It's been nearly a year, but I'm back, and this story is back. I've been working on my own novel, and that's been keeping me busy, but I really want to return to this story and finally begin moving towards the finish. Having said that, my original plan of 27 chapters is out of the window. We're now looking at either 29, or 31. I haven't decided yet, but I do know that I don't want to rush the ending. All I can say for now is, I'm sorry for the wait, and I hope you enjoy the new chapter. Please let me know what you think!

Chapter Twenty-Four: Turning a Blind Eye

Everything was happening so fast. We'd attacked the Smuggler's Retreat, like we planned, and where there once was an oasis, there was now a smoldering crater. Nevermore's Feather had machinegunned every single person who'd crawled out of the burning tunnel.

But even though everyone there should be dead, the video we were watching was undeniable. The footage was shaky at first, but it soon stabilized. Nevermore's Feather's craft was difficult to see, even in the light of the fires below, but the polished metal of our Atlesian ship stood out brightly against the night sky. The angle suggested it had been filmed from somewhere in the desert, but we'd detected nothing there on our approach. But obviously, there had been other tunnels than the one we'd been guarding.

And now…now, all of Vacuo was up in arms. The video appeared mere minutes after we'd returned to Shade, and it didn't take much longer for word to spread that the very airships from the video were actually docked at Shade Academy. It didn't matter that we'd been attacking a den of criminals; that little detail was conveniently omitted from the video title. But even if it had been mentioned, it wouldn't have mattered much. Atlesian forces had been seen attacking territory in Vacuo assisted by a craft of unknown origin, that was all there was to it.

Shouts and shots rang out through the night, or was it already early in the morning? I didn't know. All I knew was that I was having very, very uncomfortable flashbacks to Northern Star, only there the attackers had been Grimm. Here…here, we were the culprits.

I couldn't even really blame the many people now laying siege to Shade Academy. What we'd done tonight was utterly despicable. Thinking back on it now, it made no sense that any of us had ever agreed to the plan. Why had we done it? All of us had known it was wrong, but it felt so…it felt so right to decide on it, for that one, brief moment.

A shot clanged into the side of the airship, shaking all of us from the daze we'd been in while watching the video on repeat. I looked at the others. No one spoke. I turned around without a word and pressed the button to open the airship doors so we could talk to the shooter.

"Come with us peacefully. If you even attempt to resist, you're going to wish you'd been among those you killed in the oasis," a tall Faunus with small, curved tusks said.

He held a massive sword in one hand, and a triple-barreled shotgun, which was still smoking from one of the barrels, in the other.

Behind him stood several ranks of Huntsmen and Huntresses in training: the students of Shade. At least, those of them who weren't currently fighting against the rioting townspeople. I was amazed they hadn't blown us to smithereens already.

I glanced again at Yang and Blake, then at Grayson, Brick, and Cobalt, the third Atlesian soldier with us. All of them looked about as miserable as I felt. Mystified as to what had come over us, but very much accountable for it just the same.

I clenched my fists, then unclenched them, then, angrily, pulled Myrtenaster off my belt and threw her down the ramp, towards the Shade students. Behind me, I could hear everyone else dropping their weapons as well. I had no idea what was going on in Nevermore's Feather's airship, but most likely about the same as in ours. I raised my hands above my head and walked down the ramp, resigning myself to my fate.


I couldn't hear or see the outside world from the interrogation room. It was just metal, concrete, and incredibly harsh light. There wasn't even a two-sided mirror wall. Instead, each corner of the room had a camera installed in it.

"What was the purpose of your attack on the oasis?" Timber asked.

He wasn't particularly tall or broad. Just an average man, tanned skin, blue eyes, black hair. Wearing torn jeans and a faded black shirt, of all things. Maybe I'd been around Ruby too much, but I expected a cop interrogating a terrorist to be big and burly, and to at least wear some kind of uniform.

"We were after the White Fang," I said.

There was no point in lying — but that didn't mean I intended to tell him everything. I just hoped Yang and Blake, wherever they were, would keep the details to themselves as well.

"Why?"

I gritted my teeth. 'Payback' was not going to be a great idea for an answer. Yet somehow, I doubted that Timber would believe me if I told him we'd all just succumbed to some weird, murderous bloodlust that made it seem smart to gun down an oasis. And even if he did, saying something like that would probably only make things worse.

"Was it retaliation for Northern Star?" Timber asked.

I looked at him curiously, but his face betrayed nothing.

"Should you really be supplying me with a motive?" I asked.

"Just answer the question," he said.

"I don't know," I replied.

Northern Star had been our main rationalization, but however flimsy that excuse may have seemed before had absolutely nothing on the way I felt right then. There had to be something else. There had to be an explanation for our behavior.

I clenched my jaw so strongly I was afraid I might shatter it. What could I possibly say?! There was no excuse for what we'd done, none whatsoever. If Ruby found out…what would she think of me? Of any of us? It was our fault in the first place she'd run off, and now we'd murdered people in cold blood. We were now no better than the White Fang, we'd let everybody who believed in us down.

I felt my eyes burning as I thought about all the people who had helped us, had put their faith in us even though we were too young to realistically be expected to deal with this. And then, out of nowhere, my despair turned into rage, as if a switch had been flicked. Ozpin. He had sent us on this mission. Wasn't it at all his fault, then? What was he thinking, sending a bunch of teenagers to investigate and sabotage a terrorist organization?!

But even as the fury rose up inside me, I could already feel it being doused. I was just making excuses, pinning the blame on someone who wasn't even there to defend himself. Again, I thought about Ruby. I thought about the one, truly peaceful night we'd had. Once she learned of this…she'd surely never want to see me again. I couldn't blame her. How could there even be people in the world who could kill someone and then carry on as if nothing had happened?

Worse, it was my fault, more than anyone else's. I had called Nevermore's Feather. I had told them to stick around so we could use their skill. The blood of everyone from the Smuggler's Retreat was on my hands.

"Miss Schnee!"

Timber's forceful voice shook me back to reality, and it was only then I realized that I'd been practically hyperventilating during my emotional breakdown. I took a deep breath and tried to calm down, but even though the immediate panic was now gone, the guilt definitely wasn't.

"Miss Schnee, if there's anything you can tell me about the reason for your actions…" Timber began.

"I can't," I softly interrupted.

I looked at him, as well as I could through my blurry eyes.

"I can't explain why we did what we did. I…I don't have any justification. I have nothing…"

My throat seized up, and I had to take several carefully controlled breaths to regain some semblance of composure. I had no idea what was going on with me. First the desire to kill, and now this crushing despair…even after seeing Northern Star torched and its people killed, I hadn't felt this hopeless. But that was when I still had Ruby. That was when I hadn't yet killed dozens of people.

No! No. I couldn't go down that route now. I'd have more than enough time for self-pity once I'd been thrown in jail. I'd have decades to wallow in it then. Right now, I had to focus. I had to think. What had happened recently that could cause this kind of behavior? Immediately, several thoughts began to shoot through my head again, like a classroom full of kids all shouting to give the answer. I closed my eyes, pressed my eyelids together so strongly that I began to see colorful stars. I had to calm down.

Before Ruby disappeared, I definitely hadn't been feeling murderous. In fact, the evening before the attack on Northern Star had probably been the best night of my life. I ruefully thought that it was quite likely to retain that position forever, but I pushed my internal sarcasm back.

The next morning had been the attack on Northern Star. It had been an immensely stressful day, especially the way Ruby had just shut down at Cole's death. She hadn't even known him, and his death had had such an impact on her. But despite that, I didn't think that, even then, I'd felt murderous or overwhelmed by despair. I felt sad, beaten, shaken, scared, even angry…but nothing like what I was feeling now.

And then Ruby had disappeared. Snuck aboard the White Fang's airship, like the impulsive dolt she was. Had it started then? I did recall wanting to tear Qrow apart for letting her go, but that man was so infuriating that even with Ruby there I'd probably have found something to be mad at.

I thought back to the night we'd spent in my father's mansion after Ruby had left. Last night, from my perspective, as I hadn't slept after our night raid. Yang and I had both vowed to kill anyone who hurt Ruby. At the time, I hadn't thought anything of it. I certainly hadn't expected us to make good on that vow a mere day later. But maybe something had been influencing me even then.

So whatever this was, it seemed that Ruby's disappearance had something to do with it. Did that mean that Yang, Blake and I were actually a bunch of psychotic killers, only kept in check by Ruby? I dismissed that idea as soon as I had it. Yang was boisterous and loved a fight, but she wasn't looking to hurt people. Blake left the White Fang because she wasn't prepared to kill anyone. And me…I'd been a haughty ice queen with a distaste for the White Fang, but when I came to Beacon, I certainly hadn't intended to face them myself. That was the job of law enforcement. There had to be something else causing all of these dark thoughts, but what? Wait, dark thoughts? Dark thoughts attract Grimm. Negativity attracts Grimm. Maybe—

"I think it's time to get out of here, don't you?"

Both Timber and I wildly looked around the room. I recognized the voice as Vanta's, but she was nowhere to be seen. Did she have an invisibility Semblance, or something?

Timber doubled over and collapsed onto the floor, unconscious.

Then, Vanta appeared. It was quite surreal, because instead of sort of fading in from translucency, she simply began to get clearer. It was as if I'd been nearsighted and put on glasses.

"How did you get in here?" I asked.

Vanta, now entirely in focus again, grinned at me. "Did you forget Nevermore's Feather's specialty? Extraction from prison is just one of the many, many things we do," she said.

"So you weren't captured at all?" I asked.

I immediately realized how stupid that question was. She could go invisible, of course she wouldn't be captured.

"I can hide us from their eyes, Auburn from their technology. They didn't have a chance," Vanta said cockily.

"I think Cyane and Ferrous should have gotten to your friends by now. Auburn will take care of the soldiers, once he's taken out all the cameras and erased the recordings," she went on.

"You can't make everyone invisible while we escape?" I asked.

Vanta shook her head. "My Semblance isn't invisibility. It's blindness. I can blind people in a radius around me, either entirely or only to specific things, but it doesn't work on machines. Auburn, though, can use his Semblance to fry the electronics," she said.

"What can Cyane and Ferrous do?" I asked, while Vanta took the key to my handcuffs from Timber's limp form.

"Cyane is extremely good at picking locks, both regular old locks and electronic ones. Ferrous can break almost anything with his Semblance. It allows him to make things brittle, though obviously it has its limits. Given enough time, he could break down any wall, though, or at the very least create a tunnel through it."

I nodded appreciatively and counted my lucky stars that I'd picked specifically this crew to help us. Vanta took off my handcuffs and beckoned me to follow her. Together we set off down the hallway, heading for the elevator through which we'd been brought in.

In the moment of silence, I began thinking again. I was fairly certain that our escape wasn't going to make our punishment any lighter, but for now I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially since I thought I had an answer to the question why we'd been bloodthirsty enough to attack the oasis at all. But to confirm my suspicions, I had to reunite with the others first.

I hoped the mercenaries had managed to bust them out, like Vanta had said. She seemed to have full confidence in them, though, because she stepped into the elevator without hesitation and pressed the button for the surface.

"What about the others?" I asked.

"They'll be fine," Vanta assured me. "I told you, we do prison breaks all the time. Vacuo is nothing compared to Atlas. They don't even have uniforms. We just walked in here and no one cared."

She grinned, and I was amazed at how relaxed she was, considering what we'd done the night before.

"Doesn't it bother you at all?" I asked. "We killed dozens of people yesterday," I went on, slightly softer.

Vanta looked at me, her expression becoming more serious. "It's not something I think about," she said.

I gave her an incredulous look. I probably looked slightly shocked as well.

"I used to," she amended. "But I've seen so, so much fighting and death in my life that now, I just don't think about it anymore. It's business, nothing more."

She looked at me so intently that I almost shrank back.

"You're still young. You still think that the Grimm are the monsters. The Grimm are mindless beasts bent on destruction, but at least they're honest about it. They don't hide their nature. They charge right at you, and either you die or they do. But us…we lie, steal, cheat, betray, violate, and murder each other in all sorts of ways, for all sorts of reasons."

She smiled ruefully.

"I hope, for your sake, that you will always feel guilty about what happened last night. Because the moment that fades, you have to seriously start asking yourself who the real monster is."

The door of the elevator slid open, and without another word Vanta stepped into the square police courtyard we'd been dragged to after our arrest.

It was a sandy brown square with sandstone walls, separated from the rest of the town by a massive, steel gate, overlooked by watchtowers on both sides. The police station proper was to my right.

To my horror, a group of three people just exited the building as Vanta and I were crossing the courtyard.

She motioned for me to stand still, which I did. She, meanwhile kept walking on as if nothing was going on. She even gave the three officers a polite nod as she came nearer. Then she stopped, sighed theatrically, and turned around.

"Forgot my bag," she said to the officers as she began to walk back.

The officers seemed to chuckle a bit at Vanta's 'forgetfulness', but they didn't bother looking back at her, and they were soon out of the gate.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks," I said, once Vanta had come closer.

She gave a curt nod.

"Now come on, we have to hurry. Once they rounded the corner, I blinded them to me as well, but it only lasts for a minute or two once they get outside of my range, and other people will still be able to see us," she said.

"Where are we even going?" I asked. "The airships will be guarded, and even if we can get in unseen the others can't if you're not with them."

Vanta grinned. "Who says I won't be? I'm getting you there, and then I'm going back to make sure everyone else gets back as well. As long as you stay in our airship and don't make any noise, they won't have a reason to go inside and look for you, because it will have been guarded the entire time."

I didn't exactly share Vanta's confidence, but on the other hand, she and the other Nevermore's Feather mercenaries had been surprising me the whole time they had been here. In any case she seemed to be committed to get the maximum amount of pay out of this, and if we managed to get through this ordeal in one piece, I certainly intended to make sure she got every single lien she was due.


It was surprisingly easy to navigate the narrow streets of Vacuo. With the 'terrorists' apprehended, the rioting had quickly died down, and Vanta seemed to know exactly which streets had the fewest people walking through them.

I had no idea how big the international impact of our action had been thus far, but I took it as a positive sign that the sky wasn't filled with Atlesian airships yet. I winced when I thought of Winter. She'd been risking an awful lot in helping us, and now the craft she had lent us had participated in an attack on foreign soil. I hoped she wouldn't be court-martialed for this.

When we reached the grounds of Shade, our progress became slower. There were plenty of Huntsmen here, both students attending their classes and some fully-qualified Huntsmen who'd been put up to guard the entrances and exits.

A narrow archway led towards the landing pads where our airships were docked. The archway was blocked by two Huntsmen, standing nearly shoulder to shoulder in front of the opening. They were casually talking to each other, and not paying any particular attention to the people walking along the other paths, but sneaking past them was going to be difficult. Even though Vanta could make them blind to us, they could still hear us, and they'd certainly notice if we shoved past them.

We were hidden behind some bushes and a palm tree that had been planted near the archway to break the monotony of the sand-colored stone that everything seemed to be built out of.

"Normally this wouldn't be a problem," Vanta groused. "I'd just blind them and walk past. But this time it's a bit trickier. We don't want them to have any idea we're here at all, and I highly doubt they'll be dumb enough to move away on their own."

She looked at the two Huntsmen thoughtfully. Despite her annoyed tone, she didn't seem the least bit worried.

"What's your plan?" I asked.

She grinned and looked at the nearest Huntsman. He was a lean, tanned guy with dark hair, dressed in shorts and a light blue shirt, with a dagger on each hip.

Suddenly he blinked his left eye, then again.

"Ah, dammit," I heard him say to his friend. "I think I got some sand in my eye again or something."

He rubbed the eye a couple of times, then turned to his friend, a dark-skinned, bald man dressed in a shirt in the most horrific shade of orange I'd ever seen, whose weapon seemed to be some kind of sword.

"Did I get half the desert in it, or something? I can barely see," the first guy complained.

"Just go and wash it out with some water," the second one said. "I doubt anyone will come here in the minute it'll take you."

"Oh, you poor bastard, you could not have been more wrong," Vanta muttered gleefully.

She looked at me.

"Let's go, quickly," she said.

It felt really odd to speed-walk along the wall towards the archway, especially since I could see both Vanta and myself clearly, but the one remaining guard didn't notice us at all when we snuck by, and once we were through the short tunnel, I breathed a sigh of relief.

Both our airships were still on the landing pads. They had guards in front of them and the doors were open, but Vanta made sure neither guard saw us as we walked along the path. Instead of heading towards the airships directly, though, Vanta directed me towards the canvas awning under which we'd spoken to Tallgrass.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do," she whispered. "We're getting you aboard our airship. You can just hide in the toilet for the time being. Once I return with the others, we're getting out of here as soon as we can. I'm sorry about your airship, but we'll all have to take ours. It's the only way Auburn and I can keep anyone from noticing us while we escape. Another thing to note: both Auburn and I are going to be at our limit afterwards. We'll need to use our Semblances on a pretty large scale to get clear. It's nothing we haven't done before, but it takes a while to recharge. Cyane and Ferrous will get us to safety."

"It sounds like a lot can go wrong here," I said dubiously.

Vanta shrugged. "Getting away from here won't be nearly as difficult as getting through the blockade around Atlas. Taking off is going to be the hard part, and that's what we have our Semblances for. Now come on. Just make sure you follow my lead exactly."

Still doubtful, but with not much choice other than to continue trusting Vanta, I slowly walked with her towards the airship. The guard was standing directly in front of the ramp, but it was easily wide enough for Vanta and me to get into the ship.

When I put my foot on the ramp, I noticed that it felt soft, somehow. It certainly looked like it was just a metal ramp, but whatever this material was seemed to absorb even the slightest sound our footsteps might have made, keeping the guard entirely unaware of our presence. The inside of the airship had a floor made of the same material. Apparently, it wasn't uncommon for Nevermore's Feather to have to sneak aboard their own ship.

Vanta moved over to the small toilet next to the cockpit and opened the door just a crack so I could slip inside.

"Keep the light off," she whispered, then closed the door again once I was in.

I sat down on the closed lid and slowly breathed out. I wanted to sigh, but I was too paranoid about the guard hearing me to risk it. Now, for the first time in a long time, I was completely on my own. I had no real idea what I had expected when I had agreed to go on this mission, but hiding in the toilet of a mercenary airship while waiting for the mercenaries who own the ship to bust my friends out of prison wasn't part of it.

I had no way to track the time. We still didn't have scrolls, and even if I had I wouldn't have dared to use it. The toilet was entirely dark, and the only light came from a small crack underneath the door. It was only now, while I had nothing to do but sit and wait, that I realized how tired I was. I hadn't slept in over twenty-four hours. I'd been kept awake by pure adrenaline, but now that I was sitting here in a quiet, dark room, that adrenaline was fading quickly. I leaned back and closed my eyes.


A loud bang and a lot of shouting woke me up. I couldn't see much and it took me a moment to remember I was in the toilet of Nevermore's Feather's airship, waiting for Vanta to return with everyone else.

Another bang, followed by more shouting.

Unable to contain my curiosity, I opened the door just a crack and peered out. A group of people came sprinting up the path, towards the guard at the bottom of the ramp. He was clearly alarmed, but seemed unable to see the nine people making a mad dash for the ramp.

Vanta ran at the front, and shoved the guard aside like a rag doll. The man sprawled across the ground, looking around in bewilderment at what he'd just been hit with.

The last person to enter the airship was Cyane, who was twirling her chain around and using it to sling stones at the group of Huntsmen who were now flooding into the landing area.

"Okay, everyone is aboard," Vanta said, smashing the button to close the ramp.

"Cyane, Ferrous, get us out of here. Auburn, let's make sure they won't be following us for a while," she went on.

Auburn nodded. "Got it."

He put his hand on the metal hull of the airship and closed his eyes. The light flickered briefly, but nothing else seemed to happen.

Vanta, meanwhile, had also closed her eyes, and a look of supreme concentration appeared on her face.

From outside, though muted by the walls of the airship, I could hear cries of surprise and fear. Was Vanta just completely blinding everyone outside the ship?

A rumble went through the airship as the engines flared into life, and only seconds later I felt the lurch in my stomach when we began to lift off.

Now, finally, it occurred to me to step out of the toilet and into the passenger space. Everyone was there, and to my great relief I saw that they'd even managed to bring our weapons along.

When Yang spotted me, her eyes lit up.

"Weiss! I'm so glad to see you!"

She wrapped her arms around me, and for a moment I struggled to breathe in the bear hug.

"I'm glad to see you too," I croaked.

When she let me go, I sucked in as much air as I could. While Yang was grinning widely, I could see that Blake, despite the apparent success of our escape, didn't look happy. I could guess why, and seeing the expression on her face finally reminded me of my theory as to what had caused us to attack the oasis.

I looked at Auburn and Vanta, both of whom still seemed to be focused on using their Semblances. Strictly speaking, they weren't involved in our mission, and I probably shouldn't say anything with them present. But on the other hand, they were the ones who had managed to get us out of prison, and they were the reason we were now flying away from Vacuo. At this point, I felt like they'd more than earned the truth.

"Everyone, there's something I want to say," I began.

I half-expected Yang to make some kind of remark at my slightly dorky opening, but she seemed to have picked up on the mood and kept quiet.

"I've been thinking, and…I think I know what happened to us. I think I know why we decided to attack the Smuggler's Retreat."

I stopped talking for a moment, and looked around at my companions. Yang and Blake looked apprehensive, the soldiers just resigned.

"None of us would ever have done something like this normally, even in retaliation. We knew it was a bad idea, and we went for it anyway. It was the absolute worst course of action we could have taken," I said.

Yang nodded.

"Not much of a pep talk, but yes, so?" she asked.

"It's an action that would lead to a tremendous amount of negative energy," I replied. "What if someone would be able to store and direct that energy, guide it, if you will?"

Yang exchanged a quick glance with Blake.

"Are you saying…?" she asked.

I nodded.

"I think so. I think that the Guide somehow focused an immense amount of negative energy on Northern Star, powerful enough to summon all those Grimm…and having the side effect of turning everyone who got out of there alive into time bombs of negativity, just like us."

And there it is. After nearly a year, I've finally finished a chapter again. And, as usual, it's gone completely off the rails into a direction I hadn't necessarily expected. In any case, please let me know what you think, and I will see you next time. (Which, I promise, will be within a year this time)