The city was burning. The White Fang was at Beacon. Grimm were there, surrounded by plenty of panicking people to sink their fangs into. There was a nagging thought at the back of Blake's mind as she was with Yang. Torchwick had called Blake by her last name back on that train under Mountain Glenn. That "friend of hers" he had learned it from could only be one person. Adam told her right to her face that he wasn't involved with what the White Fang was doing in Vale. Thinking that someone who was like a brother to her could be involved in all of this, and that he would lie to her hurt, almost more than anything the Grimm could do to her.

Blake and Yang watched each other's backs as they fought off the Grimm and White Fang in order to buy time for people to escape. Blake focused on Grimm and Yang on the White Fang. As Blake killed a Beowolf, Yang slugged a member of the White Fang that had been sneaking up on her.

"So, do you have a plan?" Yang asked. "Or do we just fight until we drop?"

"There's someone I need to talk to," Blake said.

"That Adam guy? Think he's here?"

"Maybe… Maybe I can… talk some sense into him…"

"After he did this? That would be a miracle, but I'm with you, Blake! Let's-"

A roar cut Yang off. A pack of Grimm were heading straight for them. Blake rolled out of the way before she and Yang were trampled. A Beringel turned on her as the rest of the group went after other people. Blake could see Yang opposite her, but she was surrounded by her own group of Grimm. The Beringel swung at her, and Blake had to leap out of the way. They continued swinging at her, driving Blake further away from Yang.

She used a Shadow to get behind it and struck at the back of its knees. The Grimm tumbled, and Blake pumped it full of Dust. Fire, ice, lightning; the Grimm fell over and began to slowly dissolve. Blake looked back at where Yang had been, but she was nowhere to be found. Blake was about to call out to her when she was almost trampled again. This time, it was by students, not Grimm.

She turned towards where they were fleeing from. There was work to be done. As much as she wanted to go and find Yang, she was here to protect people. Yang was there to do the same. Blake believed that Yang would want her to do her job instead of worrying about someone more than capable of protecting themselves like she was.

Blake worked her way through the flood of students heading for the airdocks. She was expecting to find Grimm, or maybe the White Fang, but she came across neither. Instead, she found a man attacking people. Bodies were scattered across the ground around him as he continued to throw himself at them. On closer inspection, Blake saw that he wasn't just attacking the students; he was going out of his way to attack the faunus students. Seeing that scorpion tail of his flail about as he did only angered Blake further.

"Hey!" She shouted.

He stopped, a girl on the ground cowering before him. As he turned to her, a wicked grin on his face, the girl got up and ran.

"Ah, another spectator for my masterpiece!" He extended a hand towards Blake. "Or perhaps you'd like to join the dance?"

"What're you doing?! The White Fang, the Grimm… Why are you attacking people?! You should be helping them!"

"Helping them? I'd have thought you'd understand me." He pointed at his head, where Blake's ears would be. "I am helping them, don't you see?"

Blake threw herself at the man, but he easily dodged her attack. He slashed at her with his wrist mounted blades, only to hit one of Blake's Shadows instead. He chuckled as he parried another one of her attacks.

"Quite the parlor trick you have there," he said, eyes flashing purple.

He twisted around Blake, almost like he was dancing, and slashed at her side. Blake used another Shadow to get away from him, clutching where he had attacked. She looked at her hand, stained red with her blood. The wound started to steam as her Aura healed it. A Semblance that outright lets him bypass Aura? That just made evasion even more important.

Blake shifted Gambol Shroud into its pistol form. Whoever the man was, he weaved through Blake's gunfire, throwing himself at her. She used Gambol Shroud's sheath and her Shadows to hold him at bay if he got too close, which was far too often for Blake's liking.

If he could ignore Blake's Aura, she was in a lot of trouble, but that meant she wouldn't have to worry about it being burned up for protection. She pretended to stumble, and the man's eyes flashed purple again as he struck out with his tail. Blake left a Shadow, activating a Dust round that was loaded into Gambol Shroud, leaving behind a stone statue of herself. The man's smile faded when he realized he was trapped.

"Would you rather these people live through hell out there?" He spat at her. "In death, they'll be truly and finally free!"

Blake channeled her Aura into Gambol Shroud, blasting the man away with an Aura slash, just like she did to Torchwick on the train. The man landed hard, surrounded by the remains of the Shadow he had been encased in. Blake lingered on him for a moment. He was a faunus, just like her. He didn't wear the colors of the White Fang, but he had been twisted, just like them. She felt the least bit of pity, but no matter what he had gone through, she couldn't condone what he had done.

She looked at a Gambol Shroud, unsure of what to do. The idea of taking a life made her uncomfortable. Even moreso if it was a faunus like him. If he survived, though, more innocent people would suffer. She started to approach him, only for a group of Sabyr to run past her towards more people who were fleeing. Blake glanced at him and then cursed. Those people needed her, and they needed her now. To keep them waiting, even for a second, could be the difference between life and death. She left him behind, heading off after the Grimm.

Yang reloaded Ember Celica again. She probably didn't have many rounds left. People were still heading towards the docks. Most of these Grimm weren't strong enough to charge Yang with more Aura than she burned in Just Right, but it was too risky to stay Cold very long, with all of the chaos. There were a few other students helping, which was a mercy. Yang wasn't quite sure she'd be able to do it all on her own.

She punched a hole through a Creep and then took a moment to scan the campus. People were running for their lives, Grimm and members of the White Fang chasing after them, the odd student or faculty member jumping in the way to hold them off. It looked like the White Fang even went as far as to start a few fires, just to make everyone's days that much worse.

It all seemed so senseless. What did they have to gain from doing all of this? Once news got out that they were involved, people were just going to be angry. The ones that already detested the faunus would just use this incident to justify their hatred, and even people who sympathized with them would have trouble trying to understand the thought process behind all of this.

Yang cried out in pain and stumbled forward as something struck her in the back. If she wasn't in Just Right, she'd have been in big trouble. That definitely wasn't any sort of attack from a Grimm. Yang turned, stunned to see that a blonde girl was pointing a smoking gun at her. Rather, a smoking tonfa.

"The fuck was that, blondie?!" Yang shouted.

"You're the only one that didn't scream 'NPC' to me," she said. "Gods know the Grimm and White Fang mooks aren't going to do shit to you, so it falls to me."

"Looking for trouble, huh?" Yang lifted her fists, eyes trained on her, whoever she was. "Bring it, then!"

The girl went at Yang, swinging at her with her tonfa. It was almost like all the times she sparred with dad. Neither one of them were able to gain much ground. Blondie, as Yang had named her, used the extra reach her tonfa allowed to keep Yang at bay. Yang stayed in Just Right, switching to Hot for just a second to give herself the occasional speed boost to blindside her.

In such close quarters, whenever one of the two let out a shotgun blast, there was no way for their opponent to get out of the way, opening them up for further attacks. Both of their Aura's flickered a number of times, but neither of them gave.

Given the nature of Yang's Semblance, an unassuming opponent just wouldn't know how it worked or when she used it. Blondie must've been in a similar boat. It didn't look like she was using a Semblance at all during their clash from what Yang could see.

Blondie stumbled, and Yang kicked one of her tonfa out of her hands. Yang kept going, completely disarming her before going in for a punch. Blondie dodged the punch and spun behind Yang. The next thing she knew, her neck was burning. It was almost like she was being choked by something. Yang screamed and reached for her neck, but trying to grab it made her hands hurt just as much.

"Good on you, forcing me to use my Semblance like this," Blondie said. "Damn shame the world has to lose someone as good looking as you, but them's the breaks, huh?"

Yang didn't know what was happening. Blondie didn't look like she was holding anything. What did she have wrapped around Yang's neck? Was it related to her Semblance somehow? Was it even something tangible that Yang would be able to actually grab onto? None of that really mattered. Yang was in terrible pain, and if it kept up for much longer, she'd probably just pass out.

She went Hot and slammed her head back. Yang heard a sickening crunch and almost collapsed when the pain suddenly disappeared.

"Ah, son of a bitch!"

Yang, heart still pounding in her chest, turned and swung hard, slamming Blondie into the ground. She laid still. Yang clutched at her heart as she settled back into Just Right. Her head was swimming. She reached for her neck, recoiling at how tender it felt. She stumbled away, looking for Blake. They were supposed to have stuck together. She just wanted to find her, and make sure that she was safe.

"No, no! Just leave me alone, please!"

The poor excuse for a man had his back against an overturned table in the burning remains of Beacon's dining hall, holding his arms out in front of him. Adam loomed over him, gripping his bloodied blade. People were strewn all about the building, groaning in pain. Severed limbs were scattered about, all separated from their rightful owners by Adam.

With a quick swing of Adam's sword, the man's right hand and several of his left hand's fingers fell to the ground. He doubled over in pain, and Adam kicked him over. The Grimm would come to finish off all of these poor fools eventually. No need to overexert himself when he could just leave it to them. Besides, dismembering them was all he needed to do. Adam exhaled, a jet of steam erupting from his mouth as he savored the stench of their blood, just like the steam rising from the wounds of his victims.

He sat on the table's edge as the man weeped behind him. He listened to the noises of the night. The crackling flames, the screams of the people fleeing, the roars and screeches of Grimm, and perhaps most sweetly of all, the crying of the people who had the misfortune of coming across him. Such sweet chaos. It was like music to his ears. These people might have been innocent, but that meant nothing. Plenty of innocent people - innocent faunus - had suffered for nothing like this before.

"Adam!"

A familiar voice; a voice he hadn't heard in a long time now. He turned towards Blake. She was surprised for a moment, but then she glared at him, her eyes welling up with tears.

"So you were here!"

"Is that the right way to greet someone you haven't seen in so long?" He got off of the table, taking a few steps towards Blake. "'It's good to see you again' would be more appropriate. But enough of that. We need to talk."