In the distance, the hum of an engine, and the blowing of wind. They could be heard as if from over a distant hill. Mere unimportant background noise; it couldn't distract from this moment. These precious seconds where the world's injustice and pain meant nothing. Wrapped in the arms of her goddess again. Blake pressed her face into Yang's shoulder, smelling that soft scent, like fresh air in summer. Yang held Blake close, stroking her back. She was nibbling on one of Blake's pointed ears playfully, and it was driving Blake wild. She pulled herself closer to Yang, wanting to further immerse herself in her warmth and soft touch. She could feel the rhythmic thumping of Yang's heart, and the slow rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. She wished she could stay here forever, yet more than ever before she could feel time passing. The goddess's embrace that had once been timeless was now a fleeting pleasure. A cruelly brief respite from a world without her.

"Yang..." Blake whispered.

Yang shushed her, the soft sound tickling her ear.

"Yang, I'm falling apart without you," Blake whimpered, "My Shadows are gone. And in their place is this... monstrous thing."

Yang squeezed her ever tighter.

"He took everything, Yang," Blake cried, "He took you away from me, he took my ears, and now he's taken who I am."

"He didn't, Blake," Yang whispered, reassuring, but saddened, "Your Shadows aren't gone, they're still who you are. They're still within you, just hidden away."

"How can they still be me? How can I ever be who I was before if I don't have you?"

"You'll find a way. You'll never not be the girl I fell in love with. The world has tried to change you before. When the White Fang became what they are, they tried to change you with them, and they failed. You'll always be the girl who sees the cruelty of the world, but instead of becoming it, tries to change it."

Blake had nothing to say to this, so she remained silent. She tucked her head under Yang's chin and listened to Yang's heart. She closed her eyes, letting herself once again be lost in that warmth. With Yang's head over her's, she was draped in those locks of golden hair. But there was something different, something wrong. A cold breeze rustled Yang's hair. Blake could feel something in that cold breeze, a presence. Somebody unwelcome, an intruder on the moment she and Yang shared. Blake opened her eyes, and peered over Yang's shoulder. Her breath caught in her throat.

"Yang," Blake whispered, "He's here."

Gently, Yang placed her hands on the sides of Blake's face. She pressed Blake's forehead against her own.

"Don't look at him. Look at me."

"Yang, I can't keep doing this," Blake cried, "Seeing it over and over... it'll destroy me."

"Its okay, Blake, Its okay."

"Its not! Stop saying its okay, Yang."

"Hold me, Blake. I'm not afraid of it, but I hate being taken away from you."

"Yang..."

A sound of metal cutting flesh. Striking bone. Something wet splattered against Blake. Suddenly, Blake felt hands grabbing her by the shoulder. She felt herself being pulled away from her goddess.

"Blake!" A desperate cry, "Wake up!"

Blake snapped her eyes open. She was staring into the face of Ruby Rose. The rumbling engine of a Bullhead and the rushing wind surrounded them. They were flying over the sea.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," Ruby said, smiling, "We're almost there."

Blake rubbed her eyes and stood. Ruby walked to the front of the Bullhead to address the pilot.

"We're going to open the door and drop in at the beach." She said, "Pull a U-turn as soon as we're within range, and stay low. Circle around nearby and be ready to extract in a hurry."

Blake joined Weiss, who was holding the hand-grip above the door. Weiss looked at Blake with concern.

"Dreams again?" Weiss asked.

"I'm fine." Blake said.

Weiss reached over and pulled the door release. With a pneumatic hiss, the door slid open. Blake's hair blew about in the wind. In the distance she could see Deumont Island rising out of the sea. It was several hundred kilometers square of forest. Aerial reconnaissance had been useless in finding where the Guardians were hidden. There were buildings scattered all over the island, some in a state of ruin, most not. The Guardians could be holed up in any one of them. The most useful information was a bit of a riddle: Grimm activity was not evenly spread out, nor gathered around the ruins. They were mostly clustered in hot spots randomly strewn across the island, with no rhyme or reason.

Blake spotted motion in the air some distance in the air some distance away. Another Bullhead heading towards the island. Blake knew team JNPR was inside. The teams had all come up with a search pattern that would let them check each building while avoiding the Grimm hot spots. It was only a matter of time before they found the Guardians.

"Alright," Ruby said, taking her position just behind Blake and Weiss, "Drop coming up. Team, get your landing strategies ready."

They came up on the beach and the Bullhead banked, beginning its turn. As it reached the middle of the turn, Blake, Weiss, and Ruby leapt out in unison. The beach rushed up to meet them. Weiss cast a few glyphs beneath herself, repelling off them gracefully before landing. Ruby fired three quick shots downward with Crescent Rose to counter her momentum, then struck the ground, not quite as gracefully as Weiss. Blake spread out her arms and legs as she fell, then let her legs go almost limp as she landed, providing just enough resistance to safely absorb the impact. She stood, stretched, and the three of them marched towards the treeline.

It was darker in the trees, beneath the canopy of branches and leaves. The air felt weird, cold and heavy, as if the air itself was poisoned by the negativity of the Grimm. They were deep within the uncivilized wilderness of Remnant, far from the light of civilization. Even Mountain Glenn hadn't felt this tainted by darkness. The trees were ugly, scraggy things, the branches looking like twisted skeletal limbs. There was no birdsong, save for the occasionally rasping caw of small Nevermores. Blake wondered if there were any animals on this island at all that weren't Grimm.

They had been walking for almost fifteen minutes, speaking little except for pointing out Grimm tracks or claw marks on trees, when they happened upon something unexpected. Blake had glanced down at the dirt and noticed a pattern to complex to be natural. She signalled to the others to stop, then nodded towards the impression in the earth. It was a tire track, from some sort of all-terrain vehicle. It looked to be old, but not nearly old enough to be left by the previous inhabitants of the island. The track weaved its way through the bushes to their left.

"Might as well see where they lead," Ruby said, with a shrug.

"We can take a detour, but we shouldn't compromise the search pattern," Weiss said.

"Right," Ruby said.

She deployed Crescent casually and sliced a tree next to her in half.

"Follow the tracks as far as they go," She said, "Then follow them back to this spot."

They set off following the tracks. They spent almost 10 minutes winding through the trees and bushes, almost losing the track a couple of times, but finding it again in short order. It wasn't long before Blake began to sense something.

"I hear something," She whispered, "Lots of movement up ahead."

"People?" Weiss asked.

"No." Blake said.

She looked around, picked a sturdy looking tree, and scampered up the side of it. She pulled herself up to a high branch and looked out ahead. Just a hundred meters or so ahead, the forest opened up into a clearing. It was almost impossible to see the grass. The clearing was absolutely swarming with Grimm. There were Beowolves, Boarbatusks, Ursa, even a few King Taijitsus. They were grouped together far more tightly than would be expected from Grimm in the wild. There was something in the center of the clearing, something Blake couldn't see clearly, that some of them seemed to have particular interest in.

Blake dropped out of the tree, landing next to Weiss and Ruby.

"We have to go back, its one of the Grimm hotspots," She reported, "Too many, even for us."

"Why do the tracks lead there?" Ruby asked.

"Good question," Weiss nodded, "This is very strange."

"I thought I saw something in the center of the clearing. Something artificial. But its too dangerous. We should go back."

Ruby once again pulled out Crescent Rose, this time switching it into rifle mode. She pointed it straight up.

"When I fire, we get up into the trees." She said, with a sly grin.

She fired. The sound of the shot had barely dissipated into the air before an unholy cacophony came from the clearing. The three of them jumped into the trees above them as the sound of a stampede closed in. They concealed themselves in the branches and watch a living river of blackness poured through the jungle beneath them. Blake held her breath, watching in amazement at the sheer number of monsters passing beneath them. They stayed up in the tree for a good minute or so after the last one ran past. Then, they dropped down and proceeded.

"Well, that was interesting." Weiss said, "And dangerous."

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" Ruby said.

"Maybe give us a little more warning next time." Blake suggested.

"Alright, but I still don't think it would have-"

She was suddenly cut off by Weiss crying out in fright. They had walked a few meters into the clearing and could see the structure at its centre. It was a large steel cage, elevated off the ground by metal struts, holding it in the air 3 or 4 meters off the ground. The cage bars were covered in claw marks and scratches, but the Grimm had failed to breach it. This hadn't helped the cage's occupant, who was very much dead. They looked like they'd been there a long time. There was nothing left but a skeleton covered in rot. The bony remnants of the skeleton's fingers were wrapped around the bars of the cage, and the lower jaw hung off the skull in a macabre silent scream.

"What in the name of-" Weiss whispered.

"I- I-" Ruby stammered, unable to process what she was seeing.

Blake understood.

"W- what is that? Hanging from his pelvis?" Weiss asked, "Is that intestine?"

"No." Blake said, "Its his tail."

"What is wrong with these people?!"

"I still don't understand. This many Grimm? Drawn to one Faunus?"

"They're not drawn to him, they're drawn to his pain," Blake said, "Negative emotions, remember? They kidnap him, torture him, lock him up here all alone, waiting to die. His negative emotions draw them in and keep them here, even after he starves. This is how they draw the Grimm away from themselves."

Ruby dropped to her knees. Blake looked over to her, and felt her heart grow heavy with sympathy. Ruby was weeping.

"Perhaps it'd be better to avoid these hotspots from here on." Weiss said.

"Agreed." Said Blake.

"Okay, let's... let's move on," Ruby said.

They proceeded out of the clearing. They used the map on their scrolls to put themselves back on their original path far away from where they'd left it. They didn't want to run back into the herd. They set out on a course that would bring them to the nearest group of buildings within 15 minutes.

I'm going to put a stop to all of this, Yang, Blake thought, I'm going to make them all pay for what they've done.