"A damaged wall of an abandoned warehouse, several miles of road and highway damaged, nearly 20 cars wrecked, 30 people injured—almost all of them recovered or on the road to recovery—and… a destroyed prototype Atlesian mech." Ozpin looked up from the report at General Ironwood, who silently nodded as he stood at attention to the side, and looked at Summer standing calmly in front of the desk with her arms crossed and her eyes closed. Ozpin smiled despite Summer not being able to see it and closed the hologram window before leaning forward slightly. "It seems like you had quite the eventful night, Miss Rose."

"If I'm being perfectly honest Professor, I'm getting really tired of having 'eventful nights' every time I go out," Summer said, shaking her head.

"A sentiment I'm sure the police agree with. That aside, the situation is more or less concluded. Is there anything you'd like to add?"

"I'm just curious how someone like Roman Torchwick could get his hands on a prototype mech at all." Summer opened her eyes and looked at Ironwood, who had let just a bit of anger show through his militaristic composure. "Do you have any ideas, General?"

"That's an answer I'd like to know myself," Ironwood replied and shook his head. "I've notified the factories making the Paladins and will hopefully have an answer."

"I'm really worried about that to be honest. People like Torchwick don't steal just one thing unless there's only one."

"Agreed, but I trust that we'll have an answer from James soon enough," Ozpin said, glancing at Ironwood and receiving a nod in response. "So unless there is something else you want to add, you're dismissed, Miss Rose."

'Those girls better be grateful for me putting my neck on the line like this,' Summer thought as she shook her head.

"I have to get started on some inquiries," Ironwood said and started walking to the elevators.

"I'll join you down," Summer said as she moved to follow Ironwood. "There's something I wanted to ask you anyway." Ironwood paused for a moment to quirk an eyebrow at her, but he said nothing as they both boarded the elevator. Ozpin waved at them as the door closed and he returned to his work while Summer and Ironwood settled for the ride down. Ironwood looked down at her as she crossed her arms and cleared her throat.

"So, what did you want to ask?"

"It's more of a request. Do you know Penny Polendina?" It took a moment before Ironwood nodded. "Well, she's a friend of mine. I want to be able to talk to her without worrying about her getting in trouble for it, you know what I mean?"

"And how exactly did you come to know Penny?"

"I ran into her in town one day and just befriended her, and that was before she saved my life fighting Hierophant at the docks." Ironwood showed surprise before it was replaced by disappointed exasperation. "And just so we're clear, she told me the truth about herself, so there's no point in trying to hide that."

"Goddammit Penny," Ironwood whispered and rubbed his eyes with a hand before lowering it. "Summer…"

"But I don't care about any of that. I don't care that she's a robot or that she's apparently a front-line fighter against some of the most dangerous creatures of Grimm on the planet, that can all be answered for later. I just want to be able to talk and support her since we're all in this fight together. Does that make sense?"

Ironwood rubbed his eyes again and sighed quietly at the latest bit of Penny-related trouble. Not that he hadn't been warned about this as Pietro had been very clear about how his daughter wandered.

"I'll see what I can do in regards to your team," Ironwood said, pulling his hand away and looking at Summer, "but I can't guarantee more than that."

"That's all I ask, General. I have faith in you to do that." There was a ding as the doors opened, and Summer walked out, lifting her hood over her head and looked back at Ironwood with a smile. "And thank you for your time, General." With that, she clasped her hands behind her back and walked away toward the exit, giving Ironwood a moment to collect himself and exit the elevator to go about his own business.


Blake was sitting on the steps of Beacon Tower, reading a book to kill some time when she saw Summer coming out of the tower and down the steps. Summer stiffened up when she saw Blake and continued walking with a barely contained look of irritation.

"Excuse me, can I talk to you for a moment?" Blake asked as she stood up and jogged over to Summer. Summer silently sighed at Blake's question and looked back at Blake crossing her arms.

"You have a moment. What do you want?"

Blake grabbed her wrist and squeezed it, half-afraid there would be a tremble that never appeared. "Well, it had to do with that mech from last night. I saw it had the White Fang's insignia on it and… well, I'm worried about it."

"Don't be. First trick you learn when fighting criminals is that they love to deflect blame onto someone else. If I was in his shoes, I'd put the blame on the White Fang too since they've been all over the news lately."

"So you really think they weren't involved? Because if they were, then—"

"Why do you care?" Blake stopped short at Summer's question and did her best not to shrink in on herself. She bit her lip as Summer shook her head and sighed. "Look, Blake, I can tell you have a good heart and that you're just worried. But this isn't your problem, so just drop it before someone other than me gives you a lecture ok? Focus on your own problems."

'My problems? Would the White Fang even count as my problem? I would like to think not, but…' Blake shook her head and moved her book up so it was against her chest, if only to stop squeezing her wrist before it bruised or something. "Ok, I understand. If you need my help with that though—"

"I don't. Not from you." Blake blinked at the finality in Summer's tone and watched her walk down the stairs, where she paused for a moment before picking up her pace to catch up to a passing Team CFVY. Blake looked down at one of her bandaged hands and clenched it into a fist for a few seconds. She let it go and shook her head as she started walking back to the dorms. She had barely made it to the first building there when she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to find a yellow tail waving at her, which got an eye roll and a smile out of her. "Hello Sun."

"Sup Blake," Sun said and moved to walk next to Blake and cross his arms behind his head, "I was just chilling in a tree and saw you being all… Blakey."

"Blakey?"

"Oh, you know what I mean!" Sun waved a hand in the air before leaning a bit closer to Blake and narrowed his eyes. "But yikes though, are you ok? Those bags under your eyes look big enough to store a scroll in."

"I'm fine!" Blake snapped and waved a hand in the air to get Sun away from her. Once he was away, Blake rubbed her eyes, which she silently had to admit were starting to have bags under them.

"What's the matter? More uh… 'bow' problems?"

'Bow problems. I still don't know how he made me so easily.' "No. I'm sorry, I'm just tired. I didn't sleep well last night."

"Just last night?" Blake glared at Sun, who wasn't deterred in slightest and looking quite serious. "And don't give me that look. Every time you can't sleep you 'go for a walk'. You started doing this in the middle of exams and it hasn't stopped. Far be it for me to tell you how to live your life, but this just isn't healthy in the long run."

"You think I don't know that?" Blake stopped and sighed as she rubbed her eyes again. "Sorry. As it turns out, I was just going to go to my room and get some sleep, time of day be damned. So, if you don't mind?"

"My room's in the same building."

"…Fair enough." Blake walked past Sun to continue toward the dorms. They were at the dorms after a few minutes of quiet walking (at least quiet for Blake, Sun seemed content to rattle on about Neptune's latest failed attempt at flirting) and climbed up to their floor while passing by several other Haven students. Sun saw Blake to her door before going his own way, leaving Blake with her teammates. Weiss was trying to help Ruby with some studies, which wasn't going well judging by the way Ruby was lying on the desk, and Yang was busy watching a video on her scroll in the middle of the floor.

"Oh, there you are," Yang said and waved at Blake before she pushed herself into a sitting position to watch Blake walk over to her bed. "Where have you been? Seeing some cutie or something?"

"Please. I just… needed some air," Blake said and set her book down in its usual spot on the bookshelf before stretching her arms and walking to one of the dressers to dig out her pajamas. "Anyway, I'm going to take a shower and go to bed."

"But it's only a bit past 5. That's way too early."

"For some people, maybe." Blake found a clean set of pajamas and tucked it under her arm before grabbing a fresh roll of gauze and turning to the bathroom door. She stopped when she saw Weiss looking at her, her eyes full of worry.

"Are you sure you're ok Blake? You look bad, I don't think you've been eating, and I doubt your grades are good at this rate," she said, counting off her fingers with Yang nodding in agreement.

"All the more reason for me to get my sleep. And I eat when I'm hungry."

"And are you?"

"…No." Blake brushed past Weiss and went into the bathrooms, not caring for the stares of her teammates as she closed the door behind her. Weiss sighed at the door and shook her head as she crossed her arms.

"Yeah, I highly doubt that. Even I can tell that she's kind of tearing herself apart," Yang said and crossed her arms.

"I know, but I don't know how to help her. The best we can do is be there for her when she needs us." Yang nodded and lay back down on her side and turned her scroll back on.

"I guess so. For now though, I'm going back to watching rabbit videos." Weiss rolled her eyes and looked at Ruby as she slowly started to push herself up.

"Please, no more math," Ruby begged. She felt Weiss's hand on the back of her head and whimpered as her head was pushed back down onto the textbook.

"Yes, more math," Weiss replied with cold menace. "Your work for the exams was atrocious, and I will not have you sully my family's name in even the most tangential fashion. Now, read!" Yang couldn't help but shiver and roll to her other side so she wouldn't have to see Weiss torture Ruby, even though her sister's pained groans filled the room and nearly drowned out the sound of the rabbits chirping in her video.

'The doll certainly takes after the real Weiss in some ways. Poor Ruby.'


Despite Blake's attempts at lulling herself to sleep, which consisted mostly of sitting in her bed and trying to read a book and accomplishing only a slow pace, she felt like sleep would again elude her for the night. She soon gave up on reading and settled in to try and sleep around when the sun was starting to set, finally falling asleep when her teammates were preparing to go to bed as well.

At first it was a normal, dreamless sleep, but like always that changed for the worse. And like a lot of things in Blake's life, it started with the White Fang's sigil and that train.

Blake tried to ignore the sigil as she walked through the train doors, and her arms ached with an all too familiar pain as she walked through the cars. She cringed and shut her eyes at the sight of the bodies on either side of the car and continued walking. It was always the same no matter what: the bullet wounds, the slashes across their bodies, the blood, the dismemberment, all done with her weapon. Blake tripped over an arm and stumbled into the next car where she fell into a puddle of blood. She managed to keep her face out of it and pushed herself up to her knees where she found herself outside in a familiar setting.

"Kuo Kuana?" she asked aloud as she stood up and looked around. The tropical foliage and wooden buildings were certainly the very same that she remembered from when she had lived in the city. She felt a small bit of nostalgia as she looked around and slowly walked through the abandoned city and looked up at the stormy clouds as she climbed the hill that led toward the chieftain's house. She squeezed her arm as she crested the hill and stopped when she saw the house, or rather what was hanging from it. Her eyes widened and her breath hitched in her throat as she started running down the hill, her eyes focused so intensely on the house that she tripped and fell the rest of the way when she was almost to the bottom of the hill.

She didn't care about the pain as she roughly hit the stone walkway and scrambled to her feet to rush toward the house, only to stop halfway there when she saw without a shadow of a doubt just who was hanging from the house. Blake looked between the man and a woman and figured they must have been hanging there for a while . Blake felt her eyes tearing up as she looked at both of their peaceful faces, almost as if they were asleep if it weren't for the throats having been cut cleanly.

"Mom… Dad…" Blake said as tears finally broke and she started backing away from them. She shook her head and closed her eyes, "How…? How did…?"

"Beautiful, aren't they?" Blake's eyes shot open when the new voice filled the space and sent a shudder down her spine. She turned around and gasped when she saw Adam slowly walking towards her, a fresh mountain of Faunus corpses behind him with blood dripping from his sword. He smiled the same smile that Blake had once liked to see, but now only made her sick. "They cried and screamed so wonderfully when they died. I so wish you could have seen it, darling."

"Don't you dare..!" Blake started to say before she stopped and shook her head. "No, this is just another nightmare! You wouldn't dare go after them!"

"Oh, Blake," Adam continued and grabbed Blake's chin to make her look at him, "you know me well enough to know otherwise. They were just obstacles in our—" That split second decision to crack Adam in the jaw felt great before he growled in anger and backhanded her to send her to the ground. Blake slowly got her hands under her and felt something cold and smooth under her hands that she gripped tightly. "This has always been a problem with you! If you had just stayed quiet and done what I told you, I wouldn't have to do this!" Blake pushed herself up to her feet and did her best to ignore Adam's words. She felt him grab her upper arm and turn her around forcefully. "Why do you always hurt—"

Blake thrust and Adam stopped with a gasp, his eyes undoubtedly wide under his mask. Blake backed away from him, her hands shaking as she stared at his chest and Gambol Shroud sticking out of it. He dropped his sword and slowly tried to grasp the sword in his chest as blood started to pour from his mouth. "No… I didn't… I'm not…" Blake stammered and looked down at her hands, though she looked back up when Adam started gagging and looked like he was about to vomit.

That was when his head lurched back and his jaw was forced open wider and wider, up until the skin of his cheeks started tearing, and a black tentacle shot out of his mouth. Blake fell backward at the sight and started to slowly crawl away as she watched the tentacle writhe for a moment before shooting down to wrap around Gambol Shroud and push it further down his chest. He remained standing despite his chest being split open almost down to his groin, where the tentacle let go of Blake's weapon and retracted back into Adam's mouth and came back out his chest with a second one to pry his chest open.

A face pushed its way out of his chest after the tentacles, and Blake nearly fainted when she saw it was the Demon. It looked at her through blood and bared razor sharp teeth.

"BELLADONNA!"

Blake woke up, startled and shivering fiercely as she shot up and looked around the room. She sighed in relief when she saw she was still in her room at Beacon, though that soon changed when she saw her hand trembling and grabbed it roughly. 'No, not again! Even with her mostly gone this still keeps happening! Get out, get away!'

After making sure that Ruby, Weiss, and Yang were all asleep, Blake got out of bed and slipped on her boots before leaving the room as fast as she quietly could, cursing the door for creaking even the slightest bit, and ran down the hall somewhere she could get the tremors under control.

When the footsteps faded completely, Weiss sat up and stared at the door with a small scowl. 'I knew she wasn't doing well. Well, you're not doing this tonight!' she thought as she threw her covers off of her and stood up on the edge of her bed to look at Ruby, still very much asleep and snoring lightly. "Ruby," Weiss whispered and shook her by the shoulder. "Blake ran off again. We need to go after her!" Ruby refused to wake up to Weiss' irritation and shook her slightly harder. "Ruby, wake up! We need to—"

Ruby responded by inadvertently slapping Weiss onto the floor when she shifted positions and continued snoring, wholly unaware of the glare being sent her way. "Ugh, fine. I'll just do it myself," Weiss muttered and shook her head as she stood up. After quickly brushing off her pajama dress, she located her boots and slipped them on, grabbed her jacket, and left the dorm, making sure to close the door gently before slipping her jacket on as she walked in the direction she thought Blake went.

All the while unaware of how Ruby and Yang watched her as she left, their eyes glowing red in the dark before they huffed and went back to sleep.

Weiss walked outside of the dorms and looked around the courtyard, the school grounds lit well enough both from various light posts and the shattered moon that was behind a few clouds. Now that she was outside, it hit her once again that Beacon was not a small place and she had no idea where Blake had run off. With no other ideas, Weiss tugged her jacket tighter around her and walked through the dorm buildings toward the main thoroughfare of Beacon. She enjoyed the stillness of the night as she walked, one of the few pleasures she had now that she was away from the stifling halls of the Schnee manor and Her, and she found solace in that she wasn't the only one enjoying that atmosphere as she passed by the odd person or couple.

And then there was the sound of a boy and girl grunting and yelling loudly from the roof of a dorm building as Weiss passed. She stared at that roof wide-eyed before shaking her head vigorously and continuing her walk at a faster pace. 'None of my concern, but please let that be some kind of late nightly training session!'

With that incident behind her in more ways than one, Weiss finally reached the main walkway and stuck her hands in her jacket pocket as she looked around. "Ok, so if I were Blake, where would I go?"

"Oh man, this is bad!" Weiss stopped and looked at the new voice, only to stare at him with half-lidded eyes when she saw Sun Wukong pacing worriedly back and forth.

'He seems to be having problems. I should leave him be… but he's also one of Blake's friends. Maybe he knows where she went?' With a roll of her eyes, Weiss walked over to Sun and cleared her throat when he didn't notice her after a few moments of pacing. "Wukong," she said and watched Sun stop and look around for a second until he saw her.

"Huh? Oh, hey Ice Queen."

"Don't call me that."

"Yeah whatever. So why are you out so late? Late night rendezvous or something?"

"No, I'm looking for Blake. She ran out of the room for some reason and I'm worried about her."

"Huh, then we're out for the same reason." Weiss raised an eyebrow and Sun shrugged. "Well, more or less. I like jumping around at night. Anyway, while I was doing that earlier, I saw Blake running to… you know, be 'Blakey' somewhere. I was just wondering if I should go after her when you showed up."

"So why haven't you?"

"The last time I did that she got really mad at me. Pretty sure she came this close to slapping me too, even if she backed off and did her shadow clone thing to get away."

"She's stronger than she looks. You're lucky she didn't hit you."

"Yeah, especially since she gave me a fruit basket to make up for it. That was nice of her."

"Where did she…? No, never mind, I don't care. Which way did she go?"

"I'll show you. Maybe you'll be able to talk to her since whatever's going on with Blake is probably a 'girl' thing." Weiss rolled her eyes again as she followed Sun down the pathway toward the school buildings. Sun soon held his hand up to stop Weiss and peeked around the corner with a nod. "Ok, there she is. Do you see her up on that roof?" He pointed up to the roof and Weiss shook her head after looking for a second.

"Not in the slightest."

"…Right, no night vision. Well, trust me, she's up there on the edge facing… this way." Weiss stood up straight and quirked an eyebrow at Sun as he pointed and turned to her before snapping finger guns at her. "So… good luck! You're gonna need it."

"What, you're not going to help me up there?"

"Can't you make platforms?" They stared at each other for a moment before she snapped her fingers to make a glyph next to her.

"For the record, I did remember I could do that. I just wanted you to help me up there."

"I didn't say anything." They stared at each other for another moment before Weiss got onto the glyph and slowly ascended. She hopped onto the roof when she was high enough, losing her balance for a moment until she regained it and started walking along the edge. She held her arms out a little to keep her balance, and soon saw Blake sitting on the edge of the roof, cradling one of her arms.

'Alright, just don't look down,' she thought as she slowly approached Blake, getting more and more concerned as she got closer and saw her face wincing and heard her hissing in pain. She didn't notice Weiss approaching until she had sat down next to her and asked, "Are you ok?"

"What?" Blake looked up at Weiss in shock and gasped as a jolt of pain shot through her arm. She gripped it harder, which did nothing to assuage the pain, and shook her head. "I—I'm fine. I just—"

"No, you are not," Weiss interrupted and gently put a hand on Blake's arm, glad that Blake didn't flinch away as she expected her to. "What's wrong? Even if it's something I can't help you with, I want to at least be there for you." Blake looked back at Weiss, seeing nothing but concern in her eyes, and shook her head as she looked down at her trembling arm.

"I just… it's so dumb, but I had a bad nightmare. My arm won't stop hurting because of it and I can't do what I normally do to stop it." 'Of course I can't, it's not like stabbing my arm would make me look more sane to my teammates. What a joke!'

"Oh, I used to have something like that when I was a kid," Weiss said and barely glanced up at Blake's surprised face as she grabbed Blake's hand with her own. "My sister taught me a trick to deal with it. Do you want to try?" Blake stared for a moment before slowly nodding. Weiss smiled softly and grabbed her trembling hand with her own. "Close your eyes. It works better that way I guess." Blake rolled her eyes before doing so, somehow already feeling a little better just from Weiss being there.

"Now, I need you to focus on a good memory. You don't have to tell me what it is, just that it's a good memory for you." That was going to be harder than Weiss would have thought since almost every memory Blake had had been tainted by the bridges she had burned in her life. Still she could remember one thing that had stayed even with everything that happened. It was just a simple trip to the beach with her parents and her mother telling her about a local legend in Menagerie, but it was still something to hold onto.

"I got something," Blake said.

"Good. Forget everything else and just hold onto that. Any pain or worries don't matter. Breath in, hold for four seconds, then breathe out and hold for four seconds. Just keep doing that."

Blake did as she was told and started slowly breathing in and out. It didn't seem to work at first since her arm was still hurting and trembling, but the more she focused on that memory of being held by her mother and watching her father fail to make a sand castle, her arm slowly stopped shaking and hurting to the point she was unconsciously squeezing Weiss' hand as well. Soon the pain stopped completely and Blake opened her eyes and turned to Weiss with her eyes closed.

"I take it you're feeling better?" Weiss asked and cracked open an eye to look at Blake.

"Much better," Blake answered with a nod and looked down at her hand that was still being held by Weiss. She gently tugged it away and looked up at the Shattered Moon. "That's a good trick to know, and better than what I've been doing."

"Good to know. 'Nightmares can only really hurt you if you let them, and even then it's all mental. Once you realize that you can shut it out,' as Winter used to put it." Weiss then scoffed and ran a thumb down the scar on her eye and added, "if only that were true."

"You really like your sister, don't you? She certainly sounds dependable from how you talk about her."

"She is, even if she's usually busy with her work. I wonder what she'd think if she saw me here now?" Blake shrugged and both the girls sat quietly looking at the moon for a moment before Weiss quietly cleared her throat. "So, if it's not too much to ask, what was your nightmare about?"

"It was nothing," Blake said with a sigh, "just… problems from my past that I can't get past. That probably doesn't make sense to you though."

"You'd be surprised. I wouldn't dare say my problems are the same as yours, but everyone has them."

"Most people would say otherwise, that you don't have any problems because you're a Schnee."

"Those people…" Weiss paused for a moment before shaking her head, "I don't care what they say. What about you, what do you think?"

"I've heard plenty of rumors about your family." Blake started kicking her legs as she counted off her fingers. "One is that your family keeps Faunus slaves, which I don't believe in the slightest by the way. Another is that occult rituals are held in the manor: human sacrifice, blood magic, and all other kinds of rumors. It's all stupid and only comes around because of how little is known about them."

"I can see that honestly… and they're not exactly wrong." Blake blinked and looked at Weiss as she started toying with her fingers. "Not as extreme as what you said, but there was always something… off in the manor as long as I could remember."

"Off?" 'Should I stop her? This seems really personal.'

"I don't know how else to describe it. The halls of my home always felt cold even for Atlas, I always felt like statues were watching me and moving of their own accord, and I heard my mother was involved with some… shady groups when she was younger. And that's all just the tame stuff." Weiss reached up and brushed her scar with her thumb again. "This for instance. I don't even remember doing anything to get it, I just woke up with it cut and bleeding. That was years ago now and it hasn't healed in the slightest."

"That's… odd," Blake said and grabbed her bandaged wrists again.

"Odd doesn't even begin to describe what I've seen in those halls. I couldn't be happier to be half a world away from that place." Weiss looked back up at the moon and sighed, "I hope everyone back home is doing well, especially with her there."

"Her?" Weiss froze at Blake's question and she bit her lip as she looked at a confused Blake. "Who are you talking about?"

"…Crap, I was hoping I didn't say that out loud," Weiss said and bit her thumb as worrying thoughts spun through her head. 'Oh crap, what do I do? Technically she never said I couldn't tell anyone about her, but it was also implied. Oh no…'

"It's fine Weiss, forget I asked," Blake said waving a hand in the air dismissively, "it's none of my business anyway. We should probably be going back now, before Ruby and Yang notice we're gone."

'Ah… oh whatever. What's the worst that could happen?' Weiss clenched her hands together and looked away from Blake as she started standing up and asked, "Do you promise not to tell anyone?"

Blake stopped and looked at Weiss, who was staring down at her feet, and slowly sat back down. "If you want to trust me with this secret, then I will. I swear." 'What could this be about?' Blake wondered as Weiss glanced at her and then back at her boots, 'Could some of the rumors about her mother actually be true?'

"What if I said… that a monster lives in the manor. Would you believe me?"

"…What?" Weiss could only laugh at Blake's obvious response.

"Of course you'd say that, but it's true. I don't know how long she's been there, but she's been there for as long as I can remember. Always lurking in the shadows with a death grip on my family. For some reason, she was always fixated on me to an extreme degree. I'd call it 'protective' but that would be giving it too much credit."

"What do you mean? It.. protected you from harm?"

"More like excessive retaliation. To give you an idea.. you mentioned the White Fang before. They have always had their sights on my family. I've seen family and friends disappear overnight, watched videos of board members be executed, and plenty worse besides."

"Weiss…"

"None of that compares to what she's done though. Not that long ago the White Fang attacked a train belonging to my company. An entire train car full of Dust was stolen and the crew slaughtered." Weiss failed to notice Blake flinch at that and clenched her hands tighter. "Every time something like that would happen, my father would come home furious and… violent. It made for a very difficult childhood, but that one time was somehow too far for him. She came to me when I was alone and said she'd 'take care of it'. The next time I saw my father he was being taken out of the house in an ambulance. His nose and every bone in his right arm was broken. He was still wearing the cast when I left Atlas."

"Oh my god." 'This is sounding way too familiar now. But… there's no way…' "It never hurt you did it?"

"No, it never dared go that far, but… arguably it was much worse to me. Putting me down, making me feel small and little more than a toy for her. A 'precious doll' in her words." Blake froze at the all too familiar moniker and looked down at her bandaged hands as Weiss continued. "I still don't know what she meant by that and I don't want to find out. That's why I'm here after all."

"Why… you're here?"

"If our team can win the Vytal Tournament, she'll let me go. I'll be able to live without her constantly in my shadow. It's a long shot, but it's the only one I have. All of this must sound crazy to you, but it's the truth."

"…I don't think you're crazy at all." It was Weiss' turn to be surprised as she turned to Blake and saw her clenching her fists tightly. "This monster… does it look like you?"

"Look… well, yes she does. Why does that matter?"

"Just like mine. It's just as I thought then," Blake said and shook her head as she dropped her hands onto her lap, "We're the same then."

"The… same?"

"I know what it's like to live in the shadow of a monster. Made to question my own self-worth by some demon who has no claim to my life belittling me for every choice I tried to make for myself. A demon like that has no right to control you or me, or even exist in the first place." 'Some more 'human' than others, but just as well-off forgotten.'

"I don't… what exactly are you saying?" Weiss asked and scooted closer to Blake to get a better look at her.

"How much do you know about the White Fang? Its inner workings, members that make it up, that sort of thing?"

"As much as anyone not in it, I suppose. Why does that matter though?"

"Despite what they say, some Faunus are more 'equal' in the White Fang than others. Cats are given more prestige because of their connection to a guardian god of the Faunus, with Black Cats in particular being lauded for being able to talk to her." Blake grabbed her pajamas and clenched the fabric tightly, "It's the greatest lie ever told. They say it's a blessing, but we're cursed the moment we're born." Weiss' eyes widened as pieces finally started clicking into place about her partner and she looked Blake over a little more critically, especially the bow that was still on top of her head.

Blake scoffed a laugh when she noticed this and reached up to take off her bow. There was the expected gasp of surprise from Weiss as her cat ears flicked in the night air. "So…" Weiss said slowly as Blake turned to her, her eyes fixated on Blake's ears, "you've been a Faunus this whole time?"

"Yes, the whole time," Blake answered with a small roll of her eyes before looking back down, "and just so it's out in the open, I was in the White Fang once too."

"But not anymore I take it?"

"No, I'm done with them and that life." Blake rubbed her neck and added, somewhat awkwardly, "You're… taking that a little better than I would have thought."

"I just got done explaining why the White Fang isn't anywhere close to my biggest problem. And I would like to think I've gotten to know you enough to know what kind of person you are. 'Bloodthirsty' isn't one of the words I'd use for you."

"I'm not so sure about that, Weiss. My hands aren't clean, despite my best efforts. Those people… I can't get their faces out of my head and I'm not sure if I ever want to." Blake's arms started to hurt again when Weiss put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. She looked at the white haired girl and almost flinched at the understanding in her eyes.

"Your nightmares… it's not just about any problem is it?" Blake could only respond by sadly shaking her head.

"Every time I have a nightmare I see their faces. Sometimes it's… far worse, like tonight. And every time I have one, I could feel her slithering under my skin and through my arms." Blake shuttered and rubbed her arms as phantom sensations slithered through them. She looked at Weiss and then down at her right arm. She carefully moved some of the bandages out of the way to show Weiss her scarred skin. "Before tonight, this was my solution for my nightmares. The results were… mixed to say the least."

"Both of your arms?" Weiss asked and got a nod from Blake as she replaced her wrappings, "Oh Blake…"

"I know, but drastic actions as it were. That's why I'm here I guess, the most drastic of action I could possibly take right now. My Demon offered me the same deal as yours: Win a tournament, win my freedom. Like you said, a long shot but probably my only one."

"And I thought it was odd for just me, but both of us? That seems overly convenient." Weiss clasped her hands together and bit her lip in thought. "Do you think they'll actually follow through?"

"I learned long ago to never trust the words of monsters, but I also won't deny coming here hasn't been eye-opening in several ways." Blake glanced over at Weiss and took her in for a moment before looking up at the moon. "In any case it doesn't matter. We're already on this path and we have to see it through. If they set us free, then that's great."

"And if they don't?"

"Well then we take it from them. I don't believe in invincible monsters." Blake looked down at the ribbon in her hands and shook her head as she set about tying it around her ears again. "But for now, we should be focusing on the Vytal Tournament. Everything else can come after." She gave the ribbon one last tug to make sure it was firmly in place before turning to Weiss. After a moment she nodded slowly.

"Yes, you're right. One step at a time." Weiss looked at Blake and gave her a small smile as she added, "We can do this. I know we can." Blake smiled as well as she stood up and offered her hand to Weiss to help her up. Once Weiss was on her feet, Blake took her hand back and carefully brushed some of her hair back.

"Um… thanks for coming out to find me. It means a lot to me."

"You're welcome, though Sun deserves some of that thanks as well. He did show me where you were," Weiss said as she stretched her arms over her head and started walking to the corner of the roof.

"Of course he did," Blake muttered with a sigh before she started following Weiss. "All the same, I'll thank him tomorrow."

"Are you sure you don't want to give him another fruit basket?"

"…I told him to keep that secret." Weiss giggled at her partner's reaction and stopped to look back at her.

"And, if it's not weird for me to say, I think you look better without the bow."

Blake liked to think she didn't get taken off guard very easily, but somehow that one comment left her stunned. Thankfully, Weiss only saw Blake's eyes widen before she turned back to her path and completely missed Blake blushing and shivered as she felt something flutter in her chest.

'What the heck was that?' she wondered and almost clenched her chest. After a moment, she shook it away and started walking again with her eyes firmly at her feet. 'I must be more tired than I thought. I really should get some sleep.' Blake glanced up at Weiss just as she formed a glyph for the two of them to ride down on. 'I mean… no, it couldn't have been.'


I had to get some help with this one to make sure the dream scanned properly. I'm sure you can see why.

You know someone is a real ass when you hate them for saying things you wrote yourself.