a/n: Monk7/Barbarian2. Change my mind. Not Yang. That's Barbarian6/Fighter3.

Hair burning brighter than the light of the setting sun, she spilt from him half way back to camp, Oscar and Ren waving him over. Not that Nora and Weiss didn't see their approach, whistling their approval, getting nothing but a smirk in return.

"WOO! YANG IS BACK!" Ruby met Weiss for the handshake. "Which goddess do I thank for that? Oh, all of them? I have cookies still."

"No, look." Weiss squinted, a pair of ears standing in front of the door, amber eyes glowing in twilight, narrowing as Yang approached. "That's a disaster waiting to happen, stay out here, in case I need backup."

Blake's claws slid from their sheaths, a sneer on her face, canines bared. "Really, Ya-"

"I don't answer to you." She caught her shaking arm. "And if you're going to sick my father on me, go ahead. I'm a big girl. I can deal with my problems. You can't. You won't. Fuck off."

"But you'll answer to him? I saw that. Didn't I warn you-"

"I am well aware of what he did to you. And the wall you backed him into." Lilac stared down amber. "...the thing about a story is that it has two sides. And you're not holding the pen. Like you rely on. You didn't mention you have a nasty habit of getting your allies maimed or killed. He was one of them. As was I."

"You can't blame me for everything. Did he tell you to say that?"

"...I make my own decisions. I decided to help the man that was sitting alone in a bar losing his eyes by the hour. Turns out madness and loneliness are best friends. Like the loneliness you inflict wherever you go."

"Helping him and fucking him are two different things! Why are you defending him?"

"I'm defending him as he defends me. I don't know why we're having this conversation."

"We were partners, I owe you that much. I can see his way of thinking is dangerously contagious...how long before he has everyone in here is on his side? Why do you not care about his past?"

"Why do you think that nobody in here has a opinion and a brain? His past is his past, and the past is over. Remember how we said that three weeks ago? We're seventeen dead men with a cause! It's not about you any more!"

"I see he's already got you under his spell. Are the petals that distracting? Watch the sword, it's just as red."

Her eyes changed to oxblood. "I won't let you rule me." The cat gritted her teeth. She charged at Blake, hands singeing the sleeves of the mantle as she walked, the panthera reaching for her sword. "And so what if I'm under his spell? It was me and him versus the world." Blake's ears flattened against her head, a snarl building in her throat. "And it still is." Yang was a hair away.

"Those are the exact same words he said to me! Why are you believing his lies?"

"You're nothing but a shadow of the woman that I once held dear! You give me no reason to believe otherwise!"

Blake looked over Yang's shoulder, and the blonde turned to find Jaune and Weiss standing there. "I heard the whole thing. You want to stop standing in front of the door like you would actually guard it and let people in and out?"

Yang pushed past the dark haired girl, Pyrrha cheering a hello.

"What do you want, Jaune?"

"What are you doing? Actually, are you going to lie to me when you answer that question? Yes, you are. Move." Yang pushed her way back out, holding a portable charger.

"Jau-"

He roared at Blake, Weiss covering her ears. A pan clanged into Pyrrha's face, Jaune running into camp to pull it off. Blake skittered off, only to be caught by a black glyph a league off.

"...the innocent never run, Blake. What are you doing? " Weiss stood in a simple black ensemble, the cloak sitting behind her shoulders. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to think."

"About?"

"How to get Yang to tell the truth..."

"How can you say something like that? Yang would never lie to us!"

"Do you trust me, Weiss?"

"You're not giving me a reason to with all this sneaking around! What's the problem?"

"I want what's best for all of us."

"What is that supposed to mean? What does that have to do with Yang?" Blake looked away. "What truth should Yang tell, Miss Know It All?"

"She knows our past. And she knows what he is to me. He's holding her hostage! He hasn't told her the truth!"

"I know your past, and his past, thanks to Qrow. He filled us in, seeing as how your presence would be pressed upon us in short order. What he was to you is not who he is to Yang."

"He probably hunted her down just to fuck with me! Why do you believe anything that comes out of his mouth?!"

"Actually no. Stop. She told all of us how she found him. Blind and sick." Blake's breath hitched her throat. "I have heard certain pieces of this second hand due to the circumstances, but you know full well my memory is crystalline. I will be telling you the truth, since you are so intent on concocting a plan to get Yang to tell you the same thing. At Beacon, Cinder knived her between the joint. Blood everywhere. She staggered and fell into his arms. He tied off the wound with his own belt."

"Keep your fluff, Weiss!"

"I am telling you things as they happened. I spared my last fire cartridge to seal the wound before she bled out. Seven ribs broke to bring her back in the hospital as she nearly passed of a secondary infection." She paused to take a swallow of scotch. "He died for her at Argus-"

"Liar!"

"May he forgive Nora for taking this picture." Weiss pulled a photo up on her Scroll, the crush and Yang's ten thousand league stare displayed in full color. Blake's ears flattening against her head, a gag choked back with a grimace. "Were it not for our Master and Jaune's exhaustive efforts, Yang would have likely followed him to the grave." Gambol Shroud found its way out of its sheath. "I do not understand how you are angry that she is in lov- that she is loyal to him onto pain of death, as he is to her. Or rather, are you jealous?"

"He's a manipulator! He just did all of that so you'd pity him! He lied! He could see! Everything! He is not a hero!"

"He is not. And neither are you. If I have to protect myself, who came out of my way to check on a woman I once called teammate, to try and talk her through the turmoil she's facing, I will not hesitate."

"Did you fuck him too? Make up for that blasted brand?"

"Are you calling me a-"

"Whore. I don't have to call you what you are. I saw the news when your sister played pretend and the look in your eyes as you backed away from the Master-"

A icy Deathstalker made the first move.

"It's a problem when it becomes a problem, Pyrrha."

She ran a hand over the mark. "I believe that we should at least ask the Master-" A golden petal flew by. "What's this?" It came to rest on her open hand. "Should we-" It wilted and blew away. "Will you let us know?" A second petal curled past. "Thank you."

"Again, if they're affiliated with her, and we have reason to believe that they are, then it's a problem of what it does instead of who does it, and whether or not it can be negated." Adam scratched at the black vines on his pinky.

"I'm not a fan of waiting around to bring death and destruction." A smile crept across his face. "STOP. You're terrible." A chuckle made it out of his throat, a halo of gold came up the hill, stealing his attention. Pyrrha poked him in the belly.

"Oh no, what are you two plotting?" Yang's hands found their way to her hips. A smirk ran across both their faces.

"A birthday party for Ozpandrel."

"You're shit for lying, Pyr."

"Ya'll? Can you disappear for another hour or so? And take Pyrrha with you?" Nora yelled out of the camp. They went inside regardless, the younger cohort missing except Magnhild's mistress, who was compiling some videos on her Scroll. Ozpin was knitting a dark blue sweater. Everyone else was doing whatever pleases them, including sharing bulk containers of granola and bourbon. "No, I'm serious."

"Why? No secrets, no bullshit." Yang scowled.

"Because Tai is lookin-"

Adam threw her over his shoulder, storming off into twilight, Yang protesting over much, Pyrrha giggling after them.

Glynda finished her gin. "...Did they?"

"By the meltdown that Belladonna had, it doesn't fucking matter." Qrow finished the bottle of bourbon.

"They're stressed out." Ironwood spoke from his normal corner, facing the door, reading a star chart. "I would get out there and go watch them, but I don't want to be too conspicuous."

Raven buried her face in her hands. "Tai's gonna kill that boy."

"For what? For what?" Glynda scoffed. "Congratulations, they're being kids! You should be happy!"

"Given the circumstances, I hesitate to exhibit any sort of joy." James watched the flames rise. "Here we go!"

Taiyang stormed in, the poor door crying off its hinges, hair burning its way out of its tie. "I can't find them."

"Good, you drove them off." Glynda closed her book. "Nice job, dragon dad."

"What are you talking abo-" She threw the book at him.

"You know you're rather late to the party." Glynda readjusted her glasses. "We get it, they're your kids. But no one in here is a child. You can't do this."

"Who are you to talk?" He threw his mantle onto his bags, the hem singed off, just like the cloak. "You got here later than I did."

"Their friend. You're being a tyrant." Glynda hopped up. "Did anyone hear that cat?"

"...Don't think about that too much." Oz lost his darning needle in the cracks. "Preferably stop thinking about it and maybe it'll go-"

"It's not going away." James found it for him. "I hear it."

Nora got up. "Anywho...when we filled you in, we filled you in about the master plan. Allow me to fill the rest in. I've been filming this bullshit since we got off that the train, since Qrow and Pyrrha started whispering to either each other at three in the morning." Qrow stuffed more granola in his mouth. "Here, Glynda, I'll take my leave." She stepped out, green sleeves grabbing her around her waist.

The platinum blonde projected a picture of Ruby in a drunken stupor, crying at her Scroll, a picture of Weiss on it. Then the crater where Adam fell, Yang weeping over him. "You weren't there for the fall, just the crash." She changed to video. Adam getting his sight back. Ruby and Oscar dancing in the flower fields, letting each other go when he approached.

Gold faded to blonde and blue, he crossed his arms, watching the fire dance.

"We don't have time for it. You're dropping morale. Let them be." Ozpin threw the finished sweater at Ironwood. "Next to get a talking to is Blake." The recess between tarp and wall was checked. So were the tents. The larger cardboard boxes, one lined with a purple blanket. "Where is she now?"

"That's worrying." Winter finished the bag of granola, much to the twins' disappointment. "How much did she hear then?"

"Everything she would have otherwise." Oz sat back down, the hip acting up again.

Raven opened another bag. "This is driving me crazy. What is her problem?"

Giggling came up the hill, brown waves and an auburn fall of hair crowned by pink flowers coming through the door, as Taiyang's temper stoked the flames, his frame shadowed by the light. The pair faltered and fled back out, Oscar dragging Ruby with him, the rest of the younger crowd visible in the horizon. Except Blake and Weiss.

Qrow slapped Tai, rings first. "Your children can't pay for you. You swore to that. If it's bad in here, then it's shit out there." He dragged Raven over by the arm. "And you're letting it happen. Both of you have lost any sense of bravery that I remembered you having." Qrow sat back down. "Get it together."

"They're our kids." Ironwood examined the garment, rolling his eyes at the starlit design. "We can't set bad examples. Now, you can get out there, and apologize, without having a godsdamned temper tantrum or you can sit here and calm down until they come back. If they come back. And you, Raven, if you can grow a spine before solstice, that would be great. Weiss came back, covered in blood, grabbing fresh clothes and sliding back out. "...that's suspicious."

Blake fell in the door, holding a bloodied nose, her eye blackened, the rest of her bruised and dusty.

"Okay...we have got to stop this." Oz threw off the eyeglasses. "We're supposed to be a team!"

"Good, she's here." Qrow swallowed more bourbon. "Your turn." She didn't respond. "Is she awake?"

General Rouge knocked at the door.

Weiss opened it, earrings dangling in the rising sun.

"Excuse me, it's time for Council."

"...go to them and ask them whether we are required."

"Lady Myrtenaster, I cann-"

"Sweetie, we're not here for your health," Raven grumbled, pulling a sleeping Glynda off of her lap and putting her on Tai's. "What did you need?"

"Lady Omen, the Ge-"

A screech deafened them all, shattering the wine bottles, bringing them all down to their knees. "Okay...what the fu-" She watched her hair go pink then flat gray, looking over to Ren, who was staring into the void, Nora desperately trying to shake him out of it.

Raven tossed General Rouge down the hill, slamming the door behind her.

"It's the beast that killed his parents...how it is here?!" She kept on shaking him, until grey receded from all of them.

"I'm fine." He got up, running for Stormflower and a curved knife. "Let's go."

"What are you talking about?" Rouge, apparently, didn't roll far enough. "We have to mount a force! Are you trying to kill yourselves!?"

"General Rouge, that's not a threat, that's a promise." Ren thundered off into the valley, abandoning the very idea of a battalion.

It was two Grimm, one riding the other, one a Imp, a arch of bone attached to its forearm, the other a Horse with buckled knees, all together three stories high. They crashed into a halt as it loaded a whole tree into its apex, pulling back a black string.

It fired, the missile carving a tunnel into the earth, it landed into the legs of the watchtower, the steel crumpling like paper. Blake watched a little too long.

"Let's go." Ren launched forward, firing away, the rest hustling after him.

It swung its other arm, dripping black liquid, Grimm springing forth from the puddles. Ren kept pushing forward, taking out the weaker ones with a single punch, sliding underneath the Horse, slicing into its underbelly with the curved blades of Stormflower.

"He's going to solo that thing?" Qrow cried over the din of war.

"He's going to get himself killed!" Nora ran in after him, followed by Jaune and Pyrrha. "Handle its arms!"

Ruby whirled around the Archer half, twisting its body into a spiral. "Duck!" The recoil was twice as fast, it howled in pain, she crashed into a petal puddle, covering her ears.

Blake stood in the middle of things, texting on her Scroll. The Grimm filed in throng by throng.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Winter shrieked, catching a arm to the chest, going flying.

Adam and Raven stood watching. "Listen here, Edgelord. You and Yang take a hit and knock that thing down a few pegs. I'll warp to Taiyang, tell him to cauterize the stump. FEATHERS!" He screeched back, busy with a slew of Greater Manticores. "Cut the bow arm off. Before that boy gets himself killed!"

"I'll hold it." Ozpin slicked his hair back with filthy hands. "You've got minutes!"

A black gear ticked underneath the Beast. Blake watched. Jaune roared at her to get moving, to no avail. A clone took away stray hits for her, her eyes scanning the battle for something.

"FROSTBITE!" Winter, Weiss, Nora, and Ironwood launched both magical and dust born ice shards at its legs, freezing one of them over completely, it snapped clean in twain. Yang crashed into the opposite leg at the rear, Adam slicing the limb off where it buckled, warping Yang out of the way before it crushed them, the sharpened hoofs slicing into his back.

Ren's fists glowed pink, with a single punch he cracked the skull of the horse. The Archer, with its spidery legs, scuttled away to grab another tree. Qrow and Ruby shot themselves into the air, slicing off the curved limb. Taiyang seared it shut.

It screeched. Arrows formed in the air, dripping vile ooze, hailing down onto the meadows. Everyone fell back. Blake shot herself into the sky, cutting down arrow after fletch after shaft.

Except the one that threatened to spear through Adam, charged with purple Aura as she passed.

She rode the last one into the ground, a wicked smirk on her face, as she ran towards Yang, only to get kicked into the air by a rabid Beringel. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Weiss screamed at her, still pulling Myrtenaster out of a Grimm, black blood spraying in her eyes.

Ren was stuck between her and the Beast. He chose to finish one thing at a time, slitting its throat with the curved knife, then its arms, then its face and then the knife slipped from his hands and he ripped its spine out from neck to ass, dropping the blackened bones into the mud, hands still glowing.

"Liè!"

"WHAT?!" He turned, eyes shining pink, black staining his teeth.

"Don't..." Nora shuddered under his gaze, holding the curved knife, ooze in her scrapes. "Become a monster fighting monsters. We have enough of that." The rest of the chaos continued around them, the Southern Pass proving a liability instead of a asset, Ironwood running to seal it off, Winter providing cover.

"Someone is missing, Nora." He looked over her head, scanning for familiar faces, the Grimm too thick to take chances standing there, he continued to fight, Stormflower wet with blood, the knife returned to his belt.

Yang laid speared on that same arrow, weight on her right arm, purple still clinging to the splintered shaft. "Behind! Behind you!"

Adam stained his hands black and red, the torn flesh on his back a hindrance to her release, Aura fluttering in and out of sight. "I'll get you off, it'll be okay...It'll be-" A shadow approached from behind and he turned to cat ears, amber eyes and the blade in his eyes.

The flood of Grimm stemmed to a single Sabyr, shot down by eighteen bullets.

His screams caught their attention next.

Rose petals fell like rain, Blake stood over Adam with a vacant stare in her eyes, a white knuckle grip on her sword. Yang reached for him, blood falling from her mouth, worsening the wound with each swipe. The second stab went through his stomach and out of his ribcage, retracted with a single pull, his right hand pressing into the wound to no avail.

'What...' Jaune stared, legs locked in place, the grip of Crocea Mors falling from his claws. Someone roared in his ear. It might have been Tai. 'Why?'

Blake fell to her knees, betwixt the two, staring at the merging blood pool. "I don't feel good."

A scarred hand seized her throat, staining her skin red, sliding down her neck as the last of his life seeped into the earth. "Why...?" It fell into the sullied flowers. Yang reached out for the last time, fingers hooked around his.

The roses ceased. Her hair extinguished. Blake reached for the red bladed sword, grabbing it by the edge, uncaring as it cut into her flesh, fumbling with the grip twice, as golden gloves cast it away, a roar ripping out of her throat.

Qrow screeched, most raising their hands to their ears.

"YOU TRAITOROUS WRETCH!" Ren shot towards the cat, breaking the speed of sound, bludgeoning her with his fists, his eyes glazed over with rage. Weiss cocked a combustion dust barrel into her pistol, Glynda pulling her arm away before she could fire.

Ironwood caught him after the fifth strike, pulling him off. "Stop, Liè! Stop!" He screamed in the older man's ears, still swinging for her. Nora shook, watching Ren bare his teeth, Winter holding her up, staring at the sight for sore eyes.

Blake stood up. "I wanted to save her..." Her hands dripped still. Tears ran down her face. "I just wanted to save her..."

Jaune ran to free Yang, the head of the arrow buried in the grass, blooding his hands to snap the arrow. With both hands, he rolled her over, lilac eyes staring into eternity. 'Ishouldnthavegonewithhim.' He blinked away tears. 'Ishouldnthaveyelled.' A roar wrenched out of his chest. 'Ionlywantedtoseehimhappyreallytrulyhappy...' He sat in the grass, holding her body, hair blackened from the soil.

'How do you deserve this? How, on your dying breath, do you deserve this?' Raven sprinted to his side, collapsing as truth came to light, as Jaune placed her daughter in her arms. The screech fell on deaf ears, Jaune staring into the distance, eyes watered over.

Adam's hair and the blood underneath were one and the same, covering Pyrrha as she lifted him off the ground, holding her hands over his eyes. "Why?" Blake stared into the abyss. "Why?!" The blood still ran off Gambol Shroud. "WHY?!"

Ruby broke through Oscar's hold, Crescent Rose ready to swing for Blake's neck, Oz grinding her to a halt a inch away, the cat turned into the blade, slicing a thin cut on her neck.

"That won't help anything, Ruby!" Oz grabbed her, the scythe fell into the muck, she howled in his ears. Taiyang stood, paralyzed, hair white as ash.

A bullet crippled Blake, Weiss' pistol smoking in the distance. Glynda too busy rocking herself left and right, broken hymns on her lips.

Pyrrha heard the march approach, her jeans stained, tears soaking her cheeks. 'So...this is how it ends? Slain? By someone you once held dear? Gods, save us.'