A New Kitten Chapter 56

Chapter 56

Weiss was barely strong enough to stand, let alone walk all the way back home. All in all, she was still something between hammered and weary from having gone through so much. It was painfully awkward being carried back by Blake. All Weiss could think of was how much she would have loved it a matter of hours prior. But everything was different now. Even if she loved Blake- had loved? Loved actively? Brothers, Weiss didn’t have the energy to figure it out. 

What the woman could figure out however was that things were different, even more different than things had been Blake released her. No longer did she NEED to curl into Blake, to be called Kitten, to relinquish herself to it. No, now she was just back to craving those things and feeling horribly guilty for it. 

The first true revelation came when she thought about being called Kitten again. The chain of thoughts that followed. ‘She is carrying me like a damn cat! I’m not her Kitten! Not a Kitten at all! Oh fuck! Fuck! No! Don’t wanna get all flustered right when she is holding me like this! Wait? Why… why am I not-’ And that’s what it was. She wasn’t. No part of her was retaliating for the independent thoughts. Faunus now or not, she was no longer Blake’s Kitten nor a Kitten at all. That thought shouldn’t have hurt the way it did. She knew she couldn’t rely on Blake, that there was no trusting her, no more girlfriends, likely not even any more sex, cuddles or simply hugs. It may have been a lie, a facade, or a trick, but the warmth she had was gone. It was back to the cold, back to the lonesome, back to being alone. 

They didn’t stick together so much as a moment longer than they needed to after they returned home. Blake carried Weiss down to her old room and gave her extra blankets, but that was it. She didn’t even say or do anything to stop or try and convince Weiss not to try and hurt herself again or anything. She trusted that Weiss wouldn’t- be it due to guilt or because she simply had better options now. Beyond that, frankly, if Weiss wanted to do that… there was just about nothing Blake could really do to stop her. It was hard to accept that; excruciating really. But there weren’t many other options. So, Blake forced herself to process and accept it. 

The next morning, when Blake woke, her head ached something awful. It was certainly from how much she’d cried the night before… and maybe the lack of sleep too. That certainly didn’t help that it all meant she lost a good bit of sleep. Seeing as her night had been horrible, and it seemed she’d lost any real chance at the woman she loved, Blake resigned herself to sleeping in… well, she did until the sound of someone voraciously working on the living room computer got too incessant for her to get back to sleep. Weiss grumbled and huffed under her breath while she worked. Between the mechanical keyboard, her open door, and her second set of ears, Weiss’s work felt deafening… though, that may have mostly been because she felt a clawing need to figure out what exactly Weiss was doing.

It didn’t help that she desperately wanted nothing more than to pull Weiss back into bed and just snuggle with her until things were alright again. But nothing was right, and cuddles alone wouldn’t help that. Blake doubted there was much of anything that could help it. She still had yet to even really begin to process what she thought of Weiss now that she knew the truth. What else had Weiss signed off on? How could the soft woman she loved have signed off on… on that. If she somehow did, what other horrific bills had she just let pass? 

Blake tried and failed to allow herself to rest, to just block out the sound of Weiss working. She tried, and she failed. The taste of defeat lingering bitter in her mouth, Blake forced herself from bed and up to her feet. A groan and a growl left her lips as she fought to focus her mind. 

“Isn’t it a bit early?” Blake groaned. 

“I thought you wanted me working faster?” 

“I-” Blake’s heart sunk. “I never meant this fast, but I guess I can't blame you for wanting to get going as soon as possible. The sooner you finish… the sooner you leave I guess.” Blake wasn’t quite sure if she meant to sound sad or if that was how it came out, but it was the only thing she could think of. 

“Do… do you really want me sticking around all that long?” Weiss looked back at Blake with an angry glare. 

“Weiss… I haven't wanted you to be here against your will since the night you said I was just like Adam.” 

“Yeah… well.” Weiss sighed and turned back to the computer. 

“Well, yeah.” Blake mirrored with a pained sigh. “How is work going?” 

“I got his mines shut down for the week. He’ll bleed money and stock prices will tank… soften him up for the ultimate release.” 

“Brothers! How the hell’d you do that already Weiss?” 

Weiss paused and her rapidly clacking fingers steadied. “The faunus weren’t the only people he was fucking over; we were fucking over.” She corrected with a tone so weighted with shame Blake was shocked the weight hadn’t broken Weiss’s back years prior. “The majority of his mines had a high risk of leaking toxic chemicals. I just leaked the study that proved it when he refused to shut them down himself.” 

“You wanted him to shut them down himself? Wouldn’t that have been… kind of a temporary solution?”

“It would have meant no faunus die in his mines for a couple days, and it would have had his investors ready to mutiny him. This may hurt him more, but honestly, things would have been much better if he complied.” 

“Oh shit…” Blake’s jaw dropped. 

“On the bright side, now he knows we aren’t fucking around. So… that is a plus.” Weiss shrugged. 

“So, what’s next?” 

“Next, I threaten him to break two of his most important contracts or else I will publicly show how he is fucking those vendors.” 

“And… that helps because?” Blake winced. Had she really been this ignorant of how to actually manipulate the SDC? Could she really have been this inept? What would she do if Weiss wasn’t- wasn’t what? Amenable? No- Weiss hadn’t been that at first. Intelligent- sure she was, but that wasn’t much what this was. Sympathetic to the faunus plight? Well, Blake would have thought it was that yesterday, but that no longer seemed like it could actually be the answer. Weiss wasn’t who she thought, and it seemed Blake had no clue who Weiss really was. 

“It helps because… uugh, god.” Weiss rolled her eyes with a belabored sigh. “You know how the White Fang gets mad at you and could move to a vote of no confidence if they think you are making poor decisions with me?” 

Blake shifted uncomfortable. “I- well, I guess? Yeah.” 

“It’s the same thing! If I can force him to make poor decisions- well, poor business decisions… it will weaken his position. Then he’ll be desperate. So, when I offer him something to shoot stock prices back up, he’ll actually consider selling. Only issue is consolidating that offer with a compelling enough threat to make him release the faunus and emergency overturn the bills that made enslaving them so easy.” 

Blake gave the heiress a pained confused look. Had Weiss always been that smart? Had the Kitten been able to run mental circles around her this whole time?

“I make threats to prove credibility. Whether he abides by them or not, they lower stock prices. Rinse and repeat till the SDC is practically about to fail- or, at least show it’s first official quarterly loss in five decades.” Weiss paused just long enough to see Blake’s barely following look. “They start to lose money! I offer him a way out; a way to make all his money back, and demand it is only an option if he frees the faunus. If he sells out… and I make him burn enough ground on his way out, the SDC will never be able to rebuild this strong ever again. Half their business deals were founded faultily, and without the free labor…” Weiss sighed. “It’s dreaming to say it’s impossible to fall into again, but I can get your people freed for long enough to get them settled and safe.” 

“And you think this will really work?” 

“I do.” Weiss affirmed. 

“Then thank you.” Blake offered. 

“Don’t. I’m not doing this for you. It’s… I’m just trying to right what I can.” 

“Weiss-” 

“That’s it. Just atoning.” The heiress cut off cold and distant.

“Ok.” Blake allowed and tried to remind herself of what the heiress had done. Maybe that would help the feeling of her heart slowly constricting stop. 

“That’s it.” Weiss repeated. 

“I know, you said you were only atoning.” Blake fought to subdue any thoughts that maybe Weiss wanted things to go back to normal just as much as she did. 

“No, I mean, that’s all. That’s all I have planned.” 

“Oh- ok.” Blake’s cheeks burned shameful for allowing even the slightest blossom of hope. “I guess you have everything covered then.” 

“I do.” Weiss answered. 

“Ok.” Blake pushed herself up to her feet. “You want something for breakfast?” 

“Yeah! Umm, some oatmeal or yogurt would be really nice, the way you make it with the fruit and- I mean… I don’t care. I’m still mad at you- er I’m…” The visage of distance waived for just a hungry moment. A hint of the old relationship, untarnished shown through, for just a moment. The brief flash was all Blake had of living that different life from hours prior. A flash and it was gone again, just fast enough to twist the knife. 

“I’ll bring you some in a minute Weiss.” 

“Whatever.” Weiss huffed. 

“Yeah.” 

Five minutes later, and Blake stood with the bowl in her hand, watching as Weiss worked. She looked so different now. Determined. It was cute though terrifying. If she was this efficient with tearing apart her father’s company, what could she already have learned about the White fang? Not that Blake for a moment really thought Weiss would do that- her confidence was certainly shaken, but it was beyond anything she believed Weiss would ever so much as consider. It was interesting- or terrifying to think what Weiss could do if she put her mind to it though. 

“How is it?” 

“Same as ten minutes ago.” Weiss snarked.

“That makes sense.” Blake nodded. “So, how far along are you? How- how long till you try the carrot instead of the stick?” 

“That eager to get rid of me?” Weiss was all too fast to counter and… and was that a hint of pain in her voice, or was Blake’s hopeful mind just playing with her?

“I- no, I just-”

“It’s going fast. You can tell the rest of your White Fang cohorts that he’ll have freed the faunus within the week.” 

“A week!” Blake choked on air. 

“What? You want me out faster than that? I’m working as hard as I can here.”

“No- no, it’s just so fast. I-” 

“Well, it is what it is.” Weiss huffed. “It should be ready for me to pass it off to you by the end of the weekend. By then, SDC stocks should tank drastically the moment the markets open up. Then you can take it home and finish the negotiations. I presume you don’t want me negotiating the faunus’s freedom for you.” 

“S- sure.” Blake allowed and placed the yogurt in front of Weiss, all done up the way she used to for Kitten. 

“Thanks.” Weiss looked back with cold eyes before focusing on her work once more.

Blake’s eyes lingered on Weiss even after the heiress turned back around. Had she always been so… so… Blake couldn’t put a word to it. Still lost in trying to figure out how to describe Weiss’s beauty, a shimmer caught Blake. Was that- Weiss’s collar? She’d never taken it off! 

Blake’s heart fell into her stomach. She didn’t want to take it off for her. Blake wanted her Kitten back! She wanted to hold her tight and promise things would be ok. Fuck, she wanted to be told by Weiss that things would be alright! That it was all a lie and Weiss never made that vote. She wanted so many things, but Weiss deserved better than to be wearing an ex’s collar. 

Begrudgingly, Blake left to grab the key and returned a moment later. It took her a moment to build up the courage, but she stepped to right behind the working Weiss’s chair. With trembling hands, Blake reached out and pulled Weiss’s hair to the side. 

“What the hell are you doing!” Weiss snapped, her hands shooting up to her neck where fingers curled around the collar. “O- oh?” She traced her fingers around the sleek silver day collar. Gently, she pulled at it, tested the sensation against her neck as it pulled tight. 

“Your collar. I never took it off; I forgot it when I undid your-” 

“Hypnosis… It- it feels so different now without…” 

“I’m sorry… I… might have done something to have it relax you when you played with it.” 

Weiss sighed and pulled at it again. “It’s… different.” She repeated longingly. 

“I- I just explained why.” 

“I know, but… I just- it’s soo much and…” 

“Well, you don’t have to worry about it anymore. I’m taking it off for you now.” Blake found the spot where it could be removed. 

“You’re what?” 

“I’m taking it off.” Blake fit the key into the lock. 

“Wait! I! It’s! There- there’s no need- no point to take it off now! I- you’ll have to put it back on in a couple days anyways! My father will know something is up if he demands pictures to know your source of insider info is fine and headed back to Atlas. So! So don’t take it off! Not- not now!” 

“Are you sure?” Blake kept her response simple, conveniently leaving out that Jacques had yet to be sent a video or even picture. He would have no knowledge of this collar, yes the one before, but not this one. 

“Yeah… I’m sure.” Weiss pulled at her collar one more time. 

End of Chapter 56