A Full Team

Chapter 1: Death

The sight of the White Fang outside of Haven Academy was terrifying. Ruby looked nervously outside the window of Professor Lionhart's office. Looking back into the room, she saw her friends getting ready to fight. Yang was double checking that her arm was working and Weiss was loading dust into her rapier. Nora and Ren were cleaning their weapons while sitting close. Jaune was swinging his sword at the air, getting himself ready. Qrow was sitting with a very nervous Oscar, reassuring him that everything was going to be OK.

"How many are out there?" Ruby turned back to where the voice came from. Weiss looked scared.

Ruby sighed, "Too many. There's weren't this many at Beacon. What happened?"

"Anything could have happened." Ren said, "The CCT is still out so we don't get any information." Oscar's eyes flashed and he walked up to the window.

Yang looked out the window herself and gasped. Everyone looked at her. "That guy in the front with the red hair and horns. He's the one that hurt Blake at Beacon."

"It looks like he's the leader." Wiess said looking concerned, "Why did Blake go after him alone?" Weiss's question went unanswered. They were all first years and had not known each other very long. It felt like they had known each other longer, but all of them still had their secrets.

"This seems to be not just the Vale White Fang." Ozpin said through Oscar.

"What does that mean?" Yang asked, "Do you mean it was only a small portion of the White Fang we faced at the Fall of Beacon?" Ozpin nodded solemnly. This shocked the kids in the room who never realized just how big the White Fang was.

Qrow stood up and looked out the window, "Something big must have happed. It looks like all of them are out there." Everyone went back to their last minute preparations for battle.

"Is everyone just going to pretend this is going to be fine?" Oscar had regained control over his body and was utterly terrified. "We have an alcoholic huntsman, 2 incomplete teams of students and me. How are we supposed to beat the entire White Fang?" Oscar got that blank stare in his eyes, Ozpin must be trying to calm the poor kid down.

Ruby Weiss, and Yang looked at each other, Oscar was right. They needed more people. There was nothing they could do about team JNPR being incomplete, but if only they knew where their fourth member was. Ruby sighed looking out the window again. Blake…where are you?

A few weeks before all that in Menagerie, Blake and Sun were working hard trying the recruit even a few people to help at Haven. It was difficult, the Faunus here were tired of everything. They wanted to be left alone. Blake collapsed on the dock, tired from all the walking. Her quest had been fruitless, just as she feared.

"No luck from you either?" Blake jumped at the sound of Sun's voice. Her friend had the tendency to pop out of nowhere. Blake shook her head, no. Both of the teens understood why no one wanted to help, but that didn't make it any less frustrating.

They sat in silence for some time, staring at the sunset on the horizon. "You know," Sun started, "I never really did say sorry, did I?"

Blake now was confused, "Sorry about what?"

"Those six months you were traveling and I was following you and didn't tell you." Sun said, looking down at the water below them.

"You were just looking out for me." Blake reassured him, "Being a good friend."

Sun looked at her really confused. "Yeah that's true, but I shouldn't have gone about it that way. I should have let you know I was there from the start. If I could do it again, it would be different." Blake was so used to having Adam around that it did not even occur to her that what Sun had done was wrong.

"I forgive you Sun." she whispered as they sat quietly, watching the sunset together. "We should go back to my house. Get some food and then head out for the nocturnal district." Blake said after a few minutes of silence.

Sun smiled, "Good idea." He got up and held his hand out to help Blake up. She accepted the help and they jogged back to get dinner.

After dinner Blake stood out on the balcony, looking over Menagerie. She leaned on the railing, waiting for Sun to finish getting ready. Looking down she noticed a piece of paper. Confused, she picked up the paper and unfolded it.

Blake,

Adam has taken things too far. Find a private spot, I'll find you there. Please Blake.

-I

Blake frowned at the message and looked around. It certainly was in Ilia's handwriting. The question in her mind was whether or not she should trust the note. As much as she did trust Ilia to eventually see Adam was a monster, but she was not sure about meeting her alone. "Blake are you ready to go?" she heard Sun yell out. She had an idea.

Ilia nervously waited in the darkness camouflaging herself so Yuma and Tarifa would not be able to find her. Adam wanted Blake's family dead and he wanted Blake back. She could not let that happen. After the death of her parents, the Belladonnas had found her. Ghira and Kali already had their own daughter, but they took her in as well. She was forever in their debt. This meeting with Blake was to warn her and to see if her suspicions about Adam were true.

Blake walked into the alley she was hiding in. "Ilia?" her old friend said quietly. Ilia then walked out of the shadows and let her camouflage down. Blake's hand immediately went to the weapon on her back.

"Blake I'm so sorry." Ilia said, her heart truly full of sorrow. Blake slowly lowered her weapon seeing that Ilia was being genuine. The two had known each other for years, they practically grew up together. Ilia could tell that Blake trusted her and knew that she was telling the truth. "Adam…" She continued, "Adam has gone too far." There were tears forming in her eyes as she thought about all the times Blake had warned her about Adam since her old friend returned to Menagerie. "He wants to kill your parents and capture you."

Blake's eyes widened in fear. "When? How? Sun!" Ilia saw as the blond monkey faunus came out of his hiding spot giving her a cautious look.

"You didn't come alone?" Ilia asked. It really was smart of Blake to do that, but it did hurt a bit that Blake didn't fully trust her. "Smart. I don't know when, but Adam wants it done soon."

"Ok." Sun said, "We can make a plan. Warn people and be ready." Just as he said that an explosion sounded from the direction of the Belladonna house. The three looked at each other for a split second before Blake sprints off to her home followed closely by Ilia and Sun.

Blake could think of nothing but fear. She had only just reconnected with her parents, now this was happening. Run. Run. Get to them. Save them. She couldn't save Beacon, couldn't save Pyrrha, couldn't save her team, and couldn't save Yang. She had to save her parents. The crowds that were gathering outside to look at her burning home just barley registered in her mind. She knew that Ilia and Sun were near, but didn't care enough to look.

Her house was on fire. Orange, red, and yellow danced in the windows, on the roof as dark grey smoke rose into the clear night sky. Not thinking about anything else, Blake ran into the house. Using the collar of her coat to cover her mouth she yelled out, "Mom? Dad?" and began her search for her parents.

Blake ran to her father's office and was shocked with the sight. The room was a wreck, papers scattered everywhere and shelves collapsed. Her eyes stopped on a big pile under a particularly large piece of rubble. No. Panic ran through her blood. No. She dug through the rubble as fast as possible. NO…

Sun helped Blake move the rubble. He had come to love Blake's parents as if they were his own. Ghira even started liking him. As he helped he looked over to Ilia who also looked worried. He didn't know much about the girl, but he knew that the Belladonnas took her in when she had nowhere else to go. He almost didn't want to look when he saw Blake freeze. Sun knew exactly what was going on. He didn't know what to do. This is not something that he had experience with.

Ilia put a hand on Blake's shoulder and looked at Sun. Realizing she was trying to get him to follow her lead, he also put a hand on Blake's shoulder. In doing this, he managed to catch a glimpse of two bloodied bodies. His heart dropped and he could only imagine what was going on through Blake's head.

Ilia knew exactly what was going through Blake's mind in this moment. She had been through it to. The denial, the sadness, and the anger all at once. It was overwhelming. Blake was frozen, silent. Ilia wanted nothing more than to bring her into a hug, but settled on putting a hand on her shoulder. They were in a burning building, she needed to get Blake to move. Luckily, one look at Sun made him realize what she was trying to do.

"Blake." Ilia said. Slowly Blake looked up at her. "We need to go." Ilia heard her voice crack as she held back her own emotions. There would be time to mourn when their lives weren't in danger. Holding onto Blake's hand Ilia began their escape from the burning Belladonna house.

They finally made it out to the concerned crowd with Sun bringing up the rear. The three of them coughed as Ilia noticed the crowd was waiting to hear what happened. From their faces she could tell they knew it wasn't good news. Sun was about to say something to the crowd when Blake stopped him. He and Ilia looked at each other, confused, as Blake began to speak.

Blake couldn't let someone else tell the people of Menagerie what happened. It had to be her. They needed to know she was just as strong of a leader as her parents. "Citizens of Menagerie," she started. "My parents, your chieftain have been killed by assassins." She paused as murmurs and gasps erupted from the audience. "It wasn't humans who did this. It was the White Fang." More shocked noises. "We have a recent defector from the White Fang here who tried to warn us, but was unfortunately too late. We know that their next target is Haven Academy. We can get back at them, show them that they can't just mess with us. Who wants to let the White Fang know, Menagerie is not on their side in this fight."

The crowd cheered. They were going to assemble an army to go to Haven. Blake just wished her parents didn't have to die in order to get people to go. There was a rage deep inside her and guilt. She knew why Adam went after her parents. It was more than just the fact that they opposed him. Blake cared about them and Adam wanted to take away everything she cared about.

Blake wasn't going to let him take anything else.

There will be one more chapter for this out soon