Tonic Chemistry (Blake Belladonna x Male Reader) Rewrite

Chapter 20: What I Feel

(Y/N) POV

With the schedule finally free of interruptions, I decided to make for home and enjoy a much-needed rest after the bird chase around Vale. Having flicked the switch on the rotting walls, I was met with several eyes wearing various masks scattered throughout the room. My first instinct was to draw my weapon upon my unsuspecting guests however a single word from them was enough to keep me from covering the walls red.

Iota: "Stop."

(Y/N): "For goodness sake..." I laid my hand off my weapon. "You could have given me a heads-up beforehand."

Iota: "You should have this place secure down to the wire. Otherwise, someone like Ironwood shouldn't be able to find you. Speaking of which, a few Atlas soldiers are observing us from across the street."

(Y/N): "Right now?!"

Iota: "Relax. We wouldn't be here if that were the case, idiot."

(Y/N): "Don't tell me you..."

Iota: "Dinner as of now. I had the one remaining on an emergency phone call. Disconnection with his mother's life support does wonders. We've got twenty minutes with their cameras on loop thanks to you taking your sweet time coming here." Her words lifted the stress weighing on me, with my eyes now exploring the many bodies turned at me completely motionless.

There were five of them including Iota who wore the same black mask made of polygons. The others were unique and fit their personalities. Starting from the left was a welder's mask with a skull image etched into it with the reflective rectangle window of the mask making up for the eyes of the skull. The one sitting next to him wore a white half-mask that curved outwards like a beak and wearing black round goggles. The one standing in the middle looked to have a plain white face smiling mask with simple red eyebrow smears and a gapping red smile the eye holes looked to be oozing a black red down to its cheeks. Finally, directly to my right next to Iota, I heard a chuckle from the man wearing the ghostly skull mask covered in fresh and dried leaves stuck together with mud and two branches sticking out that appeared to be in the shape of antlers

(Y/N): "Didn't think you guys would be so ominous. Let's see now... Iota, Eta, Phi... Beta and Delta? Didn't think I would see you two here. Guess your vacation days are spent?"

Delta: "Sure the faunus of Vacuo knew how to party, but this was a rave that needed me." I shot him a playful smile seeing about half of us in a rare reunion in a trash heap, bringing back fond memories of simpler times.

The more I thought about it, the memories flickered to Ironwood and the falseness of his faith in my trust stung. His disdain for us remains to cut deep, but it won't make me bleed for him anymore when it is my turn.

Iota: "You know what the White Fang are cooking up?"

(Y/N): "More or less. You must be a combination of blind, deaf, or dumb if you don't know what is going on when working with them. The question is what is their main goal?"

Iota: "I'll tell you. The moment it reaches the Vytal Festival's finals brackets, all hell breaks loose."

Beta: "A slaughter is beyond the horizon. No thanks to Mal's skills in helping them infiltrate and rig their matches on a child's plaything."

(Y/N): "We play no part in this battle regardless."

Eta: "That doesn't mean we will sit around watching the city burn."

(Y/N): "Yeah, I kinda got that when you all showed up for an untimely reunion." My snarky comment irritated him, having crossed his arms and his gaze locked on me with a tilt. "I'm betting we will benefit from this chaos?"