[Bianca Sabbato]

I woke up. Surprisingly, I could sleep after I managed to calm down a couple hours ago. Waking up in a cell... It wasn’t something I missed.

Morosely, I sat on my hard, thin mattress. And looked at the plain white walls around me. I didn’t know if they were simple walls or some kind of reinforced material.

I couldn’t feel the connection with them. So those must have been made of something else besides stone. Makes sense. You would want a material able to contain someone suspected of...

Ah... Yes... Murder.

It happened yesterday in the morning. I had just woken up, Berwyn was still asleep in the other bed. I went to wash my face and was still in my sleeping garments, nothing but my underwear and an overly large t-shirt.

I heard three loud knocks on the door. Loud enough to wake up my roommate. I told the visitors I would be presentable soon. And scrambled to put on my tunic in a second. The knocks resumed, along with an order to open up immediately.

They said they were the police. And this gave me pause. I thought that maybe they need my help with something. Or maybe, something happened in school? Hastily, I reached for the door.

On the other side, several police officers awaited me. One of them was holding handcuffs. And all were visibly armed.

On the edge of my vision, I could see a strange figure. It was a tall man with colorful clothes and multiple weapons on sight and not the weaponry a police officer would use. The man was a huntsman. This much was clear.

He had his arms crossed and was eyeing me warily from behind the officers. He tried to take a neutral expression, but I could read body language well, and I knew when a person was just ready to pounce at any second.

At this point, Berwyn was now fully awake and likely hurrying to get dressed. With my hand still on the door handle. I asked what had happened...

And they told me I was under arrest. Instinctively, I gave a step back. Some of the police officers did so as well. Only the huntsman stepped forward, looking much more ready to jump into action than before.

He asked me if I was going to resist. Wordlessly, I shook my head from side to side and offered my hands to them. One of the officers came and turned me around, handcuffing my hands on my back, while the others stood in a loose formation all around me.

I didn’t complain, nor did I resist in the least. But I still asked under what charges they were taking me in...

I wasn’t ready for the answer. It made my stomach twist, and my face grew pale. But I didn’t protest further. I just followed, head hanging low, towards my cell. I just... Wasn’t in a mindset to be asking any questions.

Back to the present, a small noise outside my cell snapped me back to reality.

Food came through a slit in the door. Surprisingly, not as bad as movies made it to be. It was not gourmet food, nor something of the quality Haven served us. But it was decent. Better than scrambling for rotten bread in a garbage bin, at least.

Yes, this wasn’t so bad. You could grow used to this. I certainly could, even if Haven had spoiled me these last few months...

I wondered if I would need to grow used to this again. As I humorlessly dipped my plastic fork into my mash potato and gravy breakfast, asking myself how did this even happen in the first place.

I didn’t understand why this was happening now, I had been as transparent as someone could be with the court. There was nothing I had done that they didn’t know about... Were they dissatisfied with my progress? It couldn’t be... I had already been trialed... Were they going back on it?

I put the fork aside. I wasn’t really hungry. So I just remained there, sat on my bed, looking at the bare wall in front of me. Without much else to do, I started thinking back on these eight months. And the value they had. What I had accomplished. And what it amounted to in the end.

Well. I think I saved at least a handful of people. Right? There were the ones I freed from the slavers... That was actually the thing I felt most proud of... I know that objectively we probably saved more people by killing Solomon. But, it was simply not the same.

I could have been in any other place, and it would have been the same. Argent would have most likely taken care of it himself.

But if not for me in that camp, who would have been left to save those persons? Raul Adalwulf? I knew I wasn’t the perfect model of a huntress... But I wasn’t that bad...

Well... At least Raul hadn’t gotten himself jailed for homicide... So I guess that is debatable as well.

I mean... I wasn't perfect. Far from it, I had more problems than what I can even count. But at least I was trying. Right? I don’t know if it’s any good or not, but I was giving it my best...

And then this happened... I just... Why?... I was living my best possible life. Why would I kill an innocent person? Why would someone want to make it look like it was me?

…

Did... Did anyone believe it was me...?

I wouldn’t blame them if they didn’t trust me...

I had been a liar. And a criminal, and a useless bitch...

I hated this... I was tired.

Why did I even want to get out of here? So I could keep fighting, keep training until my bones ached, and still feeling like shit at the end of the day? For what?

So I could kill that white-haired bitch? And what would I gain from it? That wouldn’t bring Holly back... It’s just... It was probably just something I wanted to do so I wouldn’t feel so helpless... So I felt like there was at least something I could do to fix things...

Huh... I wanted to kill someone only to feel a little better with myself. Am I really this pathetic? I believe myself to be too much of a tough bitch to simply cry things out like a normal person? To just... Forget it and move along once and for all...

But I couldn't do that. I didn't have the privilege of pretending things never happened. And that was all on me.

Things... They cannot be fixed anymore. You cannot make someone who went away return to you. I couldn’t make my parents come back. I couldn’t make the people in the gang come back, I couldn’t make Garrik...

Shit. I have to admit, it wasn’t a very promising perspective, that I always had utterly failed at fixing stuff.

And I was still feeling helpless. And I would probably still do even if I killed the woman. I still thought she was dangerous and probably needed to be stopped, kind of like how you acknowledge a force of nature can be dangerous... But she was not really important, wasn't she? She’s not the one with the problem here...

It was always useless... Nothing I have done was ever enough. If anything, it only worked against me in the end. I mean... Look at me now... I must have seriously pissed off someone for them to just decide to do this.

Maybe they are right... Maybe, I deserve to be here. Maybe, I deserve to be alone, and a lot more than that.

I heard steps coming in my direction. Someone approached.

I lifted my head, slowly, to welcome the new arrival. It was Berwyn. Great. I super wanted her to see me in this condition...

-...Hi...-

---

1331 / 1331 Words

[Berwyn Rhodes]

Some mornings simply sucked more than others by a wide margin.

On a scale from 1 being slightly annoying and 10 being a straight up clusterfuck of garbage fires, the morning in which the police knocked heavily on the door to our room to arrest Bianca was so far up that scale that Berwyn wanted to use triple digits.

Bianca was not as quiet or graceful as she thought in the morning. It wasn’t that she didn’t try, but whenever the Faunus got out of bed in the morning it waked the giantess up around 4/5 of the time. There was a chance Berwyn’s biological rhythm had just gotten used to her roommate’s morning ritual.

…it was Berwyn’s personal ritual to simply listen to Bianca do her things…

Maybe it was creepy saying it out loud, but Berwyn liked to hear Bianca go about the room trying to be silent in an attempt to let the giantess catch a few more minutes of sleep. It showed that she cared. That she wanted to let Berwyn sleep soundly. Even if it was just for a few moments, it was…homely and pleasant. At least in the mind of the large woman.

What wasn’t homely and pleasant were the loud knocks on the door.

Berwyn was awake when the knocks started, and was quite annoyed by it at first. Who was rude enough to interfere in their morning rituals?

The police, apparently.
When it became clear that the police were at their door, Berwyn suspected trouble. She threw on a large T-Shirt and sweatpants when Bianca opened the door. She suspected that they were here for what happened during the holidays. That or someone died.

When the larger woman peeked at the door and saw a Huntsman together with the police, Berwyn could piece enough of what happening together to know that they were her to arrest someone.

And while she wanted to believe it was for herself, the thought hadn’t really crossed her mind.

They were here for Bianca.

Berwyn was asked by one of the police officers to stay at the far end of the room while all of this was going on. While the main focus was about Bianca resisting, there was another super powered woman in the room who could interfere. The man who addressed her was half Berwyn’s weight. Quite scrawny. Even without aura, she could easily knock him out. Then again, the huntsman was going to be trouble, and the faculty as well…

That thought appeared briefly in the giantess’ mind. To resist and get Bianca out of here.

The idea would have been expelled out of her head moments later when Berwyn heard the charges as well. It would also have been ruled as impossible if the giantess had just thought about it for one moment more, but hearing the crime was more than enough to halt the woman in her tracks.

All what Berwyn asked to police was which station or jail they would bring Bianca when she was in custody. She was given the address.

And then Berwyn went to work.

From what she could gather from what Mrs. Long told her, Bianca was connected to a murder committed on the day the toys attacked. She shook her head and said something about it not making too much sense for Bianca of all people doing this and that she will probably be released soon enough.

That was not good enough.

Berwyn called the police station and said that she wanted to know more about the case, but the police wasn’t all that keen to divulge much more than she already knew. Ongoing investigation and all that.

She then asked if it was possible to give a statement.

The police officer seemed right awake at the moment, asking Berwyn if she was there when the crime was being committed.

Of course, she said no.

While it took some effort, Berwyn was allowed to give a statement the next day as she was around Bianca during the whole toy attack for a moment. She of course didn’t say that it was actually rather brief as Bianca was running all around the Ground District that day.

Getting into the right police station was already closer to her target.

Bianca was brought to the Cloud District. Berwyn dressed formal enough for the occasion, going in one of her ‘guy-sized’ suits. The actual statement-giving part of her trip didn’t take long as the officer who was taking the statement quite soon discovered that Berwyn didn’t had any new information. If it were up to that guy, they would have kicked Berwyn out of the station within the next couple of minutes.

Berwyn asked if she could talk to her friend.

She was reminded that dangerous jail inmates weren’t given visitation.

Berwyn had one last hope.

She asked if she could try to get a confession out of Bianca.

It took… a lot of convincing. Like… Berwyn gave the most passionate plea to do her civic duty that you have ever heard and even then, she most likely only got it because of the right alignment of the stars.

Either that or the police didn’t have enough concrete evidence and had nothing too loose.

The giantess was allowed to talk to Bianca for 15 minutes and see if she could get anything out of The Faunus. It was how they called her. ‘The Faunus’. She was thoroughly searched, and she needed to write her name on like…three separate forms, but she got what she wanted in the end.

Walking over towards Bianca’s cell. The door had a slid for food but also a larger shutter that could be opened. It was as close as Berwyn was going to get at the moment. Berwyn’s face was centred in the square, looking at her friend…eating mashed potatoes and saying her hello.

Being quite stunned with how…almost accepting of all of this she looked in that moment, Berwyn scratched her temple for a moment before getting out an “Hi to you too…”

…

You know… sometimes you just try to get to a certain point, and when you actually get there… you kind of hadn’t thought it through what you were actually going to say or do…

Pausing for a few awkward seconds, the giantess just said something to fill up the silence.

“So… is prison food really as bad as they say?”

She almost immediately let out a sigh after saying that stupid line, before she looked at Bianca more seriously now. After Bianca had given her reply about the food comment, Berwyn asked a more serious question. In truth, the primary question that mattered at this point.

“Why are you connected to that murder?”

---

1123 words

[Bianca Sabbato]

I saw the shutter open, and the face of Berwyn comically peek from the other side. The reinforced metal door serving as the last wall that didn’t let the giantess come closer. She seemed to be wearing one of her suits...

She looked really elegant and businesslike. To think that she would dress so well to come and see me, which was probably more than what I deserved anyway. But the gesture was... It was nice.

Meanwhile, I was still in the same clothes from yesterday, they had given me something different to wear if I wanted, but I didn’t feel like it at the moment. Now I was regretting not having cleaner garments...

But... What they offered me were prison clothes... And I didn’t want Berwyn to see me like that, even if it was just denying reality. I didn’t want that. I didn’t want to give her mind any more reminders, of what I was, if what I had done. She didn’t deserve it...

She returned my greetings, and after a couple moments of silence, she asked for the food of all things. It occurred to me that she must have been really nervous about this whole ordeal. Taking a deep breath, I looked at the food again, taking another tentative bite.

-It’s... Not so bad, you get used to it... Want to try?- I asked away, getting the tray with the spoon on it closer to the shutter. -I’m not so hungry anyway... So you can take it with you afterward...-

I said, and I smiled. But it was not a full smile, those are from the eyes as much as from the mouth. This one was merely a smile on my lips, while the rest of my face kept a rather droopy, my eyes remaining just a little out of focus even as I addressed Berwyn.

I could still notice how her semblance grew more sober and somber all of a sudden. And I was just about to ask something myself when she opened her mouth to give me her new question, I instantly understood why the change in demeanor.

I felt my heart sank for a second... Why was I connected? Why was she asking me this? Shouldn’t the police tell her that? I didn’t get it. But I got the implication. After all, there was only one way I could know how something that the police didn't...

Frowning in contemplation, a myriad of worthless ideas swarmed through my brain. Trying to look beyond the mere question. At what lay behind it, the reason it existed in the first place. Was Berwyn suspecting that I may know something I didn’t tell the officers? Did she believe that I was withholding information, perhaps to protect someone or something of the sort?

...Did she think... That I may have done it?

I felt shivers down my spine, but I suppressed them because of course, I would do so. And now I had just spent at least a full minute in absolute silence, not knowing what to do or what to say, or how to face everything that I was feeling at the moment.

But nevertheless, I smiled again. Giving Berwyn the same cheerless smile as I prepared to respond. I had been asked a question, after all.

-They found my name written on the crime scene... Besides a graffiti with the inscription “the white fang remembers” painted into a wall- I recalled as best as I could, the details were all explained in a haze, and I was not even paying too much attention, to begin with.

Yes, I know I should have been, considering it was something that could determine what ended up happening to me. But I just... It was all so confusing, and I didn’t have time to fully digest it all yet. After a small pause, I continued.

-The person was also someone I had interacted with... They showed me a video circulating on the web. It was a woman I helped early that night. One of the toys had set her clothes on fire, so I doused it with water, and gave my coat to her as I sent her home-

I began to wonder if Berwyn had been shown that. Probably not, as it was likely sensible evidence or something like that. So now I was wondering if my roommate was actually believing everything I was telling her. At least she was being nicer than the officers, less screaming, less demanding that I confessed something I had no clue about.

-So I guess my coat was also on the crime scene since it happens in her house as far as they told me... The video was also titled like I was attacking that person, but anyone with functioning eyes can tell that this is not true... Dunno what’s the deal with that-

And I honestly didn’t care. Probably someone who hated faunus and wanted to use the scene for their political bullshit. I was too busy with my own problems to care about something as menial as that... It was ridiculous, like my whole life was some sick play, with more and more horrible shit happening after the last one.

I wheezed a humorless laugh. Covering my forehead with one hand as my gaze rose from the ground and straight to Berwyn’s own eyes. As if asking for an explanation for all of this. Unable to understand why this had happened now.

-It’s just... So stupid... I don’t even know... My... My gang... My boss was a human, you know? Never, not even one of my crimes had anything to do with race... Never in my life has a faunus ever done anything good for me, quite the contrary... I have as many reasons to hate faunus as I do humans-

I finally confessed. Deflating a little as I was still wary of telling Berwyn about the past. I still wanted her to know as little as possible about it, even if it was selfish on my part, even if she deserved to know... I couldn’t... She was too important, maybe, for me to go into detail about it.

-But... Don’t worry- I said again. Calming myself a little, trying to give her a smile and a thumbs up that looked at least a little more sincere than the last ones. I dunno how successful I was with that.

-Besides. It’s not the first time I’m in a cell. It probably won’t be my last either- I distractedly commented. Catching myself just as I realized exactly what I had said. -I... Don’t know why I said that last part. Sorry-

And with that, another uncomfortable moment of silence spanned.

-Why are you here?- I suddenly blurted out, the question I had been meaning to ask her since the moment she arrived, probably what I needed to know the most, even more than if I would get out of this cell or not.

---

1161 / 2492

[Jay]

XP Distribution:

Bianca Sabbato: 25 XP
159 + 25 = 184 XP

Berwyn Rhodes: 11 XP
433 + 11 = 444 XP