Hiiiiiii guys. Sorry for the long wait, big changes in my life and such. Got no excuses, I didn't take the time to sit down and focus on Golden eyes for a long time. Although this is late and smaller than the last chapter, I'm pretty proud of it and I hope you guys...

Enjoy.


Disbelief

Anger

Panic

Looking everywhere

Looking for any clue, anyone

Someone to blame, someone to claim

Powerless, looking in the dark

Finding potential, gaining influence

What needs to be done must be done

Darkness takes over

Yang awoke to an unfamiliar ceiling. Blinking back slowly, she tried to rub her eyes but her arms and hand felt numb, like she had slept on them. She felt like there was cotton balls in her mouth and she coughed a couple times to get rid of the feeling. When the room finally came into focus she realized she was laying on the floor. The walls surrounding her were familiar, but not enough to come to without feeling panic bubbling up inside her stomach.

"Oh no, oh no-"

She tried to push herself up but felt her feet were bound together.

To a chair.

Okay, she thought to herself, you must be dreaming, this can't be real. You turned in pretty early last night, you locked Blake's apartment and everything.

But the more Yang nervously glanced around herself, the more she came to the conclusion that this was definitely not a dream. She could feel the chaffing of her bounds on her shins, the stiffness of her joints and back from sleeping on the floor sideways in a chair.

The sound of footsteps stopped her struggling and wide lilac eyes stared ahead as a door opened on the other side of the room, illuminating it in fake, dim lighting.

"So, you are finally awake."

Yang's face turned somber "Adam."

Adam Taurus slowly nodded, motioning behind himself to another man who stepped next to him. Yang recognized him as the dangerous looking faunus that was escorting both Adam and Sun the night of Blake's ...incident. The blonde looked at the faunus warily as he came around where she was lying down. With a grunt and a gasp of surprise from Yang, the brawler was back in an upright position. Looking closely now, Yang could see the faunus in the pressed suit had a protruding under bite and very unsettling alien eyes. Her throat bobbed when the faunus made eye contact with her, his leering made her extremely uncomfortable.

"Thanks Seth, I'll take it from here."

Seth glanced back to Adam and then made his way back to the door where he threw one last look at Yang, said blonde could feel her whole back shiver at the cold glint in his eyes.

"I will be outside then Boss."

Without another word, Seth closed the door behind him and Yang was now alone with Adam.

Leaning backward, Adam half sat on a well worn wooden desk behind him. He had put his sunglasses away, folding them over and inside his chest pocket. As he slowly rubbed at his eyes with one hand, Yang looked around, breath coming in faster then before.

"Recognize this room? I thought you would. I'm a betting man, see? And I know how to recognize someone who can remember every single... victory they had."

Yang's eyes settled back on Adam's face and she felt like ice had ran through her veins suddenly. He knew.

"I bet Blake was a nice trophy to possess wasn't she? A way to relive the glorious night where you became a hero to the Faunus." Adam had a sinister smile on his face, like he knew something that Yang didn't, something bad. "I can't believe I bought into it."

Yang frantically looked around the ceiling until she saw it, the camera. She cursed under her breath, he had seen Blake and her have sex in this room when she had visited her in a panic that night.

"You saw us."

Adam gave her a barely noticeable nod of his head, the sheer black of his horns glinting lightly in the low lighting of the room.

"I did."

"I don't see Blake as a trophy, it's not what you think."

"Of course not, beating the shit out of people for a living is a sign of a perfectly balanced mind isn't it?."

Yang was speechless, she didn't know what she could answer to that and yet, she couldn't agree with this argument. She might be a fuck up, but she wasn't deranged. Adam crossed his arms over his chest and fixed Yang with a long, hard stare.

"I'm no fool Xiao Long, I show MMA fights very often in my club. Remember that I do deal in the underbelly of that kind of sport." He leaned forward, lips tugging up in a smirk. "I've heard all about the ways you treated the people you wanted. I've heard all about the binge drinking and the drugs."

Yang sighed, shaking her head and her looking at the floor for the first time since she started talking to the faunus. "I'm not that person anymore."

"That's what you'd like to think, but it's a very different thing to look at from an outside perspective ain't it?"

Yang frowned "fuck you, you know nothing about my personal life. Whatever I did that you don't like, or how I changed; it's none of your fucking business!"

Adam straightened out with a sneer, lifting his leg and kicking the worn table behind him with such force that it crashed against the wall and one of the leg broke. Flinching, Yang missed the few feet Adam took forward as he gripped the arms of her chair tightly, wood creaking under his strength as he inched his face right in front her hers.

"It's my business when it's my childhood friend being traumatized! It's my business when being with a violent, lousy punk like you is suicide for her right now!"

Yang felt the air being punched right out of her lungs, felt the room spin around her and felt the lick of fire across her hair. She could see the distant look of dull smirking amber eyes, and the sparkle of tenderness glinting in gold. She had tasted Blake's will to live, felt her love for life and touched her scars made of hope. There was nothing she could have done to stop herself, her arm moved on its own and she punched Adam square in the jaw.

Adam stumbled backward and Yang froze, looking from her left fist to Adam's smirk as blood slid the side of his lips.

I'm thinking of banning humans from coming in

"There you are."

Yang's eyes widened in horror at what she had just done. Adam straightened up, spitting blood on the floor as his eyes now only held contempt.

"You abused our trust in you... you abused Blake's gratitude and turned it into something vile."

Yang opened her mouth to protest, but the words died on her lips and her mouth found itself slowly closing as the door opened and Seth stepped in behind Adam.

The bull faunus growled, fist clenching so hard his knuckles were white.

You also know that the humans that come here are, for the most part, good clients.

"Humans will never change."

You have to do the right thing. You owe it to all your staff

Yang rose a hand to protect her face but she was too slow and Adam's fist connected to her cheek furiously. Yang gasped and groaned, feeling a vicious sting across her skin.

"Strap her arms."

"Yes Boss."

Despite Yang's best efforts, Seth tied her arms to the chair, making sure that she was unable to wiggle out of the tie wraps and rope. Once he was done, he walked back behind Adam, ever the docile guard dog.

"I usually make people like you pay in a very particular way. Something that scars men for life and makes them rethink what they've done to girls like Blake. But you're a woman, and I'm not about to shit all over my principles for you Xiao Long."

Yang frowned, breathing deeply before asking "is that what happened to that guy that was found in the river?"

Adam's eyes never left Yang as he spoke "yes, but that man was also part of a circle. A circle made of monsters that deserves to die."

Yang's stomach dropped and she wiggled her feet on the ground, trying to inch her way back when Adam walked towards her, foot pulled up and pushing down on the bar between Yang's ankles.

"I'm not going to kill you, champion" Adam spat, lips curling in disgust at the mere mention of her title. Yang's brows jumped up and she leaned her head backward when Adam leaned forward.

"I'm going to make sure Blake never wants to see you again."

There was a pregnant pause while Yang's lips slowly lift at the corners into a smile she couldn't control. He could not possibly be serious about this. There was no way he could influence Blake the way he thought he could. Blake had told her that Adam was a childhood friend, someone she was close to all her teenage years... but she had also mentioned how he would try and keep tabs on her. Then again, Adam was an influential man...

"You could never make her hate me" she affirmed, a barely noticeable scoff in her voice.

Adam smirked, licking his lips to wipe off his blood "I know her more than you, I know how she thinks, how she avoids being hurt."

Yang frowned, leaning forward to meet Adam head on, literally.

"I'd never scare her like that, there's nothing you can do to me to force me to hurt her in any way."

Adam's lips pulled even higher and his thick white teeth seemed to glow in the dim light of the room. "I don't need to force you to do anything, we both know what is ultimately the best course of action here... I just need you to accept it."

Yang felt the heat wave go through her belly again, but she pushed it down with all her might, arms straining against her bounds. "You're just spouting nonsense! Nothing you said even makes sense!"

Adam chuckled, removing his foot from the blonde's chair as one of his hand went up to his collar, unfastening his tie slightly. "I don't know what you think you have with Blake, and to be frank I did like you before all of this started. You really made me believe for a second that some humans weren't all that bad."

The heat dispersed as fast as it had ignited inside Yang and now, she could only feel dread. She glanced at Seth, still not moving from his spot behind his boss. Her eyes stopped on Adam, the faunus busy slipping his dress shirt's sleeves up his biceps.

No one will ever hurt you again Blake

"I was wrong."

And then there was blinding pain again.


Sun blanched, removing his ear from the door. Adam did it, Adam killed that guy and now he had Yang. The monkey faunus calmly walked back to the main floor, flattening his shirt as he did. Just the thought of trying to seem inconspicuous was making him sweat. Tuckson lift his head and nodded towards him with his chin "so? are the med kits in order?"

"Yeah, nothing unusual back there..."

Sun mentally kicked himself, his tail whipping his leg to try and stop himself from closing his eyes in shame. Tuckson merely frowned and turned the page on the magazine sitting in front of him "if you say so."

Grabbing his bag, Sun power walked towards the doors when Tuckson's deep voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Wait."

Holding on to his breath Sun closed his eyes and waited.

The heavy footfalls of Tuckson met him and something draped over his shoulders.

"Forgot your coat, have a good day Monkey boy."

Sun exhaled a very shaky breath and croaked a half understandable "thanks" before dashing out of the club, heart hammering in his rib cage. He had to do something, anything. There was no way Yang would come out of this alive if Adam decided she was a threat to Blake.

Pulling out his phone, he dialed and briskly started walking away from the White Fang.

"Hey, I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and I might need backup in case this goes south."


"No she's not home either I checked... what do you mean did I check her tub? She hasn't passed out in there in months!... I don't care, I checked everywhere! She wasn't there Weiss!"

Ruby rubbed a hand over her face, leaning her face in her palm as she shifted her phone to her other ear, trying to cushion the shrieking voice of her partner by leaning away from the speaker.

"I called Pyrrha, I call- no because Blake is in Ménagerie right no- Yes! I'm heading there right now cheesus keep your skirt on."

The red head rolled her eyes as she stepped on the landing of the second floor of Blake's building, pushing the stair case door with her shoulder.

"I'm like, right in her hallway right now, I'm pretty sure Yang wouldn't sleep in when we have a morning date. Yes I still call them dates. Yes I'm aware that sounds like I'm a five years old that has a sister co-"

Ruby's voice faded as she grabbed the doorknob, frowning in alarm the moment the door opened at the slightest of push as if broken.

"Weiss, we have a situation, throw your coffee away and meet me here right now."

Weiss' sharp voice could still be heard when the officer pushed the end button, sliding her hand in her coat to retrieve her hand gun. Her instincts were telling her Yang was in trouble, and her sister complex senses were always right, as Weiss used to say.

Ruby pushed the door open, she was careful to keep her senses alert to any sound, any creaks that could give out the location of a potential threat. If anything happened to her while Weiss was on her way she would never hear the end of it. She slowly moved past the vestibule, glancing around the apartment. After making her way to the bedroom, then the bathroom without encountering anything, she deemed the place safe, and put her gun back in its holster.

How did the suspect know Yang was in Blake's place, unless they were going for Blake and Yang just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Both were possible, after all, Blake had been involved in human trade, and Yang was a very well known figure in the MMA scene still. Ruby scratched hard at her head, trying to unravel the puzzle before her. She was missing some key elements here, if this was indeed some of the remaining members of the slave circle coming for Blake, they wouldn't have grabbed Yang, she was human and a well known person with people who would look for her. It didn't add up at all.

Ruby inspected Blake's room, and besides books and clothes, didn't seem to find anything else to have a grasp on the woman's personality. In retrospect, now she wished she had had more time to know Yang's girlfriend.

The sound of steps behind her made her jump and react so fast that when she realized it was Weiss her gun was pointed in the smaller woman's face.

"Fuck" gasped Ruby, dropping her gun to her side and raising her free hand to cover her forehead in relief "dun startle me like that..."

"My deepest apologies" deadpanned Weiss, the sound of her heels loud as she walked around the small kitchen. "Let's get to work shall we?"

Ruby followed after her teammate and glanced around, hoping to see something she had missed before. Weiss was mumbling something about signs of struggles when Ruby's eyes landed on the trash can, or, more accurately something inside. Pulling up an envelope, Ruby retrieved the sheet of paper inside and gasped. Immediately after, her partner ran to her side with wide eyes "what did you find?"

Hiding the paper behind her back, Ruby grimaced and tried to look inconspicuous while sweating profusely "nothing! It's none of our business really and I feel like a waste of our time!"

Rolling her eyes, Weiss plucked the sheet from her partner's hand and began reading.

"We are conducting a search Ruby, anything is crucial to our task- what the fuck Blake is a stripper?"

Closing her eyes Ruby rubbed her temple and squeaked "see? Nothing we have to worry about, not our business at all! Please don't judge her."

"I'm not- No, you moron! This is a clue, despite the class of their establishment the White Fang could be linked to the under belly, this would make sense!"

Ruby opened one eye to look at Weiss "So you aren't judging her for dancing?"

Weiss scoffed and left the apartment with a huff.


Yang had to strain to open her left eye, her whole face felt hot and swollen, but that's not what kept her awake in that damn chair. The reason she latched to consciousness was the sheer desperation in which Adam seemed to question the man sitting in the chair next to her. She wasn't sure if that was her imagination, or some sort of fucked up dream... her mind had been slipping in the past hours...days? She wasn't sure anymore. But for a moment she had heard grunting and painful pleas for help next to her, and the sound of flapping skin. She didn't want to wonder what had taken place next to her while she was out of commission, but it couldn't be good.

Where is she?

"Who works at the top? You and I both know that your little circle didn't completely collapse when Shnee and Rose raid your operation."

Only whimpers answered the bull faunus' question, and then Yang heard a painful hit, like a foot hitting something solid.

WHERE IS SHE?

"Who controlled the trade?"

Crying, mumbles and then more hitting.

I will find your entire family and skin them alive like the fucking DOGS you humans are if you do not ANSWER ME

"I'm finding this lack of cooperation very vexing my friend... I think maybe I should let you have a bit more time alone with Seth here, hm? More time to get to know one another."

"Please stop, I don't... it hurts so much..."

YOU FUCKING SCUM, LET'S SEE HOW MUCH YOU LIKE IT WHEN I SHOVE MY DICK UP YOUR ASS

"Oh, does it? Good, now we both agree that this kind of treatment is unfit to anyone. Now, let's work together here, and tell me a goddamn name."

Yang fought a full body shiver, keeping her eyes closed shut as the whimpers started forming words.

"I- they'll kill me, th-they'll do horrible things to me if- if I tell you a name!"

I'LL DEFACE YOU SO HARD YOUR OWN FUCKING WIFE WON'T RECOGNIZE YOU

Adam's voice was sweet and dangerous when he spoke next "well... I'm not sure there's anything they could do that I can't do to you if you don't help me...might as well do a good deed and help me get those fancy pigs. What do you say hm?"

More sobs and then a sigh of relief.

"Good, aren't we feeling better now? How about a glass of water? Yes? Open up."

Yang could hear the heavy footsteps of Seth as he walked away from where she sat.

"Alright, your throat should feel much better now doesn't it? Now, about that name."

Yang's head lulled to the side once more and she couldn't keep her grip on consciousness anymore.

This is for Blake, you monster!


Yang groggily opened her eyes, they felt puffy and gross, but she still managed to pry them wider. Nausea hit her like a truck, and she never managed to look around her before tilting her head to the side and emptying what small amount of food her stomach contained. She felt dizzy and hollow, and despite how many times she retched, the burning pain in her belly refused to stop.

"Ack...fu- fuck..."

Shivering and shuddering uncontrollably, the brawler coughed, trying to get rid of the foul remains in her mouth. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes once more, her vision adjusting to the darkness of the room she was in.

"Any- ahem... anybody here?"

The faint pulsing of high bass music slowly came to her ears and she realized she must be somewhere at the White Fang.

"Help. Help! HELP!"

"There's no point girl, this place is sound proof."

With a gasp, Yang looked around, trying to pinpoint where the voice had come from. She could vaguely make out a form to her right but she wasn't sure.

"Who are you?"

"A dead man. Your turn will come I'm sure."

Silence filled the room, broken only by the music coming from the club. Yang sighed, remembering the distorted memories of the man being tortured while she slumbered.

"So... did you end up giving Adam a name?"

"Yeah buttercup, I did. Malachite" the man sneered, "the owner of Junior's."

Yang opened her mouth, but soon closed it in silence. Malachite, ultimately, was the man who had made her as famous as she was now. The one who's money had paid for all her training, all her fights and media coverage.

All that time, all that time in the circuit she had been sponsored by a dirty slave trader. Her throat burned from anger and dehydration. "Does Junior know about this?"

Chuckling, the man shrugged "doubt it, but he didn't exactly dug around to know what made his boss so rich either. Congrats buttercup, your training was paid with the bodies of countless faunus cunts."

Yang felt all her strength crumble, her shoulders and spine rolling forward in shock. This couldn't be true, he must be pulling her leg. He was obviously grasping at straws to keep some form of control over someone after being tortured or something. Yang kept thinking back in circles and was reminded of all the big fights she won and how she had shook the hand of ... of that monster every single time. The nausea hit her again and she retched over her lap, not even bothering to turn to the side, but only drool fell from her chapped lips.

"Eh... serves you right you fucking bitch. Barging in our shit and playing the hero while our whole operation was already literally on fire. Gotta do something else than punching bags and sucking dicks in your spare time am I right?"

Yang barely spared the man a glance, she was too disgusted with herself to give any thought to what the man was saying. She was already swallowed in waves and waves of guilt.

The man obviously felt annoyed at the lack of response from Yang because he leaned closer to her from his chair and smirked. "How does it feel to know you had meetings going on in those VIP boots while you fought? Meetings over who would be the next to train the animal sluts like the one you saved?" Glowing red orbs glowed slightly in the dim light of the room and Yang slowly turned to the man.

"You better watch it."

The man wiggled on his chair and made himself look at her fully. Yang was too lost in anger to give a damn at how beaten and bloody the man already was. He obviously needed more bruises, and the brawler would gladly be the one to do it.

"Oh I hit a sore spot eh? Can't tell if it's because I'm doing it on purpose, or because I mentioned that pussy from the fire."

Yang's fingernails bit in the wood of her chair and she grit her teeth. This man was doing all of this on purpose, she knew. She knew and yet the desire to break out of her bonds and slam his head until he bled all over the floor was alarming. She looked away in disgust.

"We are both gonna die here buttercup, and I intend to fuck with you 'till the end like you deserve."

The brawler didn't look at him, didn't even make any movement or sound that gave away that she was listening anymore. He grit his teeth, but a twisted smirk slowly found its way back on his bloodied features.

"I was the one who trained her you know."

Eyebrows furrowing in confusion, Yang grimaced at the man "the fuck are you talking about?"

"I collared her and broke her like a good little pet." Yang tried to look away, tried to tune him out, but the increasingly loud heartbeat in her ears wasn't enough to drown the sound of his voice. "I was the one who fucked her into submission, I was the first to destroy your charity case."

Yang took a deep breath and felt one of her nails start to give out against the splintered wood. This was stretching into something suspicious now. This man was too over the top to be genuine.

"You know" murmured Yang, loud enough to be heard over the far away bass, "it sounds like you want me to kill you."

"..."

"Afraid someone else might do it far more slowly? More... painfully?"

Yang locked her red eyes with the man's, relishing in the small flinch he made as she talked.

The door slammed open, startling the man. Yang looked up wearily as Seth came in, smirk firmly in place as he closed the door behind him.

"Hey sweet cheeks."

Yang growled, showing her teeth in anger. Seth rolled his glowing, alien eyes at her and scoffed. "Not you Xiao Long... him."

Eyes opening wider, Yang looked at the man. His face had slid so low that he looked like he was staring into the eyes of a ghost. Yang felt relief and some kind of fucked up satisfaction bubbling up into her guts but she kicked it down, she wasn't like them.

Walking forward, Seth used the back of his hand to gently tap at the man's cheek as if doing so as a sign of affection "Adam said I get to have some more alone time with
you."

The man's jaw started trembling and his voice wavered heavily as he spoke next "but- but I told you all the names you wanted! Adam told me-"

"Adam could tell you anything and he still wouldn't owe you shit, human" spit the large faunus, gripping the man harshly by his hair "now you be a good bitch and follow me."

Yang watched in silence as Seth untied the man and led him out the door, passing Adam as he entered the room. She was still breathing heavily, eyes watering from the sheer rage she had felt at his unrelenting taunts. After a couple of minutes in silence, Adam pulled out his phone, smirking at Yang when she pulled her head up.

"You can watch if you want, there's a certain satisfaction in seeing such a human trash get what he deserves."

Yang looked at the floor, taking a moment to imagine the horrible man writhing in pain under the large faunus; but all it gave her was nausea and a terrible feeling of guilt.

"No."

Adam rose an eyebrow "no?"

"I'm not like you Adam, I don't enjoy the suffering of others, even if they did wrong me."

Adam scoffed "Blake would love hearing how much you care about her."

"Shut the fuck up" barked Yang "you have no idea what Blake thinks! You don't understand her at all. She'd be disgusted with the methods you're using".

All mirth and amusement left Adam's face and he stared back at Yang, his eyes piercing and judging her. Yang didn't waver, didn't look away. If he was half as smart as she thought he was, he would acknowledge she was right.

"I know Blake wouldn't approve."

Yang blinked several times, was she hearing right? She actually had not expected him to recognize the truth of her words, not this fast anyway. He seemed so lost in his own fight for justice that he seemed blinded to Blake's actual struggles.

"Of course I know that, I'm not an imbecile."

Adam fell sitting on the chair left open by the man, casually swiping blood off of it with the fingertip of his leather gloves. "But I made a choice when I decided to take the mantle and dwell in this world to find her. I didn't play the part Xiao Long, that's what you keep failing to accept, I became a monster to fight the other monsters."

Yang frowned "is that your reason for doing all this shit? Oh, I'll do it because no one else will. Well shit maybe no one is torturing anyone because that's fucking atrocious!"

Adam's face contorted into a mask of fury and he got up, taking an agressive step towards Yang "DO YOU KNOW WHAT'S ATROCIOUS? THE FACT THAT IN THIS DAY AND AGE MY PEOPLE ARE STILL TREATED LIKE ANIMALS AND SECOND CLASS CITIZENS!"

Yang's mouth closed with a clack and she looked down. She wasn't sure what to say to that.

"Just because the "good guys" aren't doing it doesn't mean those fucking disgusting pieces of shit don't deserve the treatment they give us with such a height of enjoyment they probably get off on it."

Silence fell between them and Adam sighed, grabbing the chair and pulling it so he was sitting right in front of the brawler.

"Now I want you to call Blake, you call her and tell her you will never see her again. No playing around, no explanations, just the facts. She will never see you again, you will never see her again."

"And what would that change? How do you think my leaving her life will make Blake's life better?"

Adam crossed his arms over his chest and leaned his head back, eyes trained on the ceiling. "I'm hoping she stays in Ménagerie, heartbroken, and never comes back to this shit hole of a city."

Yang looked down, eyes shifting around as she actually pondered the idea. Blake's recovery would have been way better from the start if she had gone back to her parents. Apart from being her salvation, Blake hadn't really gotten better because of Yang, not exactly. All Blake had needed was someone who loved her, who treated her with respect, as an equal. Since the beginning Yang had felt like... like she had done her part for Blake when she saved her, that if they hadn't met again at the club, she might have had someone else do Yang's part for her. Yang wasn't...never had been special.

Yang bit her lip, she couldn't help but acknowledge that on that front Adam was right, Blake would probably be better off in Ménagerie right now.

Adam leaned forward and made her look in his eyes, and for the first time, Adam let his features betray how deeply he was hurt by all this and it startled Yang to the core. The last thing she wanted was to feel empathy for that terrible person. Adam took a deep breath "it would be for the best if we both disappeared from her life, preferably forever."

That...didn't make sense now did it? Yang had trouble grasping the concept that Adam was planning to remove himself from Blake's life. Wasn't the whole point of this to remove her so that Adam could take care of Blake? She tried to recall the last times that Blake had spoken about Adam, and then it hit her. He had pushed for Blake to quit her job... He also had pushed for her to go back to Ménagerie, had this been his plan all along? It couldn't be.

But it made sense, like how he wanted Blake to hate her, how he saw her as an obstacle to her leaving Vale never to return. Because if she had a girlfriend in Vale, of course she wouldn't leave, of course she wouldn't want to leave.

Yang rose her eyes to meet Adam's, his were set on hers already, assured, confident in his beliefs, in himself. Yang wished she was at least half sure of herself like he seemed to be all the time.

"I'll do it."

Nodding, Adam shoved his hand in his pocket, but Yang licked her cracked lips and added "on one condition."

Adam rose a brow in her direction and she met his stare with a glare. "Let the guy go."

He leaned back in his chair once more "I'll agree to your terms, but only if you tell me why you insist on saving that worthless piece of trash."

Yang felt tears prickle at her eyes and she smiled at him "Blake would have done the same."

Adam said nothing, didn't move an inch. He merely took the phone out of his pants and spoke into it.

"Seth, stop the recording and let him go. It's an order."

Yang kept staring at him until he rolled his eyes and showed her the camera feed: Seth was buckling his pants and pushing the guy out the door.

"Now...I don't care what you tell her, but make it clear you will never see each other again" said Adam, untying her and shoving her own cell phone in her hands.

Yang took in several deep breaths as she waited for her phone to boot on, she knew what she had to do, she knew it was for the best, but she couldn't help silently mourning the best thing that had ever happened to her. She pressed Blake's name and swallowed harshly as she waited for her girlfriend to pick up.

"Hi baby" giggled Blake in greeting over the phone, still unused to the nickname coming out of her own mouth Yang presumed. "I was just thinking about you, how's Vale?"

Yang swallowed again, Blake sounded so happy, so full of joy. Every call she had received had been the same. At some point she had told the faunus to just text her updates and to enjoy the time with her parents to its fullest. Probably the reason why Blake seemed to suspect nothing from their lack of interaction since her kidnapping. This girl didn't need her, it was Yang that needed her in her life.

"Same old same old" said Yang, uneasy, she cursed internally as her voice wavered against her will.

"You okay Yang? You sound upset."

The blonde took in a deep breath and reminded herself that this was ultimately for the best "I've been thinking... and you know it's bad if I've been thinking" attempted to joke Yang, the feeling of dread getting bigger inside her guts and her voice wavered.

"Yang?"

"And like" Yang kept going, ignoring Blake's confusion because if she faltered now she would never do what she had to do. "Remember that morning when we spoke about that night again? I realized that...we're together for all the wrong reasons."

Silence was her answer and then she heard a barely disguised sob and the faunus asked "what do you mean?"

"I mean that we both put the other on a pedestal instead of working on ourselves and healing. We aren't each other's light Blake, we're crutches. We're using each other instead of really healing."

"That's not true! No one ever made me feel this way before, it has to be you!"

Glancing at Adam, she saw how he was stubbornly looking to the floor and away from her. Yang felt sick as she kept going despite Blake's obvious distress. "Look Blake, it's not about who is the one or not. That's not what's good for you, and that's not what's good for me either. You need space for you, space to love yourself right now and I can't be selfish and take it all for myself because of my fucking problems."

"..."

"Besides...all you needed was someone to be considerate, someone to see your pain and make it into love...anyone could have done that Blake, I'm not special. You just feel like I am because you still see me as your savior, but I'm not. I got you out of a fire while I was drunk out of my face and wanted to play hero."

"Yang stop, it's you, it could only ever be you."

"No. It's not, and once you got over me, over our lapse in judgement, you'll figure it out, you're a strong woman"

"Yang!" gasped Blake on the other line, voice tinged wet and desperate.

"It's over Blake. Sometimes, love is not the one true answer to our problems, goodbye."

Yang pulled the phone away from her ear and pressed end call. She all but threw the phone in Adam's lap and curled forward on herself, powerful sobs wracking her ribs and she wailed loudly.

Adam calmly pocketed Yang's phone after closing it and leaned backward, making the chair bow back unto two legs as he watched Yang weep.

Yang wiped her face on the back of her left hand and hiccuped "I ho-hope you're happy you monster."

Adam kept eye contact with her, his face impassive and showing no emotion at all. Yang scoffed and sniffed loudly, curling forward again as sobs bubbled back up to the surface.

Adam didn't stop looking at Yang. His chair fell back on four legs and, leaning forward to cover his face in both hands, his muffled voice somehow made it to Yang's ears.

"I am not."


Hours later across the sea, Blake was crying helplessly into her mother's arms, sobs making her whole back jump as she poured every last tears her body could muster. Her father was pacing in front of them angrily, her phone in his massive paw as he tried over and over again to call Yang back to give her a piece of his mind.

"Stop Ghira, there's no point if her phone is off" murmured Khali, tenderly rubbing her only daughter's ears.

"This is wrong, everything about this is wrong! Both of those girls went through hell, why would she do this to my kitten? I need answers!"

The phone rang in his hand and he answered with a hissed "Xiao Long?"

"Erm, hi? I didn't butt dialed so...did I reach Blake?"

"Who are you?" mumbled Ghira, looking at the phone for a caller name "do you know a Sun kitten?"

"Sun?" sobbed Blake, wiping her eye and sniffing sloppily. "Tell him I don't feel like talking right now..."

"I'm sorry young man but my daughter is not available right now can y-"

"But wait, it's important! Yang's been kidnapped!" yelled Sun loud enough for both women to hear.

Blake straightened suddenly, gasping "what?"

"Adam's got her, and if I'm not mistaken, she might get killed if we don't do something to get her out."

Blake's face slowly fell and the color drained from her reddened skin "how do you know?"

"I heard her being beaten in a room in the club, trust me Blake, I don't know what happened, but I'm sure Adam is capable of the worst. Only you can reason with him."

The raven haire beauty got up and took the phone from her father. She rubbed her cheek and her face set in hard lines "tell me everything you know."