Holy hell, it's been a while since I've written on this site! I apologize to anyone who may have been excited for the next chapter, I really do. I want to complete this story and the others I've been working on, but inspiration has come slowly and since the summer, I've had very little motivation to do anything. I've gotten into a lazy groove, and although I like being lazy, I also feel a little bad about it. So here I am, continuing the story I've put the most effort into on this site. I'll make no promises as to when I'll finish it, but I'd like to get it done sometime soon. Anyway, I really hope people enjoy it, and hope that any potential readers even remember what the hell the plot is!

So, stuff is happening pretty quick in this chapter. I apologize if it feels too rushed, but there's stuff I want to get to after this bit. Anyway, (without sounding like an arrogant prick) I like the Blake/Yang scene, so I hope others get a lot out of it. I also wanted to write a little more about Ren; I hope people enjoyed that as well. I thought it might be a little rushed/OOC, but since we don't know a lot about Ren's personality as it is, I figured I could take liberties. And finally, I tried fleshing out Melanie and Miltiades since I've never really written for them before. I just wanted to give them some personality pretty quick, and I hope that works out. As always, criticisms are welcome, and...well, it's good to write for this story again. I forgot how much I missed it.

Yang shuffled around the pathetic apartment, grimacing at everything she saw. It was late at night, almost curfew for the members of the Trenches, but she had wanted to pay a visit. Blake watched her from out of the corner of her eye, amused by her reactions to the house. At one point the blonde mimed vomiting, and at another she pretended to gauge her eyes out.

"Holy crap...this place is a piece of shit," she said after a few minutes of silence, finished checking the room. Blake nodded.

"It wouldn't be nearly as bad if it didn't reek all the time. The last person to live here must have peed on everything before leaving," she noted. Yang chuckled at the comment, always happy to hear a bit of Blake's sass these days. It made her feel like they were back at Beacon, back before The Fall, back before Ruby lost her legs, before Weiss was a victim of petty revenge, before Blake was imprisoned, and then abused by a criminal hired by Roman. Most of all, in Yang's eyes, before she had retreated to the bottle. However, these days weren't bad at all. Everyone seemed stable. The stress and fear that had so plagued Weiss' life was gone now that Blake was in the Trenches, Blake was with friends who cared for her, and Ruby had seemed to recover from the climax of Yang's alcoholism over a month before. Things were changing, and Yang felt that she didn't look back to the past as much. Instead, she stared into an uncertain but promising future. It was almost enough to make her forget that her sister was still imprisoned in a wheelchair. No matter how at ease Ruby seemed with her situation, it hurt Yang to look at Crescent Rose, lying polished in her sister's room. Ruby had so much potential and so much hope for a brighter future. She deserved to play a hand in creating it as a Huntress. As Yang's thoughts paraded around in her mind, she was snapped back quickly to reality when she realized where she was.

"Yeah, it is pretty gross...it sucks that you couldn't get a fancy place like Weiss."

"I don't spend much time here; it really doesn't matter. So...why'd you come all this way?" Blake asked, genuinely curious. Yang had simply showed up unannounced, asking to come in. While typical of her, it surprised Blake. She didn't see Yang alone very often. They were usually with everyone else at one of their gatherings, and she was a little taken aback by her late arrival.

"Oh, I just wanted to say hi to my favorite moody faunus! I heard that you met Sun, Ren and Nora a few times, and I got a little jealous."

"Jealous?" Blake repeated with humor, her voice seeming to beckon Yang to continue her joke story.

"I was afraid that you were starting a new team. Team, uh...team...BRNS," Yang replied, pronouncing BRNS like 'brains.'

"Team BRNS?"

"Because you and Ren are really smart...oh wait, you have Nora and Sun on the team too. But obviously, whatever it is, you have to be the leader."

"We could be team BRNS," Blake offered, BRNS sounding like 'burns' in this case. Yang frowned.

"Hey, if a team name's gonna be named BRNS, you need someone with fire Dust or something."

"I have that."

"You don't really use it."

"True. So...what's your real reason for coming? Did you really just want to chat, or do you have something to ask me?" Blake asked, switching gears. Her tone became more serious, and Yang just smiled.

"Yep. I just wanted to talk. I missed talking to you, you know. It was nice. You really...I always felt like I could think clearly when we talked. You always let me say what I had to say," she answered, realizing that she hadn't been wholly sure why she came over herself. Perhaps it was lingering guilt over never visiting her in prison, perhaps it was a desire to make up for lost time. She had no plan.

"You have no idea, do you?" Blake chuckled, knowing exactly what was going on. She knew the blonde well, even after so much time apart.

"Pretty much. I just thought it would be nice. I could leave, if you have to go to bed early or whatever," Yang said, growing slightly awkward. Now that her motivations for coming were proven not to exist, she felt odd about it, trying to figure out what spurred her actions.

"No, no. It's fine. I like having you here. You brighten up the place, and it could certainly use that," Blake replied quickly, for whatever reason suddenly wanting Yang to stay as long as she could. She, like the blonde, couldn't place why.

"It's the hair, isn't it?" Yang asked, brushing it lovingly with her hands.

"If you say so."

"It's totally the hair."

"If that's what you want to think."

"You dig the hair."

"Sure."

"You want it made into a wig so you can wear it."

"Let's not go making crazy accusations." And, within the span of a few seconds, the two women fell to talking just as they'd always done, and they both realized why they felt so strongly about the other. It was fear. The two had been apart for so long that they had almost forgot what it was like to be with each other, talking as friends. They feared losing that again, and the two women realized that what was important to them now was making use of all the time they had. They had to rekindle what they had almost lost. Now, with no distractions, they could both focus on each other. It was just them, no groups of people to distract them. Blake and Yang hardly talked when with the others; they needed to build their connection from the ground up and reinforce it so it would never fall again.

"Now the club's nearly back to the way it was, thanks to that blonde bitch not showing up anymore," Melanie Malachite said haughtily, throwing her black hair over her shoulder and smoothing out the gray fur on her shimmering white dress. She stood outside of a small, well-maintained warehouse with a faded Schnee Dust Company symbol adorning the front. It was painted a sky blue, and all around it were much larger, lit-up buildings. She and her sister, Miltiades Malachite, glanced around the area from the corners of their eyes. Save for groups of people walking by, some homeless, there was nothing suspicious. While deep in conversation, the two women were paying surprisingly close attention to their surroundings. They had always been very good at their job. As bodyguards, they had only ever suffered three defeats, two at the hands of Yang and one courtesy of Emerald and Mercury, Cinder's own bodyguards. Now, they were doing quite well for themselves. Able to claim that they had been forced to work with Cinder, along with Junior, under duress, they had been let off and resumed work at their club. They were paid well and widely respected in Vale. Few dared to antagonize them. Even so, life, for the women, had grown considerably more boring after The Fall. There were no schemes or plots, nothing to occupy their time. The few disturbances that appeared at the bar were so insignificant that they weren't required to handle them.

The only mildly interesting thing that happened was that Sun had come around looking for information on Roman. At first, Junior denied telling him anything, but when the faunus said he was a friend of Yang's, there was no question of what to do. The blonde had already caused them enough trouble; Junior would do anything to keep her from causing more. Even when Roman told Junior, later in the month, that he wanted to hire Miltiades and Melanie as bodyguards, the bar owner accepted while still intending to give Sun any information about him that came to light. He'd acted as if he'd keep Roman's secret, convincing the two women. It wasn't until later that Junior was able to gleam something of use, and under fear of having Yang sent to rough him up and demolish his place of business, he gave the information to Sun, information that he'd learned, albeit unintentionally, from Miltiades. He had to work very hard to trick the women into revealing anything of substance. The two prided themselves on a job well done, and it helped that Melanie had a soft spot for Roman ever since she'd first laid eyes on him. He even bought her a drink, once. It was an affection unlikely to be returned, but her standards were so high that she was just relived to find a man who met them.

"What was her name again? Yang Xiao Fong?" Melanie asked flippantly as her sister played with the small black bow on her red dress. Miltiades' eyes were hovering on the ground and darting up every few seconds, while Melanie was looking assertively at the people walking by. The two women had always been very different; Melanie was arrogant, rebellious, and assertive. Miltiades was submissive, polite, and somewhat shy, often going along with what her sister did. Despite this, and despite their frequent bickering, the two were very close, neither making a decision or undergoing a task without the other. Their parents used to joke that they were born as Siamese twins, back when they were alive.

"Long. Yang Xiao Long," Miltiades replied quietly, her voice almost a whisper compared to her sister's loud, confident tone.

"Whatever. Anyway, with her gone, things have been going more smoothly. That, sadly, is code for completely fucking boring. We really should just leave with Roman, like we'd talked about ," Melanie said hopefully, thinking of the charming criminal.

"So...is that another wish? Or do you really want to?" Miltia asked quietly. Melanie looked thoughtful at this, pondering.

"...Maybe. I mean, there's no way he'd refuse if I offered. We're totally the best bodyguards ever; he'd be crazy not to accept!"

"We are pretty good."

"Pretty good?! We're fucking amazing, Miltia," Melanie asserted, drawing a smile from her sister.

"...Yeah. We are." The two stood around, scanning the area for a few seconds in silence, before Miltiades spoke.

"That Yang girl..."

"Ugh. Don't you dare mention her again," Melanie snarled. Her sister looked frightened, but carried on.

"...She has nice hair, at least."

"Oh my god, you can't be serious. Are you really into her?!" Melanie gawked at her sister, feeling betrayed. She knew exactly where her sister was going. Yang had beaten them on two occasions. As far as Melanie was concerned, she was their enemy.

"She's cute, too. And..."

"And what?!"

"She seems fun. And nice."

"Okay, first of all, you've never been into girls. Ever! Secondly, why her?! She's horrid! Literally the only thing she has going for her are her ridiculous breasts! and third...she's a total bitch! Besides, she's straight. She's hit on enough customers for us to realize that."

"Well...since it never seemed to work out with any guy I met, I figured that, um, maybe I'm just not attracted to men. I mean, I really can't remember being with a guy I actually liked. You mostly just recommended them to me. Besides...Yang seemed pretty drunk when she was flirting with guys at the bar." Melanie laughed harshly, flicking her sister's head and her jet black hair. Miltiades flinched.

"And?!"

"...She's also really tough."

"Oh my god, this is just so stupid. Are you absolutely sure that you're my sister?" Melanie asked, her left hand pressed against her hip and her right one making its way to her face as she held her head down, shaking it while lightly slapping herself in the forehead. Miltia looked taken aback, and reached her arm out to try and comfort her sister, but her hand was smacked aside.

"...Sorry, I just-"

"Like you said, the blonde's a total drunk. Remember?"

"She went to rehab. She's better now."

"How do you even know that?"

"I, um...saw her around. She said some things, and I overheard."

"So you spied on her. When was this? I'm always with you, making sure you don't do something stupid."

"You were in the bathroom." The two sisters stared at each other, Melanie's gaze one of anger, while Miltiades looked meek, yet defiant. She wasn't really sure what she thought of Yang yet, and had only decided to try her luck with women recently. She was well aware that she'd never really felt anything passionate towards a man before, nothing approaching love. Sometimes, she mistook admiration for love, but she never truly felt it. It led her to believe that, perhaps, she was gay. Melanie, for her part, had no issue with the idea of her sister's possible homosexuality, although the idea of it was quite hard to swallow as her only romantic partners had been men. It was the idea of Miltiades being in love with Yang that she had a problem with. Her love for her sister and her hatred for the blonde combined, finalizing her decision, and she turned from Miltiades and sighed.

"Melanie, if you don't want me to-"

"No, I don't want you to. Not with her."

"If we leave, I might find someone else."

"Then we'll do that." The two women said nothing, both looking awkwardly around to see if anything suspicious had occurred while they were arguing.

"I'm just saying this because I care about you, and she...you'll be happier with some other girl, trust me," Melanie said, sounding subdued.

"I know. I just...she seemed nice," Miltiades muttered.

"You said that already, idiot." Melanie's tone and language regained their usual, abrasive sound, yet instead of making her sister more meek, Miltiades was oddly comforted by it. It made her feel at home, and it made her feel comfortable, as it was Melanie's default attitude. There was no greater time in her life than when she was with her sister.

"...Yeah. So, we're going?" She asked more loudly.

"Yeah."

"I hope things go well with Roman," Miltiades said kindly, although her comment took Melanie off-guard instead of comforting her, as was the intention. As she spoke, she was incredibly flustered, tripping over her own words and absentmindedly twirling her hair.

"We...he...there's...there's no way that's happening!"

"Why not?"

"Well...he probably has way better options than me," Melanie sighed in an uncharacteristic display of humility. Her sister supposed that was part of love, thinking that you could never be worthy of someone you thought was worthy of yourself.

"Well, I think you're fucking amazing." Miltiades echoed her sister's words back at her, and for a second, she looked shocked, not only because Miltiades had used a curse word. She smiled slightly, her face flushing red. Her expression was calm, but her eyes were alight with wordless love.

"Right back at you."

"I've figured out a way to deal with the collar," Blake said. Sun, Ren, and Nora sat beside her on a bench at a nearby park as the night grew darker; they wanted their meetings to be more secret, so as not to alert their other friends that something was going on. The concern was mostly Blake's, and it was a sign that despite her almost reckless determination, she had a lot to lose should her plan be discovered. By going after Roman, she was risking everyone's trust. She was doing the exact same thing that got her thrown into prison, and she risked being arrested yet again. She didn't even want to think about what might happen should she let the same scenario play out a second time, and so she concentrated on the task at hand. Yet, she and the others couldn't ignore the concern that Ren had brought up. If Blake should fail, all the relationships she'd spent so hard trying to build up would collapse, and all joy that had come from her release to the Trenches would turn to ash. What it could replace it, no one wanted to find out.

"Really?" Sun looked surprised, as he, Ren, and Nora had been unable to find anything back when they had been looking into ways to disable the collar. Blake always had a talent for research, but more importantly, she had a powerful drive to accomplish anything she set her mind to. She became more than determined; she stepped into the realm of obsession.

Sweet! Well, what is it?" Nora asked eagerly, excited for Blake. She felt more happiness at the prospect of success than she felt fear at the prospect of failure. Ren, however, was the opposite. He hid it well, but he grew more nervous with every passing second, and his unease made a sudden leap towards all-out terror when Blake looked him straight in the eyes.

"Ren...if you'd still be willing to help me this far in, I need you to do one last thing for me. I know about your affinity for Aura manipulation; I know that you've grown so strong in that area as to be able to disable the Auras of others. Research into the collar has shown me that it works similar to the Aura channeling of a living being. That would make sense, as its prime function is the observation of Aura. Should it break or should I use my Semblance within the boundaries of Vale, the authorities will be alerted. Should it simply cease to work, then...well, the collars aren't as advanced as that. They'll simply be ornaments until they reactivate. So, what do you say? Will you help me one last time?" Ren looked away from Blake, his heart beating heavily. He knew that if he chose to help her, there was no going back. Her entire plans hinged on him now; he could stop her should he wish. She would do nothing without him, and if he should refuse, Blake wouldn't force his hand. He was sure of that. He was in a position to act on his doubts and fears. He could stop Blake from taking an incredible risk, and prevent her from reaching her goal. He only needed to figure out what he thought a true friend might do.

Melanie and Miltiades stood outside of the warehouse, bored as always. There was nothing of interest and no one of note, so they stared mindlessly around, not really taking anything in. They had already surveyed the area ten times over and found nothing; no one walked by the warehouse for almost an hour now. An eleventh time would surely do nothing to help the annoyance that came with their boredom. However, they felt a sense of excitement beneath it all. Soon, they'd be leaving. There was nothing for them in Vale, and opportunities they couldn't even know of awaited them beyond its borders. Melanie could travel with Roman, perhaps growing closer to him in the process. While disappointed that she would be unable to act on her confused feelings towards Yang, Miltiades knew that she would meet many more women. Perhaps she could finally make a meaningful romantic relationship, one that wasn't decided by her sister. Most important of all, they would be beginning a new stage in their life together.

"So...when are we leaving again?" Miltiades asked, not being able to bear the tedious silence between her and her sister.

"We're leaving in two days, how many times do I have to tell you?" Was the testy response. However, it was grouchy in tone only. Miltiades knew that her sister was just as excited as she was, just as eagerly awaiting their departure.

"I wonder where we'll go? Maybe we'll even leave Vytal!" Miltiades sounded much more excited than she had in quite some time, and that alone made Melanie smile, her heart melting before the uncharacteristic energy of her sister.

"Honestly, I hope we do. It would be a real change of locale. I'm personally hoping for Atlas, as I think I'd enjoy the weather."

"I'm not sure how much I'd like the snow..."

"Then where would you pick?" Melanie asked without any kind of annoyance. Instead, she sounded genuinely curious.

"Well, I'm sure I'd be fine there. Anywhere you want to go, I'll go. It's not like I have a preference anyway. I just want to be somewhere different."

"Yeah...I guess it doesn't really matter where we go, as long as we go somewhere else. It'll be nice to be gone. We've lived in Vale for too long," Melanie agreed. She seemed much more reflective than usual, and Miltiades wondered whether their journey would be good for them, too, as sisters. If it led to more moments where her sister wasn't needlessly rude to her, that would be more than enough reason to go. She loved Melanie, but often wished that she was kinder to everyone around her. Perhaps her uptight attitude was partly caused by the boring lifestyle they lived. Perhaps leaving would be better for her than even she knew.

"I think this will be good for you. And for me, too," Miltiades said confidently, sure that she was right.

"It probably will be."

The collar hung uselessly around Blake's neck, serving no purpose whatsoever. Ren was breathing more heavily than usual as he stared at it, his Aura still active around him. Nora and Sun were impressed; he had done it. Blake was free to stalk Roman, free to end the mission she had started herself on. Ren himself was less than pleased, his apprehension still with him, but he had decided that he would let Blake continue this far. He couldn't refuse her, not when she was so clearly desperate to take the final steps towards achieving her goal. In the end, Blake made her decision. He had a responsibility to her, as a friend, to lend her aid should she need it. Ren wanted to live up to that. Blake had suffered more than anyone should have to; helping her was important enough to warrant a risk. He would honor her trust, because in the end, he saw no reason to put his own concerns above hers. If she felt she needed to do this in order to better recover from what happened to her, he would support her. Still, he had to voice a last concern, a last attempt to instill a little more caution into her.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Blake. Good luck," Ren said, holding his hand out for a handshake. Instead, to his surprise, Blake threw her arms around him for a brief second before doing the same to Sun and Nora.

"I...I can't tell you all how grateful I am. I was right to trust you, and I feel that I was right in believing that you were the only ones I could trust." She smiled at all of them and they returned the gesture before she quickly turned away and hopped up a nearby building. She had twenty minutes, perhaps a little more. She would make quick work of Roman. She could feel it. A cold fury roiled in her chest, a calculated one. She felt stronger, more confident. She was looking forward to this.

Roman, from out of the corner of his eye, spotted a shadow. It wasn't naturally in the room, he could tell. It flickered. It darted around, never ceasing to move. He could hardly see it, but he knew it was there. Tormenting him, toying with him, like a cat with her prey. He couldn't hold it in any longer. He had to break the silence. He had to address the shadow just to see if it was really there, or if it was only a trick of fear played on his increasingly unstable mind.

"I-I'm not waiting forever, kitty. Step out of the shadows and into the light," Roman tried to sound intimidating, but found that his fear slipped through his head and shot off of his tongue, as natural as a breath. Lately, he had almost forgotten what it was like not to be afraid.

"Well?!" Still, he received no response. He was impatient, he knew. He held up his weapon, aiming it at every dark spot in his room. He spun around so quickly, surveying every inch of the area, that he thought he might be sick. Yet there was nothing. There was no noise, no definite bulge in the shadows cast by the various furniture around him. His bed, his desk, his lamps and his couches, they were all devoid of the tendril-like darkness he thought he saw reaching for him. His door was still barricaded, protected with metal and locked by a keycode. There were no windows to the room at all, nothing to connect him from the world outside. Blake didn't even know where he was; there was no way she could. Even if she did come, she had only one way in, and he wouldn't let her attack first.

"Shit...shit shit shit!" Roman threw his hat from his head, revealing how unkempt and filthy his hair had become. He hadn't bathed in a while, using only deodorants and changes of clothes to vaguely look after his personal hygiene. He was a mess, he knew. He could somewhat fool others, but not himself, and certainly not her.

Blake's Aura poured off her unevenly, twisting around as if it was in pain. She felt it twisting within herself as well, the mix of violent emotions causing it to grow. She looked at her hand and found that the Aura around it was waving so fiercely, so unnaturally, that it sometimes interfered with her line of sight. Parts of her hand were shrouded in darkness as small spots in her vision were blocked by the whipping of shadow. It was different from her natural Aura, driven by a force she could hardly wrap her head around. It was like a beast, lurking out of sight. It stalked her, waiting for a chance to come out when she was unable to realize it. And so it had. She didn't care what it was or why it was. All that mattered was what it could do. It gave her power, power that Roman had tried to take away. She would take it back, and more besides. His death would be the start of something new. Taking a vial of fire Dust from her weapon that she'd saved from the Trenches, she hurled it towards the metal door and prepared to shoot.