Last time, on Forged Destiny.

"Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaakkkkkkkkkkkeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Now, on with the show!


Beta: College Fool

Cover Art: Dishwasher1910

Book 8: Chapter 4


I was out of and into a scene of mass panic as the Guild ran through the halls checking rooms and doors. Ruby made to dart away from me, but I caught her arm before she could. "Who found she was missing? When?"

"Nora noticed her door was ajar when she went to the toilet. Blake never leaves her door open."

Shit. It seemed a small thing, but it wasn't. Blake was paranoid at the best of times and liked the added warning of a door opening. I personally knew that to be the biggest reason for her working so hard to escape the communal dorms.

"Okay, we shouldn't panic just yet," I said, already panicking just a little. "She might just have gone out for a walk or to work off some steam in the Emerald Forest. She's strong enough to look after herself."

Weiss came hurrying up the stairs. "I found a note!" she rasped. "It was by the door."

"What does it say?"

"I'm sorry."

My heart lurched.

"Time to panic?" Ruby asked.

"Yes. Ruby, run to the stables and check on the horses. Contact us via the Whisper Stones if anything is wrong." When she sped away, I turned to Weiss. "Has anyone tried getting in touch with her through the stones?"

"Yes. It wasn't working. Ren found Blake's still in her room."

Was that good or bad? If she was just going for a walk, she wouldn't feel the need to take everything with her. "What about her weapons?"

"All gone. Along with her cloak."

It was a cold night and you never knew what Grimm might be out there. Perfectly reasonable. The note… I had no reason for the note. It gnawed at me. "Come on, Ruby," I whispered, already holding the stone in hand. "Come on."

It vibrated.

"Ruby!"

"Her horse is gone!"

"Tack ours up and get them ready to move," I said. "Weiss, get everyone equipped and ready. We're chasing her down."

"We have no idea where she might have gone!"

"Kingsport. It's the closest place she could get a ship."

"A ship?" Weiss' eyes widened. "Oh, that insufferable idiot!" The Mage turned and fled down the stairs, shouting for everyone to get ready to move.

Ducking back into my room, I changed as quickly as I could, bundled my Rune book into a bag along with some other supplies, grabbed Crocea Mors and was out the door, buckling my breastplate on as I went.

Damn it, Blake. Don't you dare do this.

/-/

Ruby had the horses ready for us by the time we arrived, and we mounted and made our way quickly to the gates. Faith, perhaps sensing the mood, didn't buck or rear even once. The large gates leading into Vale, which we could then take out, were alight and busy with guards.

"No exit," one said, halting them.

"What!?" Yang snapped. "Why?"

"Been a theft up in Beacon. Something important stolen from the headmaster's office. All travel out of Beacon is suspended until this is sorted out."

A theft? Now? I looked to Yang nervously and she looked back, both of us having the exact same thought. "That's fine," Yang said, pulling her mare back. "We'll just wait it out, I guess."

The guard nodded. "Appreciated."

"That has to be Blake," Weiss hissed the moment they were away. "But why would she steal something from the headmaster?"

"Who knows why she is doing this at all," Pyrrha said. "She isn't in her right mind if she intends to take on Raven alone.

"Do you think she really thinks she can?"

"The knife Jaune gave me was missing when I woke up…" Ruby said miserably.

The one I'd made specifically to deal with Raven. Oh, that idiot. It was the confirmation I didn't need; as if this wasn't obvious enough already. Worse, we couldn't get out of the gates and Blake had a head start on us.

"We can travel through the Emerald Forest," Nora said.

"It'll be a tricky journey," Ren added, "And we'll have to loop around the entire circumference of it to get to the northern edge and head to Kingsport. But it's out only hope. Unless you can open a portal, Weiss?"

"I wouldn't count on it. Not if I have to let people on horseback cross through, and then cross through myself."

"Emerald forest it is," I said, tugging Faith towards the trees. "We'd best get gone before Ozpin thinks to check on us. He'd stop us pursuing if he had to. Blake… Blake is just one Hero. A tragedy, but nothing that can be fixed by sending us off to die as well."

"That's why she felt she had to go alone, no doubt." Yang grumbled something under her breath, angry mutterings. "Fuck it. Let's go get that stupid Assassin back. I've a bone to pick with her for this one."

I nodded. "You're not the only one."

/-/

The Emerald Forest slowed us down.

It was inevitable, really. The Grimm weren't the main problem, though we had to stop and fight them if only to prevent them harming the horses and slowing us even further. The biggest problem was the terrain, which was treacherous at the best of times. We had to take the horses slow so they didn't break a leg or trip. That would have been the end of our pursuit right then and there.

By the time we got out, a full hour had passed. An hour in what would have been fifteen minutes if we'd been able to get through Vale properly. Angrily, I pulled Faith around and cracked the reins, giving her the command to go into a full trot now that we were on flatter ground.

She was only too happy to oblige.

As the others surrounded me and formed a column headed around the forest, skirting it on our route to head north, I found myself thinking what I'd say to Blake when we caught her. What I'd do.

Nothing good, that was for sure.

How many times had she called me the idiot for making a risky decision? How many times had she told me to look before I leapt, to use my brain? Too many. The hypocrisy drove me wild, even though I knew why she felt she had to do this. If it were Ansel in danger, I don't think I could have sat by and watched it happen.

Did she think she couldn't tell me?

Probably. I liked to think I would have heard her out, and I would have, but my final decision would have been that we just couldn't make a big enough difference. The Mirage Isles were doomed. Raven was too strong. Given that, and knowing the risk, I'd have stopped her.

Which was why she'd lied and told us that she held no connection to the place. Even then she'd been planning this. Gods above. And we were late in our pursuit. Blake had however long it took us to realise she was gone, let alone the delay in the forest. If we could have talked to Miss Goodwitch, she might have been able to open a portal for us to stop her – but that was a question of if she would be willing, or if Ozpin would even let her.

"She's only one person!" Ren shouted over the stampede of hooves. "It'll take time for her to both steal and ready a ship for travel. We still have a chance."

Left unsaid was that we didn't know how big a lead she had, or what she planned to do. Commandeering a ship couldn't be easy, but what if she found someone willing to make the journey? If that were the case, she might be gone already.

If that were the case, what would we do…?

I refused to think on it. We'd catch her. We'd find her and drag her back. It was all we could do.

In the distance, the walls of Kingsport could be seen as silhouettes against the sun beginning to rise in the distance. The tall, black masts and sails of the ships in its harbour. The horses were gasping and covered in sweat and began to slow as we came near. Several guards on the walls saw our approach but, seeing us slow and come at a more orderly pace, made no effort to close the gates on us. The evacuations had not yet begun.

"I'll check the docks," I said, sliding off Faith and patting her neck. "Ruby and Pyrrha, can you find somewhere to keep the horses? Pay them enough for a week or two."

"I'll arrange a message to be returned to Beacon explaining out absence," Weiss said.

"Good idea. We don't want them panicking."

"Oh, they'll panic alright," Yang said, jumping off her mare. "If we're lucky, we'll be able to get back with Blake before they realise we're gone. What are the rest of us gonna do? Spread out and look for her?"

"Pretty much. Check the docks and the warehouses – and keep in touch with the Stones." I was already moving, calling back over my shoulder. "I'll check the harbour master's office and see if they know anything."

Everyone nodded and bolted, leaving Ruby, Pyrrha and Weiss to handle the admin duties. I saw Nora and Ren sprint towards the dock and shipyard itself, while Yang pushed her way towards the nearest inn, probably to ask for any news. I left them to it, picking my way through the early morning crowds of sailors carrying goods to and from warehouses, heading for the same office we'd visited our first time in Kingsport, when we'd had to commission a ship to Atlas.

The man inside might have been the same one. I couldn't remember. He looked up as I entered and didn't seem to recognise me. "We're full enough on Blacksmiths as it is, kid. If you want work, leave your details and I'll see what can be done."

Not willing to waste time, I moved forward, switching my Class to Swordmaster when I was sure he was looking.

The man's eyes grew to comical proportions. "My God…"

"I'm looking for a friend of ours," I said, content that I had his undivided attention. Just in case, I dumped a small pouch of lien on the table, letting some coins fall loose. "About as tall as me, black hair and black clothing. An Assassin named Blake. She's a guild member of ours. Have you seen her?"

"A-An Assassin…?"

"She wouldn't have been here on that kind of work. If anything, she'd have come to hire a ship or book passage."

"In that case, she'd have had to come by me – and I think I'd recall talking to an Assassin. It didn't happen in the last week, I can promise you that. Can't say someone with those kinds of skills couldn't have snuck on board a ship, though. Easy enough if you know how…"

"Do you have any that are headed to the Mirage Isles, then?"

"T-The Mirage Isles!?" The man spat and spluttered. "Kid, what are you even thinking? No one charts a course to that blasted place. You chart a course to stay away from it, and you hope to the deep blue sea that you don't spot their sails on the horizon."

"Would any of your ships have gone close?"

"Our main thoroughfare is Vale to Atlas. We have the odd ship headed to Mistral or Vacuo, but the northern coasts only. Mirage Isles is somewhere east of Mistral and west of Vacuo."

"Somewhere…?"

"No one knows where exactly. That's what keeps the damn place safe, and those that fly its colours take that secret to the depths with them." The man gestured to a shipping chart on the wall. It had lines depicting routes, and almost all of those traversed the northern ocean between Vale and Atlas, with only a few headed, like he'd said, to the northern-most parts of Mistral and Vacuo.

He traced his finger further, down around Mistral's eastern coast and towards the bottom right corner. Then, he moved out to sea and drew a circle with his finger.

"Far as anyone can guess, it's around this area. No one knows for sure but those pirates themselves. Last time anyone attempts to push them out, they just sailed around in formation looking for landmarks. The pirate fleet engaged them before they set eyes on the Isles."

Worse and worse. Blake probably knew where it was, but we didn't. That said, if no ship were heading that way naturally, then Blake was either taking a ship to Mistral – with the goal of catching another going around the eastern side – or she was going to have to take a ship herself.

"Do you have any ships in harbour that could be captained by one person?"

"We've got some small sloops and hoys that can be run by a skeleton crew much smaller than you'd normally need, but they're hardly big or resilient things. Mostly fit for channel trade between Atlas and Vale."

"Could one person sail it towards where the Mirage Isles are expected to be?"

"Well… in theory…" He scratched his beard. "You'd have to know your way around a ship, and around the ocean. It would be a fool's errand, though. A man has to sleep, and what if you come down sick or injure yourself? Smallest crews around here are three, but those are practically fishing ships. You won't find a trade crew below twelve."

"But it could be done. Theoretically…"

"I suppose. If you're asking these questions, though, I'll say that you wouldn't be able to do it."

"It's not me I'm worried about." My foot tapped on the floor. "I need you to put me in touch with the captains of any ship that could be crewed by a single person. There's more lien in it for you," I said when he looked about ready to protest. "A lot more lien."

"Right… I'll see what I can-"

The door slammed open and a man stormed in, flanked by two burly Sailors. "Pierce!" he roared. "Your guards slept on the job and just cost me and my boys our fucking ship!"

My stomach fell.

"Is he one such captain…?"

The harbour master, Pierce, nodded. "Aye, lad. He is."

Shit, shit, shit. "Show me where your ship was!" I snapped at the man. Whether it was my voice or my now Hero Class, the Captain – actually a Sailor, but holding the rank – nodded and took me outside.

As he did, I pulled out my Whisper Stone. "Yang."

It took a second before she replied. "Yang here. I've got some sailors screaming about a missing ship in the tavern. I don't wanna make any assumptions, but this has Blake written all over it."

"I know. I'm with the captain. Call everyone and get them to come down to the water front."

"On it."

The Sailors looked confused but, hearing Yang's voice themselves, wrote it off as Hero business or magic of some kind. When I put the stone away, the captain began to rant.

"Was just minding our business and getting some shore leave. I left two to guard it, but they were both knocked out on the pier this morning. Not drunk, either. I know those boys and I know how to tell a nasty blow to the back of the head. Their weapons weren't even drawn."

"How big is this ship?"

"Small vessel. A hoy." He saw my lack of comprehension and sighed. "Small, single-masted ship. About forty tonnage and mostly used in coastal waters. She can handle the deep if she has to, but it takes a brave captain and a skilled crew for that."

"Could one person crew her?"

"If you weren't looking to make any quick manoeuvres, sure. Catch a storm, though, and it'd be the ocean's mercy. Let go of the helm and you'll be in trouble, but if you don't pull up the sails, you're all but doomed." The Captain brought us to the harbour and pointed out over the ocean. "There! See the fucker. That's my Shelia!"

I could see it. It was only because of the sun rising in the east, the very direction it was heading, that left it silhouetted against the bright light. It was hard to judge the distance, but it was easily closer to the horizon than it was Kingsport. There was no hope of us swimming out that far or commissioning a smaller vessel to ferry us to it. It was but a speck on the horizon.

The rest of the Guild caught up as I swayed and steadied myself on a wooden post, tears burning at my eyes.

"Jaune…?"

"That's her," I rasped, pointing. "She's gone. She beat us here, stole a ship and is already on her way."

Weiss stomped a foot on the dock. "That stubborn, pig-headed, idiotic… moron!" She threw her arms in the air. "Argh!"

"She knew exactly what she was doing," Pyrrha said. "Sneaking out, alerting Beacon to slow our pursuit, coming here and then stealing a ship. Everything was planned. Blake knew what she had to do and decided on the best way to do it."

"The Mirage Isles." Ruby said. "She's going to the Mirage Isles."

"She can't kill Raven," Nora said.

"Maybe she thinks she can get the drop on her," Ren suggested. "Everyone has to sleep sooner or later. Or maybe she just isn't thinking straight at all."

"That," I growled, "Sounds about right."

"What do we do now?" Yang asked. "She's made it. She got away. None of us know how to sail a ship; she's got the lead, the experience and the knowledge of where she's headed. How are we supposed to stop her?"

"We can't do nothing," Ruby argued.

"Well what can we do? How do we catch her now? We missed our fucking chance!"

"Did we?" Ren asked. "She's still in sight…"

Weiss rounded on him. "You can't mean to suggest we continue the pursuit."

"That's exactly what I'm suggesting. Unless you want to give up and let her go to her death."

Silence was his answer. No one wanted to say it and I doubted anyone was thinking it. We all just knew that it was the right choice. Technically. Just like letting Ellayne fail the First Quest was the right choice, or Ruby not being allowed to be a Hero was the right choice, or me staying at home to forge horse shoes was the right choice.

What we were supposed to do, and what we had done, had always been different. Opposed.

We should never have gone on our Annual Quest to Atlas, as unprepared as we were, but we had. We'd risked our lives to keep our place in Beacon – and all of that was only possible because Blake carried our weak asses through several fights we had no business winning.

"She has the lead and the experience, but we would have a bigger crew," Ren said. "She has to sleep while we can work shifts. If we took a ship with larger sails, or more of them, we'd also get more wind in our sails."

"Weiss could add more," Ruby whispered. "Couldn't you aim your magic at the sails to make us go faster?"

The Mage bit her lip. "For a time, yes…"

"A time that we would be moving faster than Blake could ever hope to."

"Fuck." Yang shook her head and punched the post next to her, splintering it. "Enough beating around the bush. Are we or are we not going after her? Ozpin will be furious, Beacon will be up in arms and our chances of surviving the Mirage Isles are low. Real low. But if we let Blake go it alone, she's dead. We might as well hold the fucking funeral right here. Whatever we decide, we need to decide now."

Because the ship was slowly making its way towards the horizon.

It was reckless and stupid of her. So like her to say one thing but not mean it, to part on those words of her not regretting what we'd once had and promising to remember it. I hadn't realised it was a farewell at the time. Now, I wished I'd said more.

"I'm going after her," I said.

"Jaune!" Weiss hissed my name. "You're not thinking straight. I know you loved her, but-"

"I do, and you're right, I'm not thinking straight. How can I? How could you expect me to watch any of you go and not be frightened?" My eyes remained on Blake's ship as I spoke. "It could be any of you out there and I'd feel like this. The fact Blake and I were together doesn't even factor into it. That's one of my best friends out there. A guild mate I swore to stand beside through thick and thin."

"I… yes, I realise, but… this is a fool's errand…"

"We've been on a lot of those. I don't think any of our Quests have gone as they were supposed to." Sighing, I looked away. "Besides, I owe Blake my life several times over. I'm not leaving her. I may have proven that a Blacksmith can fight, but it wasn't always that way. Back at the start, before I got my levels, it was only Blake's intervention that kept me alive. If Salem had her way, I'd have died in the First Quest against that Beowolf."

Blake had saved me, then, and then saved me later when I'd chosen to fight it. And time and time again after, I lived only because of her. Salem might have hated me for escaping my fate so many times, but the truth of the matter was that it was the knife of an Assassin that kept me from drawing my last breath.

I'd never realised how similar Ellayne and I truly were.

Both of us hadn't deserved to pass but had become Heroes due to the efforts of another. Both of us had then done our best to prove worthy of that respect, with the ultimate goal of catching up to their level.

Not to prove them wrong or because of pride, but so what we could stand beside them as equals and help them in a battle of their choosing. To repay that favour. Now, Blake had chosen her battlefield, but had also chosen to leave me behind for my own good.

Didn't she realise I'd finally caught up with her?

Or did she just not care?

It looked like I owed Ellayne an apology. Even so, she'd taught me a valuable lesson. "I won't ask any of you to come with me-"

"If you complete that sentence, I will be furious," Weiss hissed.

"Acting like you're the only one who cares," Yang said, shaking her head. "You know, I'm beginning to see why you and Blake hit it off. You both have the social grace of a mace. Damn it, this is the stupidest thing we've ever done, but I'm in. Uncle Qrow would kick my ass if he heard me say it, but I'll go on this stupid ass quest." Yang rolled her eyes at Ruby. "And obviously, Ruby would be going even if no one else would. That's just how she is."

Ruby laughed nervously but made no move to deny it.

"We should keep in mind that we don't have to reach the Mirage Isles," Ren said. "If we can chase Blake down, we can subdue her and drag her back home."

"She won't like that," I pointed out.

Nora snorted. "What is she going to do if we catch her ship and haul it back? Swim across the ocean?"

"Nora has a point," Pyrrha said. "Right now, I'm not above locking Blake in a cage for her own good until all of this is over. I can put up with her anger more than I can the thought of her being killed. If we're fast, we might even be able to catch her before she reaches Mistralian water."

"Then we're decided," I said, smiling for the first time all day. "We're hunting down an Assassin on the open seas, then dragging her back to Beacon."

"Aye!"

"Yep!"

"I can practice my knots!"

There was no time to lose. Rounding on the displaced Captain, I asked, "Do you know of any small and fast ships we can hire?"

"To the Mirage Isles? No. None. Not a captain in port who would put up with that."

"Not even to get your ship back?" Ren asked pointedly.

"Well, I would," the man growled. "So long as you're planning on sticking to the whole turning back the moment you catch her business." Seeing our resolute nods, the Captain, grinned. "I might know someone lookin' to retire. Medium vessel, trading ship mostly, but she has two sails and can move if she has to. Course, I can't afford her without even a ship to me name…"

We pooled our resources quickly. Lien had flowed into our coffers ever since we got the Lodge with the promise of no future rent, and although we'd not been on any huge Quests of late, we'd done well for ourselves. More than well with my own contributions in terms of Rune weaponry sold on the marketplace.

"Thirty-five thousand lien," I said, holding it toward the captain. "Would this be enough for the ship, supplies and enough to hire your crew?"

"Enough for the ship and supplies, maybe. I'll have to stomach wages myself…"

"We'll let you keep both ships once we're done," Weiss said. At my shocked look, she shrugged. "What are we going to do with our own ship? Drag it to Beacon and park it out behind the Lodge? I think the neighbours would have something to say."

"Fair point…"

"Now that's a deal I can get behind, missy!" The Captain laughed and slapped one of the Sailor's arms. "Rogers, go fetch the boys from the tavern and tell 'em to move fast. We're giving chase and getting' Shelia back. Phil, I need you to requisition us some supplies. Make it snappy and don't be afraid to dip into the old savings if yer have to."

"Aye, Captain!"

"On it, Captain."

"Ruby, Weiss, you two go with the Captain and make sure the trade for the other ship goes well," I said, making sure they knew my real intent. Don't let the Captain wander off with our lien. "The rest of us can put our Strength to proper use in carrying supplies. We need to get moving as soon as humanly possible."

/-/

It took an hour to get everything sorted. That felt like such a long time, but the Captain – a man named Anders – assured us that was incredible timing. Our new ship, named the Wind's Fury, was a decent-sized trading cog with two masts and two sails, one much larger than the other, and the second towards the front of the vessel. Rigging ran up to both, with winches and ropes strung taut as the ship slowly pulled out of harbour.

To our consternation, Blake's could no longer be seen.

"We'll catch the little thief," Anders growled, rolling out a map on the table in his quarters, a large room and office situated at the back of the ship, under the helm. "Look here, her route is as clear as day, at least for now. She's going to skirt around the north edge of Mistral, then loop round east. Shelia is a beautiful vessel, but she's coastal water for the most part. If she knows her sailing, she'll recognise that and take her where she does best."

"Is there any chance she'll go south through the strait?" Pyrrha asked.

"Not likely, missy. War may be over, but those waters are tenser than a virgin's asshole. It's just not worth bein' stopped and questioned by every ship from here to Mistral."

"Blake moving out of sight might help us there as well," Ren said. "She won't yet be aware that we're in pursuit if she didn't see us leave port. If she's convinced we can't follow, she may take a more patient approach."

"All bets are off the moment she realises," Yang grumbled.

"Hopefully, it will be too late for her by that point," I said. I tapped the map over the north coast of Mistral. "It's day now, but if we catch her somewhere around here when the sun goes down, we might be able to sneak up on her. By the time she realises what's happening, it'll be too late. Assuming this thing is fast enough."

"She's not the fastest," Anders said. "Not in the shallows – but open water is where this beauty shines. Give us good wind and an easy current and she'll outperform Shelia. If your friend takes Shelia into shallows or tricky waters, we'll be at a disadvantage, but I wouldn't want to single-handedly man a hoy through that."

"If it happens," he went on, "We'll simply skirt around it all and overtake her." He traced his finger onwards, past the point I'd suggested and down the east coast of Mistral. "Sooner or later, she'll have to take to open waters if she wants to leave Mistral and make her way out to where the Mirage Isles are supposed to be. Once she's on open waters. BAM!" He slammed his hand down on the table. "We cut the bitch off and get my Shelia back!"

"Good. Apart from the `bam` part. That's our friend we're recovering…"

"And my ship," Anders shrugged. "It was metaphorical. I'm not about to ram my darling and sink her. As for your friend, if she's a Hero then she's all yours. What am I going to do to her? Bleed all over her expensive weapons?" He grunted and rolled the map back up. "Neither of these vessels is made for fighting. We'll have to grapple her and drag her in."

"How hard is that?"

"Fuckin' difficult, I won't lie. We'll have the edge on open water, though. Cut her off, force her to slow down or collide with us. The damage won't be too bad. Then, when she's close, we'll toss ten or more hooks – get her nice and secure and with enough rope that she can't cut it all loose. That'll be your cue to board and subdue her. Once we have her tied up somewhere, it'll be fairy easy to lash Shelia up and drag her back. Or I can leave a skeleton crew to sail her into Mistral, hire some temporary crew and get us back to Kingsport."

It all sounded so simple. So straightforward. I wasn't sure if it would be or not, but Blake's biggest advantage had been her experience and the lead she made. We'd closed the gap on experience with Anders and his crew, and only time would close the other. We had it. It had to be a solid week's sailing to where the Mirage Isles were supposed to be.

"Can we help with your crew?" Yang asked.

"Aye, if you like to. Follow instructions and don't cause problems. Put your Strength to use carrying supplies or hauling the sails up and down. If any of you can cook, the boys would appreciate it. We don't exactly have the ideal crew size for this thing, but then neither does she. We'll catch her. That much I promise."

"I shall save my magic for when we close the distance," Weiss said, standing. "It wouldn't do to exhaust myself now when Blake isn't yet aware of us. Once she starts to panic, that's when I'll give us some wind." Her smirk turned vicious. "When we get even closer, I might be able to pin Blake down or freeze the rudder. Atlas Mages have made ship-to-ship combat an art."

"Not as much as Mirage Isle Pirates have," Ren warned. "We can't underestimate her."

"I don't think any of us have ever underestimated the level fifty-plus Assassin," Yang said. "But she's still one person, and no amount of backstabbing and sneaking is going to let her handle a ship as well as fifteen experienced crew and us can."

Nodding, I stepped away from the table. The only thing we could do now would be to wait and let the captain and his crew get to work. Right now, I was only going to get in the way.

/-/

I was sitting on the bough of the ship when Ruby found me, staring out into the dark and imagining that every distant shadow I saw was the sails of Blake's little ship. They might have been, but with how dark it was, I doubted it. Only the sunrise would tell for sure. I heard Ruby approaching and she made herself known with a meek little "Hello."

"Hey," I returned. "Sorry if I'm worrying you."

"You're not." Ruby came up beside me and offered a small bowl with some soup in it and a slice of bread. She had one for herself. "Everyone's kinda feeling the same. Either worried, angry or angry-worried."

"You as well?" I asked.

"I want to hit her with the butt of my scythe…"

"Hah. Me, too." I dipped the bread into the soup and bit into it. It was still warm and fresh, and I could taste Ren's appreciation for pepper and spice. "I really don't know what to think," I said, not sure what I was talking about, but needing to talk. "On the one hand, I'm shocked that she would do something like this, but then, on the other, I'm not surprised at all. The signs were all there. She was so quiet when Ozpin said we'd leave the Mirage Isles to suffer its fate. She was distracted on the way back and we all noticed it."

"We were all distracted. I think none of us were in our right minds."

"Yeah." I bit down again and swallowed, sighing a moment later.

"It must hurt more for you," Ruby said, "With the two of you being together…"

"We're not. Together, I mean."

Ruby winced. "S-Sorry. I just thought… Ugh. Ignore me."

"It's fine. It was never a said thing, but I think Blake and I ruined what we had. I don't think it was my secrets, not entirely, but that was probably the final straw. It was just a load of little things piling up until we couldn't really ignore them. We kept trying to. That was probably a mistake on our parts. Ignoring our issues, saying that we'd deal with them after the war." I shook my head. "We never did. Or never had a chance. I guess we just drifted apart."

"Then you're not…?"

"Together? No. Friends? Of course we are. Blake is still one of my best friends and I do love her. Enough to drag her ass back to Beacon and give her the telling-off of a lifetime." I laughed. "And hey, this time I'll get to be the one in the right. It's a new and exciting experience."

Ruby giggled along with me, hopping up to dangle her feet over the wooden railings. She was light enough that it didn't creak under her, and the waves were so gentle tonight that even I only felt a smidgeon of my sea sickness.

"She's hiding things from us again," she said. "I don't think she has no one in the Mirage Isles if she's going back there."

"No. I think you're right. I believe her when she said her family were killed, but she claimed she survived there on her own, as a child, while Raven and the Greycloaks were busy taking over the whole island. I find that unlikely. She must have had someone helping her. Someone she wants to go back and save."

"I don't think she's going to be happy if we try and stop her…"

"No. I don't think she will be."

"Will you be able to do it?"

Stop her? Fight her? I'd never thought I might have to, but given the situation… well, Blake had already tried to cut ties with little more than a written apology. I had a feeling she would try and fight us off.

Against all of us, though? It was a forlorn hope. Blake might once have been strong enough to do just that, but the situation had changed. There was a bigger difference between a Level Thirty Hero and a Level Twenty Hero then there was a Sixty and Fifty. Blake couldn't be much higher than that nowadays. Given that I'd gained almost ten levels with her not picking up any Exp, she might even still be in her fifties.

She couldn't hope to beat us all back.

"I'm more than capable. Even if she hates me for it, even if she rages at me, I'll stop her. I'd do the same if it was you, Yang or anyone else trying to do something like this."

"Mhm." Ruby nodded. "I just wanted to check." The Reaper hopped off and made to leave, collecting my spent bowl and leaving me to my ocean-watching. Before she left entirely, however, she called back. "And just so you know, I think this is the right thing to do. Sometimes saving people means you need to save them from themselves. Save them from their own bad decisions. I know Yang, Dad and Uncle Qrow used to act like I was too stupid to realise it, but I know Mom could have used someone to save her from hers. That someone was supposed to be Raven. Dad said they used to Quest together before she left…"

Just another crime to lay at Raven's feet. One we wouldn't be able to punish her for. That would be Salem's job. Or, if Raven won, our job to deal with her after the fact.

"I think we need to do the same for Blake," she said. "Stop her from doing what my mom did."

"Yeah." I managed a smile. "Thanks, Ruby. I'll be fine. Having a plan helps. Just knowing we're doing something to stop her is enough."

"No problem," she giggled again, "Just try and get some sleep. There's not much we can do here."

"You're right." With a sigh, I pushed away from the railing and followed her inside. A good night's sleep would be enough to see the sun rise and the horizon become clear again. We were already out on the open ocean and making good time. More speed, too, if Anders words were true. Whether I could see Blake or not, we were closing the distance.

The chase was on.


And we're back to normal chapter length.

I'm sure this won't fan the flames of some already epical levels of Blake hate in the reviews. No problems at all. I've mentioned it before but will have to again. I'll be taking a week off at the end of March to prepare for this annoying work event I have to organise and speak at. Going to be a little too busy dealing with the inevitable last-minute EVERYTHING to do any writing. Seriously, if last year taught me anything it's that people won't use the months I give them beforehand to ask questions. They will wait until three days before the event.


Next Chapter: 11th March

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