Chapter 9

"Well done Sister Ilia!" A broad hand slapped her shoulder, the man's smile infectious. "The Schnee's will feel that one!"

"They will." Ilia did her best to keep a smile on her face, and to keep her skin a neutral tan.

A slim woman with a doe's horns protruding from brown hair grabbed her hand, shaking it in an excited motion. "Thank you so much for killing those Grimm! I was terrified!"

"It was no problem at all, just doing my duty." Her cheeks were starting to ache from the forced grin.

"How many Grimm did you kill?" One of the cooks, a young man who'd had half of his lion tail cut off by a Human shouted. "Did you get more than Belladonna?"

"We don't keep score when it comes to Grimm. The only thing that mattered was that none of them got past us." There was a pleased rumble from the crowd surrounding her, the press of bodies making everything seem too close. "Excuse me, I think I need some water. I'm sure Blake will be happy to talk about it!"

That got a few of them looking over to where Blake was on Adam's arm, the two of them standing on a crate while their own admirers pelted them with praise and questions. It was enough to let her slip through, though it remained slow going. It seemed like everyone in their underground base had come out to celebrate the successful raid. While the men and women who'd actually freed the miners were getting most of the attention, everyone had apparently been told how she and Blake had fought off several dozen Grimm who'd been drawn to the fighting.

Ilia managed to get free after a few more handshakes, a hug from a fox-tailed woman that she'd have appreciated a lot more any other day, and several more slaps on the back.

A few of the cooks, mostly the elderly types, were hard at work preparing a victory feast. Not much was done yet but she was able to fill a tall glass of water and grab a loaf of bread for herself.

Then she took a quick glance around to make sure few people were paying attention anymore... and pulled her semblance in around her.

It wouldn't make her vanish. Not in the light and with so many people around, but she'd done a few experiments with it in Vale. So far as she could tell, when she used it in a crowd she didn't blend in so much as she simply became utterly unremarkable. So boring, so expected, that no one really paid much attention so long as she didn't do anything exceptionally unusual.

I really don't want to think about what my semblance says about my personality... or soul... or whatever.

The few people still hoping that she'd regale them with tales of glorious victory seemed to lose interest as she casually began walking away. Within a minute no one was even looking in her direction, which made it easily to escape to the ruined building she'd been assigned.

Adam and Blake may have gotten theirs cleaned up, but she was sure that Adam had picked hers out on purpose. No one had done more than make a token effort of cleaning out the ruined diner, and the only amenity was a cot in what had once been a kitchen.

Ilia wasted little time in setting her meal aside so that she collapse onto her ratted blankets, her hands rising to cover her face.

The raid had been textbook. Perfect.

She and Blake had scouted it out, picked out the weak spots in the perimeter, and then told Adam. He'd led a dozen of their Mistralian veterans backed up by twice as many Valean recruits in, breaching the walls and attacking the SDC guards. Somewhere in there the exterior turrets had gotten shut down, and Beowolves had come storming in to feast on the negative emotions.

It had been good to fight next to Blake again. She was still a bit raw, but she was more than good enough to deal with juvenile Grimm. They'd put most of them down without any trouble, the only tight spot coming when the pack leader had tried to get around them to get at the escaping miners.

Ilia had handled it personally, killing it in front of a dozen terrified men and women, too many of whom had SDC brands showing somewhere on their bodies.

She'd felt good in that moment, as they cheered her. As they cried and laughed. She'd felt like a hero.

And then she'd turned to her right, intending to get back to Blake, and had a perfect view into the compound.

Where Adam was executing a line of kneeling prisoners one at a time.

Her stomach churned at the memory, her hands pressing against her eyes as if that would make her stop seeing it in her head.

A boot crunched on broken glass outside of her 'room', but she didn't bother looking until she heard Blake speak. "Ilia? What are you doing in here? You should be out celebrating with us."

Ilia let her right hand fall away, opening that eye to look over her young friend. Blake's cheeks were red, a bit flushed. Someone had probably given her some alcohol. Or she'd been goaded into kissing Adam in public. Or both.

"You're their hero." Blake smiled, taking a few steps closer and holding out a hand. "Come on! Carr found a pair of guitars, and Flae is making drums out of scrap. They're trying to find someone to play so we can have music and dancing."

Sucking in a deep breath, Ilia slowly let it out. She was too cheerful. Too happy.

"Come on Ilia." Blake's smile turned mischievous, "There's a very pretty woman who was asking after you."

"...you didn't see it." She said quietly. "You couldn't have seen it."

The smile turned into a puzzled frown. "Saw what? What's wrong?"

Oh gods. She really didn't know. She hadn't seen it. "What Adam did."

"Adam?" Blake's frown deepened. "Ilia you're not making any sense. Today was perfect! We freed oppressed faunus, we destroyed an SDC mine! We did it without losing anyone!"

Ilia sat up, her head shaking once. "Blake... Adam killed them."

"What?"

"The SDC employees." She kept her voice low. "He killed the prisoners. All of them."

The young woman's mouth parted, then closed as she visibly swallowed. "No. No."

"Blake, I saw-"

"He wouldn't have done something like that. The guards fought us and tried to kill the miners! He only killed the ones fighting!"

"He-"

It was Blake's turn to shake her head, black hair flying back and forth. "He told me, Ilia. He made sure I knew what he did! So that I wouldn't be disappointed in him, that I wouldn't think him a monster! He only killed the ones who were trying to hurt faunus!"

Ilia felt her freckles and scales ripple to a sullen red. "I saw him killing kneeling men and women!"

"You saw wrong!" Blake snapped. "Adam wouldn't do that!"

"Then what happened to the rest of the mine's staff?" She demanded.

"He left them tied up in the compound!"

"Their corpses maybe." Ilia growled. "He-"

A foot stamped hard on the floor as Blake stalked forwards, looming over her. "Stop lying! You're just... you're projecting! You assassinated someone and now you're trying to make it seem like Adam would do the same!"

Red began a furious yellow, her skin brightening to scarlet as well. "Projecting!? He's the one who tried to order me to assassinate a fifteen year old boy!"

Blake's body tensed, then her right shoulder shifted, arm coming up. Ilia knew what that meant but she didn't, couldn't believe that she would actually do it.

Not until her cheek stung from the force of the slap, snapping her body from a furious red to a stunned blue.

"Stop lying!" Blake's voice cracked. "He would never order anything like that! He's a good man! He's our friend, Ilia! You... by the ancient gods, you're the one who introduced us!"

"Winchester was an enemy! He was fighting us! I... I didn't like doing it, but I did what I had to."

Blake crossed her arms high on her chest, glaring down her nose at her. "So what?"

"He wasn't an hourly employee stuck in an isolated mine!" She snapped back. "He wasn't someone who had no say in what the SDC does to our people! He wasn't a defeated man kneeling in the dirt!"

"No! No more lies!"

"Adam is changing!" She insisted. "He's angrier! More bloodthirsty! It's not the first time he went too far and it won't be the last! I'm trying to make you see that before you get hurt!"

"You're wrong! Adam isn't like that, he's... oh. Oh. That's what this is about!"

Ilia blinked. "Blake, I'm trying to tell you what I-"

"You're trying to break us up!" Blake spat. "Again! You're jealous that I'm with him and not you."

"What!? No! I'm-"

"Adam warned me about this. He said you weren't over me. That you were jealous of us. Jealous of him. That you wanted to be leader, that you wanted me!"

"Blake! I don't want his position!" She tried, again, to make the stubborn girl listen to her. "I'm trying to warn you that he's-"

Blake slapped her again, making her head snap back to collide with the wall behind her. She might have gone for a third but Ilia felt her patience snap. Within a breath she'd surged onto her feet, driving the younger girl back.

Yellow eyes widened in fear as Ilia brought a fist up, her teeth grinding as she throttled the urge to slam it into Blake's face.

"I..." She forced herself to lower her arm, to breath evenly. "If you hit me again I'm going to lose it."

Pale skin worked as Blake swallowed again.

"Blake," Ilia sucked in a ragged breath, letting it out after a few seconds. "I know what I saw. Adam killed those people. He killed all of them. Then he apparently lied to you about it. Sienna had to stop him from doing it in the past. I saw that too."

Blake scrunched her eyes closed... and shook her head. "No. He wouldn't. He wouldn't. You're wrong."

"Blake-"

"You're wrong! I'm not... I'm not listening to you attack him anymore. I'm going to go dance! Stay here and sulk!"

"Blake!" She tried to grab her arm only for her fingers to simply go through a transparent limb. Her shoulders fell as the after-image faded into black smoke, rapid footsteps vanishing as the girl ran away from her.

A single step was all she could manage before she stopped. She would never catch Blake unless she wanted to be caught, and if she went out there all she would do is make things worse. Make them public. Create another screaming match between herself and Adam, right in the middle of a celebration.

Ilia fell back onto her cot, sitting with her back to the wall.

How did things go so wrong?

She... wasn't going to shed any tears over what Adam had done. Not after what had happened to her parents. Maybe those people had deserved what happened. Maybe they hadn't.

But... how did killing them help the faunus? Wasn't that what this was all supposed to be about? If every SDC employee knew what they'd be killed if captured, would fewer of them join the company? Or would fewer of them surrender, costing more faunus lives when they fought to the death?

Killing Lord Winchester had... had been a dark act, but it had been a necessary one. He'd been a true enemy of the faunus. He'd exploited them, abused them, and used every bit of his wealth and political power to make their lives worse. Once he was dead, his companies put under more management, his true self exposed... things had changed.

And what did lying to Blake about everything do to help the faunus? Do to help Blake?

Ilia... wasn't comfortable with Blake knowing what she'd done either, but when Blake had pressed her she hadn't lied about it.

Adam had. He'd also apparently warned Blake about her. That she was still crushing on her, that she was jealous of him. He'd... he'd primed her to not believe anything Ilia said about him.

Glass crunched. Ilia looked up in time to see the man in question step inside. He'd removed his mask, showing off the brand that forever marred his features.

"Ilia." His voice was a low growl.

"Adam." She replied in the same tones. "You lied to Blake."

Her Leader narrowed his functional eye. A hand rummaged in a pocket, emerging with a key-chain. They clinked as he tossed them into her lap. "That's for one of the trucks. I want you gone by morning. I will contact Mistral to have a boat ready to pick you up near Ansel."

Ilia clenched her jaw. "Sienna assigned me to Vale."

"And I'm the Leader of the Vale branch." He replied. "I'm transferring you to Menagerie, where your bleeding heart belongs. You and Ghira can sing peace songs and plan protests together, maybe offer a couple of token prayers for the dead and dying in the Atlesian mines."

For the second time Ilia found herself on her feet, everything red as she snarled. "Don't you dare bring my parents into this!"

Adam sneered and stepped closer, looming as if to remind her of the difference in their sizes. "Then maybe you should learn to keep your mouth shut. While you're at it, maybe you can stop showing sympathy for our enemies at the same time."

"I'm not sympathetic for them! You know how I feel about Humans." Ilia stood her ground, getting up on her toes to get back in Adam's face. "But I don't let my feelings get in the way of my job! And my job is to make the lives of faunus better!"

"That is what I did." He growled back.

Ilia snorted. "Oh yeah, a couple of dozen beheaded civilians. That's exactly what we need to inspire change."

"Inspire change." Sarcasm dripped from the words. "You sound just like Ghira. We're not here to inspire anything. We're here to force it. Be gone before dawn... or I'll have to take you to task for making Blake cry."

Then he turned, slamming his shoulder into her, driving her back as he stalked out.

Ilia could only clench her fists... and glare at his back.

So yeah, it's been a long time. Sorry about that. Been distracted by life and the my original novels, but this story has remained in my head the entire time. Good news though, I've completely written the rest of this fic, and I'll be releasing twice a week (Tuesdays and Fridays) until it's all out there. There will be nineteen chapters in total, so it'll last everyone a little while.

If the reaction is good I may even move on to another RWBY story, Champion in Exile: a Pyrrha-centric AU set in the same universe as this one.

Feel free to join my discord; VEHqnnVqcg

Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."

Thanks, Kat