Author's Note: I know Sienna's canon semblance and weapon are not what I've depicted here, but I established both before canon RWBY got around to doing it. So there.


Chapter 4: Bitter Retribution

It was the middle of the night in Atlas, but the mended moon was shining brightly over the city. Yang was standing next to the motorcycle she'd purchased not long after she'd started doing mercenary work for Weiss. It was her most cherished possession. Not that she put a lot of stock in material possessions. As a former bandit, she knew how easily they could be taken away. But it wasn't her motorcycle that held her attention at the moment. She was impatiently staring at her scroll clutched in her hand.

A huge collection of old warehouses surrounded Yang, most of which looked like they hadn't been used in decades. As Yang understood it, they'd once held goods both coming and going from the old seaside docks from back before Atlas had been lifted into the sky. Once Atlas had left the reach of ocean-going vessels, the warehouses had been abandoned. Atlas's return to Remnant during the Maiden War hadn't revived the district either. Apparently the city hadn't set back down in quite the same spot it had left, and these warehouses, although finally on the ground again, were now on the opposite end of the city from the ocean.

Blake was standing next to Yang. She was wearing her old White Fang robes, and she was holding a full-face grimm mask in her hands. She was doing her best to look cool and collected, but her hands gave her away as they fidgeted nervously with her mask.

It had been what felt like forever since Yang had seen Blake in her White Fang outfit. It had been what she'd been wearing the day they'd first met. Yang still got giddy shivers when she recalled that fateful meeting in that rundown bar in Mistral. Blake had been radiating a persona of mystery and danger, and Yang had been drawn in like a moth to flame. She'd never been so instantly attracted to someone before. And as if that wasn't enough, Blake had then inadvertently given Yang the key to escaping her tribe by hiring her for a job. It had been the best day of Yang's life. It was the day her life had truly begun.

Yang's scroll suddenly dinged.

"Finally," Yang muttered. She'd been waiting for Ruby to respond to her messages. She glanced at the scroll's screen.

Rubes:
I dont know where r u?

Yang tapped out a reply.

Me:
Were in atlas in the warehouse district

Rubes:
What r u doing there?

Me:
Blakes got a thing going down. But we should hang tomorrow since were here

If Yang was perfectly honest, she wasn't sure what Blake hoped to accomplish tonight. Yang had admittedly only seen Sienna Khan twice before, but Sienna hadn't struck her as the kind of person who was open to having their mind changed. In fact, she'd reminded Yang a lot of her mom. But this was important to Blake, therefore it was important to Yang. She would do anything she could to help Blake, although she doubted this was going to end well. That was one of the reasons why she'd suggested to Ruby that they meet up afterward. She hoped seeing some friends would help clear Blake's mind. Plus Yang wanted to check in on her sister. Ruby always claimed that Weiss treated her right, but Yang felt a sisterly obligation to make sure.

"Yang," Blake said.

Yang glanced up and saw Ilia approaching them. Ilia was also wearing her White Fang outfit, and a grimm mask was covering her eyes.

Yang tapped out one more quick message on her scroll.

Me:
Oops. Got to go! Talk later!

The second the message was sent, Yang turned her scroll off. She'd blown a big ambush once back in Mistral when her scroll had dinged at an inopportune moment. What was happening tonight wasn't exactly banditry, but it was clandestine all the same. And Yang wasn't fond of making the same mistake twice.

Ilia walked up to Blake. In a quiet voice, she said, "You really came."

"I told you I would," Blake said.

Ilia smiled, but it faded almost immediately. She said, "We need to hurry. The High Leader is making a speech to the assembled brothers and sisters."

Blake asked, "Shouldn't we wait until we can speak with her alone?"

"No," Ilia said. "We need to confront her about this in front of everyone. It's the only way to…stop her."

Yang said, "Let's go then."

Ilia turned to Yang. Her eyes may have been hidden, but Yang could feel her glaring all the same. Ilia said, "You're insane if you think you'll be allowed inside, human. The guards will kill you on sight."

"They'll try," Yang said.

Blake said, "Yang. She's right. You being there won't help things."

"What if we just tell them I'm a faunus too?" Yang asked.

This time both Blake and Ilia stared at Yang. Blake's expression told Yang that she'd just said something silly. But Yang had an ace up her sleeve, she hoped.

"See? I've got claws and everything!" Yang said. She held out her hand and concentrated on it. The magic dwelling inside of her stirred. Admittedly, she'd never really experimented with her ability to transform into a bird, beyond getting more comfortable existing in a bird's body, but she had an instinct of sorts. She just felt that partially transforming was a thing she should be able to do.

Yang focused on her fingers, trying to get her talons to sprout from them. The fact that they should technically appear on the ends of her toes never entered her mind. Her body shifted and rippled. She popped into her bird form for a moment before becoming fully human once more. Then her arm turned into a brown, feathered wing before becoming an unremarkable human arm again. Amazingly, for just an instant, talons actually did appear on the ends of her fingers, but she couldn't quite get them to stay.

"Yang…" Blake said in an exasperated tone. "It's okay. I'll be alright."

Yang finally stopped trying to partially transform. She asked, "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," Blake said, but Yang could tell that she wasn't.

Yang scowled. She hadn't counted on not being able to be by Blake's side for this. She was suddenly much less nonchalant about the situation.

"Besides. There's something I need you to do for me," Blake said.

"What's that?" Yang asked.

Blake glanced at Ilia. She said, "I can't imagine the High Leader has changed her mind about allowing weapons in her presence."

"No. She hasn't," Ilia said. Her hand absently drifted to where her rapier would ordinarily be tucked into her belt. It was noticeably absent.

Blake slid Wilt and Blush out of her belt. She held them out to Yang and said, "Hold onto these for me. Just in case."

Yang solemnly nodded. She stepped in close to Blake and planted a quick kiss on her lips, secretly hoping that Ilia would be jealous. Then she took Blake's sheathed sword. She gave Blake a wink. Then she jumped up. In the space of a moment, she transformed into an eagle. Wilt and Blush fell out of her no longer existent hand, but she snatched them up with her talons. Then she flapped her wings and rose up into the sky.

Yang immediately started circling above Blake and Ilia. She clearly saw them both staring up at her. After all, her eyesight as an eagle was superb. In fact, it was so much better than her human eyesight that it had been completely disorienting when she'd first started transforming. An eagle's hearing, however, was no better than a human's. Fortunately, she was still close enough to catch Ilia saying to Blake, "Someday you'll have to tell me how she does that."

"Magic," Blake said, completely deadpan.

"Fine. Don't tell me," Ilia said.

Yang would have chuckled if she'd been able to make that kind of sound at the moment. The funny thing was that Blake was telling the truth. Raven had always insisted that she'd been the one who had "given Yang the gift" of being able to transform, but Yang wasn't sure if she believed her. She vaguely remembered Raven taking her to see an old man with a cane when she was six years old. She'd never met the man again, but Raven had said he was a wizard. Yang suspected he had given her the power, but she honestly didn't recall if she'd first transformed before or after their one and only meeting.

Down below, Blake slipped on her mask, and Yang saw Blake's whole demeanor change. All of a sudden Blake was that woman of mystery again who Yang had met months and months ago. It made Yang wonder how quickly she'd be able to step back into the life of a bandit if she ever rejoined her tribe for some crazy reason. She preferred to not find out.

Blake and Ilia started walking, and Yang flapped her wings to fly on ahead. It only took her a minute before she spotted what would obviously be their destination. She could see White Fang sentries surrounding one of the warehouses. They were doing their best to hide, but they were plain to see from the air. Yang had to resist the urge to fly down, land next to one of them, and suddenly transform back into a human. It would have been hilarious, but she knew this was not the time or place for practical jokes.

Yang winged over and glided down to the roof of the warehouse. She landed next to a skylight and let go of Wilt and Blush. Some of the skylight's windows were broken, so Yang hopped over to one of them and peered inside. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting to see, but it certainly wasn't what she saw.

The scene laid out below Yang could only be described as the gathering of a cult. There was a raised dais in the middle of the open warehouse floor, and Sienna Khan was standing on it in front of a throne. Her tiger-like ears and stripes made her instantly recognizable. She had her spear in hand, and she was wearing her full White Fang regalia, including a red cloak that had cutouts exposing her shoulders. She was in the middle of a passionate speech, emoting wildly and occasionally pounding the butt of her spear against her dais to punctuate her words.

There was a mob of White Fang members crowded together in the warehouse, although they were all a good fifty feet back from Sienna's throne. It was a little eerie to Yang how the crowd jostled and moved as Sienna whipped them up into a frenzy, but not a single one of them stepped one inch closer to her. It was like an invisible force was holding them back.

Sienna herself, despite all the energy she was putting into her speech, looked haggard to Yang. But she also looked angry. She looked very angry. Worry gripped Yang as she realized she'd made another miscalculation. The situation was a lot more dangerous than she'd realized. Sienna was not simply in need of a stern talking to like Ilia seemed to think. It was obvious at a glance that words weren't going to reach her. This was not something Blake could miraculously fix, and it was not something she could easily walk away from. Had Yang known this was the state of the White Fang she would've kicked Ilia to the curb the moment she'd shown up at the cabin, even over Blake's objections.

Down below, Sienna's speech continued, "Beaten! Whipped! Starved! Exploited! This is the lot the humans have given us. And why? Because they're afraid. The cowards oppress us because they're afraid of us!"

The loyal followers surrounding Sienna erupted into mocking jeers.

Sienna waited for the jeers to subside. Then she said, "It's time, brothers and sisters, for their fears to be justified."

Sounds of agreement rippled through the crowd.

"Some people say that change has already come. That we've 'won'. That it's no longer acceptable to hate and fear the faunus. But make no mistake. Humanity hasn't changed its ways. They haven't stopped oppressing us. They've just gotten better at hiding it. For too long we've asked and pleaded to be given our due," Sienna said. She paused for effect. "We're. Done. Asking."

This time the crowd burst into wild cheers.

"We are not monsters!" Sienna said, her voice rising with the crescendo of the crowd. "We are divine retribution! We are the punishment for humanity's sins! We are the cleansing fire! And we will see to it that humanity reaps the poisoned grain it has sown!"

The White Fang members were jumping and shaking their fists now as they made a furious noise. Yang watched from her perch. There wasn't much in this world that frightened her, but right now she was truly afraid. It wasn't the White Fang that scared her per se, but rather what Blake was getting herself into. She had all but made up her mind to try to intercept Blake before she walked into this madness, but a commotion below told her she was too late.

A section of the crowd was pushed aside, and Blake stepped out into the empty space surrounding Sienna. A collection of shocked gasps filtered through the room followed by deafening silence. Blake suddenly had the undivided attention of everyone present. Yang also spotted Ilia with Blake, but she was hanging back at the edge of the crowd, clearly unwilling to move closer to the High Leader and break the taboo like Blake had.

Sienna only looked shocked for an instant. Then she sneered, and her hand tightened its grip on her spear. Her eyes were wild with anger. But when she spoke, she calmly said, "Blake."

The room seemed to grow cold as Sienna uttered Blake's name, like death itself had been invited inside.

Blake took a few more steps forward, but even she was only willing to get so close to Sienna.

Sienna said, "Don't you remember the last thing I told you, Blake?"

Blake said, "You told me it would be best for both of us if we never saw each other again."

"And yet here you are," Sienna said. "I never took you for a poor listener."

"And I never took you for a fool!" Blake shot back.

"You dare—!" Sienna said, sounding outraged. Yang was also startled. She'd never heard Blake be so openly hostile and defiant before. Obviously, Blake was deeply upset about what was going on here.

Blake reached for her mask and tilted it up until it was resting on top of her head. Yang could see the tears clinging to the corners of Blake's eyes, but she also saw the anger on Blake's face.

Blake gestured to the crowd of White Fang members and shouted, "Look around you! Five years ago there would have been three times as many of our faunus brothers and sisters standing here with us. And now that we don't have the numbers…. Now you want to go to war?!"

"It's not a question of wanting, Blake!" Sienna shouted back.

"It is!" Blake said. "This isn't about what's best for the White Fang or the faunus! This is all about you and what you want! You know the White Fang is dying, and it scares you! You think throwing your life away in a blaze of glory is better than accepting that you failed! And you're willing to drag everyone else down with you!"

Sienna was silent for a moment. She looked perplexed more than anything else. Eventually, she asked, "What happened to you, Blake? What did living with the humans do to you?"

"The humans haven't done anything to me," Blake said. "But they've certainly done a lot to you. They've beaten you, and they didn't even need to lift a finger to do it!"

Sienna's anger returned in full force. If her gaze alone could have set Blake alight it certainly would have. She bellowed, "What did you say!?"

"You've let your hatred consume you!" Blake said. "You've become the monster you were trying to destroy. Just like Adam and Fennec. I came here tonight because I thought I could talk you off the path that leads to your own destruction. But I was wrong."

Blake turned to leave. Yang felt relieved for just a moment before Ilia stepped out of the crowd, holding up her hands for Blake to stop. She said, "Blake! Don't go yet! We can—!"

"Ilia…" Sienna said menacingly.

Ilia froze. Her mask may have been hiding her eyes, but it didn't do anything to hide what she was feeling. She literally turned yellow with fear.

"I should have known you had something to do with this. But I'll deal with you later," Sienna said. "After I've dealt with Blake."

Blake glanced over at the crowd of White Fang members. None of them looked particularly eager to allow her to pass. She slowly turned back toward Sienna.

Sienna smiled sinisterly. She asked, "Did you really think you could come here, spit in my face, and then just leave?"

"Don't do this, Sienna," Blake said, her voice barely rising above a whisper.

"This has nothing to do with me," Sienna said. "You've brought this on yourself."

"I saved your life once," Blake said.

"I've never forgotten that," Sienna said. For a brief moment she sounded remorseful. "So imagine how it felt for me when I saw you, you of all people, standing side-by-side with Weiss Schnee at that contemptible mine."

A whisper of disbelief rippled through the crowd. Ilia had managed to get herself under control enough for her skin to return to a human-like color, but now her mouth fell open in a startled gasp.

"Don't try to deny it," Sienna said.

"I'm not denying anything," Blake said. "I stood up for Weiss that day because it was the right thing to do. And I stopped you from making the biggest mistake of your life!"

"Enough!" Sienna said. She pointed her spear at Blake. "Few have served the White Fang for as long or as loyally as you have, Blake. It's tragic that it's come to this. But there's a price to be paid for cavorting with the enemy."

Yang had heard enough. She hopped off the lip of the broken skylight and onto Blake's sword. She clutched the sheathed blade in her talons again and unfurled her wings. With a few strong flaps she lifted up into the air. Then she pressed her wings to her sides and plunged downward.

Yang let out a loud squawk as she swooped into the warehouse through the skylight. She flapped over to Blake and dropped Wilt and Blush which Blake deftly snatched out of the air. Yang swooped around and flapped her wings hard. She flew as fast as she could directly toward Sienna and buzzed past her mere inches from her head.

Sienna flinched as Yang whooshed by, much to Yang's satisfaction. But as badly as Yang wanted to attack Sienna outright, she knew that would cause more problems than it would solve. She flapped her wings again, and flew back up to the skylight, once again perching on its lip.

"That blasted bird of yours…" Sienna angrily muttered. This had been the second time Yang, in bird form, had interrupted Sienna holding court.

Sienna spared one more glance at Yang sitting up on her vantage point, but then her eyes locked onto Blake and the weapon that was now in her hands.

Blake did not draw Wilt. She slowly tucked it and Blush into her belt. Then she met Sienna's eyes.

Sienna seemed to reassess the situation. But then her expression hardened, and she silently declared her intent.

Blake said, "It doesn't have to end this way, Sienna."

Sienna gave Blake a genuinely affectionate smile. She simply said, "Blake…."

"I know," Blake said, all but whispering.

Yang was taken aback by the sorrowful look that crossed Blake's face. Blake had told her a little bit about Sienna after their brief encounter at Creek Basin Mine. She'd learned that Blake had known Sienna literally all of her life and had served as her lieutenant for the better part of a decade. But Yang only now realized what all that must mean. Blake was about to fight someone who had once been a mentor and an idol. Yang couldn't even imagine what she must be feeling.

Sienna unclasped her cloak and let it slide off her back. She stepped off her dais, walking with great purpose. Then she swept her spear up and made a show of readying it. Blake likewise lowered her mask back over her face and slowly drew her sword. The two women stared each other down. A profound hush settled over the warehouse as if even the walls and rafters could understand the gravity of what was about to happen.

Suddenly, Sienna sped forward, fast enough that she became a blur. Yang expected Blake to dodge the attack, but instead she stood her ground. She batted Sienna's spear aside with Wilt, and the warehouse rang out with the sound of metal striking metal.

Sienna lashed out again with her spear, but Blake blocked the blow without hesitation. She refused to budge an inch, but Sienna refused to let up. Her attacks continued to rain down on Blake until she lifted her spear high, and the edge of its blade along with her stripes began to glow an amber color. With a guttural yell, she brought her spear crashing down.

Blake deftly sidestepped Sienna's spear at the last possible moment. She used her semblance to leave a clone behind which existed for less than a second before it was utterly obliterated by Sienna. Sienna's spear cleaved through the clone like so much empty air and smashed into the concrete floor where it had been standing. The blow was powerful enough to send up a spray of broken concrete.

The amber glow on Sienna's spear and stripes quickly faded, but it had exactly matched the description of Sienna's semblance that Yang had heard from Weiss. Apparently Sienna could only keep her semblance up for so long before it would cause her physical pain, but with it enhancing her spear, Sienna had managed to slice through one of Weiss's glyphs back at Creek Basin Mine. Yang was certain a hit like the one Sienna had just delivered would make short work of Blake, aura or not. But she wasn't willing to admit to herself that she was worried just yet. She knew Blake was too clever to let herself be beaten like that.

Sienna quickly pulled her spear back and readied her defenses, but Blake hadn't used the opportunity to counterattack. The two of them began circling around each other. Sienna said, "I knew it. The humans have made you weak. Unless you're trying to make some pedantic point about how pacifism will save us. Even your father was smart enough to get out of my way once he realized that doesn't work."

Blake didn't rise to Sienna's bait. She didn't respond at all.

Sienna suddenly thrust her spear forward again. Blake jumped this time and landed on the spear's shaft. She somersaulted backward off of it, and the moment her feet hit the ground, a second Blake sprung off of her and charged for Sienna. Sienna was still recovering from her attack, but she managed to swipe at that Blake with her spear, revealing it to be a clone when it vanished into nothingness. However, the real Blake was hot on the clone's heels. She rolled under Sienna's clumsy attempt to defend herself again and slashed at her exposed chest. Sienna's aura flared against the attack, but Sienna herself hardly seemed to notice. She brought the butt of her spear up and clubbed it into Blake's jaw.

Yang winced as she heard Blake's teeth clack together, but Blake was just as unfazed as Sienna had been. The two of them continued their deadly dance as their weapons clashed again and again.

The assembled crowd was watching the fight with rapt attention. But then Ilia lifted one of her feet and stomped it on the ground. She lifted it again and began beating out a slow, steady rhythm. Soon other White Fang members joined in, and it wasn't long before the whole warehouse was trembling as the crowd stomped in unison.

Yang was perplexed at first, but she soon figured out what was happening. She'd lived with her bandit tribe in Mistral for twenty-three years before she'd flown away. And in all that time only one person had been dumb enough to challenge her mother for the mantle of leadership. He hadn't lived long. The exact same kind of thing was happening below, Yang realized. She didn't know anything about White Fang rituals or traditions, but she recognized that Ilia had wordlessly declared that the fight between Blake and Sienna was about Sienna's right to rule the White Fang. For some reason that really ticked Yang off. She hadn't thought she could like Ilia any less.

The battle between Blake and Sienna continued to unfold, and Yang's eagle eyes missed nothing. With all of the rank-and-file White Fang members standing so close, neither Blake nor Sienna could really use Dust or fire a shot without the risk of hurting one of the onlookers. Their semblances were certainly coming into play, but for the most part the fight was a brutal, straightforward melee.

Yang's talons were gripping the lip of the skylight tighter now. She was certain that Blake was going to win, but each swipe of Sienna's spear and each hit against Blake's aura made her stomach churn. Apparently that was something bird stomachs could do too. And each time Yang saw that ugly, amber glow briefly encompass Sienna's spear, it became hard for her to breathe. The incessant pounding of the crowd's feet certainly wasn't helping calm her nerves.

For a moment Yang wondered if something might be wrong with her. She usually loved to watch Blake fight. Had a few months of living a fantasy life with Blake off in their cabin really changed her that much? Or maybe the fight unfolding between Blake and Sienna was too deadly serious for her to enjoy. Then again, maybe the problem was that Yang knew what was at stake for her personally in this fight. She knew what she'd be deprived of if Blake lost.

A kick from Blake sent Sienna stumbling backward. Her aura flickered and finally died. Yang's spirits cautiously lifted, but she knew Blake's aura couldn't be in much better shape. Equally unfortunate, Sienna seemed far from finished. She gripped her spear resolutely and let out a battle cry. She charged at Blake and swung. Their weapons collided, and both Sienna and Blake planted their feet. Sienna then unleashed a barrage of attacks. The furious exchange was almost too fast to follow, and the noise it made rivaled the stomping of the crowd's feet. But then, with one last heavy blow, Sienna knocked Blake's sword aside and thrust her spear directly at Blake's neck.

The stomping abruptly stopped, and the warehouse went quiet. Sienna and Blake stood there, frozen in place. Sienna's spear was hovering a hair's breadth from Blake's exposed neck, only held back by Sienna herself.

Sienna was breathing heavily, but she looked triumphant. She said in a loud, clear voice, "Everyone pay attention this time! No matter how many of you try to defy me, this is how it ends. This is how it always ends!"

Sienna's stripes and her spear's blade lit up one last time, but just as she was about to deliver the final blow, a black blur rushed toward her from behind.

Suddenly, Sienna's tiger-like ears twitched. She spun around frighteningly fast and whipped her spear around with her. The spear's glowing tip slashed across the chest of a second Blake who had been charging at her. That Blake yelped in pain and toppled off her feet.

Sienna pounced even as the glow of her stripes faded. She thrust her spear into Blake's chest where it penetrated deeply. Blake gasped in shock. Sienna hefted her spear up with a frenzied look on her face and lifted Blake off the ground. Blake desperately grabbed at the shaft of Sienna's spear as her legs kicked uselessly against the air.

"Blake. How long have we known each other?" Sienna mockingly asked. "Did you really think I would fall for that?"

The blade of a sword suddenly erupted out of Sienna's chest as it ran her through from behind. The clone of Blake that was dangling on Sienna's spear vanished.

"No. I didn't," the real Blake said from behind Sienna, although she spoke in an anguished voice.

Fear danced across Sienna's face, and her spear crashed to the ground as her arms limply fell to her sides. She sputtered as blood filled her mouth, but she managed to cough out, "Un…believable…. Fennec…was right…after…all…."

Sienna slumped, and the weight of her body pulled her off of Blake's sword. She hit the floor, dead.

Blake raised Wilt and flicked it clean of blood in a practiced motion. Then she brought it to Blush and slowly dragged it across before returning the blade to its sheath. Thanks to her mask Blake seemed to be calm and in control, but Yang knew better. Precisely because Blake had worn a mask for so long, Yang could read her body language like she'd been born doing it. She had never seen Blake in more distress. It was taking everything she had to not fly down to Blake and transform so she could give her a hug.

The warehouse was still deathly quiet. Ilia stepped forward, her boots echoing loudly on the concrete floor. She approached Blake. She spared a glance at Sienna's body. Then she declared, "The High Leader is dead!"

Ilia turned to Blake and looked directly at her. She said in a quiet but stern voice, "All hail the High Leader."

It took Yang a second before she'd fully processed what Ilia had said. It must have taken Blake a little bit of time too, but suddenly, her body language changed entirely.

Blake furiously whispered to Ilia, "This was your plan! This was your plan all along!"

Ilia whispered back, "Before you do or say anything, think very carefully about what you just did. And who you did it in front of."

Blake glanced out around the room. Despite all of the masks, it was painfully obvious that all eyes were on her. The brothers and sisters of the White Fang were waiting to see what she'd do.

Slowly, Blake turned toward the dais and the High Leader's empty throne. She took a step forward.

If Yang had possessed eyebrows at that moment they would have been raised sky high. With each step Blake took toward the throne, Yang realized more and more how momentous what was happening was. So many disparate emotions bombarded her that she wasn't sure what to feel. Fear, pride, worry, excitement, and many more things assaulted her all at once.

Blake finally reached the dais. She stepped onto it one foot at a time and stared at the throne.

Yang swooped back down into the warehouse, putting on as much of a show as she could. She flapped over to the throne and landed on top of its back. She cawed at Blake, hoping the sound would be taken as encouragement.

Blake turned around and faced the White Fang, her White Fang. She raised her voice and said, "The High Leader is dead!"

The warehouse suddenly reverberated with hundreds of voices speaking in unison. "All hail the High Leader!"


Author's Note: All hail the High Leader.

And if I was feeling cheeky, that's where I'd end the author's note. But I do have some things to say. I was actually surprised by Blake here, which is unusual. Normally it's Weiss who defies my expectations. I always intended for Blake to fight Sienna, but my original plan was for Blake to take a calmer more rational approach. Turns out she was way too angry about what Sienna was doing for that.

As I mentioned in an author's note back in the original story, Yang transforms specifically into a golden eagle. Yes, I did look up how good eagle hearing is. Though I honestly have no idea how they test that. I also discovered that golden eagle's vocalizations are, and I'm quoting here, "kind of wimpy". But forget that. This is Yang we're talking about!

As always, I welcome constructive criticism. Please feel free to leave a review. And if you like what you've read, taking the time to favorite and/or follow really helps me out. You can also find me on tumblr (electronicyarn) if you want to send me a message or be notified of updates.