30/"Thank you again. This is really helping us out." Nora said sweetly. She held Weiss's hand as she led her through a mess of back alleys and secret passages, quite similar to the time she had brought Weiss to meet Ren. Weiss recalled Blake and Yang's warning about not going off with strangers into dark alleys but... Nora wasn't a stranger anymore, sooooo this was fine.

Nora led Weiss to a room. Weiss had almost no idea how she'd ended up there. "Ok!" Nora said. "Now we wait for Ren." Ren stepped out of the shadows to be by Nora's side nearly a second later. "Oh good you're here!" Ren nodded.

His expression hardened. "Someone's coming." He whispered. He put his hands on Weiss and Nora's shoulders, and the color drained from their vision. Someone was indeed coming. They were trying to be silent, but Weiss could hear footsteps. Footsteps from above? She looked up, and saw slight light creeping in through the floorboards that made up the ceiling. Were they in a basement?

Nora raised a finger to her lips in a shushing motion. Her peppy demeanor had vanished, and the iris's of her eyes seemed to glow with small crackles of lightning flashing across them. Weiss was mesmerized by Nora's eyes. The want to gaze into Ruby's shining silver eyes gripped her heart.

The footsteps above stopped. There was a slight creak, and–

CRASHH

The ceiling gave out just above Weiss, but she dove away in time to escape the cascade of dust and debris that waterfalled down from the broken wood. Weiss coughed, and through the dust could see Ren and Nora using weapons across the room fighting someone.

"WATCH OUT FOR HIS TAIL!" Ren yelled, and Nora narrowly dodged what must have been said tail. It was to dusty to see clearly from where Weiss was.

"Scatter Weiss! We'll handle him! This Isn't our first meeting!" Nora called out to Weiss.

Weiss obeyed. She thought about staying to help for a moment, but she didn't have her sword. And even if she did, Weiss wasn't confident in her human to human battle strategies. She still needed some lessons from Blake. She would definitely have been more of a hindrance then a helper in this particular battle.

She left through the door Nora had taken her in from, but didn't get more then five feet before she bumped into a large figure blocking her path. Before she could even think, huge hands clasped around her head and slammed her into the wall. Everything went black.

Weiss awoke with a searing headache. Where was she? Wait... Had she, really gotten captured? What? Was she THAT helpless?! Weiss still couldn't see. After swiveling her head a little, she realized she was blindfolded and tied to a chair. Fantastic. Somehow it wasn't as scary as she thought it'd be. Her chest felt warm inside. A calming warmth. She needed to be calm. Yeah. If she was smart, she could escape, slip past her captors quietly. But first she needed to see. Weiss fidgeted around a bit, and discovered the blindfold was loose. She shook her head despite the pain, and managed to make it slide down to around her neck.

Weiss blinked. She was in a dimly lit room, much dirtier then the one Nora had taken her too. It was a different place. Where it was or how far from Nora it was, Weiss wasn't sure. Something besides her was in the room as well. Someone. A tall dark man with piercing eyes that stared into her soul. They stared at each other, silently.

Weiss noticed something else she hadn't before about the room, a moment later, there was a third person in it. In the corner if the room, hiding in the shadows, was a scraggly old man with an eye patch. Weiss recognized him... He'd been watching her creepily when she and Ruby had first seen Henry boasting about having a dragon scale. That old man had stuck out to her for some reason, but Weiss had pushed the thought deep down into her subconscious till just now. Just like the footprints... Dangit.. She looked at the old man, then turned her gaze back to the one in front of her.

When blindfolded, Weiss hadn't been able to see her foes. That had made her slightly confident that she could get out if she was smart enough. But this guy, this Tall guy, he was built like a bear. He could probably snap her arm in half with one hand. It should be illegal to look that threatening without even trying...

Weiss was at a loss for words as she looked up at him. She slowly averted her gaze to her lap, nervously avoiding his intense stare. Even if she could get out of the chair, there was no way she was getting past his hawk like vision. Drat.

"You finally ran outta luck." The man said. "Never underestimate what people will do for money." He tossed a bag to the old man with the eye patch behind him, and the old man scuttled out of the room. Did he.. Did he wait to pay the old man for spying or whatever until Weiss had awoken, just to prove a point? What point even was it?

"I..." Weiss still Didn't know what to say.

"You're lucky it was me who grabbed you and not HIM." He spoke with distaste, mentioning someone who Weiss assumed was his partner. The one Nora and Ren were fighting perhaps? "I'll give you an option. Take this and it will knock you out, then he can't torture you. Or you could suffer through it. Your choice." The man held a scary looking vial of purple liquid. Uh. ...No way in hell was Weiss drinking that. The man could sense Weiss's response from the look in her eyes. "Suit yourself." He pocketed the vial.

"Can you.. Untie me? I don't think I could escape anyways, it'd just be more comfortable." Weiss said slowly. She waited for his reaction. He shook his head, and that was it. Weiss was assuming she was here because he wanted to catch a dragon.. It was a dragon tracker Ren and Nora were after, maybe she should confirm that? "Why am I here?" She asked.

He gave her a dark look. "Dragons don't deserve to live."

Ah. "Well, about that. I'm not a dragon." Weiss stated calmly. "Don't you have a way to test it? Whether or not someone is a dragon? Because I'll surly pass it and be proven human, then I can just,,, leave,,, and we'll never speak of this again." Ok this was WEIRD. Why was she so calm? Weiss should have been on the edge of a nervous breakdown by now! Did Ren's semblance have after affects? No, that couldn't be it, he could only affect people by touching them.. Weiss would have noticed any after effects the first time it had happened.

"The only test is to see if they live through poisoning." The man muttered. "Its excessive and unnecessary, letting so many people die. But its the only way that works." He looked at Weiss. Slight remorse hidden behind the hard front in his eyes. "If you're human, tonight you'll die. And if you're dragon, I'll see to it myself that you never wake up again." He looked into his lap and closed his eyes.

This, has turned into a difficult situation, Weiss thought. Weiss was still calm as hell, unsure as to why. She felt a warm spot on her chest. Just like earlier, it spread throughout her. What? The warmth calmed her, made her feel safe. Her necklace. She remembered it feeling hot when she first noticed Ruby had gotten sick and turned part dragon for a while.. Did the scale warm up when Ruby was overexerting herself, maybe? What could she be doing? Perhaps she was searching for Weiss. Weiss had told her to come looking if she was gone for a long time without telling anyone where she was. But she couldn't have been gone for more then a few extra hours, right? It was dark outside.

Still, the warmth of the scale kept her sane. Maybe it had magical properties. Oh, well, of course it was filled to the brim with magic. But like maybe it also had some sort of link to Ruby, and Ruby's want to find Weiss made Weiss feel such calm.

Because Weiss was still so weirdly calm, she felt like making conversation with her captor. "Whats your name?" She asked.

The man looked her over, trying to see if she had some hidden motive for asking. "Hazel." He said. Weiss nodded. "And you?" he asked, staring at her with such an odd expression. Interest? Disgust? Curiosity? The way you might look at a very ugly dog holding a cute baby on its back.

"Weiss Sch–" Cover name idiot, you're still on the run, even if no one knows you're gone. "–kssnneeze. Sneeze. Weiss Sneeze." Wait. Could telling him her true identity get her out of this? He'd have to know the Schnee family weren't dragons right? Or maybe her telling him would make him think ALL the Schnee family were dragons... Heh. That'd make trouble for her father.

"Sneeze?" Hazel said, raising an eyebrow. Weiss felt her cheeks redden a little.

"Ok yeah it's not the best cover name but I already made the ID so–" Weiss forgot she was talking to her captor, Hazel, for a moment and responded like she was talking to Yang or Blake. "Uh. Ah.." Well, she had just wanted to tell him about her true identity. That slip up might have made things easier. "Do you know the name of Atlas's second princess?"Weiss asked.

"Everyone does. Weiss Schne–" His eyes widened as he looked at her. Hah, did he realize. Hazel quickly pulled out a compass similar to Noras, and checked it, making sure it pointed at Weiss.

"Ah! That! It doesn't point at me! It points at my necklace!" Weiss barked at him. He startled at her sudden rise in volume. Hazel reached towards Weiss's neck, making her flinch. He used a finger to scoop up the string of her necklace from the side of her neck, and carefully pulled it off. "Give it back..!" Weiss whined. Without the scales calming warmth, the gravity of the situation was starting to weigh in.

There was NO WAY Weiss could beat Hazel in a one on one fight unarmed, and there was no way she was convincing him to just let her go! Even if he did, what if he kept the scale? Ruby would follow the scale and be captured!

"It seems we won't be using the poison on you tonight at least then." Hazel grumbled. His eyes bore down into Weiss. "But since you have this, someone's sure to come looking for you. And the only one who would come, would be the dragon its from. Isn't that right?" Hazel took Weiss's worried expression as a yes.

"Give it back!" Weiss repeated. Hazel examined the necklace carefully. A heart carved scale that could have easily been mistaken as a red gemstone, if he hadn't seen the compass pointing to it, tied to a thin small rope.

"Its a heart." Hazel said bluntly. He looked to Weiss softly. "They gave you their heart." He shook his head. "And they'll pay dearly for it."

Ok, ok, don't panic stay calm. AND HOW DO I DO THAT no no just, deep breath.. One... Two... Deep breath... Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh access the situation! Yes! Hazel. Very large, and observant. Has a partner, who is fighting Ren and Nora. Was, fighting Ren and Nora? How long had Weiss been out? Doesn't matter, continue on. Scraggly old man was paid. He left. He left? Through a door. There was a door on the other side of hazel, his large form blocking it from Weiss's view! From her fidgeting before, Weiss had realized her wrists were tied, but not super tight. As if Hazel was afraid he'd break her by tying them to tight.

But none of this information mattered if she couldn't get the scale back. That was the most important thing. Weiss would be ok with breaking an arm if it meant she could get out of this with the scale. Get out.. Weiss, wanted to escape this on her own. She didn't want help. Sure she was scared before, but now she was angry, angry at herself. This was stupid! Use your brain! You claim you're bad at fighting People, but isn't that because you're either outnumbered or caught off guard? When have you ever even been in a fair fight or had an advantage against a human opponent? Didn't you discuss this already? You're on equal ground wit wise if you can get out of this rope. You don't have to fight him. Just get past him. The door is unlocked, the old man went through. You can too. Now think.

Weiss concentrated again. A way out, a way out. With the scale. "Can I please have it back..? It doesn't matter where It is as long as it's in the room right?" Weiss tried to sound scared and pitiful.

It must have worked, because about a minuet later Hazel grumbled and tossed the necklace back around Weiss's neck. Weiss was giddy, but hid her emotions. This was good! Now she just had to dash around him to the door! She'd struggled and managed to free her hands, but kept then behind her. Weiss undid the ropes tying her to the chair as well, the knot was on the back, she held the rope in place so it still looked like she was tied.

Hazel was avoiding looking at Weiss. Weiss had been putting up her very best fake scared expression, even managing to form small tears in her eyes. Of course hazel couldn't bear to watch. And that was just what Weiss wanted. With his eyes directed elsewhere, she might have a chance.

As fast as she could, Weiss sprang up and shot past hazel. The rope didn't catch, she didn't trip on anything. But opening a door takes a few seconds, and in this few seconds Hazel got his hand on her shoulder again. Weiss knew what would happen, she braced herself and avoided being knocked out by him slamming her into the ground. But his hand was still on her. She was so close, so close! He'd surly tie the ropes even tighter next time! Just a little more! A little mor–

A blinding white light flashed behind Weiss. Ruby? She turned her head back. No, that wasn't Ruby. It was a shadow wolf! A white shadow wolf? White... Oh! Oh oh oh! Weiss had summoned something! She'd summoned a shadow wolf! At the time she most needed it! The flash distracted Hazel, and the impact of the white shadow wolf managed to knock him off her. Weiss got to her feet and ran, a wide smile on her face.

Escape success! She did it! By herself! The shadow wolf was an extension of her own power, so this was totally by herself! But that wasn't the end of it. Weiss was running through dark corridors blindly, with Hazel surly following. She had the scale. That meant he could track her.

Weiss smelled something sweet. Pastry's? She saw a tiny speck of light, and rammed into it by accident. She burst out of a wall of a bakery, scaring is inhabitant's. She kept running, hoping that since she had her hood up no one would recognize her. Her hood... She was, still wearing Ruby's read cloak.. hm. The bakery people would have seen a girl in a red hood covering her face break out of a wall and dash out of the store. This probably wasn't helping Ruby with her whole 'wanted poster' thing..

Weiss was outside! And it was daylight? She'd been gone the whole night? But wasn't the window she'd seen in the room back there dark? Weiss spotted Blake in the market and jumped on her.

Blake made a catlike screech and toppled over. Weiss chirped at her excitedly. "Hey! Hi! Uh! I'm alive!"

"Get off! What was that for?! Also, where the hell were you!? What happened to no wandering off with strangers?" Blake wriggled out of Weiss's grasp and stood up.

Weiss stood too. "Well, you see, it wasn't a stranger...? I know Nora. We've hung out."

"Uh-huh. And what did she ask you to do?" Blake gave a stern look.

"...be bait for a serial killer?"

"SHE MADE YO–" Blake stopped herself from raising her voice to much and took a deep breath. "God. I should have guessed. All three of you are so,,,, UHG." Blake stretched her arms and Weiss her her back crack a little. "Ow. Sorry. I'm on edge, what with you having been suddenly gone again, and the fact that my back is KILLING me. You never realize how heavy leather is until you spend all night carrying it around." Blake scoffed.

"She didn't make me, I agreed to it willingly." Weiss half pouted.

"Of course you did. I swear you always do the opposite of what we tell you, you defiant little–" Blake covered her face with her hands and groaned. "Don't talk to me right now my entire being is sore and I'll say something I'll regret later."

"I also might be being chased by a friend of the serial killer who's life mission is to wipe dragons out of existence. Currently. As in i just lost them in the chase." Weiss looked away as she spoke.

Blake looked about ready to cry from frustration.