Hello again, everyone! Chapter 53 is here and I hope as always that you will enjoy it!

Thanks once more for following/ favoring/ simply reading the story! I will see you next week and I hope you are as well as possible until then!

The snowstorm had fallen upon the area as fast but not as hard as they expected it to. Blake had swapped with Ilia a few hours ago and after a quick nap was now focused on maintaining the fire.

After making sure it was quite safe, she turned to her friend. Ilia monitored the surroundings by looking through series of wall holes. She was tugged in her uniform, occasionally blowing on her arms.

"Hey" Blake addressed her. "Do you remember when we first met Fenris?" The younger girl didn't turn her head, but replied nonetheless "yes, most of it. Why?"

Yellow eyes closed in reminiscence "back then, he was already one of the strongest members of the Fang. Despite that, he never got any important position among the group."

The chameleon girl rubbed her lips "Blake, Fenris was a lunatic. His ideals, the way he spoke… he made Adam seem soft." Gray-bluish eyes narrowed, still without looking away from their duty.

"Besides, he never spoke ill of humans; the way they treated us, or how much our ancestors had been tormented and taken advantage of didn't concern him. He thought such things were beneath him."

"Right" the black-haired beauty replied "and that cost him his popularity among his fellow faunus. Only a couple of us kept on trusting him, I think Robert and Stella were their names?"

"I think so too" Ilia replied. "But what brought this topic all of a sudden?"

The cat girl rubbed her glove-covered hands and stared at the emblem of CC in the uniform. She remembered of the man, standing next to Adam, smiling furiously.

"You can't simply walk away like this, Gray! The Fang needs strong men like you!"

"I answer to no one, Taurus. Khan, Belladonna, you; you are mere mortals unworthy of my devotion."

"What are you talking about? Have you gone crazy?"

"No" the man's eyes gleamed. "I have simply found my path in the world. And I pity those who stand in its way."

Blake sighed and looked away, her ears falling flat on top of her head. "He had visited Adam's hideout to announce he was leaving the Fang. I…wasn't supposed to be there, so he didn't notice me."

Feeling her fellow faunus' discomfort, Ilia turned to look at her and immediately asked again "what does this have to do with our situation?"

Blake nodded "since we talked to Carlo, there has been something bothering me. Like, I have missed a hint or something; I feel like there is more to this whole situation than it meets the eye."

The maroon-haired girl turned back to the wall. "My guts are telling me something is really off, Ilia" the cat girl continued. "Weiss is our top priority, but I can't help but feel that neglecting Gray is a bad idea."

"Ah, Blake" Ilia sighed. "Always the killjoy pessimist" she joked. "Like you are one to talk!" the faunus flushed from embarrassment. "Yang is such a bad influence to you!"

"Speaking of her…" Ilia said and both girls stared to the back of the makeshift room, where Yang was.

The blonde woman was sitting on her knees, legs crossed. Her hands were on her chest, palms pressed together. Her eyes were closed and her lips slightly curled in a tender smile.

She was listening to them, but didn't register anything they said. Her mind was focused elsewhere; recalling memories of a particular snow-haired girl.

The training area was empty this late at night. Save for a pair of women currently standing in the middle, everyone else had left quite a while ago.

"Good…now exhale. And focus; try to empty your head of all thought." Dressed in a-very tight- training outfit, Weiss was standing in front of Yang, instructing her meditation due to Ren moving to Cypress Outpost.

The tall blonde, also in sportswear, opened her eyes. Sweat was running down her eyebrows and forehead. She had been trying too hard to not ogle at the shapely figure right in front of her- and repeatedly failing.

"You broke your concentration again, Yang!" Weiss chastised her. "Can you blame me?" the brawler replied. "I can't exactly focus when we are alone and you look so hot…" she added.

The alabaster girl shot her a harsh glare. "Will you take things seriously? I dissed half of my paperwork to Blake, on your request to help you train! And here you are, creating perverted fantasies!"

Yang flinched and her shoulders sagged. Her lover did have a point- a really good one. "You are right, Snowflake. I am sorry" she immediately replied.

Weiss' glare got replaced by worry. "No, I am sorry. That…came out harsher than I wanted to. After all, you only complimented me…" she trailed off.

"Anyway, let's get back to training! Your meditation sucks! How can you be so bad at clearing your mind?" Yang smiled in a sheepish manner that reminded the ex-heiress of her partner.

"I just, can't stop thinking about things." Weiss raised an eyebrow "what things?" Lilac eyes averted for a while "things like Rubes…Blake… mostly you…"

It was the pale woman's turn to look away in embarrassment. "Then, maybe I should leave…let you focus" she said, fiddling with her hair.

"NO!" Yang shot forward. "The problem is not that I can't focus, baby. I just focus on the wrong thing- you" she finished coughing in her palm to hide her embarrassment.

Weiss coughed in her fist as well. She was thinking of a way to avoid the upcoming mess, despite how pleasant it would probably turn out to be, when an idea hit her. "What if you do exactly that?" she proposed.

"Ren said that meditation is the art of focusing one's mind into controlling their flow of aura. He mentioned that many people use some mental images to help them train on that aspect."

Lilac eyes blinked. "Are you telling me to use your image as a mental focus to assist my training?" The white-haired woman flushed burning red. "D-don't say it so casually! I just wanted to help-"

"I am in. Let's try it. It might prove easier this way" Yang saved her from frying her brain. "Really?" Weiss was taken aback. "Yeah; after all…"

The brawler opened her eyes and stared at the fire in the middle of the makeshift camp. "…you are always inside my mind" she whispered.

"Hm? Did you say anything Yang?" her partner's gaze fell on her. "It's nothing of importance, Blakey. Don't worry." The cat girl nodded, despite realizing it was exactly the opposite.

"So, what are we going to do?" Yang jumped up "we have spent too many hours in here and the few rations we scavenged around have ended. We should get moving, even if this damn snow isn't stopping."

"I don't think it's a bad idea" Ilia said. "We have spent way too much time and exhausting our dust supplies. Yang is right; it's better to give it a shot now while we still have strength left" Blake replied.

"Besides we are still in Grimm territory. We don't know when-" a loud, cacophonous choir of screeches cut her off. The skittering sound of thin blades followed soon.

"Is that…" Yang's eyes opened wide. "Yes" the cat girl replied, grabbing her rifle. "Please, don't comment on the irony" she stood up. "My lips are sealed" Yang focused.

"I hope our fates aren't" Ilia commented, taking out her whip.

-o—

Weiss' eye opened. She tried hard to not let it- the dream was so beautiful. She would never forget all the days and nights she had spent training with Yang, laughing at the way they tiptoed around each other.

Her face dropped. Not that I have many days left, so that statement is kind of invalid. "Hey Weiss; are you ok?" she turned around and looked at Kendrick, still bound on the pipe.

"Is this some sort of joke?" she lashed out, but immediately stopped. "Sorry, I am a little off…" The man's eyes narrowed "yeah, I noticed. You were pretty bitter with Carmel before; not that I blame you."

"It was mostly unbecoming of me, yes." "But it felt pretty good, didn't it?" He gave a small smile and Weiss instantly felt her lips curl upwards.

"It did" she merely replied "this woman took my beloved ones from me. She crashed my pride, too. I- I don't want to be myself when dealing with her; she doesn't deserve anything more than my worst."

"So, you are merely diverting your pain at her" he commented. "Possibly" the reply came instantly. He closed his eyes and licked his parched lips "well, it's not that I am one to talk about lashing out, being a member of a terrorist group."

Weiss nodded "speaking of that" she said a little reluctantly "you seem a very decent person, Kendrick. How did you find yourself part of a psychopath's company?"

The green-skinned man stared at her. "You really want to know?" She nodded again. "I and my good friend Carlo grew up in Mantle. We had quite the difficult childhood as one might guess for a pair of orphans."

Her face immediately dropped. She knew what he meant. She had seen the situation in the faunus district too many times during her previous stay in Atlas, after all.

"When Sienna's White Fang started operations in Solitas, we were among the first to join. We were young and passionate. We really, really thought we could change things for the better."

He rubbed his eyes on his shoulder. "Most of all, we believed in Sienna Khan. The woman was no saint, I know, but she was dedicated and truly believed in her cause- we revered her."

"And then she was murdered- by Taurus" Weiss commented. "I never felt as ashamed as I did when we discovered she had fallen to one of our own."

"And you felt like you had nothing left. Adam took your comrades and friends away… fed them to his own blind vengeance" she added.

"Heh. You are absolutely right. We were lost- desperate for a savior." She closed her eye to try and fight the throbbing in her head "an easy prey for a hungry wolf."

"Exactly" he approved. "We thought we were doing a difference again. We were successful and feared. We were idiots who were being used. Carlo noticed that before me; he always was the cautious one."

"I remember he is the one who contacted Blake and Ilia. Where is he now?" she asked. If Carlo was such a good friend to Kendrick, then maybe-

"He is the one whose butchered remains were used to summon the monster that killed everyone but me and my team" the komodo faunus cut her off.

"I am so sorry…" her face dropped again in sorrow. It seemed that Sophia Carmel was not the only cruel monster in this area.

"You are so kind, Weiss…" he solemnly stated. "If we had met three years ago, I would have probably tried to slit your throat and drag your corpse to the headquarters."

"If we had met five years ago, I would have surely tried to stomp on your neck with my heels" she replied. "So, it's more me being reasonable than kind."

They looked at each other and exchanged a quick smile. "Thank you- I really mean that. It makes me think that my plan may be worth a try after all" his voice, slightly lower, told her.

"What plan?" she narrowed her eyes. "I intend to break free. I will not let this woman decide my fate. And I will not let Fenris get away with killing my friend."

"You…" "Are you with me, Weiss?" Her gaze became hard. Her face distorted, as if she had been stung. "Why?" she asked, almost reflexively.

"What do you mean 'why'? Why would you ever want to stay here?" She gulped. Her throat was suddenly dry and her lips felt harsh. "What reason do I have to even try?"

He stared at her in confusion. "I am a living corpse, Kendrick. Yang and Blake are dead; Ruby is probably dead as well. I have lost my eye and can't stay calm enough to even summon- I am useless in a fight!"

She gritted her teeth "my dreams are gone. My friends- my family- have been taken away from me. My hands are tainted with murder! What the heck am I supposed to want to get away for?"

Kendrick didn't even have time to reply. "The only thing I am willing to do is wait till I can kick that witch's head hard enough till it rolls off her shoulders! That's how kind of a person I truly am!"

The faunus stared at the ex-heiress. Her eye was glistering with tears and her face was bright red in anger. Her chest was moving back and forth. She must have been piling those feelings for quite a while.

"As a criminal myself, I cannot tell you what is right and what is wrong" he said after a few moments of tense silence. "But I know one thing; no matter how hard things are, you can always find something to live for, Weiss."

"I-" "Self-sacrifice might sound appealing when you are as sad and angry as you are now. But it shall be the end of Weiss Schnee. Period."

"Weiss Schnee has already ended!" she protested. "No; she is talking with me right now. She has lost many things, yes, but she is still alive and breathing. Giving up will not help her accomplish anything."

Her mind stopped. Weiss tried to protest. She tried to reply; talk back to that stupid criminal who talked like he knew her. He knew nothing. He had met her yesterday! How could he understand what she felt?

However… she closed her eye and gulped audibly "right now, you sounded like my sister. This is exactly what she would say under these circumstances."

"I will take that as a compliment" he replied. "In all seriousness, however, I mean what I say. Weiss Schnee may be dead, or just withered. But Weiss is here. And giving up is not her strong suit, if what I saw yesterday is any indication."

She bit her lip. Kendrick knew she agreed with him, but he also realized how prideful and hurt the girl was. "Weiss" he slowly said, grabbing her attention.

"I need your help to escape. I can't do it on my own. And you are better with me than staying here, no matter what you think or desire at this moment."

The woman looked at him again, her gaze more focused than before. She then closed her eye and consented "I guess I can't disagree with that. What's the plan you have in mind?"

-ο—

Inside Moose's house, the situation was serene. Alex was still sleeping on the couch, while Albus and Matthew were playing cards.

Not in the mood to accompany them, Ruby had just finished skimming though yesterday's mails. For some reason, after they had reached the area, their signal had nearly vanished.

Thus, she had received quite a huge amount of mails earlier when she managed to find a couple lines just before the storm had hit the house.

Most of them were from her fan club, in which she would reply with a huge apology after she had finished saving her friends. Among them, however, there were three particularly interesting.

Dr. Oobleck

Miss Rose, in contrary to Miss Belladonna's belief, Octavios Red's book appears to be far more than a simple anatomy manual. However, I cannot truly divulge any sort of information before we manage to perform an accurate translation, which will…

A series of Dr. Oobleck's rambling about the book's value and potential quality followed after and Ruby skipped it. She would have Blake deal with the details as soon as they get back.

Velvet

As I told you yesterday, save for a slight insomnia and low appetite, there seem to be no issues with Jaune. He is exhausted and frustrated, but I can't blame him. We have spent three nights in a row staking out the Cemetery without any success. So, be a good girlfriend and give your concerns some rest, for both your sake.

She thought a lot about how her new demeanor resembled Coco way too much, but Ruby knew better to mention her former teammates to the bunny girl. She merely thanked her for taking care of Jaune instead.

The final one was from the SHU laboratory and was talking about the substance they had found in Grimmwater. Since Weiss was out of reach, they had orders to try and contact her instead.

White Coat Guys

The analysis of the liquid is not going smoothly, I am afraid, Ms. Rose. There are quite a few weird substances inside and require our utmost care, as to not damage the sample with random attempts. The only thing we have managed to establish so far is that it seems to be some sort of blood-like artificial substance. However, keep in mind that further analysis may need additional samples which are…

This one went up to the EOL archive along with the message from Oobleck. Ruby was seriously frustrated. She wanted to go out and take down any monster threatening her team, not-

A high-pitch screech snapped her into action. The sound was akin to a series of broken sirens trying to communicate with each other.

For any person who had experienced the cleanup of Thornwood Massacre, this sound was a fearsome and much unwanted memory. Same applied to the skittering blades that followed it.

"Are these Arachneas?" Albus had already gotten up and picked his staff. "Stay next to me, Mr. Moose" he said, earning an affirmative nod.

"Possibly" Ruby grabbed Crescent Rose and quickly moved next to Alex, who had already heard the sound and was now watching out of the window.

"Can you see anything?" "My eyesight is not the best, despite night vision" the woman replied. "And this snowstorm makes it harder to see..."

A small, thin, bladed spider leg slammed on the window, causing both huntresses to jump away in a surprised scream. A few more joined, leaving small scratches on the glass.

Three large spiders appeared behind the panel. They had shining black skin that formed edges and peaks like made of crystal. Their heads were covered by a small skull-white fanged mask.

Their hungry red eyes looked at the people inside the house as the sound of hundreds of legs climbing on top of wood filled the small cabin.

"I hate those things!" Alex stared at the hateful monsters. "Go upstairs!" Ruby screamed. "Do you remember Thornwood? They attack from above, trying to spin their webs on top of us!"

As the other two huntsmen rushed up, Ruby walked back next to the poor owner of the cabin. "I don't understand; Arachneas have never left Aegis before! They hunt only around their nest!"

Silver eyes opened wide as the girl's mouth hung open. "Nest? You mean there is a Broodmother here?" He nodded. "She lives very deep into the woods- close to the abandoned altar. Never did she bother me or my parents."

"Mr. Moose" Ruby unfurled her scythe. "We will take those things down. And then you are telling us everything you know about this forest" she finished, as the door creaked and slowly gave in.