F3: Welcome to chapter 12 of my RWBY story. Weiss and company are at Argus to solve what is happening with the train. What about the others? RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth. OC characters that appear will be credited to the author(s). With that said Let's Get Started.

Volume 5-12: Trauma.

It has been almost two weeks since Blake and her company had arrived in Menagerie as they began preparations to make the long trip to the continent of Anima home to Haven Academy and the White Fangs next attack. Summer and Reika were working hard to help train the volunteers that were willing to fight for their upcoming battle that hopefully they weren't too late. Her parents were helping with supplying whatever weapons they could find which mostly included spears and shields which wasn't much but it was better than having nothing in her perceptive.

Killa and Iona were helping with fixing what damage was done to her home while her and Sun were making sure everyone stayed cool providing them water when they needed it.

Blake was currently looking over the entire village and to think about a week ago it wasn't like this before where people were hiding from the White Fang and now they were wanting to fight against the Fang even going to as far as risking their lifes to do it. Though it also worried her as well. Not just for the villagers but for those who are helping.

She looked toward Summer and only wondered what Ruby would think when she saw her mother standing in front of her alive. Then she turned to Iona who out of all of them had experianced someone dying in her arms. Blake wondered if the girl was still traumatized by what happened at Beacon that it made Blake be worried about her cousin, and now that she also has these powers of the Fall Maiden that put a big target on her back for their enemies.

"Yoh Blake. Remnant to Blake." Sun called out next to her as she slightly flinched before looking at his direction.

"Huh? Yes Sun?" She asked quickly.

"Man you must've spaced out big time. I was half tempted to give you a wet wiily just to get your attention." Sun joked as she glared at him.

"Please don't." Blake said rather annoyed at him now.

"Okay sorry. Your dad wants you for something. Not sure what though. Said he's inside the house." Sun said relaying the rmessage to her.

"Thanks I'll be right there." Blake said as Sun went back to helping around the village.

Without a moment to waste Blake immediately making her path toward her home. Everywhere she looked she saw the faunus of Menagerie come together to help in both big and small ways. Whethers it's making food for others or helping with small projects they took everything they did with pride which made Blake swell up inside with the same pride.

It was a short walk to her home as she was in front of the large wooden doors before going inside. Much has changed inside as some of the workers where repairing some of the damages done by the fire that nearly burned it to the ground. Blake entered the home as she took in the sight of the inside of the house as she notice the amount of burns on the wood as she touched the wood guiding her palm on it.

"Ah Blake there you are." Ghira's voice said ahead of her.

"You need me for something dad?" Blake asked.

"Actually their is something I want to show you Blake. Come with me." Ghira replied gesturing her to follow him. So Blake did just that following her father. She followed her to what appears to be her fathers office.

"Their's something I wanted to give you for a while Blake but never had an opportunity." Ghira replied as he went toward his closet and grabbed something out from it. It looked like just like Ghira's coat except it was black with a white fur trim. It also had what appeared to be a gold shoulder armor.

"What's this?" Blake asked.

"I was saving this for whenever you were ready. Here. Why don't you try it on?" Ghira suggested. Blake did just that as she put it on the coat as it seemed to fit her perfectly on her. She then put on the shoulder armor that seemed to go on rather easy.

"How does it look?" Blake asked.

"Like you're ready to lead. You have grown into a fine young woman Blake. That is something I can be proud of." Ghira said.

"Yeah. But will we be ready to face them. Summer and Reika are still training them and it'll be a few days before the ferry comes." Blake added with some worry in her voice.

"We'll be ready and they need to look to someone that'll lead them into the battle that is ahead of them. They'll look to you to lead them." Ghira stated.

"Me? But I'm no one special." Blake said.

"You are special Blake. Someone that is more than willing to put yourself on the frontlines and defend what they believe in. You are that person Blake to help lead them." Ghira replied.

"I'll do the best that I can to lead them." Blake said.

"I know you will." Ghira added as they left the house heading back outside.

"Though how is Iona fairing? I hope that she is taking it easy." Ghira asked.

"Why? Is something wrong?" Blake questioned back.

Ghira folded his arms and gave a concerning look "Well, just the other day when the sun had just risen I saw her outside training on her own with her... maiden powers." Ghira said.

"Really? She's probably still trying to get a good grasp of them and what they can do." Blake answered.

"When I confronted her about it she told me that she was up before dawn training with not only just her powers, but her semblance and her weapons. Then she got to helping the villagers. I'm rather concerned for her health and if she is getting enough sleep. It wouldn't do her much good if she collasped mid fight." Ghira replied.

Blake hummed a bit and she had been noticing it to that Iona has been pushing herself a little harder every day after her home was attacked. This was something that she needs to take care of before it gets worse.

"I'll see if I can talk to her. She'll listen to me." Blake said as she went to go find Iona.

"She's probably somewhere in town helping Killa with the damages." Ghira replied.

"I'll start there." Blake said as she went into town looking for her cousin before she did something reckless. She checked around the market place and luckily she managed to locate her without much issue as she saw Iona was carrying some wooden planks on her shoulders.

"Iona. There you are." Blake said getting her attention.

"Oh hey Blake. I'd like to chat right now but I need to get these over to the house to fix up the roof." Iona said trying to walk off again.

"Hold on a minute. Iona we need to talk." Blake said stopping her taking in a better look at her. She saw that Iona had dark circles under eyes which was a sign for lack of sleep and she noticed that her aura was flickering every now and then meant Iona barely gave it time to recover.

"Iona... have you had a chance to sleep?" Blake asked.

Iona shook her head "Not really but I feel fine." Iona answered but Blake was no fool to it as she remembered doing the exact same thing back at Beacon. She remembered that she nearly worked herself to near exhaustion if it weren't for Ruby and Pepper stopping her. Now it was her turn to do the same for Iona.

"Well then you're getting some rest before you do anything esle." Blake said firmly.

"Blake I said I'm fine. Besides I can't just sit around and not do anything." Iona replied as she turned to leave but her grogginess made her stumble losing her footing which in turn made her lose the wooden planks clattering to the ground.

Blake rushed to her side to make sure she was okay.

"See this is exactly what I'm talking about. You're exhausted and you need to rest." Blake said helping Iona up but she knocked her away.

"I told you I'm fine." Iona said standing up but her legs felt weak as she nearly fell again as Blake caught her holding her up.

"Look I can see that you're tired and exhausted. You need to rest. Keep going like this and you'll burn yourself out." Blake said.

"I know that! But if I don't give myself a hundred percent everyday then what good am I to anyone!? What use am I doing nothing!? What can I even do!?" Iona shouted looking away from Blake.

"Iona..." Blake said.

"What good am I if I can't even save a single person!? I'm just... just..." Iona shouted tears forming in her eyes. Blake immediately engulfed her in an embrace.

"If your going to say that you're useless than just stop. You're not useless to me. Not to anyone here so just stop with this in harming yourself. I know that you carry a large weight so let some of us help with that. All I'm asking is for you to get some rest." Blake replied as she almost had to laugh at herself as she remembered Ruby doing the exact same thing.

Iona pulled away from the embrace before taking a moment to compose herself.

"Thanks Blake... I kinda needed to hear that." Iona thanked.

"Anytime. Now why don't you go back to the house and rest I'll get these boards." Blake said as Iona nodded and began walking back to the Belladonna home as Blake picked up the wooden boards and carried them to the house.

Once she got back she gave the wooden boards to the workers so they could continue fixing the house. Though she noticed Summer having a word with Kali about something important.

"How are the fighters coming along?" Kali asked.

"They are adapting to the regiment and are quick learners. So hopefully by the end of tomorrow we'll be ready for combat. I just hope that it'll be enough." Summer replied.

"With you and Reika on handling it I'm sure it'll be enough. Though we still lack the means of transportation to get everyone over to the main lands." Kali said.

"Yes. That is still the issue. However Iona did say she has contacts in Mistral to help us so maybe we'll get lucky and someone will come." Summer said.

"I just hope that whoever gets here isn't too late." Kali replied.

"We can only wait and see." Summer stated as she walked past Blake while she approached her mother.

"Everything alright mom?" Blake asked.

"Yes. Summer is just informing me that the training is going well and that they'll be ready by tomorrow the only problem is getting transportation to the main lands." Kali explained.

"What about Sienna? Doesn't she have connections?" Blake asked.

"We can't reach her from here. Menagerie doesn't have the technology to do it." Kali reminded. That was a problem of being on Menagerie that they didn't have any form of technology so they couldn't reach anyone on the mainlands especially if it's long range.

"There is a ferry that should be here by tomorrow hopefully we can use it to get to mainlands and then we can make the march to Mistral." Kali said.

"Yeah." Blake said nervously that she knew that someone might have to face Ilia again her once alley and friend turned into their worse enemy.

"Is something wrong dear?" Kali asked putting a hand on her shoulder.

"It's just..." Blake started "I'll have to fight Ilia again won't I. She used to be so... different than how she was before all this. I'm just worried that... I can't save her from herself." Blake said unsure of what to do.

Kali embraced her daughter "Dear... I know you want to help her and that is a good quality to have. To see that their might still be good in people even inspite of what they've done. To extend a hand of forgiveness and help them." Kali began.

"Though I wish that was true. Reality is that sometimes people can't be helped and think that violence is the only answer." She continued.

"And yet I still believe she can be saved. Reasoned with maybe. Convince her what she's doing is wrong." Blake added.

"And if that's not enough?" Kali asked which made Blakes breath hitch in her throat as she wasn't sure how to answer that question. She even feared what the answer could be if it ever came to that situation.

"There are things that we can't control Blake. Things that are out of our hands that we have no choice but to react. It's only how we react changes who we are to them." Kali mentioned.

Blake took in the words that her mother said but she still held on to what she believed in that Ilia could be helped and that she is hurting on the inside and lashing out at the world won't do anything good.

"I... think I'm going to lay down for a bit." Blake replied.

"Okay dear. Take a rest." Kali said as Blake headed inside toward her room to take a nap.

Blake did a quick check up on Iona to make sure she was doing what she asked her to do peering into the bedroom and she nodded seeing that Iona was asleep. Blake headed into her own bedroom and layed down on the bedsheets allowing sleep to take her.

=SPIR=

Iona began to toss and turn in her sleep as she let out a groan her face hardened like she was trying to ignore something.

"No... please... stop." Iona said in her sleep swet coming down her face as her nightmare took hold of her.

[Dream]

Iona slashed through another grimm that was in her path as it evaporated into dust before nearly dodging another one. There were too many of them and had no choice but to retreat but she had to make sure that her teammates had gotten out putting a hand to ear as she ran through what looks like a grassy field.

"Guys do you read? Their's grimm all over the place. We need to retreat." Iona called out but she got no response from anyone. So she tried again.

"Star can you hear me?" She called out again only to get the same result as no answer came.

"Pepper you there." Iona called out again but got nothing.

"Rina..." She called out a third time but once again she recieved no answer from her teammates.

Grimm were slowly surrounding her but she quickly ran past them but a few of them took a swipe at her cutting into her skin enough to draw blood. She slashed at the grimm to kill them before moving on to find her team.

She didn't get too far before she tripped over something and fell to the ground. She looked down to see what she tripped over and saw that it was the shattered remains of a glaive type weapon and she knew exactly who it belonged to which means that Star was nearby. However she went to pick herself up from the ground only for her hand touch something cold and liquid on her hand.

She look to see what was on her hand and immediately regretted it as there was blood covering her hand that made her jump to her feet. However she saw just nearby was something she didn't want to see. It was her leader and partner Star her body face down on the ground but her face was looking directly at her but her eyes had already rolled into the back of her head. Stars body was all beaten and bloodied from fighting as she noticed that her right fox ear was completely gone like it was ripped out of her skull was blood flowing down where the ear once was.

Stars body also had a large hole in her chest that killed her instantly.

"No... Star." Iona said as she tried searching for her other teammates. However she didn't have to search far for Pepper as her body was a few feet away from Stars but she was in much worse condition.

Her body was pierced through by a spear like weapon that it was stuck into the ground but her body was in a kneeling position. But the most distrubing thing was that both of her arms were gone like they were ripped off by something killing her from blood loss.

"Not you too." Iona said now worried about her last teammate and hoped that she was alive as she ran ahead and tried calling out her name and killing grimm in the process.

"You could never save them." A voice echoed throughout the area but Iona kept moving.

"You are still weak. You'll never be strong." A voice echoed but Iona ignored it as she ran forward.

She noticed a tree in the middle of the field and immediately ran toward it but once she got closer she noticed something was hanging from one of the branches that she was worried that who it might be. Once she was directly in front of the tree her worse fear was realized as it Rina with a rope around her neck that appeared that she might've hung herself but what worse was that the complete lower half of her body was gone.

Iona back away from this and fell to the ground coming to a realization that her entire team was gone and only she remained.

"Weak. Pathetic little soul. The last survivor. You couldn't save them... just like you couldn't save me." The voice said now suddenly sounding familiar.

She turned around and immediately regretted as a hand grabbed hold of her throat making her drop her weapons. She saw that it was Pyrrha looking at her with that same murderous look like last time as she was trying to squeeze the life out of her.

"Your friends will perish for your weakness. Then you'll die alongside them." Pyrrha said menacingly before lifing her weapon directly inbetween Iona's eyes and went for the kill as Iona screamed.

[End Dream]

Iona screamed as she shot out of bed fear in her eyes her breathing was eractic as she was having a hard time calming herself down. Immediately a pair of footsteps came rushing up the stairs and the door burst opened revealing Kali and Blake.

"Iona!" Blake called out before rushing toward the side of the bed and noticed that Iona was shaking like a leaf and her eyes were wide like she was scared.

"Iona... are you okay?" Kali asked putting a hand Iona's shoulder as she flinched from the touch. Kali removed her hand from her shoulder.

"Dear... I need to you calm down for me. Slow your breathing." Kali said softly. It seemed to work as Iona was trying to slow her breathing.

"Just listen to my voice okay. Breath in and out." Kali said as Iona seemed to listen to her as she breathed in and out that seemed to help a little.

"There you go. Again." Kali said rubbing Iona's back. Iona did it again and again to calm her breathing until her pulse was under control.

After a long five minutes Iona had herself under control.

"Now... does that feel better?" Kali asked as Iona only nodded.

They heard more footsteps coming as both Killa and Ghira were now at her bedroom door.

"Is everyone alright?" Ghira questioned. His wife only gave him a rather worried look as Killa stepped into the bedroom and in front of Iona.

"Hey. You good cousin." Killa asked.

Iona wanted to say that she was fine but she knows that she isn't and that the others will only continue to worry about her.

"Not really... I haven't really been sleeping well lately." Iona said.

"Nightmares?" Ghira added as she nodded.

"I thought they'd go away after awhile but... almost every night I keep getting them. Each one worse than the last. To the point that... I'm afraid to go to sleep at night. I feel like I'm going crazy just thinking about it." Iona said.

"Why didn't you tell us about this? We could've helped you." Blake asked.

"We all had a lot on our plates to handling repairs to training everyone that I thought I could handle it but... guess I was wrong. Now I just feel pathetic." Iona replied.

Kali however wasn't having any of that kind of talk as she pulled Iona into a hug.

"You are not pathetic. You've been dealing with a lot of emotional stress that you have bottled up for so long that you never had a chance to tell anyone. Keeping all that bottle up isn't healthy for you. I know that it's hard to tell someone that you need help but you know that we are here for you whenever you need us. We may not be blood related but you're like another daughter that I care for." Kali said.

Iona took in every word that Kali told her and which made her eyes tear up and before she knew it she was wrapping her arms around Kali as she cried into her shoulder. Kali put a hand on the back of her head and stroke it motherly.

"There now. Get it all out." Kali said soothingly.

After what was about minutes Iona finally stopped crying and gently pulled away from the cat faunus' embrace as she wiped away the last remains of her tears.

"I... thank you Kali. I needed that." Iona replied.

"You're very welcome dear. Now why don't you come down for dinner? You must be hungry after all that." Kali said as she got up from the bed and left the bedroom. Ghira and Killa quickly followed while Blake waited for Iona.

"You sure you feel better?" Blake asked.

Iona stood up from the from before taking in a breath and letting it out gently before answering her question.

"Yeah. I feel better. Though that was pretty embarassing for me. Crying like a little kid but I oddly enough I think I kinda need that. To let out all of that emotion in me. I know that I'm still no where near fine but... I feel better getting all that off my chest. And also..." Iona said before coming close to Blake and embracing her as well which caught Blake off guard a little.

"Thanks for worrying about me." Iona said before letting go.

"Hey you've got my back." Blake started.

"And you got mine." Iona finished as the two fist pumped each other before heading downstairs for their dinner.

Two hours later after dinner along with a shower Iona returned to her bed and for the first time ever since the fall of Beacon she was nightmare free as they know they had a long road ahead of them once morning comes.

F3: And that ends chapter 12. I'll just say in canon Kali is best mother period. What else will be store for this group? Make sure to leave behind a comment and don't forget to follow and/or favorite this story as well. With that said this is Fireuser3 and I'm Out.