{Vale}

Blake stifles a groan.

Professor—doctor—Oobleck hasn't stopped talking since they'd departed.

Two hours ago.

He's rambled on about the various kinds of Grimm they might encounter, and the history of the kingdom, all things that have been covered in class numerous times by now.

Blake's been trying to distract herself by sharpening and oiling Gambol Shroud, a task she'd stuck with until any more attention from her whetstone would have begun to dull the blade instead. Then, she'd moved on to reviewing the contents of her pack to make sure she hadn't left anything behind.

She'd known the answer to that already—her years with the White Fang had taught her to pack light, but to be prepared for emergencies, and to always double and triple-check her gear before she left. She'd already been able to take inventory of her bag with her eyes closed before leaving, and this particular distraction hadn't lasted very long either.

After that, she'd moved on to reading, but that had started to make her feel a bit motion sick, so she'd resigned herself to staring out the window. That's become less effective over time, but it keeps her from staring at Yang, at least.

She catches herself doing it anyway, Yang's 'You're beautiful' playing over and over in her head as she takes in the other girl's features. The curve of her jaw—strong, but not so much as to be masculine—the fullness of her lips, the scintillating shine of her hair. The soft lilac of her eyes, when she catches Blake's gaze and smiles, before looking away again, her cheeks pink.

Feeling the heat on her own face, Blake returns to looking out the window.

In her own way, Yang is beautiful too.

The landscape beneath the airship has become less and less populated the further they got from Vale proper, until finally they'd passed over the walls that protect the city.

They're truly in wild country now.

There are still a few settlements outside the walls, small villages and towns that are the reason that Huntsmen and Huntresses are needed in the first place. But, what really takes her by surprise is the massive abandoned city where Doctor Oobleck sets the airship down.

Ruby shakes Weiss awake, and Blake is glad to see that her teammate had managed to catch a little extra shuteye. The sleeping pills have been helping, but Weiss doesn't like the drowsiness that lingers after she takes them, so she doubts they're with her on this trip.

That will...complicate things, but Blake doesn't blame Weiss for wanting to be in full control of her faculties on this trip.

Yang rolls her shoulders and stands, her joints popping. She grins at Blake and pantomimes Oobleck's rambling with her hand. "Finally," is what she says. "I can't wait to get out of this tin can."

Whatever embarrassment she'd felt over what she'd said to Blake as they packed seems to have dissipated, at least for now.

Blake had been surprised to be sure, but also flattered. She's no stranger to ogling Yang a bit when she thinks she can get away with it, and that night at Junior's club had been...something else.

Well, at least until everything else happened.

She wonders if Yang might still want to go to a club sometime 'for real'...

"You and me both." Blake agrees, shaking herself out of her musings. The four of them exit the ship, heading around to the front to meet Doctor Oobleck.

Ruby shivers. "This place is...creepy."

Weiss nods her agreement slowly. "It feels...haunted. Lonely, almost like…"

"A tomb." Blake realizes, finishing Weiss' sentence for her.

"That's exactly what it is." Doctor Oobleck says solemly. "Welcome to Mountain Glenn, girls. This was Vale's first—and only—attempt at a major expansion."

A somber mood descends on the group at this, and they follow Doctor Oobleck further into the abandoned town in silence.

"What happened here?" Ruby asks after an uncomfortably long silence.

"The town's defenses couldn't keep the people safe. Even though the town had its own dedicated garrison of Huntsmen and Huntresses, the Grimm proved too relentless even for them. The town had a subway system that carried people and goods to and from the city of Vale, and as a last resort, the people fled beneath the surface and tried to create a new life for themselves underground. Unfortunately, all it took was a breach in one of the tunnels to bring an end to all that. The townspeople were slaughtered and the kingdom of Vale sealed off the tunnels, never again to attempt an expansion such as this one. We are currently standing in the world's largest tomb."

"Oh." Ruby says quietly, subdued.

"Stay alert. We've been asked to clear out the Grimm here for a reason. Packs of Beowolves have been terrorizing the villages in the area, and I wouldn't be surprised to see an Alpha Beowolf while we're here."

Weiss stiffens at this, looking paler than Blake has ever seen her.

Ruby reaches out to give Weiss' hand a brief squeeze, and Blake resolves to check on her when they make camp for the night. She's not privy to all the details, but she knows that Weiss' last mission in the military had ended in disaster, and it had involved a pack of Beowolves, so it's not surprising that she'd be unsettled at the news.

Blake's hunting instincts are in overdrive.

In a hostile, unknown environment like this, that's usually a good thing. It's kept her out of a lot of dangerous situations over the years, and it pays off again shortly, when she reflexively picks off a lone Beowolf wandering the ruins.

"Nice shot," Yang says with an impressed whistle.

Blake smiles. "Thanks,"

The sound of her teammates readying their own weapons is almost musical, and a quick glance reveals all of them alert and ready for combat.

However, no other Grimm are forthcoming.

"Just one?" Ruby wonders. "I thought Beowolves traveled in packs."

Blake wrinkles her nose as she catches a scent on the wind, immediately recognizing it to be Grimm. They have a very distinctive smell, acrid like burnt metal and faintly coppery, like blood.

It makes her want to retch.

"Normally they do." Doctor Oobleck confirms. "But it's not uncommon for Grimm to be separated from their herd for days, weeks, or even months at a time. Although it looks like the rest of this one's pack has found us."

"Alright team RWBY, show 'em what we're made of!" Ruby cries, probably meaning it to be motivational, but Weiss is already moving.

She may not have the presence, the sheer explosive power and elan of Yang, or Ruby's mind-numbing speed and prodigious talent, but Weiss is lethal in her own right. Her steps are measured and precise, never a millimeter of wasted motion. Myrtenaster is equally as controlled, cutting down three of the creatures with one calculated swing. Her glyphs make an appearance too, either to guard her back with a wall of ice, or to blast through Grimm with deadly shards of ice.

There's a cold-blooded kind of efficiency in the way that Weiss dispatches her foes, but the grim set of her jaw tells another story entirely. There is venom in the way that Weiss uses her glyphs to hold the creatures in place as she casually maims them, lopping off legs and arms, cutting to wound, to prolong the engagement. She commands her battlespace, the picture of confidence, in control and assured of her superiority.

This, Blake realizes, is what it looks like when Weiss cuts loose.

The large, hulking form of an Alpha Beowolf lumbers onto the field, covered in bony protrusions along its arms and legs. It throws its head back and brays a long, low growl. Almost immediately, the horde of Grimm begins to swell, and Blake leaps into the fray herself, following Ruby and Yang as they make their own way into the fight.

Distantly, Blake can hear the distinctive ka-chunk of Yang's gauntlets firing, followed closely by the sharper crack of Crescent Rose's rounds picking the creatures off. Blake contributes a few rounds of her own to the battle, but she vastly prefers her blade to Gambol Shroud's pistol configuration.

Blake surrenders to her instincts, letting them guide her movements. She rarely touches the ground for long, leaping into flying tackles and deft evasive rolls, grinning as she feels the heady rush of battle.

Slowly but surely, they begin to whittle down the horde to it's last few stragglers, a fact Blake is grateful to note. The fight has gone on long enough that she can feel the beginnings of fatigue setting in.

Blake frowns when she sees Weiss move toward the Alpha, a hulking, muscular brute of a creature. She doesn't doubt Weiss capabilities, but she's been using her Semblance non-stop since they'd first taken on the horde, and she's been fighting longer than anyone else.

Weiss moves with a purposeful stride, summoning more glyphs as she goes.

Bluish, ethereal binding shimmer into existence around the large creature and slowly, methodically, it is forced to kneel in front of Weiss, its throat bared for a killing blow.

The Alpha roars a challenge, and though Weiss doesn't seem fazed outwardly, the Semblance-fueled bindings begin to flicker.

Weiss' aura has to be redlining by now, and given the enormity of the secret they're trying to keep, taking on an Alpha in that state is reckless, especially for a risk-averse person like Weiss…

Blake catches Yang's gaze and motions to Weiss with her eyes.

Yang nods, and Blake is relieved to find that, despite their mission getting off to a bit of an awkward start, she and Yang have found their rhythm once more.

Blake pitches Gambol Shroud to Yang, using the ribbon to send Yang hurtling toward the Alpha. Blake watches, vaguely in awe, as Yang slams into the creature with a cry, her hair blazing in the afternoon sun. The ribbon goes taut in her hand, and then Yang's pulling her forward, the muscles in her arms rippling with the effort.

She catches Gambol Shroud as she hurtles past Yang, angling her blade for the kill. She drives it almost up to the hilt in the Alpha's skull, forced to flip away when she realizes that Her weapon won't penetrate all the way.

"Ruby!" Blake calls out, pointing to where her weapon is still lodged in the Alpha's head. "Nail it!"

Ruby nods once, her face uncharacteristically serious. She chambers a round and fires in less time than it takes to blink, striking the hilt of Blake's weapon and driving it the rest of the way into the Alpha in a burst of sparks.

The Alpha Beowolf groans, and then topples backward in a spray of foul-smelling black blood, defeated at last. The smoke from its corpse drifts skyward as it slowly begins to fade away.

"Great teamwork, guys!" Ruby tells them, grinning widely. "That'll teach 'em to mess with us!"

Yang smiles, stretching languidly before cracking her knuckles. "There was never any doubt." She says.

Weiss looks between Blake and Yang, casting both of them a betrayed look. "I had it under control." She snaps.

"I'd hate to see out of control then." Yang shoots back, folding her arms. "This is an endurance run, princess, not a sprint."

Weiss' eyes flash dangerously, and she opens her mouth to fire off what is no doubt a scathing retort, when Ruby cuts in.

"Weiss." She says softly, meeting the other girl's gaze.

The two of them seem to be having some kind of silent argument before Weiss pouts spectacularly and folds her arms.

"What is this, 'pick on me' day?" Weiss mutters.

"I heard that." Ruby replies. She simply points down at her scroll and shakes her head.

Blake consults her own device, her eyes widening when she realizes that she and Yang had intervened not a moment too soon: Weiss' aura is at five percent of its full strength.

Ruby takes Weiss aside, speaking softly enough that Blake is sure that Oobleck and Yang can't hear her, but Blake's superior senses allow her to pick up the conversation.

"Weiss, you need to be more careful." Ruby's voice is gentle, but firm.

"I'm fine!" Weiss insists. "I wouldn't have done anything reckless."

"You're aura's at five percent! You would have been benched from sparring class ages ago, and there's probably still tons more Grimm to clear out...Look, I appreciate that you're trying to look out for me, really, but I don't want you getting hurt either." Ruby replies, and Blake is impressed at the confidence in her voice.

"You know I can't." Weiss grumbles.

"That's not entirely true. Do you want to give away your secret? Because this is how you give away your secret. I'm sure Blake and Yang would agree." Ruby points out, and Blake finds herself nodding.

"I...fine. I'll hang back for a bit. But you don't have to treat me like some kind of porcelain doll." Weiss relents.

"I'm not. We're a team Weiss. We need to look out of each other." Ruby adds. "Watching you fight was pretty awesome though. Maybe we can try that slingshot thing while we're here?"

"Thank you." Weiss replies. "And, we'll see."

"Yes!" Ruby crows.

"I didn't say 'yes', Ruby." Weiss points out.

"You didn't say 'no' either…" Ruby counters in a lilting voice before skipping back to rejoin the rest of the group.

Oobleck leads them further into the ruin, seemingly content to let them handle things in-house at least for now.

Ruby makes her way up to him, striking up a conversation about his weapon—that he hasn't yet used—that Blake quickly tunes out.

Blake drops back a few yards to walk next to Yang, keeping Weiss in the middle of their group.

"What was that all about?" Yang wonders, nodding toward Weiss. "I've seen her fight before but that...that seemed personal."

"Not sure what was going on with her during the fight, but she redlined pretty hard. Her aura's at five percent. Ruby talked to her about not overdoing it and I think she actually listened…" Blake explains.

Yang frowns. "That's way too low. Especially on top of not sleeping. She's gotta be about to drop."

Almost as if on cue, Weiss claps a hand over her mouth and stumbles away to vomit into some nearby bushes, wiping her mouth with a shaking hand. She looks paler than Blake has ever seen her—which is saying something—and her skin glistens as she breaks into a flop sweat. She's shaking hard enough to see even from a several feet away, and Blake's keen eyesight picks out the goosebumps on Weiss' skin.

"Is everything alright back there?" Doctor Oobleck calls out, turning to look back at them.

"I'm fine." Weiss growls. "I just overdid it."

"There's a place to make camp about eight miles ahead. We'll stop there for the night." Oobleck says. "Ruby and I will go on ahead and make sure the area is secure."

Eight miles? No way she's making it that far...

Ruby casts a worried look back at them, but Blake gives her a nod and waves her on.

"We've got it covered, Ruby." She says.

"Okay. See you soon. Feel better, Weiss!" Ruby calls out, and then hurries to catch up with Oobleck.

"Drink." Blake says, handing Weiss the water bottle that had been clipped to the heiress' bag.

"I'm fine, really." Weiss insists, struggling to stand.

"I didn't ask if you were fine, I told you to drink something." Blake says firmly, knowing that Weiss will continue to insist that she's 'fine' until she collapses.

Weiss huffs and takes a tentative sip, before draining the entire bottle.

"Better?" Yang asks, in the same no-nonsense tone that she uses with Ruby sometimes.

Weiss nods.

"Okay, good." Yang says, shifting her pack so that it's over her chest. "Can you take Weiss' bag?"

Blake nods and straps Weiss' pack to her own, adjusting it so the weight is balanced, even though it doesn't weigh very much.

"What are you doing?" Weiss wonders, her expression dazed.

"Carrying you." Yang explains, kneeling and helping Weiss to get situated for a piggy-back ride.

"But-" Weiss begins to argue as Yang stands, adjusting her hold on Weiss so she doesn't slip.

"No more arguments, princess." Yang says firmly. "You're exhausted and in no shape to fight. We have a lot of ground to cover between here and camp, and it will be faster to do things this way. Just rest, alright? Your aura needs to recover, and you need to sleep."

Weiss sighs, but doesn't offer further protest, resting her head on Yang's shoulder and closing her eyes.

"There we go," Yang says. "Just rest, I've got you." And with that, they set off.

"You okay?" Blake asks. Carrying another person—even someone as small as Weiss—in a place like this is no easy task.

Yang nods. "When I was training with Pyrrha, before I came to Beacon, I had a backpack full of rocks that I carried around on runs. That weighs a lot more than Weiss does, I'll be fine."

Blake lets out a low whistle, impressed. "Wow. That sounds pretty intense."

Yang shrugs, her cheeks tinged a bit pink. "I got used to it after a while." she says.

The two of them walk in silence for a bit, with Blake picking off a few stray Grimm along the way.

"I think she's out." Yang mouths, motioning toward Weiss with her eyes.

Blake looks over and nods. "Yep. She's definitely out." She's glad to see that Weiss has drifted off, and grateful that Yang's insistence on carrying her hadn't led to an argument. Still, Weiss must have been a lot more drained than she'd let on if she'd only put up token resistance…

"I used to carry Ruby like this all the time when we were kids." Yang says quietly. "Kinda missed doing it, to be honest. I don't think she'd let me do it here—she'd say I'm cramping her style or making her look uncool."

"I'm sure she's grateful to have you around." Blake replies. "What do you think is Oobleck's deal? He hasn't helped us fight at all; I would have thought that the whole point of having him here was to do that."

"I don't know. But, it's pissing me off. We handled it, but poor Weiss wouldn't be in such a state if he'd actually done something back there." Yang grumbles, her eyes flashing crimson for a moment.

Weiss is mostly responsible for her own condition, a fact that doesn't escape Blake, and she knows that Yang is aware of that too. Still, it doesn't make the fact that Oobleck had essentially left them to fend for themselves in the scrap any less irritating.

"I know." Blake says, reaching out to put a hand on Yang's arm, hoping to soothe her anger. "I don't like it either, but getting mad at him isn't going to help. We just need to get through the exercise. Hopefully we don't have to do this kind of thing with him again."

"You're right. And, I hope not...Still, I'm totally giving him a piece of my mind if he says anything about carrying Weiss." Yang replies.

"That's fair." Blake says. "Do you want me to take her for a bit?"

"No, I'm alright, but thanks for asking." Yang says, smiling at her.

You're beautiful.

Blake's heart does a flip and she can feel her face heating up a bit. She hopes her blush isn't too obvious. "Of course." She says, offering a small smile of her own in return.

"You know, she'd be furious with me for saying this, but Weiss is kind of like the little sister I never had. I know we're the same age, but I feel...protective of her." Blake admits

"I know what you mean." Yang replies. "She reminds me a lot of Ruby when she was younger sometimes. I know she's had family trouble, and I just want to be there for her, you know? She's been through a lot—like the rest of us."

"So do I." Blake agrees. "Hopefully we can figure out a way to help her get some sleep so she's not so drained all the time. That's no way to live."

Yang nods. "For sure." She looks ahead toward the slowly setting sun. "Especially not out here."

After another few hours of walking, they finally make it to where Oobleck and Ruby have set up camp.

"Are you guys okay?" Ruby asks immediately, casting a worried look at Weiss.

"We're fine," Yang says. "Weiss is just a little worn out."

"Did you carry her all the way here?" Oobleck wonders. "Hardly conduct becoming of a Huntress-in-training, relying on her teammates to literally carry her."

Yang's eyes immediately turn crimson. "Excuse me?" She snarls. "You saw what happened back there! Would you rather we just left her to the Grimm?"

"I would rather she made it here under her own power. If this training exercise is too much for her, perhaps she's chosen the wrong profession." Oobleck counters calmly, staring at Yang over the rim of his glasses.

Blake frowns, doing her level best to keep her own temper in check. "Seems to be pretty cushy from where I'm sitting." She says.

"I beg your pardon?" Oobleck's gaze shifts to Blake.

"You didn't help us at all in that fight earlier. I thought we were supposed to be shadowing you, not the other way around." Blake says, folding her arms. She can feel her ears pinning back against her head as her irritation builds. "Seems kind of pointless to try and learn from someone who's just going to watch us do everything anyway."

"I'll thank you to watch your tone, miss Belladonna. I'm evaluating you, and I can't very well do that if I'm embroiled in a fight, now can I? The four of you seemed to have things well in hand, and I would have intervened had I felt the need." Oobleck's tone is icy.

"And Weiss working herself to the point of throwing up and then collapsing still isn't enough to get more than an 'are you okay'? With friends like these, who needs enemies?" Blake snaps.

"We must all learn our limitations somehow. Some more roughly than others."

"So, expect no help from you then? Got it." Yang snaps.

Oobleck doesn't rise to Yang's challenge—probably for the best, as he is grading them after all—instead standing and adjusting his pack.

"I'm going to scout the perimeter. Please stay here and rest until I return. We'll take volunteers for first watch when I get back." he says.

Yang opens her mouth to say something, but Ruby cuts her off.

"Look," Ruby cuts in. "It's late. We're all tired and hungry. I made food, why don't we all get settled for the night and have dinner. You can put Weiss in my tent for now and I'll help you guys with your stuff. I'm sure we'll all feel better once we've gotten to eat." Ruby offers.

"Sounds good," Yang replies.

Blake hands Weiss' bag off to Yang, knowing that her teammate will want to have her things when she wakes up. She then begins setting up her own tent, something she became fairly good at during her time with the White Fang, at least until they'd gotten a headquarters building. She manages to get her own tent up quickly, then moves to help Yang with hers.

"Here," Ruby says as the two of them finish with Yang's tent. "It's nothing fancy, but at least it's hot." She hand Blake and Yang each a bowl of some kind of delicious-smelling stir-fry.

Blake realizes that Ruby must have brought the ingredients to make this herself, since she'd packed MREs in case they'd needed to eat on the run.

"This is really good." Blake tells Ruby honestly.

"Thanks," Ruby says bashfully. "Just something I whipped up."

"You did a good job with this, Rubes." Yang compliments, giving Ruby a thumbs-up.

"Something smells amazing…" Weiss' voice drifts over from the direction of Ruby's tent.

"I made dinner," Ruby says, guiding Weiss over to where they're all seated around a small fire. "There's plenty more if you're feeling up to it."

"Sure. Thanks, Ruby." Weiss says. She looks over to Yang. "Did you...carry me the whole way here?"

"Yep." Yang says, popping the 'p'.

"Thank you...you uh, didn't have to do that." Weiss says, a hint of pink on her cheeks.

"It was no big deal. You hardly weigh anything anyway. Like, I literally have a bag of rocks at home that I trained with, and it weighs more than you. I'm just glad you're okay." Yang adds.

"Are you feeling better?" Blake wonders, putting an arm around Weiss' shoulders.

"A little. Still not great, but better than earlier." Weiss admits.

"I'm glad to hear there's been some improvement at least." Blake says.

"Please don't do that again." Ruby says, handing Weiss her bowl of stir-fry. "I know you were okay until after things calmed down, but the point of a team is that you don't have to do everything yourself. It's okay to have help sometimes, Weiss." Ruby adds, reaching out to give Weiss' hand a squeeze.

Weiss nods, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "I know...I'm still getting used to having it, I guess. Thanks for having my back today, all of you. I'm glad to be on this team with you."

Blake smiles, leaning in to the group hug that follows.

"We're glad you're here too, Weiss."

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