Chapter Twelve: Rage is an Ugly Lover pt.2

(Ryker pov)

I sat slumped on a bench, a cup of mint-chip ice cream in my hands. I had spent the entire weekend looking for Blake. I had yet to return to Beacon, and I had ignored all of Ruby and Weiss' texts and calls. I had even gotten a few texts from Pyrrha and Yang wondering if I was ok. I ignored them all. It had been an exhausting two days. I had yet to eat anything that weekend, I could feel it. I didn't care if it wasn't real food, I knew the ice cream would give me the boost in calories I needed to keep going.

Searching for Blake had been going poorly. Every motel and hotel I checked said they hadn't seen her, and she hadn't turned up at any bars or clubs. I had even checked various bookstores and even the Vale public library. Nothing. Blake had simply disappeared.

I stiffened when a girl sat down on the bench I was sitting on. The girl had light mint green hair with a simple brown and white shirt and skirt combo, she too had a cup of ice cream. However, it looked like she had a scoop of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. She gave me a small smile before holding up her scroll. "You look like you have had a bad day. Penny for your thoughts?"

I looked at the scroll for a moment. I set my ice cream aside and lifted my hands up. "Do you know sign?"

The girl's eyes widened before giving me a genuine smile, her eyes twinkling with delight. "I do, are you mute like me?"

I shook my head. "I can be selectively mute but I am capable of talking. I learned to sign when I was little. My mom thought it would be a good way for me to communicate when my body decided I couldn't talk with my voice."

"She sounds like a wonderful mom. I wish my parents had been as understanding when I became mute. Though I'm permanently mute, I haven't talked in years." The girl signed, her hands moving fast and fluidly, it made me smile, the only one who knew sign in depth was Blake. The smile dropped from my face immediately. Blake, probably only knew it because she needed a silent way to communicate when she was killing people for the White Fang. Was that a touch too far? Maybe, but Blake had thrown her chance to explain away when she ran away. As far as I was concerned she was still actively working for the White Fang.

"Are you ok? You have a scary look on your face."

I sigh, I hadn't meant to scare the mint-themed girl. "Sorry, I was just reminded that the last person I knew who signed turned out to be a bad person."

The girl looked at me with a look like she wanted an explanation. "I go to Beacon, and my teammate turns out to be a White Fang member. I really, really, do not like the White Fang and she knew why I didn't like the White Fang. I trusted her, and she had been lying to me the entire time."

The girl took all this in for a moment before she began to sign back. "Maybe it's not what you think. Maybe she used to be a member and had left. If she has been your teammate at Beacon it sounds like it would be hard to be a White Fang member when she's a student. Maybe she left them behind because she knew how dangerous they had become."

Could that be true? Could Blake have really left the White Fang? Even still I needed to know if she had anything to do with my mom's death. "Why wouldn't she tell me then?"

"Have you kept anything from your teammates because it was too hard to talk about?" The girl replied.

I pause, she was right. I had lots of secrets, my teammates hardly knew anything about me, at least nothing more than surface-level stuff. Ruby and Weiss still didn't know the deal with my mom, they knew she had died, and they knew that she worked for the SDC, but that was it. I also had been lying about my semblance, lying about why I was even at Beacon, lying to them every single day when I gave them the impression that I would be their teammate. I wouldn't, I couldn't. I was going to leave them. I had been lying from the very moment I had met them. In a way, I was no better than Blake. If she had nothing to do with my mom's death, and she did leave because she disagreed with the White Fang's tactics, then I was actually worse than her.

The girl seemed to smirk at my hesitation and lack of response, she knew she had got me. "It sounds like you need to talk to your teammate."

"I would if I could, but I haven't found her, and I have been looking all weekend." I sigh picking up my ice cream and taking a bite. "What's your name, mine is Ryker," I spoke finally as I dug into my mostly melted ice cream.

"Mint Neocat Chip." The girl giggled as she picked up her ice cream and began to eat too.

"You have to be joking, right?" I laugh, in complete disbelief that this girl was named after my favorite flavor of ice cream.

"I promise I am not joking. Is my name a joke to you?" Mint teased as she signed with one hand and ate with the other.

"Not a joke, just feels weird that a girl named after my favorite ice cream flavor would find me outside an ice cream shop and help me talk through my issues with my runaway teammate," I answer as the taste of my ice cream diminished to the same mud taste that everything else had. I groan tossing my spoon in the trash. I offered Mint the cup. "Want the res? I can't finish this now."

Mint looked at me for a moment before shrugging and taking the cup from me, she dumped what was left of my ice cream into her cup and kept eating. "Why couldn't you finish it?"

I look at her and just sigh. "I have an eating disorder, eating food for me is hard. I try, and eventually the food all tastes like mud." I explain, not really knowing why I was spilling my guts to Mint, but just shrugging it off as me needing someone, anyone to vent to.

"That has to suck. I'm sorry." Mint signed, her eyes showing me genuine sympathy for a moment.

"It's fine," I wave off. "So do you live around here?"

Mint "No, I'm here with my team for the Vytal Festival we came here early from Haven Academy. I am Mint of Team CMSN (cinnamon)"

"You're a huntress in training too?" I ask not understanding why Mint was giving me a weird look before I realized what I had said. "I-I mean you are training to be a Huntress and I am training to be a Huntsman, not that I'm a Huntress, though there would be nothing wrong with me if I was a Huntress, but I'm not, I'm a boy and that means I am Huntre-Hunstman!" I stammered the entire time I was rambling Mint full-body laughing at me without making a sound. I groan leaning back against the bench, pressing my hands to my face as I cringe at my own stupid mouth. I turned and looked at my new friend who was drying her eyes, Mint giving me a small smile.

"I think you would make for a cute Huntress. I'm glad to have met you, Ryker." She teased, she seemed content before a beep from her scroll pulled her attention from me. She pulled it out and read the notification she had before storing it and standing up. "I have to go, my team has something we are going to, but this was nice. You are good company. Hand me your scroll I want to give you my number." I wordlessly hand her my scroll unlocked and let her add herself to my contacts. She gives me back my scroll and gives me a small bow before leaving.

I smile, having felt something besides anger the entire weekend felt good. I stare at my scroll for a moment before deciding to make a call. My thumb hesitated for a moment before I pressed the icon. My scroll rang for a moment before going to voicemail.

"Hey Blake, it's Ryker. I don't know why you ran away, and I hope and pray that you didn't run because you are a White Fang member, but…" I trail off unsure of what I want to say. "I told you about my mom, I told you the honest truth about something that nobody else here knows. I trusted you, I still want to trust you, but I need the truth. Call me back, let's talk." I finish and hang up my call. I just hoped that she would call me back, I had to know.

(Blake pov)

I sat at the table, waiting for Sun to come back to the table, my entire body freezing as I saw Ryker's name show up on my scroll. He was calling me. I let it go to voicemail, a notification popping up thirty seconds later that I had a new voicemail. I hesitate but press the screen a few times to check it, putting it on low volume as I listen to the voicemail play out.

"Hey Blake, it's Ryker. I don't know why you ran away, and I hope and pray that you didn't run because you are a White Fang member, but… I told you about my mom, I told you the honest truth about something that nobody else here knows. I trusted you, I still want to trust you, but I need the truth. Call me back, let's talk."

I sighed, part of me wanted to call Ryker back, to tell him everything, but I was scared. Ryker was right, I knew about his mom and what happened, and even if what happened to his mom had nothing to do with me and I had been out of the organization for several weeks at that point, it didn't change the guilt I felt over it. The White Fang had become my home in the years since I ran away from my family. My mom and dad might have given up on the organization as two of the founders, but I hadn't. I thought we were doing good work. I thought we were finally making a difference.

Adam had convinced me that his more aggressive way was working, that we were making real progress, and that the White Fang was finally making the world start to treat us better. Then the train heist happened, and I saw Adam and the Fang for what they had turned into. Monsters.

Adam was willing to kill dozens of innocent civilians on that train, all to send a message to a company that had never cared about us or our actions beyond labeling us as deranged animals. I left him that day, I saved the civilians and I left. I spent months in Vale, taking the money I had saved up and hiding out in the nicer parts of the city, all under the guise of a human, all thanks to a little black bow.

Binding my ears had been hard, the day-to-day pain was almost unbearable sometimes, but it was a small price to pay to stay completely hidden from Adam and the rest of the world.

I chose to attend Beacon because I wanted to make up for all of the wrongs I had done. I thought if I became a Huntress and helped people I could finally forgive myself for all of the pain I had caused others. I thought if I did enough good, eventually the world would be able to see me for who I was, to see me as a faunus and realize that faunus could do great things, could be heroes. I wanted the world to one day see me, to not see Blake Belladonna the White Fang member and daughter of the former High Chieftan of the White Fang, but to see Blake Belladonna the Huntress from Beacon Academy.

A cup of tea is placed in front of me causing me to look up. Sun gave me a small smile as he took a seat. "So, you used to be in the White Fang?"

I sigh, giving a nod. This would be a long story.

(Ryker pov)

I bum around the city for the rest of the day. Continuing to look for Blake. The sun had set about an hour ago and I was close to giving up. I had never called back any of my friends. I hadn't felt like talking. My head also supplied me with the tiny thought that they all didn't really care if I came back, not without Blake at least. I knew that wasn't the case, that Ruby, Weiss, Yang, and Pyrrha were my friends and actually cared about me, but tonight wasn't the night for logical Ryker Thorne. No, tonight was the night for the emotional train wreck of a human Ryker Thorne.

"I'm not going to find her am I?" I ask out loud. I wasn't expecting an answer, but when a massive explosion rocked the dockyards several blocks away I raised an eyebrow. "Or maybe I am," I say as I break into a run.

It takes me only a few minutes, all of the morning runs with Blake paying off as I make it the several blocks in record time. As I jump the fence to the dockyard I pull Fool's Folly off of my back. I hear fighting up ahead, it looks like it was my time to put all of Yang and Pyrrha's training to the test.

I run into the dockyard seeing several of the White Fang fighting the monkey faunus from the other day, as well as Blake. I see red. With a roar of anger, I launch myself as the nearest White Fang member, the man grunting in surprise as I ram into him. He lifts his rifle to shoot me but I'm quicker and slice through the barrel of the gun, cleaving it in half with Fool's Folly. I thumb the lever and quickly aim Fool's Folly at the man's knee, sending a burst of bullets into the man, he collapses with a cry of agony as the bullets rip his knee apart.

Blake turns her attention from a Fang member that she just knocked out and gasps in horror as I raise my gun up aiming at the downed Fang member's head. "Ryker don't!" She screams.

I hesitate for a moment, before thumbing the lever once more and reaching into my hoody to pull out a Lightning Dust Crystal to hold in my fist. I kick the man in the head knocking him out and step over his unconscious body. The next few Fang members come at me both with swords. I dodge and deflect the swipes as they push me back with their teamwork.

"Filthy human, how dare you attack a member of the Fang." One of them hissed, a woman by the sound of her voice.

"I would do so much more than attack you if Blake hadn't told me not to," I growl as the woman dodges a swing of my sword and slams her blade into my side. I hiss in pain as the blade digs into my aura-protected side. I rush into the woman, shoulder tackling her, my eyes widening when her entire body shimmers. She had her aura unlocked.

I kicked her away just barely blocking a sword strike from the man, the blade mere inches from my face. I push the blade away and swipe at the man's legs, Fools Folly bouncing right off the meat of the man's thigh as he too shimmered with the tell-tale sign of someone's aura taking the hit. I spun, ducking under the blade of the woman who was now back up, the two taking turns attacking me, every time I gave one attention the other would attack my blind spot.

I couldn't win like this, I needed to change tactics.

I tossed the Lightning Dust crystal high up into the air as I jumped over a sweep from the man. I quickly pull a Wind Dust Crystal and load it into Fool's Folly. I slam Fool's Folly into the concrete and activate the Dust. A torrent of Wind blew out in all directions, sending both of them flying, the man stabbing his sword into the ground avoiding the worst of the wind while the woman was sent flying into a shipping container.

I pull Fool's Folly out of the ground and catch the Lightning Dust crystal as it comes down. I thumb the lever of Fool's Folly, the sword collapsing into its rifle mode. I raise the rifle and start sending bursts of bullets at the man who was now rushing back to me. He deflected all of the bullets and just like that I was back in the same position I just got out of. I couldn't keep them away. Switching Fool's Folly back into a sword I began to deflect and dodge strikes from the man, the woman finally getting up looking no worse for wear as she rushed back to fight alongside her partner.

"Screw it." I bark as I duck a sword strike from the woman, my fist cocked back as I try and slam my fist into her face. My arm rocketed forward before being caught in an iron grip, the man having grabbed me by the wrist.

The woman takes this opportunity to kick me in the chest as the man then swings me by my arm up and over him before slamming me into the ground, the concrete cracking from the force of it, the dust crystal flying out of my hand, though I manage to keep hold of Fool's Folly, I go to sit up before finding a boot pressing into my chest, holding me down. I try to swing my sword before the boot lifts up and stomps on my hand. I try to will my aura up but the constant hits give me a hard time focusing on using my Semblance.

"What were you gonna do with this brat?" The woman taunts holding up my Lightning Dust Crystal.

"I don't know, but it's only fair that we use it on him right?" The one pinning me down says, a male.

I flinch as the woman raises the Dust crystal like you would a knife. I hear Blake scream as the crystal stabs into my stomach, blasting right through my aura and right through my flesh. I scream, all I feel is the lightning in my veins.

(Blake pov)

I gasp as I dodge cane strikes, Roman Torchwick having gone on the offensive the moment I stopped Ryker from killing that Fang member. "You know, your friend seems more like an animal than anyone here. Are you sure you should be keeping his company? He seems liable to kill you in your sleep." He taunted as I blocked a cane strike aiming for my throat.

"Shut up, Ryker isn't an animal, the only animal here is you." I bite back.

"Oh? Well, your animal looks like he's about to be put down." Roman taunted.

I kick him away before looking back at Ryker, he was on the ground, being pinned by two Fang members. One was holding a Lightning Dust crystal. I scream in horror as they stab him in the stomach. Rykers screams fill the dockyard as the two fang members back away from him, laughing as Ryker convulses in pain, the Lightning Dust entering his bloodstream and burning him from the inside out.

Sun jumps in front of me and blocks a cane strike that would have easily killed me. "Go save your friend, leave Bowler Hat to me." He instructs.

I move without hesitation as I run to meet the two Fang members who saw me coming. I send a clone out and leap off of it, vaulting over the larger man and landing on the woman, Gambol Shroud being blocked by her sword.

"Aww did we hurt your little friend?" The woman taunted.

"You will pay for that." I bite out, as we trade blows between the three of us, the two working together well as I have to keep on the defensive. These two were the heavy hitters, all the other Fang members at the dockyard barely knew how to wield a weapon, these two felt like experienced bandits.

Somewhere along the way, I noticed that Ryker's screams of pain had died off. My heart sank into my stomach as I knew that meant only one of two things. Ryker had passed out from the pain, or Ryker was dead.

"Hey!" Ruby's voice called out, as she leaped down from the warehouse roof, her scythe at the ready. The girl Penny from the other day is behind her.

Good, Ruby was here, she could help, all I needed to do was beat these two and we could all take on Torchwick.

"I think your little friend already kicked the bucket. Too bad, we wanted to play with him some more." The man taunted. I growl lashing out with a kick but he caught my heel and threw me across the dockyard and into a shipping container. The metal bent with the force that he threw me. I groan as the two approached me, swords glinting dangerously.

"Looks like times up kid." The woman snarled.

"Too bad. I wonder if your father will mourn you when he gets word that his traitor daughter was finally killed?" The man laughed as he raised his sword. "Oh well, guess we will find out." He snarled bringing the sword down. I raise Gambol Shroud to block but I know I'm too slow. This would surely shatter my aura, and who knows what else. This was it. I flinch closing my eyes waiting for the blow but it never came. I open my eyes and look up only to recoil in horror as the man's sword clatters to the ground, Fool's Folly sticking out through his chest. Blood sprays everywhere, the man collapsing with a gurgle as Ryker is revealed to be standing behind him, electricity arcing all around him.

"Ryker?" I breathe with fear.

"You monster! I will kill you for th-" The woman's voice is cut off as Ryker flicks his blade faster than I had ever seen him do, Fool's Folly slicing right through her throat, blood spraying out covering Ryker as the woman falls to the ground clutching her throat. In mere moments she fell still, dead.

I look at Ryker with fear, his eyes were hooded, like he was barely conscious, and his veins glowed a sickly yellow beneath his skin as the Dust crystal finally fell out of his stomach leaving a gaping hole in his torso, the crystal turned dull from being used up. The electricity surrounding Ryker never stops, before in his fights it would show up intermittently, usually right before an attack or a dodge, this time though, it was constant. Ryker turned and moved with purpose. He sliced his way through Fang member after Fang member, the body count climbing higher and higher as he destroyed them without so much as a second thought. Each person barely took a second as he seemed to know what to do to kill them the moment he reached them.

Roman had boarded a Bulkhead, the airship lifting off with a cargo of Dust. The Penny girl somehow managed to cut the container loose, but the ship was able to avoid capture. Ryker having carved a bloody path through every remaining Fang member that was conscious prior, loaded two Dust crystals into it and aimed the retreating ship. A beam of pure white energy shot out across the sky, slamming into some sort of fire shield that protected the ship. Rykers constant electricity completely dissipated as he lowered his weapon.

I ran to him, Ryker breathing heavily as me, Ruby, and Sun all approached him. Before we had even made it to him he collapsed to the floor, Fool's Folly clattering to the ground as Ryker crumbled into a heap.

"Ryker!" Me and Ruby's voice cried as we rushed to his side. I pull him into my arms, pressing my fingers to his neck. "He has a pulse, but it's weak. He needs to get to a hospital."

"Is that his blood?" Ruby whimpered.

"Some of it, but not all," I respond as police sirens sound out, the cops rapidly approaching the dockyard.

"I will call the ambulance," Sun said as he pulled out his scroll.

Everything seemed to move around us as the cops burst into the scene. Me and Ruby refused to let go of Ryker even as the police demanded for us to put our hands up. Eventually, paramedics showed up, and Sun was able to explain what happened and show that we were Beacon students investigating the explosion.

"Ma'am we need to load your friend up, you have to let go of him if we are going to save him." A woman spoke to me, I nodded me and Ruby forcibly pried ourselves off of Ryker as two paramedics worked to get him on a stretcher. "Hey Monty, call Vale Central and tell them we have a Beacon student in critical, blood pressure low, pulse low, aura non-existent." The woman yelled to a paramedic in the ambulance.

"Ryker could die?"Ruby gasped, her eyes red from crying.

The paramedic looked at us for a moment as the other two load Ryker up in the ambulance. "I can't say, but I will say that your friend is in very bad shape, and he needs help as soon as possible."

"Let me come with, Ryker will want someone from his team with him," I speak getting a sad shake of the head from the paramedic.

"Are you family?" She asked softly.

I shake my head.

"Then I'm sorry but you can't ride with us, only an immediate family member can. We will contact his legal guardian."

"But Ryker doesn't have a legal guardian, he doesn't have any family members," Ruby spoke, her voice breaking.

"I'm sorry, but he will be going to Vale Central Hospital, you can come and visit him there when he is out of surgery." She spoke as they finished loading Ryker into the ambulance. The door to the back of the ambulance shut as the woman gave us a sympathetic smile before she got in and the ambulance lights turned on, the ambulance drove away with our friend, and we didn't even know if we would ever see him again.

"I'm calling Professor Ozpin, he mentioned something about him being Ryker's legal guardian," Ruby spoke.

"When did he say that?" I ask.

"The other day when I went with him to a meeting that Professor Ozpin wanted with him." She replied looking at me confused.

"What? What meeting? Ruby, Ryker hasn't had any meetings with Ozpin in weeks." I say completely confused. Ruby seemed to be just as confused, looking at me with disbelief.

"N-No, I could have sworn he had a meeting. I went with him and he was really mad, and… Did I dream that?" Ruby whispered to herself looking more and more unsure. "Either way I'm calling Professor Ozpin. Ryker doesn't have anyone and Professor Ozpin will know what to do."

I watched my team leader walk off and pull out her scroll to call Ozpin, I wanted to follow her but the cops pulled me away to ask about what happened.

(Ironwood pov)

It was another late night filling out paperwork and going over government documents. Being the General of the Atlas Military had plenty of perks, but sleep was not one of them. Just as I was about to turn my computer off for the night I got an email ping, the notification coming from my tracking department. I open the email and read through it.

"Ryker Thorne, so you have been hiding at Beacon." I read through the rest of the email, letting me know that Ryker was admitted to the hospital and that Ozpin was apparently his legal Guardian. "Ozpin what are you doing?" I mutter under my breath.

I picked up my phone, turns out that sleep would have to wait. I had an old friend I needed to call. Ozpin had a lot of explaining to do for harboring a wanted criminal.

(Ryker pov)

The first thing I felt was pain, it was all-encompassing, and I felt like the only thing I could do was breathe and even that was difficult to do. I couldn't hear, I couldn't smell, I couldn't taste, I couldn't move. I was a thought, a spark inside of a void. I drifted. The void brought comfort and a warmth that I could latch onto. The void was safety.

Safety from what?

Images flashed through my mind, ones of bloodshed, the feeling of lightning crawling through me as I remembered being stabbed with a Dust crystal. The haze I felt as the pain turned to all-consuming rage. It was like being outside yourself, watching yourself move on autopilot as I sliced my way through every enemy I could see. They were faceless, featureless, nothing more than colors of white that I turned red. Then nothing. So much pain and effort, then nothing. I liked nothing.

I drifted for what felt like ages, now and then a thought would come across the void, and sometimes a voice would drift into me. None of them made sense, none of them sounded like anything but echoes and assimilations of what something outside the void could be. I ignored them, I liked it here. It was safe.

(Ozpin pov)

I sit at my desk, hands gripping my cup a bit too tightly as I look across at three broken young women. Blake Belladonna looked like she was empty, Weiss Schnee looked like she hadn't showered or slept, and Ruby Rose… Ruby Rose looked like she hadn't eaten in days and had instead been crying. All three women… No, all three children that were sitting across from me looked truly broken and it was my fault.

I had nobody else to blame. Ryker was my responsibility, and in favor of having a potential piece of the board, I ignored all warnings that were sent my way. Ryker was not meant to be a Huntsman, he needed more training and it was my ignorance and my arrogance that led him to being hurt.

Glynda had screamed at me for hours after we found out, she had called me every name under the book and I deserved every second of it.

"I'm sorry," I finally spoke, all three of the girls looking at me with fear and sadness. "It is my fault that Ryker was hurt, if I was a better headmaster, he would have never been in the situation that he found himself in."

"Professor," Ruby's voice came out so small, my heart ached as the broken girl looked at me through tear-filled eyes. "Is Ryker going to wake up?"

I hesitate for a moment, and that hesitation causes Ruby to start sobbing. "I do not know, the damage caused to Ryker's body and soul is extensive, the Lightning Dust fried him from the inside, and the amount of aura he expended to not die from the ordeal alone put him into aura shock, the fact that he got up and fought for as long as he did-" I cut myself off. I didn't need to over-explain to them, the details were too dire, too gruesome. "He may never wake up."

"Professor, isn't there something the hospital can do? Can't they fix Ryker's aura?" Weiss asked.

"It is not that simple Weiss. Ryker's aura has recovered, but he has not awoken, he is in a coma. There is nothing we can do but wait and see if he wakes up."

"It's my fault," Blake spoke. "If I hadn't run, if I had just explained to him then he woul-" She cut herself off, a fresh wave of tears spilling down her face.

"This is nobody's fault but my own," I spoke as Glynda offered a box of tissues to Blake. "I want to let all of you know that you will be exempt from attending any classes. Winter break is coming in the next few weeks and your grades are all strong enough for me to waive the absences from your classes. I can arrange for all of you to travel home tomorrow if you would like. I would also like you to know that Beacon will be providing counseling for all of you if you choose to take it. It does not have to be with the school therapist, just tell us who you would like to see and I will arrange for it to be taken care of."

"I don't want therapy, I want Ryker!" Ruby shouted with a hiccup.

"I promise you that Ryker will have the best care possible, he is being transferred to our hospital here and his doctors at Vale Central will be working with him every single day."

Ruby broke down, the fifteen-year-old girl sobbing as her teammates wrapped her up in their arms. Weiss pulled Ruby to her chest before the girl wrapped her arms around Weiss and clung to her.

My heart broke.

Glynda escorted them all out, leaving me alone in my tower, the city of Vale laid out before me. I had been alive for so long, and never had I felt like such a failure. I had nobody to blame but me.

I hear a notification from my computer, I turn to look and grimace as I see James Ironwood's name across my screen. He found out about Ryker. I needed to solve this now.

I walk to my desk and press a button, James's face showing on my screen. "How can I help you, James?"

(? pov)

When I heard about Ryker Thorne's accident, part of me felt numb to it. People get hurt every single day. I often hurt people every single day. It was just a fact of life, but a tiny part of me was saddened. I liked him, he was sweet, in a dorky way. The fact that he knew sign language was also a bonus. It was amazing being able to talk to someone besides Roman without having to pull out my scroll to talk.

"Neo?" Roman shouted, jolting me out of my thoughts. I gave him a dirty look but it didn't faze him, it never did. "You didn't hear a single thing I said did you?"

I give a small smile, shaking my head.

"I was trying to tell you that even though you will be a 'student' at Beacon with Cinder and her little brats, you won't be spending the nights there, you will come back to our hideout. I need you here, and you can't do that if you are shacking up in Beacon every night."

I scowl, I didn't want to have to run back and forth and Roman knew it, but he was mostly right, with the cops cracking down on Roman's activities it was becoming more and more necessary for me to run distraction as well as get him out of situations he can't escape from. Tonight was proof of what happens when I'm not with him.

"Look, I know you were excited to play student and you still get to do that, but I need you Neo. You are the only one I can trust to not fuck everything up." Roman sighed as I gave him my best puppy eyes. "That's playing dirty," Roman muttered.

I grin, I learned it from him.

"Fine, you can spend four nights a week at Beacon but I need you for the weekend and Friday. That's the best I can do." I smile before jumping into his arms and giving him a hug, the sudden action getting a grunt out of the old man.

"A little warning next time kiddo, you aren't as little as you used to be." Roman grunts holding me up.

Was he calling me fat?

"No that wasn't a comment on your weight, it's just a fact that you are no longer a tiny malnourished eleven-year-old. Now get off me!"

I let go of Roman, the thief brushing his coat like I had dirtied it. "You got what you wanted, now go to bed. You had a long day today."

I roll my eyes, a small smile adorning my face. "Yes, Dad."

I chuckle at his spluttering as I walk deeper into our hideout. Ten years together and he still freaked out whenever I called him Dad. Such a silly man, but he was mine, and I was his. It was us against the world.

I think back to Ryker, wondering what life would be like if I was just a normal student like him. Would we be friends if he knew the real me? Or would he only like 'Mint Neocat Chip'? I guess it didn't matter, word was that Ryker would be out of the picture and that Ruby Rose and the rest of her team were completely broken up about it. If Ryker didn't pull through, chances were we wouldn't have to worry about those four anymore.

Either way, whether Ryker pulled through or stayed comatose in a bed, I knew that my time at Beacon would be interesting. I wonder if there were any cute girls that I could have a little fun with over the next few months? Time will tell.

(Ruby pov)

Yang came with me to Patch, Ozpin allowing Yang to take the extra weeks off with me. I had become a wreck, and Yang barely kept me functioning. When Dad met us at the port he took me into his arms and I finally broke all the way. I had been having breakdowns on the daily, but had always managed to pull it together after a good long cry, but the moment I saw my dad. I just let everything shatter.

This hurt more than anything I can remember, this hurt more than Mom's death. With her, I was so young that I hardly remember it, but Ryker covered in blood, lying on the floor of that dockyard would forever be etched into my brain.

I had stopped eating, nothing seemed to matter, and food mattered even less. Dad and Yang would have to force me to eat, to shower, to do anything but lay in my bed crying all day. Dad set me up with a therapist, they were nice, but I couldn't bring myself to talk about Ryker, to talk about that night in Vale. We would sit in silence for the forty-five minutes that she had me. Dad didn't know what to do, and Yang was at her wit's end trying to get me to open up, but I felt hollow… Empty.

(Weiss pov)

I declined to go back to Atlas. Father was furious, he had been blowing up my scroll every single day. He blamed Ozpin for putting me in danger, for putting me on a team with weaklings like Ryker. I knew he was angry that an asset like me was so close to the White Fang, but I also knew that chances were high that If I went back to Atlas, I would never be allowed to go back to Beacon.

So I stayed, me and Blake took turns spending time with Ryker. He had been unconscious for weeks now, he had been intubated, a tube shoved down his throat so they could feed him. He had gained weight, a lot in fact. He had gained twenty pounds from the constant feeding. Who knew that all it would take was for him to go into a coma to put on so much weight?

I had begun to see a therapist, the school offered me one and I took it. I would have rather talked to someone that Headmaster Ozpin suggested than any doctor that my father would have sent. Mental health hardly exists in Atlas, an Atlas doctor would do me no good. I talked to her, I talked to her about a lot of things. Ryker, my issues with faunus, being lesbian.

Admitting out loud for the first time that I was lesbian was an experience, it was hard. I felt raw and fragile. I had talked about everything, how I found out I was a lesbian, how my father would never allow me to be with another woman, and how he had all but admitted that he would have me set up with an arranged marriage the moment I graduated Beacon. I also talked about my feelings for Ryker. Our encounter in the dorm bathroom, how made me question my sexuality. It helped, it helped mitigate all the emotions that were building up inside of me.

Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren had all been there for me. Offering smiles and warm sentiments, but even they didn't quite know what to do. They visited sometimes, to see Ryker, but their visits were becoming less and less frequent as they all slowly believed that Ryker would never wake up. I wanted to be angry at them for giving up so quickly, but it had been weeks, and the doctors had told us that there were no signs of improvement and that Ryker's brain activity was not indicating he would wake up anytime soon.

The weirdest interaction I had so far was definitely Cardin stopping by our dorm. He offered his condolences, saying that while he disliked Ryker, he had never actually wanted something like this to happen to him. At that moment Cardin no longer looked like a bully to me, he looked like a seventeen-year-old kid who had finally witnessed the consequences of what being a Huntsman brought. He was scared and he was sad. Sad that someone he knew had been hurt so badly.

I thanked him for it, I didn't have to, and probably shouldn't have, but to see him so genuine. It caught me at the right time. It didn't erase all the shit he had put Ryker through, and it didn't erase his history of bullying and racism, but it showed me that there was in fact a human underneath his bully persona. A very flawed and angry human, but a human nonetheless.

Maybe there was hope for him after all.

(Blake pov)

Sitting with Ryker in the school hospital was a daily ritual at this point. Me and Weiss switched off every other day, but even still I would sneak in after visiting hours were over to be by his side.

A nurse caught me once, but a single look at my face made her turn around and close the door to Ryker's room. She must not have had the heart to make me leave.

I would read to Ryker, read anything and everything. I read to him in hopes that he would hear my voice, that it would get through to him and he would wake up. It didn't work. I still read to him, every single day. I would read until my voice gave out, and then I would continue to read. After a few weeks, I had made it through my entire collection of books and began to buy books in mass. I would take random books from the library. I would not stop reading to him. I couldn't stop, because stopping meant giving up. I would not give up, I would keep trying, and keep reading.

I blamed myself. I refused any and all attempts at getting me to go see a counselor. I didn't deserve to. It was my fault that Ryker got hurt. Everything was my fault. If I had just been honest, if I hadn't run, if I had done anything but be a coward then Ryker would be ok. Ryker would be awake, Ryker would still be going to training with Yang and Pyrrha, and he would cuddle with me and Ruby on Weiss' bed. He would argue about eating food but still eat it because he hated seeing us sad. He would sit up on the roof with me, and talk to me about things he was feeling, tell me things that he hadn't told the rest of the team because he trusted me the most.

Ryker would be ok if he had just never met me.

Everyone would have been better off if they had never met me.

Everyone would have been better off if I let Adam kill me all those months ago on that train.