Author's Note: Okay all, sorry for the wait, but what with me juggling more stories than I probably should be and my Semester starting up next week, I've been busy, so I do apologize. Before we go forward though, I believe that a point of clarity is in order going forward; this being an OC story set more or less at the same time as canon and therefore inherently something of a slight AU, I've decided that, in substitute of certain canon evens, I do need to make some changes. Thus this chapter corresponds roughly to the events of episode 2 of Volume 2, and shall for the purposes of this story, take its place. Now, does that mean that there will be no giant robot as in episode 4? No comment… and anyway, after this I need to write at least one fluff chapter as a personal palette cleanser… Anyway, enough about that, and I do hope you enjoy the chapter. As always, please feel free to leave any feedback you care to; Enjoy.

"Hey Mina…"

Mina could hear her name being called – repeated over and over again – but she didn't want to listen, or wake up for that matter. She was dimly aware that she was no longer in the shipyard, but rather in a bed as a matter of fact, and the voice was familiar – Miss Xiao Long perhaps – but Mina did not want to listen, hear, or think. All of it just hurt too much, but if she could just stay asleep…

"I got nothin,' see?"

"Just… let me see her…"

Mina's eyes snapped open, "B-Blake?" It couldn't be…

"Good morning Mina," And just like that, Mina's heart was racing with relieved excitement as she felt Blake's lips brush gently against her forehead, "You've been out for almost a day…"

"Yeah, that what's-her-face bitch stuck you real good…" Yang added, sitting down in a chair across from the beds, "Really blew the shipyard to Hell and back too,"

"But how did you…?" Mina started, still too surprised and overjoyed to form a complete thought.

"Easy Mina; don't sit up too fast…" Blake said with some concern, "We are all fine,"

"We?" Mina sat up more slowly now, wincing at the sudden buildup of pressure behind her temples, but it didn't dampen her mood by much, "But you were the only one who knew-,"

"Till we caught her tryin to put the kittens back in the dorm and sneak off again," Yang snorted, "We might've invited ourselves to the rescue after that…"

"But the explosion in the parking garage-,"

"Yeah… we were right in the middle of that…" It was Ruby who spoke up now, gingerly twiddling her thumbs as she did so, "And we all probably would've been vaporized and crushed if not for-,"

"You're welcome," Weiss piped in somewhat irritably from the next infirmary bed over, "Do you have any idea how hard it is to call up enough glyphs and in the right configuration to shield the four of us from a confined Dust-induced thermo-baric reaction and collapsing building on that scale?"

"What she means is that she fainted," Yang jibed.

"After saving you and your precious hair, yes!" Weiss snapped.

"Wait…" Mina's heart nearly stopped again, "Four? What about Clara?"

"She's fine, actually," Blake assured Mina, brushing a stray lock of hair out of Mina's face, "She was actually waiting for us here when we got back - and almost had a panic attack when she saw you – apparently she ran late because somebody stole her scroll and she got hung up looking for it before she finally just gave up and came anyway,"

"But that means…"

"Yup," Yang passed Mina hopelessly mangled lump of plastic and metal, "Bitchy-McBlows-shit-up never had Clara…"

Mina slumped forward, letting out a deep sigh, her relief complete, "Thank goodness…" She sniffled, "I thought…" and the tears began to well up again, "I thought that…"

"Come here," Blake cooed, pulling Mina into a gentle hug, encouraging her to just let it all out, "Everything's fine now; we're all fine, and the Doctor says your arm should heal within the week, thanks to your aura,"

Mina nodded weakly, just crying into Blake's shoulder, "I was so scared Blake…"

"Shhh… I know…" Blake held her tighter, "I was worried too when I started hearing the explosions from where you were too… I kept telling myself 'just as soon as we can rescue Clara you can run to Mina's rescue…' Things just… didn't quite work out…"

Mina nodded, sniffling again and finding it difficult to get words past the lump in her throat, "Mmhmm…"

"Doesn't much look like you really needed us though…" Yang commented, "Seems like you were the only thing left in one piece there-,"

"Sis! She had like, a huge hole in her arm!" Ruby protested her sister's making light of the situation.

"Eh, it wasn't that big, and the Doc patched her up just fine," Yang countered, pounding a fist into her opposite palm, "Besides it'd take more than any of that to take one of us down!"

"I don't think you realize just how close we cut it Yang," Weiss reproached from her bed. I almost couldn't shield us-,"

"But you did! And that is what we need to focus on! Matter of fact, I'd say everyone here owes you a thank-you kiss for-,"

"Yang!" Weiss snapped, sitting all the way up in bed now, most decidedly unamused, "I am on mandatory bed-rest for the next forty-eight hours for acute Aura depletion after we all almost got crushed under a hundred tons of concrete! And Mina has a serious injury and God only knows what she's just been through emotionally, so please, no jokes, okay?" The room fell silent, "I just…" Weiss sighed, some of the anger bleeding out of her voice now, "I think we all need to take a while to really appreciate how close we all came to not making it through this one; Ready or not, now that we are in this, I suppose, I think we need to think real hard about what exactly we've signed up for. If this Nadia Undine was a nobody, then we need to be really damn careful going forward – maybe it's because she tricked us and caught us by surprise, but the fact remains that we almost didn't make it through this,"

"Yeah… Okay…" Yang mellowed at the rebuke, to Blake's slight surprise as she noticed the brawler's fists clench in frustration, "I guess you're right Princess…"

Yang Xiao Long was plainly unaccustomed to being helpless, and for all her strength, that was exactly what she'd been under that parking garage when the bombs went off. Weiss was right, Blake reflected, they all very nearly didn't make it out of that trap, and if the Heiress hadn't insisted that Blake let them in on what was going on, Blake herself wouldn't have.

And then where would Mina be?

"She's right…" Blake spoke in a level tone, still rubbing Mina's back, "We have to get to the bottom of whatever is going on with Torchwick and the White Fang, but we need to be careful; this is serious now. If one girl with a personal vendetta can get her hands on enough Dust to level a shipyard and half a city block, I don't want to think about how big this really is…"

Weiss nodded, "Frankly, neither do I, but…. I can hardly deny that something needs to be done…"

"Alright then!" Ruby sprang to her feet, "All in favor of becoming the youngest group of huntresses ever to single-handedly topple a corrupt organization conspiring against the-,"

"Yes,"

"I did just say I was in, did I not?"

"Yeah!"

"Mmhmm…"

Ruby slumped back into her chair, "You didn't let me finish…"

"I think we got the gist," Weiss rolled her eyes, "That said, we are going to need a plan…"

"That part can wait," Ruby shook her head, "At least until you and Mina are out of here – let me worry about it until then, okay?"

"It'll be a cold day in Hell before the Princess lets herself relax-,"

"Yang…"

"Sorry… I couldn't resist…" Yang apologized despite herself, "Jokes are fun; you should try it some time,"

"Not likely, Xiao Long,"

"Just sayin'"

Blake sighed, "Ruby's right though; as much as this all makes me nervous, it can wait until after Weiss and Mina have had time to recuperate. Still, it couldn't hurt for you and Yang to see about getting a head start on the planning-,"

"Yang? Plan?" Weiss chuckled.

"Hey!"

"You wanted me to try telling a joke,"

"Well yeah but…" The brawler grumbled as she trailed off, "I can plan stuff…I'm good for more than just punching stuff dammit!"

"Aww… Don't let it get you down Sis… I'm not real good at subtlety either…"

"Et tu, Ruby?"

Weiss chuckled again, "Okay, I know I said no jokes, but I do think that helped…"

"They do say that laughter is the best medicine…" Yang grumbled, although in a slightly better mood, "For now though, Doc's orders; c'mon Sis, let's give 'em their space,"

Ruby nodded, "Yeah okay… rest up you guys…"

Weiss nodded with a slight smile on her face, I'll give it my best effort,"

"No, no, no, that's exactly what you're not supposed to be doing right now," Yang quipped, gently pushing the Heiress back down onto her infirmary bed with one hand, "Zero effort whatsoever, That's what you should be going for,"

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Whatever Yang, just get going already,"

"Hey, if it's all the same to you all, I'm going to stay here with Mina for a while, okay?" Blake piped in, still encumbered from getting up by Mina, who was still holding her tightly; the bat Faunus had ceased crying, but she wasn't about to let go.

Ruby nodded understandingly, before tugging her sister out of the infirmary before she had time for another wisecrack, "Got it, time to go Sis!"

"Wha-hey!"

Weiss let out a relieved sigh, laying back down on her bed, "At last, some peace and quiet…"

The infirmary was quiet for a long time after that; it wasn't exactly a busy day all told, what with the three members of Team RWBY being the only occupants of the ward at the time. Through the quiet time, the Schnee heiress applied herself to the task of doing nothing, precisely as the doctor had ordered, and in truth, she did feel more than a bit tired by the previous night's ordeal. Blake, for her part, just sat beside Mina on her bed, holding her close as she quietly sobbed in her relief. Blake hated seeing her like this, so broken up while Blake herself was powerless to help beyond an embrace and some soothing words that really didn't amount to much when you got right down to it. The worst of it though, was the knowledge that, had she gotten her way and managed to keep the others from getting involved, she'd be dead, and Mina being Mina… She probably wouldn't have survived that either…

"Hey Mina…" Blake whispered into Mina's ear, "I'm sorry I scared you like that…"

Mina squeezed Blake a bit tighter, "I am sorry too…"

"Why?" Blake asked in some puzzlement, "You were just-,"

"I wanted to kill her…" Mina interrupted, "I still do… That is not what you would have wanted but… when I saw the explosion… I stopped caring…"

"Mina-,"

"You left me the first time because you did not like the killing and the violence… and there I was, ready to-,"

"Stop."

"Hmm?'

"I said stop." Blake repeated, "I don't want to hear any more…" Mina's face fell, but before she could respond further, Blake continued, "Because I don't care. I know that you don't necessarily agree with me on all of my principles Mina, but a desire for revenge is hardly a unique flaw – and it is a flaw, mind – but nobody's perfect, and I don't love you any less for it,"

"But I almost did it…"

"But you didn't, did you?"

Mina looked away, "I hurt her… and I would have finished it but…" but then Mina trailed off.

Blake pulled her close again, "It's okay Mina; life hasn't been terribly kind to you and you've lost a lot. I'm not going to blame you for getting angry, but what's even more important is this, right now. You know you made a mistake, and you're sorry – this is an important step for you Mina-,"

"I'm sorry for disappointing you, Blake, "Mina corrected, not looking up, "I care little and less for Miss Undine's life or feelings…"

Blake took a deep breath and let out a long sigh, "It's still a step in the right direction, however small. Besides, whatever you did to her, it doesn't look like she's dead; the authorities found dozens of unexploded Dust charges all over the wreckage of the shipyard, but no evidence of a body yet…"

Mina tensed, "I see…"

Blake looked long and hard at Mina, who seemed perplexingly distant all of the sudden, "Mina, don't worry about her right now; you won, we're all alive, and that is what counts."

"Do you know why she did all of it Blake?" Mina asked, sounding unsettlingly cold.

"She didn't take kindly to our having left the White Fang, I suppose,"

"No one in the White Fang looks kindly upon deserters," Mina shook her head, "But they don't all rig up buildings and shipyards to kill a single person,"

Blake fell silent.

"She said that I was her hero," Mina continued somewhat bitterly, "That I gave her hope because, in spite of everything I fought for the 'cause'…"

"And you feel guilty about disappointing her?"

"Not in the least," Mina shook her head decisively, "Her ignorance of my motivation is her own problem, but… I suppose that I am simply… unfamiliar with the idea of being a role model…"

"Everyone looks up to something," Blake shrugged, "And knowing what you had to overcome to get to the point you did in the White Fang… I won't lie, I was a little inspired too…"

Mina looked up at her, puzzled, "But you were my only goal and inspiration…"

"At the risk of sounding full of myself," Blake began with a wry smile, "I think that is what makes you strong; when other people doubt themselves or question what they're fighting for – myself included –you always know exactly why you're doing it. As long as you think it's what I want, you won't hesitate for a second…"

Mina picked up on the slightly worried tone though, "This… displeases you?"

"No…" Blake shook her head, "And yes…"

"I do not understand…"

"It's… complicated…" Blake allowed, "I like that you love me enough to put me first in your life, and I love having you in my life but…" Blake paused to put her thoughts in order, "But I shouldn't be the only thing that matters in your life."

"What is my life without you in it?" Mina challenged, "All I am is for and because of you…"

Blake looked away, "That's just it though mina; you don't value your life simply because it's your life, you value it because I'm here – like earlier, no matter who talked to you or tried to wake you, you wouldn't wake up until you heard me. What about your friends? Clara? Weiss? Anyone else who knows and cares for you? How do you think they would feel if something happened to me and you decided that you were done living because I was gone?"

"Dearest-,"

"Mina…" Blake rested her hands on Mina's shoulders, "I love you, but God forbid anything should happen to you, I don't intend to just let my life end there – I would do anything and everything in my power to help you if I could but if that wasn't enough… I wouldn't follow you into your grave, and I don't want you to follow me into mine whenever that day comes! Do you hear me Mina? If you want to do what I want you to, then promise me, right now, that we will never have to have this discussion again. Promise me that you won't just let go of life if the day ever comes that I'm gone… please…"

Mina was tearing up again now and burying her face in Blake's shoulder, "I'm sorry…"

"Promise me,"

"I promise…"

"There see? That wasn't so hard…" Blake pulled away just enough to look into Mina's sightless blue eyes – they were still bloodshot and brimmed with tears, but beautiful nonetheless, "You really had me worried when you wouldn't wake up for anyone earlier…"

Mina looked away, a playfully bashful look developing on her face now, "Perhaps you could… kiss me? To prove that I am not dreaming of course…"

Blake finally smiled again, leaning in for a chaste little kiss, "Of course,"

"Is that all?" Mina pouted a little, baiting Blake and she knew it.

In response, Blake gently pushed her down onto the mattress and laid down beside her before whispering in her ear, "I'll spend the night with you, but you'll have to be patient for anything else until you recover – you still owe me a surprise after all…"

Mina perked up slightly, nuzzling up to Blake's chest, "So I do…"

"I've said it before and I'll say it again..." A drowsy Weiss Schnee interrupted groggily, "I love you both like sisters, but please keep the intimacy... well, Intimate…"

Blake's ears drooped a little bit – she'd forgotten that she and Mina weren't quite alone on the ward, "Right… Sorry…"