"Dearest!"

Mina's entire world shrank to Blake's silhouette and the curve of Adam's blade. Nothing else mattered. Not the screaming from the stands, not the gunfire, not her hammering migraine and not the roaring of the chainsaw. Blake was on the ground, and Adam's sword was falling on her too fast…

No… No… No… no…

"Hell no!"

Mina blinked, wrested from her daze as who but Miss Xiao Long quite literally fell from the sky, slamming her fist into the ground, forcing Adam to pull back lest he suffer the blow. Not far off, a mangled Nevermore crashed to the ground in the arena – presumably the means Yang had used to come to their rescue – and Miss Xiao Long did not even wait for the dust to settle before she burst into action, momentarily at least putting Adam on the defensive. Blake was safe-

"MINA!"

Mina's eyes shot wide as the world came rushing back and she couldn't ignore the chainsaw sweeping at her from the left. She dropped to a knee and ducked before any thought could present itself, and when the weapon passed over her head by inches, she planted her hands upon the ground and kicked upward striking the lieutenant's chin with both heels before springing back to her feet and swiftly following up with two slashing lengths of wire. Roaring in fury, the mountain of a Faunus brought his chainsaw around for another swing, lower this time, and to evade Mina took hold of his shoulder even as the ripping chainsaw tore through the air to claim her, and she lunged upward, using her opponent's own body to vault over him and behind his back. She swung her wires behind her as she landed, catching the stakes once more after their tethers had wound about the lieutenant's neck, and she pulled tight, dropping once more to a knee.

The lieutenant staggered, saw flailing wildly in one hand as he frantically tried with the other to free himself of the biting garrote wire but it was no use as he suffocated, his aura all that prolonged it; otherwise it would just have been a matter of slitting his throat, simple and- well clean wasn't the word for it… Must be a good-

"Where the Hell did he go!?" Mina heard Yang shout across the way, and only an instant later, she realized why.

Adam was in front of her now, Wilt and Flush drawn back in a way that could only mean one thing. She made a split second decision to release her grip and roll clear of his reach, and it worked, but he was on her again in a second, forcing her to block with both of her drawn stakes before she could leap back and onto her feet. She sidestepped another swing, but she couldn't keep ahead of him for more than a swing or two, and by the third attack she had to catch it on a razor-wire cat's cradle. Adam struck her with such force that she skidded back several inches. Blake and Miss Xiao Long were giving the lieutenant plenty to think about between them, but they weren't felling him either, and she couldn't hold Adam herself…

"What's the matter Whore?" he mocked, "can't keep up?"

Mina kept her teeth clenched, sweeping a low kick for his shin, but he pulled back to avoid it.

"Too slow," he sneered, drawing his blade once more for another blow. She bent back, ducking just below the blade, but before she could recover, Adam leveled Flush at her and fired. Mina only just managed to cross her arms and concentrate her Aura to take the hit, but nonetheless she was sent crashing to the ground. Before Adam could score another blow, though, Blake swung Gambol Shroud at the end of her ribbon to break Adam's rhythm, buying that barest instant Mina needed to recover and get back to her feet, slinging one, two, three wires out to strike Adam again in a hurricane of slicing steel wire. The first swing was naught but cold steel, but by the second, fire and lightning screamed down the length of her wires searing and crackling through the air toward Adam. Adam Taurus was nobody's fool though; strong as he was, he wouldn't attempt to rush that conflagration. While Mina kept the blazing ring going with one hand, she made an overhead swing with the wires of her other gauntlet; Yang hammered the mountain of a chainsaw-wielder again and again, staggering him and pushing him back, but not knocking him down, Blake fired off shot after shot at both foes with Gambol Shroud in pistol mode, but neither foe would go down.

You will not take her from me… Mina swore to herself as Adam parried and evaded her strokes, not today!

"Nadia! What are you doing?"

Nadia heard the worried voice of Weiss Schnee echoing through the vacant south lobby of the stadium and the box offices, but she didn't slow down. Couldn't slow down. The sound of gunfire and explosives made a dull cacophony emanating from seemingly everywhere, but none of it mattered – not if she couldn't make this right. Her own hard footfalls added to the ominous clamor, but she didn't pay attention to that either. All she allowed herself to be aware of was the steel grip of her sidearm and the weight of the weapon, and of her purpose. It wasn't the first time she'd meant to kill someone – and if she succeeded, well, it wouldn't be the first time for that either, but it needed to be done.

I have to stop that Witch!

She couldn't have gotten far – not that the Witch had ever been in a hurry to Nadia's knowledge. As a White Fang rank-and-file she'd almost never seen her – no more than anyone else – but that dress did not even attempt to go unnoticed, always swaying this way and that as she walked, at once seductive and none-too-vaguely threatening, vague as she was with everything else. Nobody had really 'liked' her, because she was a human after all, but everyone had known better than to screw with her, as if taking some unspoken warning. After she'd taken the leap off her own personal deep end, though, Nadia had gotten to "know" her better. Nadia remembered dragging herself out of the harbor, only to find the Witch and her two lackeys waiting for her with a… proposition. That was how she learned to use her Semblance, which she'd since swore to herself that she'd never use again, and it was only now that she considered going back on that pledge.

She needs to die… Yet she had begun to think that she'd lost track of the red woman, but then she saw two Vale police officers slumped over on the floor. Dammit! I've got to make sure she pays for this!

Nadia tore down the hall after her quarry, gun at the ready, and, at the end of the hall, she saw them. Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai, and the Witch responsible for all of this – Cinder Fall. Nadia didn't hesitate. She didn't question. She just raised her weapon, aimed, and fired. Nadia's round screamed through the air in the direction of her target, but her hands weren't steady. It was a near thing, but the bullet missed, sailing past the Witch's head by inches only to strike and explode against the wall opposite the end of the hallway. Nadia was breathing heavily, her hands shaking as her erstwhile mentor-turned-enemy turned back to face her with slow, contemptuous confidence. A huntress is a sword… Nadia ritualistically repeated the mantra in her head, nothing else matters as long as the prey falls… Taking a deep breath, she squeezed the trigger again, but that round too sailed harmlessly by. Dammit! I have to-

"Nadia Undine…" The Witch drawled with a menacing half smile, "my, my, it certainly has been a while."

"Y-you did this!" Nadia accused, trying and failing to steady her gun as her fingers tightened around the grip, "you won't-"

"Get away with it?" The crimson witch smirked, while Black crossed his arms over his chest and Sustrai rolled her eyes. "Ah, but isn't that a touch hypocritical Nadia? After all, it wasn't so long ago that you wanted the exact same thing."

"That's a-" Nadia swallowed, the protest dying on her lips. Is it a lie?

"You're a smart girl Nadia, even with your… issues..." The Witch was enjoying this. "This is simply the logical consequence of what you've spent your whole life working for."

I… Nadia swallowed. "N-no… Not anymore… I'm… I'm done!"

Cinder Fall looked over her shoulder to Sustrai, an expression of impatience signaling the thief to proceed with whatever had been their plan - presumably locking the security gates out into the stands to keep the helpless tournament goers exposed, based on the way that they'd been heading for one such access staircase. As Sustrai nodded and took her leave Cinder's gaze returned to Nadia, with less amusement now.

"Let's not be naïve, Nadia; you can't simply let go of all that ugly hate."

"Shut up-!"

"I would have thought you'd have learned something from your ordeal, Nadia." Her words were poison. It was the same quality that had taught her how to use her Semblance to bend people to her will in a much more clumsy and literal sense, for the purpose of murder now used to undermined Nadia's resolve. Her eyes dared Nadia to pull the trigger again even as she was so certain Nadia couldn't do it. "You've simply decided to hate me now."

"This is justice! Not-!"

"Revenge? Don't make me laugh." The Witch took several arrogant strides closer. "Justice is a matter of perspective dear; it has nothing whatever to do with your little standard issue Atlesian uniform. Do you see any Faunus among your Colonel's men? You're not a valued member of a peacekeeping force you foolish girl, they tolerate you on the off chance that you can take a bullet instead of one of them."

It was like the Witch had inadvertently been the one to let the penny drop, and Nadia's resolve returned at the recognition of a lie, as proven by her own experience, She's a liar, Nadia thought with sudden clarity, she doesn't know the Colonel – hell, okay, I barely know her but... Schnee helped me get here and Stahlkreuz is better than that… Nadia's grip on her weapon became firm, she let out a deliberately calmed breath, and fired. With a flick of the wrist, Cinder Fall utterly incinerated the bullet, but her angry expression spelled out plain as day that this time, Nadia had aimed true.

"So be it." The Witch answered Nadia's wordless challenge, before casting a glance over her shoulder at Mercury, who was leaning up against the wall nearby. "Kill her,"

With that, The Witch turned her back on Nadia and walked away, to have her back covered as Mercury Black stepped between them, hands up and feet spread in a fighting stance. "Nothing personal," he said with a smirk, "but you should've known better."

Nadia refocused her aim onto the most immediate threat – just like the Colonel had taught her to – and her expression steeled. "No… I think I know better now."

"Suit yourself." Mercury shrugged. "Not like it matters,"

Accepting the conversation as over, Nadia pulled the trigger once more, but Black easily sidestepped before bolting her way. She fired off a second and third round, one flying wide and the other connecting, but neither the plume of fire nor the impact slowed him down much, and she was forced to sidestep a high kick and try to get a point-blank shot off. That's seven rounds… eight left… It's all about fire discipline… Don't waste a bullet unless you know it will be worth it…

Nadia dropped to one knee to get under a roundhouse kick and fired into her foe's back on the follow-through. He stumbled a bit, but not much, and next she knew, a boot was connecting with her torso and her Aura absorbed a ballistic discharge. She was sent careening onto the floor, skidding several feet across the smooth tiles. She grunted in pain and scrambled to get back to her feet, only for his knee to slam into her solar-plexus, causing her to crumple to the floor again. The air was driven from her lungs and Nadia was seeing double as she came to a grinding halt, her opponent towering over her as he slowly walked closer to finish the job. Hands shaking – not with indecision, but weariness – and fired off several more rounds. Seven… Six… Five… Four…

Most of the bullets flew wide as she couldn't decide which Mercury she should shoot at. She shakily got to her knees as she emptied her magazine and flicked the thumb-switch to extend the side arm's blade. She stumbled to her feet, backing away as she did so, making an effort to lift the pistol-turned-combat-knife into a ready position. He let her stand, as if toying with her, sparing a contemptuous smile.

"Just make this easier on both of us," he said, "it'll hurt less that way."

"Go… Go to Hell…"

He chuckled darkly. "Too bad… but I almost respect you..."

"Keep it to yourself."

Nadia didn't wait for him to make the next move. Instead, she lurched forward with her weapon at the ready, trying to make a slash at her opponent, but he swatted her arm aside in the same motion as delivering a hard knee to her stomach. Nadia's Aura flared, barely absorbing the hit, but when Mercury followed up with a lateral kick, she was utterly spent, and she choked out a cry of agony as the bullets fired from mercury's boot tore through her side, and with a swift knee to the chest, Nadia collapsed.

Nadia clutched at her side as pain lanced through her. When she pulled her trembling hands away, she was peculiarly numb to the sight. I'm… bleeding… Her eyes flicked back up to Mercury as her blood began pouring from the wound. He had turned his back and started walking away. Nadia gritted her teeth, clutching her left hand over her wound and feebly lifting her weapon once more as she got back onto one knee.

"I'm… I'm not finished yet…"

Mercury Black halted, turning slowly with a raised eyebrow. "Well, well…"

As Nadia staggered to her feet, she was fully aware that this was a doomed effort, more symbolic than anything else, "Maybe I don't mean anything… when… when it all comes down to it… but… damned if I'm gonna… If I'm…"

Mercury cracked his neck and moved to close the distance between them, not caring to wait for her to finish before he ended it. Weak and feeling cold seep into her veins more and more by the moment, Nadia braced for the finishing blow. She was past any attempt to win, but she was going to make him kill her on her feet if nothing else…

That much changed when a streak of almost angelic white surged forward to intercept heartless steel gray. Shivering and so very cold as she was, Nadia couldn't focus enough to follow the action, but a clamor of sword and limbs ensued as Weiss Schnee careened into Mercury Black, knocking him back a few paces before skidding past him. Next Nadia knew, a huge black snowflake flickered into existence between Weiss and Mercury, yanking the latter through the air and pinning him to it as though nailed to a wall. With Mercury affixed to its surface, the glyph turned at its mistress's command, angling upward and then rapidly brightening to a brilliant white , launching Black aloft and it sent him crashing through a skylight and outside into the chaos beyond the stadium's walls. He would almost definitely survive, but he'd be too busy out there to pose a threat now.

"Nadia!"

Nadia wasn't sure if she was imagining the panic in Weiss's voice or not as she only now permitted her legs to give out. She made an attempt to catch herself on her right hand, but there was nothing for it and her elbow buckled, just like her knees. Her eyes squeezed shut in a grimace of pain as she hit the ground, though it was tempered by the realization that, this time, she might not be getting back up. Her entire left side below her ribcage was stained red, and the small crimson pool beneath her was slowly expanding, millimeter by millimeter.

"Oh my God! Nadia!" Weiss was at her side in an instant, on her knees and heedless of the blood. "Nadia, hold on!"

As Weiss fumbled for her scroll, Myrtenaster cast aside, Nadia could only just muster the strength to look up at her. "What's that nickname you've got?" she asked quietly as the Heiress finished sending a distress signal over the local network for any medic who might be there to listen.

"What?" Weiss asked, concern drawing her features taught, "Nadia, you've lost a lot of blood – you shouldn't talk-"

"Your nickname…"

Weiss's lips pursed as she looked away. "It's… Ice Queen… so I'm told."

"No…" Nadia feebly shook her head. "The other one… the one that blonde guy uses…"

Weiss's eyes widened. "…Snow… Angel…"

"Y-yeah… That's the one…" Nadia nodded, swallowing, "I… I can see why…"

Weiss looked away again. "Don't be melodramatic-"

"I'm serious…" Nadia breathed, "It suits you… Never thought I'd have my very own angel when I… I… I just want to thank you for-"

"No!" Weiss cut her off , "don't you dare…"

"Just look at me Schnee; I haven't-"

"My name is Weiss!" The Heiress insisted angrily, tears welling up, "and don't talk like that – just shut up!"

"Relax…" Nadia whispered, "it's not like it matters… I couldn't pull it off, but at least I tried to do something right-?"

"It matters to me!" Weiss shouted, "we're a greedy lot, us Schnees…" she added somberly, taking one of Nadia's too-cold hands in her own, "we don't like to let things go…"

"You care too much…" Nadia managed a chuckle. "That has to hurt more than this…"

"Well that's the first time anyone's ever accused me of that." Weiss forced a smile. "Now stop talking and save your strength!"

"No one's gonna miss-"

"I will." Weiss asserted, a fresh flow of tears spilling down her cheeks. "I will miss you… I care… And if you need more reason than that, I'll love you too! Just live! So don't you dare think you have nothing to live for – Hell, you owe me – you can't die yet!"

Green eyes met sapphire blue. "Do… do you mean it…?"

"Yes." No clarification was necessary; Weiss didn't feel for Nadia what Nadia had felt for Mina, but she did love her, there and then. Taking a deep breath, she channeled her own Aura into Nadia, and summoned a red-orange glyph on the floor around them, setting it's shimmering hands to move in slow motion. "Now please, rest now… For me?"

Blake's breath came in ragged gasps, heart hammering in her chest. She couldn't even pretend to speculate as to how long they'd been fighting now. Several clipped-winged Nevermores had crashed into the arena, to be finished off by fire from the stands, and some of the chaos overhead was dying down as the rank-and-file White Fang fighters were subdued. At some point during the madness, the announcer had taken to relaying dispatches from the Atlesian command as the airships closed on the battle-zone in what was probably an attempt to establish some sense of order, but Blake had no idea to what extent things were going to hell outside the stadium's walls and had no opportunity to find out. She was much too busy staying alive and making certain Yang and Mina did the same.

Adam's wicked prowess spoke for itself and, whatever may have been said of his Lieutenant, comparatively slow as he might be, his endurance was not to be underestimated, and even with the numerical advantage, Blake, Mina, and Yang couldn't relax. It was all Blake could do to dodge attacks from one foe or the other in time to avoid being hewn down with her after-images.

Yang would sustain a stroke from the Lieutenant's roaring chainsaw and retaliate by throwing all the force back in his face with a Semblance-enhanced punch, but it only sent him reeling for a moment. A moment Adam all too readily bought for him, stepping in to drive Yang back while Mina staggered from his latest blow. By the time that Blake managed to close on Adam to relieve Yang though, the lieutenant was swinging his chainsaw again keeping Mina on the defensive and forcing Blake to tuck and roll out of the way as well, leaving Yang alone against Adam in that moment. Blake did not switch her targets though; as she rose to her feet she launched into a flurry of blows upon the man whom she used to respect, trusting Mina to be alright.

"You can't win here Adam!"

"Can't I?" he challenged, driving her back with a swing and a blast of his gun. It was a contemptuous challenge to an assertion founded more on hope than certainty, and it scarcely needed saying that neither of them were referring to their immediate exchange of blows and bullets. "You never quite did understand the ends and means side of things Blake."

"There's literally an army here to put you down!"

"And we'll be long gone before they get everything under control." He sneered, sheathing his sword and then firing the hilt into her stomach, driving the air from her lungs. Catching the sword as Blake fell to her knees, he pivoted a hundred-eighty degrees and slammed Yang with a lateral slash reinforced with his aura, sending her sprawling, and though her head was swimming, Blake could dimly hear the drone of Bullhead engines closing on the arena. "Speaking of which…" he added, rounding on Blake again.

"Dearest no-Erg!"

Blake's heart stopped as she saw Mina, in what seemed to be slow motion, turn from her foe to go and help her, only to have the Lieutenant bring the butt of his weapon down hard on her back with both hands. Mina crumpled beneath the blow, and any chance of her getting back up was crushed as her mammoth foe's boot came down on her back and Mina fell limp.

"MINA!"

And then everything was happening too fast, a Bullhead emblazoned with the White Fang insignia descended to the arena floor even as a half dozen more descended on various places in the stands under fire. Even as her body screamed in protest, Blake was shakily back on her feet and lifting Gambol Shroud's converted gun form even as Yang, beaten and bruised, took a stand to go another round, but then Adam hauled Mina up by the back of her blouse and held Wilt's blade to her throat. Blake's veins filled with ice as Adam's sneering eyes met hers past his mask. "Checkmate."

"Let her go you bastard!" But it was Yang who shouted it, not Blake. Blake's throat was closed up, choked with panic at the sight of Mina's limp, helpless body Hanging by the collar, biting steel pressed to her jugular. No… no…

"Now then…" Adam said confidently, and seemingly heedless of Yang's demand, "why don't you two behave yourselves… Lower your weapons, and the Blood-sucking whore doesn't have to get a taste of her own medicine."

As Adam and the Lieutenant pulled back toward the now open bay door of the Bullhead, Blake didn't know what to do. She couldn't let him get away, but exhausted and battered as she was, her hands weren't anywhere near steady enough to fire without a risk to Mina whose Aura had to be dangerously low; she hadn't allowed herself to be hit at any point like Yang had to trigger her Semblance, but Mina's Semblance would neither help her avoid nor sustain blows, and throughout the fight she'd been sloppy, never sparing an opportunity to turn and help Blake when she should have concentrated on herself, and it had been Blake's own slip that had led her to leave herself open… Even if Blake were certain that she could hit Adam and the Lieutenant without hurting Mina though, she didn't have the stopping power to put either of them down…

"Blake! Blake! Snap out of it! What do we do!?" Yang shouted, poised to strike, but grappling with the same hesitation.

"I…"

And then Adam was on the platform of the Bullhead, throwing Mina onto the deck behind him. "We'll just hold onto her for now girls; wouldn't want you two shooting at us on the way out too."

It was only as the bay door began to shut that Blake was wrested from her state of helpless passivity, converting Gambol Shroud back into Blade form and stumbling forward, but it was in vain. She didn't have the strength left to run, and the aircraft was already lifting off.

"Mina…" she breathed, losing sight of Mina's unconscious face as the Bullhead lifted off and the bay door shut, "no…"

"Dammit!" Yang roared, firing Ember Celica into the ground on her either side, "come BACK HERE!"

But Blake's eyes could only follow the receding aircraft, feeling hollow. "Mina I…"

All the other White Fang Bullheads lifted off in sync with the Ringleader's, under sporadic fire from the stands, including the heavy discharges from Crescent Rose somewhere above, at least until Yang shouted over her scroll for Ruby to stop firing because Mina was on one of those Bullheads, and all Blake could do was stare after that one that mattered.

She jolted in panic as a thunderous discharge sounded beyond the stadium's walls – thunderous in its significance, not its volume – sending what had to be a huge ballistic slug skyward, trailing crackling blue arcs of lightning, to strike one of the engines belonging to the Bullhead next to Mina's. As she watched the aircraft spin out of control, Blake suddenly caught herself hoping Adam's craft would escape, if only to spare Mina and, as it disappeared from sight, she fell to her knees.

"Mina…"

Author's Note: Hello all, back again, now with just 3-4 chapters left depending on how I end up writing it out. I hope you enjoyed this, and believe it or not, we're going into a bit of a lull (well, for a given value of 'lull') for next chapter before we hit the actual climax… So I hope you look forward to that. In the meantime, once again I'd Like to thank KillamriX88 for the edits, and all of you for your patience with my slower release schedule. I really appreciate you all. So until next time, have a good one.