I want to thank everyone who has review or faved or followed or even just viewed the story, because my motivation to write more is largely pulled from what reception I receive, and so far everything has been positive.

So thanks for that guys, but as always I like to keep the ANs as short as possible, so let's get right into it.


It had been several weeks, at least, since it ended. When Yang first awoke she was in a different room entirely. It was small and minimally furnished: a table, a cot, a toilet so she could relieve herself. The walls weren't washed-out grey or orange either, they were just white. In a way it scared her more. It was a blank canvas, just waiting to be splattered with blood or worse.

Food and water piled high on a table in one corner and her sleeping area in the other. They were simple things - or pleasures, they could be called - like bread and fruit, and the bed was bare and firm, but to Yang it was like heaven. She was shackle-less as well, no hard cement - though her room was windowless and the door was locked. Not to mention she was in agonizing pain, but with the days the pain faded into discomfort, and then, eventually, to memory.

The blonde suspected that some sort of drug or sedative laced the food, too. It wasn't difficult to notice the pattern - whenever she ate she would fall into deep sleep, and when she awoke everything would be replenished. After what she had been through, however, she couldn't find it in her to complain. If she didn't have to see her captor ever again - even to feed her - that was fine by her.

She knew it wouldn't last forever, though.

It was on the morning of the fourth week the girl had been in her new accommodations that she was proven right. One moment she was asleep, and in the next wide awake, greeted by the star of her nightmares.

The woman sat primly on the edge of her mattress.

Yang instantly scrambled back, as if to instinctively defend herself, but only served to fall off the bed. She landed in a graceless heap, sheets tangled about her limbs as she lay at the feet of the monster who had a knife to her throat not a month before. Blood pounded through her veins furiously.

"We'll have much to work on, I see." the woman noted, jotting something down on the clipboard that she carried with her arm. It was odd, but also frightening, the way her whole demeanor seemed to change since their last meeting. Unless she had forgotten, which she was sure she hadn't, the woman who haunted her every waking moment was so much more cheerful... maybe? Cheerful was the wrong word; she was more like "less scary".

Even her clothes seemed to have lightened up. They still accented her figure in a way that was distinctively her, but she no longer favored all black. Yellow was on the menu today, it seemed, and so was pink and red and a myriad of other vibrant colors. Her hair was free flowing resting on her shoulder, and she sported a colorful blouse and skirt and heels that made her look like an unassuming mother or something.

It was scary, actually. At least the thought of someone so innocent on the outside being so malicious on the inside. If Yang wasn't scooped up that day in the forest by a horn donning devil then she would have been lured in by this woman offering ice cream or something.

And her father had once warned her of strangers offering sweets. When she asked why, her father had replied that they would take her away, far away where she would never be seen again, and do horrible things to her. Her father never warned her that they could look like this...

"Let us get the pleasantries out of the way so we can get down to business, hmm?" Her abductor tilted her head at her, and even though she looked so utterly harmless, the girl still felt fear envelop her body. She nodded and reconfigured on the farthest side of the bed from the woman, but didn't say a word. "Great. My name is Cinder, and I am to be your new... teacher, shall we say."

What? "T-teacher?" she suddenly blurted out.

"That's right. I'll be taking such a graceful student like yourself under my wing. For the time being, at least." Her attitude was still relatively peppy and non-life threatening, but her sarcasm on "graceful" and her emphasis on "yourself" gave off the impression of someone losing their patience.

"Time being?" the frightened girl questioned, but then realized that it might not be prudent to just speak without thinking. "I - I mean-" Which made everything so much better.

"Don't be afraid to ask questions, sweetheart. It's hard to say if I'll answer them or not..." Well, at least she did fry her on the spot! That had to count for something, right? As the girl opened her mouth to reiterate her question she was beaten to the punch. "Or just snap and burn you alive, but that's life - you'll never know if you never ask, hmm? So go ahead."

Somehow that wasn't very reassuring to the newly granted student, but, on the other hand, it was very reassuring to the fact that this woman was deadly - no matter how she dressed. She would have stayed silent, but a glare that was friendly in retrospect had her repeating her question.

"Time... being?" she whispered warily.

"If you do well then I won't set you aflame. If you fail... well, you won't last too long." It wasn't at all surprising either. Threats, that was. For some reason, it seemed to be the way Cinder spoke fluently, with threats and examples of punishment intertwined with each word. "But I'm sure you'll do fine. Go on, ask another question."

Yang thought long and hard for one, but it wasn't as easy as it would seem. Not because she couldn't think of one - she could think of a million questions - but because there were so many, and far fewer that didn't carry the risk of death with them. She couldn't find any that didn't, however, and so decided on one that was quite important, but wasn't a surefire way to get fried to a crisp. "W-why am I here?"

"You haven't figured it out already?" Cinder responded immediately, stumping the girl. Was she supposed to? She didn't even really think that someone so clearly psychotic would have rationality, but, she just needed to check. If there was a reason, she just prayed it didn't have anything to do with Ruby. "And I've given you plenty of time, too... Must I explain it to you in agonizing detail?"

A squeak escaped her as an arc of flame traveled towards her. She instinctively ducked. Wrong question, then.

"That's what I want to see," she praised. "Now, as for your question... You are here because I wanted you to be. And because I'm so generous - and you've passed my little test, the first of them - I've decided to teach you all the things you need to know. Think of me as a mother - you don't have one of those, now do you?"

"Don't talk -"

"I'll say whatever I need." Cinder cut her off, and the Yang didn't continue. They're just words, they can't hurt you. she whispered in her mind. Which was plenty to comfort her in that area, because she knew that there were an uncountable number of ways for her to hurt her more in others.

And that led her to the one question she knew not the answer to, nor if Cinder would snap at her and burn her alive. It had been on the tip of her tongue for all of today and it had been on her mind for the past four weeks, and yet saying it aloud was harder than telling Ruby cookies went extinct.

But in the face of this madwoman named Cinder? The bane of her existence. Well, it was easy. It was easy to look the devil in the eye when you had nothing left to lose, and so the girl did. And while she did she asked,

"Why am I still alive?"


With each unnerving step, Yang grew more and more on edge.

Could she be blamed? This was the first time she'd seen daylight of this magnitude in more than a moon's time, the first time she'd even set foot outside of a room more than a couple hundred square feet.

If only that was all that was new, then the blonde might have been more merciful to her lower lip.

Alas, that was just not the case, for the psycho woman to her right a few paces ahead was just that - merely a few paces ahead. Too close, too quiet.

Thoughts of escaping flirted with her mind more than once; it was an unenclosed area, no fences or barbed wire as far as the eye could see. She could, hypothetically, make a break for it, weaving her way through the trees and staying low to the ground in an effort to lose the mysterious woman Cinder, who was about a second and a half apart from her.

Should she try? Would she even a snowball's chance in hell of freedom if she did? Or would Cinder just drag her back by the scruff furious and in a lot less forgiving mood? Was it worth that risk? Well, what is there left to lose? Her life, possibly. But did that matter at this point? Perhaps it did.

Though she had not planned to mull it over for any longer, she couldn't even if she changed her mind, for faster than Yang's eyes could keep up was a whirling object through the air, whistling and blurring. Pure instinct managed to save her face from being hit and that was all, and for a short few seconds she struggled to juggle the object between her hands before finally securing it between her calloused fingers.

Round, cool, and slightly furry? A peach, so it was, a delicate thing and clearly plentiful throughout the landscape, though previously Yang had failed to notice them, trapped in her own little world.

"Take a bite; it's sweet." the murderous woman just a few steps away enjoined.

Intent on simply heeding the simple order - or perhaps it was just a suggestion, the blonde didn't know - Yang squeezed the fruit skeptically, rubbing her thumb and index finger over its surface with one hand, poking it with the other.

Well, it seemed fine. So, she decided, why not?

A fine decision on her part, she praised, the taste was as magnificent as ever - more so, she'd go so far, considering it was more than just stale bread, and not as gag-inducing as rotting fruit - and she didn't keel over a second later so that was a plus.

Before she even knew it she'd finished the thing, coming dangerously close to swallowing the pit but then coughing it up and tossing it to the to the dirt, and it wasn't even moments later that some bugs started to crawl all over it.

Yang remained in after-ecstasy for as long as she dared, but that was unfortunately not very long at all, snapping out of her own daze to the voice of the villainous woman sauntering close by,

"Beautiful, isn't it?" The words were clear as it was day and yet they were confusing to the young girl. It was beautiful. There were cherry blossoms stuffed all around, some so close that they appeared fused together. Green, pink, a myriad of fruits and green. And what were all those things?

They were life, is what they were. Cinder and this beautiful and picturesque scene just didn't go together. True to her name, she was, cruel and destructive and blazing to the touch. Intense in everything she did and had done, Yang could only picture one thing when it came to this natural yet unnatural setting and Cinder. Instant forest fire.

Yang's worn out boots crunched underneath a feeble layer of gravel, the dirt path encased by a mirage of wonderful things. The plants, the bright blue sky, without a remnant of a cloud sneaking its way in there, and the colors? Simply the exact opposite of anything Yang could remember experiencing in the longest time.

Oh, and the smell. It was- it was... Horrible. Yang hated everything it reminded her of... Well, she loved what it spurred her mind to, but that was just it. Simply dreams and memories waiting to be burned and swept under the rug like all the rest.

"Oh, Ruby..." the longing girl whined softly, but passionately.

"Hmm? Did you say something, darling?" It was that voice again wasn't it? The concerned sounding one, the curious one, or was that the torturous, the one that the little girl could only dread? Oh wait, they were all the same...

"Ah, no. I didn't." she lied, unashamedly.

"No matter; we're here."

Here? Where was here? It was a circular shaped clearing that had been manually cleared, at least Yang was fairly sure, and not by bulldozers if the blackened ground surrounding the treeline was a testament to anything. It wasn't until Yang fanned her head left to right, panning out to take in what initially appeared to be a relaxing nap spot, that she saw it.

It was snarling and salivating - and Yang could only guess that was because of her - pulling ferociously as the taught chain looked ready to crumble and the tree it was tied to dared to uproot itself. Wait, was it leaning? The terrifying creature was less than a meter away, but it was muzzled. It resembled that rabid dog she saw in that horror movie that one night, foaming at the mouth and bearing its teeth with solely ill intentions, but she knew it was no dog, and that this was no movie. This was reality, and that was a real, breathing Grimm.

"W-what is that thing!?" she frantically blurted anyway.

As Yang was taken aback, Cinder confidently strode forward. Yang didn't follow, naturally, but as soon as the Grimm sensed Cinder's approach it mellowed. Instantly, it stopped its gnarling and sat, exhibiting its obedience as well as if it were Zwei or something. Cinder calmly set one hand on the beast's head, lightly patting it with impunity.

"This is Mannie. He'll be assisting us in our lesson today."

It has a name!? was the first thing that popped in Yang's mind, though perhaps it should have been the insinuation that a god forsaken Grimm was going to "help" in their training. And though she was but a young child, she wasn't nearly daft enough to believe that a Grimm was just going to paper mache with them. It was going to do something that Yang really, really, really didn't want to think about right now.

"No, no, no." Yang backed up, nervously.

"What? I'm sure you'll do fine." the woman tried to assure her.

"Please, I- I- can't fight, sp- train - whatever! Against a Grimm!"

"Sure you can."

"Please, no... I'll die!" The girl was clearly not getting through, but if she didn't keep trying then there was no point to anything.

"You will if you don't fight back."

"With what!? I don't have a- a weapon!" A knife flew towards her seemingly from thin air; it twirled with a flourish in the wind, and Yang honestly had no clue why she reached out to try and catch it. Instincts or whatever, she figured, but with a miracle she actually managed to, though awkwardly, and proceeded to clutch it close to her chest in a tight cross grip as she searched in a bag of magic tricks for another vain excuse.

"I don't have any training!" was what she decided on and voiced, but Cinder simply shot her a look of disbelief.

"You father trained you, did he not?"

He did, a smidgen. He taught her how to defend herself from some untrained mugger or someone.. Self-defense hand to hand combat, knives a bit. He taught her how to throw one straight at the very least. To go where she aimed. But she'd only ever practiced versus a block of foam or a pillow or something. Most certainly not a fast moving target that wanted to kill her more than she did it, and she wasn't sure she could stop it from doing so even if she tried.

It was a long shot - and a lie - but Yang tried anyway, in the one-in-a-million chance that Cinder spared her. "Never."

"Hmm, I see. I suppose it was his choice, and loss. You are such a beautiful specimen; so raw but so much potential." Cinder tilted her head at a slant, eyelashes fluttering and lips pursed into a extremely misleading face. "I am blessed to be able to witness this first test of aptitude."

Yang gulped, and didn't even bother to think that this was only the "first" of many test or whatever. What she did spare to understand was that there was no getting out of this inhumane practice; she could resist in all she wanted, but if there was one thing that Yang had learned after everything she'd been through because of Cinder, it was that her captor was not one to change her mind, or be influenced by anything.

All that meant was that Yang had to be ready to die, and she wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"All right." The blonde gritted out, still an iota of reluctance mixed in there though.

"I'm sorry; all right for what?" the woman questioned.

"Go ahead. I'll fight you're stupid Grimm."

"Wow... that didn't take much persuasion now did it? If you insist, though. Are you sure you want to do this?"

Like a have a choice! she thought, whilst scoffing out loud.

As if having read her own mind, Cinder added on, "No, really. You don't have to do this if you would prefer not."

"I don't?" was the first thing her lips could spell, expressing her confusion with an underlying sense of skepticism.

"No, of course not! Just say the word and we'll call the whole thing off and go home right now." Yang knew there was a catch.

She didn't respond.

"Well then, lets get this show on the road."

"Wait, I don't want to do this." Weirdly enough those words came straight from Yang's mouth, as much as she didn't believe it, but as their meaning caught up to her brain she realized that what she said was true.

"Such a fickle little girl. But, if that's what you want then, all right. On your first day too. I can only imagine how Ruby will fare..."

"What!?"

"I just mean there's always your sister if we don't work out." the malicious woman said so blase, like it wasn't a big deal. But it was, and they both knew that.

"No, that's not- I-" she tried to protest, though even if the devilish woman didn't cut her off she still wouldn't have gotten out more than stuttered words and frenetic gestures.

"Did you know that I didn't want you?" Yang was still angry, though more desperate, but she could only pray that this wasn't going where she knew it would. "I wanted your sister, but, well, when it came down to it, I guess they cared about her more."

"They guarded her like Mannie does his elk antler." The crazy person still stood a distance apart, and she accented what she said with a pat to said Grimm's bony skull. "But you? Well, you were left alone when it was all said and done. I just decided to swoop you up as a unfortunate consolation prize." Yang's heart broke in two then. Was that true? Yang was allowed to be captured? That Uncle Qrow and Father specifically protected Ruby, but not her?

"They don't care about you. Your father wasn't there when I found you. Your Uncle wasn't either. They were with her."

Her mind whispered in her ear. Yang cared for nothing more than her baby sister... she would always be her baby sister, and protecting her and caring for her was the least she could do for her.

"I have to say though, you have impressed more than my highest expectations. You've done well so far."

If- if it had to go one way or the other, Yang or Ruby, if Yang had to decide which one she would rather live with, then her father did the right thing. Uncle Qrow did the right thing. Ruby was more important than her. That was true. Yang knew that. She could accept that. Why then, could she not stop crying!?

"Hahaha, you're such a silly little girl... Wipe away your tears. They will only prove cumbersome against Mannie."

"I'm not going to fight a stupid Grimm!" Tears continued to cascade down her face, and they showed no signs of holding back. Yang had cried more in the past month than she had her whole life. She hated herself for that; if she couldn't be strong for herself, then how was she supposed to be strong for Ruby?

"That's fine... Just go lay down for awhile. Rest up. I'll be back in a bit; just have to run an errand, is all."

"Fine! I- I..." Short hyperventilated breaths poured out in droves as Yang continued to weep into the rubber grip. She forced in a single deep breath, letting it out slowly to calm herself, but with each lengthier breath tears only seemed to find a new spark to set it off again. "I'll do it... I'll do whatever you want, ju- just don't bring Ruby into this... Please..."

"That's a good girl..."

Yang threw the tears out of the arena, taking a minute to steady herself on the ground, one foot planted in the ground and one out in front. The knife was gripped tightly in her right hand - too tight even, as it blistered in her trembling body. White was swallowed within the dark miasma emanating from the beast, until the only part of it visible were its two piercing orbs. She stared into the endless eyes of the Grimm, red bursting from its skull - they were hungry. There was no life to them, no conviction or care or feeling of emotion at all. They said one thing, and one thing only.

Kill.

To what extent should Yang accept this term? She was lost.

Bloodthirsty, it salivated, but it didn't tug or yank against the chains. It just sat obediently by Cinder, awaiting her command to prey upon a little girl. Cinder removed its muzzle.

This was happening. It was too late to turn back now. It wasn't just her life at stake here.

Were it, Yang might have gone down without a fight. She might have dropped the knife intentionally or not, and there would be nothing that could stop a flesh-eating Grimm but Cinder's own mercy.

And yet against everything Yang nailed into herself she still resisted one last time. "I can't do this."

"Of course you can, and you will. Because you don't have a choice." Not a choice worth considering.

Yang steeled herself as much as she knew how, the lone knife held ruggedly in her right hand, eyes locked in a fierce determination.

"Earlier, you had asked why you were still alive. Well, I'll show you. This-" A sword materialized in Cinder's hand, "this is why you're here. To prove your worth to me. Don't let me down, all right?"

And in one clean motion, the chain was cut, and the Grimm was loose.

Her eyes shut closed as a pitch black blur flashed before her. Yang jumped wildly to the side as it stampeded towards her; the knife was still there clenched in her right palm, and her left hand was somewhere by her side. The monster turned around towards her but it didn't lunge, instead eyeing her intently.

Her eyes scanned the arena hastily; up, down, left, right, but the Grimm was already on her before anything came to mind. Instincts threw her aside, but she struck the ground awkwardly as she roared from the bottom of her abdomen.

It was both of fear and adrenaline, but it was of no importance as it turned to a cry of pain. It was little in comparison, just a scratch on her arm; instantly, she recovered and stood opposite of the Grimm, this time more prepared for another assault.

She could try and do this a few more times; she wasn't tired or injured but that didn't mean that she wouldn't be soon. Stamina was a limited resource, as was will, and both could take a drastic fall at any given moment.

It put her on a clock, because her opponent was not likely to become fatigued and only she would be put at a disadvantage the longer she waited to make her move.

So she didn't.

A plan formulated in her mind - more of a whim really - and so she narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath. The Grimm charged and accelerated towards her, growls of death pouring from its snout.

Yang's left foot took a large step forward, the knife still equipped in her right hand, left balled into a fist and sweat dripping from her forehead.

She didn't underestimate her enemy, but nor did she overestimate; even after two times it should still do the same thing. Grimm were mindless, her father had once told her, and he never lied to her... Except once.

But Yang dispelled those thoughts; doubt was in the past, as was weakness.

It was even faster than Yang had anticipated. It slid towards her and swung its claws horizontally. Yang sidestepped and kept her body down but still barely managed to dodge the blow. It seemed to cut off a few locks from her hair as well, she deducted after a twinge of pain. Her knife hit home, but only managed to bounce off the sporadic armor of the Grimm.

It wasn't enough to dishearten Yang though, and it was clear that she would be overwhelmed by force if she stopped there. With such a thought in mind, she kept her center of gravity low and moved beside the snarling monster, attempting to strike at the exposed flank of the abdomen.

It was for naught as the monster lunged immediately - its breath fell upon the blonde, scentless, but it made her gag regardless - and Yang just narrowly avoided the jaws that were stained with blood, no doubt from other poor, helpless victims.

She wouldn't be one of them.

If one's resolve was strong enough then anything was possible - hers was - and there was no nobler a cause than hers - definitely not this abomination's afternoon lunch. This beast would fall to Yang's necessity.

She held those beliefs close as she brought the knife up to her mouth, biting hard down on the blunt end of the blade. She kept her jaw shut as tightly as possible, even as it nicked her lip, so the weight of the hilt wouldn't pull the whole thing out. Afterwards, it occurred to her that she should have done it by the handle, but it was too late to rearrange now.

Adrenaline coursed through her veins, and she pushed her legs harder than she had ever done before, leaping into the air straight towards the exposed back of the Grimm. In a miracle she mounted its back without a hitch, all ten nails digging deeply into the flesh and fur of the Grimm as she held on for dear life.

It rocked and bucked but it could not shake the girl off. With one hand she took the blade from her mouth, and then as the beast slowed down she gripped the blade with both hands and thrust it as hard as she could downwards.

It struck true as the tearing of flesh assailed her ears. Right between the two soulless crimson eyes blood oozed out of the wound, and Yang immediately shut her eyes. Although it wasn't human, or even living really, it was too much for her to look at.

Nevertheless, I won!, was the first thing that popped into her mind.

Yang soon - but perhaps too late - realized that was false. In pain the Grimm bucked her off, as she wasn't holding on with either hand anymore. She hit the ground unfavorably, painfully, a stinging pain rising through her. The uneven earth of rock and sandstone scraped across her, a thin layer of blood coating her bare left shoulder.

The wound, however superficial it was, roused Yang to a realization of the meaningless state of her retaliation. There was so minuscule amounts of pain that it could barely even be considered a flesh wound, and yet, the growing awareness of one thing overtook her head.

If the keeper of this Grimm, the one called Cinder, was as horrible and cruel as she seemed, as relentless and unmerciful as she dawned, what would prevent her from lying about Ruby? What would stop her from ransacking Patch the second Yang buckled under the force, or doing so even if Yang didn't? There was nothing that could convince Cinder to yield except her own amnesty.

Yang staggered to her feet dizzily. The apparition of evil and malice and deformity lingered near, thrashing wildly about. Blood splattered across its face, and perhaps that was blocking its vision, as it was clawing and lunging blindly.

In the moment as Yang gathered herself it recovered, explosively charging towards the fragile girl. She didn't move, not because she froze from the trepidation or anxiety but because it didn't matter. She glanced to her left, an austere and frigid mien adorning the tormentor of both her real world and her dream world.

Yang looked back into the pronounced glaring red orbs of the atrocity, blood still gushing from the wound. It was rapidly closing the distance between the two of them, and Yang gritted her teeth until the moment where she would be released from this world.

"Remember what happens if you fail, Yang."

I remember. And I accept it.

It was in that moment, as the Grimm threatened to clash with her, as the words of the woman who had been silent this whole time drifted from her consciousness, as she closed her eyes for her impending sacrifice, that Yang was entrapped by an interrupted white flash.

There were vague shadows in the bottom of her field of vision that she could just barely make out. It was her, and Ruby. As the image cleared up more, Yang absorbed it.

Under the fiery red sunset, Yang was walking down a path between the wheat fields. The one holding her right hand was the young girl that was her sister. Instantly, the picturesque scene triggered those lost memories in Yang. It was the day after their mother didn't return home; their father was drunk in the living room, Uncle Qrow was probably out at some bar, but Yang spent that entire night with Ruby. They slept in some hay in a nearby barn, holding each other close to stay warm. They ate a homemade meal that Yang had packed them, but it tasted so bad that the two of them laughed about it for hours.

The material things... those were what Cinder could take from her. But she couldn't steal her memories or dignity, Yang could only do that to herself.

And that was what she was doing wasn't she? Robbing herself from memories upon memories and the chance to make more. She couldn't experience the joy of life if she fell here. All she needed was another chance, but she would never get that in the stomach of some Grimm.

Having that thought, red eyes shot open; a blur of black lunged at Yang, less than a yard away. Instantly, Yang ducked to the side as it skid against the ground, and the knife in her right hand that she had forgotten had even existed suddenly began slashing in an arc.

It was impossible to tell what happened next. The full length of the dagger was soaked with blood in her hand and as she looked back towards the downed Grimm she finally realized what she had just done. It was so inconceivable that Yang almost didn't believe that was actually her. The front right leg of the Grimm had been cleanly severed from the rest of the limb, and the beast was screeching in pain.

I won!

As she made that thought, she blinked. In Yang's mind, there wouldn't have been much of an opening. Yang would still be recovering after a swing, and the enemy, having been mortally wounded, would be unable to fight any longer.

That was what would have happened if Yang was fighting anything that she would have hesitated waving a knife against. Something living, something with a soul that could feel the same kind of pain as she.

But Yang didn't hesitate. She didn't hesitate because a Grimm wasn't really alive, because it didn't have a soul. And it didn't feel pain.

Yang foolishly forgot about that.

The Grimm with its leg chopped off was different from something with living flesh, as it did not stop for even a moment. Its flashing crimson eyes didn't show any particles of fear nor overwhelming hatred - just emptiness. The rich red blood flowed out from the wound as a scalding roar-

"Gauuaaaa!"

And too quickly slashed with its claws.

Yang couldn't dodge the incoming horizontal blow in time. The tips of its hooked talons rent a long gash across from her left shoulder to her abdomen, and the pressure alone sent her flying back at lightning speed.

She bashed against a tree and the recoil threw her to the ground. She groaned as she lay prostrate, struggling to get back up but too exhausted.

No... I guess I wasn't meant to... anymore...

It was too late... Yang kept thinking that she had to stand up, to stand up and fight, but her body just couldn't move. The pain was unreal. Or, rather, it was real. Her scream; it had a raw quality to it, the realness of a person consumed by pain that knew no end or limit.

But it wasn't painful because of the long tears of her garment or that it was soaked with magenta, but because of what it was. It was, above all else, where Yang's dreams were shattered. Right when she thought she had won, they were stripped away from her, and that killed her. The memories of Ruby, of her family... They would all be gone soon.

And Yang? Would memories of Yang sustain? Cinder might remember her, but would Ruby, her father, Uncle Qrow, the baker in downtown Patch, that schoolboy who she had a crush on? Would they remember her?

The answer was yes. Yes they would remember. But not as the wild girl who got into trouble on weekends or the sunny little dragon that never stopped smiling, no matter how down thing got. They would remember her as the "poor little girl who was abducted". It wasn't like Yang had some legendary legacy to be printed in every history book for the rest of time, but she just wanted to remembered by someone more than Cinder, and perhaps that was selfish.

Yang's red eyes fell shut. As the pitch black darkness flashed within her lids Ruby appeared before her, one hand outstretched towards her. A sorrow and concerned look covered her face and she said,

"Are you okay?"

Yang wanted to say 'it's just a scratch', but her stiff tongue and her lips formed the words but nothing escaped.

"Don't leave me."

At those words ringing in her head, she blinked her eyes open and looked up. The Grimm lurked nearer and nearer at every fraction of a second, limping without one leg and probably intending to enact revenge for that sleight.

I'm sorry Ruby...

The light but pounding footsteps stopped in front of her. The air was rumbling, and she felt the large presence just above her. Yang's eyes drifted closed and hope waned. However, after a long while, the blade of the guillotine never dropped. That was when something surprising happened.

"That's enough."