King Kong: The Faunus and the Beast

Chapter IV

Blake wasn't alone anymore.

She and Sun had been dumped into a room together. She supposed it was better than being alone, and the fact they weren't keeping them separate from each other gave her a good feeling. Sun was pacing impatiently, while Blake sat in a corner, waiting for someone to open the door.

"We saved their lives," Sun said, "and they throw us in here."

"They didn't separate us," Blake said, trying to remain hopeful for once in her life. "That could be a good sign."

"I guess," Sun said.

Blake leaned against the wall. "There's no getting out of this now. They know we're here. If we hide, they'll be looking everywhere for us."

"Yeah, I know," Sun said.

"If, by some miracle, they don't throw us overboard," Blake said, "we stick with the crew. We'll find a way to stop them."

Sun stared. "You know, it'd probably be easier to stop them if you hadn't said all that nonsense over there."

Blake glared at him.

"Why did you do that, anyway, Blake?" he said. "You didn't talk to me for two days. Why did you speak up back there?"

At that question, Blake shifted her gaze away from him. This was not a topic of conversation she wanted to discuss. The island came back into her mind, and she felt a cold chill run down her spine as it came to her.

Sun noticed a sudden change in attitude. The moment he'd asked that question, Blake had turned away from him, and her legs were starting to curl up. In the few days he had known her, he had never seen her like this. She was always appeared so tough and unbreakable, but now she looked meek and powerless.

Before he could question her any further, the door behind him opened, and Roman Torchwick walked in.

"Do you know how hard it was to convince them?" he said.

Blake instantly shifted out of her strange behavior. She uncurled her legs, and sent a cold stare towards Torchwick.

"Convince them of what?" she asked.

"They really don't like you two," Roman said. "Especially you, Kitty."

Blake's amber glare deepened at the nickname, but Torchwick was unfazed.

"I won't bore you with the details," he said. "Bottom line, thank you for saving us. You are now official members of the crew."

Sun turned to Blake and waited for her response. She seemed to be the boss here. He was just following her.

"I'm thrilled," Blake said in a monotone voice.

"Of course, there are some rules you'll have to follow," Roman said.

"That being?" Blake said.

"Don't try to fight back," Roman said. "We'll stop you very quickly."

Both Blake and Sun doubted that, but they waited for him to continue.

"You cannot have your weapons," Torchwick continued. "We'll hold onto them for you. Just to make sure you don't fight back, you're going to need these."

He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a collar. Sun gulped when he saw it. It was a collar that was designed to deactivate someone's Aura. Again, he looked at Blake. She seemed uneasy about this as well. But, she sighed, and stood up.

"Fine," she said.

Torchwick smiled. "See? I told them you could cooperate."

He approached her with the collar, clamped it around her neck, and locked it shut. As soon as it was locked, the collar turned on, and she could instantly feel her Aura drain away. She gasped, and felt it with one hand. It felt so strange.

Torchwick pulled out another collar, and did the same with Sun. He had a similar reaction to Blake, and she could physically see his Aura draining.

"Good," Torchwick said. "Now, come with me. I'll show you your cabin."

He started walking out of the room. Blake and Sun looked at each other, one hand on their collar. They knew there was no turning back now. They walked out of the room, and started following Roman.

"I thought all the cabins were taken," Sun said.

"Close," Roman said. "All but one."

Roman led them through the corridors inside the ship. The walk went on for a while, and Sun was starting to wonder if he would get lost. Blake wasn't concerned about that at all. Her thoughts were focused entirely on how she would defend herself without an Aura. She could still fight, of course. But without an Aura, she had nothing to protect her body from harder hits. Not to mention, she still had to take on multiple people who still had their Aura. This was not going to be easy.

Finally, Roman came to a stop at a door. He pulled out a scroll, and held it up to a panel beside the door. The panel lit up, and they heard the door unlock. Torchwick opened the door, and held it open for them.

"Welcome to your new home," he said.

Blake and Sun peered past him into the room. It was spacious enough for the two of them. There was only one bed. Blake blushed at the realization. Luckily, there was a couch. She could just sleep there.

She moved inside first, looked around for anything that might seem off. If this was some kind of trap, it would be quite the odd one, but she couldn't be too careful. Sun walked in shortly afterwards. Torchwick reached into his pocket, and pulled out their scrolls.

"We assigned your scrolls to this room," he said.

Blake snatched them from his hand. She quickly identified which scroll belonged to who, and handed Sun's scroll to him.

"Now, remember," Torchwick said, "the people here are never this forgiving. You should be grateful for this."

Blake stared at him silently. But her staring had no affect on him. He just smirked, and closed the door.

"Well," Sun said, sitting down on the bed, "I guess this is better than sleeping in a lifeboat."

Blake put a hand on the collar at her neck. "We've got to find a way to get these things off."

Sun gripped at his own, and tried to pull it off. "Hate this thing. It feels so . . ."

"Yeah, I know," Blake cut him off. "I've seen these things before. I've never taken one off, but I know how they work. We can find a way to get them off."

"And if they kill us before we do?"

"We'll just have to do what we can to keep that from happening," Blake said.

Sun lay back on the bed, while Blake made her way to the couch to sit down. She looked at the television, which was turned off. She had no intention of turning it on. She didn't watch many movies. But she could see her reflection on the screen. The collar was partially hidden underneath her scarf, which at least made her feel less feeble, but it didn't change how restrictive it felt. She figured she'd get used to this feeling over time, but she could not wait until she could get it off and feel the freedom on her neck. Heck, she'd take off her scarf just to feel the breeze.

This was going to be a long journey . . .