"Mud? What's your last name?"
Mud shrugged, "Just Mud."
Robin looked doubtful.
"Did you ever think it would be nice to have a last name?"
Mud thought about it for the first time.
"I think... It would just be nice to have a family."
Mud was familiar with nature, but not beauty. He'd spent a long time in the city just sitting and staring at architecture. He watched Robin smile with the same expression. It was a brief respite from frowning. They were sitting together at the edge of camp, watching for silhouettes on the horizon. Kale had suggested to Sapphire that she sleep. She'd nodded. She was too tired to object when they set up her tent and shoved her in it. It meant that Mud was alone with Robin for the first time.
"I'm scared," she admitted.
"Me too."
"I don't want any of us to die," Robin confessed.
She placed a hand near to Mud, as if reaching for him.
"I didn't want to kill anymore," he answered.
He placed a hand over hers, gently, acknowledging her reach. He watched the last light vanish from the plains, and turned to see the deep darkness in Robin's eyes.
"You care about her a lot," Robin whispered.
"I can't explain it," Mud whispered, "but she was the first kind person I met. And she taught me how to fight. She... She brought me to Beacon."
In the darkness, he heard Robin swallow.
"I care about you, too," she whispered.
He put his arm around her, and they rested their heads together.
"I like you, Robin," Mud smiled.
She returned the gesture with excitement.
"Just... give me some time," Mud frowned.
She returned that expression with sorrow.
Kale cleared his throat to warn of his approach. They separated, and he squatted between them.
"It's time."
They roused Sapphire and lit the camp fire. They had some fun making dummies of each other. Mud drew a heart on Robin's. They set them up around the fire, and left a tent standing.
"The smoke and silhouettes will draw their attack party," Sapphire had explained.
"Less guards," Mud had nodded.
Their last plan was made on the village's outskirts.
"We need recon before we attack," Sapphire whispered, "Or they'll just hold her hostage and we'll have to retreat again. Kale-"
"-It should be me," Mud interrupted.
"He's right," Kale added.
Mud thanked him with a nod. It was an acknowledgment that their rivalry meant less than their friendship. Sapphire didn't seem to get it.
"What? Why?"
"I can see in the dark and hear really well, sure. But that doesn't mean I can move quiet or stay hidden. Remember when we played Capture the Flag? Mud got past every faunus at Beacon. The teachers were scared of him."
Sapphire nodded at the reasoning. She turned to Mud.
"Okay. Here's what we need, Mud. Find out where she is, find out how she's guarded. Then you come get us, and we extract her without a fight if we can. We'll get closer, meanwhile. Robin, you'll be up in the second floor of the barn. If we need to do a loud engage, you start us with a bang. Kale, you and I will be on the ground floors of the other two dark buildings. We start the quiet engage with melee. Everyone understand?"
They all nodded. Mud leaned in.
"Suppose I get caught? What do I do?"
"Make noise. We'll figure it out."
Mud nodded. His eyes fell to the ribbon on her arm.
"Sapphire... If it's alright... Could I have the armband?"
No one had addressed it yet. They didn't understand if it was her crutch or her memento mori. They all knew it meant more to Mud than to any of them. Sapphire hesitated, then removed it slowly, and handed it to him with both hands.
"Thanks."
Mud rubbed it in the nearest puddle. He paused, realizing he'd goofed.
"What?"
"Why'd you do that?" Robin strained.
"Silk's stronger when it's wet," he shrugged.
They didn't understand.
"It's stronger than steel when it's wet- like a steel cage, or steel binds."
Their outrage faltered, and they nodded at the practicality of it.
"Wish me luck," were his parting words.
Mud slipped into the puddle himself, and became the darkness. It coddled him. The cool night air no longer tickled his skin. He had become the elements of the night. The only sounds he heard for a long time were the fluids moving in his body, the creak of sinew and muscle when he moved. He remembered the first kind words he'd heard.
"I'm Professor Belladonna. I teach at Beacon Academy. We train Huntsmen. And yes, some Huntsmen are assassins. But assassins are rare. That's why they sent me. Because I know what you've been through. It's okay if you don't want to talk, Mud. I know it can be hard."
Mud focused when light found his eyes. He slipped past two chatting guards, then across the expanse of a garden, taking care through the ruined bushes, and into the window of a lit building. He'd been lucky, and that had made him cocky. Through the crack in a door, he saw Professor Belladonna in stocks, her head resting low.
He hadn't noticed until he landed that the room was occupied. Any more motion would betray him. He recognized the bandit Ginger. Ginger was arranging something on a comfy, round dinner table. The bandit leader entered by slamming the door aside.
He stared at Ginger's work, tongue cleaning behind his gums, then announced, "They don't want her."
Ginger stopped.
"What?"
The boss shook his head.
"Turns out she's a celebrity. Broker says the goods are too hot- can't risk moving her. She's worthless to us."
"I wouldn't say that," Ginger grinned. His hands lifted a serpentine blade from the table.
"You're sick, Ginger."
"Uhuh. So what do we do with her?"
The leader sighed.
"We're gonna try selling her to the Balefires. They do that thing they do about once a month, only it's been six weeks. So I'm guessing demand's high. Hobble her hands and feet. They like their goods processed. And do it quick. Saw a cruiser nearby few days ago and we don't want to be here if they come lookin'. We're headin' out as soon as the Getters get back."
"They won't be back for another three hours," Ginger noted.
"Yeah?"
"Only take me an hour to hobble her and seal her wounds," Ginger grinned.
"I don't wanna know."
The Boss turned and left, slamming the door behind him. Ginger took another long moment to select a tool- a metal spike, curved and bent precisely to sever and scoop an eyeball. He stood from the table and did a jig on his way to the other room. His feet were loud. A key chain jingled on his waist. He didn't hear or see Mud creep after him.
He woke Belladonna with a loud thud against her stocks. She raised her head. The one eye with line-of-sight to Mud was swollen shut, and caked with blood. Someone had been very precise about reopening her scar.
"I'm sorry to say this will be our last night together," Ginger simpered.
Blake gathered her spit and soiled his pants.
"That's what you're reduced to, now, Huntress. No more high and mighty Auracraft. No Dust weapons."
Ginger placed a hand against her cheek, to emphasize the lack of protection, the absence of her aura. Mud wrapped the silk tight in his hands, just as Professor Belladonna had taught him.
"You've been poisoned, you see, by fruit corrupted by the Grimm. There are little worms of dark mist wriggling in your blood. It'll be days before they're out of your system. We actually brew them into existence. You wouldn't believe who taught us how to do it."
Blake growled. Ginger jabbed the dagger into her back- not deep, and nowhere vital, but exactly where every huntsman was taught to place a non-lethal takedown. Mud struck.
The struggle was sudden. Mud hadn't expected such a quick reaction from his target. But he had secured his grip. Ginger swung his knife wildly. Belladonna cried out as a gash opened on her side. The silk tightened, and Mud wrapped his legs over Ginger's arms. The bandit thrashed and rammed them into the wall. Pottery crashed. Voices raised outside, and explosions followed. Mud felt his arms burning from exertion, but he had the leverage he needed. He saw the bandit's neck straining not to collapse, then failing. He saw the skin turning purple, and he felt Ginger's legs give out. He stayed on top as they fell, and he kept his arms taught long past the end of the corpse's spasms.
His next conscious moment was of Robin placing her hand on his shoulder. Blood splatter decorated her battle dress. Mud's arms relaxed, and he saw that Professor Belladonna had been freed. Sapphire and Kale were speaking at her side.
"Why won't her wound heal?"
"Poison. She's poisoned. Get the bandages."
She was curled in a ball, her eyes closed, clutching her stomach. But she was alive, for now.