Sins of the Forefathers

Act the First: A Beacon of Hope

Author's Note: Welp, here it is. Sorry it took so long, I was caught up writing bad smut because my muse really wanted to see the idea put to paper… er, screen.

Fun fact, while writing Hot as Hell, I would literally get up and pace angrily every single time I wrote anything sexual. It took me like 3-4 days to write it because I just got distracted by that writing process.

Chapter Ten: Fight and Flight

Looking back, it was clear to Neo that everything that went wrong was Mercury's fault.

She lagged behind Emerald and Jaune as they raced ahead - for once, her short stature was a disadvantage as their strides let them pull forward - and growled slightly to herself, making a mental note to add running to her training.

She flicked her parasol and drew the blade from Hush, keeping the fabric folded closed. It was a useful shield, but better to save that for when she knew an attack was incoming. As for the second blade hidden in the end of the parasol, well… better to keep that hidden entirely.

Gunshots rang out from within the server room as she turned the corner. Inside, the Grimm - some species unknown to her, reptilian and glowing green, did they usually do that? - thrashed around with Mercury in its jaws, his free left arm swinging wildly, fist smashing against the Grimm's jaw. His face was contorted in pain as he writhed, struggling to get free.

Emerald had fired some ice Dust, trapping the Creep and keeping it in place. It didn't stop it from mauling Mercury, however. Jaune, for his part, was rushing forward with his shotgun, taking advantage of the Grimm's obsession with Mercury to get in close. He pressed the barrel of his shotgun right up against the Grimm's eye and pulled the trigger.

...

Her eyes opened, blinking madly to get dirt out of them. After a moment she realized she was still wearing the night vision goggles - one of the lenses was cracked, but she still needed them to see. She shook her head - her whole body was aching, her ears ringing, the last thing she remembered - a gunshot, and a blast. The Grimm had exploded when Jaune shot it.

She surveyed the room. The servers were trashed, either outright destroyed by the blast or now covered in some green goop, perhaps a leftover substance from the Creep.

But Grimm don't leave anything behind when they die, right?

She shook her head some more and looked around. Emerald was groaning, shaking her own head and checking herself and her guns. Apparently, since they were the furthest from the blast, they had been the least affected. Quickly, she eyed the door, but figured that if nothing had come in to finish them off while they were unconscious, then they should be fine for a while.

Her gaze wandered over to the center of the blast and - shit, Jaune. Oh, and Mercury too I guess.

She got up, stumbling as she did so, and wandered over to them. She grimaced at the sight. Between the two of them, Jaune had fared better off, but that wasn't saying much. The shotgun he'd just bought had been destroyed in the blast, the barrel bent out of shape and the stock shattered into splinters. His night vision goggles had also been blown off his face, to shatter somewhere in the wreckage. Evidently, Jaune still hadn't figured out how to reinforce his weapons and equipment with Aura. Luckily, his supposedly insanely high levels of natural Aura had protected his actual body, but an explosion of that caliber definitely did some harm. His left arm was covered in the green goop - idly, Neo poked it with her blade before grabbing a discarded server shelf and scraping it off of him - thankfully, it didn't seem to be radioactive or toxic, at least not by touch. She let him lie there for a moment, now that he was more or less stable, as she turned to Mercury.

He was fucked. The blast had clearly broken his Aura completely, evidenced by the fact that his right arm was bent the wrong way. To make matters worse, his right prosthetic had been utterly destroyed in the blast - in fact, it had been torn off and was stuck in the wall. His left prosthetic didn't look much better. His vest had worked as intended, and his torso wasn't completely mangled or crushed, but the vest was definitely broken, his grenades destroyed and inert. Though, better the equipment than his actual body, she supposed. He'd been through enough of that for one life. His head sported a small injury - a small trail of blood led down onto the floor. It hadn't bled enough to pool, so perhaps there was some time to save him.

She sighed tiredly as she moved over to Jaune, rolling him onto his side to get into his backpack. She knew he had a first-aid kit somewhere in there.

As she grabbed it, Emerald limped up. "Are they okay?" she asked.

Neo pointed at Jaune and gave a thumbs up. She pointed to Mercury and gave a thumbs down.

Emerald nodded. "Here, pass me the smelling salts. I'll wake Jaune up."

Neo did so and brought the rest of the kit over to Mercury. Idly, she wondered why Emerald wanted to be the one to take care of Jaune, but whatever. Apparently, the girl's vitriol for Mercury was quite strong if she was more concerned with Jaune than a partner she'd worked with for a while.

Emerald grumbled as Neo moved away to help Mercury. She briefly wondered what the other girl was thinking. No doubt she thought it strange that Emerald hadn't offered to help Mercury herself, since they were technically partners under Cinder.

Yeah, fuck him. As far as she cared, Mercury could bite it. They just needed him for his combat ability, but there were loads of Assassins out there. If need be, they could just hire one. Hell, Jaune, Junior, or Roman probably knew plenty of people who could fill Mercury's role, and more. His only real value was that he would be basically homeless without Cinder's help, and therefore worked for free.

Like you're much better.

At least she knew it, which was why she was going to do… this. Cinder had given her a task, and though she didn't know the first thing about seduction, Emerald wasn't about to disappoint her.

Based on her research, guys liked to be nursed by cute girls, or something. So while she wasn't really expecting - or hoping - for this bullshit to go down, she was more than ready to take advantage of it.

She lifted Jaune's head slightly off the ground and placed it on her lap. Though any sensation was dulled by her clothes in the way, she couldn't help but blush at the absurdity of the situation. She shook her head and composed herself before shaking the smelling salts under Jaune's nose, trying to get him to inhale the chemical.

He inhaled sharply and his eyes shot open as he sat up, coughing. Emerald moved to place her hand on his shoulder, steadying him as she offered him his canteen. He took a drink as he surveyed the scene, then turned to her.

"Emerald? What happened?"

"Not sure. You shot the Grimm and it exploded… and now we're here. Neo and I woke up first, probably because we were further from the blast. Nothing's attacked us since we woke up. Merc's hurt pretty bad, and I only woke you up with the smelling salts," she motioned with them.

"So that's what the burning in my nose is… did you hold it right under my nose?"

"Yeah, why?"

"For future reference, the recommended use is from four to six inches away from the nose. Too close and the chemicals could cause some damage. I think I'm fine, though."

Slowly, he got up, and checked himself for wounds.

"Aside from a few aches and bruises, I don't seem to be too injured. I'll have to check myself for a concussion once we get back, however… Did you check the time?"

"Oh, shoot. Hang on." Emerald pulled out her Scroll and turned it on. "We've been out for a half hour."

"That long and nothing's come to attack us? Lucky. Must not be much else on these floors."

"Yeah, speaking of what's on these floors, what was up with that? I've never heard of an exploding Grimm."

There was a crack and they both winced as Neo had apparently attempted to reset Mercury's bone.

"Right… never heard of one glowing green, either. Maybe Merlot was up to something after all. Might find something on one of these hard drives-" he glanced around at the destruction. "Okay, well, if you're up, watch the door and let me know if anything comes around. Neo's still fixing up Merc, so I'll see if any of these hard drives are still salvageable."

Emerald nodded and moved towards the door, but stopped, turned and put her hand on Jaune's shoulder once more.

"Hey. Uh, I know this is weird, but… don't blame yourself for what happened. You couldn't have known that the Grimm would blow up."

Jaune blinked, a mixed expression on his face before it softened somewhat. "Uh, thanks. For what it's worth, you did good, trapping it with your Ice shots."

She nodded before moving towards her post.

That was good, right? It wasn't seduction per se, but endearing herself to Jaune even slightly was worth a shot, and his expression at the end had hinted at some sort of appreciation. Even if the whole lap pillow thing didn't go as planned, at least that had worked, right?

She shook her head as she got to the door. Whatever, she'd have time to work on it. Now was the time to focus and keep them all alive.

Man, that was weird. I wonder what's up with Emerald?

I pushed aside those and other idle thoughts as I rummaged through the wreckage, my spare flashlight making things visible in the darkness. The explosion had ruined my shotgun, but I salvaged whatever ammo had remained intact - just a few shells. My bag was intact since I carried it on my back, and my pistol as well since I used a holster attached to the back of my hips. My armor plating was cracked a bit, but not as bad as it could have been. Good thing Cinder awakened my Aura.

Once my equipment was all checked out, I scanned the room a little more intently. Neo had finished fixing up Mercury, but he was still out. Probably for the better - if he woke up in pain, he might scream and attract attention to us. Neo had instead moved on to the wall, and was trying to pry Mercury's leg prosthetic from it. Emerald was positioned at the door, keeping an eye out like I'd instructed.

As for the room itself, it was unsalvageable. The explosion had destroyed all the server shelves, and the weird green goop that came from the Grimm covered everything else. It glowed softly with some strange, almost unearthly luminescence, keeping the area somewhat visible, but not enough that I didn't need the flashlight.

Green goop... it wasn't corrosive since the shelves and floor weren't affected by it, but could I transport it?

I pulled out my canteen and took a quick swig. I didn't want to just waste it, so I called out.

"Emerald."

She glanced over and caught the canteen. She looked at it, then me, confused.

"Take a drink, and pass it to Neo if there's any left. I wanna get a sample of this green stuff."

She nodded in understanding and opened it up herself, drinking some before tossing it to Neo as I walked around looking for an intact hard drive. Eventually, I found one in the corner that seemed to be completely unaffected by either the explosion or the goopy aftermath. It took some work but I disconnected it from its place and put it in my backpack.

As I did so, Neo walked up and passed me my empty canteen. I nodded my thanks and gave her the smelling salts.

"Wake Mercury up, but be ready to gag him if his pain is too much for him. The kit should have some painkillers."
She nodded as I turned with the canteen towards one of the piles of goop. Obviously, I wasn't about to touch the stuff, so I grabbed a broken piece of metal and scooped some into the canteen.

A grunt of pain alerted me to Mercury's awakening, so I put the canteen in my pack and walked over to check on him.

He had sat up and was drinking from his own canteen. Neo had brought over his right prosthetic, but it was too damaged to reattach.

As I approached, I asked, "You okay Mercury? How's your Aura?"

"Painkillers haven't kicked in yet, so everything hurts. As for my Aura…" He concentrated for a moment, then shook his head and winced when the action caused him some pain. "Don't have enough to do anything with."

"In that case, we're gonna have to cut the mission short. We'll skip the server rooms and go straight for Merlot's office, then evac from the roof as planned. Emerald, can you carry Mercury?"

She whipped her head over. Her eyes narrowed into a scowl. "Just leave him."

I blinked. "What?"

"His carelessness caused this in the first place. He's a failure. Cinder would leave him. And that way we could still get to the other server rooms."

"Cinder might, but I'm not Cinder. I'm not going to leave him to die in this hellhole while there's still a chance. If you won't carry him," I took off my backpack, walked over and held it out to her, "then carry my stuff. And be careful, the hard drive and the goop can are in there."

She continued to scowl at me for a moment, then sighed and took it. "Fine, but only for you," she muttered.

'Only for me'? Does Emerald like me or something? Or is it just that the only other predominant guy her age is Mercury and he's a douche?

Whatever, I can address her weirdness later. Focus on the now.

I nodded as I passed off my stuff and went back to Mercury. He had tossed the broken prosthetic, but not until after taking all the Dust crystals from their set places. Once he was ready, I picked him up and draped him over my shoulders in a fireman's carry.

"Neo, lead us out. Twenty feet lead, stay on your toes. Sign to me if you see something. Emerald, behind me, and watch our backs." I pulled my pistol out and held it at the ready. "Let's go."

We moved out, with Neo moving slowly now, the last attack fresh in her mind. She wasn't about to repeat Mercury's mistake.

As we reached the stairs, I looked up and sighed.

"Here's to leg day…"

...

We began the climb. Five, ten, twenty, thirty landings… and still so far from the top. Eventually, we had to sit and rest around the fortieth floor. As we sat and recovered, Mercury took a swig from his canteen and offered it to me, as I had sacrificed my own. Emerald and Neo sat apart from us, each eyeing the way up and down respectively.

I took it, and nodded my thanks.

"Look, just…" he began, then stopped, unsure of himself. "Why did you choose to save me anyway? I hate to say Emerald was right about anything, but... You'd have a much easier time of things, and you could probably get more stuff."

I shook my head. "I told Cinder, I'm trying to become a Guardian. And I'd be a pretty shitty Guardian if I just left someone to die when I could still do something about it."

"Well... thanks."

"Oh make no mistake Mercury, you owe me."

He flinched, apparently not expecting me to be so brazen about my mercenary tendencies.

"So what do you want? A favor?"

"Nothing so vague. Nah, I just want you to cover the costs of all the equipment I just lost - the shotgun, the goggles, and anything else I had that broke in the blast."

"Well, there goes most of my share of the pay…"

"I suppose so." I passed the canteen back to him and asked, "hey Merc?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you work with Cinder?"

"Why do you ask?"

"See, most people in our business do things because they want to do them. Roman steals because it's his livelihood, but he could do just about anything with his skills. He chooses to steal because he likes stealing. He likes the rush, the theatrics, the chase, all the drama associated with his name. Same for my old man - he kills people because he likes proving that he's stronger than them. I figure Raven's the same way. So why do you do this?"

For a few moments, he was silent as he took a few sips. Then, he replied "Honestly Jaune? I was kinda forced into it, same as you. She found me while she was looking for my dad."

"What happened to your dad?"

"I killed him."

"Huh. Lucky."

"I know. Managed to catch him when he was dead drunk, and right after a job so he was injured. If he had been even a little bit sober, he'd have killed me."

"So what? You're in too deep now?"

"A little bit. Part of it is that even if I wasn't forced into this, I don't know what I'd be doing. Maybe I'd just be following my dad's footsteps and killing people like he did. Maybe I'd have starved to death or been killed by something else out there. Who knows? But I do know that as long as I'm with Cinder, I can see tomorrow."

"Is there any worth in living to see another day if you're not doing so of your own volition? Do you even have any goals or wants, Mercury, or do you just do what you're told because you don't have anything better to do?"

He was silent for another moment before he eventually said, "Well, I suppose I would like to find the restaurant that had that really nice steak."

"Restaurant?"

"On my flight in, they had this documentary about food in Vale. I thought it would be boring, but the food itself was fun to look at. And you see, there was this place that just had the - juiciest - steak you'd ever seen…"

Mercury wasn't sure what to think about Jaune. On the one hand, he was probably going to have to kill him at some point. On the other, no one had ever taken his side in… well, anything. No one had ever had his back, had ever defended him from the cruelty of others.

Just as Cinder had let him see tomorrow, so had Jaune quite literally given him his life back. When the road to tomorrow had been closed, Jaune had offered to carry him the rest of the way.

Such a debt could not be taken lightly, no matter how Jaune tried to brush it off with material payback.

His father, Marcus, would probably wax about how both he and Jaune were weak for allowing some sense of morality to control their judgements and actions, but then again, the man was dead, so his opinions could fuck right off into whatever hell he was burning in.

Well, it would need some consideration. No sense in rushing to a conclusion. He'd made that mistake with Cinder, so better to wait and see where the chips fall.

...

Eventually, after what seemed like forever, they reached the top of the building, the stair entrance to Merlot's private laboratory and quarters.

"Emerald."

"Right."

Without any further word, she moved up from the back of the column and began inspecting the doorway. Finding it satisfactorily safe, she reached into her hip bags and pulled out some tools.

"How long's it gonna take to pick the lock?" Mercury asked.

Emerald glanced back with scorn on her face, before turning to the door. "Pick the lock… what kind of amateur…" she muttered to herself as she slipped a sturdy wire with a hooked end under the door gap. She shifted it around for a moment before pulling on it - with a click, the door swung open, having opened up from the inside. Rather than jumping straight in, however, she held her hand up to give the group pause and looked into the room.

After a moment, she pulled out one of her pistols and took aim, firing four times into the room. Once she was satisfied, she stood up and nodded.

They went in. Mercury noted that Emerald had shot four protrusions from the wall.

"What'd you hit?"

"Based on the schematics, thermal sensors."

"Wouldn't shooting them set them off?"

"Not by shooting them with Ice Dust. Most thermal sensors only track increases in temperature. And it was a precaution more than anything, they shouldn't be powered after all this time."

"Enough chit chat. Emerald, Neo, rummage around and see if you can find any paper documents about the experiments, or Merlot's private computer. If you can, bring them all in." Jaune rummaged around in his pack before handing something to Mercury. "Here, call in our location and that we need evac."

"An old radio? Why not just use your Scroll?"

"I set this up with Roman during our preparations. Radio isn't as reliable as Scroll communications, but it's harder to track or trace. The frequency should be one twenty-five point seventy-four. Here's a little flash card of our callsigns," he added as he passed over a small paper card.

Mercury took the radio and began fiddling with it. After a few minutes of working through the radio channels, he finally heard the callsign they'd established with their pickup crew.

"Callsign Rook, this is Callsign Knight. We're ready for extraction at landing zone Alpha."

"Callsign Knight, we read you. ETA of one hour. You're calling in earlier than expected, are there any complications?"

"We have one wounded. Aura down. KC has designated the mission to be canceled early. We do have some success to report, however."

"Ten-four, ETA fifty-nine. Hang tight."

With that, Mercury shut off the radio and checked on everyone else. Emerald and Neo had split up to check the actual rooms, while Jaune was grabbing something from his bag.

Merlot's private laboratory was split into two levels - the lower level, which was a small private laboratory, or it was at one point. Apparently the place had been sealed rather well, as the space was largely intact despite the decades of abandonment. Bookshelves remained standing and filled, glass chemistry equipment was undamaged, and a whole host of other things he couldn't even begin to understand the purpose of was also relatively untouched. Emerald had started to open up all the cabinets and examine them for any hidden documents - as well as doubly hidden hiding spaces - before poring over the shelves for anything that stood out.

The top floor was a small living quarters - a connected bed and bathroom, and a kitchen on the side. Most of the top floor was made up of a large study and private library. Neo was up in the study, around the desk area. She seemed to grab something, and came back down with a computer.

"Merlot's private computer? Good get, Neo."

Jaune had pulled out the briefcase with the rifle parts from within his bag. With a click, he opened the briefcase and began constructing the rifle as Neo placed the computer within the bag.

Neo signed something to Jaune and he replied, "When our ride gets here it'll probably stir up a response in the local Grimm. Emerald, have you found anything?"

She walked back over. "A few Dust vials, but nothing important. Most of the stuff on the shelves is just resource material. There are no written notes or audio recordings."
"Might have been destroyed in the evacuation, or taken with Merlot, wherever he went. Might even be down the tower somewhere. Whatever, we've got- Mercury, what's the ETA?"

He checked his scroll. "Fifty minutes."

"Fifty minutes. Let's move upstairs into the private quarters and rest. At ETA fifteen we'll head up to the roof."

It was ETA thirty when I was alerted to a very serious problem.
I had been exploring Merlot's library and resource material, as well as his chemistry equipment - I'd picked a few books and stuffed them in my pack, along with some chemical containers. You can't go wrong with homemade explosives.

Neo tapped my shoulder and signed, Emerald checked out the roof. She found a big Grimm.

"How big?"

Adult Beowolf. Not Alpha, but was green like the Creep in the basement.

"So possibly mutated somehow. Shit, I don't think we could take a regular Beowolf, at least not without Mercury. A mutant Beowolf might kill us."

Neo nodded, then led me up the stairs. At the top, by the door leading to the roof, Emerald stood next to the door, her guns out. As we approached, she nodded out the door. I pulled out my pistol just to be armed and crept up, looking out the open door.

The roof spread out from the door, which had led up from the far end of Merlot's living quarters. There were actually two staircases that led up to the roof, the other on the far side of the living quarters - probably a fire code thing.

The roof itself was rather plain - aside from the helicopter pad and the staircase entrances, there wasn't much, just some air vents and other generic things you might find on a roof.

Oh, and the giant Grimm in a cage. That kinda stood out.

Emerald was right, it was a Beowolf, and it was big. It was hard to tell since it seemed to be asleep - Grim slept? - inside a cage, curled in on itself. However, even as it was I could tell it was bigger than us, which made its full height at least ten or twelve feet. It barely fit in the cage, which was oddly cartoonish in how stereotypical of a cage it was - just metal bars between two metal plates. Assuming it had been here since Mountain Glenn's collapse, that put it at over forty years old, which explained its size. But that didn't explain the green spikes on its back, which replaced the typical white bone-like spikes on most Grimm. It also didn't explain why they glowed, like the Creep in the basement.

I guess it was safe to say that Merlot had been studying Grimm after all, and even experimenting on them.

Quickly, I pulled out my Scroll, and used the camera to take some pictures of it. I then looked to Emerald and nodded. Softly, she let the door shut and we went down the stairs.

Once we were safely in Merlot's quarters, Mercury piped up from the bed, where he had asked to lie down on. "So is it big?"

"Yeah, big. Lemme see the radio, we can't take it out with our weapons."

"Not even your rifle?"

"Maybe from point blank, but from what I've read about Grimm, adults are tough enough to withstand just about any form of small arms fire, and there's no telling what that green mutation means for it. The Creep blew up, but we can't assume it'll be the same for a Beowolf."

"At the same time, we can't assume it won't be the same," Emerald noted.

"Right." I called up the bullhead that was picking us up once more. "Callsign Rook, this is Callsign Knight, do you copy?"

"Callsign Knight, this is Callsign Rook. ETA twenty-five, is there an issue?"

"Callsign Rook there's a big Beowolf on the roof, more than we can handle with our man down. What are the armaments of your bullhead?"

"Standard armament, a twenty-mili autocannon on the front. Are the Grimm's bone plates developed enough to tank that?"

"I doubt it, it didn't seem to be an Alpha."

"We'll see you in twenty-three, be ready to move fast once we get there. That Beowolf will be the least of our problems once our shots ring out."

"Copy Rook, Knight out." I looked out to the others and said, "Let's get ready."

Blake stared at the bundle on her cot. In it was everything she owned - her books and clothes, and some supplies for the road. Gambol Shroud lay next to it, the black blade sheathed and leaning against the bag.

"You're really leaving, then?"

Adam stood behind her, at the entrance to her tent. Wilt and Blush hung from his hip, but he remained passive. His arms were crossed as he stood tall, judging her, finding her cowardice disgraceful.

Blake shook her head. "I'm sorry, Adam. I know what we're fighting for is right, but I… I can't keep killing people."

"You don't have to kill people to fight, Blake. There are other roles you could serve - if not in active combat, then as a recruiter, operations planner, or in training the others."

"I know I could, and I know that I'm pushing a lot on you by leaving, but… I just need a clean break. I need to start over, do something that… that makes me feel like I'm making things right."

"Do you think you did something wrong, working with me in the Fang?"

"I… I think our reasons are right, but killing all those people was wrong. Especially all the Faunus we killed. Like Karen."

"Who?"

"From the train?" She turned to Adam and shook her head. "Do you not even remember their names?"

"The name of a dead enemy isn't worth remembering."

"She wasn't just an enemy- she was a Faunus! She's what we're supposed to be fighting for!"

"She was a Specialist and a traitor to our kind. An enemy. Like all the others-"

"That you had me kill?" She shook her head sadly. "It was always me or Illia doing it, too… Did you get tired of doing it yourself?"

"Enough. You've proven that you won't change your mind." He turned to leave the tent. "I'll walk you to the edge of the forest."

Left alone, Blake sighed, and idly touched her ears through her bow before collecting her things.

Adam was waiting for her just outside the tent.

"Let's go," he said.

…

They traversed quietly through the forest. The leaves of Forever Fall fell slowly around them, bathed blue in the full moon's light. Blake followed after Adam, not paying too much attention to her surroundings - she was too focused on the storm inside her.

After about an hour's walk, Adam broke her from her reverie. "We're here."

She shook her head and said, "Thanks for walking me out here-"

She stopped in her tracks. This was the edge of the forest, to be sure, but it was nowhere near a road.

A cliff extended out in front of her, before dropping beyond her sight. In the distance, she could see the dim light of a far off village, and the sound of a rushing river came from the bottom of the drop.

"Goodbye, Blake."

That was the only warning she had as she activated her Semblance, leaving a clone behind as she leaped forward, rolling in the dirt to come up facing Adam.

She hadn't been fast enough.

Her left hand dropped down and put pressure on the cut on her leg. She hadn't focused her Aura, and Adam's raw strength and speed were more than enough to punch through the automatic protection Aura provided.

Her right drew the blade of Gambol Shroud, holding it out in front of her warily. Slowly, Adam walked forward, shaking the blood off of Wilt.

"Why are you doing this?" Blake asked.

"...are you serious? Blake… did you think that being Ghira's daughter would make you exempt from the same punishment as all the other deserters?"

Her eyes widened in shock. Why didn't I expect this? No, I know why. I was too focused on resolving myself to do this. I didn't expect that Adam actually would do his own dirty work. Too late to back out now, though.

She shook her head. "I just… I just wanted to do something good."

"With your skills? What would you do, become a police officer? A Guardian? No, you know too much to be left alive. Goodbye, sister. I loved you."

"I loved you too, Adam."

Silence reigned, their words spent. Adam stared hard at her through his mask as he sheathed his sword.

Blake tensed, but instinctively knew there was only one way out of this.

Adam's foot shifted, and Blake immediately used her Semblance once more to backflip off the cliff as Adam struck the place she once was. Even still, Adam was fast enough to catch her as she leaped, leaving a thin, flowing cut across her stomach.

She fell silently into the rushing waters of the river below and disappeared from Adam's sight.

Adam flicked the blood of his blade and stared down at where she'd fallen.

"...the next time we meet, I won't hold back. Good luck, Blake."

He walked away, sheathing his sword as he headed back to the camp.

Author's Note: I can't believe Blake's fucking dead. Hey wait a minute, I said that about Mercury last chapter! One more, and we'll get into a rut!

Well, one last bit of Mountain Glenn and then we can finally fucking move on. Based on my current plans, we should finally hit Beacon by Chapter 16.

Author's Note 2: Review Replies

Anon-kun (Guest): Glad to hear you liked the story! I know it's late, but I hope the spaghetti was good. Don't worry, we'll see Ozpin soon enough.

hirshja: Uh, I don't know what you mean. I do put line breaks. Do you read in Night Mode or something? Because when I read in Night Mode on my phone, Line Breaks are invisible for some reason.

Guest who wrote like 3 paragraphs: I'm glad to hear that you like the fic! Thanks for reading. As for the 'Other Heroes', don't worry, they're coming in soon enough. It's just that most of them don't have much reason for being in the story at the moment. But don't worry, Jaune won't be alone in the fight for much longer.