The Shadow Consumed By Darkness

Pt: II

In the orange glow of the evening sun, Blake Belladonna was following Ruby Rose through the remains of the city while staying hidden from her. It was fairly easy to track her, her bright red cloak was hard to miss. Leaping from rooftop to rooftop, she watched her pass the makeshift walls of the people who were stationed there. She ducked in and out of buildings as she discreetly followed her through the crowds; it was easy to sneak in and out of human armies. Most of the faunus had left the kingdoms for fear of being labelled as White Fang supporters; now living in smaller communities outside the protection of the last kingdoms, resulting in large Grimm attacks. She helped where she could when her path of hunting down Adam crossed with staying in some of these faunus towns.

She watched as Ruby entered the town hall and stayed in the shadows, her mind wandering as she waited for her to leave. Wondering what kind of woman Ruby had grown into; she saw a little of that when she tried to kill Weiss, but also saw that she cried afterwards. Obviously, Ruby was getting caught up in the flow of battle and she couldn't have known what was going on.

As the familiar red-cloaked woman left the hall, Blake followed her to the school and posted up in a building nearby; watching her as a group of people confronted her. Knowing exactly what was being said to Ruby with her enhanced hearing, she was about ready take out Gambol Shroud to take them out when the not-as-small-anymore woman began to fight them with ease. Watching her swing the metal pole around without any hesitation cemented that she wasn't the girl Blake used to know, she was a fully grown woman in the military.

After the sound beatdown, Blake followed her into the building where she slipped to the locker room, being reminded how easy it was to sneak past humans when they feel safe in their homes. Slowly rounding a set of lockers, she spied Ruby standing in front of a sink, pulling things out of a pouch. She was about to say something to Ruby when the woman pulled out a bottle and a needle. She watched as the woman put some of the substance into the syringe before wrapping a rubber tube around her arm and injecting it into her body.

Slipping out from behind the lockers, she slowly walked towards her, trying to piece together what she was witnessing. She watched as Ruby's bare shoulders tensed up for a few moments then relaxed as the drug worked its way through her system. A held breath released from her as she leaned on the sink for support. When she looked up to the mirror, she began to mumble into the reflection, Blake couldn't stop herself from shaking her head in disbelief. This was Ruby Rose, the leader of team RWBY, the small girl who got cookie crumbs all over the desk in their room and used her books to help level her weapon for fine-tuning, and she just watched her shoot up in the bathroom.

This war did more than kill people in the name of retaliation for mass murders, it stole the innocence from someone who Blake thought was her first true friend and a member of a family who accepted her for who she was, not what she was. She jumped when Ruby screamed out and slammed her fist into the mirror, creating a spiderweb of cracks into the glass. Amber met silver in the reflection and they simply stared at each other for a few moments before Ruby quickly grabbed the handgun that was on the sink, spun around in a flurry of rose petals, and aimed straight at her face.

Staring down the muzzle of a barrel, Blake put her hands up so that she knew she had nothing in her hands, nothing to hurt her with. Ruby gently swayed, probably from the drug she just injected. Slowly, Blake took a step towards her but Ruby jerked the gun towards her. "Don't." Her words were slow and slightly slurred. With a gentle nod, Blake retracted her step and kept her hands up. After another few moments of silence, Blake slowly opened her mouth to speak.

"Ruby-"

"Why are you here?" she asked. Blake could see her bloodshot eyes behind her black and red hair. A strange silver glow crept up behind her lashes, her eyes twitching slightly as she kept the handgun trained onto Blake. She could feel her ears twitching slightly as she tried to think of something to say so she didn't get shot, at this range she wouldn't be able to summon a copy fast enough to take the hit for her. With a gentle breath, she remembered the masked woman's words and she spoke; though she did not trust her voice, slightly cracking under the tension.

"I-I'm here to help you."

The scoff that came from Ruby's throat made her flinch. "Help me? If you wanted to help me, you should have let me kill Weiss." At those words, Blake could feel her own heart start to crack and fall to pieces. Tears began to sting the back of her eyes as she began to shake her head in disbelief.

"Why? She's your friend. She's our friend!" Blake cried out.

"She is the enemy!" Ruby screamed as she pointed the gun back at the cat faunus. "She is trying to kill us, so I need to kill her first! That's how war works, Blake!"

Blake was rocked back by her outburst. "You can't mean that, Ruby. You cried for her, I saw you," her voice cracked as it grew harder and harder to hold her tears at bay.

Ruby stopped moving for a second and let her head droop slightly in thought, as if trying to remember through the haze her mind must have become. "I had a small moment," she said slowly, "It's been a long day."

"I can see that," she said as she slowly gestured to the scars and the angry red veins of track marks inside the elbow of her right arm. Obviously, she's been doing this for a long time. "What are you doing to yourself, Ruby?"

She looked down at her own arm and shrugged lightly as she lowered the pistol slowly. "Aura stimulants," she replied, "Helps keep my Aura up..."

Blake shook her head gently and took a step towards her. "You need help, Ruby"

"I need help?" Ruby snapped at her, "You know who needed help? Yang." Guilt ate at Blake's mind, the mere mention of the older sister sent images of that night of Adam cutting her arm off with ease. "Where you were you when she needed you? Huh, Blake? You were her partner! You were supposed to be with her! But you ran!" Looking down at the ground, her ears straining to follow her emotions under her bow. She was about to say something when Ruby continued, "You want to help me, Blake?" She heard the gun get set on the sink and looked up at Ruby's back. "Run away… just leave. That's what you're good at."

She couldn't hold it in now, her vision blurring as hot tears began to drip from her eyes. They locked eyes once more in the cracked mirror for Ruby's last goodbye. "And if you get in my way again. You will be my enemy as well." With that, the last strings that held her heart together snapped and it shattered in her chest. Numbly, she turned and walked away from Ruby Rose the soldier. The girl she used to know now gone.

Quickly wiping her eyes with the back of her sleeves so she could see clearly, she held her breath so she wouldn't give away her position with her sobs as she ran past the soldiers and out into the deserted part of the city under the cover of night. Running until her legs gave out, she sunk to her knees and openly cried out. Sorrow freely flowed from her eyes as she hugged herself just to have something to hold onto. She didn't know how long she cried, her mind simply playing through all the moments her and her team had in the past.

Every smile and laugh from each of their team members, her friends, her family. Her whole body shook as her tears fell down her cheeks and were soaked up by her shirt. A sudden sound broke through the cracked sobs coming from her lips. Looking up, she saw a crow had perched itself on a street sign and blinked at her while tilting its head lightly. It cawed at her again and flapped its wings lightly before jumping down and began to fly down the street, stopping at the next sign and waiting for her.

Such an off feeling seemed to be coming from the bird. Blake slowly got to her feet and wiped the tears from her face. Slowly, she began to walk after it and when she got close enough, it flew down the street and waited for her again. This happened several more times before it dove into an alleyway. When Blake turned down the tight corridor, she lost sight of it around a corner.

Running to make sure it didn't get too far ahead, she turned the corner and skidded to a stop at the sight of a man sitting on top of a forgotten dumpster. His black hair had a few streaks of grey in it, a rough stubble graced his angled face. Deep crimson eyes stared at her as he looked like he had been waiting for her. Reaching into his pocket, Blake reached up for her weapon and both drew at the same time. Her weapon coming out to block a-

-flask. He raised his eyebrow at her as he uncapped it, downed a long sip of it, and took a deep breath. They stared at each other in silence for a few moments before he finally spoke. "How is she?" he asked, his voice a rough whisper that she didn't know how to answer properly. He knew that she had talked to Ruby, how was not a question that popped into her mind at the moment. Clearing her throat, she lowered her weapon and took a deep breath.

"Not good," she began, choking back the threat of tears once again, "She's shooting up something. She called it Aura stimulant." He sighed heavily and shook his head, his free hand coming up and cupping his face as his shoulders sagged in defeat. "What happened to her?" Blake asked as she took a step forward slowly.

"You know when they say war is hell?" he asked as he looked up at her, his eyes angry at everything around him, but mostly himself. "They are so wrong because at least in hell, the innocent are spared..." He then downed another mouthful of the drink in the flask before putting it away. They were silent for a few more moments before he spoke once more. "Right. Let's get this show on the road," he said as he jumped off the dumpster and dusted his backside off, "For whatever reason, Ozpin thinks that you're the one who can bring you girls back together, so let's get started." He began to walk down the alley. Blake shook her head quickly and ran to catch up to him.

"Wait, Ozpin is alive?" Blake asked as she walked next to him. The man simply nodded simply as he pointed out in a direction.

"Yeah, and he's a pain in the ass," he said simply, "Listen, Ozpin has a plan to save this world, and it all falls on the shoulders of team RWBY."

"Not really much of a team anymore," she whimpered slightly, "Ruby is an addict, Weiss is a soldier and Yang is missing her arm." Blake sighed deeply and shook her head.

"Well then, you'd better hurry," he said as he snapped his fingers in front of her face in order to get her attention. "In two days, there will be a ship leaving for Atlas, you need to make sure you're on it," he told her as he folded his arms over his chest, "Once you're there, we'll come find you and let you know the next part of the plan to get RWBY back together."

Blake shook her head in disbelief. "How can you be sure that this will work, that I can somehow fix everything?" she asked as she walked out in front of him and stared into his eyes.

"I'm not," was his terse reply, "but we have no other options. Get to Atlas." He then turned and began to walk down the street, waving his hand in a two finger salute before putting his hands in his pockets and walking back down the alleyway. She shook her head and went to get more answers from him but when she looked down the alleyway, he was gone. Only the bird she that was following stayed was there for a second before flying off into the night air. She stood still for a few seconds and quickly wiped the last of her tears off her face as she looked back at the direction he pointed in. Steeling her will and shouldering her weapon, she began to make her way to where the airship would be to take her to Atlas.

As it turned out, the ship was in an Atlesian camp on the coast, just south of the main city of Vacuo. Sneaking in was easy enough, more humans that only expect to hear other humans sneaking around their camp. She wasn't sure which bullhead she was supposed to take so she waited as the sun rose over the camp. Hiding behind a couple of crates, she jumped when a loud buzzer attacked her sensitive ears and saw the camp coming to life shortly afterwards. Soon after that, she heard the name of Schnee echo through the camp.

A few minutes later, she watched Weiss Schnee walk up to one of the waiting ships and stop to watch the bodies of dead soldiers get loaded onto another one. When she got on, Blake quickly made her way into the undercarriage of the ship, she found a small corner to hide herself in and took a deep breath. When the ship began to fly off, she wrapped her coat around herself a little tighter, knowing that it was going to be a cold couple of hours in the air.

Her restless sleep was interrupted by the bullhead suddenly landing. Straightening up, she waited an hour for everyone to get off before slipping out from her hiding hole, slipping to the ground without a sound. She quickly raced to cover and breathed in the frigid air of Atlas, even in the summertime, Atlas was cold. Though the ground was clear of any snow, little puffs came out from her mouth with every breath she took.

Easily cutting through a chain link fence that brought her into the main city, she began to walk around slowly, hands in her pockets while trying as look as inconspicuous as possible. She found a hotel with fairly low prices for rooms, since she had no idea how long she was going to be waiting here for that man, whoever he was.

It was the following day when she was awoken by a series of taps on the window. Instantly awake, she slipped Gambol Shroud from under her pillow and looked over to see a crow tapping at the glass repeatedly with a piece of paper in his mouth. Getting out of the bed, she opened the window and the bird jumped onto the desk in front of it. It cawed and the paper landed softly on the cheap wooden desk. Before she could do anything else, it flew back out the window into the chilly air. Quickly closing the window in order to stop the shivering, she unfolded the paper and quickly read it.

Sterling Street South

Hephaestus Building 155903

Basement 2

Vault 225-B

Username: Beniamino Ilmar

Password: 20F-CH82

Without thinking too much about it, she collected her jacket and quickly walked out of the hotel clutching the piece of paper. Whatever was there, if it was going to help her get her family back she didn't care what it was, as long as it fixed everything.

Sterling Street was in the industrial district in Atlas. She stuck to the shadows of the tall buildings and avoided any of the busier streets. Reaching the building, she broke the lock on the back door and quickly entered, avoiding any camera she saw. Making her way to an elevator that didn't have a camera on it, she slipped inside and jumped up through the access door on top and climbed the steel bars down to basement level two.

Upon prying the doors open, she was met by bright fluorescent lights and perfect white floors and walls. Silently moving down the corridors, she remained in the blind spot of more cameras and people wearing white lab coats. Managing to make it to the reception desk, she took count of how many people were standing around when a bright green sign plastered on the wall behind the receptionist caught her eyes. " Polendina Robotics "

Somewhere deep down, she knew that name, but she ignored that thought and continued onward on her mission to find the vault she was supposed to break into. Following a conveniently painted line labelled "vaults", she quickly and silently made her way down the corridor. No one was coming behind her and she didn't see anyone ahead of her. Anything to get there faster, she began to pick up the pace of her walking, turning it into a quick sprint down the hall.

This proved to be a mistake as an Atlesian Knight appeared in front of her, coming down an unseen hallway. Unable to get out of the way fast enough, Blake unsheathed her weapon and jumped over the robot, cutting off its head before landing on the other side of it and sprinting again before it hit the ground.

Entering the vault room, she walked up to a console that was sitting in front of a massive wall of steel crates with a large robotic arm in front of it. Looking down at the screen, she pulled out the paper and double checked which she was supposed to get. Punching the vault number into the command, it asked for a username and password, which she quickly punched in.

After a few seconds, a green bar with the words "Approved" crossed the screen and the large arm began to move from side to side until it found the box she asked for. Nervously tapping her foot, she waiting for the box to be placed on the table next to her and the arm moved away, waiting for the next vault to be called forth. Making her way to the table, she opened the box and felt her heart seize in her chest at the sight of it.

Letting the top fall to the table, she let her eyes trail along a large, metal right arm. Sitting perfectly on small stands, the silver steel shone as black carbon fibre fleshed it out. Inside the crate was a few bits of other parts as well as a journal and a large briefcase. Pulling the case out and opening it, there were places inside foam for everything in the crate.

This right arm was exactly what she needed for Yang. This is what she would use to plead for her forgiveness, this was going to fix everything between them. It was her fault that she lost her arm in the first place, it was her responsibility to replace it, right? Quickly shoving the arm and components into their places in the case, she closed it and carried it out. Gambol Shroud in her hand, she began to walk out of the vault room at a determined pace. The faster she leaves Atlas, the faster Yang will forgive her.

Just as she turned a corner, Blake stopped and stared into the ice blue eyes of Weiss Schnee. Myrtenaster already in her hand. Wearing the blue skirt and white Atlas breastplate she saw back in Vacuo. They stared into each other's eyes for a brief moment. Weiss opened her mouth to say something, but Blake knew what she was about to say. The cat faunus managed to get into a military state, broke into an Atlesian robotics facility, stole Atlas technology and was about to leave with it.

Weiss was an Atlesian Specialist, of course she was going to stop her, it was her job; but nothing was going to stop her from getting his arm to Yang. Nothing was going to stop her from her from meeting the blonde woman who haunted her dreams since that day and begging for forgiveness while presenting this arm to her; and maybe confronting her true feelings after everything was said and done.

So before Specialist Schnee said anything, Blake raised her pistol and aimed it at her.