Hello, and happy Friday folks! This chapter, Ilia remembers something important.

96. Job Opportunity

"Hey."

Ruby looked up and tried to muster a smile for Yang. It didn't work.

The next thing she knew, she felt warm and safe and slightly suffocated—like she always did when Yang hugged her. Ruby hugged back and buried her face in her sister's shoulder.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"Nah." Yang ruffled her hair. "Not allowed. You can be sad, but I'm not letting you be sorry when you didn't do anything wrong."

Ruby sniffled and pulled away. Jade was still in the same place—curled up on her side, her head sprawled on the floor of her demolished stall, her chest moving slowly up and down. Rudder had fallen asleep, too, his tail twined with hers. Justice was awake, but only just. He still watched her warily even though his eyes were drooping shut. She should probably leave soon, to give him a chance to rest.

She was used to those two staying with Jade, and Storm's warm and solid presence at her back. She was not used to Whisper sitting in the corner, her tail around her feet, silently watching over them. Not that she was complaining—it seemed to help Jade to have all of her siblings there. It was enough to make it worth it for everyone else to have Torchwick around, which meant a lot considering how much he annoyed Winter and General Ironwood.

But nothing would make this all better. Nothing could fix it, except having Emerald back.

"She'd be okay if she came with us," she whispered, hugging her arms around her knees. "I just—I was scared that if we stayed too long Cinder would find out and attack us, and somebody would get hurt, and then that would be all my fault, but if I'd just talked to her then maybe—"

Storm cut her off by nuzzling into her side, crooning softly.

"She made her choice," said Yang. "It sucks, but you couldn't make her leave with you. This isn't your fault."

Ruby wiped her eyes. "I know."

"I know you know." Yang kissed the top of her head. "I'm still gonna keep reminding you.

Ilia had been avoiding Blake. Not because she was angry—she still was, a little, but the real problem was that she wasn't angry enough to act normal anymore. It felt too much like it used to between them, and that... it hurt. She wasn't sure she trusted herself to be alone with her. But it wouldn't be right to let her go to the Schnee manor and not at least check to make sure she was okay afterwards. So, for the first time in a while, she deliberately went looking for Blake.

She wasn't near Glacier, thank the gods. He put his hackles up at her when she checked, as he did every time she came within his sight. Someone must have told him where she'd come from, maybe Whitley or one of the other Schnees. Or maybe he just had something in common with his rider.

Blake wasn't with Sun. He waved to Ilia from where he stood, poking around in Huo's mouth. It wasn't clear why, and she didn't ask. She wasn't sure she wanted to know. That wasn't somewhere she'd be willing to put her hand, let alone most of her upper body. Neptune and Nymph didn't seem concerned, so she probably didn't need to be either.

Finally, she got up the courage to enter the earth barn. Not the one with Jade in it, which was probably for the best. Seeing her and Rudder always felt like a reminder of everything Ilia had messed up with Justice. But she did have to pass the stall with Gigas and the Lieutenant inside, walking quickly even though there was no way for him to tell that it was her there.

Gigas could, though, and he poked his head through the little door could no longer fit his entire body. He croaked and whined pathetically until she stopped to pet him. There was only cold silence from the Lieutenant inside.

Ilia approached Pit's stall cautiously. Just when she was about to open the door, she heard voices inside.

"It wasn't ideal, but at least we got what we came for." There she was—the other reason she'd been avoiding Blake lately.

"Did we?" Blake's boots crunched on hay as she paced back and forth. "We know how she did it, but we still can't prove it was her. The only solid evidence we have is for a connection between Watts and your dad, and I hate to say it but most of the students following her won't care."

"I didn't think they'd have done it in the labs. It doesn't take a genius to notice all the cameras, and I have a hard time believing my father knows Watts is in league with Cinder. He's too attached to the Council. He certainly wouldn't let her sabotage eggs, it's too much risk for too little reward. Even if he does get a gravity dragon out of it."

"So what was the point of that?" Blake burst out.

"We have video confirming no one got into the labs without him knowing, so we know we need to look at someone getting into the Dragonries. And we know about the connection to Watts—it's possible Cinder had him contact father to give them a way in, somehow."

"But that's not proof."

"Blake." Ilia bristled at the sharp tone, but it softened almost immediately. "What's wrong? You knew it wasn't going to be that easy. Especially not with him involved."

"I know! It's just... how many students are out there working for her right now, when she was the one who poisoned their dragons? They're desperate, Weiss. What if they're hurting people, or worse, thinking they don't have a choice? And then they'll find out that this whole time they were just being used so Cinder could get her revenge."

Pit rumbled, low and reassuring. Ilia bit her lip and hesitated. She really shouldn't be listening to this, but...

The click of heels on the stall floor, and a rustle of cloth. "I imagine... they'd have to live with a lot of guilt. Even though they did everything they could to make things better."

Blake's breathing hitched, then steadied. Ilia bit down too hard tasted blood.

"We'll figure something out," Weiss said—all the haughty confidence now back in her voice. "Cinder's hardly an infallible genius. She's made a mistake somewhere, all we have to do is find it."

"It's not us we're trying to convince. I... I don't think you understand how blinded people can get, when they're being hunted like that. When it's always you and them against the world, it... it's hard to accept that you might have been wrong to trust someone, even if it's staring you in the face."

It took a while for Weiss to respond. When she did, she didn't quite manage to sound as unconcerned as before. "Cinder has to trust people, too. And she brought us to the valley, so she can obviously make mistakes.

Ilia froze. She remembered a forest under the stars, and a woman who looked a little bit like Blake standing much too close.

"We just need to find one of the people who injected the glycinamide in the first place, and..."

"And what? They know what she's done, and they don't care. There's no reasoning with someone like that. Besides, they're not going to take one person's word for it. We need documentation, video, something."

"We'll figure it out."

"We don't have time! You heard what Mercury told the General, she's already tried to do it again! Next time it won't be him and Emerald making that call."

Pit whined. Blake cursed softly and said, "Sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

Ilia reached out. Hesitated. How was she supposed to go in there now, when they'd know she'd been listening? Maybe if she went back later...

"I get that it's hard. I'm... not the best at being patient, either. But this is not your fault, understand? We're doing the best we can."

It was easier not to hate Weiss when she acted like a stuck-up bitch.

"I know." Blake's voice was horribly flat. "I just don't know how much longer I can take this."

Damn it.

Ilia screwed up her courage and knocked. There was a yelp from Weiss, and she tried not to notice how close the two of them were standing when she opened the door.

Blake stared at her. "Ilia?"

"Cinder offered me a place," she said, without meeting either of their eyes. She looked at Pit, instead—he had his head cocked curiously to one side. "Working for her, I mean. I'd forgotten about it."

"Were you spying on us?!" Weiss burst out. "What is wrong with—"

"Just listen!" Ilia snapped. "I think I can help."

Blake's ears, which had gone flat against her hair, slowly started to perk up. "Wait. Do you mean...?"

"I can contact her, she gave me her scroll ID. And if most of her followers can't be trusted to find out about her sabotaging the eggs... I am pretty good at infiltration. She might ask me, and—"

"You could record the whole thing." Blake bolted for the door, and stopped with one foot still in Pit's stall. She looked over her shoulder and shouted, "Come on! We need to get Ironwood, now."

Mercury stayed quiet when Ruby came to knock on his door, and explained to him that they had a lead. He stayed quiet all the way to General Ironwood's office, and through Ilia's explanation of Cinder's offer. He even managed to keep himself calm while they hashed out a plan for her to call Cinder—but he had to say something, then.

"I have to be there," he said, gripping the edge of Ironwood's desk. "When you call. I have to..."

He could see them hesitating. "Winter will be with her," Ironwood said, "but I don't think it's a good idea to have any more people than necessary. Any noise might tip her off."

"I know how she works," he blurted. "I can help."

"Mercury—"

"Where are you gonna call her?" he demanded. "In here? She'll ask for video—she always does that when she thinks someone might be lying to her."

Ironwood grimaced. "That does help, but I really think you should leave this to us."

"Because you think I'm a spy or some shit."

"No. You're too close to this."

Mercury looked down. "I can keep it together. I'm not fucking stupid."

"I never said you were. I don't want anyone there for the call that doesn't need to be. I'm not even going to be there. And we're all going to listen to the recording afterwards—all I'm asking is for a little patience. If we're very lucky, we'll have all the proof we need in fifteen minutes."

They weren't.

Cinder did indeed ask to switch to video. She didn't always do that—Emerald and Mercury had been able to just use voice for the last few years they'd worked with her, most of the time—but she liked to be able to see people's faces and tells. He was tense while they reviewed the scroll call, listening for any hint that Cinder had noticed something wrong.

"Where are you right now?"

Ilia had gone out to the small forest on the grounds to make the call. Her eyes flicked slightly to the left, towards where Winter must have been standing. "Vale," she said. "I left the White Fang."

"Interesting."

"Not really. They thought I was sabotaging them, and I didn't really want to stick around for the debate."

Cinder hummed. Mercury's fists clenched again, reflexively, and his teeth ground together. Then he jumped—Ruby had reached out and squeezed his hand. He pulled it away and stuck it in his pocket.

"You have good timing. An associate of mine could use some assistance—your Justice can carry two now, yes?"

Ilia nodded.

"Pick him up at the coordinates I send you. He'll explain the rest when you get there."

"Shit," Mercury muttered, as the recording ended.

Ironwood sighed. "She's smart enough not to say anything incriminating over the phone. That means we're going to have to figure out how to get you there."

"Um." Ilia started to look much more nervous. "I don't know..."

"We're not letting her go alone, are we?" Blake blurted out. "We have no idea who she's even meeting."

Mercury made a face. "I've got a pretty good idea, actually. His name's Tyrian. Scorpion faunus, hybrid dragonet, lots of screws loose."

Ruby glanced at her teammates. "Do you know if he's dangerous? We've never really seen him fight."

"You're gonna want backup. He'd been working for Cinder without a dragon for a while, and he was the first to get a hybrid egg. Dangerous is probably underselling it."

They made the mistake of continuing their planning while Ilia went to get Justice. Jade only needed to hear a few snatches of the conversation before she was barking up a storm, and absolutely refusing to let the fire dragon go without her. And Rudder wouldn't let either of them go alone, which meant that Whisper wanted to come along, and it was all Mercury could do not to burst out laughing at the sour look on Winter's face. Somehow, he didn't think he, Ilia, and Neo were the trustworthy crack team she would have chosen.

Ironwood took one look at Jade and seemed to realize there would be no arguing with her. "We'll get you set up with a wire," he told Ilia. "And remember, you're not there to capture him. You get him to say something incriminating and then you get out. Understood?"

Ilia nodded and turned a pale, sickly gray.

"Miss Rose?"

Storm and her rider both stopped. She flicked her tail nervously as General Ironwood approached them.

"Would you stay behind for a moment? I'd like a word."

They fidgeted as they waited for all the others to leave—though Fang had to nudge Yang with his nose, and it took a moment for Rudder to persuade Jade. The General's eyes followed the earth dragon as she walked away.

"I'd like you to go with them," he said.

Storm's ears flattened. She couldn't fly—so he wasn't talking to her.

Ruby frowned. "You don't trust them?"

"No. No, that's not it. They've all taken risks to help us." He rubbed his chin, his fingers rasping against stubble. "I want you to keep an eye on Jade. It would be unfair to expect her to keep a clear head through all this. Mercury will be there, but I'd rather have as many people around to talk her down as I can."

"I don't know if she'll want me to..."

"We can't force her to take you," he agreed reluctantly. "But she knows you. I think she will."

"I mean..." Ruby hesitated. "I'd love to help Jade. I just don't really get why you want me there so badly when Mercury will be with her too. She knows him better than me."

The General put a hand on her shoulder. "I've heard about what you did for Mudslide. And for Ragnar."

"Um," Ruby squeaked, her ears going red. "I mean, it wasn't like... I just talked to her, and I—I couldn't let him—!"

Ironwood actually smiled. "Don't be modest. You have a gift, Miss Rose. Be proud of it."

Ruby made an incoherent noise and hid her face in Storm's neck. She draped a foreleg over her rider and tried not to hope that Jade would say no.

She didn't. She wasn't happy about it, either, but she bobbed her head and said, "Fine. Can we go now?" And they definitely needed to, since Ilia had said she was in Vale and the place she was supposed to pick up Tyrian was a long way away. They'd need to take the dragon carrier again, since it was faster, but hopefully without drawing too much attention from the Council.

The lack of response from them was getting creepy.

Storm pretended not to mind while they were saying goodbye. She still had to keep licking away tears, and eventually Yang gently nudged Ruby away. "It's only for a day," her rider promised, before she went away with Jade.

I'm confused, Penny said. Why won't you tell her you don't want her to go?

Storm sighed and walked away. Because she has to. And if I say I don't want her to she might leave Jade alone, or she'll still go but she'll feel bad about it and it'll be all my fault.

Oh.

There was silence. Then Penny said, Is that why you don't like me seeing how you feel about the mech?

Sometimes Storm missed the days when Penny didn't pick up on stuff like that.

It's fine, she insisted.

Why don't you talk to Fang and Pit and Specter? They're all still here.

Storm's ears drooped. I can't go because I can't fly, she reminded Penny. I don't want to make Specter feel guilty again.

I thought it wasn't his fault?

It wasn't, but sometimes he feels bad anyway.

Penny didn't respond to that—it seemed like Storm had finally said something so confusing she'd need some time to figure it out.

She wandered for an hour or so before slinking into the wind barns, thinking she'd just try and fall asleep. Maybe she could nap until Ruby was back, and it would feel like she hadn't left at all. Freya could probably pull that off. Only when she went in, she bumped nose-first into Tempest.

"Hello little one," Tempest said, nuzzling against her side. "I heard about what happened. How are you feeling?"

Storm's ears flattened, and she looked away. Tempest was one of the last people she wanted to talk to right now. "I'm fine. It's only for a day."

Tempest hummed. "Being apart is hard. Even for only a day."

She whined and hid her face under her wing. "I'm sorry," she mumbled.

The older dragon let out a confused snort. "Sorry? What could you have to be sorry for?"

Storm curled her tail around herself and squeezed, as if she could keep the words in that way. "I shouldn't be like this. It's not fair to be upset that she's going away for a day when—and now you're trying to make me feel better and—and I was mad at Jade even though it's not her f-fault and—!"

Somewhere above her, there was a great sigh. Tempest curled around her, a wing draping over her head like a gigantic blanket. "You know Ruby reminds me of her mother. Even more, now that I've seen her with you."

She whimpered.

"That's how I know you're not being replaced. Not ever."

"I know!" Storm said quickly.

Another hum. This time Storm could feel it all around her, and she relaxed without even meaning to. "We can be afraid sometimes, even when we know we're safe. There's nothing wrong with that. Feelings... often don't make much sense."

Storm thought of Specter, who still tripped over himself to help whenever she asked for something.

"It's okay to hurt. And you're never a burden, especially not to me." Tempest nuzzled her side. "When Summer was gone... I stayed for Ruby and Yang, because they needed me. I love them, and I love you. That means I want to be there for you. Always."

In the end, Storm did fall asleep in the wind barn—right there at the entrance, huddled under Tempest's wing.