Ruby had no clue who Raven was, but wouldn't be surprised if she got a kick out of their suffering. In fact, after falling into her second crevasse and having to crawl out of the most powdery snow in existence, she was sure of it.
"Can we please take a break?" Ruby panted. The crevasse had only been about five metres deep and the snow had been soft. But the most tiring part was trying to jump out when any movement would send more fluffy snow down her hood to soak her body in freezing water.
"I'm afraid not, Ruby." Oobleck said, "The moment we slow down, our body temperatures will plummet and we will die."
Ruby groaned and started trudging through more snow. Her boots sank into the snow, making it even harder to walk. The howling wind that had made her cheeks numb also didn't help.
Zwei seemed immune to the cold and barked cheerfully. Ruby looked balefully at Zwei and said, "Some things just aren't fair."
"Could we have more of the Dust fluid?" Weiss asked. Her hair was hanging in damp clumps that flapped in the strong wind.
"Reliance on this substance is ill-advised," Oobleck said, "Especially as your Aura and body is still developing." Oobleck then stiffened and whirled around. Ruby and Weiss did the same, but didn't see anything. Oobleck stared intently at a single spot in the distance, then tilted his head back to drink more Dust fluid.
He looked again and said to Ruby and Weiss, "Few people realize that Dust fluid increases awareness of the surrounding Aura."
He extended and swung his thermos in one motion, letting a trail of fire spiral towards a mound of snow. The air around it seemed to shatter, leaving a small figure that was smiling demurely at them. Neo sauntered over to them with a thick white jacket that made her look a lot plumper than usual.
"How long were you watching us?" Weiss asked.
Neo shrugged and dumped a duffel bag that was bigger than she was in front of them. Ruby and Weiss looked to Oobleck for guidance, but his mouth was slightly open. His face was rigid and the thermos in his hand trembled.
Neo grinned and curtsied. Oobleck stepped forward until he was an arm's length away from Neo. "Neopolitan. This is a surprise."
Neo blew a kiss in his direction and kicked the duffel bag. Still moving in a stupor, Oobleck opened them and pulled out jackets in their sizes. Ruby got a red and black one that fit her well, while Weiss got a white and yellow one that came down to her knees. There wasn't one for Oobleck.
"Am I to assume that I was an unexpected factor in your plans?" Oobleck asked.
Neo nodded and Oobleck asked, "Did Cinder plan this?"
Neo turned her back on him and started walking away. Oobleck dug through the duffel bag and found ammunition for all of team RWBY and food.
Ruby and Weiss dug into cans of processed meat while trying not to let the wind blow any of it away. Oobleck seemed surprised when Ruby offered him some. "No need, girls, your bodies are nowhere near as strong as mine."
"When was the last time you ate?" Ruby asked.
"I suppose last afternoon when I got back from my mission." Oobleck said.
"Then eat." Ruby said, thrusting the can into Oobleck's chest.
"I'm fine, thank you. Save it for yourself."
Ruby pouted at him and waved the can of processed meat in his face. "Come on. You're our teacher, right? Set the right example."
Oobleck glanced at Neo and said, "I have not had a good history at doing that."
"You saved us, against Ozpin's orders." Weiss said, "I think you are setting the right example. Just eat. What harm will it do you?"
Oobleck took the food tentatively and took a bite. "Thank you."
He looked into the distance and saw Neo standing with her hands on her hips. "I think Neo is getting restless."
The three of them followed Neo, who seemed to know where the crevasses and soft snow was. She took them on a meandering path that seemed senseless, but not once did Ruby fall head-deep into a mound of snow.
They came upon shelter without warning. Neo stopped at a large mound of snow, and Ruby thought it was a huge rock. But Neo thrust her palm into the snow and blew all of it away to reveal a steel shed. Neo gestured at Ruby, Weiss and Oobleck to wait outside, then walked inside.
"Is this another one of her sadistic tricks?" Weiss asked, "Maybe we should go inside."
"I doubt Neo would trick us." Oobleck said.
"What Neo have you been keeping track of?" Weiss asked. "Why don't we-"
The snowmobile interrupted her.
It had treads as thick as Oobleck and even taller than Yang. Neo revved the huge machine and grinned as she sat in the front seat. Ruby, Weiss and Oobleck had to climb a ladder on the side in order to get on. Before any of them had gotten seated, Neo accelerated to at least eighty kilometres an hour in less than five seconds.
Weiss yelped as she tumbled into Oobleck's chest. Ruby's organs felt like they were trying to burst out of her stomach, but she was grinning despite everything. The wind on her cheeks was intensified, but despite that, she was enjoying the ride. She understood the thrill of jumping the massive vehicle over mounds of snow and spending scant seconds in the air.
Neo was looking genuinely happy, like a child being swung around by her dad. But the thought made Ruby think about her own dad, and she suddenly wanted to go back to Vale. Even if she had to tell him that uncle Qrow had lost his fingers.
After half an hour, all of Ruby's limbs felt numb, even through the thick jackets. They were passing by a jagged mountain when Oobleck said, "We are going to Atlas, are we not?"
Neo ignored him, and Oobleck turned to Ruby and Weiss. "Those were the Obsidian peaks. Atlas is close by."
"My family estate is only a day's drive from here." Weiss said. She looked longingly into the distance before shaking her head. "I'm sorry. It was a stupid thought."
"Nothing to be sorry about." Ruby said.
They looked towards Neo as the huge snowmobile slowed down. Neo got off and led them to a similar bunker. She beckoned them to go in, and revealed three smaller snowmobiles that were the size of Yang's motorcycle.
Neo looked up at Oobleck and shrugged before getting on the first snowmobile.
"More evidence that they were not expecting me." Oobleck got on one and said, "Can either of you girls drive these?"
"Dad would go nuts if I drove a motorbike," Ruby said, "And there wasn't exactly much snow in Patch."
"My family always used cars." Weiss said.
Neo sighed and beckoned for one of the girls to sit behind her. Ruby and Weiss eyed each other warily. Then Weiss went over to Neo and muttered, "You owe me for this."
"I know." Ruby whispered, so Weiss didn't hear her. She then sat behind Oobleck while Weiss gingerly tried to sit as far away from Neo as possible while still sitting on the vehicle.
The two of them sped away through the snow with muted engines. Neo and Oobleck rode side by side. Snow had stopped falling, and Ruby squinted as sunlight was reflected off the snow. They had only been riding for a few minutes when they heard a rumbling sound in the distance. Neo and Oobleck glanced at each other and Neo made a few quick gestures with her hand. The two of them split in different directions as an airship flew over them.
"How did they know we were here?" Ruby asked.
"I recognize this formation," Oobleck said, "It's one of Ironwood's design. He is simply sweeping the area. Ozpin has no doubt alerted all the headmasters."
Ruby looked over and was shocked to see that they had disappeared. "Dr. Oobleck! They're gone!"
"Worry not, Ruby." Oobleck said, "It is merely Neo's Semblance. She won't abandon us."
"How are you so sure?" Ruby muttered. Oobleck didn't answer and she kept on glancing to her left. Oobleck drove haphazardly, but it wasn't random. Ruby heard him muttering to himself.
"Left for one minute… double back for half… three rights then turn…"
Within minutes the airships had left. Ruby turned her head in every direction to try and see Weiss, but was still startled when Weiss and Neo seemed to appear right next to them.
"Were you expecting patrols?" Oobleck asked.
Neo nodded without looking at Oobleck. They drove on, and Ruby asked, "What were you muttering earlier?"
"Ironwood is thorough, but predictable." Oobleck said, "He's trained to fight masses of Grimm, not singular fugitives. I recognized the pattern, and moved to avoid the scanners."
The two of them started up a small incline they summited a small knoll and saw the fortress city of Atlas in the distance. It covered the same area as Vale did, but while Vale was sprawling houses and curved streets, Atlas was an ordered grid with skyscrapers the grey color of a thick raincloud. It was placed in the middle of a tall ridgeline of mountains that shielded it from the worst of the winter winds.
Instead of heading straight to the city, Neo started making a long detour around the mountains sheltering Atlas. Oobleck's eyes scanned the natural landmarks and said, "She's taking us to Prometheus."
"What? Is she crazy?" Weiss yelled over from the other snowmobile.
"What's Prometheus?" Ruby asked.
"It is to Atlas what Mountain Glenn is to Vale." Oobleck said, "Only it is much worse. Prometheus was an underground city built deep into the mountains. It was easily defendable from any Grimm who tried to break in. But it was also easy pickings for the Grimm already there."
Ruby gasped as Oobleck continued. "Huge Grimm had been hibernating there for decades, only to finally be woken by the first human colonies. They were more powerful than anything we had ever seen. Ten thousand had settled there, and less than ten made it out alive. All of them had gone insane."
Ruby gulped as Oobleck continued talking. His voice grew slightly slower and his eyes glazed over as if he were recalling a distant memory. "They yelled about giant snakes and wyrms under the mountains. They yelled about a snake that was as large as the earth itself. They yelled about a snake that laughed and talked as it swallowed entire buildings whole. I wonder what it must have been like."
He then turned to Ruby, who was looking down at the snow flying past her. "I'm sorry Ruby, I tend to go off on many tangents."
Ruby looked at the mountains with fear. She had always known Grimm were monsters, but it seemed like she had only touched the tip of the iceberg. She shivered as she remembered her dream of the huge black wolf and looked to Weiss for support.
The heiress smiled at her before looking forward again. The air suddenly chilled and a blizzard started blowing. Oobleck frowned and said, "This is an unpredictable weather pattern."
Neo pointed up at the sky, and everyone saw that the sun was still shining through a cloudless sky. Weiss gripped Neo and said, "I've seen this once before. It's my family!"
Neo let a frown briefly cross her face before pulling up the carefree smirk everyone knew so well. She and Oobleck accelerated over a small hill and started making their way across to the base of the mountains.
"Ruby, the entrance to Prometheus is a small metal door on the side of this hill many kilometres away." Oobleck pointed into the distance. "If we are to battle, you are to make your way there as quickly as possible."
"I'm not leaving you!" Ruby yelled. The wind was so strong that she could barely be heard. Snow fell in a thick deluge, strengthening the blizzard until Weiss and Neo disappeared. "We need to find Weiss!"
"This snow is infused with Aura." Oobleck said, "I cannot sense a thing. It is also slowly draining my own."
Ruby realized with a start that this was true. Her Aura was being leeched out of her so subtly that she hadn't noticed. "They're trying to separate us from Weiss."
"Indeed." Oobleck said, "And luck is in their favour. Weiss is not Neo's priority, and I doubt she would fight the Schnee matriarch for Weiss."
"What do you mean?"
"This Semblance belongs to Weiss' mother, Blanche Schnee." Oobleck said. "It lacks the ferocity of her father's, but is incredibly flexible."
"Why wouldn't Neo fight for Weiss? Raven brought her here." Oobleck doubled back and headed in the direction they had last seen Weiss and Neo.
"Did you notice how the jacket they got for Weiss was too big, but yours fits perfectly?" Oobleck asked. "I suspect that the jacket would fit Yang very well."
Ruby tried to ponde what Oobleck just said as he swerved the snowmobile and doubled back. He looked at the thermos in his hand and sighed. "Please do not abuse Dust Fluid like I am." He took a long swig of the fluid and looked around with dilated pupils. He was breathing heavily and his body twitched spasmodically.
"There." He thrust his finger to their right and floored the snowmobile. It shot up into the air briefly and smoke started to puff out of the vehicle. Within seconds, Ruby saw a blurred outline of a single figure standing in the center of the blizzard. She looked at Oobleck, but he didn't make any sign of slowing down. They drew even closer, and Oobleck shot out of the snowmobile so fast Ruby only noticed he was gone when his passage ruffled her hair.
Ruby watched as an explosion erupted with Oobleck's swing, blowing away the snow in the immediate vicinity. Ruby yelped and jumped off her own snowmobile a second before it crashed into the flames. She scrambled to her feet and unsheathed Crescent Rose as fast as she could. Behind her, Weiss ran to her side. "Mother! Stop this, please."
"Weiss. I thought you had gotten this rebellious streak through your system." Blanche Schnee blew away the flames with an icy gale and stepped towards them. She wore a white trench coat and had blond hair that was tied in braids which flapped wildly in the icy gale.
"Madam, this is more than a rebellious streak." Oobleck's voice was so fast that Ruby barely understood him.
"You are a drug addict." Blanche wrinkled her nose. Even though Oobleck towered over her, she was somehow still able to look down her nose at him.
"Regardless of what I am, Weiss is not a simple tearaway. Ozpin himself is after Weiss."
"We are aware." Blanche said, "He contacted us and asked us to take custody of our daughter. And we were very eager to reunite with Weiss again."
"How did you even find us?" Ruby asked.
Blanche pointed at Weiss. "Schnee weapons are forged with more than Dust and metal. Our family were experts with Dust when Ozpin was young. When Weiss broke her weapon, it cried out to its bretheren." She flourished a silver whip that danced so quickly it seemed to disappear into the snow surrounding Blanche.
"Our weapons do that?" Ruby asked. Despite the situation, her mind started thinking of the possibilities. "Could we make a fusion weapon that is made of lots of different ones? Attuned to individual Auras, but also attuned to the Auras of others?" She wondered if such a thing was possible with Qrow's scythe and her own. Maybe there existed a link between her dad's weapons and Yang's.
"I have no need to divulge our secrets." Blanche said, "Weiss, come with us. You will be safe with us."
"I don't want to be safe, mother, I want to help my friend." Weiss said.
"How can you help her with a broken weapon?" Blanche asked. "You're a burden to Ruby as it is."
Weiss flinched and looked away from Ruby. Ruby yelled, "You're not a burden."
"I have no weapon." Weiss murmured.
"You can still manipulate Dust, can't you?" Ruby asked, "And I need you here. Please, don't leave."
"But I'm only dragging you down." Weiss said. "You'd need to look over your shoulder just to make sure I was safe."
"Weiss, you are more than heiress of the Schnee Dust Corporation." Blanche said, "You and Winter both are heiresses to the Schnee legacy. We can teach you how to reforge a weapon, and more. There are secrets only Schnees know."
"Don't listen to her." Ruby said, "You belong with us."
"You could get stronger with us." Blanche said, "We will do our utmost to keep you with us, but your proficiency with Dust would skyrocket. Do you want strength or not?"
"I want to be with my friends."
"And you need strength to do so." Blanche said. "Remember your duty, Weiss. Generations of secrets and knowledge ride upon your shoulders. Would you cast it all away for a single friend?"
Weiss gritted her teeth. "Life is more than duty." She fidgeted like a child trying to lie to a schoolteacher.
"Life is about choosing how to live. Life is choosing whether to take up the duty given to you or throw it away." Blanche said, "
"You are detaining us and manipulating Weiss." Oobleck interjected, "I don't see how you are giving her much choice."
"I'm her mother, not her jailer." Blanche said. "Weiss, what you do now is up to you."
She stepped back, putting Weiss in the spotlight. Weiss shrank into herself and turned to Ruby with tears clouding her wide eyes.
"Weiss, don't listen to your mother." Oobleck said. "She is infusing her aura with the snow, affecting your emotions and Aura. Listen to your instincts."
"My instincts tell me to obey my parents." Weiss said, "I don't know why I'm so weak, but I want to go with her."
"It's your mother's Semblance." Oobleck said, "You have to stay true to yourself."
"But that's the thing!" Weiss said, "I'm a Schnee, that's who I am. I'm the heiress, born and raised."
"You're more than that." Ruby grabbed Weiss' hand. "You're my friend."
"What kind of friend am I if I can't protect myself?" Weiss asked. "If I go with them, I can learn how to actually be useful."
"Weiss, if you go you may not see us again." Oobleck said, "They will imprison you for Ozpin."
"If I can't escape from my family, then I'd just be bringing you down anyways. It'd be like a test for me." Weiss tried to smile but failed miserably.
"You of all people should know you can't save students." A high pitched voice came from behind them and they all whirled around. Neo had been hiding and only just showed herself. What was more amazing was that she had spoken. Neither Weiss nor Ruby had ever heard her voice.
Oobleck's face looked like he was trying to swallow several pinecones. "Neo, I had no clue what Ozpin would do. If I could change what I had done…" He trailed off.
Neo shrugged and deliberately turned her back on Oobleck. Oobleck was good at reigning in his emotions and putting intellectual pursuits first, but for once his face betrayed clear emotion.
His face was twisted in pain and guilt as he turned to Weiss. "Your weapon does not define you. You are still strong, don't leave us."
"But I won't grow any stronger." Weiss said, "I'll just be a liability. Every team member has to do her share."
"Your mother is manipulating you." Oobleck said, "This snow is her doing, and it dampens your own Aura, replacing your will with hers. She has come all this way for you, do you think she would let you choose us?"
"I need you." Ruby said, "It doesn't matter if you have a weapon. I need you so badly." She wrapped her arms around Weiss' waist and buried her head under Weiss' chin.
"It's okay Ruby." Weiss said, "It'll be okay." Weiss' delicate hand gently ruffled Ruby's hair and turned to her mother. "I'm sorry, mother. I choose to stay with my friends."
Blanche shook her head. "Why are you so rebellious even though we give you everything. Your sister would have made the better heiress."
Ruby and Oobleck moved to protect Weiss while Neo disappeared again.
The blizzard around them intensified and the three of them felt a sea of hail pierce through their jackets. Ruby felt a chill shudder up her spine and stiffen her muscles. Her entire body moved sluggishly, and each breath she took stabbed at her throat and sinuses.
She roughly unsheathed Crescent Rose and fired at Blanche, who disappeared into the hail and snow. Oobleck fired several streaks of fire in multiple directions, but this time he wasn't able to disperse the snow around them. A silvery whip latched onto his thermos and almost yanked it out of his grip. Oobleck stumbled but grabbed onto the whip. He disappeared into the snow, leaving Weiss and Ruby standing back to back.
Weiss scattered a vial of Dust into the air and set a force glyph below Ruby. It was a good choice. Elemental Dust manipulation would be useless against her mother, who had taught her most of her techniques.
The two of them shot through the air, hoping to clear the blizzard and fight on their own terms.
"Foolishness." Blanche's voice seemed to resonate from every single snowflake. The storm rose with them and the two girls were flying blindly through the snow. Suddenly Ruby felt searing pain as Blanche's whip split her skin and clothes. She frantically swung her scythe, but only slashed at the wind.
She yelled as Blanche struck at her fingers. She almost dropped Crescent Rose as she tumbled back to the ground. Blanche's Semblance had caused a snowdrift to form beneath them, which cushioned her fall. She staggered to her feet, but felt her strength draining. Cold water dig into her skin and weighed her down, and she crashed back down into the snow.
Ruby clawed at the snow, but felt herself sinking deeper and deeper into the snow. She felt it pressing at her, forcing her eyes shut and her muscles to stiffen.
"Weiss." She croaked with an outstretched hand. She was then pulled further into a snow drift and sank into unconsciousness.
Blake had spent many hours thinking of what Adam would say to her when they were reunited. When, not if, because they were both fighters, and standing for opposite causes. She knew they would meet again at the battlefield.
Yet Adam had helped her. She had been darting between Dove and Lark, running to the top of the buildings around her, when the Bullheads pursuing her had crashed into the streets next to her. She, Lark and Dove didn't take their eyes off each other, but all of their minds were racing, trying to find the source of the sudden destruction.
The sources made themselves evident as Adam Taurus and two other Faunuses jumped between Dove and Lark. Adam looked intimidating as ever as his hand fingered the sheath that held his crimson sword, but Blake could see him sweat from the exertion of cutting down three Bullheads in quick succession.
"Leave. Now." Adam said.
"We're Hunters." Dove replied. No further explanation was needed. They were soldiers in a war. Soldiers never ran unless ordered to. Dove and Lark ran towards the four Faunuses, firing the first preliminary shots.
"Lumin, Cogs, get Blake away!" Adam said as he sprang forward.
Someone more adept with Aura manipulation would be able to sense the power Adam was infusing into his sword, but Dove and Lark were caught completely off guard. A crimson light flashed, and Lark's knives shattered. Dove stumbled back, clutching a huge gash in his armor.
Meanwhile, Blake pushed away the Faunuses trying to lead her from the fight. "I need to find Yang."
"There's no time." A man with hedgehog spines over his arms tried to grab onto Blake. "You need to come with Lumin and me."
As he spoke, Adam had sheathed his sword again and was talking to Dove and Lark. "I don't want to kill misguided children. Go away."
"We're Hunters." Lark stood in front of Dove, who was still kneeling on the ground, bleeding from a wound in his shoulder. "We won't be driven away by dirty animals."
"So be it." Adam stepped forward and gathered more Aura into his sword. But Blake dashed in front of him and held out her arms. "They're defeated. Are you slaughterers now?"
Adam stared at Blake and said, "Your compassion will kill you one day."
Blake held Adam's gaze and narrowed her eyes.
Adam shook his head. "You've grown." He turned to Lumin and Cogs. "Let's go. Scorpio has Yang."
Blake reluctantly followed Adam. She had never worked with the notorious scorpion Faunus, but she knew of Scorpio's reputation. She, along with Adam and and three other Faunuses called the Zodiacs ruled the White Fang. If Scorpio was sent to retrieve Yang, Blake was confident she would succeed.
She and the other Faunuses jumped down to street level and descended into the sewers. They ran for several minutes and emerged in a warehouse where two dozen Faunuses in White Fang uniform were training.
"Is this all that's left?" Blake asked. When she had belonged to the White Fang, there had been a small army at the beck and call of the Zodiacs.
"In Vale, yes." Adam said. "We're in the process of moving our base of operations."
Blake wondered if it was because most of the White Fang had ben apprehended during the breach, or if there was another reason. Adam pulled out his scroll and started dialling. "Scorpio should be here by now."
He waited with his scroll to his ear while he paced back and forth. Finally, someone picked up.
"Liuetenant." Adam said, "Where are you?"
There was a pause where Adam narrowed his eyes. "I understand. Meet us in Haven."
He turned off his scroll and turned to Blake. "Scorpio and Lieutenant are on the run. Goodwitch intercepted them, and couldn't return here and lose her."
"So where are they?" Blake asked.
"They didn't give away their position." Adam said, "But we meet at Haven."
"Why Haven?" Blake wasn't complaining. She had briefly gotten into contact with Sun while they were still at Beacon, and he had mentioned tension between humans and Faunuses rising due to the Vytal Festival being cancelled and stringent curfews being imposed.
"Because it's in the best interest of the White Fang." Adam turned away and beckoned to Blake. "Let's go, it's a long way to Haven."
Blake drew back. All of this was happening too fast. "What about Ruby and Weiss? We still haven't found them."
"Raven's taken care of them." Adam said.
"What? Yang's mom?"
"I know her as Raven Branwen." Adam said, "I don't care about her family."
"I can't just run from my team." Blake said.
"But you ran away so easily from your former family. Don't see why this is so different." A female walked through the door with a carefree sashay and twitching cat ears. But unlike Blake, she had a tail and light fur on her arms and legs.
"Gemini." Blake had worked with Jasmine Gemini a few times, and had even trained her Semblance with the lynx Faunus. She was flippant and unpredictable, and was the type to slaughter humans and robots while giggling.
"Well?" Gemini cocked her head, "You've always run from one master to another, what's so different about these Hunters?"
"They're good people." Blake said. "Finding them is my utmost priority."
"Raven will take care of them. Weren't you listening to Taurus?"
"Like she took care of Yang? I'm supposed to trust someone I've never met?"
"You're supposed to trust us." Adam interrupted Gemini and gestured her to step away. "Jasmine, go prepare the rest of our troops to move."
"You don't have a good track record for trust." Blake said as Gemini walked out the door.
"Our intentions were always clear." Adam said, "It was you who betrayed us."
"Don't try and pin our history on me." Blake said, "What we did was wrong. You never understood that."
"Whether or not we were right, my point is that we have always been honest with our goals." Adam said, "We have never turned our back on our ideals. We've been more honest with you than humans ever were. So why don't you trust us?"
"You're wrong." Blake said, "My team has always been honest with me."
Adam still had his mask on, but Blake knew his eyes were narrowed. " If you wanted to be a child with playmates, you shouldn't have joined us in the first place."
"You were the one who recruited me." Blake said.
"And you always knew what our purpose was." Adam said, "You were always free to choose your path, so why do you treat us like sneaks and con men."
"Maybe because you associated yourself with sneaks and con men." Blake said, "The Adam I knew would never associate himself with people like Torchwick."
"We do what we need to." Adam said, "We choose our own paths, just as you are free to choose yours. If I wanted to imprison you I would have done so that day you ran from me."
And what if I run away now?" Blake's fingers drifted over to Gambol Shroud.
"Did I hunt you down the last time? I've never forced you to do anything."
"I can't trust Raven, and I can't trust Scorpio." Blake said, "I need to know my friends are okay."
"Both of them would compromise their position to Ozpin if they were to contact us." Adam said. "They ensure the safety of your team by being discrete. You'll see them when you arrive at Haven."
Blake clenched her fists. "I need to think this over."
"Do you want a time out, kid?" Gemini had returned.
"Leave her be." Adam started walking towards the door Gemini was holding open for him. "Our supplies are in the door at the end of the corridor. We leave in an hour."
The door slammed shut, and the echo faded to silence.
Blake sat with her knees pulled up against her chest and closed her eyes. For a moment it was as if she was a girl back in the orphanage after her parents had died. She had expected to dwell on this after she had brought Yang back to the orphanage this very morning.
But expectation didn't blunt the pain.
She could barely remember her real parents, and the dog Faunus that had taken care of the children had been her mom as she had grown up. She and the other Faunus children played hide and seek in their free time when their mom wasn't teaching them schoolwork. She and her foster siblings would go to the White Fang rallies. Back when the sigil of the White Fang had been a noble lion instead of a bloody wolf, she and thousands of other Faunuses would yell at human ears that wouldn't listen.
She knew the dangers. She knew them when one of her sisters didn't come back one night and her mom told them not to look for her. She knew them when one of her brothers limped back with bruises littered over his torso. She knew them when her mom told them all not to go near the human districts.
But she didn't truly understand them until she ran from the huge fire that had followed a violent rally. She didn't understand the burden of living until she had huddled in one of the White Fang gathering halls waiting for siblings that wouldn't come.
Then she learnt the burden of hating when she met Adam.
"What are you doing here?" She had never known why Adam had come to that gathering hall, but she first met Adam as a huddling child looking up at a giant hero.
Maybe some things never changed.
She hadn't answered Adam's question at first, but he sat down next to her and said, "It's a terrible thing to lose your home."
"How did you know?"
"It leaves an unseen mark." Adam paused, then said, "How do you feel?"
"Sad."
"Don't. Feel angry. Make sure this doesn't happen again."
"Why are you doing this?" Blake asked, "I don't know you."
"But I know you." Adam said, "I know a lost Faunus who needs a home. I know that humans have done wrong and need to be punished."
Blake felt disgusted with her past self. She tried to push away the memory of her hatred. But she had been ten when she had learnt the burden of living and the burden of hatred, and eleven when she had learnt the burden of killing.
And here she was at eighteen, still a confused little girl who needed Adam to tell her what to do. She was still the ten year old girl that ran away. She had run for so long that even when there was something she wanted, she didn't know where to go.
She didn't want to follow Adam anymore. She didn't want to follow anyone but herself in her friends. But in order to do that, she needed to grow stronger, and to do that she needed Adam.
By the next morning, every White Fang member in Vale had disappeared.
This one took a while to write. Hope everyone still remembers what was happening.
And the next chapter will take an even longer time to get out. I'm trying to write for NaNoWriMo, and that'll put Ashes on hold.
Anyways, as usual, tell me your thoughts on this chapter. What first impressions it left and all that. Hope you enjoyed reading this!
Thanks!