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Blake had reached the rooftop and saw Thomas lying on the floor, head resting on his hands and one leg propped up. She walked over to him and when reaching to him she'd noticed his eyes were closed and he had earbuds in his ears.
Thomas was listening to music and was aware that the moonlight had darken all of the sudden, like something was blocking the light from shining on him.
He opened his eyes and, to his surprise, saw Blake standing in front of him.
"Oh," Thomas said as he was sitting up and taken an earbud out. "Hi Blake. What are you doing up here?"
"Your teammates said I should come here if I wanted to find you."
"So you've met my team, I hope they weren't mean to you?"
"They weren't to me, but when I asked where to find you they told me in a somewhat foul tone, they don't seem to be very fond of you."
"Well," Thomas moved his eyes to the ground. "it's not they're fault. It's mine..."
"Your fault?" Blake said with an somewhat of an concern look on her face. "What do you mean?"
Thomas let out a sigh before looking back at Blake.
"It's kind of a long story..."
Blake move to the left side of Thomas as sat down next to him. "Well, I got nothing less going on right now, I'm willing to listen." She said with a small smile.
Thomas looked up at the night sky, closed his eyes and inhaled a deep breath then exhaled, allowing his head fall down to look at the ground again.
"Before I was born, both my parents were huntsman and huntress. They would do any mission together anytime one became available. They were inseparable, anytime you'd see one, the other would either be by their side or not far behind." he finished saying with a small smile, only a second later to return with a frown. "But when my mother gave birth to me she would stay home to take care of me and my dad would continue to go on missions, but now only himself."
Blake noticed Thomas felt remorse when he'd stopped, but why? She didn't asked and allowed him to continue.
Thomas moved his gaze to the front of him, looking over Beacon Academy.
"When I reached 8 years old, my parents started teaching me to become a huntsman. Though each had they're own ways of teaching. My mother, Jennet, was skilled in fighting with a long sword so she taught me how to fight with a swords. My father on the other hand, Leonard, was a brawler. He specialized in fighting with gauntlets that had Dust integrated in them. He'd taught me fighting with gauntlets and in close combat."
"I was, for the most part, able to learn and understand all of what both of them were teaching. But with my father having to go out for missions frequently and my mother always being home I picked up her teachings faster and decided to use a sword as my weapon."
"Did you have your dad stop teaching you when choosing a sword over gauntlets?" Blake asked.
"No," Thomas said looking over at Blake. "he would still teach me. But it was now more for close combat than gauntlets, though I would still train with them on occasion. Him teaching me was one of the few thing we did when he was not out on a mission and I enjoyed every minute of it, even if there were times I'd wish I was doing anything else but training" he finished with a light laugh.
That was the first time Blake heard him laugh. At the moment she'd knew he was starting to open up to her.
"So with you choosing a sword as your weapon, when did you get your first weapon?" she asked.
"It was during my first year at Signal Academy, I forged my first weapon, Roses Stem."
Blake thought back to they're match during class.
"The sword you used during our match, that is Roses Stem?"
"Yes it is."
"Why the name Roses Stem?"
Thomas turned away from Blake for a second to think, then turned back.
"My father had a saying that he'd tell me from time to time while we trained. 'As a Thorn, it's our purpose in life to protect the ones we see as our roses.'" He started to chuckled. "Anytime he'd think I was loosing focus on my training or was not performing at a 100 percent he would tell me that to remind me as why I needed to train harder."
"The reason a rose has thorns on it's stem is to protect it from harm, It's the thorn's purpose in life to protect the rose from anything and everything. The reason I want to become a huntsman is to protect the ones I see as my roses, I am a Thorn. That's why I named it Roses Stem." He finished.
While listening to Thomas, Blake realized how much he cared about his parents and how much of an impact they've made on his life. With training with him and the naming of his weapon. But Blake though back to the beginning of his story, to when it seem he'd felt something was bothered him.
"Thomas, earlier to when you started, it seemed something was bothering you at the moment when you were talking about your mother giving birth to you. If you don't mind my asking was there something bothering you then?" Blake asked, hoping she was not pushing to much.
Thomas stared at her, kinda shocked by the question she just asked. He looked away from Blake and stared at the ground and clenched his fist, which Blake saw.
"It.... it was the summer of my first year at Signal. I was at home with both of my parents spending some time with them, and during that time my father got a phone call saying he was needed immediately, there was a large Grimm attack at a small village just outside of Vale and they needed any huntsman and huntresses in the area to help out."
"When he was getting everything ready my mother said to him she was going as well, but my father told her to...." Thomas stopped, it was getting harder for him to talk. "Told her to stay home with me and that not to worry about it. After that he said goodbye to my mother and I, then left."
Thomas closed his eyes, as it was becoming harder and harder to talk about this. Blake seeing this was about to say he could stop, but Thomas continued.
"My mother stayed up all night waiting for him to come home, and the next night, and the next night. Until two weeks later, a call came in and...." As he stopped, a tear fell down his cheek. "And saying he died during the attack. When my mother heard this she screamed and was in full denial. I ran into the room and when I was her face I knew what happen."
Thomas looked up at Blake with another tear rolling down his face.
"Blake, there is something that's bothering me. It's guilt." He said, almost ready to break down and start crying.
"Why..." Blake stopped, unsure of what to ask.
Blake wasn't sure on what to do. Anytime she was in a situation like what Thomas is in she would just run away from her feelings. But Thomas was telling his whole life story to her like they've known each other for years and they've only met today. She felt like Thomas trust her, that's why he's been telling her his whole life, and she doesn't want to betray that trust.
"Why do you feel guilt?" She asked
"I feel guilt because before I was born my parents spent all their time together, doing anything and everything. But when I was born I forced my mother in staying home while my father went out to do missions, I separated my parents." Thomas said, with more tears falling off his face.
"Because of me I made my mom stay home while my dad went and die in the attack, if my mom would've gone then maybe my dad would still be here. I feel guilty because I took away a chance of my dad still being here, and time from my parents that they could've spend together." He finished softly, trying to wipe the tears away.
Blake, thinking there wasn't anything she could say to make him feel better, lean over to Thomas and hugged him, hoping to take away some of the pain. Thomas was surprised by this, but then accepted the embrace and wrapped his arms around her and started crying into her shoulder.
"Thomas, your parents love you. The time you feel you took away from them spending with each other was spent with you. They love you as much or more then they do for each other. They wanted to spend that time with you." Blake said, holding Thomas tightly.
Thomas just stay silent holding onto Blake and she could feel him shaking.
Blake wasn't expecting Thomas to be holding so much emotion like this. She knew that he was a very reserved and quiet person from the times she saw Thomas around Beacon, but never though it was guilt he was holding onto and blaming himself for his father's death that caused him to become the way he is.
After about a minute Thomas pulled away from Blake.
"Thank you, Blake." He said wiping away the last tear. "I just... know how much they loved each other, I didn't want to take away any time they had together. But you're right, they wanted to spend that time with me and I'm very thankful that I had parents who cared that much about me. I... I miss them a lot."
"What happened to your mother after hearing what happened?"
"After that day, she fell into a very deep depression, it was so bad that she was unable to get out of bed for a few months and because of that I had to take a year off from Signal to take care of her and make sure nothing else happened to her."
"A whole year? It really was that bad?" Blake asked.
"Yeah, it's why I'm a year older than most first year students. It wasn't until a year later my aunt Jade came to help take care of my mother that I returned to Signal. Honestly I wasn't even planning on returning to Signal until both my mother and aunt told me I needed to go back and finish there, then go to Beacon. It was what my mother wanted." Thomas stopped to look up at night sky.
"And what my father wanted." he said with a smile.
"So I went back to Signal and when I got there I forged my second weapons, Thorns." Thomas lifted up his arms to show the two gauntlets he was wearing. "I made them in memory of my father, to carry on his legacy, to always have him with me, protect me, and fight along side me." He finished, staring down that Thorns.
"So now, you carry both your mother and your father with you." Blake started. "Your mother for teaching how to wield a sword, leading to Roses Stem. And your father instilling his knowledge of close combat and gauntlets to you and with that, created Thorns his memory. There are always with you Thomas, even when you feel they're not." Blake placed a hand on Thomas' shoulder and smiled. Thomas looked up to her and smiled back.
"Huh, I guess your right. I never thought of that." Thomas looked back down at his gauntlets and thought about his parents, to all of times he'd spent training with them, talking to them, and just being there with them. He'd thought of the day his father left, not about his father leaving, but about talking to his parents and enjoying the time he had with them. One tear rolled down his cheek, but it was one of joy as he was smiling when it was rolling down. "They are always with me."
Thomas looked up at Blake. He was thankful that she came up here and listen to his whole life story even if it wasn't what she was planning on doing. "Wait a minute, why did she come up here?" Thomas thought.
"Hey, Blake."
"Yeah?"
"Earlier you said that you asked my team where to find me, why were you looking for me?"
"Well, I'd be happy to answer that question, once you have answered the one I asked." Blake said with a small smirk.
"You've asked? Which was?" Thomas asked with a confuse look.
"Why does your team treat you the way they do and how it is your fault?" Blake asked
"Oh, right. I guess that's why we're here." Thomas remembered when she asked that question and why he'd started.
Thomas looked back over Beacon.
"Where was I..." Thomas thought for a second. "Oh, yeah. After I forged Thorns I finished my time at Signal and was accepted into Beacon. It was during our evaluation in the Emerald Forest where I first met my team, but not until the very end of it."
"At the end of it?" Blake asked
"Yeah, I went thought whole evaluation without finding a single person. I reached the temple, grabbed a relic, and headed back to the professors and didn't see a single person on the way there or back."
"So how did you get put in the team you're with?"
"When everyone had retrieved a relic and returned to the starting point there was one group of three students that had returned. Miya Ebony, David Amethyst, and Nila Lynet. With them being the only group who needed a member I was put in their group, thus creating Team MDNT (Midnight) and also leading to why they're not particularly fond of me."
"With just you being put in a team with them?"
"Originally, they were wanting someone else on their team, but by the time the three found one another the other person had already found a partner and was on a different team. So from the start, they did not want me on the team."
"That doesn't give them the right to treat you so horrible."
"No, but there's a reason why I say it's my fault."
Blake doesn't say anything, just awaits for his reasoning. Thomas sighs, then looks over to Blake.
"Ever since my father past I've become distanced from everyone, keeping my thoughts and emotions to myself and never really talking unless asked. When I was taking care of my mother I realized that she wasn't the only that had fallen into depression, but I did as well. I've been trying to recover from it," Thomas stared at the ground. "it just hasn't been easy."
He looked back to Blake.
"When we first started, we tried to work as a team. But as time went on I just pushed them away, causing a rift between them and I. So with that, along with them not wanting me on the team, they ultimately have treated me like dirt. And honestly, I don't blame them."
"But that's not what your team should be doing to you!" Blake almost yelling at Thomas.
"Your team should be there to support you, help build you up, and be there when you need them. Not to tear you down just because they didn't want you on there team."
"Would you want a teammate that pushed you away? Even if you're trying to help?" Thomas asked.
"I..." Blake had to stop.
Blake remembered the end of first semester. When she'd ran from Ruby, Yang and Weiss when they found out the she was a Faunus. She'd pushed them away when they tried to help her.
"I would still want them to be on the team. I'd be there for them anytime that they would need me."
"Thomas, from what you've been through you don't deserve to be treated the way that you are. You need people who are going to support you and be there for when you need them the most, not to tear you down and treat you like dirt. If you are still dealing with depression, you need someone to talk too. And if you team is not going to help you with that, then you can come to Team RWBY and I, we'll be there for you."
Thomas was taken back from this. He realized he'd told his entire life, from when he was born, to his father's death, the guilt and depression he felt, and how his team treated him. All to Blake, who he'd just met today, and she was willing to help him. He was honestly happy there was someone who cared about what he was going through, his only question is.......why?
"Wow, Blake. I don't know what to say. I thank you for the offer, I really do. Actually, you're the first person I've met that cared about how I felt and what I've been through. But I have to ask a question. Why?"
"I've seen you around Beacon by yourself at all times, not with your team or any other students. After our match today I thought it would be the best chance to find out why. That's why I was looking for you. And after hearing the reason why, I feel the need to help."
Blake looked away from Thomas.
"I know the feeling of not having anyone to talk too, feeling abandon and all alone. Being treated like you're nothing and told you are nothing. Most of my life was like that."
"How come?" Thomas asked.
"Because I'm...." Blake paused.
She remembered that Thomas doesn't know she is a Faunus. She's not sure if she should tell him it or not, and is afraid of how he will react if she does. "If I want to help him, then I need to tell him. He trust me to tell everything about him, I should trust him by doing the same." Blake though.
She sighed and looks up to Thomas.
"Because I'm..." Blake pulls off her bow. "a Faunus."
Thomas looked to the top of her head to see the two cat ears that were hidden beneath the bow. His eyes widen when he saw them as he was not expecting that.
"Oh," he said while still looking at them. "I guess that explains how."
Thomas moved his eyes back to her's.
"And that also explains why you wear the bow. To get away from all of that?"
"Ye...yeah." Blake said looking away from him. She was starting to think it was a bad idea to tell him. Her face was show more of fear and worry, so much so that Thomas was able to see this.
"Blake," he place a hand on Blake's shoulder. "if you're worried I'm going to hate you, don't be. I'm not that kind of person."
Blake look back to Thomas, most of the fear was gone, but there was still some worry.
"What you've done for me today, coming up here, talking to me, listening to my story, offering to help me, is not changed by the fact that you're a Faunus. You're a great person Blake, with amazing personality and care for others. And showing me that you're a Faunus means you have a lot of trust in me, I want to tell you thank you for having trust in me and that I have the same amount of trust in you. I don't judge people on what they are, but on what they've done. You've done a lot for me Blake, and I thank you for it."
A smile grew on Blake's face as all the fear and worry had left her and replaced with joy and relief. She stared at Thomas, happy that he saw her as a person and not just a Faunus, and not having to worry about this anymore.
"All of my life I've dealt with discrimination towards Faunus, whether at me or another, it's been in my life." Blake looked down at the bow in her hand. "I wear this bow so that I don't have to worry about it following me here to Beacon and that people will see me as who I am, not what I am." She looked back at Thomas. "When I took off my bow and showed you I was a Faunus you didn't see me as 'Blake the Faunus', but still saw me as 'Blake Belladonna'. And for that, I can't thank you enough."
"You're very welcome. I just hope people will learn that Faunus are people too. You have blood flow through your veins and also emotions in your heart just like we do. A tail or an extra pair of ears does not make you any different than us, so you shouldn't be treated worse than us."
Blake nodded feeling the same.
The two looked over Beacon Academy, viewing all of lights that cover Beacon and Vale along with the stars in the night sky. Blake felt a vibration in her pocket, she reached in and pulled out her scroll. She had received a message from Yang reading "Hey, it's getting late. You coming back soon?" Blake looked at time on her scroll, it was 11:50pm. She didn't realized how much time had past since talking with Thomas. "Yeah, on my way." Blake replied. She put her scroll back in her pocket and stand up, causing Thomas to look at her.
"You leaving?"
"Yeah, it's 11:50 right now and I would been in bed already by 11:30, so I'm going to head to my dorm." Blake said, tying the bow back on her head.
"Well," Thomas stand up next to Blake. "Thank you Blake for coming up here and spending the rest of your day with me. It was great talking to you, it helped me realize somethings that I didn't know about myself."
"It was great talking to you too. And I'm glad I was able to help." Blake turned towards the door."Are you leaving too?"
"Nah, I'm going to stay up here and enjoy the night sky a little bit longer ."
"Oh," Blake said, little bit sadden. "okay then, I will see you later. Goodnight Thomas."
"Goodnight Blake." Thomas said, returning to his seat.
Blake walked to the door and as she reached it, Thomas turned to look at her.
"Hey, Blake?" Thomas said.
"Yes?" Blake turned to Thomas.
"Is it alright if I hang out with you during lunch tomorrow?"
"Sure, if you don't mind hanging with Team RWBY and Team JNPR as well."
"Not at all."
"Great, then I'll see you at lunch."
"Awesome, night Blake."
"Goodnight Thomas."
Thomas turned back to the night sky and Blake proceeded to her dorm, both with smiles on their faces.