I Broke Their Teeth (Ilia and Weiss)

Adam had fled. The Belladonna's White Fang stood victorious. The Mistral Police Force were actually thanking Ghira and Kali. I was so wrong about them…I can't believe I almost was responsible for murdering them.

"Hey, Chameleon girl," a friendly voice broke Ilia Amitola out of here own head. Of all people, it was Sun Wukong. Ilia looked up at him as he walked over to her bench.

After the battle, nobody knew what to do, so the spiky haired guy and Ghira were arranging to use the Haven Academy dormitories for housing everybody who had come from Menagerie. According to Kali, Blake had disappeared a short while ago, "the tall beautiful one-armed goddess took her for a walk," the elder cat Faunus told Ilia.

Everybody sort of ignored Ilia. Even after a couple weeks of drilling the 'Belladonna Army', nobody was quite comfortable around her. She was able to anticipate their numbers for an operation like the one here in Haven. She was able to predict where exactly they'd lay the charges, which was why the school was standing at all. If they didn't have Ilia Amitola on their side, they may have beaten Adam's skeleton crew, but they would've lost the battle for Haven in all the bombs.

It was quite possible Ilia was responsible for murdering people they may have known. It was a question that haunted Ilia, and always would.

"Ilia! You alright there?" Sun walked up and plopped down next to her. The sun just breaching above the mountains in the East.

"I'm alright," Ilia responded courteously. She wasn't sure how to treat Sun Wukong. A romantic rival? A former enemy? Friend? Ilia was still working on it.

"We got off on several wrong feet," the monkey Faunus admitted as he scratched his head.

"I shouldn't have hurt you like I did," Ilia apologized.

Sun shrugged, "It's alright, I thought you were just another White Fang asshole at first. I thought Blake was wasting her time trying to save your soul. " He chuckled a little as Ilia flinched. "But then you had that moment where you basically confessed your love for the girl, and it made a lot more sense."

Ilia thought for a moment and replied, "How did it make more sense? I hurt her."

Sun looked at the younger girl for a moment and in an uncharacteristically serious moment said, "From what I understand, she hurt you too when she left the White Fang without telling you what she was planning. She fawned over Taurus and gave you a cold shoulder towards the end of her allegiance with your old allies."

Ilia gave Sun a bewildered look, "Who cares about that? She fell in love with a monster, yeah, but we don't get to choose who we love, Sun. I was so wrong. I killed humans to make a point. I stood by while my hero was murdered in the name of our people. Just whose side are you on?"

Sun rolled his eyes. "Blake told me I should try to see things from your perspective, I suppose I'm not very good at playing devil's advocate."

"'Cause I'm the devil in this situation?" Ilia muttered resignedly.

"Well, yeah." Sun shrugged. He bumped Ilia's shoulder with his trying to cheer the younger girl up a little.

"Blake should've killed Adam," Ilia whispered. "He won't have the backing of the White Fang anymore, but he's a powerful fighter. He was completely caught by surprise, and she should've cleaved through his head with Gambol Shroud when she had the chance."

Before Sun could react to Ilia's sudden dark turn, another voice joined them, "You're right." They both turned to see a short girl with red-streaked black hair in a red cloak.

Sun got up and immediately hugged the newcomer, "Ruby!" Ruby smiled at the excitable old friend. It was only when he put her down did he remember with her agreement with the re-forming terrorist.

"What do you mean Ruby?" Sun asked cautiously.

"Blake should've killed that man," Ruby stated with certainty. Her voice was cold. Ilia decided she liked this new girl.

"So, why do you hate Adam?" Ilia asked the shorter girl.

"He tried to kill Blake, and then cut off my sister's arm when she saved Blake from him." Ruby stated with a cold edge in her voice that was totally foreign to Sun.

Ilia hadn't heard this story. Her blood turned cold. "What," she breathed. Sun tensed next to her. So it was deliberate she hadn't heard this story from him or Blake.

Her skin became far too pale. Sun was slightly worried, he'd never seen this shade from her. It was like…ice. Her eyes became blue.

"Hey, that's really cool." Ruby said, animosity nearly forgotten. "You look like my partner." Ilia's eyes flickered back to Ruby.

"I'm Ilia Amitola, Blake's old friend, though I doubt she'd have mentioned me." Ilia offered her hand.

"I'm Ruby Rose, I'm Blake's former…current team leader." She looked at Sun, question unasked.

"She's not gonna run again. She destroyed herself when she did that to Yang…and the rest of you," Sun assured Ruby as he rubbed his head. "Adam said something to her before Yang showed up…it made her believe the rest of your team, especially Yang would be safer if she was gone." He looked at Ilia with something approaching trepidation.

"What did he say?" Ilia's eyes seemed to get even more frosty.

"He looked at Ruby, who's silver eyes were boring into him as deeply as Ilia's were.

"Right before Yang showed up to save her, he said he'd 'destroy everything she loved, starting with Yang,'."

Ruby's intense expression gave way to misty eyes.

Ilia looked at Ruby curiously. "Why do you think Blake left your…team?"

Ruby considered for a moment before deciding on, "We weren't really sure. Personally, I don't even remember the last time I had a one-on-one personal conversations with her, actually. My partner and Blake had some issues when her involvement with the White Fang came into town, but they've long since passed whatever problem there was initially. My partner and I believed that Blake would come back when Blake was ready. Yang…"

Ruby trailed off as she looked into the distance. "Yang was heartbroken. I think she needed Blake more than she ever admitted to me…and then I left her to start this crusade against Cinder Fall." Her voice was not as cold as it was before, but it reminded Ilia of herself.

Ilia thought about what Ruby said and found something odd. "You mentioned your partner, what's her name?" Sun suddenly looked apprehensive, but Ilia couldn't see him since he was standing behind her.

Ruby's eyes suddenly shined with excitement. Damn this girl's got mood swings, Ilia thought with a small smile. Ruby vigorously beckoned to somebody on the other side of the building just out of Ilia's sight.

Ruby turned to Ilia. "Are you from Mistral?" Ilia wasn't fazed by the change of conversation. They could all use something lighter to talk about. Her skin had began to darken gradually to her normal shade as her hatred of Taurus left her.

"I grew up in Atlas, mostly. For intents and purposes, it's my hometown, it made me the person I am today, for better or worse," Ilia said. She re-considered. "Mostly for worse."

"Ruby, what did you want?" a voice said from just around the corner. Ilia's skin suddenly flared crimson, her freckles became ice blue. Her eyes reminded Ruby and Sun of Yang.

"You." Ilia snarled at the newcomer.

Weiss Schnee froze as she took in the girl she once called best friend. In a broken whisper she breathed, "Ilia…"