The first thing she felt was the pain. Then there was a rush of fear. Then silence.

When she regained consciousness, she thought she was back on the torture table. The lingering pain from her still-recovering wounds felt bad enough to give her that illusion, although in reality it was nowhere as excruciating as what they actually inflicted. She panicked, her body going stiff in the darkness as she kept her eyes shut, bracing herself for what was to come.

When nothing happened, Pyrrha slowly opened her eyes. It was not the first time they were pulling this trick – luring her into a false sense of security by not doing anything before ripping her body apart. On some level, she hoped that they had done that literally; at least the pain would stop then.

At first, there was nothing but darkness. When her eyes finally adjusted, however, faint moonlight gently bathed her surroundings, revealing a concrete ceiling and a small window. And him.

Sitting by her side and gripping her hand firmly, Jaune's natural blond hair danced gracefully in the night breeze as he kept watch over her. His clear blue eyes, glossy with worry, lit up when he saw that Pyrrha was finally awake.

"Pyrrha!" he exclaimed softly, thoughtful enough to keep his volume down to a whisper. "A-are you feeling alright? Do you want some water, or-"

"W-" Pyrrha began, before she was cut off by a dry cough; her throat was parched and it felt like sandpaper was being rubbed all over her windpipe. "Where are we?"

"Cardin's base," Jaune replied. "We're safe now. Wait here; I'll go get some wa-"

He never did get to finish that sentence. Pyrrha had a strong – needlessly so – grip on his hand, preventing her team leader from moving.

"Stay with me," she half-pleaded, tears welling up in her eyes. "Please."

"Of course," Jaune assured her, patting the hand he was holding with his free hand. "I'm not going anywhere."

Pyrrha nodded wordlessly. Perhaps Jaune had misunderstood her intentions, but that was fine; he probably thought that she just wanted company, but in truth, she wanted to be with him. He just did not know how special he was to her yet.

"Nora-" she croaked. "Ren-"

"They're fine," Jaune replied. "A little hurt, but they're fine."

Pyrrha covered her eyes with one palm, holding back the tears. After an eternity in that hellhole, they had finally made it out in one piece. All that pain, all that suffering, all those screams – they were behind them. At least for now.

"Pat really pulled through," Jaune said. "He managed to get rid of our Collars, so we don't have to worry about them anymore. Now you can just rest and – wargh!"

Using as much strength as she could gather, Pyrrha pulled Jaune towards her, ignoring her body's protests. She silenced him with a forceful kiss, pressing her lips roughly onto his.

After all she had gone through, Pyrrha just could not hold back anymore. Now that they were finally free of those 'interrogations', she could not restrain her relief, the happiness welling up inside her, or any of her other emotions which she had once held down with solid control.

As swiftly as it came, the kiss ended. Jaune looked confused beyond words, opting for displaying an expression of utter bewilderment. Pyrrha said nothing to him, and turned away so that her back was to him instead. Their hands had parted at some point in time without her realizing.

Jaune liked Weiss. Pyrrha was well aware of that. She knew that his eyes were always full of the white-haired heiress, and had hardly any time for Pyrrha as a love interest. Sure, they were great partners and their chemistry as teammates and friends was great, but Jaune had never seen Pyrrha like a girl he could love. Acknowledging that made her heart throb painfully, in a way far worse than any injuries she sustained.

She said nothing to him, listening to the hammering of her own heart against her ribcage as she tried drifting off to sleep. The silence returned, enveloping them as Pyrrha's chest ached unbearably. Knowing that she and Jaune could never be hurt, and it hurt so badly it felt like her heart had been crushed in mid-beat. All that was left was fear – a distinct fear of solitude. A fear that she would be alone again, just like before.

The first thing she felt was the pain. Then there was a rush of fear. Then silence.

Cardin sat at the entrance of the village, occasionally poking at the fake bear ears he was wearing. He had hoped the scent alone would be enough, but Pat had been adamant about the ears. Cardin personally had no idea why he even bothered wearing a disguise when his face was pretty well known. Not nearly as notorious as Team RWBY was, but he was getting there.

Turning around sharply at the sound of approaching footsteps, Cardin almost lunged at the figure before realizing it was Blake. With an annoyed grunt, he set down his mace and resumed watching the woods.

"You're not afraid I'll attack you?" Blake asked cautiously, approaching Cardin's highly vulnerable back. Even as she said that, she sat down beside him.

"I know a White Fang trash when I see one," Cardin snapped. "What the hell do you want?"

"I wanted to at least say thank you," Blake replied. "For providing us with the information and helping us back there."

"Don't get so friendly with me," Cardin warned. "I only helped you because we have a common enemy and we were shorthanded."

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend?" Blake quoted, earning herself a derisive snort from Cardin.

"Piss off," he said. "We might be allies, but you're still a Faunus. We're not friends. If you're done yapping leave me the fuck alone."

He knew he was contradicting himself, and Blake probably knew it as well, but neither of them decided to point it out; they both knew that if the matter was pushed, a mace would go flying.

"I can cover you," Blake offered. "Keeping watch at night is my specialty-"

"Because you're a Faunus," Cardin finished for her. "I get it. Now piss off."

Blake hesitated, but Cardin clearly was not in the mood to budge from that spot. Defeated, she stood up and headed back to where her team was, leaving her former peer alone to this thoughts.

"God dammit," Cardin muttered under his breath. He knew he was not a nice guy, but that was overboard even by his standards, which was saying a lot. "Sorry."

But of course, Blake was not there to hear those words.

"Hey kitty cat," Yang whispered softly, careful not to wake Ruby and Weiss who were asleep, snuggled on a large mattress. "How was the talk?"

"Not too good," Blake replied in dismay. "At least he didn't start pulling on my ears."

"If he did, I'd break his legs," Yang said, half serious and half joking.

"Now you're starting to sound like Nora," Blake commented with a light smile, lying down next to her.

They lay there for a few minutes, with neither of them saying a word. Despite that, an uncanny eloquence conveyed their thoughts across quite clearly.

"The cave's going to be lively," Yang muttered, a familiar excitement in her voice. "Shame we only have four beds, though."

"Guess we have no choice but to share one, then," Blake replied playfully. "Ruby and Weiss seemed to be used to sleeping together too, and I guess Team JNPR won't have complaints about that arrangement."

"Agreed," Yang chuckled. "Let's rest up; we have to move again tomorrow."

Blake nodded, closing her eyes obediently but refusing to relax. The day had passed quickly, and now that the action finally ended the images returned. Blake, like Weiss and Yang, had managed to avoid acknowledging the events that transpired by busying herself with planning their next move. However, she could not keep it up forever, and knew that it was only a matter of time before her brain reminded her of everything.

Blake was not unfamiliar with death, but how long ago had it been since she last saw someone she knew die right before her eyes?

"You're too stiff, kitty cat," Yang whispered, draping an arm around Blake's chest. "It's over now; we're going to be alright."

"Yeah," Blake replied. She considered repeating Yang's words to make herself feel a little better, but they died at her throat.

"What's the matter?" Yang asked. "Cat got your tongue?"

"I swear, Yang," Blake scowled. "One of these days I'll shave your head for saying that."

"I'll regret it when the time comes," Yang replied cheekily.

Blake smiled – something she seemed to be doing a lot lately whenever Yang was around. It was a mysterious feeling, to be comforted by Yang and knowing that the blonde Huntress was there by her side.

"Thanks, Yang," she whispered softly. She was unsure if Yang heard those words, but judging by the tightened squeeze, there was hardly any doubt.

Repeating those words in her head, the proud member of Team RWBY and partner of Yang Xiao Long fell asleep.

She would worry about the future when it comes.

Sorry for the short chapter, but it didn't feel right to bring in the action just yet. Besides, figured you guys could use a break and have some relationship building first.

And in case you found the current action scenes not intense enough, I'm working on them. It's just that there haven't been any actual foes that would pose a credible threat so far, which is why the fights aren't fleshed out in a lot of detail. Hope you bear with me.

As always, do leave a review, and until next chapter!