A/N: This is essentially the epilogue to the "Blake" arc of this story.

Blake and Yang stood outside of the medical room waiting for Ren to finish Kain's medical examination. The moment of joy at Blake's restored memory had mostly past. Now, the couple was set in a state of uncertainty over the Faunus boy.

Yang had it confirmed that he was, in fact, Blake's son. The attitude and the way the rest of the White Fang acted around him told her who the other parent was. The horns were a dead giveaway, too.

"He's the father, isn't he?" Yang finally asked.

Blake was silent a while before answering. "Yes."

Yang knew it already, but hearing the word was still painful. She pushed through the pain and asked her next frightening question. "How old is he?"

"He turned eight a month ago," Blake said somberly.

Yang did the math. Adding nine months to eight years and taking the nine and a half years since the fall of Beacon… it led Yang to a disturbing conclusion.

"Did he…?"

"No," Blake assured. "It was done artificially. He knew the trauma would make the hypnosis that much harder. And it was the only way for him to get exactly what he wanted."

"What do you mean?"

"He wanted to make sure his legacy would live on," Blake elaborated. "So he tried to make a clone of himself, horns and all. But he still used me as the natural mother. And that's not how Faunus genetics work. He's a bull. I'm a cat. When two different breeds mate, the offspring's Faunus trait is randomized."

"So he shouldn't have horns," Yang conferred, making sure she understood.

Blake nodded. "If you look closely, Kain actually has fangs and traces of webbing between his fingers. He was supposed to be a bat Faunus. But Adam strives for absolute control. He had Kain genetically modified early on. He wanted a son with horns, so that's what he got."

While Yang was relieved it wasn't… what she thought, the truth was still appalling. "That's sick."

"No," Blake said, a drop of venom on her tongue. "It's sad. He could've found a thousand bull women who would have been overjoyed to carry his child. Or he could have made a true clone out of a test tube. But he was so obsessed with me that he couldn't fathom his child coming from anywhere else. So he had to go to these lengths so he could have his cake and eat it, too. I was always his greatest weakness back then. But now he has Kain: a template to imprint himself upon. He kept me around out of habit. That's why he didn't take me back when he had the chance. He doesn't care anymore."

Yang was silent. She was thinking over her actions. She wanted Blake back to normal and guessed correctly that Kain might be able to help her along. But she hadn't considered what kind of baggage she might be loading her down with by reuniting them. She was having a hard time regretting her decision considering the events of the last hour, but the threat of future, unforeseen consequences was starting to pick away at her nerves.

"How are you feeling?" Yang asked.

Blake stared off for a moment, gathering her thoughts. "I feel fine."

Yang sighed. "Blake, if we're going to do this, I'm going to ask that you not deflect like that. This is a big, important moment, and I'm honestly a little concerned about what might be going through your head right now."

"Yang, I'm not deflecting. It's strange. He's my son. Regardless of the circumstances, I should be feeling instinctive, overwhelming joy at seeing him again. But he's also Adam's son. He was forced upon me against my will. I should be feeling some kind of traumatic anger or depression at being reminded of that part of my life. But I don't. I don't feel anything. He is my offspring. But I never knew him. Adam kept us apart. And the brainwashing kept me from feeling motherly longing. I feel fine, even though I should feel more."

The two Huntresses stood in silence, each trying to unpack the scenario in their heads. Forced artificial insemination and pregnancy; genetic manipulation; brainwashing; and keeping a mother away from her child. Yang didn't know if the reality was better or worse than that which she feared. She wished she could rid Blake of this. She wished she could go back and stop all of this from ever happening. She wished she hadn't brought this back into her life.

"He deserves better." Blake finally broke the silence. "He deserves a parent. He deserves a childhood; not a mission." She turned to Yang. "I want to try to mend things with him. I want to try and give him what Adam denied him. And if I do, I can't go into the field with you anymore."

"I know," Yang nodded. "And you're right. He's like the others. He shouldn't have to suffer for our war." She took a step towards Blake, reached out, and grabbed her hand. "Whatever happens, I'm right here beside you."

Blake smiled and placed her other hand over Yang's. The blonde had reached out with her left hand, the soft skin more warming than the cold steel of her right. "Thank you, Yang. But for now, I think it might be best if you wait out here. He's already been raised to hate humans, and you did kidnap him. I think I should talk to him alone first."

Yang was a little disappointed in the decision, but couldn't deny the logic.

As if on cue, Ren stepped out of the examination room. "Aside from needing a little more milk in his diet, Kain is in perfect, healthy condition and carrying no strange pathogens. You're free to see him, now."

Blake slowly let her hand slip from Yang's grasp. "Okay. I'll…" Yang stuttered as she let go and looked around the empty hallway. "I'll wait out here."

"I'll only be a few minutes," Blake assured as she stepped through the door to see her son.

Blake stepped into the room. Kain was sat on the examination table, watching her every move, not saying a word. She stood frozen for a moment, feeling the tension surround her like water. A twinge of fear creeped its way up her spine. His glare was identical to that of his father. This eight-year-old boy held a presence that veteran Huntsmen would have yearned for.

But then she looked into his eyes, and she saw something. He had her eyes. In his amber irises, she saw her mother and father. She saw the family she left behind in anger and idealistic spite. She saw the parents that she never got to see again. She saw what Adam had denied her as well.

As thick as the tension was, she pushed through. "Hello, Kain."

The boy held his glare. "Mother."

He didn't speak like a child. He addressed her like a general would address his troops. He was a product of war.

"I wish the circumstances were different," Blake acknowledged the situation.

There was a flicker in his expression. For a moment, an emotion broke through his cold exterior. It was an emotion that Blake had witnessed far too often in the last fifteen years: anger.

"Then why weren't they different?" Kain sneered.

Her eyes diverted down. "I'm sorry. Things have been… tough. I haven't been myself in a long, long time." She looked back up with warmth in her eyes. "But I'm here now."

"Father says it's because you don't care," he froze her in place.

Blake felt her ears perk up stiff. She forgot to breathe. Her knuckles were turning white from clenching her fist so hard. Kain had slid that statement out like a knife and it cut deep. He kept me away, and then did everything in his power to turn him against me. Does his spite have no limits?

The heated mother felt the venomous attack on the boy's father building in her throat. She opened her lips to let it out, but caught it before it could pass through them. He doesn't know his father like I do. Escalating this will only drive him further away.

Using every ounce of control she had, Blake let the insult cool in her mouth before letting it out as a long-held breath. "Kain, not being there for you is the biggest regret I have in life. There are a lot of things going on that you don't know and might not understand, but none of them matter right now. What matters is, I want to try to make up for lost time. I want the chance to be your mother."

The eight-year-old Faunus finally showed some amount of letting up. His expression hadn't changed, but his posture had. He shifted backwards into the examination chair he was sat in and leaned back, crossing his legs to get comfortable. He offered something for Blake to read from him. He was willing to hear her out further, but still exerting control over the room. He was telling her he was curious, but not convinced.

"Why are you here, Mother? Father said we can't trust humans. Especially Huntsmen." he asked inquisitively.

Blake took a deep breath. Her plan to not escalate was going to be more difficult with this conversation. "There are people in this world that don't like the Faunus. So we don't like them either. But there are plenty of people, plenty of humans, who aren't like that. Things have gotten difficult with the war. It's harder to tell who's on what side anymore. But the people here, they're good. They're some of the best people I know. We can trust them."

Kain suddenly uncrossed his legs and leaned forward again. "So why are they fighting us? Why did your girlfriend attack my men?"

He was getting hostile again. Blake was saying things that argued against the ideologies he'd been fed his entire life. And the sneer when referencing Yang put her back on edge again. She wanted to tell him of the monster his father was and the irreparable damage he'd done to the White Fang and its legacy. But, again, she held back the impulse.

"There are people in the White Fang who have done bad things, too. And the Huntsmen are fighting them." It was mostly the truth. "They don't want to fight the rest of us." That was technically true.

Another glimmer of emotion came through the boy's features. This time, it was one that she herself was intimately familiar with: doubt. "But the White Fang fights for the good of the Faunus."

"It's supposed to," she said. "But not everyone does. Some fight for themselves. Some fight because they're just angry. Some fight because they've grown to like it. And there are many Faunus who fight because they'll be branded as traitors if they don't."

She could see the recognition on his face. She could tell that he'd recognized at least some of these examples. She watched as her son went through the opening stages of the same dilemma she had gone through over ten years ago. She felt for him. It wasn't easy to feel betrayed by your own cause. But she also felt a hint of guilty relief. She was getting through to him. His defenses were starting to lower. They were making progress.

"Kain, I want to show you something; that I'm telling you the truth about these people." She held her hand out to him. "Will you let me?"

The Faunus boy was quiet. The movement in his lips suggested he was running his tongue over his incisors; contemplating. Blake couldn't help a slight smile. With his stern, thinking look, his black hair, and his amber eyes; she reminded her of her father. She preferred to focus on the Belladonna in him than the Taurus.

Kain finally hopped down from his seat. He stood cautiously in place for a moment, watching his mother for any suspicious actions. She just stayed with her hand out and a warm look in her eyes.

He slowly reached out and grabbed her fingertips.

Yang waited outside the room for Blake to return, mulling things over.

"You look anxious," Weiss commented as she came down the hall to join her teammate at her side.

"Is it that obvious?" Yang remarked.

"It's a little obvious," the heiress answered. "But given the context, I can't say I blame you. You just introduced some huge variables to your life."

Yang paused to think that over. "Just the one: Kain."

"Yes, Kain," Weiss explained. "The boy we kidnapped from a military compound. The one who was raised by a violent, human-hating terrorist. We don't know how he'll handle New Beacon. And we don't know how Adam will retaliate." Weiss sealed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "And how's Ruby going to react to this? With her newfound trust issues and vendetta, we've an equal chance for ransom or revenge. The unknowns keep compounding."

This is not helping, Weiss, Yang thought as she felt her blood pressure rise. These were questions she hadn't considered. She was focused exclusively on Blake.

Yang attempted to shake herself out of her self-doubt and reassured herself, "We the right thing… Right?"

Weiss sighed and looked her in the eyes. "Yang, why did you do any of this today?"

Yang searched her mind for a noble answer, but could only come up with the first one she thought. "I did it for Blake."

The heiress was silent a moment before nodding lightly. "Hold onto that, and you'll stay on the right track."

At that moment, The door opened and Blake stepped through. Yang perked up upon seeing her, but froze when she saw Kain in tow. The Huntress and the boy were locked in a mutual stare. Less than an hour ago, he was her prisoner and they were both acutely aware of this.

Blake spoke up through the silence, "I want you to meet my son. This is Kain." She turned to the boy. "Kain, this is Yang."

Yang finally let out the breath she'd been unconsciously holding. "Hi, Kain," she said with a light smile and wave.

He was quiet a while, his expression unchanged. Tension filled the space between them. Yang stumbled to find something to say.

"I'm… I'm sorry about…" a look from Blake told her not to go there. "I'm sorry."

Kain stood his ground. The tension increased.

"And this," Blake intentionally broke the tension again, gesturing to her other teammate in the hallway, "is my friend, Weiss."

Weiss brought her hands together and bowed to the boy, a customary gesture of respect among the Faunus. "It's nice to properly meet you, Kain."

Another glimmer shone through his stern facade. "Hello," he said. He greeted her, but he did not bow in return. Not that Weiss expected him to, given his circumstances for being here.

"I wanted to take Kain to see the other Faunus here," Blake told the heiress.

"That sounds like a great idea," Weiss responded cheerfully. "Good timing, too. It's almost time for dinner."

"Would you mind leading the way?" the cat requested.

"It would be my pleasure," the heiress accepted before spinning on her heel heading for the exit, the two Faunus following closely behind.

Yang stepped aside as they passed. She started to follow, but hesitated and hung back. Kain sent a clear message that he did not approve of her presence. As eager as she'd been to get Blake back, she knew this was important. She turned to instead go to her quarters to change out of her combat gear, but stopped when she heard a sound that immediately brightened her thoughts.

"Yang."

She turned back to see Blake and the party waiting for her.

"I want you to come to," she openly stated.

A smile spread across the Huntress's face. She jogged over to catch up.

Weiss led the group to the newest addition to New Beacon: the Sanctuary. When Blake and Yang started bringing back more and more Faunus, they needed more space to house them. The Hunstmen began repurposing what was meant to be a new training platform for this purpose a few weeks before the Devil's House mission. It was far from complete, but it was functional enough to move the Faunus population in. And with the rate that they were being rescued, they needed to be moved in.

"It's a little cramped right now due to the construction," Weiss lectured, taking the role of tour guide, "but we try to make it as comfortable as possible. And it's by no accident that this platform is the furthest away from our training ranges and prisoner holding areas. These people are here to escape combat and the White Fang. So we try to keep it further away from them as well."

Yang watched the two Faunus marvel at the space around them. The Sanctuary wasn't inhabited the last time Blake saw it. A smile came to her face; joy at seeing a safe place for the Faunus refugees.

Kain tugged on his mother's sleeve and whispered to her, "I don't understand."

Blake looked down to ask why, but didn't have to to get her answer. He was clearly trying to hide his emotions as per usual, but the combination of wonder and confusion he felt was difficult to conceal. Faunus living peacefully, away from war, was something that he had yet to witness before. And the fact that this was all sponsored by the Huntsmen of New Beacon that he had been raised to call his enemy didn't add up.

Blake turned back to their guide and requested, "Can we talk to Nari and the kids?"

Weiss quickly scanned between her and her son and understood. "They should be in the dining hall about now. I think she'll be happy to see you again."

The heiress led them to the Sanctuary's dining hall. It was clearly a large sparring room with tables and chairs moved into it, but it got the job done. Most of the Faunus population was either also heading over or already here for dinner.

"I hear the Hickory brothers we extracted from Vacuo are treating all of us tonight," Weiss explained. "When they placed the supply request, they said something about a 'traditional Hickory family barbeque.'"

"I see Nari," Yang reported. "They're sitting down at the far side."

When the fox-Faunus saw the Huntresses coming, she jumped up and ran over to them. Blake was the first one she embraced. "I'm so glad you're okay again," she said, fighting back tears. "I'm so sorry, Blake."

Blake hugged back. "I'm sorry, too. Oran didn't deserve that."

Yang hung her head and shuffled back a step. She still wasn't over the Devil's House mission, and Nari just reminded her that she'd failed to save her brother.

Yang's wallowing was interrupted by Nari's arms wrapping around her, too. "It's not your fault," the Faunus girl whispered.

Yang returned the embrace with one arm and replied with, "Thanks," before backing out.

It wasn't until this moment that Nari noticed the dark-haired boy with horns on his head. His demeanor immediately put her on edge. "Who is…"

His mother introduced him. "Nari, this is Kain. Kain, Nari. She was one of the first refugees to flee to here."

There was a beat before the fox Faunus extended her hand to the boy. "Hi, Kain. Welcome."

Kain was still hesitant. He stared at the girl. He looked past her to the other Faunus children at her table. He looked around to the Faunus living casually & peacefully. Everyone seemed… happy. The words of his father echoed through his mind. "Faunus Superiority." He didn't know exactly what that meant, but he knew it was supposed to make the Faunus happy. And that the Faunus being happy was the goal.

He looked up to his mother. Her eyes were softer than his father's ever had been. He looked to the Schnee woman. She didn't seem the scary monster he'd been taught her name to mean.

He looked to the blonde Huntress with the eye patch and the metal arm; his mother's woman. She had kidnapped him, so he hated her. But she brought him to his mother. And when he looked at her now, she looked… upset. She looked like she was afraid.

He remembered what her mother had looked like before. He remembered the few times she was allowed to see her. She never looked happy. But now… here… with these people… and with him… she did. And that's the important thing: for the Faunus to be happy.

Kain shook Nari's hand. "Hi."

A/N: This was supposed to be a short little chapter that I meant to get out quickly. But it's been a busy couple of months, life-wise. So writing got pushed aside a lot. But I finally got it out and here it is.

Also, I shared my opinion of Volume 5 here, so I'll do the same for Volume 6. Such a big improvement. I loved everything about it. I even loved those last 2 episodes that are really controversial for some reason. I almost wrote up and posted a couple-hundred word summarization of how Adam is not, in fact, just a stalker ex-boyfriend. I took it for less-is-more type storytelling. We were given just enough without getting any explicit explanations. And I love that kind of stuff.

And I forgot to add it to the last chapter, but Weiss's combat gear is inspired by MGSV's "Square" Fatigues.