Chapter 37: Hear our voice
After last night encounter, things have been difficult for me. I rarely had any privacy now, since I would find either Blake, Ilia, or Sienna close to me.
When I went to sleep last night, the three girls and slept next to me. All of them wrapping their arms around me, I could barely breath.
And now, as I prepared to get ready for the protest, the three of them were breathing down my neck, making sure I was prepared.
Ilia was to my left, handing me some dust vials for later. Sienna was behind me with a large armor chest plate, that was custome made for my size.
And Blake was to my left, wrapping her arms around me tightly, afraid I'll disappeared if she let go.
"Blake, let go, I need to put this armor on him." Blake only shook her head, and squeezed tight, just enough for me to feel my arm going numb.
"No, I will stay by his side, even if he goes to the bathroom!" This was something I didn't accept and began to pry her off.
Seeing what I was doing, both Ilia and Sienna began to help me pull Blake away from me. However, she didn't give in so easily.
Her nails began to dig into my skin, drawing a small amount of blood. I only stared at her with wide eyes, seeing her able to do this, I was scared on a whole knew level.
'Is she a Yandere?!' I panicked at the thought, but she didn't show any signs of being one.
After a few more minutes, I was free from Blake's grasp. Blake only limped and was sad, she even looked at Sienna with puppy eyes to let her go, but Sienna stood firm.
"If we want Aiko to be safe, he needs to have this on." She then showed the armor I was going to wear, it was a thin layer with paddings on the chest and back.
Seeing the armor, Blake sighed and nodded her head. Sienna then began to place the armor on me, making sure that the straps were secured tight.
She even pulled hard in order to have the armor grip onto my body, which was not fun to feel.
The air I had in my lungs left, and I felt my chest getting tighter. Seeingmem struggle, Ilia spoke up.
"Umm, Sienna, he's turning purple." Seeing this, Sienna loosened the straps, letting the air flow more freely.
"Sorry, I just want you to be prepared." She said with an apologetic look.
"It's fine, I've been kidnapped twice, I've suffered from a gun shot wound, nothing can go wrong today." I said, but this made Blake snap her neck towards me.
"You've jinxed us, Aiko, you never say those words!" She panicked, but all it took was a head chop with my hand to calm her down.
"Blake, calm down, nothing will go wrong." I reassured her, but she still looked nervous.
"F-fine, just don't blame me when things go wrong." She said and began to prepare for the protest.
After we had collected the things we needed, we began to make our way to the bullhead that was supposed to take us to the nearest dock.
As we were about to board, we all heard Elm coming towards us. I turned to see what she wanted, but I was picked up and put in a bone crushing hug.
"I don't want you to leave yet, you're so fun to hang out with!" She cried, but I only patted her back.
"It's okay, don't think of it as a goodbye, think of it as a see you later." I said with difficulty, but this caused her to hug me tighter.
"That doesn't make it better!" She wailed, and tears began to spill from her eyes. I was soon released from her grasp, thanks to Harriet.
As we boarded the bullhead, Sienna began to do one last check on the armor I wore. Once she finished, she nodded her head and pulled out her scroll.
"Gather around you three, here's how it's going to work." She then placed the scroll in front of us, and a small hologram appeared.
"We'll be joining other Faunus to protest down in mantle, there'll be some people who will try to harm us, so I asked the leader of mantle to protect you guys." A figure of a woman who looked in her early to mid twenties appeared.
Her hair was light blond, and it was tied into a bun. Her eyes were violet and she had a small mole underneath her right eye.
"This is Robyn hill, a former Atlas graduate. She now lives in Mantle, trying to help the people whenever she can." She then turned off the Scroll and began to look at the three of us.
"She has her own group called the happy huntresses, but we womt be seeing them, since it'll just be her." We all nodded our heads at her concern, but before we could ask anything, we landed.
After getting off, there was a small car waiting for us. The driver, who was a Faunus, waved at us to catch our attention.
"Welcome to Mantle, it's an honor to meet you." The driver said with a smile, he tried to open the door for us, but I just raised my hand.
"Please, we don't want to burden you, you look tired." I told the Faunus, they had bags under their eyes, and they looked exhausted.
"I-it's fine, I've already got a three day vacation for the month." He said with a smile, I could only frown at what they said.
A three day vacation isn't so bad, but at least give them a week off. It's what they earned for working non-stop in dangerous mines that could cause a massive chain reaction, killing innocent Faunus, and not so innocent humans.
It's only fair.
I smiled and opened the door, letting the girls inside. While I faced the woman and patted her hand.
"Just focus on driving, and please, go home and rest." Hearing me say that, the person could only smile weakly, but nodded their heads.
Once I entered the car and sat down, the car began to move. Making its way to the location of the protest, Blake quickly sat next to me, hugging me tight.
"So, what can we expect when we arrive at the protest?" I asked, Sienna just shrugged and kept silent.
Seeing her not reply, I began to grow paranoid. Not enough to make me panic, but more of a, better safe then sorry.
I only cracked the window slightly, enough for my summons to slip out and run around the city.
"Aiko, did you send your family out?" I looked at Blake, who noticed my family slipping away.
"Doesn't hurt to be safe." I said, Blake only lowered her head and sighed, leaning her head against my shoulder.
After a while, we soon arrived at the location to where the protest was at. Waiting for us, was Robyn herself.
She wore a sleeveless trench coat with a long grey sleeve shirt underneath. Her shoes were heavy duty, with non-slip soles.
"So, you four are the people I was told about." She said, and soon knelt down in front of Blake and me.
"Nice to meet you, my names Robyn." She held out her hand for a handshake, and I obliged.
"Nice to meet you, this is Blake, and I'm Aiko." I motioned to Blake, who was behind me. She was nervous, but soon stuck out her hand as well.
"Nice to meet you two." She then stood up and stood to the side, motioning us to head towards the location.
Once arriving, we saw multiple Faunus waiting, all with signs in their hands. I was starting to get nervous at the sight, since there was a lot of them.
Once we arrived, multiple Faunus began to great us with smiles. I greeted them back, while Blake only said hello quietly.
I then grabbed a sign that had the words, equality for everyone, while Blake held a sign she made that said, we want pizza, instead of peace.
I only chuckled at her sign, and I soon stood in front of the crowd. They all looked at me with excitement, and calmed down.
"What do we want?!" I shouted.
"Equality!"
"When do we want it?!"
"Now!" As we began to protest through the city of Mantle, multiple people, mostly humans, told us to stop, that it wasn't worth it.
But we kept ignoring them, we kept chanting through the entire day, until some Atlas solders arrived.
"This is an illegal gathering, disperse or we will use force!" We didnt move at first, but they soon raised their weapons to fire at us.
Some took a step back, but didn't move. Blake hid behind me, while I held my arm in front of her.
"Ready!" The men stood in front, ready to take the blows, pushing the women and children back.
"Aim!" We all began to close our eyes, ready to feel the bullets penetrate our skins.
"Fi-!" The commander was then cut off from his scroll ringing, causing everyone to look at him.
Some even raised their brows giving him a look that only said, 'really?'
The commander then answered, moving away from us to stay quiet. He sounded calm at first, but then looked at us specifically.
"Sir, are you sure?...but....no no....yes sir, right away." He then hung up, turning to the solders.
He muttered something quietly, causing one of the solders to lean in.
"What was that, sir?" The commander muttered something still, but was a bit louder. The solder was about to ask again, but was met with screaming.
"Fall back!" Hearing this the solders, and Faunus, looked at him with shock.
"B-but sir-." The solder was cut off by a glare from the commander, who had a vein sticking out.
"Did you not hear me?!" Every solder flinched, and saluted, falling back and leaving us alone.
Most of us were releaved that they left, but were confused on why. I then felt a vibration on my scroll, pulling it out, I saw a message from Harriet.
[You owe me.] I only smiled and began to start the chant once again, making the others follow.
(A/N) Hey hey, sorry for not uploading on time, I recently got sick, and still am, so I'll be taking a few days off to get better.
So send power stones, or I'll right an entire chapter about puns.
Peace