There was a gentle knock on the door to the dorm room.
"Campus police." Qrow's voice rung out through the room.
Yang, who had been sitting next to Blake with one arm wrapped around her shoulder, released Blake, and began to stand up. Blake pulled away from Yang, who she had been leaning against.
Yang looked back at Blake before walking towards the door. "You ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be."
Yang opened up the door, facing her uncle, and a woman she vaguely recognized, but couldn't remember the name of. "Come in."
Qrow and the other woman entered the dorm room, Qrow nodding at Blake as he saw her on the bed. Yang shut the door behind the officers, praying that no one else in the hall had seen them enter, for the sake of Blake's privacy.
"Hey, Blake. This is my partner, Officer Glynda Goodwitch. I know Yang told me that you just wanted me here, but because it's official police business, and this case is a very big deal, I have to have my partner here. She's just going to be running the recording equipment and taking notes, so that you're comfortable. Is that okay?"
Blake nodded. "That's fine, thank you."
Qrow and Glynda pulled the two desk chairs out from the desks. Glynda began messing with some equipment that she had pulled out and placed on Blake's desk, which was next to her bed. Qrow pulled Yang's desk chair near Blake's bed, but was careful to give her some space.
Blake spotted Yang in the corner, leaning up against the wall behind the door. She waved Yang over, patting the spot next to her on the bed again. Yang nodded, walking towards the bed.
"Is it okay if Yang stays with me through this?" Blake asked Qrow.
Qrow nodded. "As long as she stays quiet during the recording, it's fine."
Yang climbed onto the bed, sitting next to Blake. She wrapped one arm around her shoulder again, and pretended to zip her lips shut with her free hand.
Blake glanced at Yang and smiled very slightly. "Thank you," she whispered.
Yang squeezed Blake's shoulders. "Of course, Blake. Whatever you need to get through this," she whispered back.
Qrow looked over to his partner, who nodded. "Okay, Blake, we're going to start the recording in just a few moments. I'm just going to walk you through what's going to happen first, so you know what to expect."
"Okay," Blake nodded.
"I'm going to ask you some questions about yourself, just questions to fill out the report with later. Name, date of birth, permanent address, all of that stuff."
"I don't have a permanent address," Blake said quietly.
Qrow nodded, trying not to dwell on that question too long. "Okay, when I ask that question, just say you don't have a permanent address, and give your dorm address instead. After those basic questions, we're going to move on to questions about the man in the crater, and what you know about him, okay?"
Blake nodded again.
"We're going to need you to tell us as much as possible, but if it gets to be too much for you at any point, just let us know, and we can take a break, okay?"
"Okay." Blake straightened up, adjusting herself, causing Yang to readjust her grip on Blake's shoulder. "I'm ready."
Qrow nodded to Glynda, who pressed a button on the recording.
"Officer Qrow Branwen, October 6, 2016. 12:54 p.m. Interviewing witness for BU Crater case." Qrow spoke clearly into the room, not at anyone in particular. He then turned to Blake, looking her in the eyes, silently nodding. "Can you please state your full name and date of birth for the record?"
"Blake Belladonna, born February 14, 1998."
"Thank you, Ms. Belladonna. Can you please state your permanent address for the record."
"I don't have a permanent address, but my dorm address is 205 Vale Hall."
"Thank you. Ms. Belladonna, are you aware of the events that occurred today, at approximately 7:30 a.m., at the construction site of the new Beacon University Recreation Center?"
"I am as aware of the details that were sent out in the crime alert, yes."
"Do you recognize the man in the photo?"
Blake paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. Yang squeezed her shoulder, reminding her that Yang was still there for support.
"Yes. That man is Adam. Adam Taurus."
Qrow glanced at his partner, who was scribbling down notes along with the recording. "Could you please spell both those names out for me, Ms. Belladonna?"
"A-d-a-m T-a-u-r-u-s."
"Thank you. What is your connection to Mr. Taurus?"
"He..." Another squeeze. "He is my ex-boyfriend, my abuser, and my stalker."
Qrow nodded, absorbing the information. Out of all the places he thought this job would lead him, having this conversation with his niece's roommate was not one of them. "How did you first meet Mr. Taurus?"
Blake shifted her weight, taking a moment to mentally prepare herself for the story she was about to tell.
"I was a foster kid. My parents died when I was 8, nearly 9, and I had no other family. I became a ward of the state, and entered into the foster care system. I was in the system for about a year alone before I met Adam. He's two years older than me, so he was 12 at the time, I was 10. We were put into a home together. I'd been with other foster kids in homes before, but they'd always seen me as weak, and taken advantage of me, in whatever way they could. Beating on me, taking what little things I had, and whatever else they could do to me. Adam was the first other foster kid to actually be nice to me. He stopped one of the biological kids in the house we were in from trying to hurt me. It took me a couple months to actually start to trust him, but once I did trust him, he took full advantage of that."
"Can you please clarify what you mean by him taking full advantage?"
"We continued to spend a couple of years bouncing around from home to home. We kept getting placed together at first, since we had the same social worker, and she saw me trusting Adam, which was the first progress she'd seen me make since my parents died. When I was 12, and he was 14, he told me he wanted to be in a relationship with me. I was young, and he was the only person I trusted and I felt cared about me, so I agreed, even if I didn't really want a relationship at the time, nor was I ready. We spent a year or so in secret, until the foster we were with found out, and sent us back to the social worker. We were separated after that, but Adam got me a secret cell phone. He convinced me to run away from homes, from good homes, to be with him. And I always gave in. Whatever he said, I did it. I wasn't allowed to say no."
"What happened if you did say no?"
"He'd hit me. Or worse." Blake's voice cracked on the last word.
Qrow took a deep breath, repositioning himself. He'd dealt with a lot over the years, and he didn't exactly need to have a wild imagination to figure out what "or worse" meant. He looked back at Blake, in the eyes, and mouthed to her, "You okay?"
Blake nodded, to which Qrow reciprocated.
"Mr. Taurus is two years older than you, correct?"
"Yes, that is correct."
"What happened when he turned 18 and aged out of the system?"
"I was 16 at the time. I got place in this home, a home that specializes in 'troubled' teenagers." Blake placed air quotes around the word 'troubled'. "Because I was a chronic runaway, I had been marked as troubled for a long time, but it was my first time in a home that focused on troubled teens. They found my secret cell phone, a different one than the original thing Adam had bought me when I was 14. They took it, went through it, found a lot of messages from him. A lot of bad, bad messages, threatening to do things to me if I didn't respond within a certain amount of time, or if I didn't manage to get out of homes in a certain amount of time, and get back to him. They realized that I wasn't running away from the homes to get away, I was running away to avoid his threats. I got sent to therapy, and spent some time in support groups. They helped me come to terms with what had happened to me over the years, how he had abused and manipulated me. He knew I was in a high-security home, a 'high-risk' home, a troubled home, whatever you want to call it. He knew he had to take his time before he could try to get me out of there, and he did certainly try."
"How so?"
"When I was 17, almost 18, nearly two years after I started going to this home, he found me walking home from school one day. He told me to run away with him. I told him I didn't want to go, I was focusing on school and trying really hard to get into college. He didn't like that answer." A deep, shaky breath from Blake, followed by a squeeze from Yang. "He tried to grab me, tried to force me to come with him. He almost got me to do it. I shut down, I couldn't move. He dragged me halfway down the street, yelling that he would kill me before I could even think about going off to college, think about leaving him. A bookstore owner saw what was happening, came out, and started yelling at Adam. The guy was huge, and he was more than ready to fight Adam. When the owner threatened to call the cops, Adam ran off. The man walked me back home, told the adults in the house what he saw. That's when I got the restraining order and changed my last name."
"You have a restraining order against Mr. Taurus?"
"Correct. He isn't allowed within 100 yards of me."
"Ms. Belladonna, how often would you say you've walked past the construction site in the past two weeks?"
"Every day. Several times a day. It's the quickest way to the center of campus from my dorm. At least two to three times a day, if not more." Blake's voice was shaking as she spoke, the reality of her words weighing on her.
"Ms. Belladonna, which side of the street do you walk on when walking down that street?"
"The construction side."
"And he's threatened to kill you in the past?"
"Yes, on the last time I saw him."
"Thank you, Ms. Belladonna. I believe that's enough questions for today." Qrow nodded at Glynda, who turned off the recording device.
"Blake," Qrow said softly, leaning in closer to the bed, "I want you to know that it will be my personal mission to make sure that man-, no, that monster goes to jail for a very, very long time."
Blake nodded. "Thank you." Her voice was softer, weaker, and seemed to shake harder than it did at any point during the entire interview.
"Yang," Qrow stood up, "I need to speak with you in the hall for a moment before I go."
She nodded, giving Blake another squeeze before climbing off the bed. Glynda was still putting away the recording equipment as Qrow led Yang out into the hallway.
He shut the dorm door behind them, looking up and down the hall to ensure no one was in the hall. He spoke with a very, very low voice, not higher than a whisper.
"Stay with her for the rest of the day, tomorrow too, if you think she needs it. She needs someone to rely on right now."
Yang nodded. "Of course, Uncle Qrow."
"I mean it. I don't want you leaving her side for the day."
"Uncle Qrow," Yang hissed in her hushed whisper. "I'm not going to leave her alone for the rest of the weekend. I promise. I know how to support someone through something hard like this."
"Good." Qrow sighed, shaking his head. "Sorry, firecracker. I just wanted to make sure."
"It's alright, just give me a little more credit, okay?"
Qrow nodded, jerking his head back towards the door. "Glynda and I will leave in just a moment, do your magic, kiddo."
Yang smiled softly. "I'll try my best."
The duo re-entered the dorm room to see Glynda zipping the bag of equipment shut, and Blake staring blankly into space, her arms wrapped around her legs again. She didn't even react to the sound of the door opening and closing again.
"We're all done here," Qrow said, gaining the attention of Blake. "I'll be in touch when we get all of this information processed, and if we need anything else from you, Blake."
Blake nodded. "Thank you."
"Informally," Qrow leaned a bit closer towards Blake's bed, "I'll let you know exactly how long that scumbag is going to get. And if you need anything, anything at all Blake, don't hesitate to ask. Yang can give you my number." He jerked his head towards his niece, who was leaning up against her own bed.
"Thanks, Qrow." A very small smile formed over Blake's lips.
There were a few brief goodbyes before the officers had left the room, leaving Yang and Blake alone in an extended silence.
"What's your favorite let's play?" Yang asked, her voice piercing the silence after about thirty seconds.
"What?"
"What's your favorite let's play?" Yang repeated, reaching for her laptop in her backpack that rested on her bed.
"Uh... I don't know, I guess I like the GTA series a lot."
"Those are good ones," Yang said with a smile, climbing up onto Blake's bed with her laptop in hand. "There's a new one I haven't seen from last week, do you want to watch it?"
"I don't know, Yang." Blake lowered her eyes. "I don't really want to do anything right now."
"I know today has been a lot, and I know it's been really hard on you. And I know talking about all that stuff was a lot too."
"Yeah, it was."
Yang wrapped her arm over Blake's shoulders again. "But I don't want you to sit here stewing in what happened. We can talk about it more later, if you want, and you can cry it all out all over again. But you need a break, your brain needs a break. However I can help you do that, I'm going to help you do that."
Blake looked up at Yang. "I don't want you to waste your day with me, Yang. Don't you have the criminal justice club later?"
"It's not a waste of time, Blake. I'm your friend, I want to make sure that you're okay. There will be other meetings in the future. Helping you is more important."
Blake thought for a moment, looking away from Yang's face. Then she nodded, allowing herself to give in. "Alright. But can we lean up against the headboard, and can you grab some of your pillows? The wall is really hurting my back."
Yang flashed a smile, stifling a small laugh. "Of course, Blake."
Within a few minutes, the two were leaning up against the headboard to Blake's bed, plenty of pillows stacked behind them. Yang's laptop rested between Yang's and Blake's laps, a YouTube video playing on the screen. Yang had an arm wrapped around Blake, but holding her more around her mid-section that her shoulders. Blake had found herself leaning into Yang's embrace, allowing herself to rest her head up against Yang's shoulder.
Blake smiled softly as she watched the video. She was warm, safe, and okay.
Everything was going to be okay.