Yang ran down the stone hallway, Kiku slung over her shoulder, unconscious. People talking could be heard echoing throughout the hallway. What it was about wasn't known. She could hear footsteps, and ducked into a nearby alcove.

A hooded figure with large antlers walked by, grabbing one of the lamps from off the wall, and walked back to where they came from. "Okay, I got it, guys!"

"Oh, for the love of the Hydra, Aster!"

"I'm sorry, here's a replacement for now, we'll fix the other later."

"How are we supposed to see the cards with no light?"

"We've got plenty to go around, guys. It's okay."

Yang crept out of the alcove, continuing down the hallway.

"Come on, come on…" she panted. "Where's the exit?!"

The hallway ended, opening to a larger room with a group sitting in a circle, playing some sort of card game.

The foggy-eyed man laid down his cards. "Nice try, but that's not gonna beat this hand! Read 'em and…" He looked up and noticed Yang. "Oh, crap! How'd you-" He was thrown against the wall by a Dust round shot from her gauntlet as she ran for the archway at the far end.

One of them pointed at her. "Don't let them get away!" The crowd seemed like they weren't listening for a second, but finally one with a ponytail charged at her carrying a simple wooden staff, as if it'd help.

She rolled her eyes, knocking her away with a simple backhand. "I really don't have time for this…" she muttered, and ran off.

The foggy-eyed man quickly blocked the exit path, and a black-haired man, not knowing what to do, resorted to grabbing her leg and hanging on like a little kid. Yang shook him off, and swung at the man in her way. Before she could hit him, a whip snagged her by the wrist and flung her away from the exit, knocking away Kiku as well.

The whip's holder quickly wrapped the whip around its handle, making it into a slingshot, and flung a small spiked ball he grabbed from a bag hanging from his shoulder. She jumped out of the way, charging at him and punching his face, making him fall down with his nose bleeding profusely.

Just then, she heard quick footsteps and yelling from behind her. She whipped around, seeing a Faunus with large antlers charging at her, armed with a baton, which he quickly swung at her. She jabbed at him, but he ducked, and her fist went right over his head… clipping both his antlers short. He felt around them, realizing what happened, then looked at his antlers, now on the floor, in horror.

"Nooo!" he screamed, scrambling to pick them up. "My antlers!"

"Oh, jeez, I'm sorry," Yang cooed, backhanding a robed man running up on her.

"Eeh… you beat me," he replied, curling up on the ground. "You got me good."

"You okay, buddy?" she asked, genuine concern in her voice.

"N-Nah, I'm good…" He was now cradling what was once his antlers. "Still have a bit left…"

"Do… do they grow back?"

"I… I don't know," he whimpered.

"Oh, lighten up, tu pleures bébé!" yelled Noire, throwing off his hood. "If you cannot finish off this jézabel, I shall do it myself!" He breathed into his flute, creating a shrill tone and sending out a dart.

Covering her ears, Yang deftly dodged it, drowned it out with a yell of her own, and advanced. With one left hook, she smashed his fragile instrument to bits, and followed up with a cut that sent him to the ground.

"Oh… what a woman…" he muttered.

She grabbed him by his collar, bringing him up to eye level. "I'm 17, creep," she growled, and smashed her brow into his, sending him to the ground again, unconscious.

Right after that, someone immediately jumped onto her back, trying to throw her onto the floor. She threw them off, regaining her posture. The one she threw off, a dog-eared Faunus, apparently wasn't done, and did the same thing again, trying to hang on tightly.

She shook loose her arm, striking their shoulder. They slid down a bit, and easily was shaken off. It seemed that it was at the point where they were getting very desperate, to the point where one threw another at her as a quilled projectile. Yang dodged, firing a Dust round at the Faunus. They dodged, running back at her, unarmed.

She ducked under them, sending a strike up at their torso. They flew straight to the wall. The one who threw them just gave up after a second of awkward silence.

"Two left, blondie. Aren't you so close."

"Yeah, I am," she smirked, picking Kiku back up. "And neither of them is gonna stop me."

"I would wait before you pick your friend back up, as unfitting as he is." Iris took a fighting stance. "Because you're just gonna end up dropping him again."

Yang gently put him off to the side. "Fine then." She reequipped Ember Celica. "I take it you're the one I kept hearing in my dreams. The one who I think maybe wanted a piece of me?" She raised a sly eyebrow.

Iris snickered. "Perhaps. I just think you deserve better than him, the feeble little mouse."

"So what you're saying is I deserve you."

"Maybe I am."

Yang took a battle stance. "Look, no offense, but you're really not my type. I never had much romantic luck with crazy end-of-days cultists."

"Eh, not much is taken. But you're still not leaving." Iris took off her cloak, and threw it to the ground, revealing two large bat wings, now outstretched.

Yang's eyes narrowed. "Prove it. But lay off the hair."

"Fine, then." She jumped, and kicked off the wall, gliding for an attack from above. "I'll leave some intact, don't you worry."

"Some what now?"

"You told me lay off, not avoid it entirely," she sneered.

"You touch ONE HAIR ON THIS THING, I swear to God!" she yelled, jumping up to her level with the aid of recoil.

Iris pulled out a few knives from her pocket and slashed at her chest. "You'll what, cave my face in?"

"Maybe," she shouted, landing on her back and striking the back of her head. "I might start by clipping these wings of yours!"

Iris growled, and flipped upside down, swiping at her. Yang grabbed her wings, dragging the two down to the ground. With little control over her wings now, she hit it hard, head first.

Yang struck her in the face as she descended. "That one's for trying to kill my world for your stupid dragon god!"

"K… Kill?" Iris laughed through rasps. "If everything goes as planned, we'll be the saviors of this world. Our leader Glaze foretold it! In doing this, you are not saving this world, but dooming it…" She passed out.

Yang sighed. "Sweet baby Monty, you people are crazy…"

"Do you really want to do this?" yelled Glaze. "You are making a mistake that will cost everything!"

"You're making a mistake! Do you genuinely have no idea what's going to happen if the Rift doesn't close in time? Reality will collapse for not one, but two different worlds, including ours! Is that what you want?!"

"The Rift is controlled by the Hydra and the Wolf. Our sacrifice will appease the Hydra and Remnant will be spared."

Yang pointed back at Kiku. "If he's kept here, Remnant will be doomed, you idiot!"

His eyes narrowed in anger. "I am not so easily fooled by your lies! The writer of the prophecy that this society has lived on for so long told us that this is how the world can be saved! The only way!"

"The writer of the prophecy lied!"

"No! He would never lie, YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO HE WAS! He never said his true name, called himself the 'claw eye.' He was a man of mystery who the Grimm would not dare approach. This society is of the followers of his teachings. He often had visions of the future, which he wrote down in a book, which would become the prophecy. And they eventually had come to be fulfilled. What happened to him, I do not know. The stories vary."

Yang blinked. "A book… became a cult?"

"We had to make sure that his prophecies wouldn't be lost. So we always had an eye on the future."

"If you keep my friend here, you won't have a future! No one will!"

"…Well. I see we're at a standstill. Neither of us are willing to budge."

Yang cocked her gauntlets. "And only one of us will."

He reached into his cloak. "So you want to fight, do you?"

"I don't see any other option. Do you?"

Glaze's eyes narrowed. "No." He quickly whipped out a hunga munga-flintlock pistol, held it back, and threw it at her. She narrowly stepped out of its reach, and fired a Dust round at him.

The weapon quickly reeled back to its holder, who blocked with it, then fired in return. Yang dodged, countering with a running jab. He sidestepped and sliced downward, barely missing her. She threw a right hook to his face, smacking him a few feet away. Quickly recovering, Glaze threw his weapon again.

Yang deflected his weapon with her gauntlet, following up with an uppercut that sent him flying. He hit the ceiling head-first, and with a cry of pain, landed flat on the floor, down for the count.

She sighed in relief, then went back to pick up Kiku again. Before she left, however, she looked back to the young cultist with the antlers.

"L… Look, don't worry about me, miss. I'm pretty sure they'll grow back eventually." He sighed. "You should go, before Glaze wakes up."

"…What's your name, bud?"

"Aster."

"Aster… you're too good for this place. For these people."

"Well… they were the only people who welcomed me."

"They don't seem very welcoming to me. Not after one of them called you a crybaby…" She picked up a piece of his broken antler. "For something that means so much to you."

"Eh, at least I can't be called 'coat rack' anymore."

"Aster… What these people have done… It's…"

"I know, I shouldn't be here. I should just go talk to Laurel and leave."

"They're mostly all unconscious. You may not get another chance."

"Right, right." He walked over to the dog-eared Faunus, trying to lift her on his shoulders. "I should go while I still can."

Yang smiled. "I am." With that, she took off toward the mouth of the cave.

After a small period of running, Yang finally broke out into sunlight. She set Kiku down on the grassy ground, and took a look around. She seemed to be relatively close to the town, which was good. Not a lot of time left to waste, presumably.

"…ngh… Y… Yang?" Kiku mumbled.

Yang quickly went to him, brushing the hair out of his face. "You okay, Kiku?"

He slowly sat up. "I think I am. Where are we?"

"We're out of that cave. They're not coming after us anymore…"

"You broke us out? Nothing is going to come and eat us?"

She laughed. "No, Kiku. Nothing is going to eat us. I think."

He laughed in turn. "Okay. Good. Then that won't be happening again."

"As if I'd let you get captured again."

"No, I mean…" He stopped mid-sentence. "Never mind, that doesn't matter. What matters is that we're okay. I was afraid we'd… you'd never make it out…"

"I had no idea you were that worried about me…"

"Well, I can take as many punches as one could throw. So, to me, you're a greater priority, when it comes to safety. And besides, you're keeping me safe. I cannot help but feel… obligated… to you."

Yang smiled. "Thank you. That… means quite a lot coming from you."

"What else could I say? You did get us out of there, and with little scratches."

"Well, there were scratches. Just not enough to stop me from getting you out of there."

He gave a sad smile. "I wish I was awake at the time, so you weren't fighting alone."

"Oh, don't be like that. I had it all locked up."

He looked to her with a gleam in his eye. "Then at least I wish I could've seen you."

"Yeah, I bet it looked really cool."

"Sorry, again, for passing out then. It sort of came out of nowhere."

"Hey, it's fine. You were under a lot of stress. You blacked out. People do that. Even with Aura."

"Y… Yeah. Blacked out. Perhaps that was just my thoughts."

Yang realized she hadn't taken her eyes off him for a few minutes. "…We, uh… We should get moving. I think we're close to that town."

"Good, good." He got up. "Then we haven't got a minute to waste. Do we have everything?"

She handed him the pipe, as well as the supplies she totally had on her the whole time shut up. "Pretty much."

"Thank you. Let's be off."

They began to walk back to the bridge, both unaware that the other was stealing a few glances.

Collaborator's Note: Sorry about that cameo, but this was actually made at the beginning of the year. I hadn't intended him to get any other parts.