Blake

"Blake, lets-" I hear the strange boy yell, cut off by an explosion. The explosive blast threw him back, cracking the stone, sending jets of snow, gravel, and dirt all over us. Activating my semblance allowed me to dodge most of the debris, steadying myself on the ice-frozen snow.

Slumped against the wall is the cyborg as he fades out into forced unconsciousness.

Streaks of red dust slowly chip down the rock shielding us from the enemy. I rush to him, firing back, taking an android, and forcing a human to duck behind a tree. He shoots blind, the rounds exploding into trees and rocks, throwing up splinters and sharp gravel. I get hit by shards of wood in my shoulder, failing to react in time.

Rather than rush towards Alex, I slide into cover behind a snowbank, throwing gambol shroud around his arm. When the ribbon wraps around him, I yank with all my strength. The first pull did little except make his body fall forward unceremoniously. "He's heavy. C'mon." I growl as he unceremoniously lands next to me when I yank him again.

I turn to see my faunus brethren fighting valorously: Jade and Ciara firing with precise shots, taking out two enemies at a time. Despite being unable to fully control his semblance, Yarve makes ice spikes that impale a squad of Atlesian androids. The other side starts to take caution, slowly advancing and firing. Without grenades, there is little the Atlesians can do without suffering heavy losses.

Out in the distance are a flock of birds flying fast. White birds. Around them are blue circles bearing the Schnee crescent.

"No."

Yarve is the first victim of this attack, collapsing on his back, his left torso torn off with massive wounds revealing what's left inside him.

Ciara, seeing Yarve fall, screams out, "Atlesian operative. Its the ice-".

Her head flys off in mid-sentence.

Seeing her friend's head fly off spurred Jade into a raging fury. She shoots with mad rage, taking down four more soldiers. As she slams another clip into her carbine, a swarm of lancers spins around her. A white vortex becoming bloody red.

My ears perk up at the distant sound of dust engines. Facing where the noise was in the deafening heat of battle, I spot three more bullheads deactivating their cloaking skin. Two of them land on the snow-ridden ground.

The third flies towards us.

"What is that bullhead doing?" My question is answered when I spot a flurry of rockets launch from it. Thinking quick, I manage to shoot down one. My allies, realizing the danger, take to flee, but some take shots at the rockets. Most only the side of the rocket- not enough to do damage, but enough to throw them off.

I grab Alex, taking him in a sprint.

The carnage from the rockets can be felt; the sound is blaring.

I slice, chop and shoot any who stand in my way who aren't friends. His weight doesn't help in the slightest, making me wobbly as I'm forced to carry probably 280 pounds of metal and equipment.

With my aching strength, I throw him over the boulder to the left of the hill. Jumping over the huge rock, I find Adam. His katana slicing any humans making their way past our shattered defense, red hair like a neon strip in a dark room. I dart to him.

He sees me, smiling.

I steady my nerves, aiming gambol shroud at him, taking a shot at the huntsman that appears suddenly from nowhere. He goes down instantly, his aura fractured.

Slightly shaken, Adam says, "Nice of you to blow his head off instead of mine."

I grin, "You can repay me later."

Another explosion behind us forces us to remember where we are at the moment. I lean down to pick up the still unconscious teen, figuring it be better to talk to him later. "Help me pick him up."

"We have to go now." Adam says, grabbing my arm. I turn around, spinning it off. "I saved your head. Save his life." I demand. His face demures at the idea of saving the cyborg- perhaps wanting to save the lives of his men rather than this total stranger. I can empathize: we know our brothers and sisters far longer than Alex. We fought, bled, and died to make sure we survived to fight for another day. When I saw him, I knew there was something about him. Something I tried to determine at the CCT.

The sight of him, laying on the dirt snow, changed me. Something in my head, in my gut, tells me to save him.

I lean back down to grab ahold of Alex. He is still heavy, my adrenaline slowing.

He gets lighter.

I turn my head to find my mentor slinging his left arm around himself.

We ran like hell. We ran like hell, calling for a retreat. We moved nonstop as a snowstorm appeared down from the hills, obscuring our vision. Thankfully, it blocked the Atlesians as well. We made the bone-cold trip back to our hideout, medics already taking care of Alex and us, as well as the White Fang members who made it back. I was also told that several teams went outside to look for any Atlesian patrols or our wounded.

That wasn't the worst of our problems.

Alex

I feel good. Better than good, I feel great. A burning flame in my view of blurry images is the only object visible.

Something shatters, voices yell. Without hesitation, I leap up immediately, hand pulling a pistol out, aiming it at a curtain wall. My vision is now clear after realizing I am in some sort of hospital room. Or rather a makeshift field med post. I'm pretty sure hospitals aren't half-buried camouflage tents. Aside from the bed, surgical tools, and strange machines, the room is sparse with nothing really sticking out, except the curtain separating me and the noise next to me.

I holster my pistol, walk over and move the curtain aside.

In the room next to me are several faunus in various states: some with red lined armbands. "Medics." I surmise, thinking the armbands are akin to the red cross. They tend to White Fang militia who are battered, at best, to being shot to pieces at worst. Some are burned and are covered in bleeding wounds from head to toe. The sight should have been horrifying. Unfortunately, it doesn't phase me.

"Why am I not surprised at this? Why am I not feeling disgusted or angry? Sad or down?" A second later, I hear, "Am done with this! Fuck your revolution! Fuck you Adam!"

I quickly rush to the curtain room, seeing it's the source of the noise.

Blake and Adam are on the left side of the room, Qrow on the other with a disinfection bottle (alcohol) raised by his head. They stop and stare at me. I move my lips. Then I see-.

"No." I mutter.

"You son of a bitch!" Qrow lifts me by the neck, his face a raging red. I can hold my breath longer than he thinks. His own breath stinks of expired whiskey and iron, possibly his own blood.

Blake is held back by Adam, who I can see is angry at me as well. He may have called me an ally, never once a friend. After all, the virus coursing inside my circuits made me a light in the dark.

Light so bright that can kill.

"Qrow. I di-" I croak, clawing his grip. Sure, I can hold my breath. I don't want to find out how long.

A ghost passes Adam, the black shadow falling apart with Blake appearing next to him. Trying to loosen his grip, Blake tries to convince as she grabs his arm.

"Its not his fault Qrow. We didn't know the virus could be tracked. He probably didn't know-"

"Bullshit, if he didn't, then Summer would be here."

"Stop it Qrow," she pulls harder as I tell HUDDAC to electrify my hands, "Blame me if you want, blame anyone else. It wasn't him that killed Summer. It wasn't him that made her bleed out.."

"Shut up!" Without much warning, I slam my right hand into his chest, sending bolts of electricity straight into him. Stopping his rampage, releasing his grip, Qrow collapsed like a brick. Falling down on the ground.

I take a breath. It feels good. But...no.

"The virus must have tracked me. HUDDAC?"

"Sir?"

"Run all systems to fight against this virus."

"Without technicians to alleviate this consumption on processing power, you will experience lag. Additionally, the damage-"

"If we don't do this now, then the Atlesians will track us down again. Its a relief they haven't found us yet."

I look at Adam, sensing my perception of time slow slightly. I can only say, "You don't want to hear my apology. I respect that. I wouldn't either. My assisstant-"

"Leave." He interrupts.

"And go back where? To Atlas? Even if I was Atlesian, they would hunt me down. They reverse engineer this," I point to myself, "Its game over for you."

"I'm telling you to leave." He starts to walk, "It's not that I don't trust you." Adam stops next to me, facing the opposite direction, "You can't control yourself."

He walks past me.

"We made that choice x years ago. The virus inside me is gone. So is Summer. It's probably best for Ruby after the medics confirm she has amnesia. She knows her name and love for cookies, but not her parents. We had to lie to her: that Summer and Taiyang fell in love after Qrow's sister left when Yang was born. Her gray hair isn't from Qrow. It's because that's how she was born. Even little Yang, a fiery little girl, I must say, had to swear to never tell her the truth. I don't think she knows why. Never questioned it. They're good sisters.

Speaking of sisters, I had quite the run-in with Raven. Long story short, her tribe splintered after the Atlesians drew in Grimm on her turf. She's honestly not as bad as I imagined. Not the person I imagined after Qrow...I feel bad for him. I do.

We talk from time to time. Maybe it is best. I can't imagine what he's going through having to lie in front of your own daughter that you're their uncle, knowing that Taiyang is going along with it.

Taiyang is a good person. Makes good food too. I mean, delicious food. That spicy chicken rice stew is the bomb- I'm getting off track again.

Things are worse on a global scale. Vale agreed to a series of treaties that allowed Atlas to control everything outside mountain Gleen. Aside from the valley and Patch, Vale is no longer what she used to be. Despite my efforts, despite the White Fang and Railroad, the Atlesians are too strong. And my body...the virus did a number on it- slower, weaker, and sometimes I feel like my mind is going insane.

Maybe it's also good Ruby has never seen me after that night. I watch over her, yes, but I haven't spoken to her since."

I can see Ruby and Yang getting onto the airship, kept afloat without hazardous hydrogen or rare helium. It's impressive what this dust stuff can. I follow too.

"Guess today isn't too bad. Ruby has skipped two years of Signal academy, going to Beacon instead. I have to admit, she's a beast with that oversized sniper slash scythe of hers. I'm trying to stay positive.

I am on a mission. One that I owe to Qrow I made to him all those years ago. And to Summer. Too bad we didn't have that much time. Maybe we would have been good chums.

And one more thing.

Fuck the U.N."

A/N: Back again. With the build-up bullshit out of the way, I actually feel more motivated to continue this story again.