"Hey… Is it just me, or has Blake been gone a while?" Clara asked as she took the bag of her purchases from the cashier. In point of fact, it had been over twenty minutes since Blake had excused herself, and she'd yet to come back as Mina and Clara were readying to leave, "Does she usually disappear like this?"

Mina's lips were pressed in a line as she answered, "No... Not lately…"

"You think maybe she decided to wait for us outside?" Clara offered, "I think I saw a second-hand bookstore a couple doors down…Wanna check there?"

Mina frowned as she attempted to call Blake over her scroll, only to have it ring until it went to voicemail, "Yes…"

Blake's absence was puzzling, certainly, but it occurred to Mina that she may have laid it on a little thick earlier with the jibes. She wouldn't rightly be surprised to find that Blake had temporarily retreated to a nearby bookstore and gotten lost in one of the volumes, so Mina reserved her panic for the moment as she let Clara lead her out of the store and towards the bookstore in question. It was a busy Saturday in Vale, and thus there were plenty of people around, making it difficult for Mina to use her Semblance to consider all of the dozens of forms within her perception at any given time in search of Blake; she'd checked the store before they'd left, and Blake was no longer there, that much was obvious, but where she had gone was another matter entirely.

Mina hadn't been paying attention, but she must have looked rather upset, because Clara spoke up wit concern, "Hey… you okay…?"

Mina nodded slightly, "Yes… I am simply… searching…"

"Alright…"

Clara's concern was appreciated, but right now Mina needed to focus. A commercial district of Vale on the weekend meant at least a hundred three-dimensional silhouettes to consider at any given time, constantly moving in and out of her sphere of awareness. True, she could summarily eliminate anyone taller or in any sense larger than herself, as well as all the masculine figures, but there were still so many… Where is she…?

A mother and her daughter here, a clique of schoolgirls walking out of a shop across the street there, but nobody fit Blake's outline in her mind. With each passing person who wasn't Blake, Mina felt a chill run down her spine and her heartbeat accelerating. There really was no reason for it… Blake could not have gone far… she would not have-

"Hello Mina…"

Mina's heart stopped cold and her eyes snapped wide open, No…

Slowly Mina turned to face the source of the voice, earning an odd look from Clara, "Mina…? What are you-,"

"Get behind me! Now!"

"H-hey! What's going on? Mina, people are staring!"

Mina didn't care though; all her attention was fixated on one solitary figure standing next to the mouth of an alleyway between buildings. She reflexively reached for her stakes, which she had not brought with her for what was supposed to have been an ordinary shopping trip, but she tensed for a fight anyway. This was her fault… somehow…

"Nadia Undine," Mina all but snarled, "What have you done?"

Undine fidgeted nervously, "N-nothing! I-I just wanted to see you…"

"Liar!"

"It's true!" the other Faunus cried, before mellowing rather suddenly, "You look really nice in that outfit – the skirt, I mean… and the blouse…"

"I do not care what you think. Where is Blake?"

"Mina, you really think she knows?" Clara tried to intervene, "I mean, she's just some random-,"

"I'm not really all that good at that kind of girly stuff…" Nadia continued as though Clara weren't even there, "B-but if that's what you like, I can try…"

"Wait a minute…" Clara's brow furrowed as she asked, "Isn't this that girl who couldn't pay her tab a while back…? Great… looks like you've got a stalker…"

"Clara… Stay back…"

"I'm… I'm sorry if I upset you…" Nadia added somewhat meekly, "I just… I wanted to say 'I'm sorry' and ask you to give me another chance, is all-,"

"Shut up." Mina said dangerously; people were starting to stare, but she could care less, "I want you to shut up, walk away, and dive back into whatever wretched cesspool thatyou clambered out of and drown there…"

"Whoa, whoa – Mina-!"

At first, Nadia flinched as though the comment physically stung, but then, unnervingly she started to giggle as though it were the funniest joke in the world, "Oh, I don't mind getting a little wet if it's for you~" She stepped forward and reached out for Mina, "But if you would just let me-,"

Mina slapped her hand away though, "Do not touch me!"

Clara dropped her bag and moved to hold Mina back, but Mina pushed her away, "No… she should be-,"

"Dead? Oh no, no, no~" Nadia Undine withdrew her hand, but rather than a crushed look from being rejected, she stared, seemingly awed, as though the hand had been blessed by Mina's fingers, before she continued absently, "Funny… all I have to do is hold my breath and suddenly…" she ran her fingers over the gills on the side of her neck, "…No more drowning~"

Mina stared blindly in a mix of seething anger and frigid terror at the source of Nadia Undine's voice. She used her Semblance to focus on the three-dimensional silhouette exclusively, and though she was dimly aware that Clara had resolved to try and play damage control and dissuade curious or morbidly fascinated passersby, all that mattered was that one figure with the short hair and the long sleeves that wouldn't leave her alone…

"You know, they say you meet a guardian angel in your times of need…" Undine continued, as though in idle conversation, "Well… I wouldn't know about that… I met a witch instead… But that's okay too…"

Shut up...

"And you know what? She taught me a few things – like, I know you didn't like me before cause I was too week – I needed to be better to earn your attention…"

Just leave me alone…

"I screwed up…" It seemed more a statement of hideous whimsy than an admission of fault or error, "But I know that now – and I promise to be better; here," she rolled up her right sleeve, exposing her forearm just above the hand which Mina had swatted away, "I'll let you-,"

"Go. Away!" Mina screamed putting up her hands – whether to shield herself or fight, she was past caring. In the back of her mind there was a small voice saying, this is foolishness. She is weak. Break her like a twig and be done with it, but the rest of her being shrieked for her to run away, hide, to erase Nadia Undine from thought and memory. Get her away!

"Oh?" Nadia cocked her head, before unzipping the windbreaker, "Well if you like this better-,"

Clara stepped between them now though, and in her state of panic, Mina made no attempt to throw her aside, "Hey! Look, I don't know what your problem is, but she told you to get lost-,"

"Shut up whore!" Nadia Undine snapped, grabbing Clara by the collar and punching her in the stomach before throwing her to the ground, "And get out of my way!" She looked back up at Mina, and her expression was like night and day; the disgusted anger was gone in an instant and replaced afresh with that disconcerting hybrid of delusional adoration and longing, just as heedless as Mina of the screams of some of the passersby, or that others were calling the police, "Mina needs me right now…"

Mina stepped back, recoiling in revulsion, "I need Blake!"

Mina tried to focus on something, anything other than the memory of Undine's cracked, bloody lips on hers all that time ago, but couldn't. The heat of the fires all over the shipyard and the hulk in the dock, the sounds of the explosions, approaching sirens, and the groaning of strained and buckling steel, it was all seared into her mind and now she couldn't bury it – the damned wench's presence was too much. She should be dead, she should be dead, she should be dead!

"Mina…" Undine spoke softly now, reaching out for Mina's hand once more, "I love you…"

SHUT UP! In a single fluid motion, Mina seized hold of Nadia Undine's wrist and twisted. Hard. "Leave. Me. Alone!"

Nadia winced at first but did not seem to get the message, as a lurid smile spread across her features, "You're holding my hand…"

"SHUT. UP!" Mina screamed, wrenching the joint still further until she heard an audible crack, Snap her in two!

Nadia Undine groaned in pain, but kept from crying out by biting her lip as she fell to a knee, "M-Mina… that hurts… But… It's okay though…" She sniffed, starting to tear up, "I… I guess I deserve it…"

"Mina…" Clara spoke as calmly as possible, having picked herself up off the ground and dusted herself off, "Just… listen to her,"

"Clara, you do not know what she is-,"

"What she is," Clara spoke firmly, tenderly brushing the dirt off of her skinned elbow, "is obviously not playing with a full deck… let her go and we can call the police… They can drag her off to the looney bin, and we can go find Blake before you do something that you're gonna regret…"

Mina hesitated, but it was Nadia who truly reacted to the suggestion – or rather – part of it, "Shut up whore!" she seethed, "Belladonna's gone! She isn't good enough for Mina anyway! She doesn't deserve her!"

"What have you done with Blake!?" Mina demanded, grabbing Nadia by the lapel now, "Tell me where she is or so help me-,"

"I…. I don't know…" Nadia Undine looked away, beginning to hyperventilate, "But why would you want her? She abandoned-,"

"Where?"

Undine squeezed her eyes shut, tears beginning to well up, and though Mina had no awareness of it, Clara could see, with a mounting sense of unexplained dread, that the psycho's hair was starting to glow, "I…. I… I just-,"

"If you did anything to her," Mina threatened in a low voice, "I will kill you…"

Undine's eyes snapped open, glowing bright green and locked with Mina's, as she drew in a shaking breath and shouted, sobbing, "Forget her!"

Instantly Mina's grip on Nadia slackened, and she reeled back almost as if she'd been struck, blinking rapidly. A panicked look on her face, Mina looked about like she was suddenly lost in a place she should have known quite well. Mina began hyperventilating now, and dropped to her knees, shaking, and her hands reached up to cover her face like she was trying to hide, despite being in the middle of the sidewalk.

"I…" Nadia panicked, "N-no! That isn't-," she shook her head angrily, "No, no, no!" her injured wrist hung limply at her side, as she panicked, back-peddling, "I didn't mean to!" She stared at Mina in horror as Mina shook, curled up on her knees, "No! no, no, no, no! I'm sorry! I-I…"

"Mina!" Clara rushed to her side, and then looked back up at Undine angrily, "What did you-?" But Undine was gone – Clara caught a brief glimpse of her back as she ran away through a gasping crowd. Clara clenched a fist in frustration, but let it go; she had a different priority at the moment, "Mina… Mina, can you hear me…?"

Mina's breath came in ragged gasps, "Wh-who are you?"

Clara's eyes widened, "Who-? I'm Clara – your friend… Mina stop it, you're scaring me…"

"Friend…?" Mina blinked, looking up just beside Clara's face, "I… I have a friend…?"

Clara blinked, staring at Mina's wide, uncomprehending eyes, and then glancing about the massed group of onlookers, "What?" she challenged them, "Don't you people have lives?" She turned back to Mina, "come on – let's get you back to Beacon and them… then we'll figure it out from there…" She grunted as she tried to pull Mina back to her feet, "Wow you're heavy…"

Mina sniffled, visibly scared and starting to tear up, "A-are you going to take me home…?"

"Yeah…" Clara nodded, "Can you use that… Semblance thing, or do you need me to lead you by the hand?"

"W-what is a 'semblance?'"

"Well I guess that answers that…" Clara muttered, taking Mina's hand, "Come on…"

Blake wandered through a part of the city that she didn't recognize in a daze. She did not know where she was going, nor for that matter was she entirely sure that she cared – or could even be bothered to. She dimly knew that she was still somewhere in Vale, but where exactly was lost on both her comprehension and interest, Just need to keep goin…

She felt a nagging frustration though, brought on by a sense that something wasn't right. She had to let herself get lost, that was all, nothing else mattered, right? She just let the niggling doubt and the repeated little noise fade into the general din of the city. It didn't matter anyway…

Hey Blake… Blake, it's Ruby… Um… you should probably come back to Beacon…

Oh, Ruby – no, it was just a voice message playing on her scroll, Must've left the messages on speaker… Oh well… I'll go home later…

Blake just kept going, loitering aimlessly through urban Vale without much of a care in the world. This was nice; why didn't she do this more often? Just wandering about through the streets was oddly relaxing despite all the hubbub about in the city – it all just sort of blended together into a cushion of meaningless noise. Well, almost all of it…

Blake, it's Yang, come on home, you're starting to scare us – Hell, at least tell us what you're up to…

Odd… It was not like Yang to sound so worried, but it wasn't like it was some kind of emergency – surely she would have said so if it was. I'll go home later…

Blake. I am going to give you five minutes to respond before I call the police to comb the streets for you. Get back to Beacon, Now. Mina needs you.

Blake's heavily lidded eyes snapped wide open, Mina… Nadia Undine – Oh my God, She reached down into her pocket as Weiss's voice ceased, pressing the key to answer before she lifted the device all the way, "Weiss! What's-,"

"Oh, now you answer?" Weiss interrupted, fuming, "Where have you been and what the hell have you been doing?"

Blake looked away from the screen and the heiress's angry face, "I… I don't know-,"

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Weiss snapped, "Clara just brought Mina back to Beacon by herself, and she's in a bad way Blake. Where are you?"

Blake hesitated, glancing about for some clue as to her whereabouts. She was still in Vale, but that was about all she could make of her immediate surroundings, "I'm… somewhere in Vale… I'll get back to Beacon as soon as I can…"

"Well that's a relief…" Blake could hear Clara sigh on the other end, faint because she wasn't near Weiss's scroll, "But hold on – when that blonde psycho said you were gone, it kinda had me worried…"

"She…" Blake shook her head, "the last thing I remember was her telling me to 'get lost,' and here I am…"

Weiss's mouth was set in a thin, contemplative line before she spoke, letting out a sigh, "Alright, just… get home… We're not quite sure what she did to Mina, but…" Blake's heart skipped a beat as Weiss hesitated, "We've managed to convince her that we're her friends but…"

The harbor was a few blocks to her right, so Blake turned and started running in the general direction of the airship station, "But what?"

"She doesn't remember any of us…"

Author's Note: So… yeah… a little drama – as well as a reminder that Nadia Undine is still out and about (albeit with a few loose screws)- to kick off a nice and angsty couple of chapters. Hopefully that doesn't put you off too much, but ScarletWolfX made an interesting suggestion in a conversation we had a while back and I wanted to see about making some use of it for some drama, feels, and character/relationship development (although whose and in what way I'm not presently inclined to comment). So yeah, fair warning; you can expect the next 2-3 chapters to be heavy… Hopefully you still enjoy though, and as always, I do appreciate any feedback/suggestions, and have a good one!