Hello and welcome to Chapter 2!

Disclaimer: RWBY and its characters do not belong to me, and all rights go to their respective owners.

The room was soundproof. No one would know if he fought back in here. No one would know even if he killed him.

There would be no help for the interrogator if Jaune decided to slaughter him. However, the natural blonde simply could not do it. He knew, and he was certain that the interrogator knew as well, that he was not capable of any retaliation with the other members of his team at their mercy.

Fortunately, they could not use the other three members of Team JNPR, at least not today. Pyrrha was still out cold from yesterday, and Ren and Nora were still recovering as well from their wounds – wounds that made Jaune want to hang himself for being responsible for, simply because he had refused to talk. As a result, Jaune was the only one left who could still be tortured without that high a risk of dying, albeit relatively.

"Are we feeling chatty today?" the Faunus asked merrily.

Jaune did not reply. He was going to respect his teammates' wishes, as well as live by his word. He had no intention of selling out Team RWBY, and he was prepared to endure whatever they could throw at him. What worried him, however, was what they would do to his teammates; his mouth tended to become very loose whenever he heard any of them scream; particularly when it was Pyrrha – the warrior who never screamed.

"Let's have a nice talk," his interrogator suggested, holding a pair of rusted scissors. The smile on his face, if it could even be called that, was nothing but vile and twisted.

The room was soundproof. No one would hear Jaune Arc scream.

Yang hated the nights where she woke up because of thirst. The large cave/room of a hideout they lived in now naturally had no windows whatsoever, and since it was a large space without individual rooms, one would have to light a torch to see in the constant darkness. Blake could manage just fine with her night vision, but Yang certainly was not. However, lighting a torch also meant that she might wake the others up, which Yang wanted to avoid.

Straining her eyes as she lit a couple of matches, Yang examined the other beds while she waited for her vision to adjust to her surroundings. She could roughly make out the silhouettes of Weiss and Ruby sleeping on the same bed, with the younger girl wrapping her arms around the heiress.

The first week in the cave was rather rough on Ruby. She was still in shock, and the hardness of the bed carved from stone did not help matters. Even after they managed to acquire enough rags, feathers and cotton to sew up four thin mattresses (which, for all her complaints, Weiss was surprisingly satisfied with), Ruby still had some trouble sleeping. That problem was finally resolved by having someone sleep with her every night, initially with Yang and eventually becoming Yang, Weiss and Blake in turns. Not that they minded; it was difficult to sleep alone sometimes after all.

Getting to her feet quietly, Yang froze when something caught her eye in a passing glance. Or, to be specific, when the absence of someone attracted her attention.

Blake was not in her bed, nor in the remaining empty bed for that matter. Yang looked around hastily, half-expecting and half-hoping to find her somewhere in the cave, but there was no such luck. Her heart pounding furiously, Yang left for the passageway out of the cave, lighting a torch in the process.

It did not take long for her to find Blake at the speed she ran. The Faunus girl was seated by the large boulder blocking the entranceway, knees hugged to her chest and face buried behind her hair and arms.

"Blake?" Yang called out, making the girl in question jump as though a sudden electric shock had been applied to her body. Very slowly and timidly, she lifted her head and looked at Yang, tear tracks still wet against her cheeks.

"Y-Yang?" she stuttered nervously, taking a second or two to recover from her surprise before hastily rubbing wiping her eyes. "W-what're you doing here?"

"Looking for you," Yang replied, setting the torch by the wall as she sat next to her. "What're you doing?"

"N-noth-" Blake began.

"Okay, what's the real reason?" Yang cut across her swiftly.

Blake hesitated for a few minutes, and Yang waited her out. Blake knew that Yang would not relent, and Yang knew that Blake would eventually share everything with her; they were partners, and their bonds had only strengthened after escaping from Beacon.

"I…" Blake said after a lengthy pause. "I dreamed of the night they attacked Beacon again. I-it was when I chased after the attackers."

"I see," Yang replied slowly. Blake had mentioned killing some White Fang soldiers that day – a memory that undoubtedly still haunted her today. She had not cried about it for so long that Yang hoped that she had gotten over it.

"I killed them," Blake went on, her voice shaky. "They were attacking the students, and I… I…"

"You did what you had to do, Blake," Yang assured her. "Like I've said before: we don't blame-"

"I think I… enjoyed it."

Yang became silent instantly. Blake had never mentioned that part before.

"I was so angry at first I didn't realize I killed them," Blake admitted, digging her nails into her arms. "But after I calmed down a bit and understood what I was doing… I didn't want to stop. I just went on and killed until Sun stopped me… but I knew some part of me was happy. I enjoyed killing them and seeing them suffer, Yang. They were Faunus, same as me, but I enjoyed seeing them in pain."

Gritting her teeth at the horror of those words, Blake went silent. Yang took a few moments to absorb what her partner had just said, pondering how to reply.

"I'm a monster," Blake hissed. "I'm an abomination that slaughters others for amusement. I-"

"Stop," Yang commanded, stopping Blake with her authoritative tone.

"B-but I-"

"Hush," Yang said, much more gently this time. She put a soft hand on Blake's head, making her flinch at the contact. "You're putting too much thought into this. You're not that kind of person, and we all know that. You were just scared and panicked back then."

"That's not it, Yang," Blake whispered, fresh tears escaping the corners of her eyes. "I've never realized it myself all this time, so of course you guys wouldn't know. What if this is who I really am? W-what if I actually want to cut people up and watch them writhe in agony?"

"Well then, here," Yang replied easily, wrapping her arms around a very surprised Blake. "You can cut me up if you want."

"N-no!" Blake replied hastily, trying to push her away, but Yang would not let go. "What're you-?"

"See?" Yang asked, a toothy smile blossoming across her face. "You don't want to kill me, do you? You can't say that you're a monster if you care enough to hold back, right?"

Blake stopped struggling, instead escaping into Yang's embrace. She did not speak, but held on to the blonde's unnaturally warm arms. Even without conversing, she managed to convey her hopes: that Yang would not ever let go. Perhaps Yang would even be able to read her mind and understand that Blake wanted nothing more than for her to be right.

"B-but what if I act up again?" she asked desperately. "What if I can't control myself and end up hurting people again?"

"Well, there's always my Semblance," Yang replied lightheartedly, her tone suggesting that she was joking. "If you think about it, you cutting me up just makes me stronger, right?"

"That's not funny, Yang," Blake pointed out.

"Neither is you being pessimistic," Yang countered. "If we're going to rescue Team JNPR and save the world, we're going to need you to be strong, okay? If you're going to be such a downer, Ruby's going to have a hard time too, so I won't let you do that.

"You're not some sadistic murderer," she said, feeling Blake relax a little in her hold. "You're my little kitty cat, you know? I won't let you become that. But you have to hold on for me as well, alright?"

Blake trembled. She remembered how terrified she had been after realizing what she was, and how she wanted to end her own life right then and there. She could not deny her actions, no matter how hard she tried. She would cry painfully every time she woke up from her nightmares, haunted violently by images of her dead teammates, their blood drenching her hands.

"So long as we're here, it's going to be okay," Yang assured her. "We'll find a way around any problem. We've done fine so far, haven't we?"

Anchoring herself to those words, Blake nodded meekly.

"We'll always be here, kitty cat," Yang pulled Blake closer and stroked her hair. Sometimes, Blake reminded her of Ruby: reckless, frightened, and in need of someone to tell them that everything was going to be alright. Even if Yang herself was not that confident if it was really going to be.

"We'll always be here," she repeated, praying that it would not be a lie.