Part III: Children No More

What the hell is happening today? Ilia thought as she curled her legs to her chest, hugging herself on the ledge of one of the turrets. The horror of seeing Weiss hurt like that was only able to calm her rage momentarily. She seemed fine, physically. She was standing up and everything, I'm probably just imagining things.

Ilia looked up at the shattered moon. She was just not ready for seeing Weiss again. She'd never be ready to see Weiss again, to talk to her again. But something about her current run of luck made her think fate hadn't given her a choice.

Ilia let out something that should've sounded like a chuckle, but was a lot more depressing in actuality. She looked down at the peaceful assimilation into the dorms. It was bed time after all. The adrenaline had left her system. Her aura had recharged, not that it was really tested during the skirmish with the White Fang. Ilia took a moment to appreciate her last thought. The fundamental separation she granted the White Fang from herself. It was a reflex now. I am Not one of them anymore. She looked up into the sky, the stars reflecting off of her grey eyes like fireflies on a pond.

How had Blake not mentioned her team mate was Weiss fucking Schnee?! Why had Sun not mentioned it? He was an annoying as all hell chatterbox.

Kali Belladonna was milling about when she was approached by a tall young woman with golden hair that seemed to radiate strength. Yang, she thought. She didn't even need the bashful introduction the girl offered her. Yang had basically dragged Blake to one of the unoccupied buildings under the guise of 'making sure there weren't any other enemies luring about.' Kali Belladonna rolled her eyes at this, but she wasn't too upset. She'd never seen her daughter look at anybody the way she was looking at Yang. Perhaps Sun and Ilia were both barking up the wrong tree.

The horror they had all been anticipating hadn't happened. Kali looked around as the last of their people were ushered into the dorms for the night, which was miraculously still young. They expected a protracted battle with the White Fang's most dangerous operatives, not a skirmish that was over in five minutes.

Ghira had already gone to bed, the great lump. Kali loved him, but he was honestly endangering himself by not resting properly. Corsac's dagger left a deep tissue scar that not even Ghira's powerful aura could totally fix. But in the run-up to the expected battle, he hadn't been getting the deep sleep he needed in order to completely heal. People had to be trained. Blake and her friend Sun were good, but not able to train over fifty people properly in that time. Ilia had been fantastic in that respect. Kali wasn't sure, but it seemed like perhaps Ilia's role with the White Fang under Sienna Khan was something similar. Perhaps she was put in charge of new recruits? She worked really well with one of the rabbit faunus in particular. The same girl she saved from one of Adam's thugs. Perhaps there was something between them? Kali shook her head with a small smile. That girl deserved so–

Her thoughts were disturbed when Sun went jogging by, clearly searching for something or someone. "Sun, are you alright?" Kali asked with mild concern.

He looked at her with a little bit of apprehension, "Do you happen to know where Blake scedaddled to? Ilia needs her help with something." He looked mildly fearful, but Kali could tell it wasn't because of her. Something had happened.

"Is Ilia alright?" Kali asked in a tone that simply demanded an honest response. To be perfectly honest, it was a tone that really only worked on men. Blake was immune by now.

Sun ran a hand over his head before responding, "Ilia and Blake's team mate have issues." Kali raised an eyebrow. Sun realised being vague was not going to fly in this conversation. Not with Kali Belladonna. "Weiss Schnee and Ilia know each other…from Atlas. I've never seen Ilia that angry before, and she tried to kill me."

Kali frowned, "Did she hurt the Schnee girl? Did she say something racist to Ilia?"

Sun frantically waved his hands back and forth in denial, "No! No, but Ilia looked like she was gonna draw blood. But then she sort of paused. She looked really afraid for a moment. I'm not sure if she realised, but her skin almost seemed like it couldn't decide what colour it wanted to be. And then she ran off. I think she's still around though."

Kali's concern was less aggressive than it had been a moment ago. "And you're looking for Blake since she's been the only one that Ilia trusts." The monkey faunus nodded. "She's somewhere nearby. She walked off with the Yellow girl."

Sun smiled. "She's with Yang? Good. They need to talk some stuff out. But I think the situation with Ilia is a little bit more important right now. Those two can talk in the morning, but if we're all gonna get along, the stuff between Ilia and Weiss needs to be resolved soon."

Kali nodded at Sun's assessment. As it turned out, the boy wasn't totally useless. He was only useless when pursuing her daughter. But perhaps there was more depth to him. He'd been oddly protective of Ilia in the last two weeks. Kali waved as Sun continued his small search for Blake. But then a thought pulled at her. "Hey, Sun!"

He comically did a 180-degree turn. "Yes Mrs. Belladonna?"

Kali rolled her eyes at the formality, but asked her question anyway, "What was Weiss Schnee's reaction to Ilia?"

Sun seemed to think for a moment and then said, "Weiss Schnee is an Ice Queen of the highest order. I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen her display anything other than mild disgust at everyone around her. But tonight…" he trailed off for a moment as he gathered the words he wanted to use. "She was instantly holding back sobs. Like, I don't think I've seen any normal people go from normal to tears that quick, but with Weiss? Seeing Ilia made the Ice Queen instantly inconsolable." Sun shrugged and jogged away. It wasn't out of callousness. He just didn't know how to articulate what he had witnessed earlier.

Kali grew far more interested in this spat. It would be one thing if she was her father's daughter and went after Ilia for being so clearly former White Fang (even though Blake assured her and Ghira multiple times that Weiss was not like her family). But Ilia was never too far from anger. It's how she'd been conditioned. Hell, even Blake had a quick temper with some things. It didn't happen often, but her mannerisms from her time in Sienna Khan's White Fang reared its head every now and then.

It was Weiss' reaction that made things interesting. While all these thoughts were going through Kali's head, ultimately, it was up to the kids to solve their own problems. As she settled down atop her husband, who was totally out of it, and pulled the covers over the both of them, she lamented the fact that none of them were really children anymore. Blake and Ilia especially so.

Author's Note: Hi everyone! Please let me know what you think, as always.