, and she looks up at Blake with shiny eyes. Blake’s heart seizes at the most heartwrenching set of puppy dog eyes she’s ever seen. She drops to her knees instantly. Her hands hover over Marigold’s face, wanting to soothe the girl but guiltily staying away for having brought them.
“No, hey, hey, Marigold, don’t cry, please.” Blake is pleading with the girl, hoping to quell her fit before it can start. Marigold lifts her arms, stretching them out towards Blake in wait for a hug. “I’m so sorry. You can call me mama, just don’t cry.” Blake finally leans in and gently wraps her arms around the small girl.
The girl’s tears fade, and her heaving breaths slowly return to normal after a short minute of sustained hugging. When she finally stops wetly nuzzling into Blake’s neck and allows her to disentangle them, Blake could use some lunch herself.
“How about we go get you that food you wanted, huh?” Blake wipes Marigold’s eyes and dabs at her nose with the sleeve of her blazer, smiling as the girl’s stomach grumbles its approval.