Blake Belladonna was getting frustrated.

Information never came cheaply from the Fae, so given that she had traded in such expensive favors and yet had nothing to show for it? That was infuriating. Sure, she was still waiting on a few sources that were actively continuing to search, but they were the least likely to come back with anything. Really, she had only gone to them to be thorough.

So it was time to steal something traceable of Yang's, and hair was the obvious choice. The only problem is… it would be absolutely useless if Yang had been sucked into a Faerie Bubble, but she'd already had all the major, local ones searched. And if you could bet on anything with the Fae, purchased information was true.

So it was worth risking a wild goose chase in the extremely unlikely event that it wouldn't actually be helpful.

And it wasn't like she was doing this just for Ruby's sake. Blake would be lying to herself if she didn't admit that she'd grown rather fond of Yang in the time she'd known her. Yang was someone who had experienced so much pain so very young, and instead of turning it into hate and spite, had turned it into strength, even if she didn't really know how strong she was. Despite her stumbles, she'd never given up on trying to seek out the best in the world, for both herself and her sister. It was, in a lot of ways, inspiring.

And then there was the way the room lit up when she smiled, her unhesitant empathy and observant nature. Her sharp wit and her terrible jokes. Her quick thinking and unique perspectives.

And yes, she was also very attractive.

But that last thought was rather unprofessional, so Blake pushed it out of her mind.

The point was, Blake really liked Yang… a-as a person! Cared about her a lot. Wanted her to succeed. Even if she hadn't been her mentee's sister - and Blake rather liked Ruby as well, so Ruby's peace of mind would have been motivation enough on its own - Blake would have acted to ensure Yang's safety.

And as Blake approached the Xiao Long's apartment, she found herself really appreciating Yang's forthcoming honesty in their sessions. It was easy to identify the window into Yang's room that she always left unlocked in order to sneak in and out of.

Blake carefully slid the window open. It opened quietly, as though it was freshly greased. As silently as she could, she stepped up onto the sill, and climbed in. As she shifted her weight forward to step back down into the room, the frame let out a quiet squeak. Blake froze.

"Yang? Is that you?" A weary male voice came in, muffled, through the adjacent wall. "Oh honey please tell me you're home."

Blake had two options. She could stay, and try her luck, risking detection… or she could play it safe, leave, and come back later.

Shifting into Soul Form, she chose both. Simultaneously.

One Blake rolled silently into the room, then immediately began tracing out the glyphs for an invisibility spell. The other Blake fled out the window, hiding around the corner.

If the Blake in the room did get caught, she'd just recombine into the other body. With all evidence of her presence erased, whoever caught her would probably just assume they were seeing things. But she still prefered to not get caught at all.

She drew as fast as she could. Between her soulsense and heightened hearing, she could tell that Taiyang Xiao Long was rapidly approaching at a swift jogging pace.

"Yang?" Tai asked, stopping just short of the door, and listening carefully. "Yang, I'm… I'm coming in. Tell me if that's not okay."

He waited just a second for a reply before the doorknob began turning.

It was just in time for Blake to finish the spell. She activated it on herself, shattered the floating glyphs with a wave of her hand, then silently pressed herself up against the wall, holding as still as she possibly could. The problem with invisibility spells was… they didn't quite hide motion.

"Yang!" He said as he entered. "I was so worried when you didn't make it home for din… ner."

The hopeful expression Tai had carried into the room disappeared as he found it unoccupied by his daughter. The family resemblance was strong. He had the same wild blond hair, the same muscular frame, even eerily similar eyes, where the only difference was the hue.

But he looked terrible.

His eyes were puffy and red, as though he had been crying recently. The heavy bags under his eyes implied that he hadn't slept. He looked like a man at the end of his rope. What Blake wouldn't have given to take a peek at Mercury's notes from their therapy sessions…

...Which wouldn't have been professional. Or even strictly legal. But she only had Yang's version of events, where Yang had often felt as though he'd abandoned her just as much as her mother and her egg donor.

Experience had taught her that there was always more to the story than what could be learned from a single source.

Tai's shoulders sagged as he let out a deep, drawn out sigh, taking a several seconds long eternity to finish exhaling. Shuffling his feet as though they were weighted down with lead, he made his way over to the window.

"I could have sworn this was closed." He said, shaking his head. "Taiyang, your mind must finally be going. Guess you still had one thing in life left to lose." He carefully pressed on the front of the windowsill, replicating the quiet, distinctive squeak Blake had made during her entrance. "Must have been a cat or something."

With another heavy sigh, Tai closed the window, turned around, and slid down into a seated position underneath it, with his knees pulled in close to his chest.

Just inches from where Blake was pressed up, immobile against the wall.

"I just… I wish you had told me what I did wrong, this time." Tai said. "I know I haven't been the best father… I know I messed up. No one knows that better than I do, but… I thought I was finally starting to patch things up. That I… that I could finally be the father you deserved. I was doing better and… you were letting me in more. So… what did I do this time? What did I do wrong? Why did you just… leave without… without…"

Words seemed to fail Tai as he tried to fight back sobs. He was clearly trying his best to remain stoic. But he was also clearly failing. This continued for a few long, long minutes.

The Blake that was inside continued to hold as still as she possibly could. Being invisible was never a fun experience.

The Blake that was outside was also having a miserable experience, as she fought off an army of gnats. She should have brought some bug spray.

Eventually Tai's sobbing slowed, and he pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

With her enhanced Soul Form hearing and close proximity, Blake could easily hear both sides of the conversation.

After a few rings, a gruff, scratchy male voice answered.

"Hey Tai. She come back yet?"

"No, Qrow. She… hasn't. Not since she briefly snuck in around midnight. I'm getting really worried about her."

"Like I said last night, she's probably just getting some teenage rebellion out of her system. And it's about time."

"Qrow!" Tai groaned. "She's not a teenager! She's twenty! And she's never done it before!"

"All the more reason for her to finally experience it." Qrow said. "I mean, we sure hadn't given up on it at her age."

"Qrow…" Tai warned.

"Look, it's okay, Tai. I've long since come to terms with the fact that you were more interested in my sister than me. It… doesn't bother me anymore. But you can't deny we were all living it up!"

"Qrow! Please!"

"Point is, Tai, she's no longer got the pressure of responsibility on her. She's got more freedom to explore and learn than she ever had before, and as she recovers and starts taking control of her life again… well, we shouldn't be surprised if she does. Now, I don't mean to say that Ry-"

"Ruby!" Tai pointedly and exasperatedly corrected.

"Ruby." Qrow said. "Ruby… Ruby… dammit, I'm sorry. I'm trying, but I've got years of built in reactions to get out of my system, and this ol' bird ain't the best at learning new tricks." Qrow let out a deep sigh of his own. "I… really wish I could have spent more time around her, after she started transition. Have some actual memories of her… as she always wanted to be. I wish I'd have… I never should have taken that-"

"Qrow." Tai cut him off. "Please. I'd rather not… not start crying again."

"Y-Yeah. You're right." Qrow sighed again. "Look, I can tell you're worried about Yang. Are you certain she didn't leave anything behind to tip you off on where she went?"

"Like I said, whatever she came to get, happened to be one of the things she kept hidden." Tai sighed, before standing up. "And I don't like invading my daughters' privacy, so I have no idea what that might have been." Tai looked around the room, before his eyes settled on Yang's desk. "I guess she's got these… weird circle drawings sitting out on her desk that I haven't seen before, but I have no idea what that could mean."

"Weird circle drawings?" Qrow's voice was wary. "What do you mean? Can you describe them?"

"They're just…" Tai looked at them more closely. "It's big circles, with a series of smaller circles drawn inside of them. Looks kind of like a bullseye. Except all the little lines around the edges."

"Little lines?" Qrow asked, with growing concern. "Like, tick marks, triangles, and boxes?"

"Yeah. Exactly like that." Tai paused. "Qrow, you know something. What does it mean? Is this Branwen stuff?"

"N-No!" Qrow wavered. "I mean, well not exactly. I mean, it's something I learned about while I was running with them…"

"Fuck! It is a Branwen thing!"

"No, Tai, it's not. Calm down. It's… it'll be fine, but I know where to start looking. Don't worry, Tai. I will find her. It's not that big of a deal and it doesn't mean the Branwens have anything to do with it. You and I both know she doesn't like them. Now… what about you? You been taking care of yourself this morning? Did you eat breakfast?"

"N-No…" Tai stammered.

"Go get yourself some. Or… I guess brunch at this point. You'll be able to do more to help on a full stomach, okay?"

"O-Okay." Tai began to leave the room, turning around to give it one last hopeful, yet forlorn look.

Once again, all he saw was an unoccupied room.

Then he closed the door.

And Blake was alone once more.

Blake took a nice, deep breath, then let it out slowly, stepping away from the wall and rolling her joints. They didn't have blood flowing through them, but it still felt nice. She silently made her way to the desk, shaking her head at the papers with spells and glyphs scattered across their surfaces. She made a mental note to lecture Yang on the importance of keeping her magical paraphernalia better secured. Especially since it seemed her uncle might just be magically aware. Even so, he still wasn't supposed to know about Ruby, and if he inadvertently learned about her through Yang…

Well, it was a mess best left avoided.

There was also a pencil, with a tangle of white hair wrapped around it, and… ah-ha! A hairbrush!

Not one, but three hairbrushes, in fact. Each of varying aggressiveness in its bristles. And each clearly got heavy use. There was probably enough hair here right now to make the gloves Yang wanted.

Blake carefully plucked a single strand, then looked over to the window.

It was best not to risk it again.

It was difficult, and required a lot of concentration, but… she could do it.

Blake closed her eyes. Both sets of them. Both Blakes adopted the exact same stance, and she focused on the hair pinched between her fingers: the singular difference between them.

Both Blakes gave it all of their focus.

And then…

There was just one.

Blake opened her eyes - the only set she had - and saw the open air of the outside. The hair was still plucked between her fingers. She quickly secured it, then pulled out her phone and called Ruby.

"Blake! Did you find Yang?" Ruby asked immediately.

"Not yet, but I have more information." Blake said. "She missed dinner with your father last night. Apparently snuck in and out sometime around midnight, but didn't tell him anything."

"That's… not good is it?" Ruby asked. "It doesn't really sound like her. She would have called me or something! Or someone! She doesn't make plans without telling someone."

"It's not good." Blake confirmed. "My Fae contacts are coming up empty. We need to start considering vampires."

"Vampires… freaking vampires!" Ruby grumbled. "So… refresh my memory, since they haven't been a big part of my training. Vampires… are… a class of magical construct that's… a living body brought to life with an intact brain, but without a real soul, right?"

"Right." Blake confirmed. "They have what is called a pseudosoul; a spell designed to steal life force from living things with intact souls, and keep them functioning in place of a real soul. It also includes some extras to make sure it can survive, so they're more like us in Soul Form than base."

"Right. And if they completely drain the soul out of someone, they can replace it with a copy of their pseudosoul?"

"Yeah. It's usually how they spread. Unfortunately, they have a treaty with the gods, which keeps us from going after them. Officially."

"Shit! So what do we do?" Ruby asked. "I'm not saying I want to start a war over my sister, but… I'm also not saying I'm unwilling."

"That won't be necessary." Blake shook her head, smiling slightly. "We can't go after them as part of our duties, or 'just because', but there are exceptions for self defense… and personal grudges. And I'd say this is personal, wouldn't you?"

"Extremely." Ruby confirmed. "How long do we have before they… uh…"

"Don't worry, Ruby." Blake said. "A strong soul like Yang's would take years, maybe even decades, for a single vampire to drain completely. But…" Blake sighed. Ruby wouldn't want to hear this. "There are… signs that she might have been… enthralled. Some varieties of vampire can do that. She's… probably already been forced to do some things she doesn't want to. The longer we take, the more likely it is that one or more of those things are… traumatic to her. And it's not like she'll just forget it, so we definitely don't want to take too long."

"Did you get one of her hairs?" Ruby asked. "I can be right over, we'll-"

"No, Ruby, you can't. You're on duty. And you won't be much help to Yang in the long term if you get forsaken and the gods stop letting you come back."

"But-"

"Ilia, give me strength." Blake mumbled. "Ruby, I have it. I'll meet you in front of the apartment the instant the sun goes down, and we'll find her. Together. But I need you to hang in there for a few hours." She didn't mention how grueling that wait would be for her, as well.

"But what if your last patient goes overtime? Again?"

"Ruby, I swear to you, I will be there. I'll put on a hat and send a copy ahead if I have to."

"You'd better, Blake!" Ruby said. "If anything happens to her, I swear… I don't think I'll be able to stop myself."

"If that happens, Ruby?" Blake said. "Count on me to be right there along with you, helping."