RWBY: Black Cat

Chapter Eight

A few weeks earlier...

When Blake woke up the next morning, she was incredibly cold. Leif was still there, awake, gazing at her. Blake sat up, wincing at how stiff she felt.

"What time is it?"

"Nearly noon."

"What?! I told you to wake me!"

Leif shrugged. "You looked like you needed the rest."

"Don't you?"

"No. I don't sleep."

Blake frowned. "Don't sleep?" she echoed. "Is that your semblance or something?"

"You've seen my semblance," he responded, flicking his tail, stirring the red leaves that carpeted the forest floor.

"Is it obvious?"

"Yep."

The Cat Faunus paused. "It's your speed, isn't it?"

Leif nodded. Blake sighed. "That doesn't explain why you don't sleep."

"I just don't."

The huntress bit her tongue. "If you say so..."

The Cheetah Faunus stood up, stretching. He looked tired, the liar. Exhausted, actually. She rolled her eyes, relatively sure she wasn't going to get anything else out of him on that subject. "What now?"

"I don't know. I suppose you intend to go back to Beacon."

Blake nodded. "The others will be worried sick."

"Understandably."

Blake looked up in surprise. Leif's voice was shorter, sharper when he said that. His tail lashed and his eyes were in slits, furious. Blake gazed evenly at him for a moment. "What happened in the Faunus Rights revolution then?"

"Hm?" Lied looked back at her, his expression shifting back to being light and carefree. Strange guy.

"You said you and Adam fought together."

"Ha," Leif let out a short quiet laugh. "We go back much further than that." There was a long pause before he went on. Blake sat patiently.

"We were in a team together. Team ANGL. We still argue over whether it's Angel or Angle. I was all for Angel. Neo wanted that too, but Adam and Glynda went for angle, and Adam was the team leader, so he had the final say in most things. We weren't that democratic." Then his eyes brightened a little. "Does Glynda Goodwitch still teach at Beacon?"

"Yes," she said slowly, wondering where Leif was going with this.

"She was my partner."

"What?! No!"

"Yes, really!"

"But..." Blake trailed off, lost for words. Adam and Glynda would be about the same, but Leif was a little younger. She shook her head, bewildered. "Glynda Goodwitch was your partner?"

"Yes. Though we weren't the best match, she had a sense of humour back then. Kind of reminds me of Weiss."

Blake narrowed her eyes. He shouldn't know the first thing about Weiss. "Stalker."

"Yeah, sorry..."

Blake sighed. He was just following her because he thought she needed protecting, after all. She decided not to jump to any conclusions about that, since she had no clue what he was wanting to protect her from. "So this Neo figure was Adam's partner?"

"Yes, Neapolitan. She was an interesting character, but she left right after graduation. She never said why. Then again, it's not hard to guess." He bit his lip, thinking. "We went through the same year as Ruby's parents and uncle. And..." He trailed off. "Actually, I won't tell you that. But they were on a team with a girl called Raven. She and Adam were rivals. They had a very similar fighting style, colour scheme, everyone though they were related. They pretended to be, sometimes. Had Ozpin fooled for years."