"I'm here!" Blake all but shouted as she opened the door to the RWBY dorm, panting, "Where-," She took an instant to catch her breath, but no longer, "Where is she?"

Yang stood with her back to the wall beside the door with an apprehensive frown on her face and Ruby sat nervously twiddling her thumbs while sitting on Weiss's bed. Weiss herself was seated in a chair beside Blake's bed, on which were seated Clara and, staring at the floor with a frightened look, Mina.

"Right here Blake," Weiss answered in a low voice, "just… let's take this slow, alright?"

Blake nodded, and Clara moved aside to let Blake have the seat next to Mina, "Alright…"

Weiss nodded, reaching forward to squeeze Mina's hand, "Hey… There's someone else here to see you…"

"Hmmm…? Mina looked up a bit toward the source of Weiss's voice, but Blake's heart sank when she saw the way that Mina's eyes darted about as though trying to pinpoint where Weiss was – Mina would normally look near, if also past, the person whom she was talking to without worrying about trying to look straight at them unless she was using her semblance, in which case the issue was moot, "W-where?"

"Right here…" Blake said softly, placing a hand on Mina's knee, "It's me, Mina…"

Mina recoiled at first, but then relaxed a bit, though not completely, "Who is there?"

Her breath caught in her throat as she spoke, "It's… Blake…"

Mina blinked, "Who?"

"I…. Mina I-,"

"Calm down Blake," Weiss interrupted sympathetically, "She was like this to all of us; don't panic, we'll figure this out,"

"Y-yeah… okay…" Blake said the words, but her heart was still hammering with anxiety as she turned to Mina again, "You don't remember me, do you…?"

Mina then turned vaguely toward Weiss, "Is she my friend too Miss Weiss?"

Weiss let out a heavy sigh, "…Yes…" she shot Ruby and Yang a look, "Keep an eye on her for a minute?" The sisters both nodded, and Weiss stood from her seat, "Blake, Clara, a moment?" Receiving weak nods in the affirmative, Weiss headed for the door out into the hall and was accordingly followed by Clara and a despondent Blake, and upon closing the door behind them she addressed Blake, "Well, there you have it…"

"I… I can't believe it…"

"That freaking blonde psycho just shouted at her to 'forget you' and she completely fell apart…" Clara spoke hesitantly, "I just don't get it…"

"Wait…" Weiss's eyes shone with a spark of realization, "Blake, you said that the last thing that you remembered before answering my call was this same Undine girl telling you to 'get lost,' right?"

"Yes…"

"You think she did something?" Clara asked hopefully, "Like maybe she has those weird huntress powers like you guys do?"

"I think that's what we have to assume…' Weiss nodded, "If she can do this to Mina and make Blake wander aimlessly through the city in a trance… Hypnotism maybe? Blake, I know it wasn't long, but was there anything you noticed about Mina in particular – other than the amnesia?"

"I…" Blake was too shaken to think at her best, but there was one thing… "She called you Miss Weiss…"

Weiss's mouth was set in a line, "I noticed that too… but what of it?"

"She's had the habit of calling anyone she's not very close to 'Miss' or 'Mister' since we met – I was 'Miss Blake' for the first six or seven months… After we started our… relationship though… suddenly everyone else was on a last-name basis too…"

Weiss furrowed her brow, "She still does that – well until now – with almost everyone…"

"Except the three of us…" Clara noted.

Blake nodded weakly, "I think it started out as a subconscious defense mechanism-," Blake bit her tongue; Clara didn't know about Mina's particular needs… "You know, be extra respectful and maybe people won't hate you as much…"

"What do you mean?" Clara asked, though Weiss just looked away, deciding to let Blake judge what Clara needed to know.

"Clara, we're Faunus and…" Blake hesitated, "and as kids, when we were in the kingdoms, we were on the streets…"

"Oh…" Clara's face fell, "I'm sorry…"

Blake shook her head, "Don't be; tolerant people like you were the reason we-," I "didn't starve…"

"Okay," Weiss spoke up again, returning to subject, "but how does this help us?"

"She's forgotten all of us," Blake replied, fighting the lump in her throat as she said it, "But she's still comfortable using your first name… so if its hypnotic suggestion like you said…"

"Her memory has been suppressed since…"

"Since before she met me…" Blake finished, "When we were seven…"

That brought a long silence – not only from Weiss and Clara, but from Blake herself as well. Saying it aloud made it set in – forced her to accept the circumstances, She's literally forgotten everything since we met…

"So… we're stuck with a kid in Mina's body until we sort this out…" Weiss summarized with a frown, taking a deep breath, "Everything else – most of her life…"

"Gone…"

"No," Weiss shook her head, flatly rejecting Blake's melancholic pronouncement, "Not gone… Just suppressed… We'll figure this out Blake,"

"But-," Blake began.

"You snapped out of it," Weiss pointed out, "And while it's obvious that this Undine person was a bit more thorough with Mina, if this is hypnotism of some kind, we can find a way to snap her out of it – we just have to find a way around the mental block…"

"Maybe you guys should take her to the infirmary staff – or talk to your headmaster or something…" Clara proposed, "They'd probably know more, right?"

Weiss nodded, "That's worth a shot; I can go ask Goodwitch – or maybe Ozpin…"

"Alright…" Blake agreed, "I'll… I'll keep an eye on her…."

Clara chewed her lip a moment, "And I'll let our boss know Mina's gonna be out sick for a while…"

"Alright then, that's settled…" Weiss concluded, "Ruby, Yang, and I will discreetly seek help from some members of the staff, Clara, cover for her at the café, and Blake… Keep it together, okay?"

Blake nodded, disregarding the pit in her stomach, "I'll do my best… Maybe read to her… hopefully that might jog some of her memory…"

Weiss nodded, "That sounds like a good start,"

At first, some explanation had been necessary, but it did not take long for Blake and Weiss to explain the plan to Ruby and Yang – Clara having already departed – Mina had a shift that evening that would need to be covered. From there, Weiss went to Goodwitch, Ruby went to Ozpin, and, after Blake gave her a brief description based on what she remembered of her encounter with Nadia Undine, Yang went into Vale to contact the police and ask around. Presumably Ozpin and Glynda had been either busy or were being very thorough about helping Ruby and Weiss investigate, because nearly six hours later, nobody had returned to the dorm, leaving Blake alone to take care of Mina.

At first they'd just sat together in silence, a nervous retrogressive Mina staring blindly at the floor, and Blake's heart breaking just a little bit more with each passing moment of silence. After the first hour or so though, Blake decided that she needed a distraction, and so got up to select a volume from her bookshelf. It was at that point that, out of the corner of her eye, Blake noticed Mina perk up a bit, her sightless gaze vaguely following Blake's steps, giving Blake an idea…

"Would you… like me to read to you?" Blake offered gently.

Mina blinked a few times, before looking away and hesitantly nodding.

Allowing herself a faint twinge of relief and the slightest echo of a smile, Blake passed over Humility and Equanimity and Carolina Fox, for a smaller, more care-worn volume on the end of the shelf that she hadn't read in years. It was just a nameless little anthology of old fairy tales – shallow little fantasies, Blake supposed with the benefit of years of experience – but it had once been Mina's favorite book, so just maybe…

Were it so easy as that though, Blake would not have made it through the whole of the book. Just like when they were children, Mina had listened, utterly enraptured, as Blake read – with considerably less stumbling over the words this time. She would smile when a princess met her prince charming, gasp when a dragon kidnapped the princess, hug her knees to herself as though genuinely afraid when the prince was driven to the edge of a cliff by the evil dragon, and finally cheer quietly when the beast was slain, but in all of this, she remembered nothing – not Blake, not the first time she'd heard the same tales, nor that she had heard each and every one of the stories no less than a dozen times. The last story ended, the book was closed, and nothing changed.

"M-Miss Blake…?"

Blake's eyes snapped open and she suppressed the urge to cry as she spoke, "Nothing… I just… I thought you might like that one…"

Heedless, Mina nodded, "Mother used to read to me…I miss her though…"

"She did?" Blake asked, curious despite everything, "She read to you? What was your mother like?" She felt guilty for asking; this wasn't a subject that Mina – the way Blake remembered her at least – liked to talk about, but after what Nadia Undine had said…

Mina's face fell, "She loved me very much… but she was sick a lot… but Doctor Abraham usually took good care of us…"

Blake Blinked, "Doctor…?"

Mina nodded, a slight smile tugging at her lips, "Oh yes! He was very nice – he brought me a can of tomato juice whenever he came to visit Mother for the night!"

Blake's eyes widened, and she clenched a fist, "Oh really… That sounds… nice of him…"

Mina nodded again, "He was a nice man…"

Blake gritted her teeth, "I guess he was the one who gave your mother the blood-,"

Blake didn't get to finish the question lined with suppressed anger – Mina shrank back and attempted to hide under the blanket at the mention of blood, "N-no! It wasn't… I drink tomato juice and-,"

"It's okay Mina…" Blake assured, "I know…"

Still Mina huddled behind the blanket, "N-no…"

"Sh…." Blake hushed, getting up from the bed and going over to the mini-fridge in which Mina's blood-packs were stored and selecting one at random before returning to offer her the chilled blood, "Here,"

Mina blinked.

"Oh… that's… that's right…" Blake reached out to take one of Mina's hands and place the blood-pack in it, "Go ahead; it's for you. We keep a little refrigerator in here just for this,"

Gingerly, Mina accepted the offering and sank her fangs into it, her eyes widening when she tasted the metallic crimson, and she began to drink with relish.

"Do you like it…?" Blake asked, somewhat pointlessly, she knew, but what else was she to do?

Mina nodded emphatically, "It's cold but… good…Thank you very much Miss Blake – you are so very nice just like Doctor-,"

"No!"

Mina recoiled in fright at the sudden exclamation, "W-what?"

Blake forced herself to calm, "No… I'm not like Doctor Abraham, okay?"

Mina stared back, uncomprehending, "But you… understand… just like Mother said he did…"

What I understand is that the dirt-bag took advantage of your mother! But Blake didn't let herself say the words allowed, "Of course I do… but that's because I know what it's like to be rejected – I'm a Faunus too-,"

Mina dropped the nearly empty pouch of blood, her eyes going wide with fear, "Y-you are? P-please – I didn't mean to talk to the humans – don't… don't…" the panicked little girl curled up and began to cry, "Mother…"

Oh my God… Blake's heart raced, How could I be so stupid? And then it really sank in, What Undine said was… was true?

Looking back, it made sense, she supposed. Blake hadn't introduced herself as a Faunus when they'd first met, and Mina had been… shy around the other White Fang members to say the least. Of course, Mina had figured out that Blake herself was a Faunus eventually, but by then they were friends – even if it was still 'Miss Blake.' If Mina had forgotten all that… if her mother's death was suddenly fresh in her memory and Blake had just sprung this on her… just seeing the trembling, sobbing wreck that the line of thought had reduced Mina to, Blake almost wished that she were human instead – if only it meant Mina wouldn't be so terrified of her.

"Shshsh…" Blake whispered, trying to sooth her, stroking Mina's back tenderly, "Hey… I'm not gonna hurt you Mina… I love you…"

Mina froze, looking up, "Hmmm?"

"You're my…" Blake hesitated, searching for the words that would be best under the circumstances, even if they weren't wholly adequate for the truth of things, "You're my best friend…"

"I… I am?" Mina asked, reservedly hopeful.

Blake sighed with relief that Mina's seven-year-old attention span wasn't letting her fixate upon Blake's blunder, "How old were you on the last birthday you remember Mina?"

Mina tilted her head as she thought, "Um… seven?"

Thought so… "Well, believe it or not," Blake took a breath, "you're actually eighteen, and we've been… together for eleven years. You've just… forgotten some things…"

Mina just stared at her in blank bafflement, "No… I am seven years old… and… I am sorry Miss Blake but… I do not remember you…" Her face took on an apologetic pout, "I'm sorry…"

"No, no… Don't be…" Blake squeezed Mina's hand, "It isn't your fault…" She looked up at the clock, which read nine-thirty, "For now though I'd say it's probably past your bedtime…"

"But I'm not tired…"

Despite everything, Blake almost laughed at the pouty way that Mina had said it, as though Blake were her mother and this was just the normal bedtime ritual – as if anything about the situation were normal, "It's nine-thirty Mina; time to get ready for bed,"

"Oh alright…" taking a final pause to wipe the last tears from her eyes with the back of her hand, Mina stood up and moved over to the dresser. Blake was not entirely sure how she felt about watching Mina change under the circumstances, but she stayed in the room anyway, figuring in her state of amnesia that Mina might need a hand with… certain things… so she sat and waited as Mina stepped out of the skirt she had been wearing and pulled her shirt off. Then though, something didn't at up; just like any other day, Mina reached back to unclasp her bra, and then shrugged it off, letting it drop. Mina hadn't started wearing one until she was twelve – and she hadn't quite had a handle on how to put one on or take one off by herself until she was thirteen…

But then…? Blake felt a spark of hope as realization dawned on her, Muscle memory! Of course! Blake continued to watch with barely controlled excitement as Mina opened the top drawer, pulled out her favorite negligee, and slipped it on before moving to the bathroom to go brush her teeth, Her body remembers life here even if her mind doesn't!

After just shy of two minutes, Mina came back out of the bathroom and then halted halfway across the room, blinking in a mild state of perplexity, "So um… Miss Blake... where do I sleep…?"

Well… maybe not complete muscle memory – wait… usually it's her bar, but lately I have been letting her sleep with me a bit more… maybe she's confused? "Well… you can use my bed if you want…"

Mina looked away bashfully, "But then what about you?"

"Don't worry about it, I'll-," Blake paused, mulling over Mina's question a moment – Mina had not always been as cynically jaded as she was until the incident that afternoon, but on the other hand… nor had she ever really been much of an altruist either – and questions like that usually came up only when Mina was afraid of doing wrong by Blake, "there's plenty of floor for me…"

Mina frowned, but didn't press, "Okay…" Without further protest, Mina crawled into Blake's bed, laying uncertainly down before asking, "W-would you tuck me in…?"

"Sure…" Blake smiled gently, one step at a time… As she took hold of the blanket and pulled it over Mina though, a thought crossed Blake's mind , "Do you want a kiss goodnight?"

Mina seemed to ponder this for a moment, before nodding her nervous ascent, "Mmhmm…"

Blake's heart swelled with relief as she leaned in to place a light little kiss on Mina's lips. Maybe Mina remembered more than just how to dress herself…Maybe she'd snap out of this if Blake gave her a little nudge. Blake rested her hand on the pillow beside Mina's head and gently placed her lips on Mina's, her eyes shut at first, but her eyes shot open when she felt Mina's tongue slide past her lips. Mina's eyes however, remained firmly shut for another moment before Mina abruptly followed suit and pulled away, clapping her hands over her mouth, mortified.

"I-I… I am sorry-I didn't mean to! I-!"

But Blake shook her head, pulling Mina's hand away from her mouth, "No… It's okay… we do that a lot…Let me show you…" Blake pressed her lips back to Mina's, this time slipping her tongue past Mina's lips, feeling her heart pound faster and faster as she did so. Surprised, Mina drew in a breath, but soon enough her eyes fluttered shut as she eased into it, only for Blake to pull away once more, "Do you want me to stop…?"

Mina looked somewhat flushed, and her breath came ragged, but she shook her head, "…No…"

Blake brushed a lock of hair out of Mina's face, almost choking on the words as she spoke, "Do you remember me now?"

Mina looked away, seemingly ashamed of herself, "…No…"

Blake's eyes squeezed shut as the tears welled up; what else could she do? Was that not enough? Maybe if she just took it a step further and- No…Blake shook her head, giving everything she had to keep her voice level, "I… I see…" She placed the last kiss on Mina's forehead, "I'm sorry…" Letting out a shaky breath, Blake stood, "Goodnight,"

With that, Blake stepped away from the bed and headed to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. She placed her hands on the counter and leaned forward to press her forehead to the cold glass mirror. Looking at herself, Blake was disgusted. She was still breathing heavily, yet to calm down from the excitement that she shouldn't have indulged herself in. How could she let herself do that…? Closing her eyes , she pulled out her scroll before dialing.

"What is it Blake? I was consulting with Goodwitch and Ironwood-," Weiss's face appeared on the device.

"I need you to take care of Mina for a while…"

"Blake?"

"I… I can't handle this… I can't… trust myself…"

Author's Note: Okay, so some sad, melancholy stuff… hope that wasn't too heavy on the feels – I'm trying to save those for the chapter after next – Next time though, it'll be a little fluffier – and I know what you're probably thinking – this is probably an odd time for fluff, but I got this positively adorable idea that I can't not write, and it lends itself fairly well to the chapter I intend for after that, so yay for continuity…? If nothing else it should hopefully be a nice breather. Until then though, have a good one.