Blake hit the top of man's head with the butt of her katana and he crumpled.

She jerked her head to the side to the faunus lying on the floor to the side, in a clear sign to scram. She did, clutching her purse tightly to her chest, eyes lightly fearful, picking herself up and running out of the alley that she had been tricked into.

Blake didn't look up, just sheathed her katana and then wearily bent and picked up the criminal in a fireman's lift. With a hefty use of Aura she jumped up to the roof of one of the adjacent buildings. She started heading towards the hospital, not really thinking just picking a path through all the random obstacles in front of her.

What was that, the 5th tonight? She wasn't sure and it didn't really matter. She would pick up the sounds of fighting, of screaming with her ears and she would be off again, helping one more soul. She never planned on doing this vigilante thing and for so long each night. She told herself each time she caught herself stopping another crime that she would retire early each night but she had seen too many dawns for her to know she was in control of it.

She approached the stark white light of the hospital, veered to the left slightly so she would end up behind the huge building. She found her usual spot, glanced around to make sure nobody was around and jumped down, landing silently even with her load. She propped him against the wall, right next to what could only be called the backdoor of the hospital.

She knew someone would come out the back for a break or when clocking off. Sometimes they checked to see if the mysterious 'Silent Protector' (Didn't anyone have imagination) had left someone else. The first time she had stopped someone she had panicked. She had vastly overestimated her opponent, used to, well, the toughest enemies in the world, and forgot that most civilians don't have an unlocked aura. She had a bleeding (from a nasty cut on his arm), screaming person in front of her. The blood had sprayed onto her clothing slightly and she must have looked like a nightmare, all dressed in black as she usually was, with her katana and cleaver out. She later realized that's why the man she had saved had run in fear from her. It was only the whine of an ambulance nearby tending to someone else that jolted her and realized what she could do.

Sometimes they didn't fight, taking one look at her and running off. Flashes of what Adam would have done danced across her eyes and she had the control to not go running after them, content with helping out their victim.

She leaned against the railing and felt the general ache and pains of moving constantly. During the day she fought for faunus rights. The war had come a long way and legally they had all the rights of human citizens but the discrimination was still there, the segregation was still there. It was politics, and Blake hated politics but she loved the cause, she was practically born into it. If only she didn't have to put out several metaphorical fires throughout the day. Ilia it turned out was a godsend, she never really had the proclivity for violence but was as fanatical as Adam was; just thankfully in a much more legal way. Her smile turned upwards and her ears twitched, Ilia was still very much into her and hey, she read a lot. It wasn't permanent, nothing was at the moment (maybe that was the problem) but even she couldn't go 7 nights in a city in a row.

She stayed for a while, the whirring of the ambulances at the front blocked most of the sound of the city and they flattened against her head instinctively, blocking out the screeching. Even her body made her suited for this lifestyle. No-one could whisper furtively behind her back or try to make a deal within several earshot's of her without her grinning like the cat that got the canary; or the fish as Weiss was prominent to say, looking askance at her during mealtimes when fish was served. Yang would laugh and Ruby …

'NO!'

She wouldn't pull on that thread, not now. If she did, she would spiral and the days would blur, until someone pulled her out of it, and she didn't know how much of that she could handle.

She decided to stay until the person behind her was picked up, the cold air helping soothe her and the tiredness catching up. She almost didn't catch the noise of the person behind the door. She sighed as she moved, just into the shadows. A young doctor came out, wearing the trainee scrub colours with a small medicinal bag in his hand. He seemed a little fearful coming out, eyes scanning constantly around without really picking anything out.

Ah, a newbie. By now it was almost a hazing ritual apparently to send the new guy out to collect the latest 'victim'. She smirked, and decided to mess with him just a little more. She jumped up to the building beside her, her body seemingly rising out of the shadows in an almost impossible leap. The doctor started, almost falling back and his eyes somehow grew wider.

Fun over, she turned away from the almost blinding lights of the hospital, leaped across rooftops and her ears perked back up.

Gods she was tired.

She leaned against a wall. That was the 8th (I think) and if she was honest with herself, and her body, the last. She had got a little sloppy in that last one, they had managed to score a hit. Yes, her aura was active and so it did nothing, but she shouldn't have got hit in the first place. She had been trained, specially, to detect attacks from anywhere. No one had managed to get a surprise attack on her in years.

'Again'.

She could hear Oscar/Ozpin retreat backwards in the warehouse. He was light on his feet but the clothes he wore still crumpled slightly against each other. She tilted her head slightly, eyes closed, intently listening for the sounds of her teammates weapons. She didn't just use her ears though. Nose, taste, touch, all of it was useful to detect attacks.

THERE

She substituted for a clone quickly as the water from Weiss's glyphs impacted against it, the whistling as they travelled through the air giving them away. She quickly had to backflip though as she heard Yang's foot impact the ground harder as she wound up for an attack. She made sure to do it at the last instant so her feet connected with Yang and she heard a grunt as it connected (she'd pay for that later, someway). She almost smiled but had to dive out of the way as a trigger was pulled and a small calibre bullet whistled past. She heard a lot of ice being made and sliding from Weiss and so substituted with a fire clone. Weiss stabbed it with Myrtenaster and it blew up slightly, leading to a slight cry from Weiss (she'd pay for that as well, Weiss could hold a grudge for years).

The rush of air from Ruby's semblance came next and Blake stepped backwards to prepare herself for Crescent Rose's swing. She almost slipped though, Weiss had been prolific with her ice. Adjusting quickly and doing the only thing she knew that would counter Ruby, she adjusted her bodyweight forwards and swung with Gambol Shroud. She connected with Crescent Rose and did the one thing Ruby wouldn't suspect, she let go with one hand and punched where she thought Ruby would be. It connected and a small cry was let out from Ruby as she was forced backwards.

Claps came from the back of the warehouse from Oscar/Ozpin and she opened her eyes to see Ruby smiling radiantly at her. She was ready.

Blake sighed and slid down the wall a little. Training was easy.

This was nothing like training. Sights, sounds, smells, all of it was hellish on the battlefield. The sounds of everything was around her. Grunts, sword clashes, gun triggers, the roar of Grimm. The whole place smelled of blood and gunpowder and everything around her was seemingly red-hued to go with the apt metaphor of hell.

She breathed evenly though and blocked as much of that as possible. Her opponent was in front of her. Emerald. Master of illusions and she was probably the only person that could take her one on one. She'd already gleaned her out once, kicking her away from Ruby so the rest of them could carry on with their missions. Senses almost on overload, her ears twitched, keeping an eye on Emerald in front of her. Both had weapons out and she couldn't take her eyes off her for a second, lest she lose this already.

Emerald started to run left in a circle and she copied. Emerald raised Thief's Respite and fired a few shots. Blake substituted quickly with a barely formed clone but then had to pivot and turn quickly to block from someone running behind her. Blades were locked, Blake fell backwards as Emerald's momentum carried on forward. Thinking quickly and with Gods given agility she pushed her off backwards with her legs and then bounced up with her hands.

They both breathed harshly as they faced each other, Emerald twisting and somehow landing on her feet. They circled again, this time slowly.

It carried on this way for a while. Mini battles, each only seconds long. Blake had to keep her concentration up constantly, one misstep could lead to a huge chunk of aura gone and a downhill battle from there. It wasn't all that easy for Emerald though, constant use of her semblance though was fatiguing her, Blake could see it. Every battle taking a second longer than Emerald wanted, slips in her illusions happening more now. Emerald could mimic vision easily enough but sounds and smells were much more tricky.

Emerald had almost tried to leave once but only by twisting almost inhumanely around Blake did she miss the strike.

They clashed once more. During the middle of it though, as they almost danced around each other, a huge cry of 'NO' from Cinder made Blake turn her head on instinct and she paid for it. A strike from Emerald tore her aura and it broke. She countered and moved as the strike carried on but it still left a long gash on her arm. She kicked back harshly and they fell away from each other. Blake hissed in pain but then smiled as she saw Emerald's aura break as well.

It wasn't over, Emerald was still a master with those blades and they were both vulnerable now. One more clash and it would be over.

No tricks left, they ran at each other, clashing constantly, Gambol Shroud, sheath and sword against Thief's respite. They kept clashing. They still had their agility and they jumped and dacned around each other.

In the end, it was laughably anti-climatic.

They clashed once more but this time the clash saw Gambol Shroud break, along the same line that Adam had severed it. They both blinked but Blake reacted quicker, twisting and hitting Emerald with the hilt. Emerald's eyes rolled up and Blake quickly pushed her away. She fell backwards, surprise etched on her face.

Her mind went blank as she watched, her hands shaking as she unconsciously defaulted back to training, straining her senses to make sure it wasn't an illusion. It was several seconds later that she finally breathed and fell onto her knees. Everything rushed back, the sounds and smells but it was her heart hammering in her chest that was prominent.

She had won, she was exhausted but looked around the battlefield. That was when the world went silver.

She sniffled as she came back to herself. It had started to lightly rain and the water mixed with her tears. Her hands kept shaking as she slowly stood up. She tilted her head upwards and let the rain fall onto her face.

She stayed like this for a while, feebly wanting the rain to wash away her memories of that day and the days after that but knowing it wouldn't. After breathing evenly (her training kicking back in, it would never really leave her) and just listening to the patter of the rain, her senses came back and she focussed back onto the alley he was in. She was tired. The rain felt nice and she felt more at ease than she had in a while. Maybe her therapist was right, reliving the memories sometimes did help.

She achingly got up and started moving across the back of the hospital to another alley, a quicker way home.

She had almost made it when a car pulled up to the end of the road at the back of the hospital. She wrapped her cloak round her tighter (to hide Gambol Shroud), put her hood up and kept her head down so she could carry on walking. There were more than enough people in the city that they wouldn't both her and think she was just going home, At the very least, she still had her huntsman license.

'Blake?'

She whirled around to stare at who said that and that was when she saw Weiss supporting a slightly dazed Yang. They were both staring at her, faces unreadable. A million emotions ran through her. It was only when Weiss smiled sadly did she automatically walk forwards. They hadn't all been in one place for years, ever since the funeral. They'd all seen each other separately but it was almost strictly business, no sensitive issues at all.

Blake got within touching distance and stopped just staring at each of their faces. Yang looked wistful (and that was scary, Yang had never been wistful before … everything had happened) and Weiss still had that soft smile.

Yang slowly reached forward and stroked Blake's cat ears and that was really all it took. They all came together in a hug and fell ungracefully to the ground, clutching onto each other, tears freely falling.

They had won, and lost, and fallen apart, but they were finally together again.

AN: And they all end together, as they should. There was a prompt about vigilante Blake at some point so that was the inspiration behind this one.

And that's kind of it, my first story. To be honest at the start of writing this I wasn't sure how I would write Ruby and so went this route instead. Also wasn't sure before V8 how I would even write a fight scene with Salem in it and I really wanted Ruby vs Salem, also hence why I left out some details. If you want me to fill in gaps I can but I think I left enough pieces to complete a picture. The people WBY faced seemed like their natural enemies as well at the time.

I'm quite happy with the story, don't know how Yang and Weiss compare to Blake as there was a big gap between those chapters (before V8 and after V8). Also I suck at what is 1st and 3rd person tense but I've gone over it enough times that hopefully it hasn't turned anyone away.

Thank you for reading!