A/N: Okay, a bit longer this time. I think I've finally got things working here. Hopefully shouldn't be so long until the next update! Thanks again t everyone who has favourited, followed, reviewed or advised me - you are all absolutely great people, and your responses are humbling and inspiring. Thank you all.
Also, my dear Blakey...I'm sorry.
Rooster Teeth own RWBY and all related characters and locations.
Time had become a vague concept to Blake since her capture. The harsh light violently stabbing into her eyes made sleep impossible, and the small room she'd been locked in had no windows or skylights. That said, she was able to make an educated guess as to the time by gauging her own weariness - she was feeling mind-numbingly tired, meaning she'd probably been awake now for some twenty-three hours, putting the time at roughly 8 a.m. She'd been given only occasional cups of water as sustenance, so she felt immeasurably hungry as well.
An hour later, Adam finally came back to her, flanked by two other White Fang soldiers.
"I'd say it's time to wake up, but you don't look like you slept at all, my love," he pointed out with a cruel chuckle. "Hopefully now you'll be a little less resistant to my plan. I assure you, it will be the ideal way forwards - assuming you survive, of course."
Blake simply looked at him, her eyes unfocussed, her brow furrowing in confusion.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked weakly, and Adam gave a small shake of his head.
"Because I need you to help me test this, of course." His grin was cold and sinister, without a trace of any real humour. "I couldn't have you struggling the whole way through this, so I had to keep you awake until fatigue did the work for me."
He gestured to the two who had followed him in, and opened the door again.
"Bring her," he ordered, "the rest of the equipment is ready. We can finally get this started."
Blake was led out, half-stumbling, to the main storage area once again, where a strange piece of equipment had been set up and connected to a pair of small generators. It resembled a hospital bed, except with several restraints attached to it, and mounted onto one side was a strange machine - a large cylinder, at the bottom of which was a slender needle, hung motionless over the bed section, while behind that was a console of some kind. Blake couldn't see it properly, since it was the other side of the device from her, but she assumed it was where the controls and inputs were. She struggled against her captors, but no sleep or food had left her weak and uncoordinated. All she managed to do was delay the inevitable.
When they arrived at the device, another White Fang soldier tore the sleeve from her left arm and stabbed a syringe into her skin, and almost the instant he'd depressed the plunger Blake felt a crawling pain spreading through her veins. She cried out as the spread like wildfire through her entire body, and her captors took that opportunity to lift her onto the table and fasten the restraints.
"I know it hurts, my darling," Adam told her, his voice like barbed silk. "But it's a necessity. The chemical you've been injected with is part of the process - it allows your aura to bond with the dust once it's infused into your skin, giving you control over it. Consider this pain part of your penance for your betrayal."
The two that had brought her to the machine finished locking down the restraints, the last two keeping her arms still, with her hands palm-down against the 'bed'. They nodded to Adam and stepped away, and the White Fang leader turned to a tiger faunus wearing a lab coat.
"Everything should be ready now," he told the woman, who was tying her black-and-tan striped hair back. "Do not disappoint me."
"I can't make promises sir," she replied, her accent betraying her Vacuo origins. "You know this is both experimental and unstable. She could be killed, if the dust reacts unfavourably with her aura."
"It's a risk I'm willing to take. Get to work."
He turned on his heels and walked away, giving orders to the rest of his group, while the tiger faunus began her work.
At around the same time, the rest of the team were slowly waking up and beginning their morning routine, but for once Yang was up and about quicker than the others.
"C'mon guys, I don't want to waste any time," she said hurriedly, and Weiss scowled at her.
"We are not going on another hunt for Blake without having breakfast first," she demanded, "it'll keep our energy up. Besides, it is the most important meal of the day."
"But we can get something in Vale," Yang whined piteously, and Weiss resisted the urge to slap the tall blonde.
"Yang, we are not skipping breakfast just so you have an excuse to get some disgusting fast food on the way through Vale."
"We need to find Blake!" Yang snapped indignantly, but Ruby spoke up in support of Weiss' argument.
"Yang, Weiss is right," she told her sister gently. "You won't be any good to Blake if you pass out before we find her. We'll get some breakfast then head out straight away, okay?"
The brawler simply growled in response, almost tearing the door from its hinges in her haste to get to the cafeteria.
Weiss and Ruby shared a concerned glance, before following the raging blonde down the hall.
For the first time in a long time, Blake knew agony that would not end. Thin rivulets of blood trickled down her right arm and tears spilled down her cheeks as the machine worked, injecting the dust grains into her skin in the same fashion as a tattoo needle - just without the benefit of any ink. Her aura, unstable as it was, offered no protection from the pain, and couldn't work to heal the damage until it stabilised - and it wouldn't stabilise until the chemical wore off.
And worse, Blake knew she would have to endure the same on the other arm.
She closed her eyes, silently begging for release, and knowing it would not come.
The trip from Beacon to Vale had been...eventful. Yang had been so frustrated that at first she was pacing up and down the airship's cabin, then ranting that she could get herself to Vale faster using Ember Celica's recoil. After that, Weiss and Ruby had to physically restrain the brawler from blasting her way into the cockpit and threatening the pilots to make it go faster. They'd managed it, but only just - had they not landed when they did, things could have become very messy.
"So where do we start looking?" Ruby asked, trying to work out a plan. "Should we split up, or-"
"I don't know if that is such a good idea," Weiss interrupted. "We don't know where Blake is, if she's in trouble or where she might be. If we're going to look for her, we should stick together."
"I don't care, I'm going to find her," Yang said, storming past the two shorter girls. "This is my fault, so I'll damn well fix it."
"Not without us, Yang Xiao Long!" Weiss stopped Yang in her tracks with a hand braced against the taller girl's chest, and the blonde clenched her fists.
"Weiss, move." Yang's voice was dangerous, her irises flicking to red in an instant. To her credit, Weiss stood her ground.
"Listen to me, you thug, we are not going to achieve anything by storming off and shooting everything that moves," the fencer criticised. "We do this as a team - Blake is our friend as well, and our team-mate. You are not the only one who is concerned about her."
Yang clenched her fists tighter, until her nails bit into her palms.
"Fine," she rasped, her irises still not returning to their normal violet. "Where are we going?"
"Well, we found her at the docks last time, maybe we should start there this time?" Ruby offered, and Weiss shrugged noncommittally.
"It's as good a place to start as any," she told the young brunette. "Let's get moving. We can keep an eye out for her while we're on our way."
Their plan decided, Yang immediately stormed off again, heading in the direction of the docks, leaving Weiss and Ruby to hurry after her.