Chapter 18: Someone's Villain

Out of all the places Yang thought she might end up one day, prison had been near the bottom of the list. Yet that was exactly where she found herself. She was presently flanked by a pair of guards while she walked down a hallway in an Atlas prison standing on the outskirts of the city. However, Yang hadn't become the prison's newest resident. Rather, she was there to talk to one of its inmates.

The guards led Yang to a sturdy door. One of them pulled out her keys and unlocked it. She said to Yang, "The prisoner's inside. The bosses don't like unscheduled interrogations, so fifteen minutes is all I can give you."

"That's fine," Yang said. "This won't take long."

The guard opened the door. Yang walked into the room, and the door closed behind her. The room was stark and uninviting with concrete walls and harsh lights. There was a small window letting in a little bit of sun, but it was covered by thick metal bars. One of the walls was dominated by a large mirror. No doubt the mirror was made of one-way glass to hide an observation room on its other side. The only furnishings in the room were a single table and a few chairs. An inmate was seated at the table wearing an orange prison jumpsuit. His hands were cuffed, and the cuffs were chained to a metal loop built into the table itself.

Yang walked over to the table and sat down in a chair on the opposite side of the inmate.

The inmate looked up. His fox-like ears twitched, and his eyes lit up with malicious delight when he saw Yang. He said, "Well, well, well. This is unexpected."

"Hello Fennec," Yang said.

"'Hello'? That's it?" Fennec asked. "Surely an old friend such as myself deserves more of a greeting than that."

"You deserve a lot of things," Yang said, not even bothering to disguise the venom in her voice. She was in no mood to humor Fennec given their history. She still felt immense satisfaction when she recalled how she and Blake had hunted Fennec down and turned him over to the authorities.

Yang wasn't sure what had compelled her to come talk to Fennec, other than desperation of course. She had no doubt that Weiss or Ruby would be full of sympathy for her. But right now she didn't need sympathy; she needed solutions. She also needed someone who had some insight into the world of the White Fang. Ilia would obviously be of no help, so that left Fennec.

"Well then," Fennec said. "I am curious how you convinced the guards to give us this splendid private room. Was the normal visitors area full?"

"This isn't a visit," Yang said. She pulled an official-looking license out of her pocket. "I'm a huntress here to interrogate you."

"A huntress?" Fennec asked. He looked surprised but only for a moment before a sly grin crossed his face. "Ah yes. Of course. 'Huntress'. Well then. Do begin your interrogation."

Fennec had clearly guessed the truth. Yang's license was fake. It had been a gift from one of her former one-night stands years ago. She was thankful it was still convincing enough to pass for the real thing. She supposed it helped that she looked the part of a huntress. She wondered what the guards would think if they knew she had not only lied to them but that she had several warrants out for her arrest in at least two kingdoms.

Yang slipped her fake license back into her pocket. She stared at Fennec, but she said nothing. She'd only been here for a few minutes, but this whole thing was seeming more and more like a bad idea. The truth of the matter was she didn't want to ask or tell Fennec anything. He may have been chained to the table, but he would surely twist any emotional daggers he could get his metaphorical hands on.

"Giving me the silent treatment then? An interesting technique," Fennec mockingly said. "But since I'm feeling generous today, let me see if I can figure out what you need. There's a rather intriguing rumor going around that Blake has killed Sienna and taken her place as High Leader."

"It's true," Yang said, even though she was certain Fennec had already known that.

"I wonder if Sienna realized she should have heeded my council before she met her end. Ah well. I suppose I'll never know," Fennec said. "But if Sienna is slain and Blake is on the throne then surely all is well. The day is saved from the menace of Sienna's White Fang."

Yang scowled. She didn't like where this was going.

Fennec continued, "But then why are you here? You do seem like the type to gloat, but I'm not hearing any gloating. Could it be that not all is actually well?"

"Stop messing around," Yang said.

"If you insist," Fennec said. "For you to risk coming here things must be going very poorly indeed. And since you yourself are not bound to the fate of the White Fang…. Your dear Blake must be in very serious trouble. Being High Leader isn't such a simple job after all, is it? And to ascend to the throne through murder. Well, that sets a very…lethal precedent."

"Just tell me what I need to know," Yang said.

"I would," Fennec said. "But you haven't told me what exactly that is."

Yang's stomach was churning with disgust. She wanted nothing more than to be done with this, but in a twisted sort of way, Fennec was only confirming that he really was the person she needed to talk to. Unfortunately, he was obviously going to make Yang pay for his help, if not in Lien then in dignity.

Despite how badly it pained her, Yang said, "You're right. Blake is in danger. Some of the White Fang are plotting against her, and she's refusing to do anything about it."

"Surely the obvious solution is to walk away," Fennec said. "But I suspect your dear Blake won't abide by such a course of action."

Yang's eyes narrowed as she glared at Fennec.

"As I thought," Fennec said. "Pride is such a dangerous thing."

"If you've got it all figured out already then tell me how to save Blake," Yang said.

Fennec glanced away for a moment as if he was mugging to an imaginary camera. Then he looked back at Yang and asked, "Why should I?"

Yang paused. She understood this was a critical juncture. If she said the wrong thing to Fennec she'd never get him to talk. She thought about appealing to his ego, as nauseating as that sounded. She also thought about beating the information out of him. But then she realized Fennec had inadvertently told her how to get him to talk. She needed to appeal to his pride, and all it would cost her was her own.

"You should tell me because that means you're better than me, and I'll know it. It means I'm just a stupid human girl who couldn't figure things out on her own," Yang said. She didn't believe a word of it of course, but what mattered was that Fennec might.

A sinister grin spread across Fennec's lips. He said, "Very well then. I'll tell you how to save Blake. Or I would. But the thing is…. You can't."

Yang went very still, and a perverse kind of serenity settled over her. She glanced at the room's mirror-covered wall. Guards were doubtlessly watching her from behind it, and they wouldn't approve of what was about to happen.

Yang calmly stood. She picked up her chair and casually walked over to the door. Then, with one swift motion, she jammed the metal chair under the doorknob, tightly wedging it in place between the door and the concrete floor.

Yang turned toward Fennec. Her expression was completely placid, but her eyes were as red as blood.

"Oh. This will be amusing," Fennec muttered.

Yang slowly walked toward Fennec. Her rage had already boiled over. She stopped holding it back. Her hand curled into a fist, and she smashed it across Fennec's jaw with a punch that would have felled an ursa.

Fennec's head slammed into the table from the force of Yang's blow. Only the cuffs around his wrists kept him in his seat. The chain they were attached to clanged as it pulled against the table.

Fennec slowly sat back upright, looking woozy. Either his aura had already failed or he'd deliberately not used it to protect himself. He laughed, but he sounded nervous rather than amused. It was possible, likely even, that he'd miscalculated the depths of Yang's capacity for anger.

"How do I save Blake!?" Yang demanded.

"I already told you. And listen this time," Fennec said. His voice sounded more strained than before. "You can't."

Yang let fly with another punch. Fennec's head hit the table again. At the same time, the door to the room began to shake as someone on the other side tried to open it. Whoever they were, they started pounding, but the chair held the door closed. Yang could hear a lot of shouting coming from the hall outside.

Fennec wasn't sitting back upright on his own this time. Instead he was rocking his head back and forth against the table. Blood was leaking from his nose. Yang grabbed his shoulders and yanked him up into a sitting position. She shouted, "How do I save her!?"

"Careful now," Fennec said, sounding unsteady. "I doubt I'll be able to take one more of those."

"HOW!?" Yang bellowed.

"You. Can't," Fennec said very forcefully. "Because you're too weak. You've lived a hedonistic life of plenty, human. You've never had to sacrifice like the faunus have! Not to survive. Not to pursue your goals. You can't save Blake because you can never bring yourself to give up what you love!"

Fennec spoke with such conviction that Yang had to pause to consider what he was saying.

Fennec looked Yang directly in the eyes. He said, "Here are the simple facts, human. Blake is going to die. And you are going to watch it happen."

Yang's fist flew again, almost involuntarily this time. It slammed into the side of Fennec's head, and he collapsed into a heap in his chair. Yang was pretty sure he was still alive, but at the moment she didn't care one way or the other.

The door to the room was visibly shuddering now, and Yang realized she needed to get out of there. She ran over to the room's small window and smashed out the glass with her elbow. Then she grabbed two of the thick bars covering it and tugged for all she was worth. Her hair suddenly erupted into flames, and the metal started to bend a little. She was so blindingly angry that it had been all but impossible for her to not unleash her semblance. The bars screeched as they began to yield, and even bits of the wall above and below them started to crack.

Yang suddenly wrenched the bars free. She threw them to the ground. Just then, the door behind her finally gave way. It popped off its hinges, batting the chair aside as it flew into the room. Several prison guards rushed in through the breach, brandishing handguns. One of them shouted, "Freeze! Down on the ground!"

Yang didn't even bother turning around. She grabbed the lip of the window and tugged herself up, transforming as she did so. Now in the body of an eagle, she squeezed in between the remaining bars. Several shots were fired, and bullets bit into Yang's aura. But she managed to slip free.

Now outside, Yang unfurled her wings and began flapping them as hard as she could. She rose up and quickly left the prison behind. Her semblance was still burning, and she streaked across the sky like a phoenix. No normal eagle would have been able to fly as fast as she flew, and within minutes, the urban sprawl of Atlas gave way to the surrounding wilderness.

Yang suddenly stopped flapping her wings. She transformed midair and went plummeting down. The fire of her semblance enveloped her, making her look for all the world like a meteor falling to Remnant.

Yang crashed to the ground, sending up a spray of dirt and debris. Her semblance finally extinguished itself. When the smoke and dust had cleared, it revealed Yang on her hands and knees in a small crater of her own making. She was breathing heavily, and tears were leaking from her eyes which were lilac-colored once again.

Inside of Yang, anger was quickly giving way to despair. She slammed her fist into the ground and let out an anguished wail. Why had she let things get so far out of hand? She'd had so many opportunities to get Blake away from danger. But she hadn't, because that wasn't what Blake had wanted. Maybe Fennec really was right. Maybe she was too weak to save Blake.

Eventually, Yang pushed herself into a sitting position. She was still breathing heavily and her eyes were still wet but her tears had stopped. She felt hollow and empty, like her very soul had been drained out of her. She'd known going to Fennec had been a long shot, but now she felt like her last hope had been spent. However, a thought suddenly occurred to her. There was one more person she could talk to who might be able to help her. It would be galling, but it wasn't like she had any pride left to worry about losing.

Yang reached into her pocket and pulled out her scroll. She opened her contacts and swiped down until she found the name she was looking for. Her finger hovered over the screen as fear and doubt whispered in her ear. But then she tapped the name.

Several hours later, Yang was high up on a roof on top of the tallest building she could find in downtown Atlas. She was sitting on a concrete barrier that looped around the roof's edge, and her legs were dangling off the side. She was looking out at an unparalleled view of the city, watching the tiny cars below her inch across the grid of streets. The wind was blowing hard as if it wanted to knock Yang into the yawning abyss before her, but she wasn't afraid. She knew the wind had no power over her.

Yang was just beginning to think the message she'd sent had been ignored when an unusual but familiar sound came from behind her. However, she didn't turn around. She didn't need to. She knew that a portal had just opened, and Raven had stepped out of it.

Raven's voice came from directly behind Yang, saying, "That took a little longer than I expected."

Yang swung her legs back over the concrete barrier, finally turning around. Her mom was standing there, carrying herself with the same smug and sarcastic air that she always did. Yang slid off the barrier and walked toward Raven. She asked, "What took longer?"

"You asking for my help," Raven said. "The world's not as nice of a place as you were hoping, is it?"

Yang scowled. She said, "Never mind. This was a mistake."

Raven rolled her eyes. She said, "Don't be so sensitive. And don't waste my time. I didn't have to come here, but I did."

"Of course you did. So you can try to convince me to come back to the tribe," Yang said. She was surprised Raven hadn't yet already.

"Not this time," Raven said. "I've always known you'd need to experience the outside world on your own someday. I thought it was too soon when you left, but now I see that you are ready. You'll come back to us on your own. When the time is right."

"Don't count on it," Yang said. She understood what was going on. Raven had failed to drag her back home during their last encounter. So she was reframing her failure as being part of her plan all along. It was an annoyingly common tactic of hers. Yang tried to not let it get to her, but it wasn't easy.

Raven said, "Believe me or don't. It doesn't matter. Someday you will return. Just like someday you'll take my place as queen."

"As if you'd let me," Yang said, recalling the one and only time she'd come to physical blows with her mom. Even to this day, it had been the hardest fight of her life, and it was one she'd had no chance of winning.

Raven actually smiled. She said, "When you're truly ready, Yang, I won't be able to stop you."

Yang was momentarily taken aback. That was not something she would've expected her mom to say.

"Oh don't give me that look," Raven said. "You've always been so impatient. Some days I fear there's too much of your father in you."

"He's dead, by the way," Yang said. She wasn't sure why she'd felt the need to announce Taiyang's death so bluntly. Maybe she'd wanted to shock Raven a little.

"I know," Raven said without missing a beat.

"You…you know?!" Yang asked. "Since when?"

"Yang…. You know how my semblance works," Raven said. "I bond with people. I've known since the very moment it happened."

"And you never told me!?" Yang asked, her anger rising.

"Nothing in this world ever motivated you, drove you to be better than you were, than the possibility you might find your father someday. Why would I ever take that away from you?" Raven said. Her eyes flicked down to the red bandana tied around Yang's knee, the one that had Taiyang's crest on it. "Did you really think I didn't notice when you stole that from my trunk?"

Yang was speechless. She'd spent the past hour trying to psychologically prepare herself for confronting her mom again, but she might as well not have bothered. Raven had always been able to get into her head and make her feel small. Why should she have expected that to change over the intervening months?

Raven said, "Now Despite what you might want to believe, I'm more than willing to help you fix whatever it is that's troubling you. Although I'm disappointed you think you're not strong enough to solve the problem yourself."

"I never said I wasn't strong enough," Yang retorted.

"You didn't have to," Raven said. "Why else would you message me?"

"Not every problem can be solved by punching," Yang muttered. It sounded like something Weiss would say. She didn't like it.

"And 'strength' isn't just about how physically strong you are," Raven said. "It's so much more than that."

"Fine then!" Yang said, throwing up her arms. "I'm not strong enough! Is that what you want me to say?"

"In a way," Raven said. "It sounds like you're finally ready for my next lesson."

Yang let out a frustrated grumble. She was so sick and tired of her mom's endless tests and tricks and lessons. That was one of the many reasons she'd left. But Yang knew playing along was the only way to get anything out of Raven. So she begrudgingly asked, "What lesson is that?"

"This world is cruel and unforgiving," Raven said. "You know this. That's why you have to be strong. But. You can't always be strong enough."

Raven might as well have thrown a bucket of cold water in Yang's face. Yang sputtered, "That's…? But…!? My whole life you've told me I wasn't good enough yet! That I had to get stronger! And after all that, now you tell me it was never going to be enough?!"

"You're missing the point, Yang," Raven said. "You do have to be strong. You have to constantly push yourself to improve. But no matter what you do, there will always be someone stronger than you."

"So that's it?" Yang asked. "Sometimes you have to give up and go home?"

Raven smiled again, although there was a sinister edge to it this time. She said, "Not at all. It goes like this. If there's someone in your way, you fight. You fight for all your worth. But if they're too strong for you to beat, then you sneak around them instead. And if they're too clever for you to sneak around, then you find where they live and stab them in their sleep."

Yang was silent for a moment as she tried to figure out if Raven was being serious or if she was mocking her. Then she said, "That's your big advice? If you can't beat someone, trick them? If you can't trick them, cheat?"

"Yang, I just gave you the solution to all of life's problems," Raven said.

"It can't be that simple," Yang said.

"It really is," Raven said. "And I'll tell you why. You wouldn't believe how few people are willing to resort to trickery. And how few of those people are willing to outright cheat. But those who are…. Think about that Schnee girl you've become 'friends' with. Do you think she or her family got to where they are by playing by the rules?"

Yang crossed her arms and said, "I've never told you about Weiss."

"Yang, I know everything about you," Raven said. "I'm your mother."

"All evidence to the contrary," Yang mumbled to herself.

"I'm not so foolish to say that life's a zero-sum game," Raven said. "But there are winners and there are losers. Winners are those who can make it so that it doesn't matter what they had to do to win."

Yang didn't respond. She didn't want to admit it, but she feared her mom might have a point.

Raven drew her sword from her waist. She slashed the air, and a portal opened beside her.

Yang uncrossed her arms and said, "You never asked me what my problem is."

"I don't need to," Raven said, sheathing her sword again. "I know you'll overcome it."

"It's nice to see you think I'm finally worthy of praise," Yang said with more than a little sarcasm.

"You're my daughter, Yang. But more than that, you're Yang Branwen. There's no force in this world that can stop you unless you let it," Raven said with complete sincerity. "I love you, Yang. Never forget that."

Just when Yang had thought she'd gotten a handle on all of her mom's dirty tricks, she was proven wrong. Genuine affection from Raven wasn't something she ever could have been prepared for. It was something she'd dearly craved for as long as she could remember, and yet now that she had it, it felt tainted. She didn't know what to think about that.

Raven stepped through her portal. An instant later, she was gone, and her portal vanished with her.

Yang whispered, "I love you too, Mom."

The wind picked up on the now lonely roof, and Yang wandered back over to the concrete barrier. She stepped up on top of it and glanced down at the dizzying drop to the streets below. Both Fennec's and Raven's words echoed inside her head.

Yang turned around. She inched back until her ankles were hanging off the edge of the barrier, balancing just enough to keep herself from falling. The facts of the matter were clear to her. She had to save Blake, both from the White Fang and from herself. She knew what she needed to do. She'd known for quite some time. But she'd also known what it would cost her. Fennec had been right to accuse her of being unwilling to make a sacrifice. But that had changed. When it came to saving Blake, any price was worth it.

Yang spread her arms wide. Then she leaned back and let herself fall.

The air rushed past Yang as she plummeted down. She watched the top of the towering skyscraper rapidly recede into the distance, knowing full well that the ground was sprinting toward her just as fast. However, she didn't transform yet. The moment she did, everything would change, and there would be no going back. She wanted to savor this last bit of the life she'd known.

At the last possible second, Yang let the magic residing inside of her engulf her body. She flipped over and spread her wings wide. She dove so low that she swooped less than a meter above the cars rumbling down the city streets. But then she rose into the air again, carried upward by her momentum.

Yang started flapping her wings. She pointed herself toward her fate. She was going to save Blake, no matter what.

Author's Note: And that's how Fennec learned that if you play stupid games you win stupid prizes. I'm also pretty sure someone at that jail is going to lose their job over this little incident.

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