Hello all, I am really excited I got so many views (well I don't know if it was a lot of views but it certainly felt like it to me), I hope you are all enjoying the series so far. I am working on making a solid release schedule, still a little shaky at the moment but I hoping for a chapter every two weeks, maybe every week, job and schedule permitting. Most chapters will be self-contained, However, I am imagining Jaune's and Ruby's to be multiple chapters. Also you might have noticed a OC called Tale, He will be mostly a background character in this series as I want it to fit in somewhat well with the current canon. Currently the one exception to that will be this chapter, as Blake will need someone to talk to. As always, please enjoy and don't forget to comment. I am always looking for pointers on how to improve my writing skills and make stories more enjoyable for you!
All the best,
DeamonHunter
Note: this chapter has yet to be extensively betaed. Apologies, the fully betaed version should be up by Monday or Tuesday.
Blake
Regrets from the Past
Blake lay in stretcher on the Bullhead. She had seen Ruby and Weiss run off. A part of her wanted to stop them, tell them it wasn't safe. Adam was still out there, hunting for her, hunting for her team. She couldn't fight him, none of them could he was too strong.
Instead of doing anything, she looked at Yang's unconscious form again, her eyes drifted to where yang's right arm should have been. Adam had severed it, cut through aura and bone. Yang had just been trying to save Blake, and for her trouble she lost an arm. Worse still Adam would hunt her; use every skill he had to cut Yang down. The reason? Yang was precious to Blake. Blake eyes started to tear.
"I am so sorry. If it wasn't for me…" Blake whispered. She knew what Yang would say in such a situation. She would comment how she would get a cool robotic arm, upgrade Ember Celica, that it wasn't Blake's fault. Blake knew Yang would believe all that to be true, Blake also knew that it wasn't. Yang had lost an arm, the school had been destroyed and Adam now knew where she was. There was only one thing she could do.
She had to leave.
She left almost as soon as they landed. There were no goodbyes. Blake simply got off the stretcher and started to walk away from the makeshift camp. At one point, she felt like someone was watching her. She turned and looked into the distance. Near the camp she saw a blonde haired figure. Jaune perhaps? No she thought, and then she noticed the blonde tail. Sun. She turned and knew he could see her. For a moment she wanted to go back, Help Yang through this, she had suffered enough. But then she thought of Adam "I will destroy everything you hold dear." Those had been his words. If she stayed she would only be helping herself. She would be happier, but it would put Yang in more danger. Yang was strong; she had Ruby to help her. Blake made a silent promise to return when this was all over. She would explain everything; her past with Adam, the White Fang. She'd explain it to everyone who would listen. Sun, Ozpin, Weiss, Ruby and especially Yang. Yang deserved to know about her partners past and it would help Blake move forward with her life become a huntress, rather than an ex-white Fang Member.
Blake turned away from Sun, imagining the look of disappointment on his face, to her relief, he didn't ask her to stop, didn't run up and beg her to stay buts he felt his eyes piercing her and she felt a deep sadness. As night fell and the camp faded past the horizon she still felt a deep pang of sadness, perhaps it was guilt or a feeling of dread, Blake did not know which, but she did know that she couldn't move forward until she ended this.
-Eight days later-
Blake landed lightly as another Grimm faded behind her. She was moving east through the city that surrounded Beacon. The Grimm were getting more numerous and dangerous. She doubted the White Fang were hiding here. Were they back in Mountain Glenn? Blake didn't think so; it would be a dangerous hiding spot and did not make much in regards to a safe hideout. Blake continued to walk forward surrounded by her own thoughts. She hadn't slept in two days, and the wound to her stomach had reopened. Her cat ears pricked up as she heard the sound of swooshing air. She turned to see a large nevermore soaring down towards her. She gritted her teeth, in her current condition this would not be easy. But something was wrong. The nevermore was… divebombing? She had fought Nevermores before and they usually didn't do this. What was going on? That was when she noticed a teal colored jacket. Blake leapt back as the nevermore came closer to the ground, quickly crashing into the pavement. The figure in the teal jacket went flying from the impact. Blake felt the wind gush past her from the speed of the figure that just passed her right shoulder. She spun around to see the figure crash into a shop. She winced as the glass front shattered and heard the tumble of bookshelves. The figure stood, Blake's eyes widened as she saw a familiar face.
"Professor Ozpin?" She asked loudly. Ozpin was missing. He hadn't been on any of the Bulkheads when she had left. There hadn't been confirmation of his death either. The figure stood wiping glass off of his teal jacket and shaking his head.
"That was unexpected. I need to work on my landing strategy next time." The figure chuckled before looking up. Blake's heart had risen to her chest thinking that Ozpin or any of the other teachers had survived. The man looked like Ozpin, but clearly was not. His hair was reddish-brown, rather than white and he wasn't old enough to be Ozpin. This person looked to be in his twenties, far too young to be the wise, mysterious Professor Ozpin. Suddenly Blake was snapped out of these thoughts by a hand on her shoulder. She instinctively swung her blade at the figure
"Whoa!" the figure said, dodging by the smallest of margins.
"Who are you? What do you want?"
"I feel like I get this more than I should." The figure mumbled
"Tell me now!" She said pointing the blade at this mysterious Ozpin lookalike.
"My name is Tale. I am looking for Ozpin. Please stop pointing your blade at me." Tale said, raising his hands as if in surrender. Blake only became more suspicious. This was how those others got into Beacon. They had come with lies and excuses. Now a new figure showed up in the wreckage? No way this was a coincidence.
"How do I know you aren't lying?" Blake asked. Tale sighed as a response, shaking his head.
"You are, I assume Blake Belladonna, a friend of Ruby Rose?"
"How do you know Ruby?" Blake demanded tensing even more.
"I know Qrow, I helped Ruby escape after the CCT tower fell." Tale said before his face suddenly became pained. 'After she stopped the Dragon and Cinder Fall."
"So everyone is safe, they got out alright." Blake said, relief washing over her. In the chaos she had nearly forgotten than Jaune and Pyrrha were still somewhere in Beacon. She was glad they had gotten out safe and sound. Ruby never did leave a friend behind; she was too kind to do that. She was surprised Cinder, Emerald's friend was behind this but that was a question for later. Right now she was happy her friends were alive. She paused; as Tale's face remained pained he looked away from Blake, clearly uncomfortable.
"Ms. Belladonna, I don't know how to say this…" Tale said looking for the right words. Blake's heart plummeted, Were Jaune and Pyrrha dead? That was impossible, Jaune maybe but Pyrrha would have protected him. Even to her it was clear Pyrrha had a crush on Jaune. There was no way they were dead. Did something happen to ruby?
"What happened? Is Ruby okay?" Blake asked, thinking how Yang would react to seeing her little sister crippled.
"Ruby is fine, a few scratches at the worst. She was more tired than anything." Blake relaxed again. But that meant that Jaune or Pyrrha must have been badly injured, nothing else could explain Tale's face. "But Pyrrha died. She was killed by Cinder. Ruby got there too late."
For a few moments Blake didn't react. She could not comprehend Pyrrha dying. Blake wasn't close to Pyrrha; they were friends of a mutual friend. Still the thought of the invincible girl, champion of mistral, dying was hard to believe.
"How do you know?"
"Ruby woke up, she filled in some blanks." Tale said somberly.
Blake was quiet. It still hadn't really sunk in. She wondered how the rest of them must be feeling, Beacon was gone, Ozpin was missing, Pyrrha was dead and she had run away.
She had run away yet again.
"We need to leave, there are more Grimm coming. Follow me, I know a place where you can sleep." Tale said waving to her. He turned and walked down a side street. Blake paused, thinking of the risks following the person would entail. She sighed, and then followed glumly.
It was only a few minutes since they began but to Blake it felt like hours. She still tried to imagine how Pyrrha had died, what situations she would have had to be in to make that kind of sacrifice.
"Here we are. It's a bit of a dump… okay a lot of a dump, but it is safe." Tale said. Pointing to a worn brick building that had "from dust till dawn" scrawled on the side. Blake would have thought it to be a dust shop if it wasn't so run down. Tale walked inside. Blake followed quietly. As they wandered up the stairs Blake started to wonder how Tale had a connection to Qrow and Ozpin. Why was he here alone rather than with a team? Was he so confident in his abilities? Or was it all a lie and he was leading her into a trap. It was too late to turn back though. She followed, prepared to react at a moments notice.
Tale motioned to an open room. There was a sleeping bag and a small lantern. Nearby there were some cans of food. Blake sat on the ground cross-legged. Tale sat across from her and handed her a can of tuna. Blake soon felt her mouth start to water.
"I have a ton more where that came from, I'm not fond of tuna so I haven't eaten much of it." Tale said, trying to lighten the mood with a chuckle.
Blake simply looked at him, trying to figure out his angle. Tale tilted his head in response and made a face.
"I'm not asking you to trust me Ms. Belladonna, but honestly, you need to trust someone. You won't make it through what you are feeling if you don't."
Something in Blake cracked at that. How could he know how she was feeling?
"You know nothing about me. You don't know how I feel or what I'm going through. I do trust people just not you."
"It doesn't seem that way to me." Tale responded "You are running around in a Grimm infested city alone. You have not contacted any of your friends since Beacon. By the way when was the last time you actually slept?"
"The White fang is a threat, I have a responsibility to stop them. Adam hurt Yang, I can't let him do that to others."
"In other words, you ran away to protect your friends."
"Yes." Blake responded relaxing, she picked up the spoon attached to the top of the can of tuna and scooped some into her mouth. It seemed he had given up trying to convince her to go back. That had been easier than she expected.
"How absolutely childish." Tale said in a disapproving tone.
"What?" Blake sneered 'I don't see you with your friends. I don't see you protecting anyone!"
"Most of my friends are dead Ms. Belladonna, I don't have the luxury of running away from my friends. I don't have the luxury of being self-righteous and rationalizing running away as being protective."
Blake became angrier as his speech went on. 'Where do you get off being so self-righteous yourself? So much better than me?"
"Ms. Belladonna you are running away from your problems because you are afraid. You are afraid of Adam, You are afraid of what he will do to your friends. That makes sense. But how could you not see that is exactly what he wants?"
"What he wants me away from them? Yang's uncle can protect her, Yang is safe where she is!"
"People don't become hunters to lead safe lives Ms. Belladonna. They become hunters because they want something more out of life than money, or safety or even happiness. Their reasons are as unique as their semblances but everyone has one."
Blake really couldn't argue with that. She still believed leaving was the smartest option. Once Adam was gone, she could go back. 'What was your reason?"
Tale smiled, it seemed he had a story ahead of him but he would keep it vague, no need to add to this girl's already heavy burden. "It was a need to find something more out of life. I'm not the hero from the story books, I'm not in it for the thrills, I guess part of it is that I get a choice in my destiny a can create my own path."
"Basically you wanted to be free? No responsibilities none of that?" Blake asked feeling that she was talking to someone a little similar to Yang.
"As Ozpin has probably explained to you, being a hunter is mostly responsibility Ms. Belladonna, there is not much else. You, your friends and family will always come second to your duty as a huntress. Sometimes, it's easier to cast things away." Tale narrowed his eyes, reminiscing about his past, at least that is what Blake assumed.
'is that why you are here? Are you trying to find something you abandoned?" Blake asked, sensing a chance to find out more about her companion. "I cast away… much of what I had, blinding following that belief. I went so far as to change my name, pursuing an ideal. I did what I did by choice, not circumstance. In the end we all have choices of what to do with the time we have. You have made hard choices, so have your friends. Sometimes your decisions are for the best, sometimes they are not."
Tale had a distant look in his silver Eyes, Blake thought she saw a pang of regret and helplessness in them. Did he abandon friends? Maybe Family? For a second she thought this figure was what ruby may become. She suddenly felt a pang of pity for Tale. The look in his eyes lasted only for a moment before he smiled and looked at her again. He cracked open his can of beans and using a small spoon scooped some into his mouth. "So Ms. Belladonna, why do you think leaving is a better decision than staying? If you had stayed Qrow would still be protecting Ms. Xiao-long, and her sister. Instead you leave. There is clearly more to this story."
Blake sighed; she would not be getting out of this. Tale was curious and if living inside a place flooded with Grimm was any indicator, he was clearly capable of forcing her to talk. "Adam Taurus." She said
"A leader in the White Fang, I know of him." Tale said his face darkening.
"He was a friend, Well more of a mentor. He trained to me to fight, how to survive. He was always frustrated at how little we gained after years of protests. When things started to become more extreme he embraced it."
"He blinded himself with anger." Tale confirmed mostly to himself.
"But I feel like I could have stopped it maybe if I did things-"
'Don't do that. If only or maybes are capable of being more destructive to a hunter than any weapon. We make a decision, take action and accept the consequences whatever they may be."
"You certainly sound sure of yourself." Blake said wistfully wishing she were that confident at that moment.
'It is something a mentor of mine told me, I haven't lived up to it very well if truth be told." Tale looked away for a moment before turning back. "We're getting off topic. Why are you going after Adam and the White fang alone?"
"I have a responsibility-"
"To clean up after other people's messes? Why are you going after the White Fang alone? Your team could help you if you waited for them to recover, the White Fang is not going anywhere."
"This is personal."
'So it is about Adam. You feel responsible for him? For what he has become?"
"Partially yes, I know it was his choice, but if I-" Blake paused realizing exactly what she was saying. She was placing some of the burden for Adam on herself, His choices. But Adam never really took her opinion into account. Whatever she wanted, he made his decisions regardless of protest, generally by silencing said protest. He silenced protest brutally. Adam didn't care about her, only what she could do for him. Realizing it now made her blood boil.
Tale looked on with an amused expression. He had intended to make Blake come back, guilt her with stories of Raven's abandonment of Yang. Draw parallels of it to what Blake was doing now. But clearly Blake wasn't going to go back. She couldn't not with her past haunting her. Blake needed to move on, but to do that she needed to face Adam again. Finish what had began over a year ago when she ran from him.
"Blake. I have to leave the day after tomorrow. I can't help you with your war with the White Fang. I have to find Ozpin." Tale said.
"I know." Blake said. Suddenly wishing for some help. When she had started this she hadn't realized how big what she wanted to do was, only that she needed to do it. Perhaps it was childish to try to do it alone. But she wouldn't lose her friends to something like this. She would never be able to move on if she did.
"You know Raven abandoned Yang when she was young. She never stayed by yang's side when yang needed her. Summer had to take that job. Yang has Ruby sure, but she needs a friend." Tale said, wishing for a moment he could offer the poor girl his help. Perhaps after he confirmed Ozpin's whereabouts he could return. But first he would make sure Blake would return to Yang and Team RWBY, Tale didn't like the way he was going to go about it, but he thought it for the best.
"I am her friend." Blake said fiercely
Tale smiled. "Good, Don't leave her be too long. I think she will need a friend pretty soon. Even if it is just to remind her she isn't alone."
"She's strong." Blake responded
"So are many people, that doesn't mean they can do everything by themselves."
"What do you want?" Blake asked.
"When Yang or her dad or someone comes calling and asks for help, go. You're a huntress, not an avenging warrior. Your job is to help people." Tale said kindly. He was certain Blake would return to Team RWBY, maybe not on his schedule, or when it was convenient, but she would return.
Blake slept well that night, she intended to leave the next morning but sore limbs, an open wound and a warm sleeping bag as well as cans of tuna from Tale persuaded her to rest for the day. She slept soundly, dreaming of her happy days at beacon, of her friends. The few times she awoke she remembered what happened to Pyrrha, it was a tragedy, she hadn't known Pyrrha well but she could only imagine what the others were going through. She would be back with them soon enough. She would defeat Adam, crush his contingent of the White Fang and then go back. Back to Beacon, back to Yang, back to team RWBY. She didn't doubt for a moment that she would survive. She had a reason to keep fighting.
Blake went back to sleep quite quickly. Tale smiled as he prepared to leave. He left all the cans of food behind, as well as his dust supplies. He had technically stolen them from downstairs, but he didn't think the owner would complain. Blake was a strong girl and she would pull through. In truth he was more worried for Yang. Part of him wanted to drag Blake right to Yang's room and get her to explain to Yang what she was doing. But as one wiser (and probably drunker) than him had said, making them do something like that would not allow them to grow. They weren't kids anymore and they had to deal with the consequences of their actions.
Tale opened a portal into empty space. the bluish-green glow filled the room. He walked through the portal after dropping a note on the floor. He had given Blake a starting point. What she did from there was up to her. The portal closed as Blake woke up.
Blake turned wondering exactly what that blue glow had been.
"Tale?" She called out. When no response came she stood and started to walk towards the door. She almost slipped on a small piece of paper on the floor. She looked down and picked it up.
Blake,
Had to leave early. Food, ammo and Dust are in the trunk. Feel free to use them. Below are the coordinates for a White Fang outpost I passed before meeting you. Seems like they were taking down camp.
Happy Hunting,
T
Blake smiled slightly. Tale was weird but he seemed like a nice guy. Blake scanned the Coordinates. It seemed to be fairly close to the Emerald Forest. How the hell had he ended up in the middle of the inner city from the forest? Was he trying to fly on the nevermore? She shook her head. She still had basically no idea who he was, but a day of napping had done her some good. He head felt clear, and while she still felt she couldn't face Yang yet, she had faith Yang would pull through, as she had before. Blake walked out of the ruined shop, towards the Emerald Forest. She smiled slightly. Blake narrowed her eyes, thinking of everything the white fang and Adam had done to her and her friends. They would pay. When she was through, Adam wouldn't know what hit him.
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