For a long time, the Dropship was quiet. Nobody spoke, each for their own reasons, but the mood felt...tense. It was a tension Blake was familiar with from her time before Beacon.

It was the tension of a successful mission that nevertheless could not be called a victory. They'd succeeded in their objectives, save one. Yet even so, none of them felt like the victors. After what they'd seen...well, Blake had certainly reaffirmed her will to fight, but she was shaken all the same. And the others, who hadn't been exposed to the kinds of things she had? Weiss, who had perhaps believed she knew what darkness intellectuals were capable of? Yang, who felt more deeply than any of them? Ruby, who tried for all the world to ignore how awful things could be? Penny, who had watched her birthplace turned into an nightmarish abattoir?

She had a feeling, though, that Winter and Ironwood were worried about other things. She'd seen the General's face in the aftermath of Obsidian's blast, after all. But...what could she do? How could she...well, maybe.

"General Ironwood?" He glanced up at her when she spoke, but she pressed forward before he could answer. "I asked Obsidian to destroy the facility. It was...my decision."

His eyes flashed with something for a moment...then he slumped, sighing. "I suppose I'm being too obvious, if you feel the need to defend her. Miss Belladonna, I'm not...no, that would be a lie. I am threatened by Obsidian...but I would be threatened by anyone who displayed the ability to do what she just did. With something like that...if she chose to, she could destroy the entirety of Mantle. Of Atlas."

Ruby leaned forward. "That's not - Obsidian wouldn't -"

He held up a hand and she paused, but Blake could see her struggling not to protest further. "I...know. I know, Miss Rose." He took a deep breath. "I have chosen...to place my trust in her. And in all of you. Thus far, none of you have broken that trust. So long as that continues...my trust will, as well." He nodded. "Thank you, each of you, for your efforts today. When we return to the city, I will...arrange for a place for you all to stay. Tomorrow, we'll plan our upcoming course of action. Is that acceptable?"

Despite the other things she wanted to say, to ask, Blake nodded with the rest of her team.

When they returned to the Dreaming cliff, Blake found herself relaxing despite herself. Or...it wasn't that she wanted to stay tense. It was just...she hadn't thought something so simple would help. Just the sound of the waves against the stone...she could lose herself in that sound.

"Blake? May I...?" Weiss' sudden voice might have startled her if her awareness wasn't so practiced. As it was, she was simply surprised it was Weiss approaching her. She nodded, and Weiss settled onto the ground next to her. The sound of the waves continued to wash over her for some time...and then Weiss finally found her voice again. "I was...that is, I..." She licked her lips, and Blake found herself interested. Weiss...rarely showed any signs of nervousness.

The question that came after, though, made her heart plummet. "May I ask...are you well? After everything? After...Adam Taurus?"

...Honestly, it was impressive how little venom she'd inserted in that name. She sighed. "I...Weiss, you have to understand. I...I hated the man Adam became. He got so twisted up inside, after everything. All that he had left was this...raging hatred. At first, it was at the way the Faunus were treated, but...in the end, I think he just hated the world. And it was painful to see him like that, because before all that? He was...he was my best friend." She wiped her eyes, hating the quaver in her voice. "We trained together, as kids. We...we made promises that we were going to make the world a better place. That we'd do what our parents had tried to do. We'd make them proud, and make the Faunus happy, and - and then, step by step along the way he became someone else. Someone that I couldn't...I couldn't stand by and watch. So I left." She took a shuddering breath, desperately clawing her emotions back into a semblance of order. "I never wanted to hurt him. I wished with everything I had that...he'd change again. Realize where his path was leading him. And instead, I..."

She could still see it, before her eyes. "...I thought I'd killed him. But I couldn't even do that right, and then they -"

Weiss' hand was on her shoulder in an instant. "Don't." She blinked, staring into Weiss' unusually warm eyes. "Don't you dare blame yourself. You protected Vale and its people. You protected me. What they did to him...that's their sin to carry. Not yours. Do you understand me, Blake Belladonna?"

She found that she couldn't meet that intense gaze any longer, and she dropped her eyes back to the sea. "...Yeah. I - sorry. I know how you feel about Adam. About the White Fang. I shouldn't have dumped all of that on you."

"I did ask." She could hear the smile. "...And besides that, regardless of my personal feelings, I can understand...what's it like to watch someone you loved change into something else." The two of them stared out at the sea for some time. "...Blake?"

"Yeah?"

"...Thank you. And Obsidian. For...being there for me."

She took a deep breath, and found that she didn't even think about her answer. "...We're teammates, Weiss. I'll always be there for you."

"Yang?" Ruby's grip on her hand was tight...and Yang was slightly ashamed that, even as it made her worry about her sister, it was also comforting.

"Yeah?"

"...I'm scared." The words were barely a whisper, but they hit her like a brick.

"Hey, Rubes, it's...it's okay to be scared. Today was...a hell of a day."

Her sister's eyes bored into her. "I just...every time I think I've seen how bad it can be, I'm...I'm wrong. Why do they...how could someone do those things? I don't..." She drew her knees up to her chest. "I don't understand. And that scares me."

She pulled on the hand, wrapping Ruby in a one-armed hug and holding on against her sister's half-hearted struggles. "Ruby...I'm glad you don't understand. What we saw in there, that was - " she almost bit back the curse...but no. "- that was fucked. That's the kind of thing we're fighting to prevent, you know?"

"But what if - if I don't even understand why they're doing this, how can I make plans? How do I lead us the next time we fight them? If I - if I screw up, then we could end up..." Her eyes shimmered, and Yang's heart hurt.

"We're a team, Rubes. We cover for each other. If you need help, if there's something you don't understand...then ask. We'll either help you understand...or we'll cover for it. For now...it's okay to be scared. But you can't let it beat you, you know? There's a lot...a lot counting on us, now. And I'm not gonna stop fighting them. Are you?"

Ruby clutched her arm...and, slowly but surely, her trembling subsided. "No. No, I'm not." She nodded, but didn't remove her arm.

Ruby didn't complain.

Penny sat, staring at the waves and remembering. Replayed the memory of the lab's destruction, then replayed her memory of the first time she'd slept, right there in that central chamber. Her birthplace...she'd never really understood people's attachment to something like that until this moment.

She replayed the memories again, and again. Then, she looked to the side, where a silent, expressionless figure stood and watched her.

Penny smiled at her mother, and spoke.

"Thank you."

In response, the avatar only nodded.

They awoke to find Weiss sitting at the hotel table, grimacing down at her scroll, morning preparations only half finished.

"Weiss?" Ruby stepped forward, sleep mask dropped haphazardly on the bed.

Her teammate turned to her, frowning.

"My father has 'invited' us all to dinner tonight, at the family estate. He's provided me some funds to ensure we're...properly attired."