The third oneshot of the Saten Ruiko Day Countdown/LightZephyr Appreciation Week! Today's chapter will focus on Blake Belladonna! Set in between V3 and V4.

Special thanks to Namitaa776 for helping out!

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY nor do I, in any way, shape or form intend to pretend that I do

Blake had to admit that she regretted a lot of things that she had done in her life. She didn't like the things she did after the White Fang had changed. She didn't like letting everything change. She didn't like having dragged her friends into her own problems.

But right now, she hated herself for letting her guard down for even a split second.

Blake was running in a snowy forest that she didn't quite recognize, her breath condensing in little clouds in front of her. Landing on a sturdy branch, the faunus was about to jump off it and take off when—

"Argh!" Blake yelped in pain as she felt a massive weight hit her back, knocking her off the branch and falling head-first into the snow below.

Now tired and cold, Blake mustered the last of her strength to get back on her feet and unsheathe Gambol Shroud. Focusing all of her senses, the brunette tried to locate her pursuer when she heard the crunching of snow to her right.

"Got you!" Blake smirked, having thrown her sword and holding her target in place. With the ribbon held tight in hand, Blake took a moment to take a look at her attacker.

A Grimm unlike any she has seen before, the monster was a bipedal insect-like creature with long stingers on either of its front arms and a set of hardened white wings on its back. It had a lot of strength left even after the long chase, but with Blake's determined grip it was unable to escape.

Blake saw her chance when she felt her target lose power for a split second, and knew that she couldn't waste it. Pulling as hard as she could on the ribbon, she pulled the Grimm off its feet and jumped towards it at the same time.

She sliced the head off in one smooth, fluid motion.

Turning around and walking to the corpse of her pursuer, Blake watched its body dissipate into a billion particles that disappeared in the wind. A sudden memory flashed in front of her mind's eye, and Blake found herself reeling back slightly.

Blake felt a searing pain throughout her body, causing her to fall on the ground in agony. It was all she could do to not dive into the snow again. Turning to the source of the pain, she saw the familiar shape of a bullet embedded in her shoulder. The bullet had an insignia on it, but Blake couldn't make out what it was through her now hazy sight. Even so, she knew that it was familiar to her somehow.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?! Answer me!"

The unfamiliar voice was followed by the crunching of snow, and Blake barely managed to make out the figure of a man towering in front of her. He was wearing a set of armor of the purest white, but a twelve-pointed snowflake emblem could be seen on the chest plate.

'Wait…' Blake's eyes widened when she saw the snowflake, her brain managing to remember where she had seen that emblem before.

"What is going on here?" another voice came from behind the man, and Blake knew that her suspicions were confirmed when Weiss stepped in front of her.

What surprised Blake the most was the look on the heiress' face, reminding her of their first meeting all those months ago.

"Miss Schnee!" the man saluted quickly before pointing at Blake, "We've found her running around here."

"Weiss!" Blake managed to shout, but before she could say anything else she had a sword pointed at her.

"Don't talk to her you filthy faunus!"

Blake flinched, not so much because of the way that she was being addressed but because she only then realized that her bow had come undone and thus revealing her cat ears. She bit her lower lip while mentally berating her for her mistake.

"That's enough!" Weiss commanded, stepping in between the two while eyeing the man, "Take her with us. I would like to have a word with her about showing up here. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, ma'am!" the man responded, but was visibly uneasy about his assignment. Despite his own feelings about the matter at hand, he turned to Blake.

"Weiss!" Blake tried once again to reach her old friend, but she was ignored completely as the heiress simply walked away without another word.

Something hit the faunus on the back of her neck, and she fell forward into the darkness.

The next thing Blake knew, she felt rocks underneath and, while the air was damp, it wasn't as cold as it was earlier. Opening her eyes, the faunus was met with darkness, but she quickly adjusted her vision and saw the distinct outline of a person in front of her.

Blake had a feeling she knew where she was, and was about to get up and make a run for it when she realized that she couldn't move her hands or her feet.

"I see that you're awake. That's good."

That voice. Blake gritted her teeth as she braced herself, but was only met with the blinding flash of light that followed.

"I'm sorry about earlier, I couldn't risk letting them think that I'm against my family," Weiss apologized, taking out Myrtenaster and breaking the locks that held Blake in place without any wasted movements. Watching the faunus stroke the sore skin, Weiss waited patiently before giving Gambol Shroud back to its rightful owner, "It's great to see you again, but why did you come here?"

"I didn't realize that I was this far," Blake admitted as she took her weapon and holding it in her hands. Turning the sword around in her hands a few times, Blake smiled before turning back to her former teammate, "How can I trust that you're not going to sell me out?"

"Sell you—what?!" Weiss exclaimed in shock, not expecting that question. A few seconds passed, and Weiss managed to convince herself that she didn't just hear things.

Weiss' actual response to the question wasn't anything like Blake had expected it to be. Weiss held out her rapier in front of her, dropped it, took a few steps back and away from her former teammate before turning around to face the wall behind her.

"What… are you doing?" Blake questioned, unsure what to make of the scene in front of her. Why would Weiss of all people leave herself defenseless like that?

"If you don't think you can trust me now, then go ahead and kill me," Weiss answered in monotone, not moving in the slightest or otherwise hinting at her not being completely serious, "I'm not going to stop you."

Blake was speechless as she tried to process the scene in front of her. The proud Schnee that she came to know and respect was now leaving the fate of her life in her hands.

A few minutes passed, and with Weiss maintaining her stance, Blake knew what her answer was.

Meanwhile, Weiss was still waiting patiently for Blake's response, and she was about to turn around to remind her when she felt something.

"Blake?"

Weiss' voice fell on deaf ears as the clattering of two metal objects on the floor echoed through the room. Much to the heiress' surprise, she felt two arms hold her in an embrace for a split second before directly releasing her.

"It's great to see you in one piece!" Blake smiled as she picked up her weapon and re-sheathed it, "After that day—"

"I know…" Weiss sighed, cutting Blake off as she sat down on the concrete floor. Patting the space beside her, the heiress waited for the faunus to join her. Although she was shocked at first at the invitation, Blake was quick to regain her composure and sat down beside Weiss, "Do you know anything about Ruby or Yang?"

"I… don't…" Blake admitted with a pained look, and one that Weiss didn't miss, "I do know that they're alive, both of them are."

"That's good to hear," Weiss smiled, startling Blake.

That was until Blake remembered the situation that Weiss was in. Blake at least knew who survived the battle of Beacon, and while she would have liked to not have to accept her losses, she knew that Weiss had it far worse.

Weiss was taken away from the scene before the battle had officially ended. She didn't know who survived and who didn't, and Blake knew that not having a clue as to what is happening in the outside world is a lot worse than knowing the painful truth.

"Blake?"

The heiress' voice was soft and hesitant, almost scared even, and it wasn't until she regained her focus that Blake realized this. Turning to her friend, she saw it.

The countless unanswered questions that Weiss may have for her about what happened after she was taken away. The need for reassurance that everything was going well for those she cared for.

The fear of losing the few people she truly and sincerely cared for.

Blake sighed, steeling herself for what was going to happen next. She knew it would upset her friend, but she also knew that she had to tell her now.

"Not everybody made it out of it alive."

Seeing the now terrified look on the other girl's face made Blake feel even worse than if she had simply remembered the losses from that day herself. Blake looked away, clenching her fists while enduring the stinging pain in her palms.

It didn't help her avoid the now desperate girl, though.

"Who…?" Weiss breathed out, unable to formulate a better question in the state that she was in.

"Pyrrha, she—" Blake tried, holding back the lump in her throat, but stopped abruptly when she heard footsteps, "Someone's coming!"

Weiss's reaction was almost instantaneous. Grabbing her rapier, she aimed the tip of the blade at the knob of the door, and a black glyph formed around it.

"You have to leave! Hurry!" Weiss hissed as she pointed to something behind Blake, "You can get out from there. Go!"

"What about you?" Blake asked as she hurried to the wall that Weiss was pointing towards when she realized that she was alone, "Aren't you coming?"

"I can't leave… not yet…" Weiss muttered with a downcast look, but instantly regretted it when somebody threw their weight on the door from the other side and she was almost knocked off her feet, "Hurry!"

"Fine…" Blake relented before taking out her weapon and observing the wall in front of her. With a deep breath, she dashed towards it and slid through the narrow gap of the window.

Landing on all fours outside, Blake thanked whatever deity was out there that she didn't have to fall in a pile of snow again. With one last, long look at the building, she gave a silent goodbye and ran off.

Several hours later, Blake found herself resting against the trunk of a large tree not too far from where she was being held. Despite knowing what would happen if she were to get caught again, something was holding her back. She couldn't leave just yet, but the faunus couldn't tell why.

Hearing the crunching of snow behind her, Blake jumped to her feet, took out Gambol Shroud and lowered herself into a defensive stance. Sharpening all of her senses, the raven haired huntress tried to find what was out there when it came out of hiding on its own accord.

Trotting towards her as if it didn't have a care in the world was a creature that was unmistakably a Boarbatusk, but Blake knew instantly that something was weird with this particular Grimm.

Rather than being the standard black Boarbatusk, this one glowed in a bright bluish white color.

It was only when the Boarbatusk-like creature dropped something in the snow and dissipated into nothingness that Blake knew, without a doubt, what it was.

Smiling, she picked up what the creature had left behind and held it up in the air. With the moon above illuminating the object, Blake let out a soft gasp at the sight of the vials of dust that she was holding.

"Even if you don't want to admit it," Blake trailed off with a soft smile, storing the gift in her pouch for the future as she turned to the direction the creature had come from, "You care about us, don't you?"

Suddenly feeling a lot lighter and motivated, Blake shook off the snow that had piled up on her over the past few hours and turned around.

She finally knew what she was going to do. Meeting Weiss, however brief and imperfect as it was, had opened Blake's eyes.

With her head held high for the first time in weeks, Blake headed back.

Finally, after all this time, she was going to go home.

And that wraps up this oneshot! I hope you enjoyed it, and stay tuned for tomorrow's oneshot on a different franchise!