Shadows Persevere

"We have to hurry!" The boy cried out, fear and anxiety lacing his words. With an uncharacteristic show of urgency, he lunged forward and tucked Stormflower into his sleeves, choosing to strike the Ursa Major on its nose. Aura surging forward into his palms, Ren watched the small shockwave as the creature's head exploded.

"Ren, I told you!" Blake shouted out, her frustration at the entire situation being vented at the magenta-eyed boy.

"You haven't told me anything! All you say is that everyone will be fine. You don't know that!" Ren said his voice cracking as he pulled out Stormflower and blew away a Beowolf with a hail of bullets.

"I know everyone was fi-…" Blake was saying before a Beowolf's claw went right through her chest. Ren didn't so much as blink an eye.

"…ne." Blake finished, now behind the Beowolf. With a quick thrust of her wrist, she cut out the back of one of the beast's legs, causing it to drop down, where it met its untimely faith at the end of Gambol Shroud. '

"How could you possibly be so sure?" Ren asked her, losing all his composure as he realized Blake had slain the last of the Grimm.

"I saw everyone was fine, none of them were getting crushed, I swear it." Blake said, her tone firm, wanting to convey to Ren that he had nothing to worry about.

"How? It was so dark… I never even got to tell her…" Ren said, looking away at the floor, until he realized that Blake wasn't wearing a Dust stick. How could she… Realization shined in Ren's eyes as his head suddenly swerved to look deeply into Blake's eyes.

Blake had to stop herself from flinching when Ren's eyes hardened. The young man got up and walked straight up to her, never breaking eye contact. Stopping with only inches between them, Ren glared at Blake.

"You're a faunus?" He said, his tone clipped.

"Yes." Blake said slowly, fingering Gambol Shroud. She never would've expected Lie Ren of all people to be a faunus hater, but she knew well enough to have known better and judge a book by its cover.

That's why she was so surprised when Ren threw his arms over her.

"So then they're alright. She's alright." Ren said, holding back a sob as he buried his face into Blake's neck, pulling her into first hug he had had in years."

Blake awkwardly patted the back of the usually stoic boy, a tad bit touched to see that such a quiet person really did care for his friends deeply. Then she realized she was the same. With a small smile, she lightly pushed Ren off of her.

"They were fine, but that doesn't mean they won't manage to get themselves in danger without us to watch over them. So we should get going. I thought I saw your boop over in that direction." Blake said, smiling lightly as she heard the distinctive sound of Port's battle-axe, the sound of rubble shifting nearby.

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Yay, faunus night vision to the rescue! So, Blake and Ren will shortly reunite with Port and Pyrrah. From then on, well, I think it's rather obvious. Where are Ruby and Jaune? Even more importantly, how did Zwei fit in that tube in the first place! All this and more will be answered in the next chapter, An Arc's Arc Part 1! Thanks so much for the reviews guys, they're really appreciated! With any luck, we may hit 50 reviews one day!