Seriously, I can't say thank you enough! Finally remembered to check my email and couldn't help but be shocked at how many new messages I got saying someone favorited/followed this fic! I'm honored!

Now to suddenly switch gears and on a note related this particular chapter, well, I'll be cutting straight to the chase so to speak – it'll be starting AFTER Blake had run off from her argument with Weiss. More or less, as far as that particular part of the RWBY canon goes, it plays out the same here in this fic, so I'm not going to potentially bore you guys with a repeat.

But!

To that same token, this is the chapter when things will finally begin taking off for good!

Now onto the chapter! Be forewarned – this'll move fairly fast!

P.S. Again, many thanks for the favs/follows!

Chapter 12

Peter could only grin as he spoke of his past during class right now – times of great peril and triumph, with moments of uncontainable manliness and virility in between those times.

Like that one time he wrestled a massive Ursa to its death whilst half-naked, the Grimm's would-be victim – a girl in her late teens – having swooned over him after his epic victory.

Ah, childhood, how he's missed it sometimes. After all, how many ten year olds could have said they'd had older girls fawning over him?

Alas, his audience didn't seem to share his enthusiasm.

As expected, perhaps. And in this respect, as would be unexpected from him – ask any student about him and they'd say he was far too wrapped up in his own tales to notice their near-coma levels of boredom.

This, however, was false.

Peter was keenly aware of how his tales of his youth drove the students to sleep or some other kind of discreet activity. However, their reactions to his (completely true) stories were far from bothersome to the jolly professor of Grimm Studies. If anything, this was intentional on his part.

Knowing the sort of pressures the hunter life will naturally place on them, starting with the many responsibilities they've already formed upon entering this academy, it's always been Peter's intent to provide some kind of small outlet for the students. And what better way to do that than to tell tales and see what they do to keep themselves genuinely occupied?

Well, that and it's always fun to see how many, if any, of the students actually do bother to pay attention to his lectures of his past battles. Never know who'll find his grandiose words interesting!

In any case, he hardly gave any homework, which he knew most students were genuinely thankful for.

And besides that, just why on earth would he give homework of all things? Bah, this was a Grimm Studies class! What better way for the students to learn about the ghastly beasts' individual weak-points than for them to fight the dark creatures one-on-one?!

Of course… he'll have to go and capture some more later tonight though. Hmm, could he perhaps get away with bringing in a Death Stalker…?

Well, that little matter aside, the robust professor couldn't help but look subtly to one particular spot of his classroom, where team RWBY sits.

With the B of their team being absent.

Ah yes, he'd heard only slightly of what's happened.

Apparently just the other day, the young Blake Belladonna had run off after a rather heavy argument with one of the others, the ever studious Ms. Schnee.

Peter lost his usual smile for just a second, which was hidden behind his massive mustache.

His heart went out to the worried looking trio. He'd had his share of team spats during his teens and similar situations had come about because of them. He hoped they'd be able to find their elusive Faunus friend – really, just who had that girl been trying to fool? – soon.

He just sincerely hoped that whenever their reunion would occur, it'd be under amicable circumstances.

But as far as tracking down the runaway girl first goes, he was fairly confident in how things could turn out – due to his not quite heavy workload, Ozpin had politely tasked the young Jaune Arc with keeping a figurative eye out for her.

While Peter will admit to still having some very slight reservations about the young blind man's experience, he was clearly skilled still and a quick learner.

He was certain Jaune could find the missing Blake in record time! And given his amicable attitude to the students, the girl was sure to be agreeable with him.

Just what could possibly go wrong?

Sometime later in the day, Yang ended up sneezing a little violently. She hardly paid this any mind, however; she was much more occupied mentally with the whereabouts of her missing partner.

Ah, just how could things have suddenly turned out like this?

It was still a huge shocker, what she and Ruby and Weiss had learned just the other day. The four of them had simply been enjoying a simple walk in downtown Vale, Weiss having wanted to scope out the competition for the Vytal Tournament, despite whatever excuses the heiress had weakly given… only to have stumbled across the aftermath of a Dust shop break in, which had apparently been executed by the White Fang.

Oh, if the blonde had known what this simple sight was going to spark that day, she'd had led her teammates well away from the area by their noses if push came to shove. But because she didn't, it had ended up sparking an argument between Weiss and Blake regarding the Faunus in general and the White Fang more specifically…

…An argument that had ended just as abruptly as it had started when Blake had, albeit clearly unintentionally, ended up revealing she'd once been a member of the terrorist group.

Man oh man, even now as she walked from one class to the next, the blonde brawler was still in something akin to shock over that bit of information. While Blake being a Faunus was a surprise as well, it honestly wasn't too earth-shattering in hindsight now that she'd thought of it.

But her normally so quiet and reserved partner having been a part of the White Fang? That was still making her mind all but shut down every time she tried to digest it.

"And it's not just me either…" the young woman muttered, sparing a brief glance towards her sister and friend. Even now, they looked just as stupefied as her over what they'd learned, Ruby more so than Weiss who seemed rather indignant.

Yang supposed she couldn't blame the heiress too much – her family had, after all, been all but personally at war with the White Fang for years, with a great number of casualties on both sides.

But that being said, as the trio silently entered their next class, Yang silently resolved to step in if – no, WHEN – they find Blake. Weiss may have a lot of questions for the runaway girl, but Blake was clearly not a member of the group anymore nor did she seem all that eager to do any harm to anyone. Like hell she'd let Weiss attempt to let out any pent up anger of hers on Blake.

Oh sure, she wanted to know the full story of Blake's former involvement too, but that could be done far more politely than whatever the heiress next to her seemed to be envisioning.

But of course, first thing first…

"We need to find her." These words were uttered by Yang so quietly that not even Ruby, who was normally able to pick up whatever the blonde said, seemed to even notice her whisper.

Nor did Ruby appear to notice the now worried looking expression that crossed Yang's face.

She could only hope that when they find Blake, she'll be okay.

Blake sneezed suddenly, an action that prompted her ever so persistent 'companion' to react appropriately.

"Gesundheit," spoke the young man walking just a few feet behind her.

The cat Faunus merely grumbled, looking only momentarily at the young man behind her.

A tall and well-muscled youth that just so happened to be a blond monkey Faunus – Sun Wukong was his name and he'd been accompanying her virtually everywhere almost ever since the other day.

Blake could only sigh now.

Oh, how things had turned out.

She and her team had been out in Vale for what amounted to a little walk, having stumbled at one point across some odd girl named Penny… before eventually coming across a taped off Dust shop that had supposedly been raided by the White Fang.

But it simply couldn't be them, at least that is what Blake forcefully thought. For all her former group did, robbery of a Dust shop was hardly something they'd slink to… but alas, this was something that had been beside the point at the time.

Following that little event, the ever so pompous Weiss had started to speak quite badly of the White Fang and the Faunus in general, something that had immediately prompted her to retaliate verbally and starting an argument… one that had ended when she'd inadvertently blabbed out not only her heritage, but her (former) ties to the White Fang.

Oh, the looks of utter shock, disbelief and betrayal on her teammates' faces at that instant had all but frozen her to the spot at the time… until she did what she did best and ran off before the others could recover from the mental blow.

She'd turned off her scroll and had made it a point to stay as far away from Beacon and the areas of Vale that Beacon students usually favored, having no intention of confronting her now former team.

Surely, after such a sudden 'confession' they'd want nothing to do with her.

Alas, her annoying blond companion seemed to not only be capable of reading her mind now, but also being painfully stubborn about his opinion on the matter. "You know you can't just run from them forever, right?" he said as he placed his hands behind his head, stretching back in such a way that he almost intentionally seemed to be showcasing his abs to the world. Blake will reluctantly admit that she couldn't help but notice this.

"Sun, we've already been over this… I can't just confront them about this. Not yet anyways," she replied, keeping her tone even.

Earlier, after much persistence on Sun's part, the raven haired girl had opened up to him a bit at a café, speaking about her past a bit prior to joining the White Fang and a bit about the White Fang itself… and while she was grateful to him for having listened, the monkey Faunus was really beginning to grate her nerves with how he insisted on her and the rest of team RWBY needing to talk this out.

"Cause first you want to make sure about the White Fang, right?" he asked, wanting to confirm what she'd said earlier.

"Mhm…" Earlier during her slight heart-to-heart with him, the conversation had eventually veered off from her past to her new issue with her friends to what the White Fang now appeared to be doing with their time and forces.

There was simply no way that they'd resort to Dust shop robbery like this. Just no way at all; they'd had other means of obtaining Dust, so going around taking it from Dust shops was simply out of the question for them. It was impractical and unneeded and… and while they may have fallen from grace over the years, there's no way they'd stoop to the level of common crooks, right?

Blake's fists clenched tightly at this uncertain thought.

No. Weiss and those policemen at the scene the other day… they were wrong! The White Fang couldn't have committed that robbery!

"So then, how to go about it?" Sun then asked. "I mean, it's not like you can just call up one of them and ask casually about what they'd been up to, right?"

"Simple. We go where the Dust is," Blake then responded strongly. Hotly, even. It was clear that she was getting worked up despite how collected she normally was. "You said you overheard something about a late shipment being set to come later tonight, right?"

Her new companion having been an unruly stowaway on a ship the other day, Sun was a little privy to what was going on due to him having evidently stuck his nose in places it normally didn't belong.

"Yeah," Sun replied evenly, his expression changing to one of worry. He clearly knew what Blake now wanted to do. "Oh, I don't really like that gleam in your eyes."

Blake huffed in bemusement at the comment. "Well, then let's go see if anyone will be waiting for its arrival," she said, ignoring his words.

He'd stuck his nose somewhere it didn't belong to obtain that otherwise unneeded info. Time for her to now do the same.

And hopefully, she'll put to rest her doubts about her former comrades.

A couple of hours pass by with surprising speed. As classes at Beacon and other schools in Vale ended for the day and slowly yet surely, shops began to close up one after another, Roman sat quietly in the bullhead docked in one of Vale's few abandoned industry zones.

Although he couldn't actually see or hear businesses and people beginning to wind down with the setting of the sun, he was very much aware of what was going on. He'd been doing this for years, after all.

He had to remind himself that tonight would hopefully be no different, especially when he has Neo at his side for back up.

He looked to the petite woman in question just as the White Fang grunts around him began to settle into their seats, the pilot of their bullhead taking his sweet time making sure everything was in working order up in the cockpit.

"Almost time to get started… you ready, Neo?" Roman asked of his longtime accomplice/friend.

The dainty woman flashed him a confident grin whilst twirling her closed umbrella in her hand.

The grin was one that he now mirrored.

"Alright then… time to start this damned night show," Roman said.

Let the fun begin.

More time passes by without issue and now it was night, around 9 to be more precise.

And Jaune had never been so unhappy to realize such a fact right now.

Having been given the task of looking around for Beacon's runaway student, he'd set out today to search as much of Vale looking for the young Ms. Belladonna.

With his Aura Vision, he'd been hoping to have a fairly easy time finding her since he can see a person's aura through walls and the like, but alas he'd had no luck; Vale was a very big city and there was no telling where Blake could've gone.

At any rate, he was certain that the B of team RWBY was still here in Vale – a runaway she may evidently be, but he didn't think she had it in her to fully commit to it.

This still didn't make his job any easier, however.

"Why did they wait this long to have me look, though?" he muttered to himself. It hadn't been until today that Ozpin had finally asked of anyone to try and locate Blake. It was certainly an odd thing to do, but perhaps it was because the headmaster had been thinking – or even outright hoping – that the girl would've returned on her own during the past day or so.

Well, whatever the reasoning for this late action, it didn't change the fact that Jaune now found himself wandering around Vale, having just finished up looking through its entire commercial district before finally heading closer to the more industrial areas.

Perhaps the girl is camping out somewhere near the docks or something? Blake struck him as being someone who enjoyed the gentle ocean breeze.

And given how empty the entire area is bound to be combined with his Aura Vision, if Blake really is there, she'll stand out like the sole candle lit in a pitch black room.

A shame that his Aura Vision's effective range is only 6 kilometers. It'd be great if the range was greater, but he works with what he has.

So, taking his time to 'look' all around himself, Jaune was very much eager to see if his guess was correct as he ventured further into the industrial area, more specifically towards the docks and pier. If he turned out to be wrong, well then at least he could spare a moment to enjoy the ocean breeze himself before resuming his search.

Alas, he found himself not having to search for very long, at least not with his eyes.

A bullhead, a fairly small one, suddenly passed by overhead, causing Jaune to immediately perk up. Its engine had to have been modified or something to generate so much less noise.

Looking up in time to catch a 'glimpse' of it, however, he ended up nearly pausing in his walking in sheer shock.

He counted no more than 15 passengers, their auras highlighting their forms greatly to him.

Most of them were wielding high caliber weapons. Some of them had extras furry ears or horns. One even had a small tail, not unlike that of a lizard.

Members of the White Fang, no doubt.

But there was one aura in particular that had stood out to him amongst those upon the bullhead – one whose his encounter with had sparked his hiring as an assistant professor.

"Torchwick?!" Jaune nearly yelled in surprise.

How could the man be here of all places?!

Freed, perhaps, from wherever he'd been kept?

It was certainly the only thought that made sense, one that made Jaune consciously nod in agreement. It was also a thought that ended up breaking him out of his odd reverie, just as the bullhead fully past by and kept on flying in a straight line towards…

"…The pier," Jaune deduced.

And as he looked off into that particular direction, he narrowed his eyes as he finally took note of something.

It was extremely faint looking due to the distance – pushing the boundaries of his Aura Vision's range, since this entire area was just that large – but sure enough, he could see the familiar grey aura of Blake, the young woman appearing to be next to an unknown person with a brilliant golden form of aura that reminiscent of Yang.

Jaune immediately altered his walking direction for the pier. Taking a brief moment to assess the landscape around him via the auras that had passed by just a moment ago in that bullhead, the blind young man tried to deduce how fast he could make it there.

It wouldn't take him long at all – his speed was at a fairly high level, after all… but what would slow him down is the terrain, what with all of the buildings in the way. And he'd rather not smash his way through them all like some brute. That would just be needless property damage.

But still, he needs to get there quickly. For among the passengers of that bullhead, there'd been one other person there, a fairly short woman from the looks of it, with a beautiful mix of white, pink, and brown aura… almost like neopolitan ice cream, now that he thought of it.

But her aura had been quite large, it having shined brighter to him than any of the other passengers aboard, indicating that her combat strength was considerably higher than the others, easily higher than Torchwick's and a majority of the students Jaune had 'seen' at Beacon. And if she truly is working with Roman Torchwick, she couldn't be anything else than bad news.

Blake and her unknown companion were in extreme danger.

Need to hurry…

Indeed.

Scooting back a few feet, Jaune girded himself for a leap.

While he likely wouldn't make it there in time to outright prevent whatever Torchwick and the White Fang had planned, he'd at least be there in time to keep Blake and her new friend safe.

He had to.

He leapt.

Blake couldn't believe her eyes at all.

From where she and Sun hid behind a huge freight container, she and her companion watched in complete silence as a modified bullhead suddenly made an appearance, lowering to perhaps fifteen feet above ground before its doors opened up…

…To reveal members of the White Fang now leaping down, with assault rifles in hands.

Followed by one individual she'd never expected to see in the company of her former comrades.

"Alright you braindead monkeys!" Roman barked as soon as he jumped down from the bullhead, his cane striking the ground with an audible tap. "You better remember what to do! Now get moving!" He strolled forward arrogantly, as if he was the master of this entire land and the White Fang members were his unfortunate servants. This was an image further reinforced by how the Faunus in question immediately responded to his commands whilst the bullhead above them flew off.

The unbridled shock she felt at seeing her worst fears confirmed was now replaced with anger, all of it directed towards the cane-wielding criminal. He was evidently as racist as he was rumored to be, if his disgusted expression as one White Fang member passed by him was anything to go by aside from his comment.

"Looks like your old pals have fallen pretty far…" Sun commented quietly. On her behalf, he seemed to sound pretty sad about this.

It was enough to quell Blake's rage for the moment and draw a pained expression out of her. "I'd known for a long time that the White Fang had been changing and not for the better either. But even then, after I'd left them, a part of me had still hoped that…"

She trailed off, unable to finish that sentence. Had that really been what she'd thought? For the last few years of her time in their group, the White Fang's mindset regarding humanity and Faunus rights had shifted to outright hatred regarding the former. It had also been when their tactics had become noticeably more guerilla and violent in nature. It hadn't been until her final mission with Adam, when he'd so callously dismissed the lives of the train crew, that she'd fully realized how twisted he and the group had become and had been what solidified her desire to leave the group for good.

And yet, perhaps out of some buried sense of loyalty to what the group was originally like, she'd thought the White Fang to never be the kind of group that would sink so low as to petty crimes like thievery.

But not only were their current actions proving her wrong, it also turned out to be worse than she ever would've willingly imagined.

To think that they'd even partner up with scum like Torchwick-!

"Looks like they're here for that Dust shipment…" Sun suddenly muttered, causing her thoughts to cease instantly. The monkey Faunus next to her could only grumble to himself when the massive freight containers that had been dropped off earlier were busted open a moment ago, with half of the White Fang goons that had shown up dedicating themselves to carrying out the many boxes of Dust that had been within. "Just what are they going to do with all of that Dust?"

"I don't know," Blake said honestly in response. Her anger began to return as she eyed Torchwick, the man yelling at the Faunus with him to hurry up. "But I'm going to find ou-!"

"W-Wait! Don't!" Sun said suddenly, fiercely.

She'd been about to pounce out from their cover and go for Torchwick. Gambol Shroud had already been partially drawn. But Sun had managed to grab hold of her left arm and drag her back out of sight.

Needless to say, the B of team RWBY found herself less than pleased by this. "What are you doing?!"

Sun winced at the intensity of her angry whisper, but seemed unapologetic. Slowly he poked his head out of their cover and pointed with his tail. "Look to Torchwick's left side."

Blake did so – and was immediately shocked.

Just how long had that odd looking woman been there? She seemed to have a similar outfit to Torchwick's, so was she his personal accomplice or something?

"…She's bad news. I can tell just by looking at her," Sun whispered.

Blake could only agree, for as she looked at the short woman, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

"Look, I'm all for a good fight here and there – nothing like some thrills – but I don't think this is something we should be jumping into just yet," Sun then said.

Blake's grip on Gambol Shroud tightened. "But…"

She paused suddenly when the unknown woman began to twirl her closed umbrella around, appearing to be silently humming to herself…

…Right before her gaze suddenly focused on where they were at.

Oh, the way the woman's eyes seemed to switch colors back and forth was something that Blake knew was going to haunt her for a while.

But alas, she was too stunned to be creeped out too much.

"We've been ma-!" She'd begun to tell Sun.

Only to be cut off when what sounded like shattering glass echoed throughout the night – with the unknown woman suddenly appearing in between her and Sun.

Two pairs of eyes went almost comically wide at this and both she and Sun immediately attempted to leap away.

They were successful in this endeavor and blessedly so as Blake saw the woman's umbrella unveil a thin blade from the top of it, said weapon having stabbed at the spot she'd just been occupying a millisecond ago.

Blake couldn't help but gulp as she leapt off the freight container they'd been on; if that had struck her, then aura or not, it would've drawn blood.

But she immediately zoned this fear out, her years of harsh self-taught training and experience taking over her now.

She may have leapt off the container a little awkwardly to avoid this woman's attack, but she managed to shift her center of gravity so that she flipped and briefly brushed against the side of another container stacked nearby with her feet.

Quickly kicking off of it, she propelled herself towards Roman, who had immediately gone on to look at where his helper had appeared at. As such, he was unprepared for when Blake nearly tackled him.

Grunting a bit in the process, Blake managed to land just a foot before the criminal and whirled about him, swiftly drawing her blade and putting it to his neck just as she got behind him.

"Oh for fu-?!" Roman had begun to say, only for Blake to stop him by way of kicking him in the back of his left knee, bringing him down to the ground. She crouched as well to retain her hold of him.

"Back off!" She may have yelled this out for virtually everyone to hear, but she mainly aimed her words at the mysterious woman just as she delicately leapt down from the container above.

Blake couldn't help but inwardly gulp now; what a vicious smile she ended up looking at.

Looking around for a second, she did spot Sun… who currently had several of the White Fang members pointing their weapons at him. Looks like he'd misjudged where he'd jumped down to.

This made Blake inwardly seethe. Sun may have very well been right – they'd jumped into something quite dangerous.

"Hey," Roman said, grabbing her attention. Blake couldn't help but notice his expression and tone of voice. The bastard only seemed marginally annoyed by his current position.

She maneuvered her blade even closer to his neck, the sharp steel on the verge of touching his skin.

To her anger, he still looked annoyed and nothing else. "Just where did you and your monkey boy pop out from, hmm?" He sneered. "For that matter, just how did you even know about this stunt of mine? Dumb luck?"

His arrogance was utterly disgusting. It took all she had to keep from spitting in his face, if only out of spite.

Looking away from him, she cautiously eyed the woman who seemed content to just stand and watch.

She then directed her attention to the White Fang members, all of whom now seemed to be eyeing her. Judging by some of their slack jaws and white knuckles, some of them appeared to recognize her.

And they didn't seem too happy.

Nonetheless… "Brothers of the White Fang! Just why are you working with this criminal scum?! Can't you see he's turned you all into little more than thieves?!"

She looked around as best as she could, hoping to see if any of them would react to her words in a favorable way.

But aside from some looks of confusion and even a bit of guilt, not one of the White Fang members appeared to be willing to change anything.

Roman chuckled, the sound reverberating in her ears. "Trying to turn your animal pals to the light? Fat chance of that. You see, your group and I have come to an agreement of sorts-."

"And I'd like to know about it!"

Everyone, bar none, blinked.

Blake blinked.

Roman blinked.

His unknown helper blinked.

So did Sun and the White Fang members there.

That voice had sounded familiar to her and had sounded close by. But where-?

And that had been when something came falling from the sky, landing little more than seven feet away from her and Roman.

Not gently, either; the ground shook a bit from the landing and cracks formed a little.

And that was when they all saw that it wasn't something that had fallen, but someone.

"Well, I could've stuck that landing better…" Jaune muttered, the area now so silent that everyone undoubtedly heard him. He tapped lightly at the cracks his landing had formed and grimaced.

Then he gazed up from the ground at Roman, Blake unable to suppress a shiver as he did so. Because of how tightly she was holding Torchwick down and close to her, it also seemed as if his blind eyes were locked onto her.

"Anyways, I actually managed to hear your yelling and stuff just now," he began. He smiled a little sheepishly. "Any chance you can explain your little operation to me?"

Roman could only stare at the young man, his demeanor markedly different. Blake could literally feel the glare that the criminal was leveling at the man. "Heh, what a surprise to see you again, you little shit," Roman spat out, his words sounding as arrogant as ever, but with more than a touch of anger. "As for your question, heh… well, I wouldn't call it a little operation…"

He then looked upwards when another sound began to fill the air and Blake couldn't help but follow his gaze.

She cursed inwardly; the bullhead from earlier that had dropped him off was back.

And from the way it was ominously hovering above them now, Blake had the sneaking suspicion it wasn't simply back to pick Roman up already.

"Well, would you look at that," Roman said mockingly. "My ride's already back! And with us only having gotten some of the Dust so far… thanks for screwing me over, kiddies."

Blake's gaze was pulled back to the ground she saw movement out of her periphery vision – and gasped lightly.

The petite woman from earlier. This entire time, she'd been so eerily quiet that she'd somehow managed to move closer to Jaune without anyone having even noticed her move at all.

And her umbrella still had its blade drawn as she approached.

"But hey, how about a parting gift before we all take off?!" Roman then yelled at Jaune.

"Professor, beh-!" Blake yelled out at the same time.

But it was too late.

For the woman had already struck forth.

Sorry if this somehow seems rushed; it really isn't!

Again, as stated in the above AN, I simply saw no reason in basically regurgitating everything that had happened in canon for the most part. So I hope you all understand!

Heh heh, but alas, now is when things will finally begin to get under way, so please bear with me!

Until next time, everyone! Take care!