Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, nor do I profit financially from this work of fanfiction.

WARNINGS: Rated M for language, violence, mature themes, sexual themes, and shoujo-ai/yuri.

AN: So, as of writing this I am still open for people to help proof/edit this story of mine. I seem to be doing okay thus far, but I do appreciate having more than just my eyes reading over things; you get new perspectives. So, gonna get right into this, 'cause we're going in HOT! Might be a little dark tho... just sayin'...

Credits (aka. Betareaders/Proofreaders/Editors/etc): N/A

RWBY: Cat's Out of the Bag

Chapter 3

"I used to be part of the White Fang."

The silence that followed that blunt, revealing admittance could have made a mausoleum seem loud. Blake's eyes turned away the moment she finished letting the words leave her lips, except that perhaps 'letting' implied what she had done had been a reasonable, rational-if-misguided decision. Truth be told she really wasn't sure what compelled her to bring this up now of all times. She could hear the blood pounding in both sets of ears, still not releasing her hold on the countertop behind them. This was fear; she was afraid in a way that took her back to somewhere she didn't want to be, and yet again she'd brought it upon herself.

Only instead of her target of her fear moving aggressively towards her, this target was moving away. At least that's what the movement of Weiss' feet out of the corner of her eyes would indicate. Glancing up, Blake's eyes widened at the expression of the Heiress: eyes were wide as saucers, skin all the more pale like ice through the snowy woman's veins, and she was backing up, away from her, towards the door…

...oh, wait, that wasn't good; the gravity of just how badly this could go wrong sank in, and with an almost whimpering tone:

"Weiss-"

A small glyph appeared before the Heiress, and before Blake could react Weiss had flung the contents of the coffee-cup right at her. Scalding hot coffee in and of itself was not a terrible problem from this distance, but the glyph had quickly solidified it into an improvised piercing weapon, effectively creating a spear of iced coffee. Or perhaps a rapier, for it seemed that the Heiress was not launching it at the surprised Faunus, just towards her before grabbing the end and wielding it like her own blade, Myrtenaster. Were Blake not fearing now for her life, she might have been fascinated by that little trick of hers; she had to have had a small amount of ice-dust somewhere on her…

"Weiss, I'm not here to hurt you!" Blake belted the words out quickly and assuredly. "I promise, I swear! I'm not even armed!"

Words seemed to fall on deaf ears; Weiss' blade was held unwaveringly in Blake's direction, anger and a tinge of fear in her eyes, fighting for which one would take over. Jaw was clenched tight, locking her voice away behind the unyielding, shut orifice. Blake may not have been armed, but she certainly wasn't helpless; if the Heiress came at her, Blake was making sure she was getting out of there alive.

"Think about it Weiss: what do I have to gain by telling you this?!" Blake was a bit angry now, though at whom was unclear, be it herself or her teammate. "What sort of end-game could possibly involve me telling you this?! RARGH! I'm such an idiot!"

She wanted to run. She really wanted to run. She could be gone, without a trace, if only she could get past the Heiress without provoking a fight. Clones or no, Blake did not like testing her capabilities against an armed, angry opponent, particularly with those glyphs controlled by said opponent.

"Five minutes," Blake's ears perked again, the tempestuous storm of her own self-loathing staved off by the Heiresses whispered words. "You have five minutes to explain yourself. I'll consider whether to get Ozpin and the police involved then."

Okay, so surprise, surprise; things were going better than it could have. So five minutes…

"...I don't- Where do you want me to start?" Blake responded, almost without thinking as she forced herself to relax as best she could.

"How long?"

"Uh… how long for-"

"How long since you left?!"

"A month… month and a half, maybe," Blake glanced away nervously and grumbling to herself. "This is off to a wonderful start…"

Indeed, the Heiress' jaw could hardly tighten any further without shattering her teeth.

"When did you join? Why would you join those… those monsters?!"

Blake's teeth grit tighter and for a moment Blake looked angry. But she bit her tongue back, taking a deep breath and giving her a firm look.

"I didn't choose to join them; the White Fang are the ones who raised me," Blake answered with an eerie calm to her tone. "I don't know who my parents are; I never knew them. I'm told they found me, alone, abandoned, barely alive. They took me in - they took in a lot of Faunus orphans, and seventeen years ago, with the way the Faunus were treated, there were a lot of orphans like me - and they took care of me communally. Every woman was my mother, every man my father, and every child my sibling; they nursed me, fed me, clothed me, educated me, trained me… they were my family…"

Blake's jaw tightened again and she shot the Heiress a look, only this time she didn't hold her words back.

"And they weren't monsters!" she spat, standing up straight and strong, despite the re-leveled blade - previously dropped low as she listened - aimed at her throat. "They were activists! They wanted equality! They-"

"Shut up!I" the Heiress' turn to become impassioned, stepping forward with the blade of ice unwavering. "Activists don't steal entire trains filled with dust! Activists don't assassinate family friends and board members!"

"They weren't always that way!"

"They've been at war with my family for generations!"

"We were 'fighting' non-violently for equality! After a war where humans tried to enslave us! Your family and many others were treating us like animals!"

"And then you showed us all you're just a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!"

"Well what did you think would happen?!" Blake was shouting right back at her, regardless of the impromptu ice weapon leveled still upon her. "I was at every rally, part of every boycott, every protest, since I was able to walk, and do you know what happened? Peaceful protests were met with armed resistance and lethal force! Quiet rallies were disrupted with dangerous and disfiguring dust-powered grenades from Schnee-bought mercenaries and Atlas soldiers! Boycotts barely made a difference because the companies often refused to serve us anyway! Our attempts at peace and equality were met with violence and subjugation!

"So maybe we were finally tired of being pushed around!"

Blake was screaming even as her vision blurred; stinging tears welled up and spilled out across her cheeks. Again she found herself regretting the impulsive decision that had led to this; why, oh why did she do this? Truly, what had possessed her to blurt out her secret so brashly and bluntly to the one person in all of Beacon that was sure to have the worst possible reaction to this? At this point it was… ah, whatever; she'd already dug a grave if she had, why hold back now?

"Peace got us nowhere! What were we supposed to do?!" her voice continued to unravel from it's righteous indignation. "We were hurt! We were angry! I watched my family being murdered and abused just because they wanted to be treated with basic human decency! And then he steps up and overnight everything changes! You humans made us out to be monsters and beasts, so we donned the masks of monsters to become the beasts you said we were!

"You started to respect us because you were afraid! We were equals because of fear! Your businesses sold to us because they risked reprisal otherwise! We did to you humans what you had done to us for generations and it worked!" her knees couldn't hold her anymore; her body felt like it was going limp and weak, but she was well beyond the point of caring. "But that wasn't enough for him! He wanted revenge, he wanted you to pay for everything! It wasn't enough to go after discriminating businesses, bigots, and oppressors; he wanted genocide and everyone listened to him!

"And I couldn't stop him…" Blake's voice began to choke, her throat tightening as the lump formed in it. "He was… I couldn't… I tried I… I didn't want it, I… I am not a murderer…"

"I am not his love!"

She didn't realize it at the time, but those would be her last words for the night as that lump in her throat finally broke after that last ounce of confidence leaked through into her declaration. It seemed this was an all-too-frequent occurrence of late; her ears were drooped, her eyes turning red and blurry, her cheeks staining red as tears ran down them tumultuously paired with her cries. Unlike before she felt little reason - or perhaps was too far gone instead - to stop it.

In finally allowing the words to flow forth from her lips, Blake realized just how alone in the world she was. The only family she'd ever known had become the monsters they had only sought to emulate, radicalizing their once peaceful ideologies towards genocide. The only one she'd ever loved, the one who'd held her heart - once passionately, then suffocatingly, finally hostage - was now her greatest threat with her betrayal. Now more than ever she had nobody, save the characters in her books, but did she really think that would suffice now? Her heart was hurt and heavy, she missed the people she'd once called family whom only saw her as foe now... she was scared.

And to her, all of these feelings, all of this pain, could have been avoided with the help of a little, black, bow...

The dam upon the feelings she had been trying to squash finally broke; Blake's hands covered her face as every ounce of negative emotion came streaming out in her cries. A decade and more of suffering, years of pain and loss and sadness, the isolation, the loneliness, the heartbreak, the years of escapism, all seemingly catching up to her right there in that very moment. The hurt was felt in every cry, and yet it was heard by none but one so late that night and so far from the dorm-rooms proper.

Too far gone into the depths of her woe, it was Blake's ears that first brushed against the fabric backed by warmth and softness, unaware save on an instinctual, basic level that she was being drawn into an embrace. With a mind of their own Blake's arms wrapped around her embracer, digging tightly into shirt and flesh beneath as her face found it's way firmly into breast, muffling her cries and soaking her tears. None of this registered with her as everything kept flowing forth exhaustively and relentlessly, so powerfully and for so long she didn't even notice as the world around her began to fade…

Throbbing was the first thing the faunus noticed; Blake's entire head was throbbing, intensely. A headache - possibly a migraine but she had yet to open her eyes - a powerful stinging in her eyes and cheeks, her shoulder and hip ached from pressure and her body weight, and her spine felt like it was twisting up. But at least her pillow was warm…

...wait, she didn't remember going to bed last night. In fact - as the events of the evening prior snapped back into the forefront of her mind - Blake's eyes popped open to a vision of white, blue, and red instead of the wooden underside of Yang's bunk.

'Oh no…'

Blake panicked and activated her semblance, throwing herself backwards and into the base of the central island countertop with a crash, as the girl that she had been clinging to was awoken from having dropped bodily to the ground briefly. Thankfully for both of them neither had hit their head on the hard surfaces, and with years of reflexes and training behind both of them both were sitting upright upon the floor of the kitchen, eyes darting around to assess for threat. Blake noticed the large coffee stain upon the floor nearby, as if the coffee had been left to dry over the course of hours, the cup nearby, upright. Light peaked in from the window - it was morning, early, by the angle. Weiss was shocked awake, then calmed, then eyes snapped open at the flattened-eared faunus currently staring at her.

Blake wasn't terribly sure why she didn't run out of the kitchen just then; that would have been the perfect time to get away.

"You!" Blake found herself accosted by a finger brandished at her, a slight feeling of deja vu passing over her. "Couldn't you have woken me gentler?!"

"Woken you? Woken you?! You were sleeping with me in the middle of the kitchen!" Blake's eyes somehow snapped even wider. "You were sleeping with me?!"

"You passed out while crying and wouldn't let go of me! What was I supposed to do?!"

Blake found herself confused again, and it was then that she realized whose breast it was she was crying into for gods knew how long.

"Oh…" was all she could say, eyes glancing away from the Heiress as her ears wilted once more with her expression. "...I'm sorry about that."

"Oh please, you weren't even really there after you started yelling," Weiss' words were blunt, but her tone betrayed a reservation in the Heiress that Blake easily picked up on. "How are you feeling?"

A beat or two passed in silence…

"Wonderful," Blake grumbled sarcastically as she finally pushed off of the floor, getting to her feet. "Who doesn't enjoy a good emotional breakdown and sleeping with a relative stranger cuddled on a kitchen floor?"

"Clearly you are doing well if you can afford to be sarcastic," Weiss too joined her on her feet, wincing a bit as she put weight on what was apparently an asleep leg.

Another beat in silence passes…

"Weiss-"

"Blake-"

Both spoke at the same time, but Blake was the first to allow the Heiress first rights to speaking. Weiss in turn seemed to take the offer earnestly.

"Look, you were really upset and crying and that was the only thing I could think of to do," Weiss began, shifting uncomfortably - though from what Blake could see it was likely due in part to some stiff muscles from the aforementioned sleeping upon the hard floor. "And before you ask: no, I'm not going to call the police."

Oh thank the gods! Blake finally let out a breath she'd been unknowingly holding.

"But I am telling Ozpin!"

"Um, he knows already."

"...what?"

"Ozpin knows people; he has connections, and I popped up on certain reports fairly frequently, apparently," Blake explained, rubbing her sore hip as she did. "I applied after I left… my family. I was allowed to test in on the condition that I never wore my bow."

"Your bow?"

Blake pointed to the black ribbon tied neatly around her forearm, in addition to the bands and straps and ribbons already criss-crossing her forearm.

"I wear… used to wear a bow, to hide my ears. It made a lot of things easier when people thought you looked human, particularly when it came to avoiding… problems," problems such as the last three days for the faunus. "I actually spoke to Glynda yesterday about… how to tell everyone on the team about… my past."

And now she was wondering if - during that brief interaction and unbeknownst to her - she had somehow been bewitched by the Goodwitch of Ozpin's tower…

"Look, can we talk about this some other time?" Blake whipped out her scroll and checked the time. "If yesterday was any indication, then we have… five minutes before our teammates are waking up and wondering where we were. Also we're not the best dressed for everyone else…"

Weiss seemed like she wanted to say something, but bit back her tongue with a frown and held up an accusatory finger.

"This isn't over, Blake Belladonna," Weiss proclaimed. "I may not be reporting you to the police, but we are talking about this more before I can say everything is okay. And I'm having words with Ozpin for not telling me when I got here!"

"Sure," Blake sighed to hide the eye-rolling that was itself to hide the growing throbbing in her head. "Just don't threaten me with coffee next time."

"Hmph, just be glad I believe you're not out to hurt me at this point," Weiss retorted as she rounded on her heel and began to waltz her way past the coffee stain and mug and out the door...

Blake's ears twitched as she picked up the part that Weiss muttered under her breath though: "But that doesn't mean I trust you." Blake considered stopping to take care of the coffee staining the floor, ultimately deciding against it and instead following the Heiress - at a distance - and preparing for the day. She'd have to apologize to the cleaning staff sometime…

Masking one's emotions was apparently something that both Blake and the Heiress had in common, though the faunus would suspect it was due to drastically different circumstances. Suffice to say their teammates were none the wiser about the previous night, unless of course they happened to be better at lying than they let on (Yang she might could see, but Ruby? Inspiringly, refreshingly inept at lying convincingly). For the most part things seemed to be continuing as they were, which was to say she and Weiss weren't really talking much, which likely helped ease any awkwardness that night might have left between them in addition to all other obvious benefits.

The first week of classes seemed to pass in a flash; the first two days were… they were introductory, but the demonstration in Port's class was certainly the highlight of the introductions. Oobleck - Doctor, not Professor - was a fair third placement with his personality alone, and Glynda's sparring sessions were easily the second most interesting class, but lost to Port for those days with an absence of any actual sparring during the first class. Day four was, of course, a far more intriguing day as they got the chance to actually spar, and Blake got a chance to watch these Hunters in training show off their skill.

It was a fascinating series of displays; every student was clearly very capable (well, almost every as Pyrrha and Jaune's fight had shown), but some were clearly better than others. Her team and Team JNPR - sans Jaune, whom was just… just sad - seemed in a league of their own, but the rest were still more capable than the Atlas unmanned defense drones she'd become quite adept at dispatching with haste. Of them all, it would seem that Pyrrha shined as the most capable combatant, but what would one expect from a several-time international gladiatorial champion and prodigy? Ren demonstrated he was quite adept without a weapon, and from the perspective of raw skill was certainly beyond that of his foe, Nora. Nora however had substantially better conditioning and energy (Blake feared that Nora was sapping Ren's energy through some sort of spiritual vampirism), and would win through sheer tenacity.

Ruby and Weiss had been an interesting match; Weiss was the far more formally trained, Ruby seemed to have the better instincts, suggesting she was the more experienced (an impressive feat, two years the Heiress' junior). Both were quick, neither was an overwhelming powerhouse like Nora or Yang, one had one of the most dangerous weapons ever fathomed, the other had one of the most recognizable and diverse semblances ever recorded. Made for an interesting stage to be set, and without the rigors of combat plaguing Blake's immediate mind she could observe their prowess in more detail.

Unsurprisingly Weiss would be the winner; Ruby may not have been holding back, but she was also very clearly not wanting to hurt her partner. Come to think of it, Weiss and Pyrrha seemed to perform well against their human foes, but barring the near-death experience with the Deathstalker, Ruby had been a far more effective foe against the Grimm they'd fought, as had Nora. Now that she thought about it, Blake's tactics against the larger beast hadn't been terribly effective either… and her smaller-caliber rounds had seemed to faze it naught. They would have been quite useful for the foes she had been… trained to 'fight'.

She was starting to see why Ozpin referred to her as a 'hunter of men'...

But then it was her turn, against none other than-

"Who's ready for a catfight?!"

"Really Yang?"

"What? That was a good one!"

"No, it really was not," Blake hid her smirk as she reached up and switched Gambol Shroud's safety off. "Besides, if it's a cat fight, and I'm the only Faunus, doesn't that make you a 'pussy'?"

Yang's jaw dropped as Blake let her smirk show, but it was brief as the brawler's grin overtook her face once more. She actually seemed more excited now, which she wasn't sure whether that was good or bad…

"Ohoho! I knew you had it in you!" Yang slammed her fists together before taking up a ready stance. "Maybe knocking you around a bit will help bring that lovely sarcasm out!"

"Hm, if you can hit me," was Blake's rebuke as she too dropped low and ready, awaiting Glynda Goodwitch's notice to start the match.

The blonde's competitive spirit was a tad infectious, it would seem, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing! The buzzer to start set both of them into motion, and Blake's mind to racing. Yang came forth quickly, guard up and surprisingly light on her feet, but the girl was a boxer after all and such was the name of the game. Made Blake's job of dodging easier with how direct it was, but even so the jabs and crosses Yang started throwing were fast! Blake was faster yes, but a moment's hesitation and she'd receive one of those punches full-force.

Ducked one, sidestepped another, Blake drew Gambol Shroud and made a slash at Yang's hip in an attempt to slow her down, only to find it parried with one of her gauntlets. Seems she too had finely tuned instincts; apparently the Rose-Xiao-Long family had it running through their veins. The following left haymaker caught her semblance as she darted around to Yang's back and repeated the tactic to far greater success, though as expected of this bout Yang's semblance held firm. Yang spun and backed up briefly, a smile still on her face as Blake took the time to draw Gambol's sheath-blade with her left hand, sheathing her weapon as well in the process.

"Riiight… forgot you could do that, Blake-y!" Yang shook out her leg as she spoke, humor behind her vibrant, purple orbs. "Nice shot, won't work twice though!"

Was that perhaps a challenge? Blake didn't really have time to contemplate such as Yang dived right back in, forcing the faunus to block with her sheathed weapon. Repeatedly in fact; seems she'd switched up and started throwing a flurry, forcing Blake to absorb some blows with her semblance, and attempt a draw-cut like… like her 'teacher' had taught her to do. It made contact across the shoulder, but she couldn't get it back to her sheath in time before another one of her clones was taking a countering strike to the face and Blake was forced to back off. A quick observation showed that her shot had had little impact, even though she knew it was a solid hit… just how tough was Yang? Maybe it was her semblance? What was Yang's semblance anyway? All good questions, bad time to ask them as she had a match to win.

Change in tactics; Blake dashed forward and went on the offensive, and immediately Yang parried the first strike and started backwards, then parried her sheath-blade just as easily. She suspected Yang was a very aggressive fighter, so putting her on the defensive would put her at a disadvantage. And it worked, briefly; a shot from Ember Celica at close range forced her into dodging back once more, and just like that she was back to being under the pressure of Yang's onslaught. Blake grit her teeth as she shifted her weapon and started firing her small-caliber rounds in Yang's direction, scoring one hit but it did the job and let her put distance between them. Maybe if she caught her off guard now…

With a sidearm throw and a loud report from her weapon, the spinning blade of Gambol began it's flight towards her yellow foe, which as she suspected was easily dodged as Yang charged forward at her, rearing to strike her now that she was without her weapon. A tug on her ribbon and another report, and the spinning blade whipped back around and wrapped it's way around to the golden-haired beauty's back. The best part about her gamble with Gambol was that it paid off; a solid cut right across the back, a heavy hit to the girl's semblance before the tricky weapon found it's way back into her hand. For a moment Blake allowed herself time to enjoy her success…

...until she saw three small, golden strands of hair fall to the floor, and an astonished look on Yang's face as she noticed the same.

"RUN BLAKE!" a tiny voice called as loudly as she could, the familiar voice of Ruby Rose. "GET OUT OF THERE AND RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!"

The call was confusing until she glanced into the blood-red eyes of Yang's face. Then she remembered the Ursa she'd demolished for committing a similar offense.

"Oh…" Blake whispered audibly as her ears flattened in concern, which was turned into surprise and momentary panic as she noticed Yang had suddenly become a lot faster. "OH!"

She managed to put up a guard in time with her sheath, but it did little good as she found herself feeling as though the Nevermore they'd fought together had crashed into her headlong. She was off her feet and flying backwards from the hit, and her shoulder and elbow felt strained from the blow. Blake didn't remember her being this strong before; apparently getting pissed off turned her into someone downright superhuman! Blake grit her teeth again, but didn't have time to compose herself before the raging, fiery beast that was Yang Xiao-Long was upon her once more. Instinct kicked in and her semblance soaked another hit as she ducked down, slid to the side and brought her weapon up with the blade leveled point-first at Yang's neck, and-

Then she froze, stock still, every muscle locked up tight. What had she been just about to do? The querying didn't get much further than that; her moment of hesitation turned into an opening for the rampaging blonde, whose fist rocketed around and caught her with a corkscrew twist across the chin. Oh wow did that hurt as Blake was launched headlong into the ground, bouncing off the floor and totally off the ground, only to catch a follow-up uppercut that propelled her high into the sky. Momentum had her land into the upper portion of one of the walls instead of the ceiling or falling back to the ground perhaps, but stone and concrete didn't exactly serve as the best cushioning.

"Ow…" Blake managed through the pain of her entire body hurting while stuck in the wall. "Why does my everything hurt?"

"I told you to run! Yang really likes her hair, Blake!" Ruby's voice pierced through the rapidly forming headache. "Never mess with her hair!"

"Noted… ow..."

"I said I was sorry."

Blake continued to glare over the top of her book at the blonde, curling further into the corner of her bed as she did. She'd been doing this for quite some time, her ears flat and clearly demonstrating her irritation at the blonde.

"You punched me into a wall."

"To be fair you did cut my hair. Do you know how hard it is to take care of these beautiful golden waves?"

"It took Goodwitch ten minutes to work me out of the stone… with her semblance."

"...I can give you my share of tuna next time they're serving it?"

"Tuna does not…" Blake was meaning to say 'does not make everything better,' but really she'd be lying to herself if she said so. "...that is acceptable. You are forgiven your transgressions."

"Hooray! Team RWBY is happy and friendly again!"

"Ruby! You're being loud!"

"...Most of Team RWBY is happy and friendly again…"

"I heard that, you dolt!"

"Cat ears. Faunus hearing. Loud noises." Blake grunted from her comfy little corner as the bickering started up again. "Nevermind. Going to the library, see you all at dinner."

"I'll join you," surprisingly it was the studious Ice Queen who announced the intention to join in a trip to the library. "I need to find another source for the upcoming paper in Ooblek's class."

"Uh… Weiss that's… a month from now," Ruby stated from her spot hanging from her hanging bunk, confused. "Why would you need to work on it now?"

"Some of us value our grades Ruby," Weiss huffed as she stood and collected her notebooks and binders.

"Wait, we get grades on things?"

"Be quiet you!" Yang actually laughed at the glare that was given her by the Heiress.

"Blake's glares are so much better!"

"Ugh! Why do I even bother?" Weiss threw her bag over her shoulder and beelined it for the door. "Come on, Blake."

Blake sighed, but followed nonetheless. As she shut the door Ruby's joyous cries about how she and Blake were 'friends now' caught her ears, twisting her expression into a grimace. 'Friend' was quite a stretch; they were under a mutual understanding to not kill each other, sure, but there was of yet little relationship beyond that. The Schnee and she had reason to try and make this work too, or at least both had prior to her indiscrete disclosure last night. With any luck things would improve, though she was trying not to let her hopes get up.

The library was thankfully quiet, perhaps in part because it was the start of the year and nobody was really thinking of going to the library save for the quiet bookworms - see the faunus - and the hyper-studious - see the Heiress - of which neither was likely to make much of a scene. The first thing they did - or rather Blake did and then Weiss followed in kind - was pick out a secluded into some small nook of the library, then the Heiress split off to go find her new source. Blake considered finding another spot without her present for some actual personal quiet time, but the urge was fleeting as any reasonable person such as she would realize Weiss clearly wanted to chat. About what? Well, given three guesses Blake would end up with three correct answers…

The sound of a sizable book connecting roughly with the desk startled the reading faunus from her book. And what a book it was.

"You're going to use that as a source?"

"Why wouldn't I? It's thorough and a well-respected publication."

"...sure, go ahead." Blake went back to reading, though she didn't suspect she'd be at it long (mainly she wanted to finish out the page she was on before being forced to stop).

"Anyway, I actually just wanted a quiet, private place where we could continue our conversation from earlier this week," Weiss stated, as predictable as clockwork. "I meant it when I said we weren't done talking about this."

Blake sighed and dogeared the page she was on, shutting her book and setting it down away from her as she adjusted her posture. If she was going to have to deal with more inquiries from the Heiress, she might as well be comfortable.

"Go ahead; I'm sure that you've been thinking of questions to ask me all week."

"I have in fact," 'oh gods no' was Blake's immediate thought. "And the biggest question I have for you was… what all did you do?"

"...you're going to have to be a lot more specific, Weiss."

"Ugh! What sort of… 'assignments' did they give you? That's how they worked right? Some 'military' charade?"

"I wouldn't call it a 'charade'; they're very much an army of revolutionaries."

"Not the point, Blake!"

"I know. Relax and calm down; knowing you this is going to require the long story, and yes I'll start at the beginning…" Blake settled in with her arms across her chest, taking a deep breath before continuing.

She started with her youth: she was a protestor, boycotter, and rights activist. Whenever there was a gathering of people, a movement, she was right at the front with the rest of her 'family' pushing for equality and justice. It was a tale of an exercise in futility; she recalled more police intervention and violence than actual change, but still they were undeterred, still they persisted in their peaceful protests. Blake recalled posing the rhetorical question as to why having cat ears suddenly made a ten-year-old girl dangerous enough to warrant being beaten with a police stun-stick, but she couldn't remember if she'd actually gotten a non-rhetorical answer.

When she got to the part of A- his rise to leadership and power, she started being more specific. After all, she was older and able to remember them more, and overall there were less 'missions' taken by her during this time. She didn't go chronologically, instead describing how she'd participated in robberies, destroyed storefronts owned by discriminating humans, and freed faunus 'workers' sometimes bound in literal shackles in dangerous dust mines. Some of the missions, their recollection brought a smile to the feline's features, brief and fleeting as she moved forward into things she was… less proud of.

Throughout this Weiss' expression was completely stoic; Blake couldn't read her, and that was not something she was used to having be the case. Then again, she was a Schnee, and they were nothing if not stoic. It was almost surprising then as Blake found herself silent, unwilling to continue into the more… problematic areas of her history.

"Blake," Weiss queried coldly, her eyes narrowing - the first expression in quite some time. "Did you ever kill anyone?"

Blake considered a sarcastic remark about 'self-defense,' but bit her tongue instead.

"Blake."

"It's… complicated."

"No it's not! Either you killed someone or-"

"It isn't that simple!" Blake was growling now, ears flattening as her hands gripped the table. "Did I slit anyone's throat? No, no I didn't, okay? But that doesn't mean… doesn't mean I wasn't there…"

And now she felt ashamed; of all the things she regretted she and her 'family' had done, this was by far what she regretted most.

"Who?"

"I really don't-"

"Who?!" Weiss was on her feet and positively seething. "Tell me Blake!"

"My partner was… he insisted on carrying out every high-profile assassination himself," Blake finally admitted, but she could no longer look at Weiss' face. "He insisted I accompany him on every one."

Silence, but Blake didn't dare look up at the Heiress' face. She could imagine it right now, how horrified, sickened she must be by her. Truth was, Blake was probably more sickened with herself than the Heiress was, because she knew that if she had simply been stronger from the start…

"So the board members," Weiss offered up, her tone speaking of shock and disbelief. "The CEOs… father's friends, business partners… you just stood there and watched all of them die?"

"Yes."

"You…" the Heiress trailed off, but Blake still couldn't meet her eyes.

"He convinced me it was necessary, and I was so weak I believed him," Blake pulled her legs back up to her chest, hugging them close to her tightly. "I always believed him; he was always right, who was I to argue? The first few were slavers, murderers, so it was hard to justify saving them. The more he killed though, the less justified he seemed to me… but I couldn't disobey him. I could never disobey him.

"The last mission… he wanted to blow up an entire train filled with Schnee dust, crew and all. Atlas security robots was one thing, but the crew? I just… I finally couldn't stand by, so I cut the front of the train free from it's cargo, saving the crew who were just doing their jobs. And I ran, away from him, just like I always did… only this time it wasn't into a book or into the depths of my mind, but finally just… away!

"Now I'm here…"

And here - where she hoped to hide away, forget it all, and run from her past forever - it seemed everyone around her was determined to keep drudging up these memories frequently and often.

Blake found herself pulled up out of her little ball that she'd made, pulled by the Heiress who had taken a firm hold on her collar. Oh, the Heiress was quite angry now, utterly furious, not that Blake really expected her to feel differently.

"You! Do you hear yourself?! You 'couldn't disobey him'; you could have stopped whoever 'he' was any time you wanted!"

No, she couldn't have.

"You could have saved their lives!"

No, she couldn't have.

"But you just stood there and watched him kill them in cold blood! You're just as guilty as he is!"

Yes, she did, and yes, she was.

"Look at me Blake! Say something already!"

"There was nothing I could do," Blake finally looked up, her expressionless, emotionless eyes staring… it was unclear what she was staring at, but it looked as if it were somewhere that wasn't the Heiress' face, somewhere far, far off into the distance, or perhaps into another realm. "He wanted me to be his best assassin, the best in the White Fang. He was training me, but I didn't want to kill… but I could never disobey him, and I was punished for being weak."

Blake laughed, but it was like an echo from an empty room, devoid and hollow of any substance. She didn't register it at first, but Weiss' grip lessened until Blake was sitting back upright in her chair once more.

"He was right, he was always right: with what I am, and what I've done… who could possibly want me? What am I without him?"

Nothing.

End Chapter 3

AN: Okay, hopefully everyone enjoyed the chapter, even if it wasn't the most cheerful. Also please don't hate on Weiss; I assure you this isn't her just being a… well, one of many things, and it'll make sense as we go along (most everything here will, I hope). I know it's a bit different from the feel of the show, but as the warning at the top suggests I plan to handle this story in a mature fashion. Blake obviously is the most different, but I assure you that it is both for a good reason and also fairly IC given how things started off and have progressed. I might have to write up a full assessment at some point; writing psych-profiles of characters is something I oft enjoy. Anyway, hopefully it won't be almost a month for the next chapter, at least, that's my goal currently… and again I'm still open for betareaders and editors/other review staff, if anyone is interested.

A.W.R II