The trumpeting of a Megoliath blasted across the tundra.

Gunfire answered it.

"We've almost got it!" called Ruby. "Bumblebee!"

"Woo-hoo!" said Yang, falling back towards Blake.

The Megoliath trumpeted again, angling itself towards the bright yellow burning in its vision.

"Oh, no you don't," said Ruby. "Red Tide!"

Ruby and Neptune split off to the Megoliath's sides, shock blasts from Neptune's electro-glaive crackling against the side of its head. The Megoliath shook off the blasts but clearly found them irritating; its head inclined towards Neptune so that further shots broke over and across its faceplate, skittering off in showy but harmless arcs.

That meant it wasn't looking at Ruby. And there she was, cutting at its legs and underbelly, not strong enough or heavy enough to cut in too deep to such a massive opponent, but with a weapon sharp enough to shred anything exposed.

The Megoliath sounded again, blasting so loudly it hurt the ears of all around. It thrashed with tusk and trunk and legs, trying to swat the red pest, but Ruby vanished backwards in a shower of rose petals. In the blink of an eye she'd opened distance, swapped out magazines to explosive rounds, and started hammering at the Megoliath's face. Each shot burst around its eyes, making it hard for the beast to either look at her or look away.

It would take a truly lucky shot to knock its eyes out like this, but that wasn't the point. The point was that Neptune had an unopposed approach.

His electro-glaive was in its melee form now. He had less cutting power than Ruby, but the added electrical effects made his strikes at least as agonizing to the grimm as Ruby's slices had been.

Perhaps knowing how much aggro he drew, Neptune only struck three times before backpedaling hard, and just in time; the Megoliath's tusks tore a furrow in the ground where he'd just been standing. Already he'd smoothly transitioned back to shock blaster and, like Ruby, targeted its eyes.

Which opened the Megoliath's flank to Ruby.

"One more rotation!" she called out as she tore at tendons and shredded darkness. She knew full well it'd take them ages to bring down a Megoliath like this, while a mistake would be disastrous… but then, she never planned to kill it like this.

That was Yang's job.

As Ruby and Neptune alternated once more, the Megoliath—done with dealing with them—reared back and slammed into the tundra turf with all its might, cracking the ground around and making them stumble as they retreated.

"Incoming!" shouted Blake.

"Suck on THIS!" screamed Yang.

Spun around at the end of Blake's ribbon with maximum angular momentum, amplified by backwards-firing blasts from her shot-gauntlets, Yang was launched at the Megoliath's face like a fiery meteor, her hair erupting in flame as she arced towards it.

Its trunk came up too slowly for defense; Blake's aim had been true. All of Blake and Yang's combined strength, amplified by Yang's semblance, came crashing down at the end of her fist. The blow caved in the Megoliath's faceplate, sending bone spalling into its head.

For good measure, a shotgun blast tore through the new crack.

The Megoliath gave a pained, airy scream in a much higher register than its previous calls—and its legs gave out. It collapsed to the tundra, slowly dissolving.

"Alright," shouted Ruby in triumph. "We got it!"

"Of course we did," said Neptune, slinging his weapon over his shoulder. "Like we wouldn't!"

Winter had harbored doubts, though she didn't want to say as much. Megoliaths were nasty beasts; SDR was fortunate that the terrain near the mine was rough enough that few Megoliaths would chance the approach. She wasn't quite sure how Weiss would go about fighting one… not that Winter would be so reckless as to have her sister try to one-v-one such a monster.

Team RVBY was starting to demonstrate to her just why they'd been selected for this program. Their coordination and tactics were very advanced for a first-year team, and their individual abilities were nothing to scoff at. That said...

"How did you know," said Winter, "that Xiao Long's attack would have enough energy to break the Megoliath's mask?"

"It worked on a Paladin," said Blake with a nonchalant shrug.

"A Paladin?" said Winter in disbelief.

"Yep," said Ruby. "Now that was a crazy fight!"

"When could you have possibly fought a Paladin?" said Winter. "They haven't been operationally deployed yet."

"Tell that to the Vale White Fang," said Yang.

"Now I know you're making things up," said Winter, increasingly furious. The idea of top-shelf Atlas tech ending up in the hands of Valan criminals… no, it was absurd to imagine. Impossible.

"Can confirm," said Neptune to Winter's rising aggravation. "I was there. Totally a Paladin."

"And if that move can take down a Paladin," said Yang brassily, "there's not much it won't kill."

"You did well against the Megoliath, I'll admit," said Winter frostily. "But I refuse to believe that you fought and destroyed a Paladin. They're the pride of Atlas' ground forces!"

"Then Atlas needs to take better care of its toys," said Blake with a scathing voice Winter would have respected had it been directed elsewhere.

Winter changed her mind. Whatever skills or other positives these brats might have had, they didn't make up for how irritating they were.

At least they were making unexpectedly good time. They were well ahead of the schedule Ruby had drawn up for her own team, and Winter would reluctantly agree that they were ahead of how fast Weiss and Winter would have performed this sweep, largely because Team RVBY together could bring down grimm faster than just Weiss.

In both cases, of course, Winter would have cleared the grimm even faster; but having her do all the work herself missed at least half the point of the exercise. No. Far better for her to even the odds to make for good training, and then stand by in case the learners got in over their heads.

Besides, she trusted herself to be able to bail out these rookies far more than she trusted them to bail out her.

"Where to next, teach?" asked Ruby.

"Never call me that again," said Winter. "And the answer is..."

She checked the sun and her scroll. She'd linked it to Team RVBY's scrolls, so that each of their Aura meters would report to her scroll too.

"…back to the mine."

"Are you sure?" said Yang. "I feel like we've got more grimm butt to kick today."

"Ammo and Aura say it's time to call it a night," Ruby replied before Winter could. The fact that Ruby was keeping tabs like that was a good sign—leadership behavior.

"Oh, good," said Neptune. "I'll be glad to get out of the cold. My lips are chapping."

"I hate to break it to ya," said Yang without any evidence of remorse, "but this is Solitas. It's always this cold."

"Lame," said Neptune as his shoulders slumped.

Blake said nothing and kept her eyes away from Winter.

Wasn't that interesting. "Back to the van," Winter ordered, but her mind was still rolling around with speculation. She hadn't imagined the connection between Blake and Ilia, not if Weiss' expression had been any indication. There was something there. They'd known each other before, or at least known of each other.

To Winter's surprise, protectiveness of Ilia was flaring in her chest… but not too badly. Winter didn't think there was anything to be afraid of there; Ilia had seemed as surprised to see Blake as vice versa, and neither had evinced any fear. Whatever this was didn't seem dangerous.

Better safe than sorry, especially where Ilia was concerned. She should check to be sure.

As Team RVBY piled into the van, Winter dashed off a quick message to Ilia.

Coming back. With Blake. Want to talk to Blake?

She pocketed her scroll, climbed into the van, and set off across the tundra.

Team RVBY had moved into rapid-fire conversation about all the grimm they'd fought that day. It wasn't a formal debrief like the ones Winter knew; it wasn't nearly critical enough, instead full of banal words like "awesome" and peasant terms like "that's so cool". Winter wasn't in a place to correct them. She, frankly, didn't really know what to do with students Weiss' age. Even when she'd been at the Academy, she'd always been one to act like a graduate.

These kids were getting on her nerves. They were just so... young.

They're the same age as Weiss, a voice inside her whispered.

Yes, she thought to herself, but that was where the similarities ended. Weiss had built a company from nothing, a company that was profitable against all odds, on the strength of her own work and audacity... with a lot of help from Winter, of course, but still. Winter doubted whether any of these students had that sort of potential in them.

No, these kids couldn't hold a candle to her sister. Weiss was so much more.

A chirp from her scroll got her attention. She glanced at it briefly, long enough to see Ilia's return text.

OK.

It was less than illuminating, but maybe it was the best Ilia could do under the circumstances. All the same, Winter resolved to find some way of pulling the other three away so that Blake and Ilia could talk directly.

Maybe she could get them interested in telling Weiss about the Vytal Tournament.

That thought made Winter frown. The tournament had proven to be an overwhelming distraction for her sister before. Throwing additional temptation at her seemed unwise.

Then again, she'd underestimated Weiss before. Maybe she needed to revise her opinion upwards. Maybe Weiss could handle it.

To help out Ilia, it was worth a shot.


"So," said Ruby, "wanna hear about our tournament run?"

Weiss kept her squeal internal, thank you very much. "I think I would enjoy that," she said with dignity.

"Talk about it over dinner," said Winter. "I just need Blake's help with something first."

Weiss did not miss how the other three members of the team looked at Blake with expressions of protectiveness and concern. It wasn't obvious to Weiss why. Maybe the tundra sweep had been more contentious than she'd expected.

Blake looked skittish for another moment, and seemed on the verge of saying no, when Winter added, "I need you to have a talk with my assistant."

Blake stiffened at those words, but also gave a herky-jerky nod. "Okay."

Winter turned on the spot and headed towards the office building as Weiss led the others to the mining site canteen. There they picked up plates of the finest food that could be prepared on a portable grill for ten lien or less. Weiss then led them towards some equipment that she knew from experience radiated warmth, where the four teenagers huddled together and chowed down on the grub. After a couple of bites of deep-fried goodness, Weiss finally got to ask a question that had been bugging her.

"I saw how well you were doing in the tournament. So… why did your team drop out? For that matter, do you know why Team PeCe dropped from the tournament?"

At this, Yang got an enormous grin, Neptune rolled his eyes, and Ruby radiated embarrassment. "It's my fault," Ruby said sheepishly.

"I know why you'd say that, Rubes," said Yang, "but I'm nearly certain you're not the one who went on an all-out, one Huntress vigilante rampage against the White Fang."

Weiss nearly choked on her fish. "A what?"

"Oh yeah?" retaliated Ruby. "Well, I'm also not the one who tried to shake down an information broker whose bar I exploded!"

"Exploded?"

"To be fair," said Yang, "the bar didn't explode. I exploded in the bar. There's a difference."

Weiss' staring intensified.

"I think we're leaving someone behind," said Neptune. He gave an empathetic look at Weiss, showing he was all too used to the way the sisters could get carried away. "Let's back up a sec. Are we sure we want to talk about everything? Some of this gets pretty heavy."

"I'm more than mature enough to handle it, assuming that you're able to say it in a way that makes sense," said Weiss with surging indignation.

"That's not what I mean," said Neptune, his voice dropping and adopting a conspiratorial aspect. "Some of this stuff is top secret. Real hush hush. Stuff we're not supposed to know. Covered by the old 'I can tell you, but then I'd have to kill you' bit."

"Hey, Neptune?" said Yang. "If you're trying to keep secrets, you're doing a really bad job of it."

"I haven't said anything!" said Neptune.

"Other than give away that we have secrets to keep," said Yang.

"Well," said Ruby reasonably, "maybe there are bits she already knows. You see, it all has to do with Team PeCe. One day, before the tournament started, we were out in Vale City and ran into Penny Polendina."

"Literally," said Yang.

"Who's a robot," said Neptune.

Yang and Ruby immediately started groaning. "Dammit, Neptune," said Yang.

"First of all, it's not 'robot', it's 'gynoid'," said Ruby. "Also, I second that darn it!"

"A gynoid?" repeated Weiss, not sure she'd heard correctly.

"Yep," said Yang brightly. "Created by the Atlas military and sent to Vytal to test her capabilities. Also, just about the sweetest person you will ever meet, aside from my little sister." She gave an impish look at Ruby. "Which may be why they got along so well."

"She needed a friend," said Ruby, wringing her hands together. "And none of you were up to it, and… and how could I just say no? Everyone needs a friend!"

"This is what we're talking about," said Neptune.

"While we were getting to know Penny," said Yang, "we ran across a bunch of Dust shop break-ins in Vale City. We threw out some guesses about what was going on with them, and some other stuff started coming out about whether the White Fang were involved, what they might be trying to do..."

"Which Blake took personally," said Neptune, "because she's a F..."

Ruby kicked him in the shins.

"You are the worst," said Yang to Neptune as his eyes watered.

"The point is," continued Ruby, "we figured out that the Dust robberies were the White Fang working with a bunch of Vale criminals. We didn't know what they were up to, or why they were doing it..."

"Because they wanted money," said Yang, with the air of one reprising an old argument. "They're crooks. What other motivation do they need?"

"They'd need some sort of extra motivation," said Neptune. "Remember, Torchwick was working with them, and Blake said the White Fang would never work with a human like him unless something more was going on. And Blake would know, because she's a F..."

Ruby kicked him twice.

"Ow!" said Neptune. "That hurts!"

"Snitches get stitches," said Yang.

"With Penny's help," Ruby went on, "we busted a big robbery against one of Beyond Energy's ships. But Torchwick escaped, and we knew the White Fang was still out there planning something, so we kept digging. Penny was a big help."

"So," said Yang, "after some adventures, hijinks, and even shenanigans, we busted an even bigger operation between the White Fang and the crooks. It was looking bad for a minute, until…" she paused, seemed to consider her words. "…a professional Huntsman joined us."

"She means her Uncle Qrow," said Neptune.

Ruby stomped on his toes.

"Now you're just being mean," whimpered Neptune.

"We weren't supposed to mention him!" hissed Ruby.

"To make this already way too long story a little bit shorter," said Yang, "when we found out the White Fang was rallying the survivors of its last bust, we dropped out of the tournament to chase 'em and finish the job. When Penny heard, she came to join us, which meant she ended up dropping out too. Good thing she came along, though. Some of those White Fang baddies were pretty nasty."

"Like Blake's ex," said Neptune.

Even as Ruby turned to kick Neptune again, Yang eased one arm around his neck and put him in a headlock. "That's about enough out of you," she said.

It took a few seconds for the words to register with Weiss. Then it did. "Blake is White Fang?" she shrieked.

"Was," said Ruby hastily. "Was white Fang."

"When they started getting all psycho," said Yang, as Neptune slowly turned blue beneath her arm, "she ditched 'em. The White Fang didn't take it well. Like I said, us sticking our noses in their business could have gotten really bad."

"We do have a habit of finding trouble," said Ruby thoughtfully.

Neptune patted against Yang's thigh as his face turned purple.

"Alright," said Yang, "I'll let you go if you can promise to behave."

He nodded as best he could inside the headlock. Yang released him; he gasped for air. But no sooner had he taken his second good lungful before he said, "And you didn't even mention Ciel's semblance."

As Yang and Ruby moved to punish their blabbermouth teammate with some combination of noogies and wedgies, Weiss was left to contemplate what she'd just heard. Her first, instinctive reaction was fear and upset at Blake. No wonder Blake hadn't spoken much. She had so much to hide. From a Schnee, especially.

But, then again, her teammates vouched for her, and two headmasters seemed to have no problems with Blake coming to SDR. If it was good enough for them, maybe it should be good enough for Weiss, especially if Blake was fighting against the White Fang these days.

The rest of it, though... "I think you're supposed to be looking for trouble here, too," said Weiss slowly.

The sisters looked up from their punishment of Neptune to see what Weiss meant.

"It sounds like people were trying to manipulate the Dust market in Vale," said Weiss. "And I know people are trying to manipulate the Dust market here. You've gotten involved in this sort of thing already. Maybe the headmasters thought you would again."

"But why would Ozpin send us?" said Ruby. "He's got way more resources than just us. We're nothing special."

"Yeah," said Yang sarcastically, "nothing special. Just a prodigy who got accepted two years early, a former member of the same terrorist organization he's trying to fight off, and the daughters-slash-nieces of another team that worked directly for Oz. Totes normal."

"And me," said Neptune indignantly.

"And Neptune."

"Thank you."

"Don't sell yourself short," said Ruby. "I heard Professor Goodwitch saying you've got the second-strongest semblance in our whole class, after Pyrrha."

"You're making that up," said Neptune, blushing.

"I'll believe it when I see it," said Yang.

"Which will be never," said Neptune.

Weiss smiled affectionately at the three teammates pleasantly bickering. As wild as their stories seemed, and as foreboding as their presence had suddenly become, she was glad they were here. She was enjoying their company.

She wondered if her sister was doing any better with Blake.


"I'll let you two get reacquainted, then," said Winter.

Ilia looked at Winter with desperate, pleading eyes, but Winter was already out of the office and shutting the door behind her.

Which left Ilia alone with Blake.

Blake, who'd been in the White Fang even longer than Ilia.

Blake, who'd been the ignition for Ilia's lesbian awakening, then her first crush, then the object of her pining, all without ever seeming to notice it.

Blake, who'd… left.

The air between the women seemed to solidify, freezing the both of them in place, both unable to break free—to say anything to try and explain themselves. Ilia knew Blake had just as many questions about Ilia as Ilia had about Blake, and yet neither of them could shatter the moment. An infinitely tall wall stood between them. They could see through it, but not pass.

What words could penetrate a wall like that?

No words Ilia could think of, that was for sure, especially when thinking of any words was nigh-impossible, and the few words her brain dredged up left her recoiling in embarrassment.

So, did you figure out how to be a Huntress without being a sellout?

Nope.

How are your parents doing?

No, no, no.

What's Adam like these days?

Oh, tear her guts out already.

Wanna start a race-traitor club? We can have jackets!

Puke.

In desperation, Ilia looked over Blake to see if there was something she could say about her appearance. Before, she might not have dared to do it; looking that closely would have reduced her to a blushing, stammering mess. This time, somehow, she managed. Obviously she couldn't say anything about Blake's bow, a transparent disguise to any Faunus who'd ever fancied passing as human even if Ilia hadn't known Blake's trait. Still…

"You've filled out since last time," Ilia said. It was true. Ilia herself retained the lithe build of a gymnast—or someone who'd been malnourished as a child and compensated only with Aura and stubbornness—but Blake seemed more, well, more. Taller, fuller, more solid, more athletic.

She hadn't been on the run in the wilderness recently, after all. Hadn't been living on light rations just for expediency's sake. She'd been in a place of safety, where both food and exercise had been in abundance.

Ilia felt a pang of envy, a flash of righteous wrath, but neither were as harsh as she'd expected. She liked Blake too much to begrudge her nicer circumstances.

For her part, Blake seemed at a loss for how to respond. Ilia could almost see her doing the same mental exercise Ilia had just done, looking through a stack of mental cue cards and throwing them aside with increasing disgust.

Maybe Ilia needed to move again, if she could—poke another hole in the wall.

The weather. It was the safest topic imaginable. No one ever got in trouble talking about the weather.

"You get used to the Solitas cold eventually," she said. "Or at least you learn how much you have to bundle up."

Blake blinked, as if that would somehow clear her ears. "You've been here a while, then?"

"Not that…" Ilia started, but had to stop and reconsider. Now that she thought about it… it had been months, hadn't it? "I suppose I have."

"That's the longest you've been anywhere," said Blake tentatively. "Since I've known you, anyway."

And wasn't that the truth. They'd both ended up as part of the White Fang's core cadre, going where needed, when needed, with the Belladonnas at first, then later with Sienna Khan, and then…

Well.

"This ended up being a… a longer-term assignment."

The words punched a hole in the wall. The first admission by Ilia; the first understanding from Blake. "You're still inside," Blake breathed, unable to say the words directly, unwilling to speak above a whisper.

"Yes," Ilia replied in kind. "Still."

Blake visibly swallowed. Ilia could see her doing a million calculations a second, trying to figure out what to do with Ilia, what to say next.

"But I'm not here to attack the Schnees or their company," said Ilia, though the words made her wince. "Not anymore, at least."

Blake trembled.

The wall was coming down, but it was crashing down to bury Ilia in the rubble, and… and she'd stretched the analogy to breaking, which was itself a decent analogy for her mental state.

Ilia bundled up the little courage she had left. "I changed my mission parameters. I'm helping the Schnees because it helps the Faunus."

Blake's eyes went so wide Ilia was scared they'd pop out of her skull.

It was too much for Ilia to take. Her scales rattled and her semblance kicked in and she disappeared from Blake's sight from right in front of her.

"I'm sorry!"

Blake shook, but turned around, averting her eyes. She knew Ilia, was familiar with her in a way that trawled up all sorts of old memories, a way that conjured both comfort and pangs.

When Ilia wanted to disappear, Blake would always let her. Would let her go without trying to stop her. Would keep herself from stopping her, really.

Turning her back wasn't a gesture of turning Ilia out or abandoning her—it was honoring Ilia's wishes when she wanted to not be seen. It was how it'd gone when Ilia came out of the closet. Ilia had turned invisible, Blake had turned her back, and Ilia had whispered those short, innocent, earthshaking words, "I'm gay."

Hoping against hope all the while that Blake would get the subtext, would understand why Ilia was telling Blake specifically that little secret.

But Blake, noble, oblivious Blake, had nodded, said, "Thank you for sharing, I know that was hard," and left it there. The candle Ilia'd kept lit for Blake smoldered in her chest.

Past and present collided in Ilia's senses. "I'm sorry," Blake said again, like a promise. "I know that was hard to say."

Ilia sighed, shook, tried to ground herself. She disengaged her semblance, though she didn't bother trying to control her scales. "You do, but you don't," she murmured.

"That's probably true."

"I mean," Ilia said, and the fact that Blake wasn't looking at her knocked out the wall's foundation and sent it tumbling down, "it's so crazy. I told you… not all the things I wanted to do with the Schnees if I had a chance, but maybe half of them."

"In gory detail."

Ilia vanished again.

Blake's back was still turned, but she understood her mistake. "Sorry, I'll be quiet. I'll let you talk through this."

Ilia was grateful for that. She tried to muster her nerve again. "I'm proud of everything I did for the White Fang. There's more that I could do. If they gave me a new mission, I would accept it gladly. But for now… Staying here, helping with this, is turning out better than I ever could have expected."

She gave a mirthless chuckle. "All that time we spent learning how to tear things down, and maybe I should have been trying to build things up instead."

"It's not like I did any better," said Blake. Ilia saw the way Blake wrapped her arms around herself, the way she instinctively sought body contact for comfort, even if the only body she dared touch was her own. "I got confused. I kept conflating a cause with a person. And I kept going back to that well, even when I should have known better, even when I could see what was happening to him."

Ilia burned with curiosity but was also petrified by fright. She wanted to know what had gone on between Blake and Adam, but also hoped never to hear it.

"Eventually I couldn't run from the truth any longer," Blake said. "He got to where killing humans wasn't accidental, or even coincidental, but the point of what he was doing. I never wished for that. I needed to do better, needed to find a way to make up for the damage I'd caused."

Ilia couldn't help a slight scoff. "I'm pretty sure Adam was causing more damage than you ever would or could."

"And I let it happen," said Blake with heat. "I was there with him, doing nothing to stop him. That was always your thing, wasn't it? The people who let the hate happen?"

Ilia, stunned, couldn't do anything but nod, even though Blake's back was still turned and she couldn't see it.

"It took me a while," Blake said shakily. "It took time, and the company of good friends, for me to pull myself together. To recover some of what he took from me. But Adam and the Vale Branch were out of control. I had to do something. So I did. I took the fight to them. My team did more to help than I ever could have asked of them. Even when I just wanted to run away..."

Blake choked on the last words. Ilia couldn't help but slowly shake her head with a sad smile. That was quintessential Blake, she thought. "You always were worried that you weren't doing enough," she told Blake. "Especially when you were doing more than your share already."

"Maybe someday it will be enough. Maybe someday this," she gestured to the weapon holstered on her back, "will be enough."

"Huntress Blake, huh?" said Ilia. She rolled the words over in her mind. "I like the sound of that."

"I only ever wanted to be a protector," said Blake.

"I'm happy you'll get to be that," said Ilia. She hesitated, but had to push on, had to go this extra bit. "It was a better thing to want than anything I ever wanted."

Blake half turned her head, bringing her closer to looking at Ilia without doing so. "I never said you were wrong for wanting revenge," said Blake.

"Well," said Ilia with a wry smile, "would you believe that Winter Schnee wanted the same revenge?"

Blake couldn't help herself whirling on the spot. "What?"

"She hated her father almost as much as I did," said Ilia, slowly shaking her head. "That, more than anything, woke me up. It made me realize that I would've taken my revenge on someone who didn't deserve it. The more I thought about it, and the more I saw what was going on here, the more I realized that revenge wasn't for the Faunus. It wasn't even for my parents. Revenge was just for me. For my own feelings.

"Don't get me wrong, I still want to piss on Jacques Schnee's grave. But if I wanted to actually help the Faunus, I had to have my eyes open. I had to be... better."

Blake's smile was so affectionate it made Ilia squirm inside. "Then you're a better person than Adam ever was."

"That..." tried Ilia, but the words died on her tongue, the strength and sincerity of the compliment trumping all other thoughts. She rallied, tried again. "I never liked whatever it was between you and Adam, but I never thought I could beat him."

"It's over either way," said Blake.

"Over?" breathed Ilia.

"Adam revolted against the White Fang. He had a benefactor who was providing him resources and pointing him at the Dust companies. It was feeding all his worst instincts. If Faunus were freed or protected, that was coincidence, not his goal. Not when he could be killing humans instead.

"He was never really a savior. He played at being one, but that was just an excuse. For him, the White Fang was a vehicle that let him do his worst, and his 'worst' was spiraling, with no end in sight." She swallowed. "So after we broke the Vale Branch and left him isolated, Sienna put a stop to it, and ended him."

The news was an earthquake. For as disappointed as Ilia had been that Adam was in Blake's life, for as jealous as Ilia had been of Adam for the same reason, Adam had only ever gotten results for the Faunus. His leadership in the White Fang had been a boon. These things Blake was saying... It was like they had happened to another person, like something else had wormed its way under Adam's skin and taken control of him.

Or had that been the real Adam all along, and Ilia had never seen it because it was so much like herself? Who she'd been in those days?

The one thing she knew for certain was that Sienna Khan wouldn't have taken such action without good reason and overwhelming evidence. And there was Blake's word to take for it, too. In Ilia's mind that counted for everything.

Blake…

Blake had spoken as neutrally as she could manage, but Ilia could see how much it had taken out of her. There had been feelings there; shadows of those feelings remained. If Blake wasn't moping or crying or shaking at the memories, it wasn't from the absence of pain, it was because she was too strong to let the pain rule her.

As if Ilia needed more reasons to admire Blake.

"Now we're both here," Ilia said. "Somehow."

"Somehow," agreed Blake.

Ilia found it within herself to smile. "See? That wasn't so bad. We both have reasons to be here, and they're pretty good reasons, right?"

"I think so." Blake stepped back and looked at Ilia more broadly. "Wow," she said, after a moment.

"What?" said Ilia with a bout of nerves.

"Your smile's different," said Blake. "It used to be a mask. Now it's more like… you."

"Thanks," said a stunned Ilia, before her face scrunched up on her. "That was such a nice thing to say that 'thanks' doesn't really cut it…"

"It's a start," said Blake mercifully. "Sometimes, the most important thing is just getting started."

"Isn't that the truth," said Ilia, feeling wistful… and much freer than she had in a long time. Free enough to put her other old feelings to bed. "Speaking of not getting started… and since we're laying our feelings out there, or something… I was pining after you for a long time. Did you know?"

"Sort of," said Blake slowly. "I knew you felt something, but I figured, if you weren't ready to act, it couldn't have been that serious."

"It was. It so was."

"Oh. Sorry." Her remorse did seem genuine.

Ilia shrugged. "It's alright. I survived."

"Wait… you said 'was'. Past tense." That was Blake. Her powers of observation were inversely proportional to what was convenient for Ilia. "As in, you don't have those feelings now."

"That's right."

Blake's face turned mischievous. Just for a moment, she wasn't a teenager trying to be a Huntress-slash-possible-revolutionary-slash-race ambassador—she was just a teenager. "Did you just get over me, or did you find someone else?"

Ilia felt her scales shifting to a lurid green-yellow that matched the nausea building inside her. "If I'm going to tell you, I need you to promise not to laugh."

Blake nodded a little too eagerly. "Promise."


Blake broke her promise.

Just this once, Ilia decided to forgive her.

It was pretty funny.


Next time: Baited