Note: Wow so this whole arc became a lot heavier than I anticipated, huh? I guess I was starved of drama for too long and couldn't help myself. This chapter has certainly generated a lot of discourse from the previews on my discord, so I hope y'all enjoy. And if you want to be part of that discourse, feel free to join from the links all throughout the fanfic. You can join people in being utterly disgusted at Velvet's actions. Anyway, Chapter 70. That seems like too many chapters...

"Oh, Gods…"

Weiss couldn't utter another word. Her fingers had drawn up to her lips, covering her disgust. She felt a dull tremor in the back of her legs. Velvet had started crying partway into her story, though she kept composed long enough to continue her story. The hot, beating sun gave them no relief.

"I don't… I don't know why I did that," Velvet admitted. She couldn't bear to look Weiss in the eye. "I knew I would kill him, I knew what would happen, and I did it anyway. I've been trying to ask myself for years why I didn't help him. Every time I try to think of some excuse, it makes me want to throw up."

Velvet tucked her arms around her ribs, holding herself close. She hissed, cursing at the memories that had thrown themselves back into her life. Weiss stood there, churning through her disgust. She promised Velvet that she wouldn't care, didn't she? She had expected this, something awful and shameful that left a stain on one's entire life. She told herself she would move on if Velvet would, that if she could forgive Blake, surely she could forgive these transgressions. She could not deny, however, how deeply her values were tested. She needed to correct herself. She hadn't expected this.

"What happened next?" Weiss asked cautiously. Velvet brushed her hair out of her teary eye, lifting up her eyepatch to clean out the gunk from underneath.

"I hopped upon my father's horse and said nothing for the rest of the hunt. That was it. None of the other Faunus survived. I went back to my bed and just lay there for a long time. At some point, the realization broke me. I couldn't look myself in the mirror for…" She sighed. "It's still hard, to be honest."

"And that's what changed your mind about your family?"

"Yeah," Velvet stated. "I couldn't stand to be in the same room as them. Every time I would sit at the dinner table, I would think of them riding on those horses. Before that, I could at least tell myself their cruelty served a purpose. But after that, I saw them for what they were." Velvet took a deep breath, and released it, trying to let her troubles flow with the air. "I took up Faunus activism within the next few months. The first thing I did was buy the rabbit ears. You should have seen my father's face when he saw me wearing them. I thought he would kill me on the spot. Sorry… not trying to be dark."

She continued. "I wanted to help the other Faunus trapped there, but I realized quickly it was a lost cause. My father was never going to let them go, no matter how much I begged. As much as it pained me, I would have to fight for their freedom elsewhere. So, once I was able, I left. I didn't know I was supposed to make a difference, but I knew I could at least speak on their behalf and help them where I could. Maybe it's not going to be enough, but if I can at least make some Faunus' lives better, that would start to atone for what I did."

Weiss held back a sneer. There were so many questions she had, so many troubling implications that she was ill-equipped to handle at the moment. She redirected her efforts. "Have you ever talked to anyone about this before me? This seems like so much to live with, and it can't be healthy bottling it all up."

"You mean, like, therapy?" Velvet said incredulously. "I wouldn't think an Atlasian would believe in that."

"You'd be surprised," Weiss quipped. "You should really talk to someone professional about this."

"And tell them what? That I sent someone to their death?" Velvet choked. "Should I describe how they looked me in the eyes as they begged me to spare their life? No. No one can know about this—you shouldn't even know about this."

"But we do have to tell the others," Weiss reminded her. Velvet frantically shook her head.

"I never promised that. I just told you so you would leave it alone!"

"Velvet—"

"You want me to tell Coco? Blake? What good would that do?" Velvet cried.

"If you told me, why not them?"

"I didn't want to tell you. I know what you think of me now."

Weiss groaned, frustrated both by Velvet's resistance and by how true her words were.

"You were… a child," Weiss said slowly, trying to convince herself just as much as her friend. "You were scared. You were raised wrong, put in a terrible situation, and you made a mistake. You know what you did was wrong, and you've been trying to atone for it. That's what I think."

Velvet stayed quiet for a moment, trying to sense the hidden meaning behind Weiss's tone. After a prolonged silence, she tucked her head into her knees.

"This has to stay between us," she muttered.

"That's not an option."

"So then, you're going to tell the others?"

"I didn't say that."

"You can't do that. You said you wouldn't."

"I won't."

"Then staying quiet is an option. You won't tell, and… and I won't tell, and we can keep it secret. No one else ever has to know. We'll just go inside, and go about our lives."

"Then you understand that you are putting me in a bind as well," Weiss explained. "My teammates rely on me to be honest with them. I can't lie on your behalf, especially not about something like this. I'm trying to give you space, and I understand this is difficult, but you cannot turn me into a liar on your behalf."

"I just want to forget about it. I told you enough, so let's please move on."

"Move on?" Weiss said. She didn't even think before she let her next sentence fly like a bullet. "Says the woman wearing her victim's scalp like a badge of honor."

The last splotches of color drained from Velvet's face. She buried herself fully into her knees, and a heavy shudder ran down her spine. Weiss immediately realized she stepped too far. When she heard Velvet begin to sob, the guilt overtook her like a tidal wave. She knelt down by Velvet's side, coarse sand scraping against her shins. Velvet was holding herself even tighter, and Weiss could see the remnants of tears falling down from her knees. It was a pitiful display for someone who did something so terrible, but Weiss stopped thinking about the past. For all her irritation with Velvet's objections, her disgust over her actions, and her doubts over her efforts to make peace—she saw her now as the same child forced into a nightmare by her family. She thought about everything her father did, all the things he trained her to be. If she were thrust into Velvet's shoes on that fateful day, she wouldn't trust herself to make the right decision either. It was the revelation she needed to put her back on track. She remembered her ethos.

They were going to make the future better, damned everything else.

They were here to forgive those who fought for forgiveness.

Most importantly, she wasn't that child from long ago. Neither of them was.

"Listen, Velvet, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that," Weiss said sincerely. "Sometimes I just say things without thinking to be mean. The first time I met Ruby, I said horrible things to her, too. I'm trying to be better."

Velvet struggled to work through her sobs. "It's… not… that…"

"What is it?"

"I… I'm never going to change anyone's mind," Velvet admitted. "I feel trapped… I can't… I can't ever try to explain what happened. I know I haven't earned it yet, but I am… I'm trying to make this better. But that won't mean anything to anyone. I'll have to carry this to my grave, won't I?"

"You don't have to," Weiss tried to explain. "You're trying. We are all trying to be better. That should be good enough."

"But what if it isn't?" Velvet gasped. "What if they hate me for it… my team… I don't… I don't have anyone else…"

"Your teammates are understanding people. Coco annoys the hell out of me, but she has a good heart. She knows more than anyone that bad actions are a product of circumstance. And Yatsu is your boyfriend. He'll forgive you easily. I don't even think he has a hateful bone in his body."

"You say that so surely—"

"You're right, I don't know. I can't know how they'll react," Weiss admitted. "But this isn't insurmountable. And the longer you hold onto this, the worse it will eventually be when it comes out. We don't have to do it immediately. There's not a rush on this."

"We?" Velvet asked.

"Did you think I would make you stand in the center of a room and tell everyone by yourself?" Weiss asked. "It would be immoral of me to force you into this situation without a sufficient plan to get out. I have no problem vouching for your sincerity or assisting you in writing your explanation. I'm maybe the only person who can begin to relate to what you went through, and sharing that perspective is important to me."

Velvet wiped at her tears, even if she couldn't stem the flow. She didn't understand why Weiss was being so kind to her. Just a few months ago, they were arguing about the Faunus being responsible for their own failures; now, here was Weiss pointing out the complicating factors of a person's birth in determining their life. Just what exactly happened to the princess of the SDC when she wasn't around? Regardless of the source of her change of heart, Velvet welcomed it. As much as she despised revealing her past, she was thankful someone was willing to listen to her. Hearing Weiss rationalize her experiences made them sound less like the excuses she had told herself for years. She was a child, after all. She was scared. She was trying to make amends. It wasn't enough to clear her of a guilty conscience, but it let her live, and at this point in her life, that was all she could ask for.

"Do you want to go inside now?" Weiss asked her kindly, eager to move on. "It's rather hot out here."

"Yeah… yeah…" Velvet sighed. "Just give me a few minutes to clean up. I don't want the others to see me like this."

Weiss obliged. Velvet took a few minutes to get the last of her sobs out. She washed her face with the salty ocean water, trying to clear out whatever redness remained. She let her breaths slow until they were in synch with her heartbeat.

The pair headed back into the villa without much of a plan. They would discuss Velvet's past soon, but for now, they needed to eat, relax, and forget their troubles. That was what vacation was for, wasn't it? Maybe they'd even find something to drink, the oldest method of drowning guilt. Weiss held open the patio door for Velvet—a door which was slightly ajar despite her swearing she closed it all the way—and the two walked inside. They weren't surprised to see that a crowd had gathered inside in the living room. Coco and Yang were lying on the couch, chatting about clothes. Fox and Jaune weren't too far away, listening in silence. Yatsu was eating a large bowl of corn-based cereal at the kitchen counter. Pyrrha stood awkwardly in the corner, staring at Jaune as if she really wanted to talk to him but was trying to find her moment. None of them batted an eye when Weiss and Velvet entered. Whatever remained of Velvet's breakdown was obscure enough to dismiss. They had only taken a few steps into the villa when they heard a voice behind them.

"Hey, Velvet?"

Velvet hadn't seen Blake. She was crouched next to the patio door, out of view of the rest. Velvet jumped at Blake's words, despite how plain they were. She mustered up a smile, telling herself that she could handle one encounter with the prickly assassin. Velvet turned around.

A fist flew into her unshielded face, shattering her nose.

Velvet collapsed into a heap on the floor as blood gushed out of her nostrils. Weiss jumped back in shock. Chaos erupted throughout the room. Yatsu gasped and rushed to Velvet's side. Jaune dipped out of the room to avoid conflict, but Pyrrha, hesitant for a moment, threw herself into the fray. Yang took a second to register the blow but was up on her feet as well. Coco was right behind her as they rushed toward Blake, each with very different intentions.

"You fucking cunt!" Blake spat. Yang was able to reach her first, holding her back as she readied herself to attack again. Coco tried to swing at her, but Fox leaped forward and pulled her away as well. Panicked shouting overtook the villa.

"Hey! Easy!"

"Whoa!"

"What the hell!"

Blake screamed above it all. "You deserve so much more than that!"

"Blake, what the fuck is wrong with you?" Coco cried, now held back by both Fox and Pyrrha. Velvet groaned in pain on the ground. She was hit from her blind spot, leaving her no room to defend herself.

"You fucking murderer!" Blake shouted. "I knew there was something wrong with you! I fucking knew it!"

"Easy, easy!" Yang held Blake with one arm around her waist, careful not to hurt the venomous Faunus.

"I should fucking kill you, you backstabbing piece of shit!"

Weiss stepped in between the flailing Huntresses, trying to restore order. She was so stupid. How could she have not noticed Blake spying on them? She had invited the assassin into their conversation with her carelessness, and now she was facing the consequences. "Blake, she didn't mean it."

"Like hell, she didn't!"

"She was a kid! Calm down!"

Blake growled though it was Coco that caused more trouble. With a burst of Aura, she broke free of Fox's hold and nearly slipped away from Pyrrha before the prodigal Huntress tightened her grip around her arm. She glanced back toward Velvet, bleeding on the ground and crying as Yatsu tended to her broken nose. Lacking any context, she took a useless swing in Blake's direction, too far to hit her, but close enough to send a message.

"You ever hit her again, I will end you!" Coco swore.

"Try me, bitch!" Blake countered.

Coco charged forward again, and though Pyrrha was still holding her back, Fox had stopped trying to help her. No one had time to think of why.

"Did you really think you could hide that forever?" Blake spat. "Did you think we'd never find out?" Velvet just cried, silently, trying to clog up the hot blood running down her nose. Yatsu pressed a napkin against her face, and she shook horribly in his arms. Yang repeated gentle words into Blake's ear, trying to soothe her, but nothing seemed to quell her rage. She screamed again. "I should hunt you through the fucking woods, you disgusting piece of—"

"Okay, that's enough!"

Weiss's scream triumphed over all else, and she took immediate action to end the chaos. She held out her arms, and the golden chains of a god ruptured through the floor. The countless chains splintered through the wood and burst out of the walls, causing water from broken pipes to start flooding into the villa. They pushed Coco and Blake aside; Blake against the glass patio door, and Coco to the far, far side of the room, knocking over whatever furniture was in their path. The two both screamed and continued struggling, but it was pointless. Subdued physically, they continued to shout each other down from across the living room. Weiss grunted and approached Blake.

"You need to calm the hell down," she said, trying to talk quietly, as if some hope of Velvet's privacy could still be resurrected. She should have known how foolish that was.

"Calm down?" Blake said so everyone could hear. "You want me to be calm after what she did? That cunt hunted and killed Faunus. She hunted us like fucking dogs, and you want me to be calm?"

"Yes," Weiss stated, frustrated. "No one is saying what she did wasn't messed up."

"You're defending her."

"Because she's trying to make amends!" Weiss exclaimed. "We all did things we regret, Blake. You know that better than anyone."

"There are some things you can't make up for."

"How many people have you blown up? How many lives did you ruin?"

"This is different and you know it."

"I know! But she's still trying," Weiss said. "You heard her before, didn't you? She hates what she did just as much as you do. It happened years ago, and she wants to fix things. She disowned her family because of this, for goodness' sake!"

"Really? Really?" Blake asked incredulously. "Okay then, answer me this, since you're her fucking lawyer… who the hell pays for her Beacon tuition?" Weiss had no answer. She looked to Velvet for an answer, but the young activist just lay there, unwilling to look her in the eye. Blake pressed further. "Come on! Who the hell paid for it? It didn't pay for itself. She says she wants to disown that shit, but she's more than happy to take her dad's money so she can work for the fucking state police."

"That…" Weiss said pathetically. "That shouldn't matter…"

"Of course, it matters!" Blake sneered. She stared straight through Velvet, even if the other wouldn't dare look at her. "I heard every goddamn word you said. Do you think I'm stupid? Your biggest concern was getting caught. That's what came out of that little fucking sob story. You didn't say the name of the person you killed once. Do you even fucking know what their name was?"

She was met with silence.

"You want my forgiveness? Why the hell do you deserve forgiveness when you never faced consequences for anything?"

Silence.

"Nothing?" Blake screamed, her voice cracking. "You have nothing to say to me?"

It had taken over the entire room, the deathly quiet. Most of their team was unsure what they were arguing about, but the heaviness weighed down on them all. Blake's eyes were wide and bloodshot, and even though she stopped struggling against the chains, the intensity of her gaze alone was enough to make Weiss step away in fear. She didn't know if she had ever seen Blake as furious as she was now. She feared that if her concentration fell for just a moment, if she let her chains slip at all, their alliance of twelve would be cut one short. And Velvet, of course, just lay there in silence, doing nothing, saying nothing, unable to stop the bleeding.

Then, Yang pressed her hand on Blake's shoulder. "Hey… let's go."

Blake hissed. "Don't talk down to me."

"I'm not talking down. I just want to talk," Yang said gently.

"You want me to just leave her?"

"You already won," Yang said, motioning to Velvet's busted face. "You made your point. Don't waste anything else on her. She doesn't deserve it." She turned to Weiss. "Let her go."

Weiss shook her head. "I'm not—"

"It's cool," Yang said gently. She waved her hand across the room, making sure everyone was on the same page as her. "We're all cool. Okay? The point's been made."

Blake was still breathing heavily, but Yang's presence was enough to reassure Weiss. The dragon didn't know what was happening. She had no business judging whether Velvet was deserving of what happened. But she was maybe the only person getting through to Blake, and Weiss was confident that if something went wrong, she was strong enough to stop her from doing anything she would regret. With her guard still up, Weiss released Blake from her prison. The moment her feet touched the floor, Yang was there to support her, placing one hand on her chest and another around her shoulder. It kept Blake upright where she was, for better or worse.

"Come on," Yang muttered. "This atmosphere ain't good for us."

Blake kept her gaze focused on Velvet as Yang escorted her out of the room, only turning away right before entering the hallway. Weiss let out a sigh, though she felt no relief. All of her hopes for cooperative healing had been dashed. The secrets had begun to fester out in the open daylight. Without any further reason, she released Coco from her binds. As Coco rubbed her chafed wrists, she took a look around the damaged living room: the overturned couch, the broken floorboards, and the water now pooling by the patio door. She grunted, brimming with discontent.

"What was that even about?"

Weiss just shook her head. Velvet said nothing, though her vow of silence wouldn't be able to last. "It's a long story…"

Yang led Blake all the way to her bedroom, putting as much distance between them and Team CFVY as they could. They did not enter; instead, standing just outside the door, Yang leaned up against it and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Okay, you need to tell me what's going on," she sighed.

"It's not your business," Blake growled under her breath.

"Maybe, maybe not," Yang noted. "But if you are going around punching people, I need to know if I should start punching them too."

"It's… it's so fucked up."

"I don't doubt that. Hey, breathe with me."

"I don't need to—"

"Just… just breathe." Yang went first, taking in one long breath through the nose before releasing it through her mouth. She did it once more, though Blake didn't follow her. Not at first. With enough repetition, Blake let her fury subside and began to breathe in synch with Yang. When she was sufficiently calm, Yang pressed further. "Okay… what did Velvet do to upset you?"

Blake crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't want to think about it. She really wanted to sprint back to the other room and go back to arguing, hoping that Yang wouldn't be quick enough to catch her. That was, of course, a foolish idea. She wasn't making any progress there, and with a clearer head, it was enough to dissuade her. So, instead, she told Yang everything she heard. She relayed Velvet's story, her reaction, every tragic detail of that night from years past. Through it all, Yang stood quietly, never interjecting except to ask clarifying questions. She tried to keep her expressions subdued, though she couldn't fully hide her disgust. Even Blake was trembling by the time her retelling was finished.

Yang let the truth wash over her. The shock and the pain took a long time to settle into the pit of her stomach. When she was ready, she asked a simple question.

"So… what do you want to do now?"

Blake shifted uncomfortably. "You know what I want to do."

"I do… but that's not an option," Yang explained. "I mean, I get it. Fuck, I get it. You have every right to be furious at her. But you know as well as I do that attacking her is out of the question. There are too many reasons for that."

"I don't want her here," Blake said bluntly. "Teaming up with her makes me sick."

Yang tried to think of a plan to accommodate that. "I mean, we could have a team discussion about kicking her out of the alliance. But we'd probably have to separate from CFVY entirely, and whatever we did, we'd have to run by Weiss. We need consensus, after all, and she wouldn't be willing to split from them. That's not even getting into what Ruby's going to think when she finds out about this. You know what she'd say?"

"That we can't break with our allies," Blake said, practically hearing Ruby's squeaky voice chastising her. "Especially not after all the work we did to get here."

"Yeah, so… we have to do something else," Yang sighed. "I know that sucks. I'm sorry."

"Would you vote to kick her out?" Blake asked suddenly.

"Huh?"

"If we had the vote to remove Velvet from our team because of this," Blake asked coldly. "Would you do it?"

Yang didn't appreciate being put on the spot, but answered honestly. "I told you before: I'd respect what your decisions are, but it doesn't mean I have to go along with them. I think what she did was fucked up, but I don't know if we can afford to make enemies anymore, not with our families on the line."

Blake didn't react to that response. Yang was expecting her to snap, but Blake just shrugged and moved on.

"Okay. I appreciate the honesty."

Yang nodded carefully. "So then, what now?"

"I don't know," Blake stated. "But I know that I don't want to talk to her again. I don't want to be in the same room as her. I don't even want to look at her. Unless we are in a life-or-death situation, I don't even want to pretend she exists. If you want to…" Blake shrugged once more. "Not my business."

Yang pushed herself off the door, slumping her shoulders. "All right. It's settled then. Do you want to talk about it more?"

"I'd rather not," Blake stated. She turned and walked away. "I think I need a shower."

"I'm so sorry that happened to you," Coco said gently. Pyrrha and Weiss agreed to clean up the mess, patching up the pipes and picking up the loose scraps from the floor. Team CFVY was sitting on the recently upright couch. Velvet's nose had been clogged with tissue paper, and she lay in Yatsu's comforting lap as her teammates surrounded her. She and Weiss told them everything through sobs and bitterness. Velvet expected them to all turn on her, but they gave her something different, something she couldn't even process: concern. Concern for her.

"It was so wrong of your father to put you in that position," Yatsu said, stroking her hair. "No child should ever have to endure something like that."

"Seriously, of course a kid is gonna do messed up things in that situation," Coco reasoned. "I know that's haunting, but you have to realize you aren't responsible for it no matter what Blake thinks."

"Guys, don't try to whitewash this," Velvet insisted.

"It's not whitewashing," Coco promised. It's not like you pulled the trigger. You were just, like, there! You were probably disassociating when it happened, too. You said you don't even know why you did it. That sounds like you were just running on autopilot."

"And if I can add," Fox said, though he backtracked before continuing. "No, that's kind of dark."

"No, say it," Coco told him.

"That guy probably wasn't surviving anyway," Fox said, trying to rationalize the horror to himself. "Your family had dogs hunting him. They were closing in, and if you didn't say anything, you would have only pushed back what happened by a few seconds. There was no way for you to save that man."

"That's actually so correct," Coco said passionately. "Messed up, but like... he's right. Velvet, there was nothing more you could have done. It was just an awful situation all around, and the only thing we can do is try to improve going forward. And no one cares more about helping Faunus than you!"

"We're just trying to say: You aren't a bad person because of this, love," Yatsu said kindly. "We'll have your back no matter what."

Velvet sniffled and even managed to crack a smile. "Thanks, guys. That… that actually does make me feel better."

"And where the fuck does Blake get off on judging other people?" Coco said suddenly. "You'd think with everything she did, she'd learn to keep her fucking mouth shut about other people's past. We tolerate everything she did—just goes to show what a massive hypocrite she is."

"She literally sucker punched you," Fox agreed. "That's just not cool."

"Fuck no, it isn't cool," Coco sneered. "She's a grown-ass woman. If she has a problem with you, she can talk to you about it instead of punching everything in sight."

From the other side of the room, Weiss listened and kept quiet. She had no reason to interject, even if several things caught her off-guard. She was surprised to hear how quick CFVY was to forgive, and she was relieved on Velvet's behalf. The rest of their sentiments… well, she kept those thoughts to herself. It wasn't long after when she saw Yang return, shuffling awkwardly down the hall. Blake was nowhere in sight. Weiss placed a dislocated plank of wood onto the kitchen counter and greeted her with a sigh.

"Hi."

"Hey."

"How'd it go?"

"We can talk it over as a team later," Yang explained. "Short version: we don't have to worry about any more fists."

Weiss sighed. She supposed that was the most she could hope for. She didn't know how she was going to break any of this to Ruby—the poor thing was probably still sleeping in, and she deserved a better day than this. There was something else of course; it wasn't lost on her that Team CFVY became deathly quiet when Yang entered, and their glares had turned cold upon seeing her. Yang shrugged off their anger, but Weiss understood how deep the tension cut. Over the past five days, they tried to pretend everything was fine. They played games and laughed and drank together as if the problems of the world meant nothing anymore. That time was over now. The fracture between their teams had formed, and even though their alliance hadn't fallen apart, they were unsteady. Another outburst, another lie, another wrong word, and the bonds they worked so hard for would come crumbling apart. Weiss wanted to escape that pain, but the irony dawned on her.

This was their escape. They were on vacation.

And there were still two days ahead of them…