Behind Bars

Part Eight: Into the Wilds

"Ay carajo this food sucks!" complained Cadeja, letting greyish gruel slop off of her spoon. It landed with a wet thud as it slapped back into the pinkish plastic bowl.

"Look on the bright side – D block gets its rec privileges back tomorrow," chimed in Yang. It had been six days since the fight in the Yard, so the one week suspension of their rec time was almost up. "The extra work duty will be over and we'll get a chance to stretch our legs again!"

Cadeja grunted, still playing with her food.

"That's not gonna make this shit any more edible," she muttered. "And not all of us work with bitches like Darrah," she said, winking at Yang.

Grumbling, Yang flicked a suspiciously brown piece of corn at Cadeja. It missed its intended target, and instead of hitting the wolf Faunus it landed with an almost inaudible plop in Cadeja's gruel.

Smiling, Yang said, "Hey, maybe that'll help."

Cadeja frowned, clearly not amused. Blowing a strand of white hair out of her face, Cadeja shoved the tray away from her across the table.

"Cada día, siempre el mismo," she muttered under her breath.

Screwing up her courage, Yang replied – using some of her newly-learned phrases.

"No te preocupes. Todo está bien," she said with a smile, proud of herself for remembering.

After nearly a week without rec privileges, Yang had had plenty of time to practice with Cadeja.

Cadeja grinned in spite of her bad mood.

"Muy bien hecho," she replied, complimenting her pupil.

"Muchas gracias, amiga," said Yang. She wanted to say more, but at this point she had almost exhausted what she remembered of the niceties Cadeja had taught her.

Cadeja chuckled, ears twitching as she listened to Yang's broken speech.

"You know, ave rota, we gotta work on your accent," she said, still laughing lightly.

Yang frowned.

"I thought I said it okay…"

Cadeja stopped laughing and gave Yang an encouraging smile.

Yang mumbled something under her breath, looking rather dejected. It sounded like "…this language is too confusing…"

Cadeja's ears were sharp enough to pick up the comment, and she shook her head – still grinning.

"Es fácil – it's less complicated that this silly tongue. And besides, you're doing well." As she spoke, Cadeja's hand reached out and covered Yang's, patting it gently. "Don't lose hope, Xiao Long – you'll get it."

"Well I've certainly got the time to work on it," said Yang, still glum.

Ignoring the self-pity in her remark, Cadeja said, "Not right now you don't. Es la hora." With her chin, she indicated the clock on the wall above them.

Looking up, Yang saw that lunch was ending. Standing up from the table, the two of them collected their trays and dumped them by the trash cans before queuing up at the cafeteria's main exit.

Two COs stood there waiting to escort the inmates back to D block. Yang recognized CO Lowell and fumbled for the other one's name, eventually remembering that it was Reilly – the guy with the sweaty palms who'd taken her to her first meeting with Adrienne.

Everyone all lined up, the two COs led the D block inmates out of the cafe. Looking straight ahead, Yang walked side by side with Cadeja in the middle of the procession. Ahead of them, she couldn't really make out who was who from behind, but as usual Leonie Verté stood out amongst the crowd, standing a full foot taller than most of the girls around her.

Looking around, Yang tried to see if Judith was by her sister's side, but either she wasn't tall enough to be seen or she wasn't around because the mountain cat Faunus appeared to be alone.

As they wended through the hallways that crisscrossed through the center of the Briarcliff compound, a new sound drifted down towards their group from up ahead. A babble of low voices filled the halls as they neared an area largely occupied by administrative offices.

Peering through the crowd, Yang saw about two dozen newly arrived inmates – she could tell they were new to the Birdcage because they wore navy travel scrubs rather than the regulation tan clothes they were assigned once they'd been bunked.

Some of them looked like veterans of the system – cockily glaring at the D block inmates as they passed – while others seemed like first-timers, nervously staring at their feet and avoiding eye contact. Some of them seemed incredibly young – perhaps even younger than Yang.

From what Yang could tell, a CO standing in front of the group was barking out cellblock assignments, dividing the group into sections that would eventually end up in A, B, C, and D blocks.

She heard him call out several names, pausing and pointing to indicate which block they'd join.

"O'Malley! Salazar!" he yelled, waving two girls over towards a group headed for C block.

The line of girls marching back from the cafeteria started to get mixed up with the groups as they passed them, crossing towards an adjacent hallway.

CO Lowell and Reilly struggled to clear a path as the inmates behind them started to stop and check out the new arrivals.

"This way! Inmates of Cellblock D – follow your COs back to bunks!" yelled Lowell, waving her short arms above her head.

Yang felt girls pushing her from behind as she edged forward through the crowd. All the while, the male CO with the new girls kept calling out names.

"Brown, Hanley, Feldman!"

Yang was crushed against Cadeja's side, and she felt an elbow being driven into her back. They shuffled forward, trying to gain momentum and squeeze their way through the mass of crowded girls.

"Álvarez!"

At the sound of her name, Yang felt Cadeja freeze beside her, nearly causing the girls behind them to topple over them. A stocky girl with bright red hair tried to shove Cadeja forward, but she wouldn't budge.

Yang struggled to stay beside her, trying to find out why her friend had stopped.

Cadeja looked around, wolf ears swiveling on top of her head. She scanned the crowd looking confused. Her eyebrows knitted together, creasing her brow with deep frown lines.

The room was a mix of clashing limbs and grunting bodies as girls tried to force their way past one another. The guard organizing new arrivals must have been swallowed up in the confusion, because he yelled again.

"Álvarez! Join the group for A block now!"

Yang saw Cadeja's eyes narrow and her ears flatten back against her head as her gaze settled on one of the girls in navy. Her mouth was parted open, but for a moment she said nothing.

Yang stared, trying to figure out what was going on. The girl was small, and young enough to be Ruby's age. She had the same white-grey hair as Cadeja, and two tufted wolf ears standing up on her head. Her skin was a deep olive tone, also like Cadeja's, but her eyes were an arctic blue – startlingly bright against her skin.

She seemed to shrink away from everyone around her, looking uncertain and afraid. Her hair bristled and stood up in tufts, a wildly tangled mess. Dark bags under her eyes made Yang think she hadn't slept in days.

As she watched, an inmate from D block crashed into the girl, knocking her aside.

Beside her, Yang heard Cadeja suck in a breath.

"Raya! Raya!" she yelled, practically screaming.

The girl's ears perked up and she turned to face Yang and Cadeja.

"Raya!" Cadeja continued to call her name, even as the flow of girls behind them started to force them forward into the next hallway. Twisting around, Cadeja fought to slow their pace.

"Raya! Qué hiciste, Raya? Qué hiciste – no debes estar aquí! Qué te dije – recuerdes Raya? Qué te dije?!"

Cadeja's voice ripped through several octaves as she screamed, her fangs flashing as she snarled at the girls directly behind her.

D block inmates continued to swarm around them, pushing them away from the group of new arrivals that remained in the intersection of the hallways. From behind them, Yang saw one of the COs walk up to Cadeja. Reilly clamped his hand down on her arm and started to pull her away.

Fighting for more time, Cadeja resisted Reilly and tried to shake him off. In response he pulled harder, engendering a feral growl from Cadeja as she flipped around to face him. Refusing to let go, Reilly continued to pull her along the hallway.

"Let's go inmate! Back to bunks now or you're getting written up!"

Ignoring him, Cadeja kept yelling over her shoulder.

"RAYA! Qué hiciste, tonta? Me prometiste! Me prometiste que no te involucrarías!"

At this point, Yang couldn't see the girl anymore – the mass of inmates between them was too thick. Eventually, the force of the crowd's momentum and the pull of Reilly's hand overwhelmed Cadeja, and she was led away down the next hallway – still yelling Raya's name as she moved farther and farther away.

Once they'd walked a ways down the hall, Yang tried to put her hand comfortingly on Cadeja's back, but the wolf Faunus growled at her touch and Yang quickly drew back, startled by the ferocity of the woman's response.

As far as she could within the confines of the crowded hallway, Yang tried to give her cellmate some space. Peeking up at Cadeja through the curtain of her hair, Yang saw that the muscles in the Faunus's neck and jaw were tense and tightly contracted, refusing to relax.

The other girls in line picked up on the strangled fury radiating from Cadeja and they backed off as well, creating a small radius of space around her. Alone in her own world, Cadeja gritted her teeth and stared angrily at the floor as she stomped back towards the Wilds.

Still trailing behind her and leaving several feet of space between them, Yang eventually followed Cadeja into their cell. She listened to the clank of metal as the cell doors in D block all slid shut, still warily eyeing her cellmate.

Cadeja was pacing back and forth in the small space between their bunks and the concrete wall. Her arms were crossed over her chest tightly, and she seemed to be muttering something to herself under her breath.

Every once in a while, Yang would catch a word or two, but she understood little of what Cadeja said.

"…tan tonta! Todavía… es una niña! No puedo creerlo… idiota joven! No tiene razón… qué hiciste, Raya? No entiendo nada… hermanita mía, qué hiciste pa' que llegaras aquí…"

Still unsure of what to do, Yang dithered by the cell door. Unruffled by the skirmish in the hall, Yang tried to smooth out her shirt and fix her right sleeve – it had been knotted around the end of her upper arm, but the twisted fabric had come undone in the crush of inmates.

After a moment of fidgeting with the sleeve, she gave up – too frustrated to fix it. Cheeks flushed, she pulled the shirt off over her head and flung it onto her bunk, standing in her cell in just her white tank top.

Meanwhile, Cadeja still paced. With every pass, she looked like she came closer and closer to punching the wall with one of her balled up fists. Muscles tense, she was practically shaking from head to toe. Her anger was obvious, but to Yang it seemed like there was something else adding to Cadeja's rapidly darkening mood.

Yang stood there studying her for nearly half an hour, and still Cadeja continued to pace back and forth. Giving up, Yang clambered up into her bed, and decided to wait it out. She sat with her back against the wall, watching Cadeja practically plow a track into the floor.

After a while, the motion started to have a hypnotic effect on Yang, causing her to doze. Every once in a while, her head would slouch down to her chest, eyes closing. Belatedly she'd remember to look up, still worried about her cellmate, before starting to fall back asleep.

Suddenly, Cadeja yelled and startled Yang awake – causing her to jolt upright in her bed. Looking down, Yang saw that Cadeja had finally stopped pacing and was instead staring down at the floor, head in her hands.

Tentatively, Yang said, "Cadeja, what's going? Who was that girl?"

Her back to Yang, Cadeja remained silent for a moment before answering.

"She's blood. Ella es mi hermana – my little sister, Raya…"

Yang had suspected as much – not only did they have the same last name, but the physical resemblance was striking. Raya was a blue-eyed, younger version of Cadeja – although much less physically imposing than her elder sister.

Briefly, Yang felt the urge to reach out and take Cadeja's hand, wondering how she would feel if Ruby was in Raya's position. Forcefully, she quashed the urge, remembering Cadeja's violent reaction to her previous contact.

Struggling for something to say, Yang finally remarked, "At least she's not in D block where Sasha or Leonie can get to her too easily."

Cadeja grunted, acknowledging Yang, but she still stayed tensely locked in her stance, facing the wall.

Curiosity was starting to get the better of Yang, and so she asked, "How old is she? She looks so young…"

Cadeja turned her head slightly, not quite meeting Yang's eye.

"She would've just turned fifteen. I haven't seen her in almost two years… what she's even doing Vale…"

Cadeja paused, dark green eyes shimmering.

"D block or no, she's not safe here. Ella es la más joven de nuestra tribu. She's the youngest of us, and she's never had to deal with these kinds of people before. I've spent my life making sure of it, I don't know what went wrong… she'd promised not to…"

Looking back down at the floor, Cadeja's shoulders seemed to shake, and she hugged herself tightly.

"Last I spoke to her, she barely even knew this language – el castellano was all she knew, she'd hardly met anyone outside the tribe, save a few traders who ventured north into Mantle. How she's goin' to get by in here, I've no idea…"

"You'll help her, and even though it's not much – I will too, promise," said Yang, smiling.

Turning around to face the bunks, Cadeja's lips flickered up with a hint of a smile. Seeing Yang's goofy grin, she rolled her eyes and slipped into her own bunk, disappearing below.

After a moment's pause, Yang heard Cadeja's voice whisper up from underneath her.

"Thanks, ave rota."

Yang waited to see if she would say anything else, watching the clock. They still had some time left before they'd get dragged off to their respective work duties, and Yang wanted to do what she could to lift Cadeja's mood before then.

It certainly wouldn't be a good thing if she went out of here volatile, if someone in the laundry room pisses her off, she's liable to start a fight, and then she'll end up like those girls in the Yard… Yang thought to herself, worrying.

Lost in thought, Yang almost missed it when Cadeja finally started to speak again.

"I'm just worried about what'll happen between now and when I'll finally get a chance to talk to her; A and D blocks don't mix much," she muttered.

Yang grimaced. D block – being the housing unit dedicated to aura wielders and violent offenders – was socialized with the other cellblocks less than others. Occasionally, they'd have the same lunch hour or rec time as other units, but it wasn't a frequent or reliable pairing.

Some weeks they'd only see B block, others it'd be both A and C blocks or something along those lines. It was kept randomized so as to prevent planned attacks against other inmates or "premeditated incidents" as COs called it. They could go whole weeks without seeing girls from a certain cellblock.

Trying to sound hopeful, Yang said, "You never know – maybe you'll get your chance sooner than you'd think."

There was a pause in which Cadeja might have nodded, and then Yang thought she heard her say something.

"Maybe – we'll see. Que será, será."

Little did they know – Yang was right. Cadeja's chance would come sooner than she thought.

After a few weeks of administrative grumbling and a postponement period due to the fighting in the Yard, the Warden's assistant announced that they would be "enforcing" a movie night, despite the COs' collective complaints.

Yang had overheard some of the guards talking about it in the Yard on her second day back to rec privileges.

"This is the stupidest idea I think those dumbasses in Federal have ever come up with!" complained a female guard, her hair cut into a short bob that shook emphatically every time she spoke.

"I don't know, they must have a good reason for it," mumbled CO Lowell, the only one of the guards who even looked like they were paying attention to the inmates in the Yard.

"No way – it's all just administrative bull shit!" scoffed a tall male guard with a pot belly. He had bushy gray eyebrows that nearly swallowed up the top half of his face.

"What do you mean?" asked Lowell, her eyes still scanning the Yard.

"It's an 'Atlas-funded charity program' for the inmates! You know what that means?" he asked, pausing. Not receiving a reply, he said, "It means that some Atlesian muckity muck paid this shithole charity money to make him feel better about himself and his swanky mansion, and if they don't do what he says the Warden's office is gonna be in the shitter with the Council."

"Sounds about right," said the short-haired female guard, grumbling. "Nobody gives a damn if we break our necks trying to keep these girls off each other – I mean, c'mon, mixing the population at a time like this! It's freaking suicide."

Yang thought the guard was right, but she was relieved to have good news for Cadeja. Rushing back to where she'd left the wolf Faunus under the great oak tree in the center of the Yard, she'd told her everything she'd overheard.

So just a few nights after Raya had arrived in the Birdcage, all the inmates from A through D blocks with clean records for the past three months were allowed to attend movie night.

This would have excluded the girls who'd been involved in the fight, but as it was no one had seen them yet – presumably, they were still locked up away from the rest of the inmates.

On the night of the event, all of the girls who wanted to attend were led to Briarcliff's 'Rec Center.' The Center was a large indoor space – rivalled only by the cafeteria in terms of size – that served as a multi-functional facility.

It was often reserved for various programs – yoga sessions, job training classes, basket weaving – a general variety of banal and vaguely educational drabble. It also doubled as a chapel for the religious or spiritual portion of the Birdcage's population.

To date, Yang had only been here once before, for a board game afternoon hosted for new arrivals. She'd lost three straight games of checkers to a curiously silent but studious Faunus named Lyra. Besides Leonie, Lyra had perhaps been the oldest woman Yang had seen amongst the inmates – somewhere in her mid to late thirties.

Shuffling down the hallway amidst the crowd of D block inmates, Yang tried to remember more about the rec room, but found it was a hazy recollection at best. Her first few days at Briarcliff were mostly a blur of sounds and sights all at war – demanding her attention as she tried to memorize everything important.

Looking up as they were led into the Rec Center by a full complement of COs, Yang dimly recognized the high-ceilinged room. Underneath her feet the floor gradually slanted down towards a stage at the far end of the room. The majority of the slant was covered in neatly organized rows of dented metal folding chairs, leaving standing room along the walls and in the back towards the entrance.

Up on the stage, a large black screen dangled down from the ceiling, opposite a mounted projector whose blue light weakly illuminated falling motes of dust.

Eyes casting over the room, Yang realized that D block must have been the last group of inmates to arrive at the impromptu movie theater. The room was already fairly crowded – a couple hundred women milled about, standing off to the sides or huddled in small groups amidst the rows of chairs.

Yang felt lost in the crowd, but from the moment they entered Cadeja had started scanning the room, eyes wide and wolf ears swiveling towards every little noise.

There was always a chance that Raya had opted not to come – attendance wasn't mandatory – but that didn't stop Cadeja from yanking Yang across the room by her left arm, intent on her search.

Cadeja led them zig-zagging through the rows of chairs, guided by some sense that Yang couldn't follow. After just a few moments, they ended up down by the stage, heading for a small cluster of girls by the wall.

Eventually, Yang spotted what Cadeja must have noticed well before she had: standing in a small protective circle, Church and Mirra surrounded the huddled form of Raya on either side.

Releasing her grip on Yang's hand, Cadeja cast a grateful look in Church's direction and pulled Raya into her arms. She hugged the smaller girl to her chest, cradling her head in one of her hands. After a moment, she led Raya a few steps away.

Yang could hear the rat-a-tat rapid fire of Cadeja's speech, too fast for her to follow. Raya would occasionally reply, her voice soft and low – barely audible amidst the noise of the crowd.

Throughout, Cadeja's hands never left Raya's shoulders. She tried to catch Raya's eye, but for the most part the girl stared at the floor as she mumbled her responses. While she watched them, Yang inched towards Church.

"Did you know Raya before? Cadeja had never mentioned a sister," she said, eyes never leaving the two girls.

"No, we'd never met – but Cadeja has a large family. I've crossed paths with some of her other sisters before," replied Church, her face assuming its customary glazed-over look.

Sisters plural? thought Yang, wondering for the thousandth time just how much she knew about her cellmate.

"She's in A block with you guys right?"

For a brief pause, Church didn't answer. Tilting her head slightly, she tuned back into the conversation for a moment, saying, "She's bunked next to Mirra. She'll be looked after."

Yang's eyes flicked up to meet Mirra's for a second, noticing for the first time that the girl had oddly pale gray-green eyes that contrasted beautifully with her dark mahogany skin. Still silent, Mirra simply nodded in affirmation.

By the end of their exchange, Cadeja was leading Raya back over to their small group. Standing before them, her arm stayed draped around her sister's shoulders, refusing to let go.

"Xiao Long – this is Raya," she said, presenting her sister.

Raya blushed and nodded, eyes still trained on the floor.

"Go on, tonta, say hello," encouraged Cadeja, giving Raya a nudge.

Yang was startled when the Raya's bright blue eyes peered up and met her own gaze. Hidden within the small girl was a light that shown through her fear.

"Hello, Yang, it is my pleasure to meet you," she said, pronouncing each word purposefully and heavily trilling the 'r.' Remembering what Cadeja had said about Raya's lack of familiarity with their language, Yang noticed how much thicker her accent was than her elder sister's.

Yang tried to smile reassuringly.

"Hola Raya, mucho gusto," said Yang – hoping her inflection was better than it had been before.

Surprised, Raya's mouth dropped into a little 'o' before she smiled, nodding. Brightening, she said, "Mucho gusto, Yang. Me alegre mucho que has aprendido un poco de nuestra lengua. Cadeja me ha dicho que vamos a ser buenas amigas."

Yang smiled and nodded, understanding for the most part what Raya had said – although at times, she spoke too fast for Yang to follow. In her thick accent, she pronounced the -ja ending of her sister's name emphatically, making a guttural sound in her throat. It was oddly beautiful.

For a moment, Raya beamed up at her sister, and then her smile receded slowly, perhaps remembering where she was.

All the while, Yang sneaked a few glances at Church and Mirra. From what she could tell, they seemed to understand Raya's rapid speech – either that, or they were really good at playing along.

Above them, the lights on the ceiling dimmed and COs started calling for girls to head to their seats. D block was more stringently monitored than the others, and so Cadeja and Yang had assigned seats in the back corner of the room, forcing them to leave Church, Mirra, and Raya behind.

Cadeja pulled Raya into one last embrace before finally releasing her grip on her sister. Yang practically had to lead her away, back to where the COs were waiting for them. As they left, Cadeja kept casting glances over her shoulder as Raya went to go sit with Church and Mirra near the front.

Pulled out of their own little group, Yang realized just how heavy a presence the COs had in the room – their numbers had been bumped up, and she counted several dozen guards around the rows of chairs. Some she recognized – Lowell, Reilly, Kowalski, and the bushy-browed guy from the Yard – but others she didn't.

After a moment, she managed to situate her and Cadeja near the front of the D block section of chairs. Even though they were still several rows back, at least they could see where Raya sat.

Trying to relax and enjoy the first film she'd seen in months, Yang lounged in her metal folding chair, resting her hand in her lap. However, Cadeja remained tense, sitting up straight in her seat – obviously looking at the front rows rather than at the screen where the picture was flickering to life.

Trying to calm her, Yang reached out and took Cadeja's hand. Surprised, the wolf Faunus flinched at the contact, forcing a smile as she looked down at Yang briefly before worriedly returning her gaze to where Raya sat. Somehow in the scuffle for seats, Raya had been separated from Church and Mirra.

Sighing, Yang returned her attention to the screen. The COs had fast-forwarded through the opening credits and accidentally skipped part of the opening scene. They didn't seem to care enough to fix it.

For the first half hour or so, Yang tried to concentrate on the movie – but something about the premise seemed utterly ridiculous. Albeit, it was a musical so some unreality was expected. Still, Yang scrunched up her nose as a young woman posing as a princess sang to the little birds around her and they helped her don a yellow silk dress with a flared hoop skirt.

As if, thought Yang, rolling her eyes.

Checking on Cadeja, Yang saw that the Faunus was still stock straight in her seat, one white-knuckled hand gripping the side of her chair. Her ears stood alert on top of her head, pointing towards Raya.

Concerned, Yang followed the line of Cadeja's gaze and saw what had her practically jumping up out of her chair.

Backlit from the light of the projector, Yang made out the tell-tale signs of Freya Harrison. Her maimed rabbit ear was outlined in a ghostly blue halo as she leaned over Raya from the row behind. Worriedly looking around for COs, Yang put a restraining hand on Cadeja's leg, holding her in place.

Squinting, Yang saw that Raya was trying to shrink away from Freya's unwanted attention. Tightening her grip on Cadeja, Yang realized that the wolf Faunus with her superior eyesight would have been able to see everything Freya was doing in the dark.

From what Yang could tell, it looked like the strange rabbit Faunus was leaning over Raya from behind, hovering close to her face. Without getting up and making a scene, Raya had nowhere to go.

Yang saw a blue-lit arm snake up over Raya's shoulder, reaching down towards her exposed chest. Yang winced, remembering her own encounter with Freya's unwanted touch in the cafeteria.

Several inmates around them glared as Cadeja emitted a low growl. Yang could feel her practically shaking under her hand.

Freya's face seemed to inch closer and closer to Raya's. Yang could imagine the girl's wide-eyed, unblinking stare.

Her broken ear twitched as Raya gasped, trying to bat away the rabbit girl's hand. Freya squealed in protest and seemed to grab onto Raya from behind.

Distracted by the commotion down front, Yang missed it as Cadeja jumped to her feet.

Ignoring the movie, she roared and started climbing over girls in the seats in front of her.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER YOU LITTLE FUCKBUNNY!"

Girls cried out in protest as Cadeja clawed her way past them, hurtling through the rows of metal seats. Yang stood by helplessly for a moment before she started to edge her way out of their row of chairs and trail Cadeja down the aisle.

Too slow to catch her, Yang watched as Cadeja reached Freya, grabbing her one un-bent ear and yanking her head away from Raya. Freya hissed and clawed at the hand on her ear.

From the other side of the room, Yang noticed the Verté sisters marching towards the struggling duo. Judith got there first and pulled Cadeja away from Freya, shouting something in her ear.

Oh please let her break this up before it becomes a real fight! thought Yang, desperately.

Still making her way towards Cadeja, Yang was caught up in a pack of girls who stood cheering on the fight – not caring about the consequences.

She heard Cadeja snarl, still fighting to keep her hold on Freya.

"HEY!" boomed a CO's voice.

Dammit!

Yang fought harder to break through the growing crowd –

"Cadeja!" yelled Leonie, her commanding voice cutting through the noise. Immediately, Cadeja released her grip on Freya and Judith was able to pull her away just as two male COs – Kowalski and bushy-brows – arrived up front, ready to restrain her by force if necessary.

Disappointed, some of the girls around Yang sat back down – allowing her to get through and make her way up to the front. Briefly, Yang noticed that Raya had somehow found Church in the fracas and was standing with tears in her eyes, watching her big sister.

Breathing heavily, Cadeja shouted something to Raya – presumably checking to make sure she was okay. Raya started to reply, but her voice was lost in the crowd.

Yang stiffened as someone leaned on her shoulder like an armrest.

"Feeling left out little Yang?" cooed Sasha's voice from beside her.

Looking up, Yang glared at Sasha and shook her elbow off of her shoulder.

She smirked. "Doesn't matter – can't understand a word they're saying any ways. Or do we speak dog nowadays?" she said, taunting Yang with a toothy grin.

Not bothering to respond, Yang stomped away and tried to break through the ring of COs that had formed around the front of the room.

She could feel Sasha trailing behind her, vying for a closer look.

Trying to peer through the crowded mass of bodies in blue uniforms, Yang noticed that Judith had loosened her grip on Cadeja, who seemed to have gotten herself back under control – save for the snarl that flashed across her face every time she noticed Freya quivering a few feet away.

Church was trying to lead Raya away, but the ring of COs actually prevented her from making any headway. Nervously, Freya tried to follow them – if only to get away from Cadeja – but as she tried to push past Mirra, she seemed to trip over something and stumble into Raya, colliding with her from behind.

The contact was enough to set Cadeja off again – Judith and Leonie didn't have time to react. Roaring something incomprehensible she launched herself at Freya, clawing her arms in an attempt to pull her away.

Startled, Freya made no effort to defend herself and ultimately fell under Cadeja's weight. The two disappeared in a tangle of bodies on the floor.

Yang shoved at the COs in front of her, trying to push her way past. One of them grunted, annoyed, and elbowed her in the face. Eyes watering, Yang cupped a hand over her nose, still trying to see what was going on.

Somewhere in her peripheral vision, she saw Sasha exchange a look with Roxie, who seemed to materialize out of nowhere.

Did she just make it out of the circle?

Before she could puzzle it out, Yang's attention snapped back as she heard Cadeja scream. CO Kowalski was dragging her up by her hair, his fingers locked around a fistful of white.

Her ears flattened back against her head and she snarled, eyes closing against the pain. Another CO – trying to help – inadvertently bumped into them and temporarily loosened Kowalski's grip.

Trying to slip out of range, Cadeja stepped back but Kowalski blindly batted at her with two heavy fists. Cadeja hissed and blocked one hand, and viciously bit into the other – letting her elongated fangs sink into his skin.

Kowalski howled and tried to shake her off, ripping away chunks of his own skin in the process. With a final yank, he managed to pull his hand out of her mouth, her teeth leaving long tracks of red across his skin.

Stumbling back, Cadeja spat out the blood in her mouth and wiped at her lips with the back of her wrist. Spitting again, she shook her head, disgust written all over her face.

"You little bitch!" roared Kowalski, cradling his injured hand.

Still wiping at her mouth, Cadeja yelled something that Yang couldn't quite make out. Part of what Yang could hear sounded like, "You still taste as bad as you look, verga."

Two COs appeared behind Cadeja, grabbing her from either side. Wrenching her arms behind her as she growled in protest, baring her bloodied fangs, they slipped zip ties around her wrists and bound her hands behind her back.

Finally the mass of COs managed to make some room, parting the crowd of inmates as Cadeja was marched out of the Rec Center. Some girls jeered and booed as they passed, but Yang was too busy trying to catch Cadeja's eye.

She was unable to so much as exchange a few words with her cellmate as she was ferried from the room – she simply stood by, her one hand twitching uselessly by her side.

Sasha leaned over her shoulder, grinning.

"Bye, bye, puta," she purred, wrapping an arm around Yang's shoulders.

Too numb to react to Sasha's touch, Yang asked, "Where are they taking her?"

"Securing Housing Unit – the SHU – the big house – the playroom for naughty wolf bitches," she answered, smile widening.

Yang looked at her, irritation flashing in her eyes.

Sasha sighed.

"Solitary, Yang – they're taking your little guard dog to solitary confinement."

Flinching away from Sasha's hot breath on her neck, Yang tried to see where Cadeja had gone – but she had disappeared from sight.

Looking back along the path cleared by the COs, all Yang could see was Raya. The girl had taken a few steps after her sister, leaving Church and Mirra behind to deal with a mewling, bleary-eyed Freya.

Raya's bright blue eyes shimmered as the dim light from the forgotten projector hit them. Tears leaked down over her cheeks – one hand raised in the direction her sister had vanished.

Looking completely and utterly broken, Yang watched as Raya sank to her knees, collapsing in a puddle of bent limbs on the floor.

Tearing herself away, Yang shook off Sasha and inched her way through the crowd towards Raya. Kneeling, she held the girl to her chest, looking back towards the room's exit.

Cadeja… she thought, gnawing at her lower lip.

What have you done?

Author's note: Guys, I don't know about you, but I love Cadeja and so it's terribly painful to hurt her. Why cruel world, why!

Sorry that the chapters keep getting increasingly longer, there's just so much going on! If you have any constructive criticism/suggestions or even positive remarks about certain characters, language use, story lines, etc please hit me up! I was an English major, I can take it, I promise.

I hope to have chapter 9 posted before the end of the week? Maybe? Here's a teaser: It's called "A Jackie London Odyssey" (in case you hadn't already picked up on it names – chapter names, character names, place names – are all very significant here, trying to keep up the RWBY tradition!)

p.s. my friends are starting to come up with ship names for this fic (yang x cadeja = yanimal, sasha x yang = phoenix down. Looking for improvements/suggestions for those, and sasha x cadeja/any others – because my friends are super weird and find this stuff waaaay too entertaining)