Summary: Nothing bad happened at Beacon for team RWBY. Until now. Students have a supervised overnight solo mission they endure towards the end of their first year. Yang doesn't turn up at the rendezvous point in the morning.

Bumbleby Week Day 8: Bonus Day

Hunted

Chapter 1: Search

Blake listened to the forest around her. The birds singing, the pattering of small mammals, the leaves rustling in the wind. She munched on a ration bar. It tasted like sawdust, despite the fact that the ingredients claimed it didn't have any in it. Not that Blake knew what sawdust tasted like firsthand, it was just like how she imagined it did. She'd be back at Beacon soon enough, and could cleanse her palate with something tastier from the cafeteria. Maybe even fish if she was lucky.

Fresh fish from Vale's docks. Not as good as from Menagerie, but better than Blake deserved. No, that was Adam's poison. He was gone, and his influence should be too. There was nothing wrong with her enjoying food, or herself in general for that matter. After her rough night, she really did deserve something nice. Besides, her friends would be sure to want to celebrate too. Yang might even take her out to Vale on Bumblebee to get the freshest fish. It'd be the perfect excuse to press against her partner's warm and muscular back, wrap her arms around Yang's slim waist, their thighs—

CRACK!

Blake flinched, her bow twitching. She whipped around, hand on Gambol Shroud's hilt, eyes darting around. The ribbon around her ears muffled them, impairing her directional hearing even with her lower ears uncovered. It was why she'd removed her bow overnight. Goodwitch had suggested it. She'd known Blake was a faunus, despite what her student ID claimed.

Her eyes almost crossed as Goodwitch brought her riding crop up to point at Blake's nose.

"Remain vigilant, Miss Belladonna. You'll note that we're not out of the woods yet. The rendezvous point was not scoured for Grimm. They're less active during the day, but that means little, as you should know well by now."

"Sorry, Professor." Blake tried to fight back a fierce blush. Beacon's strictest professor had caught her daydreaming. Fortunately after the assessed period of her mission, but still! The only saving grace was that the rest of her team hadn't witnessed it.

It was a close run thing. Foliage rustled in what Blake was pretty sure was two directions, and both Ruby and Weiss stepped into the clearing from opposite directions, their supervising huntsmen in tow: Oobleck and Port. For the sake of Weiss's sanity, Blake hoped Port was only a windbag in the classroom, and the skilled huntsman his stories always claimed he was in the field.

"Professors! Sis—Oh. No Yang yet?" Ruby looked around, as if hoping Yang would jump down from a tree. She sighed and continued her greeting with a half-hearted: "Friends. Weiss."

"Hey!"

Blake ignored Weiss and shook her head. "No, Yang's not here yet. Her scroll's not in range either, I've been checking." She'd seen Ruby and Weiss come within range, but hadn't sent them any messages. Best not to distract them when they all had a Bullhead to catch.

Ruby threw her hands in the air. "Stupid dead zone!"

Blake heartily agreed, and wished she knew why the CCT had such terrible reception in this deep and wide wooded valley. Maybe Weiss had some idea, she was so proud of the Atlesian technological marvels that were the CCT towers.

Ruby paced, her steps not as bouncy as normal. She must be tired after the night they'd all had. "I wanted to keep an eye on everyone's Aura levels last night, so much for that. How close do we have to be for our scrolls to link up? Shall I go check if I can find Yang's?" She glanced at Oobleck. He shrugged.

Before Ruby could so much as take a step, Goodwitch spoke up. "Miss Rose, you were almost late for the Bullhead collection time. Don't wander off." She looked over the top of her glasses at Oobleck, as if censuring him for not reining Ruby in. Or maybe expressing her displeasure that he'd almost been late too. She levelled a similar look at Port, whose moustache twitched. Maybe he'd attempted a winning smile, his eyes certainly crinkled as if he was.

"Almost late is not late, my esteemed colleague. The Bullhead isn't here yet, we're early." Oobleck sipped from his thermos. "I took the opportunity to demonstrate some tracking techniques to Miss Rose as we walked here. I did of course keep a careful eye on the time, and tracked our position on the map." He turned to Ruby. "But Professor Goodwitch has a point, Ruby. We don't want to leave anyone behind."

As always it took Blake a moment for her to process what Oobleck said. He spoke so fast! Too fast. Especially after a very long night. She hoped the Bullhead got here on time. She wanted to eat real food, and then sleep the day away in her bunk.

Ruby and Weiss walked over to join Blake, their feet dragging slightly. Oobleck and Port followed suit, standing by Goodwitch. Everyone except Oobleck was showing signs of their sleepless night of fighting Grimm. Blake was starting to wonder if his thermos was full of Dust instead of coffee. Not just the ammunition for the weapon it transformed into, but the part he drank from, as it seemed to energise him more than caffeine should. It might explain a lot about Oobleck.

"How did your sector sweeps go?" Weiss asked.

Ruby giggled. "You've got leaves in your hair." She pointed at where the leaves stood out among the white strands. It'd be more striking if they were leaves from Forever Fall, but this part of Vale forest was remote enough not to have a name, just map coordinates.

Weiss sighed. "Then pick them out. Please."

Blake joined Ruby in pulling out leaves. They tried to be careful, but it left Weiss looking even more unkempt. She already hadn't looked like her usual pristine self after the night they'd had.

"Thank you. But I asked a question, and neither of you answered. Did it go that badly?"

Blake shrugged. "Goodwitch said I passed. That's all I know. I think I had it easier than either of you." She glanced over at the professors, who were talking in relatively hushed tones amongst themselves. Huh. Who knew Port had a volume switch. He was loud or louder in the classroom.

Weiss frowned. "Why do you say that? The concentration of Grimm in each sector was unknown, beyond being bad enough to need eradicating before they moved closer to Vale."

"Faunus, remember," Blake muttered. "I can see in the dark without a grainy green filter over everything, and my ears are keener."

"Ah." Weiss grimaced, glancing down at herself and shuddering. "I think I'm still seeing green where I shouldn't be even now."

Ruby tapped her own chin. "Maybe I can come up with night vision goggles as good as faunus eyes."

"I think it's a limitation of how night vision technology works," Blake said, as gently as she could. She hated to disappoint Ruby, it was like kicking a puppy. She wasn't exactly fond of puppies, but still didn't want to kick any. "Besides, not all faunus can see in the dark. Plenty, sure, but not all."

"I wonder if Oobleck knows that," Weiss murmured. "Not that I'll mention anything about your being one, of course."

No, Weiss only did that with JNPR. Without Blake's permission. She should let it go, though. Weiss had apologised. And she wouldn't do it now. She'd grown a lot. Just not vertically.

"Anyway, don't think I haven't noticed you didn't say how you got on, Ruby Rose!" Weiss poked her partner.

"Hey, you haven't said how you did either!" Ruby poked right back.

"Stop it, both of you, before Goodwitch slaps something with her crop," Blake hissed. "If you're lucky it'll be a tree."

Ruby and Weiss exchanged a glance.

"Truce?"

"Truce."

They shook on it.

"I still want to know how you did. The smooth transition to our second year depends on it. For the record, I did fine. Port was impressed with my summoning." Weiss winced. "Even if Winter wouldn't be."

Ruby carelessly waved a hand. "Nothing I couldn't handle. I lost my night vision goggles at one point, but Oobleck helped me find them again. I wasn't familiar enough with them yet for them to come with me during Petal Burst."

Weiss sighed. "He didn't penalise you, did he?"

Ruby shrugged. "No idea. I still passed. Even if the impossible happened and Yang somehow failed, team RWBY still has enough of a pass rate to continue. We're fine, Weiss. You don't need to worry. We've got this."

Weiss slumped against Ruby. "My father demands perfection. It'll be easier to argue my case to remain at Beacon if our average doesn't come down. It will if Yang fails."

Blake rolled her eyes. Ruby should know by now it was a terrible idea to mention a worst case scenario to Weiss. She'd latch onto it. Not that she needed to worry. Unless there was an unknown ancient Grimm in Yang's sector, there couldn't have been anything she couldn't handle. That Yang was cutting things a little close to their collection time was nothing new, she was a self confessed thrill seeker. Although her supervising huntsman should be encouraging her to get here early. He wasn't a professor though, so maybe he was more lax than Beacon staff would be.

Blake looked up. A few seconds later the others noticed too, joining her in gazing skyward.

Ruby commented on it. "Look, the Bullhead! It's a newer model than the one they dropped us off in. You can tell by the—"

Weiss huffed. "Ruby, does that matter when your sister isn't here yet? And that she's not here might mean she really did fail, and if she failed then—"

Blake mentally tuned Weiss out, and checked her scroll again. Yang's contact still had no signal. Blake had been doing her best to ignore the stirrings of worry every time she saw no bars beside Yang's picture. It grew like a leaden weight in her stomach. Something wasn't right. She'd felt that way all night, even when distracted by battling Grimm.

'Where are you, Yang?'

The treetops swayed as the Bullhead swooped around, the pilot checking they were waiting before landing. Sensible, in case there were Grimm around.

"Morning, Glynda!" The pilot called. "Everyone hop aboard. Wait a second, aren't there meant to be eight of you? Where's the other hot blonde? Not as hot as you, of course, Glyn."

Blake glared at him. Too bad he didn't seem to notice, his attention on Goodwitch.

"Bad enough that you're referring to me with such disrespect in front of students. But a student too? I can and will slap you. Don't think you're safe locked away in the cockpit." Goodwitch brandished her crop.

"Just a compliment, relax!"

"That was far too crude to be a compliment. If you don't clean up your act, I'll report you to Ozpin."

"Aw, come on…"

Goodwitch slapped her crop against the side of the Bullhead. "According to Miss Xiao Long's records, she's a licensed pilot. Don't tempt me to leave you here when she arrives."

That explained the symbols Blake had glimpsed on what she'd assumed to be Yang's motorcycle license. There had been one that looked a bit like a Valean airship, along with a car. Blake had thought they were just there for decoration.

"Hey now!" The pilot yelped. "These are Grimm infested woods."

Port cleared his throat. "May I offer some advice? Keep your flirting tasteful, and above all: when in a hole like you are now, stop digging."

Blake glared at Port too. She hadn't forgotten the way he'd flirted with Yang in their first lesson with him, or Yang's discomfort when he did.

Goodwitch pulled out her scroll and unrolled it. Her already thunderous frown deepened as she checked some things. Even through her bow, Blake heard Goodwitch curse under her breath.

"I'm not paid overtime, you know," whined the pilot.

Goodwitch leapt aboard. She beckoned to the rest of them.

Blake exchanged a look with Ruby and Weiss. Their expressions mirrored the hesitation she felt.

Ruby took a step away from the Bullhead. "But Yang—"

Goodwitch cut her off. "Miss Xiao Long's scroll is still out of range. That means we have to search for her. Now get on." With a wave of her crop and a flash of purple light, the door to the cockpit opened. Goodwitch stalked in.

Ruby beat Blake on board, but only because she used her Semblance, scattering petals on the floor of the Bullhead.

The pilot was cringing away from Goodwitch, who shoved her scroll in front of him.

"Make for this sector. Now."

"But I'm supposed to go straight back to Beacon—"

Goodwitch's crop smacked right next to his hand. "That wasn't a request. Go to these coordinates, and take as direct a route from here as possible."

"All right, all right! I'll do it."

Goodwitch stayed in the cockpit, presumably to make sure that the pilot did as ordered.

Blake kept her eyes on her scroll. A quick glance at Ruby and Weiss revealed they were doing the same thing, eyes on where the signal bars should be beside Yang's icon. Bar by bar, Yang's scroll gradually came in range of the short range signal between scrolls in the CCT dead zone.

A relief, so why did Blake still feel that sense of dread? She opened the messaging app and tried sending a message to Yang. Just asking her if she was okay. It was left unread. Yang was always pretty responsive to messages, at least from her team. That she didn't reply… Blake's worry deepened.

Blake heard the distinctive dial tone of a scroll making a call. She looked towards Ruby and Weiss. Her muffled ears could tell it was coming from one of their scrolls, just not which.

"She's not picking up," Ruby said, frowning at her scroll. She left an answerphone message: "Yang? Call me back. Please." Uncharacteristically brief for Ruby, but she clearly wanted to get back to trying to get through. "Come on, Yang. Pick up, pick up, pick up…"

The third signal bar appeared. "Can you detect her Aura levels now?" Weiss asked. Only Ruby's scroll had that ability, reserved for team leaders.

Ruby ended her latest call attempt. "Could one of you keep trying to call her?"

Blake hit the call button, then looked at Ruby's scroll, now displaying the team's Aura levels. Yang's was either broken or her scroll couldn't get a reading on it.

A whimper escaped Ruby, only partly stifled by a hand over her mouth.

Blake exchanged a look with Weiss, equally lost. What could they say to comfort Ruby when there was so much they didn't know? 'We'll find her' or 'I'm sure she's fine' wouldn't have the ring of truth. Ruby would know it. She wasn't stupid.

The motion of the Bullhead changed. The pilot was circling, presumably as low as he was happy to go. "What do you want me to do?" He gestured outside. "There's no clearing big enough to land in, even with everything burnt down there."

Blake darted to the door and looked out the window. A few wisps of smoke still rose from blackened trees, but the fire was hours old and limited in scope, despite the pilot's exaggeration. Several trees burnt to a crisp. This was why Blake had advised Yang to branch out from only loading Ember Celica with Fire Dust.

"Let us off," said Goodwitch. "Then return to Beacon and give Ozpin these coordinates. Tell him there's a missing student, and I want fresh eyes on the scene as soon as possible."

Blake turned her head, watching for the pilot's reaction. He glanced back, noticing he had an audience. He lowered his voice, but didn't account for her keener hearing. "Glynda, are you sure? There's Grimm down there. We both see 'em. They should've been eradicated from this sector. I hate to say it, but your missing student is—"

Goodwitch sliced her crop through the air, slapping it against her palm. "I'm not going to accept that. Not yet. Those students are her teammates. One of them's her sister. Open the door. Now."

The pilot sighed. "All right. I'll be back as soon as I can be with that search party. Take care."

Goodwitch stalked back into the main body of the Bullhead. "Weapons ready, everyone. We have Grimm to deal with."

That Grimm were still present didn't bode well for Yang. Or for the huntsman with her. Blake tried not to dwell on what might have happened. She had to focus. Especially with low-ish Aura after the night she'd had. She suspected Goodwitch wasn't sending her, Ruby and Weiss back to Beacon with the pilot because their Auras weren't critically low, and she wanted as many eyes looking for Yang as possible.

Blake drew Gambol Shroud and heard the others readying their weapons behind her. The door opened. She leapt out, lengthening Gambol Shroud's Dust infused ribbon with a touch of her Aura, ready to implement her landing strategy.

Seconds later she landed lightly on her feet. Beowolves swarmed her, giving her no chance to find her bearings or track where the others had landed. Blake dodged, using her Semblance as a last resort. She didn't have Aura to spare for anything else. She slashed again and again, clearing enough space to leap up into a tree, reconfiguring Gambol Shroud into pistol form and fired into the mob below. Oily black Grimm smoke rose from dissolving bodies.

She heard the loud cracks of Crescent Rose firing, and the deep boom of Port's blunderbuss. Weiss, Goodwitch and Oobleck's handiwork were flashes of light in Blake's peripheral vision. Blake was impressed they had any Dust left, Gambol Shroud was running low, despite the crate of ammunition provided for the night. She'd needed it. Still needed it, really. Gambol Shroud clicked, the magazine empty. Blake switched back to sword form and leapt back into melee range.

Blake tangled with more Beowolves and Ursai. She lost count of how many. And one particularly stubborn Death Stalker she teamed up with Ruby to handle. Silence eventually fell, apart from heavy breathing. She wasn't sure exactly how long they'd been fighting. Minutes? Hours? It felt like both. Blake was well aware it'd make no sense to a civilian who never fought for their life, but adrenaline did strange things to perceptions.

"Twenty eight minutes since we got here," Weiss said, squinting down at her scroll. "We still need to sweep the sector, but with the negative emotions at least some of us are feeling, we should be attracting every Grimm around."

"Short work compared to the night allowed to clear this sector, but that's to be expected with three top students at the end of their first year, if admittedly already tired, and three teaching staff, all licensed huntsmen." Oobleck collapsed his weapon back into thermos form and took a sip.

Blake stared blankly at him for a long moment until she managed to grasp what he'd said. It took even longer now. She needed a nap. But first she needed to find her partner. Or at least find out what happened to her.

If she had to guess Yang's fate at this stage, though… There had been a lot of Grimm. They'd only managed in such a comparatively short time because there were six of them. The thought of that Death Stalker against a lone Yang haunted her, but… Yang should have beaten it with her Semblance burning. Unless she'd been overwhelmed by all the other Grimm. But the huntsman with Yang should have intervened if she was in over her head.

"That does seem to be all of them, but remain watchful for Grimm," Goodwitch said. "We need a strategy to find Miss Xiao Long. None of us are specialists in search and rescue." She briefly took off her glasses to rub at her eyes tiredly. "We need to remain in pairs at minimum, and stay in contact. I'm open to suggestions. My only idea is to sweep the sector, and it is easier said than done to walk in a straight line in a forest."

"I am admittedly not an expert, as you say, but I have read historical accounts. We need a faster method. The longer we delay, the less likely a favourable outcome is." Oobleck glanced at Ruby. Once Blake processed what he'd said, she figured he was probably worried about her reaction. "A thorough sweep can be left for the actual search team, if we don't find Miss Xiao Long before the Bullhead returns. Peter?" He looked to Port.

Port shrugged. "Fighting Grimm is my area of expertise. I'm afraid I avoided this sort of mission."

"Maybe we can track down her scroll by using our own somehow?" Ruby pulled out her scroll and starting tinkering with the settings. If anyone present could figure out how, it'd be Ruby.

Blake bit her lip. She really didn't want to point out that Yang might not be with her scroll. The thought was bound to have occurred to Ruby anyway, even if she was clinging to the hope that she'd find her sister relatively easily.

"I suppose all the burned trees might help our search," Weiss mused. "Less obscuring foliage." She shook her head. "Of course Yang would almost burn down the forest while we were all in it. We're lucky it didn't go beyond this sector."

Blake bit back a defensive retort. What right did she have to say anything when she herself thought it was Yang's handiwork?

Ruby snorted. Blake frowned at the way silver eyes looked sidelong at Weiss before returning to her scroll. Come to that, why was everyone else looking at Weiss? The professors looked as amused as they could be under the circumstances.

"Like you didn't almost set the Emerald Forest on fire during initiation," Ruby said.

"One tree!" Weiss protested.

"And a few more," said Port, elbowing Oobleck. "We had a drink per tree in flames."

That brought Weiss up short. She whipped around, staring at Port. "Excuse me? May I ask how you know what happened, Professor?"

"The initiation is recorded using hidden cameras. Your fire destroyed at least one."

Weiss blushed. "Please tell me they don't pick up audio."

Port laughed. "Not terribly well. It's broadcast with a dramatic soundtrack instead."

Blake didn't know it was possible to go from blushing to blanching as fast as Weiss did.

Port hastened to reassure her. "Only on a screen in the ballroom. I believe the headmaster keeps highlights in his files."

Weiss groaned. "Please tell me that wasn't a highlight."

Goodwitch raised an eyebrow. "Knowing Headmaster Ozpin? It might well be."

Weiss sighed. "I hope that footage went no further than Beacon. Just because it was a local broadcast… Sometimes the CCT is a curse."

That reminded Blake she had a question to ask. "Thinking of the CCT, Weiss, do you have any idea what's behind the dead zone here?"

"No, but I could find out once I have the CCT at my disposal. Probably something to do with the geology and lack of local relay towers. Reception in Mountain Glenn wasn't great either."

"Miss Rose? We need to do something," Goodwitch prompted.

"Just a minute," Ruby muttered, eyes intent on her scroll. Weiss nudged her, prompting Ruby to add a belated, "Professor."

Goodwitch tapped her foot, crop twitching.

Oobleck cleared his throat. "While we give Miss Rose a little more time… I trust I don't need to remind you that it's not just Miss Xiao Long. The huntsman who supervised her is also missing."

Goodwitch glared at him over the top of her glasses. "I hadn't forgotten. Miss Xiao Long is the priority here. Our responsibility."

"And the huntsman's. He was entrusted with her. Have you tried calling him? Presuming you know his name. I'm afraid I can't recall it."

Goodwitch slowly shook her head. "I don't remember. Strange." She pulled out her scroll and unrolled it. "No one whose name I don't recognise among my contacts. His face isn't among the icons either. I… trusted him." She frowned. "But I can't remember why. I only just met him yesterday, Barty. Why did I trust him?"

Oobleck exchanged a troubled look with her. "You don't trust anyone that fast. Do you think something…" He lowered his voice. "...untoward happened?"

Goodwitch glanced towards Ruby. Weiss and Blake too, but lingering on Ruby. Her frown deepened. "I don't know."

Blake heard the words unsaid in the suspicious tone of her voice: 'yes, very.'

Ruby looked up. "I think I have something. I hope. Adjusting things means that when I reboot the team Aura monitor function, it should ping the other scrolls enough to provoke error messages. So you might want to mute your scrolls for now." She glanced at Blake and Weiss. "With any luck Yang hasn't got her scroll muted, so the error notifications will make an irritating beep. A lot of beeps, so keep an ear out."

Weiss almost dropped her scroll in her hurry to turn the volume down. Blake's was already muted, although she also turned off the vibration function.

"Here goes." Ruby tapped her scroll twice. "I guess we can spread out, try to find Yang." She closed her eyes, heaving a shuddering breath. "Or at least her scroll."

Blake winced. Ruby was definitely all too aware that they might not find her sister.

Goodwitch ordered them back into the pairs they'd been in the night before, each student with their supervising professor. She assigned a cardinal direction to each of them, an imperfect solution when that left a lot of the sector out of hearing range. But Blake couldn't think of anything better.

Blake and Goodwitch walked south, as quietly as possible. As Goodwitch had said, going in a specific direction was difficult when there were trees in the way, turning them slightly west or east. It couldn't be helped unless they wanted to waste time cutting them down, and the racket would mask the beeps they were hoping to hear.

They'd been on the move for maybe ten minutes when Blake's ears twitched under her bow. She could hear something. She sighed and pulled the ribbon out, freeing her faunus trait. If Oobleck and Port found out, so be it. It was worth the risk if her ears could help find Yang. Her ears rotated, following the sound. She closed her eyes, listening intently. There. An echo of a beep, on the edge of her hearing.

"Professor Goodwitch? I can hear something. This way." Blake led the way, the beeps gradually getting louder as she neared their origin. Ruby had been understating when she'd called them irritating. They were far more obnoxious than that. But if they meant finding Yang alive, Blake would happily make them her ringtone.

Blake froze, cat ears pinned back. She sniffed, just to be sure. Oh, no. No. The distinctive metallic scent of blood. Grimm didn't bleed. There was no denying something had gone terribly wrong last night. It could be Yang's accompanying huntsman's blood. But out of a licensed huntsman and student huntress, even one as strong as Yang, it was far likelier to be Yang's.

"What is it?" Goodwitch asked. "Miss Belladonna?"

Rather than answer, Blake hunted down the source of the beeps. Yang's scroll was tucked under a small boulder, with bloodstained fingerprints on it. Dried blood, not fresh. Blake hesitated, hand outstretched, fingers shaking slightly. She steeled herself and picked it up, ignoring the blood. She unrolled it to mute the volume, silencing the error pings.

Blake almost used team RWBY's chat to message Ruby and Weiss, before she remembered she wasn't holding her own scroll. It'd be cruel to raise their hopes that it was Yang contacting them. She rolled up the scroll and reached for her own.

"Give me Miss Xiao Long's scroll," Goodwitch said, voice uncharacteristically soft. "I need to use a code allowing school administrators to access data usually kept private. Like any calls between her and her supervisor last night."

"What if she didn't record them?"

"Beacon scrolls automatically record calls. If enough are made they're eventually overwritten, but that shouldn't be a problem for our purposes." Goodwitch held out her hand.

Blake handed over Yang's scroll. It felt like a betrayal, as if she should've held onto her partner's belonging. Blake unrolled her own scroll and messaged Ruby and Weiss. It'd feel like even more of a betrayal not to let them know she'd found Yang's scroll. They should also hear whatever Goodwitch found, so she included her current map coordinates.

They instantly messaged back. Even Weiss, who must have tinkered with her own scroll to silence the error pings so she could hear message notifications. Ruby's mentioned she'd reset the settings causing the annoying beeps, so Blake and Weiss could turn their volume back up. Blake did so, figuring she needed more than just vibration for notifications under the circumstances.

"Have you let Miss Rose and Miss Schnee know of our progress?"

Blake nodded. "Yes. They're coming. It's also safe to turn the volume back up on Yang's scroll."

"I hesitate to call it good that they are. I'll warn you, Miss Belladonna, whatever we uncover on this scroll is likely to be disturbing." Goodwitch tapped away at Yang's scroll.

"The bloody fingerprints on it make that much obvious, Professor. Either her Aura was broken and she was wounded." Blake almost choked and had to take a deep breath before she could continue. "Or that happened to her accompanying huntsman." The same huntsman who Goodwitch had suspicions about.

"Found it." There was grim satisfaction in Goodwitch's voice. "A recording of a call made last night between Miss Xiao Long and who can only be that huntsman. No one else was within range of her scroll's local signal."

"Are you going to play it now?"

Goodwitch frowned. "Perhaps I should, to ensure it's safe for Miss Rose to listen to. But it wouldn't do to have her arrive during playback. She's unlikely to listen to a request to wait."

Ruby arrived within five minutes, crashing through the foliage, Oobleck hurrying after. She skidded to a halt besides Blake, panting, hand outstretched. "Yang's scroll. Gimme. I can find stuff."

Goodwitch lifted the scroll out of Ruby's reach. "I've already found a call recorded last night."

Ruby's eyes widened. "Play it! Now. Please."

Goodwitch shook her head. "Not yet, Miss Rose. Miss Schnee hasn't arrived yet, and I'd rather not replay anything."

"Ugh!" Ruby breathed deeply until she could speak normally. Or at least normally for her. "I keep telling Weiss she needs to work on her stamina for running."

"Hey!" Weiss's voice came from behind a bush. Ruby would normally have feigned surprise about Weiss transforming into a bush. Blake wasn't surprised that she didn't; all of Ruby's focus must be on finding Yang. A few seconds later Weiss emerged with a huffing and puffing Port. "I couldn't leave Professor Port behind. Professor Goodwitch said to stay together."

Goodwitch held up Yang's scroll. "Miss Belladonna tracked this down using the error sounds you caused, Miss Rose."

Weiss gasped, her eyes on the bloodstains. "I don't even care any more if Yang failed, I just want to find her alive."

"Blake? Can you tell if it's Yang's blood?" Ruby's voice shook.

That wasn't the sort of question Blake really wanted asking in front of people who somehow might not have noticed her uncovered cat ears, but she couldn't blame Ruby. The poor girl was understandably preoccupied. Blake shook her head. "Only that it's hours old." She leaned closer to add for Ruby's ears alone, "I'm not the right sort of faunus for that, my trait gives me keener hearing."

"We can analyse that back at Beacon," Goodwitch said. "But we may not need to. A call was made on it last night, and it can only have been between those missing."

"Play it. Please, Professor. I need to know. We all do." Ruby eyed her sister's scroll with the same hungry desperation as if it was the last cookie in the world. She'd probably try using her Semblance to snatch and flee with it if Goodwitch refused.

Goodwitch looked conflicted.

"It might give some closure at the very least. I vote to play it," Port said, still a bit breathless.

"I agree," Oobleck said, unusually briefly.

"Do we get votes, Professor?" Weiss asked.

Goodwitch clicked her tongue. "I can guess what they'd be. Very well. But I reserve the right to stop playback at any time."

Ruby looked mutinous at that condition.

Goodwitch tapped the scroll, starting the recorded call.

"Hey, huntsman buddy of the night! Sorry, your name's slipped my mind."

Ruby twitched at the sound of Yang's voice. It sent a jolt through Blake too, even distorted by the scroll's speakers as it was.

"Don't worry, I'll be far from forgettable soon enough." His voice was deep, not far off from Blake's father's. If nowhere near as warm. "Cyan's the name. Cyan Ara." That name. It couldn't be real, surely? It had to be evidence that something untoward really had happened.

"Right, Cyan. Wait, Cyan Ara? But that sounds like…" Yang's unease came through loud and clear, despite trying to cover it up with her usual cheery mask.

"Sayonara. I know. 'Final goodbye' in Old Mistrali."

"Uh. Anyway, I just put on my night vision goggles, and something's up with them. I checked them before we left Beacon, they were fully charged. They're supposed to last for days."

"Is there a problem?" Cyan sounded strangely amused to Blake. Disturbingly so.

"Yeah, a big one. They're almost dead, and the spare charge pack for them is missing. I could've sworn it was there during equipment checks… Do you—"

"Dead? What a coincidence, so are you." His voice was downright gleeful to Blake's ears.

"What are you doing? Pranks have a time and place, this isn't it." Yang's voice was sharper than Blake had ever heard it. "Negative emotions draw Grimm, damn it!"

"Then I suggest you think happy thoughts. If you can." Cyan's words were mocking, Blake couldn't be imagining it.

Grimm growled and snarled. Far too close for Blake's comfort. The recording was muffled for a minute, the blasts of Ember Celica firing still distinctive. Yang had a tendency to shove her scroll in her cleavage when she didn't have time to put it away properly. The sound quality cleared up, the microphone picking up Yang's breathing gradually slowing after exertion.

"Are you messing with me as part of this test? Trying to make me act like a beacon to Grimm?" That was very much angry Yang. Blake would be amazed if her eyes hadn't been red. Not that they'd have been visible, hidden under her night vision goggles.

"You're already attracting them with your Aura. But this is no prank, Branwen." The sheer venom in that voice was disturbing, in part because it reminded Blake of her father's and venom had no place there, but mostly because it was aimed at Yang. Blake just couldn't fathom why.

Yang's breath caught, all too audible over the recording. "That's not my name."

"Your mother is Raven Branwen. That makes you one of them, no matter who your father is. Even if I had to do some digging to find you because he named you after himself."

Weiss stifled a sound. She looked at Ruby, then away, as if she'd wanted to say something but didn't want to interrupt.

It took Yang a moment to find her voice. "What's your problem with Branwens?"

"You don't know?" He laughed, a bitter bark. At least his laugh was different to Ghira Belladonna's. "They're bandits, raid villages throughout Anima. Your mother's their 'queen,' guess that makes you a princess," Cyan spat the word.

Blake winced. Yang's mother was a bandit? Hell of a way for Yang to find out, if this huntsman wasn't lying. He sounded like he believed it at least.

"They raided my home while I was on a mission. I lost my daughter, I never even found her body! Grimm are drawn after Branwen attacks, all the negative emotions, you know. My Vernal, dead because of your mother, and I didn't get to bury her because Grimm ate her!" His voice cracked, and he choked back a sob.

For a moment, Blake felt sorry for him. But then she kicked herself. She could tell where his grief had taken him, even if Yang hadn't joined the dots yet, judging by the sympathy in her voice:

"I'm sorry about your daughter."

"Save it," Cyan snarled. "I don't want condolences. I want revenge."

"Anima's that way. You said the bandits raid there, so go find them."

"Heh. No. An eye for an eye, Branwen. I lost my daughter, so… I'm sure you get where this is going. You're not as dumb as you look. Your professors mentioned that you're one of their top students."

Blake's mind reeled, despite the fact she'd seen this coming. This twisted grieving huntsman wanted Yang dead instead of going after the real culprits. Bastard! He'd stacked the odds against Yang. All he'd needed to do was wait for her to be left blind in the dark, and finish her off after the Grimm inevitably broke her Aura. Yang was strong, but she had no training in fighting blind, and none of team RWBY had Ren's talent with using Aura to detect threats.

Something scraped softly. Perhaps clothing against the bark of a tree. Had Yang leant against one? "You want to kill me." Yang's voice sounded hollow to Blake.

Ruby trembled. Blake stepped close and put an arm around her. Weiss did the same from the other side.

"Want? Far more than that. I need this."

Yang laughed as if she might cry otherwise. A broken sound Blake had never wanted to hear from her. "My mother abandoned me not long after I was born. She won't care if you kill me. She won't even know."

"Oh, she will. I'll make sure she gets a very special delivery. The Grimm can have the rest of you."

Blake wished she'd heard that before Ruby arrived, if only so that she could have known to fight against Ruby hearing it.

"You're sick. How is this fair? I had nothing to do with what happened to your daughter."

"Mmm. That's true. Too bad for you I don't care. You know, I could've made this easy on you. When we met, I could've used my Semblance on you. With a single touch you would've trusted me even after stabbing you in the back. That tragically misplaced artificial trust is how I got you assigned to me."

Goodwitch paused the playback with a jab of a finger. "Bastard!" The word exploded from her.

"Glynda, the students…" Port muttered.

Goodwitch shook her head, every breath hissing slightly between clenched teeth. She looked over to check on Blake, Ruby and Weiss, eyes lingering on Ruby most. "Miss Rose. You've already heard more than I should have allowed."

Blake could feel the effort Ruby put into trying to sound steady, her body stiff. "I need to know what happened to Yang."

"At this stage I think we can make an all too educated guess," Oobleck said.

"I don't want to guess, Professor!"

"Doctor," Oobleck said, a lot more mildly than his usual corrections.

"I suppose you have a right to know." Goodwitch pressed the scroll and the recording picked up again.

"I want you to suffer. The only good Branwen is a dead one, and I very much doubt they made deaths quick for their victims."

Yang's footsteps were quiet, but still audible, a few dead leaves crunching under her boots.

"Trying to be sneaky, Branwen? Pathetic. I have eyes on you anyway. I see what you're doing."

BOOM—

The recording's sound cut out for a few seconds, the explosion too close for the scroll's microphone to cope with.

"—no more ammo for you. Look at that, it took a big chunk out of your Aura too. By the way, don't count on your Semblance to save you. I know you pack a punch with it, but you can't get to me before more Grimm arrive. Don't worry, I won't let them be the end of you. Not of your life, at least. You'll take plenty of my arrows before the night's over. Your time is running out."

"Fuck you."

"You're the one who's fucked. Did your night vision goggles survive that blast? Can you even see anything after that flash of light from the Dust going up in flames? Hardly matters with them so low on charge. I get to have eyes on you in the dark."

There was a scrabbling sound. Blake reckoned it was something against rough bark again.

"Trying to hide up a tree? I can't have that." Cyan's voice was a little strained as something creaked. His bow, Blake guessed.

There was a distinctive thwack as an arrow struck wood. Fire crackled.

Weiss dropped her head into her hand, a muffled groan escaping her. She had to be feeling terrible for blaming Yang for the burnt trees. Blake knew the feeling all too well. She'd thought the same thing as Weiss. The bastard of a huntsman must've retrieved his arrows.

"Fuck," Yang muttered.

Grimm howled. Many Beowolf howls, coming closer.

Yang counted under her breath. Blake doubted the bastard huntsman could hear her. He certainly didn't comment. Blake guessed she was counting either the Grimm or how much ammo she had left. Maybe both; she restarted partway through.

Yang cocked Ember Celica, breathing a little shaky, but clearly trying to keep it deep and even. She fired, again and again, almost drowning out the faint hiss of Grimm flesh dissolving into smoke. The sounds were a little muffled; she must have tucked her scroll away again. Why hadn't she ended the call? Had she realised it'd be recorded and hoped someone might find her scroll? Someone had intentionally hidden it under that boulder. Was that Yang trying to keep Cyan from destroying it, or Cyan trying to hide evidence? It made more sense for it to be Yang, otherwise why wouldn't Cyan have smashed it?

Something cracked. "Fuck!"

Blake shuddered at Yang's panic in that single expletive. At least Ruby probably wouldn't notice Blake's reaction over her own trembling.

Cyan laughed. "There goes your night vision, I'm amazed the goggles were still working."

Blake hated that everything from his end of the call was clearer than from Yang while her scroll was shoved down her top.

Ember Celica's roars fell silent, apart from a hollow click as Yang tried and failed to fire after the shells ran out.

"Out of ammo too, huh? Here, let me give you a hand. I don't want the Grimm to get you just yet." Cyan's bow sang, arrows piercing Grimm with duller thwacks than into trees. "Now, a question for you, Branwen: how do you dodge an arrow when you can't see it coming?"

Ruby twitched when the bowstring twanged on the recording, her breath stuttering.

Yang's footsteps were just as muffled as the rest of the sounds from her. Blake knew she was trying to keep moving, to be a harder target to hit. But in the dark it was inevitable that she'd—

Thud. The rush of air expelled in a rush. Thump. Muffled wheezing.

Blake winced. Yang must've run into a tree. Hard enough that she'd winded herself and fallen over. But each muffled sound had a clearer echo. Blake's eyes widened with realisation: Cyan was close enough for his microphone to pick up on Yang.

"Good evasion, up until now. Don't think that lying down will stop me from hitting you. I'm right above you." Cyan's tone chilled Blake's blood.

The bow creaked. An arrow whistled through the air.

Blake heard the arrow ricochet away instead of piercing flesh, but there was no relief to be found.

Yang's Aura crackled and shattered.

The lump in Blake's throat kept her from making any sound.

Ruby choked.

"No," Weiss whimpered.

Goodwitch stopped playback. "That's enough. None of you should hear the rest."

Ruby staggered forward a step, reaching for Yang's scroll. "I'm her sister! Give me her scroll, Professor."

Goodwitch shook her head. She pocketed Yang's scroll. "That's precisely why you shouldn't hear anything more. You're also still legally a child."

"I'm old enough to fight Grimm on a dangerous overnight mission, yet not old enough for this?!" Ruby had never sounded more like Yang. An angry Yang.

"I'm sorry, Miss Rose. My answer is final for now. I'll leave it up to the headmaster whether you hear more."

Ruby collapsed onto her knees, staring at the ground for a moment. She lifted her head skywards. "YANG!" She staggered to her feet and walked around, repeating the plaintive cry with her hands cupped around her mouth.

Weiss followed her lead, using her trained and impressive lung capacity as a singer to call louder and longer than anyone else could manage, except maybe Port, but he didn't seem inclined to try. Maybe he thought it was hopeless.

Blake still couldn't say a word, not even to join her teammates efforts to find Yang. Her partner's Aura had broken hours ago. Cyan—No. That bastard of a huntsman didn't deserve to be named. He had most likely killed her long before dawn.

'NO!'

Blake shuddered, hugging herself. She couldn't believe it. Not Yang.

The Professors were talking amongst themselves. Blake couldn't catch every word with Ruby and Weiss calling for Yang, but the gist was Goodwitch saying she shouldn't have let them hear the recording. That she should have made them return to Beacon instead of coming here in the first place.

Oobleck's words were, as always, harder to catch, but Blake thought he'd said something about Ruby's Semblance making it impossible to catch her unless her Aura broke. And that's what it would have taken, because she wanted to look for her sister. She wanted to know as much as possible. And they'd voted for the recording to be played, so it wasn't just on Goodwitch if Ozpin took issue with it.

Port couldn't see how Yang survived the night. The Grimm horde they found on arrival in this sector could be expected after someone died a slow, painful death, and that huntsman promised Yang exactly that. In Port's opinion this was no longer a rescue mission but an attempt to recover her body. He didn't expect to find it. Goodwitch and Oobleck reluctantly agreed.

Oobleck tried to find a bright side. The best he could manage was that even if Yang had been devoured by Grimm they should be able to find her weapons. Grimm always spat those out. If they could find them, it'd be something to return to Yang's poor father. Oobleck didn't know how they'd tell Taiyang Xiao Long about this, but someone needed to.

Blake wanted to throw something. Preferably at her professors, in the absence of the murderous huntsman. Yang wasn't dead. She couldn't be. Blake didn't glare at them, she knew she wasn't supposed to have heard any of their discussion. They hadn't accounted for her ears, even Goodwitch who definitely knew about them. Maybe they thought Ruby and Weiss yelling for Yang covered up their conversation.

"We keep looking," Goodwitch decided, her voice loud enough for Blake to hear better. "Until that search party arrives. I think the rest of Miss Xiao Long's team needs to stay busy while we're stranded here."

Each professor approached their assigned student and led them away to search for any sign of Yang. Or that murderous huntsman, although Blake didn't care about finding him unless it meant bringing him to justice. Yang was what mattered, not revenge. Although if Blake came across that bastard she doubted she'd be able to stop herself from introducing him to Gambol Shroud's blade.

With Goodwitch absorbed with the search, Blake took the opportunity to get her hands on Yang's scroll and copied the recording to her own, smoothly returning Yang's to Goodwitch's pocket. All without her noticing, and no one else was around to see. But then Blake was essentially a ninja. Just not like the ones in Ninjas of Love. She'd listen to the rest of the recording when she got a chance. In private. If she could bring herself to.

They found no sign of Yang besides spent shell casings from Ember Celica. And spatters of dried blood, although it was hard to know if it was hers or the huntsman's. It wasn't much of a relief to find so little blood, considering arrows would surely cause mostly internal bleeding.

Ruby sent a message, simply a photo of broken night vision goggles. She'd found Yang's, smashed by Grimm claws.

Goodwitch checked her own scroll a minute later. "Follow me, Miss Belladonna. We're regrouping where the Bullhead left us."

"But—"

Goodwitch levelled a steely look at Blake over the top of her glasses. "That wasn't a request."

Blake swallowed her protest that they hadn't been searching nearly long enough, and soon found herself back with Ruby and Weiss while the professors had a hushed conversation. This time Blake didn't eavesdrop. She probably wouldn't like what she heard, and she was more concerned with her friends.

Ruby's eyes were bloodshot, tears steadily trickling down her cheeks despite her efforts to wipe them away. Weiss's face was almost as pale as her hair. She also couldn't or wouldn't look at Ruby. Or at Blake, come to that.

"Weiss? What's wrong?" Blake asked, as gently as she could when she felt so on edge.

Weiss shook her head, ponytail just missing Ruby. "You don't want to know. Either of you."

Ruby heaved a sigh. "Just tell me. It can't be worse than what I'm imagining."

Weiss's fingers clenched Myrtenaster's hilt. Not ready to draw it, but something Blake noticed she did when feeling nervous. "Professor Port and I found a body."

Ruby stifled a wounded cry. Blake flinched, tears prickling her eyes. No. It couldn't be.

Weiss waved her hands frantically. "Not Yang's! I'm so sorry, I should've led with that. It was the huntsman who was with her. The Grimm must've missed his body, or they'd have done to it what he threatened to have them do to Yang's."

Ruby stared. "You mean…"

"It was done with a bladed weapon of some sort, and he had one. A dagger. Not Yang's weapon of choice, but who else could have done it?"

The thought of Yang killing anyone sickened Blake, but under the circumstances she couldn't fault her partner. This was clear cut case of self defence. Unless it was self inflicted? But surely Weiss would've mentioned that possibility. The method must have been one that only someone else could do. Blake didn't care to think about it.

Ruby scratched her head. "Why were you reluctant to tell me? This means Yang might still be alive."

"Ruby… It wasn't easy to tell you that I think Yang killed someone. Even to save herself. And, well…"

Ruby sagged. "If she survived the huntsman's attack, she still had no night vision goggles and—"

"His night vision goggles were gone. Hopefully that means she took them," Weiss murmured.

"Even then, her Aura was broken. Maybe that bastard wounded her too before she finished him off. Alone in the dark with a horde of Grimm." Ruby sniffled. "Yang…"

Weiss stepped closer and tentatively reached out to put her arms around her partner. Ruby let her, leaning into the embrace. Blake tried to complete the team hug. Yang's absence left a huge void. It was so cold without her.

None of them pointed out the obvious. That Yang would have tired easily without her Aura. She wouldn't have been capable of fighting for long, or running far either. The chances she'd survived the night were vanishingly small even with the huntsman dead. Blake flinched away from the unimaginably hard truth.

No.

Yang couldn't be dead.

Footsteps approached. Blake looked over Ruby and Weiss's heads and spotted Goodwitch walking over.

Goodwitch gestured around with her crop. "We need to make a clearing, large enough for the Bullhead to land. The search party is nearly here."

Weiss drew away. "Of course, easier access for them, and easier to get Yang on it if—when she's found."

Blake and Ruby backed off to a safe distance from each other, drawing their weapons. Ruby eyed the trees as if they'd mortally offended her. Maybe she was picturing the huntsman on each trunk. She certainly seemed to find some satisfaction in letting Crescent Rose's blade swing through the wood.

Goodwitch alone could have made the clearing within five minutes at most. Blake suspected she was still trying to keep them occupied. While they worked, they kept their eyes open for any sign of Yang that might be covered up by falling leaves or branches. They found nothing but the remains of the booby trapped ammunition crate, SDC branded shrapnel scattered far and wide.

"That's large enough," Goodwitch decreed, clearing debris from the ground with sweeps of her crop. "When the Bullhead lands, I'll speak with the team of huntsmen, briefing them on what we know and the coordinates of what we've found. After that, we return to Beacon on the Bullhead."

"What? No! I need to find my sister!" Ruby clung to Crescent Rose as if it was the only thing keeping her upright, the bottom spike digging into the ground.

Blake staggered to Ruby's side, not much better off but trying to hide it. Weiss joined her in showing solidarity with Ruby, and attempting to comfort her with hands on Ruby's shoulders.

Goodwitch crossed her arms, resting her crop against herself. "We all need rest after a night with no sleep and battling so many Grimm. Other huntsmen will continue the search. I also need to inform the headmaster of our findings."

Ruby's knuckles whitened around Crescent Rose's shaft. "I can't sleep like this, not without knowing if Yang survived!"

"But you can and will rest even if sleep is impossible. We are returning to Beacon. You will eat, shower, and lie down. No argument, Miss Rose."

AN: Two more chapters coming soon. I promise there's a happy ending.

When it came to writing something for Bumbleby Week Day 8's prompt 'Bonus or VA Appreciation Day,' I couldn't think of any way to handle voice actor appreciation other than by breaking the fourth wall. I didn't feel like doing that. Then there was the question of what to do for something as open ended as 'bonus.'

Well, I thought, why not use something I'd already started? Sure, I'd been writing everything for the other prompts on their day, but that was a self imposed rule. So I broke it. I had two partially written Bumbleby fics started earlier this summer, one in July, the other in August.

I picked the second fic because it was shorter and not as dark, although neither are unrelentingly so. Comparatively shorter anyway, as it still ended up longer than what I'd written for the rest of Bumbleby Week put together. That's why there's three chapters of it, and why I couldn't get it finished on time for Day 8. It's only now close enough to finished that I felt happy to start posting it.

I hope you enjoy this. If enjoy is quite the right word considering the characters certainly don't have a fun time for most of it. Thanks for reading, comments much appreciated.