As the group approached the doors Yukina kept her cold stare focused on Nivens. "You're going to make him gone?"

"Either that or we're all going to die tonight," Nivens shrugged casually. "Mind giving my scroll back now? I need it to access the restricted parts of the building."

Yukina tossed the device uncaringly to him and watched as Nivens looked over the device. Her, Nivens, and Riliane turned suddenly and Yukina dashed out to stop a blade from slicing Eve's side as she was staring at the ground, distracted by her own thoughts. The clang of metal was enough the snap her out of it, "Yukina I-"

"Go. I'll hold them off." Yukina didn't take her eyes off of the assailant that seemed vaguely familiar to them both.

"Come on," Celeste grabbed her teammate's arm, "She can handle them. We have bigger fish to burn."

Eve tried to pull herself free, "I can't just leave her like this."

"Eve! We have to go!" Celeste yanked her back, towards the front entrance of the Picto Building as the reinforcements slowly trudged closer. Their tattoos revealed that they were part of the same faunus group that Eve and Yukina had been a part of. Eve glanced at Yukina who was the only thing between the reinforcements and Eve and her friends. "We can't just leave her-" She began, before Celeste yanked her backwards once more.

"Yukina is capable of taking care of herself, Basil is our top priority," Olive added.

"But-" Eve began.

"Come on!" Finally, Eve sighed and let Celeste pull her through the glass doors.


The group moved quietly through the rows of technology, some of their eyes lingering on the latest designs and styles of scrolls. Nivens kept leading them forward though. As the aisles ended the back wall was covered in simple yet elegant landscape portraits. He lead them to the back corner where a desk and register was stationed to block a hallway and hopped over the counter. Waiting a moment to see if he was heard, Nivens rolled his shoulders and beckoned for the others to follow. Once all eight were across they continued slowly down the hall, deeper into the building. Just before they rounded a corner Nivens stopped again and motioned for them to hold back for a second as he took a deep breath and stepped out.

"You should get floating, little mut. 'Les you wanna beating." The members of ROXA could all recognize the overconfident voice of Mic Jay.

Nivens had a smirk drawn across his face, "Really? But I was invited here by your boss."

"Now you're just talkin' jive. Ain't no way the man asked mut here."

"Would you like to put some money on that?" Nivens snickered.

A sudden gust of wind surrounded him, causing his mask to fly off. He was able to catch it safely, but turned to them without putting it back on. "Thought so," Basil said plainly.

"I told you I was invited."

"And the others?"

"Don't worry, we left the crazy one outside."

"Where are the others?"

"Yeah, I suppose that's enough chit-chat." He turned and beckoned them out again.

"What exactly is your plan here," Celeste hissed at him.

"Nothing really that clever," He replied still grinning.

"They weren't supposed to be armed," Basil glared at them all with his greatsword drawn.

"Relax a little, even with their weapons I don't have much faith in them winning against the three of us."

"Three!?" D'art questioned with his tomahawk pointed now at his classmate.

"You think a silver bullet like you's gonna be any help?" Mic jay laughed as Nivens moved to be next to them and stepped forward so his back was to the faunus. "I can handle these lalas myself." He raised his hand up and embers began to form around his fingertips. Nivens could see the gear on the back of his jacket spin and a small amount of powdered burn dust left its chamber. Just before the attack went off Nivens activated the plasmic dust in his gauntlets and grabbed the back of Mic jay's knee, and pushing him to the ground with surprising force. The fireball launched upward into the ceiling, charring the glass lights. "What do ya think you're doin' youngblood!?" He kicked out with his other leg, but Nivens had already retreated backwards.

"What, you really thought a faunus would willingly go along with all this?"

"And yet he still wants you unharmed," Basil grumbled as he swung his sword again causing another gust of wind that forced him into the wall of the wide hallway.

"Technically 'alive' was his order for the narc." Mic Jay corrected him as stone formed around his fingers. He dashed forward and grabbed D'art's tomahawk, encasing it in a thick layer of earth. D'art swung upward with his left-handed weapon only to have it grabbed as well and he was flipped over. Amelia's scarf shot out over Mic Jay's head as he dropped down into a handstand and kicked at the next closest person. Celeste braced herself for the impact, but was unable to react as a slash of flames appeared above the musician and she fell back into Owen. Riliane backed herself into the wall and focused with her semblance to fire three arrows in rapid succession at Basil. The first was cut down, another scraped against his armor, but the last was able to scratch an open section of his arm.

He tsked at the carelessness of his aura, but didn't have time to retaliate as he felt a breeze from behind and quickly spun to block Olive's attack with the flat of his blade. Using it somewhat like a bat he pushed her into Nivens.

Owen connected to Mic Jay as he moved in front of his teammates and thought maybe what Nivens had said before about some people fighting purely on reflex might be true, all he could hear was the musician thinking about his songs. He did notice though, while barely blocking another punch, that his body was moving in rhythm to the song. Mic Jay was able to land a solid kick to his jaw and force him backwards. The man's eyes then landed on Eve, who was clenching her weapon tightly. He flipped towards her as a large ice spike formed at the heel of his hand. She finally reacted and was able to stop his strike with her chain, but her slash downward was easily avoided as dropped down and kicked in her knee. Eve stumbled, but Owen caught her with his glaive and quickly spun it to get a hit on Mic Jay's side. "Go back and help Yukina. You're too distracted here."

Eve looked at her teammate and nodded, "I'm sorry."

"I think we can handle them." Eve turned and ran back to the front of the building without opposition as they were all too busy in the combat.

D'art created a surge of energy to shatter the rock that had covered his weapon and threw it at Basil. The huntsman again blocked with his weapon, but flinched as he received a shock upon impact. A deep noise that almost seemed to be a laugh escaped from Basil as he readjusted his grip on the large sword, "You're nothing compared to him." He ran towards D'art and stopped himself with a stomp, shifting all of his momentum into a full swing. The flames from his sword transferred to briefly cover the young guardsman's body as his aura saved him from the brunt of the impact, but as he moved around his opponent and tried to counter he found it strenuous to raise the arm that was hit. With his body not reacting correctly it was easy for Basil to swing back and hit him with the pommel. An X slash of ice from his side took him off guard though as Celeste rushed in to help her teammate, with Owen firing a few shots in their direction as well.

Mic Jay, swift as his movements were, was beginning to have trouble keeping up with team ROXA. He wasn't expecting Nivens to actually be good at close combat and the occasional arrow meant he had to almost literally stay on his toes. As he matched another of Nivens' kicks with his own, Olive slashed low across his supporting leg and as he lost his balance, Amelia's scarf wrapped around his head and she grabbed his sleeve. Mic Jay tried to elbow back and knock her away, but his coat was forcing his arm to stay in place. Riliane and Olive hit either side with a large slash upwards as a faint shockwave covered his body. Nivens then stepped forward and slammed his fist into his still covered face and the four heard a loud cracking noise, when Amelia removed her scarf they could see the noise was from Mic Jay's nose being snapped into a new position.

As Owen connected with Basil now he couldn't read anything useful. The huntsman seemed to be fighting on pure instinct. The three members of CODE continued to attack the man, but he seemed to always be two steps faster than them. Owen jumped back so he could have time to think and tried to figure out what they could do, Celeste's preset strategies and combinations weren't working and it didn't exactly help that Eve wasn't there. As Yukina briefly crossed his mind, Owen realized something and watched Basil for a few seconds before jumping back in. He ducked under a wide cleave and whacked the blunt edge of his weapon into Basil's back. The man stumbled back from the force of the attack and glared at the faunus, his sword was dripping with water as made a quick swing and splashed Owen and his teammates. Owen swung his glaive downward and Basil caught it in the notch at the end of his blade and he felt the weapon get heavier and heavier. D'art and Celeste both tried to take the opportunity to get an attack in, but with the floor now slick, Basil purposefully lost his footing as he pulled back on his weapon. He caught himself with his free hand and watched above him as Celeste hit open air and Owen's glaive collided with D'art. But Owen wasn't where Basil had expected him to be, laying on his back in the puddle opposite of him, instead the wolf faunus was at his side and forced his elbow down into basil's lower ribs. He yelled out in both pain and rage as he grabbed Owen by his shirt and threw him onto Celeste, but as the two were now out of the water D'art put his hands down and sent out a shock as strong as he could.

Basil panted heavily and forced himself to stand by using his greatsword for support. He looked around and noticed Celeste and Owen already getting back up and Mic Jay was tightly bound by Amelia's scarf. "I'll tell you anything if you let me walk out of here."

"Yeah right," Celeste crossed her arms, "The second we turn our backs you're gonna attack us."

"Why would we even consider letting someone like you go?" Owen growled.

Basil remained quiet as his eyes followed Nivens who stepped closer to him. He was pretty sure he understood why the burly man was having a change of heart and lifted his mask as he spoke, "Get rid of that sign in your window as well."

"You're really going to let him go?" Olive asked. "Just for letting faunus in his restaurant?"

"Even if we did let him go," D'art added, "Which I am highly against doing, what's to stop him from from just starting Humanity up again?"

Nivens put his mask back in place and pointed to one of the corners of the ceiling, "If he does step out of line, then I can easily dig this footage back up."

"You really think he didn't turn those off?" Mic Jay laughed weakly.

"You really think he's just waiting quietly without any idea of what's going on? No, I'm positive he's been watching us this whole time through the security camera. He probably planned to delete the footage afterwards."

"But if you save the video the police will want to see it," Riliane pointed out.

"They hardly need to. I have more than enough incriminating evidence right here," Nivens assured her will hold his scroll out. He finally turned back to Basil, "Send me everything you have when you get home and we'll never speak of this again."

Basil took his scroll out of his pocket and handed it to him, "I'll just get a new one." After Nivens took the device and nodded, he walked away without opposition, other than Owen's continued growling.

"Why would you let him go?" The faunus demanded.

"Well he did ask nicely," Nivens shrugged as he put both devices away. He started walking back to the elevator but stopped and spoke in a serious tone, "His son's a little brat, but he still deserves to grow up with a father that cares about him as much as Basil does. Besides, I'm not going to be responsible for separating a family." He continued walking and waited by himself in the elevator.

"I'll," Amelia was still a little winded and mostly focusing on keeping her scarf wrapped tightly around Mic Jay, "I'll wait here."

"Yeah," D'art moved closer to her, "There's no way I'm letting you be alone with him."

Celeste nodded, "Owen, you should go check on Eve. Let us know if something happens."

"Fine," He clearly wanted to fight the mysterious leader of Humanity, but knew that it was more important to make sure his teammate was alright.

"Then Riliane, Olive, let's go." The three girls joined Nivens in the elevator and he pressed the button for the top floor.


Eve ignored the shouts that followed her as she sprinted down the corridor, back the way she had come and past the large windows that spanned across the walls. She knew what she should do, help her friends. But Yukina wouldn't disappear from her mind. Even she couldn't defeat all those grunts… could she? Or was that not what Eve was afraid of? Was it the fact that she knew that Yukina would slaughter them all? She didn't know.

Within a minute, she finally exited the building, gasping for breath. She slowed her pace slightly and winced as she caught sight of the front entrance. She had not really taken in the area when they arrived, a lawn lay in front of the building, with a large walkway that led to the parking lot, several feet away. Eve could see bodies strewn across the lawn, bits and pieces of them scattered apart like the appendages of a doll. The grass, which was originally a beautiful emerald green, was now bathed in crimson. Eve could see the reflection of the fractured moon in the puddles of blood on the pathway that led to the building.

There were still several of the reinforcements left and they had surrounded Yukina, who was fighting them off. Eve watched, frozen in place as one of the faunus dodged an attack and sliced into her arm. But there was no emotion in Yukina's face as her blood splattered on the concrete. Her aura was gone. Eve's grip on her chain tightened and her face hardened as she took a few steps closer.

Gradually, the reinforcements trudged closed inwards and threw more strikes at her. They weren't the usual grunts that Eve had seen at the rally. Their movements, though often swiping through thin air due to Yukina's agility, were void of hesitation and quite calculated. The looks of exhaustion on the several of their faces showed they were not faring much better than their opponent. How had Yukina lasted this long? Yukina jumped over an attack and sliced through one's neck. For a moment, their head was still, before it lolled off it's body and dropped onto the ground. Another one kicked Yukina forward and she fell onto the ground with a grunt. She stood up carefully and rubbed the blood off her face with her arm. Eve stepped forward to help her before she realized who had kicked her. It was Silver. Eve's eyes widened and she slowly took a step back. Silver. The same Silver who had been something of a 'friend' to her. But where was Jet? Already dead? Eve's mind quickly abandoned that thought as Yukina was kicked once more. The pink haired girl stumbled slightly and took a few steps back, panting.

Without thinking, Eve rushed forward. She jumped onto the back of one of the attackers and landed in the circle of enemies, next to Yukina. She blocked a strike before she threw her weapon, which whipped around her, and knocked back the reinforcements. Yukina quickly glanced at her before dodging a strike.

"What are you doing?" She panted.

"Saving you," Eve quickly brought up her sword, which clanged against another, before quickly slicing through her opponent. "Like I should have done earlier."

"I don't want your help," Yukina said coldly, although she was clearly exhausted.

"As much as you'd like to think, you're not a one man army," Eve said with a grunt, as she countered a stab.

"What do you know," Eve's eyes slid to Silver, who slowly held an arm out in front of the others to stop them from fighting. "It's the coward, back from the dead."

"Good to see you too, Silver," Eve said wearily. Gradually, the rest of the group stopped fighting and looked at Silver, unsure of what to do.

"So ironic that I'd see you here, trying to save your girlfriend after you abandoned her to die," She breathed. Yukina bristled slightly but Eve was emotionless.

"Listen, Silver, you don't have to do this. You don't have to fight us," Eve replied softly. Silver chuckled under her breath as her lips curled into a cruel smile. She was even more beautiful than Eve remembered, but in a different way. Her features had become cold and sharp and her pale eyes, that had once held a spark of hope, were now grey and hopeless.

"You just don't get it. Ever since you left I've wanted to rip you apart," Silver drawled, as she made her way towards the center of the circle. Her grey eyes locked onto Eve's with striking hatred, and a little bit of something else that Eve couldn't pinpoint. "It's so unfair, how you were able to escape, find a life of your own while you left us to rot," She snarled, her voice filled with venom. Then, she was silent. "Why?" Her eyes became almost forlorn as she looked away and her voice became softer. "You, me, Jet. Even Yukina. We could have all run away together, but you just left us all."

"No," Eve began,"I-" She broke off as jagged blades impaled Silver. Eve's eyes widened. Silver looked down at the claws in her stomach and then coughed realizing her mistake as she had dropped her aura. Blood shot out from her mouth, like a fountain, and splattered on the ground as she was pushed onto the concrete, revealing Yukina who stood behind her having let Silver walk right by when she was distracted with Eve. Silver's grey eyes slid towards Eve, almost sad. She opened her mouth and began to croak something before Yukina forcefully kicked her to pull the blades free and driving her into the concrete in silence. Eve swallowed as her blood slowly pooled out onto the ground, turning her light grey hair into a muddy red. She felt a lurch in her stomach, but didn't have enough time to feel truly mortified, as the rest of the stunned group suddenly charged towards them.

"You shouldn't have killed her," Eve whispered, as she countered a strike. "She was just like you. Just...filled with hatred and unsure of what to do with it."

"Maybe she would have lived longer if she didn't spend so much time with her little speech." Yukina spat as she ran her claws through someone's chest, seemingly having gained a second wind due to the brief respite. There were only a few reinforcements left, and with the death of Silver, they appeared to be lacking in conviction. One, towards the back, whimpered slightly and spun around before sprinting away.

"Oh no you don't," Yukina pushed past the remaining faunus and chased after them.

"Yukina! Stop!" Eve shouted, unable to follow Yukina as the grunts quickly refocused onto her. She dodged a strike and then whipped her chain into the air. It quickly curled around the remaining enemies, just barely trapping them all. Eve raised her hand into the air and flicked it to the right, which sent the bundle of grunts flying across the lawn before they collapsed onto the ground, unconscious, but alive. She turned around and saw Yukina, who stood up off of the corpse she had chased down and shook blood off her weapons before walking back towards Eve took in a shuddering breath and looked away.

"And then there were two." Yukina said with barely a whisper.

"That wasn't necessary," Eve whispered.

"They've all hurt people, probably even killed some. They deserve it."

"You can't just dish out justice like that Yukina," Eve insisted. "You don't have the right to kill people just because you want to."

"I don't need a right to kill people." Yukina replied "And it's not like I can stop myself," She added softly.

Eve looked at her. "What do you mean?"

Yukina walked over to a man who was lying on the grass and kicked him in the stomach. He twitched slightly, "You didn't kill any of them, did you?" Yukina replied, ignoring her question.

"Yukina-" Eve started to reply but stopped as the pink haired girl ran her claws through the man who shuddered slightly and then laid very still. "Stop it!" Eve ran towards her but Yukina pushed her away and continued to walk across the lawn.

Yukina moved to another one and stabbed down, keeping eye contact with Eve as she did. Pausing only for a second she moved on but was stopped as Eve grabbed Yukina's arm and yanked her back. "Let go," Yukina stated quietly with a slight smile forming on her lips unbeknownst to Eve.

"Stop killing them!" Eve cried. In reply Yukina quickly pulled Eve towards her and made an attempt to swipe at Eve with her claws, but missed as she was kicked away. Yukina recovered and started toward another body but was blocked by Eve. "Stop it! I won't let you!"

"Why are you protecting them?" Yukina questioned. "They're nothing but monsters."

"And we were a part of them!" Eve yelled back, as she chased after her."We're no different than them! They were faunus too! They were kidnapped and tortured until they became like this!" Yukina shook her head and began to turn away before Eve grabbed her and tried pulling back once more. "Don't! Stop!"

Yukina mumbled under her breath and then turned driving her claws into Eve's stomach. The hit was absorbed by Eve's aura but she was pushed aside. With a grunt, Eve gestured towards her whip on the ground, which flew into her hand and then wrapped around Yukina's ankle. She quickly pulled backwards, which forced Yukina onto the ground. The pink haired girl quickly recovered, and rolled away from another hit before dashing towards Eve and slashing at her. Eve dodged the attack before whipping her chain back at her. It made a great loop in the air before quickly diving towards the ground, making a mark in the concrete before she quickly adjusted it and it smacked Yukina in the chest, sending her flying backwards. Yukina fell onto the ground and coughed heavily before slowly standing up, the smile on her face fully formed.

As the fight continued Eve's chain whip swirled in the air, creating shapes and spirals and Yukina executed slashes and swipes as they battled in the dark of the night. Silver chains striked against bloodied claws as they made their way across the walkway, stepping over dead and unconscious bodies. The only sounds they could hear were the noises that came from their rapid footsteps on the pathway, and their clashing weapons. Eve wrapped her whip around Yukina's waist and yanked her forward, driving her foot into her stomach. Yukina grunted but grabbed Eve's foot and pulled her towards her before throwing her onto the ground. They took a few breaths before Yukina quickly dashed towards her. Eve switched from her chain to her longsword at the end of it, and countered a slash, and then another. She held it vertically, as Yukina's claws formed an x and screeched against her blade. They struggled back and forth. Eve could feel sweat slowly drip down her neck as she grunted, putting her weight into it. Yukina tilted back slightly before she grit her teeth and pushed back towards Eve.

"Defending murderers," Yukina laughed, "What do you think that makes you?"

"I'm defending people who were used," Eve snarled. They slowly struggled backwards and Eve slammed Yukina into a lamppost. "Something that we both could have used when we were like them," She pushed her blade towards Yukina who pushed back with her claws.

"You want to be a hero? I thought you abandoned that long ago when you left me, left us all."

"I'm not a hero," Eve hissed, as a strand of black hair fell into her eye. "I wasn't there for any of you when you needed me. And for that, I'm sorry." She paused briefly. "But I won't let you kill anyone else because of your hatred for me. It was my fault you became like this. I won't let you hurt anyone else because of me." Yukina's pale eyes narrowed as she pushed Eve away and let her claws fall to her sides.

"Then stop me," Yukina spat back with a laugh and a cough, before the smile on her face disappeared. "...Please," She begged softly, as the conviction in her eyes lessened. Eve stared at Yukina. Her eye changed slightly, as if she had realized something. She moved to stab Yukina, who made no effort to block and simply observed the blade until it stopped an inch from her face. Yukina stared for a second more and then looked at Eve.

"You want me to kill you, don't you?" Eve whispered. The hand which held her sword trembled slightly, but she didn't move it away. Yukina was silent. Then her pale eyes slowly slid away. Eve shook her head, numb. "You thought I would actually kill you?" She inquired incredulously. "After everything?"

"I can't stop…" Yukina whispered, as she repeated what Eve had heard from her before, "It just gets worse and worse… I attack before even thinking about it… I… I feel nothing anymore…" Eve studied her with a pained expression.

"Would you kill me?" Eve asked.

"I'm afraid that I will reach the point where I can't stop myself from… hurting the only thing that…" Yukina fell into silence without finishing.

"That what…?" Eve questioned softly.

Yukina looked away from Eve and backed away, "It doesn't matter anymore… or maybe it hasn't ever," Eve's expression hardened before she dropped her sword and threw her arms around Yukina in a hug.

"Stop backing away," She whispered, "Stop running before I can help you. You're not a monster, not yet, and you don't have to be one."

The voices in Yukina's head all shouted, but Yukina, in a voice barely audible to Eve merely said, "Shut up…"

"No," Eve said quietly, not moving. "Stab me if you want, I'm not leaving you again," Tears appeared in her eye but she blinked them away. "I'm never leaving you again," Yukina started to reply but stopped and timidly wrapped her arms around Eve, as if she was terrified, terrified that she would be left behind again. They slowly broke apart and Eve gently wiped the blood off her cheek with her finger and smiled warmly. Yukina's eyes widened slightly. Tears appeared in her eyes as she leaned towards Eve and quickly kissed her.

It was a timid and innocent gesture that made Eve stiffen slightly in surprise. It was over as quickly as it started, when Yukina pulled back, her cheeks flushed and red, but Eve simply smiled and pulled her towards her as they kissed once more. Yukina's lips were soft, and tasted slightly of iron, but Eve ignored this as she gently ran her fingers through Yukina's hair. She realized then, that Yukina had always loved her. Not as a friend, like she had thought, but as more. That's why she had been so affected by being left behind. And she also realized that maybe, a part of her had always loved Yukina like that as well.


As Owen exited the building he took in the sight and froze. He caught the door before it could close behind him and stepped back inside the building. "I think they're fine," he thought to himself as the door slowly closed shut.