Gamer4 in. Well, with my sleeping schedule even more messed up than usual for the past couple days, I figured there was no better way to spend one of my waking hours writing up the next chapter for ya. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Ico... RWBY... Ico... RWBY...
Chapter III
At the Front Gates
The sun had reached its peak in the sky, and begun its descent towards the western horizon. Blake looked up, taking note as she rose to her feet once more. "Weiss," she muttered, nudging the other girl gently on the shoulder. "It's time to get going."
"Hmm?" Weiss grunted as she looked up as well. "Oh. Right. The entrance hall."
Blake turned and approached the door they'd gone through so much trouble to get to- only for it to remain steadfast against her attempts to open it. "Weiss? Care to give this door a try?"
Weiss nodded, stepping forward and reaching for the handle. Once again, that strange, electricity-like energy crackled around her, spreading across her body, ultimately to her hand, where it jumped to the handle, prompting the door to creak open.
The room on the other side was dark, tainted with the smell of mildew. If Blake had ever wanted a room that perfectly illustrated the disrepair this castle had fallen into over the years... here it was. They stood on a second-floor balcony, wrapping around the massive chamber, with a bridge spanning the length of the gap between- broken off at one end, supported by a series of wooden beams that had clearly seen better days. A flight of steps led to the lower floor- or what was left of it. The door on the lower floor, on the opposite side of the hall seemed to be the one Weiss was leading her towards- the door to the courtyard- but that was on the other side of a large abyss, where the floor had fallen away, revealing a steep fall down to the lake below. The stairs were virtually useless.
On the opposite side of the upper level was a series of stained glass windows- many of which were shattered, and several more of which were boarded up. A great deal of the ceiling had rotted or fallen away, leaving only the rafters behind, and just enough stone to support a very unstable-looking chandelier, held up by a rusty chain. Fallen, broken... all words that could be used to describe this hall, yet Blake couldn't help but wonder at the majesty this place had once held, in years past, before the castle had been left abandoned up on these cliffs.
"Well," Weiss was the first to speak, "this is a problem."
"I take it this place was in better shape last time?"
"Yes," Weiss nodded, arms crossed, a slightly sad look on her face, as though she, too, could sense the phantoms of what had once been. "That pit... that wasn't there before. It was just a quick walk down the stairs and across the hall."
"I see," Blake nodded, a hand to her chin as she took in the room. "Well, there's no jumping down from the other side- aura or no aura, I don't think even I'd be making that jump."
"So... what are we going to do?"
Blake couldn't help but smile- there was a note of expectation in Weiss's voice, as though she was slowly but steadily coming to anticipate that no matter what problem they encountered, Blake would find a solution. "What we really need," she mused, feeling for the sharpened stick she carried with her still, "is a bridge across... and for that... yeah, that should work... wait here a second."
Weiss stared as Blake set out across the bridge towards the opposite end of the room, leaping lightly across the small gap at the end. She stood briefly silhouetted against the light filtering in through the windows before climbing up, grabbing onto one sill after another, higher and higher into the chamber. Eventually, she came to the rafters, where she threw all her coordination and balance into making her way across the narrow boards that had once supported the roof. Finally, she arrived at the chandelier, where she examined the chain closely, selecting what seemed to be the most rust-damaged link before sliding her stick into it and beginning to pull.
Her plan seemed to work better than she herself had expected- before she'd thrown anywhere near her whole weight behind her makeshift lever, the link snapped, clearly more damaged than she'd foreseen. The chandelier came crashing down onto the bridge, the faunus holding on for dear life.
The noise echoed through the hall, prompting Weiss to cover her ears- she could only imagine what the noise must be like for Blake, at the center of it all, with a pair of cat ears to hear it with perfect clarity. Nevertheless, the fall had the desired effect- the rotted, worn pillars holding the bridge up buckled beneath the sudden weight, before crumbling away altogether. The far end of the bridge, without its supports, let out yet another crashing noise as it landed on the first floor, creating a perfect ramp from where Weiss stood to right in front of the door to the courtyard.
Weiss, however, had more important things on her mind- namely, the girl in black who had flopped off of the chandelier just in time to watch it slide off the new ramp and crash away into the abyss below. "Blake!" she called, not allowing her fear of heights to waylay her as she hurried down the ramp to where Blake was laying. "Are you alright?"
To her enormous relief, Blake nodded as she pulled herself to her feet. "Yeah, yeah... I'm fine. Just... do me a favor, okay? Never let me do that again."
Weiss gave a low, hollow chuckle. "Your... your forehead..."
Blake reached up towards her face- when she lowered her hand, it was to find it stained with blood. "No worries," she shook her head. "I'll be fine- let's just get to... that... door..."
Weiss froze as she saw the look of horror spreading across Blake's face- she turned to see several black circles forming above them on the balcony. Out of them were stepping various creatures, seemingly formed of dark smoke, decorated only with a bony white mask. Wolves, bears, a dark, cawing raven...
"Get to the next door," Blake spoke quietly yet firmly, stepping in front of her and putting a protective arm between Weiss and the oncoming grimm.
"But what about you?" Weiss asked, her eyes narrowing in concern.
"They don't care about me, they're here for you, remember? I'll hold them off- get to the courtyard!"
Weiss didn't like it, but did as she was told, leaving Blake to distract the creatures advancing down the ramp as she lowered herself to the ground floor and advanced towards the door. Before reaching out for it, she glanced back, seeing Weiss preparing her stick in a battle stance. Reaching out, she swiped the raven out of the air, sending it into the abyss- this action alone seemed to put the other grimm on their guard. A rampaging boar pushed its way to the front, tackling her dead-on, sending them both tumbling down towards the ground. For a moment, they rolled around, until Blake managed to push it over the cliff, swiftly rising to her feet and turning to face the other monstrosities that were flooding the chamber.
"Blake!" Weiss called out urgently.
"The door!" Blake called out again, bracing herself against the oncoming storm.
Weiss bit her lip one last time before turning to the door and reaching out to open it.
Once again, electricity coursed through her body, spreading across every inch of her as it made its way towards the handle. But this time, something was different- in addition to the handle, the energy began to arc around the room, stretching all the way from Weiss's body to all the creatures of grimm advancing on the pair. Blake blinked, awestruck as they all collapsed to the ground, writhing and screeching in pain, and... just like that, began to dissipate, vanishing just as thoroughly as the first wolf she'd encountered. Glancing up at the dark circles they'd first appeared from, she saw them vanishing as well. Her jaw hanging open, she turned to look at Weiss. "What... what did you do?"
Weiss seemed just as taken aback as she was, gazing at her hands in astonishment. "I never- that's never- I... how..."
Blake's eyes were wide, but she shook her surprise off swiftly. "Well, I wish we'd known that little tidbit sooner," she forced a smile. "Maybe you should open with that next time, huh?"
Weiss nodded mutely, still fixated on the lines and swirls of her palms. Finally, she looked up at a hand on her shoulder. "Hey," Blake spoke cajolingly, "that's a neat trick up your sleeve. Keep that in mind for the next two rooms, and we'll be out of here before sundown."
Weiss gave a loose nod and followed Blake through the double doors into the courtyard.
Compared to the ruin of the previous room, the courtyard shone brightly- very few bricks were out of place. A series of winding staircases tangled their way around the area, brightly lit beneath the sun, leading to several more doors that would likely take them deeper into the castle, but that wasn't their goal- Weiss guided Blake down the staircases they needed to take to get to the ground level, and another pair of double doors that, if the girl in white was to be believed, would take them to the front gates.
At long last, there were the doors. Weiss stepped ahead for a change, reaching out her hands. As usual, the energy appeared, crackling around her and forcing the doors open, revealing another, smaller courtyard lined with torches, filled with grass and flowers, and culminating in a pair of double doors, open and ready for them to pass. Blake couldn't help grinning- behind the double doors was a long, stone bridge over the vast lake below, culminating in a small gate which, once they passed, would mark the end of this little excursion- the moment Blake took control and guided them to Castaway Beach.
"We're almost there," she smiled over at Weiss, only to be shocked at how nervous the girl in white still looked.
"Yeah... almost there," she muttered, hands together and eyes on the ground.
"What's wrong?" Blake asked. "The exit's right there- just a few more steps, and-"
She'd grabbed onto Weiss's hand and was leading her forward, only for their crossing to be interrupted by a column of flame appearing in the courtyard's center, reaching up to the sky. Blake leapt backwards, once again raising an arm in front of Weiss. Squinting, she managed to see a silhouette within the flames- just barely. Glancing behind her, she saw Weiss, quaking as she gazed upon the inferno. Her attention was seized by the fire once more as a voice spoke from within it- obscured by the crackling of the flames, but its words rang clear: "Weiss, my dear, sweet, innocent child... why do you seek to leave me?"
"I... I..."
Blake cast her eyes back again- so, Weiss was aware of this... thing.
"I have already told you, my girl- you cannot survive in the outside world. It is I who took you in- I who protect you."
"I... I wasn't going to leave!" Weiss objected, shaking like a leaf. "I just wanted to show her why we can't!"
"Ah, yes..." the figure turned towards Blake. "This... faunus girl." Blake bristled at the hardly-disguised contempt in that voice. "Why must you barge into my castle, corrupting my dear child with ideas of throwing herself into the dangers beyond these gates?"
"'Barge in?'" Blake repeated indignantly. "I was dragged in- leaving is all I want! And as far as you raising her- seems like you're doing a great job, leaving her entirely alone for ten years!"
The voice grew cold. "That is none of your concern- she is my child, I took her in when no one else would. You could not begin to understand- she is from an entirely different world than some child with the ears of a cat."
"Either way, we'll be leaving," Blake spoke defiantly, reaching back for Weiss's hand and preparing to guide her around the ring of fire towards the gate.
"You will not," the voice spoke again, absolutely scathing. Behind her, a pair of statues on either side of the gates lit up, crackling with energy not unlike what arced around Weiss when opening the castle's locked doors. However, the effect was... less desirable. Blake watched in horror as the gate's stone doors shuddered and began to move.
"Weiss, hurry!" she urged, practically dragging the girl in white forward. Some part of her, in the very back of her mind, knew it was a lost cause already- even as she moved, the flames moved as well to block her, and something told her that the distance was too far even if her path wasn't obstructed. Nonetheless, she continued to fight even as despair set in- even as the doors finally came to a grinding halt, having thoroughly cut off their escape route.
"Who do you think you are?" Blake growled in the back of her throat, ears flattened against her head.
"The lady of this castle, Cinder Fall," the figure answered with ease. "Now, you say you wish to leave this castle, faunus?"
Blake narrowed her eyes, refusing to give this... Cinder the satisfaction she sought. Nonetheless, the voice spoke again. "In that case, I offer you a deal- lead Weiss- my child- back to her chambers. You should know the way well enough by now. Take her back to where it is safe, then return here- no obstacles will impede you. Once you return here, if Weiss is still safe in her chambers, I will open the gate for you- and for you alone. You may leave this castle and spend the remainder of your days however seems best to you- just leave my child where she is safe."
Blake blinked, glancing back at Weiss again- her eyes had grown wide and fearful- she did not want to be left alone again. She threw her gaze back at those stone gates, braced shut against her, blocking her path to her friends. Back to Weiss, trembling, her veneer of authoritative detachment shattered- she looked absolutely terrified that Blake was about to accept Cinder's proposal. After all, all she'd done throughout the trip was express her desire to leave this sprawling labyrinth of stone.
At long last, she returned her gaze to Cinder, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes. "No deal."
"What?" Cinder asked, as though she hadn't quite heard properly.
"No deal!" Blake repeated, louder. "I don't know what your history with Weiss is, but I can tell it's not one she has many good memories of. You leave her alone in that tower for ten years, and say it's for her own good? I don't believe you. She and I are leaving this castle, and we'll do it together- with or without your help! So here's my deal- you can open the gate for us now, make everything nice and easy, or you can keep it shut, and we'll open it on our own- and if we meet you again along the way... well, I don't recommend it."
A cold silence fell on the courtyard. When Cinder spoke again, every syllable trembled with rage. "You can't begin to grasp the magnitude of the mistake you've made here, faunus." The figure turned, away from Blake, and to the girl cowering behind her. "And as for you, my child..." Weiss winced. "I do not blame you for what has transpired here. True, you could have done more to stave off the corruption this filth brought here... but we both know that you are unprepared for the dangers of those outside. Return to your chambers, and there will be no punishment- and you will buy your friend here her freedom- whether she wants it or not."
All at once, the fire began picking up, spinning around high into the sky, and then... it was gone, the figure with it.
Blake threw one last glare at where the figure had stood, before turning to Weiss. "Weiss... who was that?"
"Like she said... Cinder," Weiss muttered, refusing to meet Blake's eyes. "She's the master of this castle... the only other... thing I've seen here all these years."
"I thought you said I was the first," Blake pointed out, confusion in her eyes.
"You're the first person I've seen in this place," Weiss corrected. "I don't think she's human- more like a god. She has this whole place under her control- she's the reason I could never leave, even if I got around the grimm."
"You speak to her often?"
"Only when I try to escape- if I manage to get past the grimm, she'll appear, talk me back, lead me back... tell me it's all for the best..."
"And is she your mother?"
"I don't know," Weiss shook her head. "I don't know how I'm connected to her any more than you do- she says she took me in, so I doubt we're related by blood- she says she protects me from what's outside the castle... though she's never said what that is. Everything else I told you is true- I woke up here one day, I just met her after I tried to escape, and that's when she told me those things."
"But you still want to leave?" Blake asked gently.
Weiss looked up, and to Blake's surprise, there was a fire in her eyes. "Of course I do, you idiot!"
Blake's eyes widened. "Is... is something wrong?"
"You... you moron! She was going to let you leave! She never lets anyone leave! Do you realize how long I've been waiting for an opportunity like that? It finally comes to you, and you just shoot it down?!"
"I didn't want-"
"What about those friends of yours? The ones you're so loyal to after they sold you out? How are they going to feel when you never show up because your pride was apparently worth more than getting out of here?!"
"It had nothing to do with pride!" Blake spoke up, her eyebrows knitting. "Like I said, I'm not leaving without you!"
"And why do you care so much about me?!"
"Because I don't plan on leaving someone behind in a situation like this just to save myself! I'm sure you'd do the same for me!"
"Well, I wouldn't!" Weiss raged. "If it meant I got to leave this godforsaken place, I wouldn't have a second's hesitation in leaving you behind!"
A ringing silence fell, Blake staring for a moment before speaking quietly. "You don't mean that."
"Yes I do," Weiss growled, arms over her chest. "I hate this place- there isn't anything I wouldn't do to put it behind me."
Blake bit her tongue- she stood by her previous assessment of Weiss's outburst- she was upset, not thinking straight. Why shouldn't she be, after getting so close to her goal, only to have it snatched away at the last second? Nevertheless, those words stung. Even so, the only anger she felt was towards Cinder, claiming to protect Weiss while keeping her isolated from the rest of the world in a moldy old castle, keeping her at arm's length even from herself, and cruelly manipulating her back to her prison every time she attempted to escape. At long last, she came to a decision. "And do you mean that?"
"What?" Weiss asked, looking up after that rather pregnant pause.
"You'd really do anything to get out of here?"
"Anything at all."
"Good," Blake nodded, rising back to her feet. "Glad to know our little journey isn't ending here."
"What?" Weiss repeated, raising a single eyebrow. "But you just saw-"
"-a complication," Blake nodded. "It looks like this will take longer than I thought- we may not make it out today, but I still aim to leave this castle- and I still aim to do it with you. We got around that broken bridge, we can get around this. Are there any other exits from the castle you know of?"
"Only however you got in," Weiss shook her head.
"And that's not an option," Blake mused, recalling the wall that had slid into place to block their access from the door Ren and Pyrrha had left by. "You're absolutely certain? No side-exits, no windows at a reasonable height we could jump out or rappel from? The front gate's the only answer?"
"As far to my knowledge," Weiss nodded.
"Alright... how are those doors controlled? Somehow, I doubt Cinder shut those doors by pushing them closed herself."
"I have no idea," Weiss admitted, her eyes returning to the ground. "Maybe she just used her power on them- like I said, she's less of a person and more of a god."
"I don't believe in gods," Blake shook her head. "Even if I did, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't look or act like that. Some people just want to seem invincible, but at the end of the day, it's all smoke and mirrors." She should know that well enough. "You see those spheres on either side of the gate?"
"Yeah..." Weiss nodded, looking up at them.
"I saw the same energy you use to open those locked doors going through them when they closed- why not try opening the gate yourself?"
"Alright," Weiss shrugged, and, despite her eyes being entirely bereft of hope, she moved towards the heavy stone doors, attempting to push them open. Blake hadn't truly expected it to work, and she wasn't disappointed- a moment later, Weiss was looking back at her with hopelessness in her eyes. "No good."
Blake cast her gaze back to those spheres- they weren't quite directly on the doors. They seemed to be on the corner of a pair of large stone walkways or aqueducts, also attached to the castle, and leading off to a pair of towers off in the distance, remarkably far from where they were. "And those towers?"
"I don't know anything about them," Weiss shook her head. "I've already shown you all the castle I know of- anywhere we go from here on out would be new to me, too."
"Hmm..." Blake closed her eyes. She had no idea how grounded in reality her new plan was, but it was starting to seem like their only option. "Alright, we're going to those towers- I can't be sure, but I think the energy was coming from them. Maybe, once we get there, we can find a way to open the doors from there."
"We're splitting up?" Weiss asked, a note of panic entering her voice.
"Splitting up?" Blake asked, shaking her head fervently. "With those freaks of nature out to grab you as soon as I turn my back? No- we'll have to see what's in those towers, but if we're lucky, we won't have to split up to get these doors open again."
"I haven't exactly trusted my luck in a long time," Weiss crossed her arms.
"Me neither," Blake acknowledged, running her hand along the ears that had gotten her into this predicament to begin with. "But for now, it's the only plan we've got."
Weiss sighed heavily, already heading back to the courtyard. As she approached the door, she glanced back. "Aren't you coming?"
"Yeah," Blake shook her head. "Yeah..."
XXXX
A moment later, they were back in the tangle of staircases that formed the previous courtyard, searching for a door that connected to either of the stone walkways Blake had noticed. At long last, their investigation led them to the conclusion that said doors were on the opposite side of a pair of drawbridges- that were currently raised.
"Just our luck that we'd end up having to take the long way around," Weiss grumbled, prompting a light chuckle from Blake. "What's with you?" she asked, glancing at the girl in black.
"Just glad to hear your attitude's upgraded from 'we're never getting out of here' to 'we'll get out of here after jumping through all this castle's hoops,'" Blake tried to explain what so amused her. "So, any ideas about where to start?"
Weiss followed the spiraling balconies with her eyes, trying to determine the best path to take to ascend to the walkways. Finally, she settled on a door not far from the double doors leading back to the entrance hall. "This one."
"You're sure?"
"Of course not," Weiss muttered, crossing her arms- Blake was glad to see her returning to that aloof, composed state. She was recovering nicely from their encounter with Cinder. "I already told you the only parts of the castle I've been to are the ones I took you through. But if what I've seen of the rest of the castle from my tower is anything to go by... and with what I see here... this is the fastest way to that door." She pointed towards the door leading to the western walkway.
"Well, we've got to start somewhere," Blake shrugged. "Come on." With that, she stepped ahead of the girl in white, leading her down a long, dark, narrow hallway. Eventually, a flight of stairs took them downwards until the path emptied out into yet another courtyard- though this one very clearly had a different purpose from the others. Constructed on a hill, each level of this courtyard held a row of tombstones. Judging from the wild grass growing in front of each stone, and the text upon them being worn away, Blake thought it was a safe guess that any bodies buried beneath them had been placed there decades and decades ago. "I'm guessing you didn't plan on bringing us here?" she asked, her voice taking on a much more solemn tone.
"No," Weiss shook her head. "I... I didn't know about this place..."
There was a definite sense of intrusion on hallowed ground as they descended the steps built into the hillside. Weiss spoke very quietly as they did- "Do you know anything about this castle? None of the books in my library talked about it- on the outside, do you know more-"
"No," Blake shook her head. "This castle was around long before my village was founded, and it was abandoned then, too. At least... we thought it was. Aside from the faunus being sacrificed to this place, we never imagined there were people actually living here..."
Weiss bit her lip as they approached the bottom of the hill, where another door seemed to beckon them back into the castle's confines. "Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why does your village sacrifice faunus to this castle?"
Blake sighed, resigning herself to explaining the tradition's sordid history. "In my village... faunus are seen as cursed. Whenever someone becomes a faunus... people die not long afterwards. We found the only way to stop it was through that sacrifice. I think in the past, people were more affected by it, but over the years, it's become so... so normal... the first time even I really thought of it was when a friend of mine- Velvet- grew some rabbit ears. I can still remember her face when they rowed her across the lake..."
Their darker turn of conversation seemed even darker for the location they stood in- an uncomfortable glance between them led to a mutual nod, an opening of the door at the graveyard's bottom, and an entrance into the hallway beyond.
"So you didn't always have those ears?" Weiss asked as they headed down yet another long, torch-lit corridor.
"No," Blake shook her head. "Not until a day or two ago- I just woke up with them. Ruby and Yang were horrified when they saw it..."
"Because you might have cursed them?"
"No, nothing like that," Blake shook her head. "Because they knew what it meant- that I'd have to come out to this castle, and die here."
"Ruby... Yang... who are they?"
"They took me in when no one else would," Blake recalled. "My parents died when I was young, and after that, I was taken care of by..." For a moment, her voice trailed off, her expression darkening. "A story for another time. The point is, after I left... him... I was lost on the streets, nowhere to go. Yang found me, and she and her family took me in. They treated me like I was their own sister- I owe everything to them."
"But they still put you in here?"
"It broke them to," Blake shook her head. "Ruby was practically on the ground, sobbing, and Yang... she was... broken." She shuddered as she remembered her closest friend's expression as she had been loaded into the boat. "We have some other friends, and they were in pretty bad shape, too. Jaune... he looked so... lost. Nora didn't even show up, Pyrrha cried the whole boat ride out, and Ren... well, he was the one to give me the key to my cell."
"So you still have some friends out there, huh?" Weiss asked. "What kind of people are they?"
"The kind of people I'd trust with my life," Blake answered without hesitation.
"And... they think of you as a friend, too?"
"Of course," Blake nodded. "They'll be at the beach when we get there- you can meet them for yourself."
Weiss still looked skeptical, but any further debate was interrupted as their hall emptied onto a cliffside. Her voice caught in her throat as she awed at the majesty before her- the lake stretched out for miles around, eventually arriving at the lush green of the nearby forest. The sun was beginning to set, painting the image with a red tint. In the center of the plain they stood upon was a tall windmill, spinning slowly in the low wind. "Beautiful," she muttered to herself.
"Sure is," Blake nodded, smiling slightly. She had to admit, if she wasn't trapped here against her will, she might actually enjoy some of the views this castle had to offer. Gazing at the setting sun, she came to a decision. "Well, this is as good a place as any to spend the night."
"You mean, we're stopping here?" Weiss asked, surprised.
"Well, like I said, it looks like our trip's been extended," Blake shrugged, taking steps around the field in search of the best spot to curl up for a nap. "Doesn't look like we'll be getting out of here tonight- may as well get some sleep while we can."
A lurking fear gnawed at the back of Weiss's mind. "But what about... you know..."
Blake seemed to already know what she was talking about. Hefting her stick once more, she said, "We'll take turns keeping watch. I'll stay up first- I'll just kill any grimm that decide to show up tonight. Once you wake up, you can just wake me if any show up- I'll deal with them."
"I don't want-"
"It's the best way," Blake shook her head. "We'll keep going tomorrow- for now, this is one of the better sleeping spots I've found."
Weiss relented, crossing to where Blake was laying gently down, gazing back at the tower that had once held her, just barely visible in the distance. "You know... I think I've seen this windmill out of the tower's windows before. I never... I never imagined I'd be sleeping under it one day."
"Yeah," Blake shrugged offhandedly, sitting cross-legged next to her, stick at her side. "Just wait 'til we get out of here- the size of the world out there will blow your mind."
Before Weiss allowed herself to fall asleep, there was something else gnawing at the back of her mind- something other than her fear of Cinder or the grimm. "So, is he the same?"
"Hmm?" Blake grunted in confusion, casting her amber eyes towards Weiss.
"The person who take care of you between your parents and... Ruby and Yang. Is he the person you talked about earlier on the mine carts? You said you had a good teacher, who turned out to be a bad person- is he...?"
Blake bit her lip. On the one hand, she was reserved by nature- and abnormally so when the topic of that person came up. Even Yang and Ruby had had to press her for almost three years before she'd revealed everything about her time with that man. On the other hand, all of Weiss's secrets had been laid bare before her today, whether the girl in white had wanted it or not. Finally, she gave in, muttering a single sentence. "His name was Adam... Adam Taurus."
From there, she fell silent. Weiss waited for some elaboration, but it never came. All Blake said afterwards was, "Get some sleep. I'll wake you up in a few hours to take over the watch." She was prepared to argue further, but sleep was pulling at her eyelids, so she finally elected to allow them to droop, her head hitting the ground as the blissful darkness of sleep overtook her.
XXXX
Another chapter complete. Hmm... there seems to be something up with fanfiction lately... the view counter got frozen at 400, when people were still subscribing or favoriting, so I know people were at least looking at it... that and the last few haven't come through on my email, I just noticed them as I was posting this chapter...
But forget that! We are up to 24 follows and 13 favorites! I do not know how to express my gratitude right now- one of the biggest things keeping me from writing this story was my nerves about entering a new fandom's territory, yet here I am, being welcomed with open arms! I truly do not know what to say, except... please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out!