Blake's mind wandered to what had happened after the attack on Vale. She had just been about to sneak out of the hospital and take a ship back to her homeland of Menagerie when Yang's voice called out to her.
"Blake, please don't run away."
Blake froze, initially unable to make eye contact with Yang.
"My mom left me, Ruby's mom disappeared six years ago. I don't want to lose another person that I love. Not right now."
Blake turned around to face Yang, who stood in the doorway to her hospital room. What was left of her arm was bandaged up.
"When I went to Beacon, I was afraid to open up to people," Blake began. "I tried to keep my past away from you and the others. But the walls i built came down, and then the one thing that I was afraid of actually happened." Tears filled Blake's eyes. "Yang, he could have killed you."
Blake had a flashback to the moment after Adam had slashed her with his sword at Vale palace. "I never wanted this, Adam," she'd told him. "I wanted peace."
"You and I were destined to light the flames of revolution together, but instead you're here, whoring yourself out to the humans!"
Yang suddenly appeared, calling Blake's name. Adam and Blake both looked at her.
"Speaking of which..." Adam smirked as he approached Yang with his sword.
"No, Adam, please!" Blake called out.
"Stay away from her!" Yang had yelled, her semblance active.
Blake could do nothing but watch helplessly as Yang's arm was cut off.
"He could have killed me, but he failed to," Yang said, her voice pulling Blake out of the flashback. "I survived because you were there to save me. Do you really think Adam wouldn't have still attacked the palace if you hadn't been there? Blake, this isn't your fault."
Yang had moved closer to her now, and wiped tears from Blake's face with the hand she still had.
"Right now I need you here with me. So please, don't run away."
Blake met her girlfriend's gaze, her eyes a shade somewhere in between violet and lavender. Reflecting on Yang's words, she shoved down her urge to run.
"Okay," she replied after taking a deep breath. "I'll stay."
Blake called her parents on her scroll and let them know she was safe after what happened in Vale.
"Your father and I are so glad that you're alright," Kali said.
"We love you," Ghira added.
"How can you still love me after what I've done?" Blake asked. "You were right about the White Fang, and I should have listened to you. I never should have joined them in the first place."
"Blake, your mother and I will always love you. You may have almost gone down a bad path, but you had the strength to pull yourself back," said Ghira.
"I wanted to let you both know that I'll be staying with Yang in Patch for a while, for her recovery," Blake added.
"That's fine," Kali said. "Perhaps you're where you are needed most right now."
...
From her palace bedroom, Weiss was on a Loom video call with Ruby, Blake, and Yang. Her father, King Jacques Schnee, had insisted that she return to Atlas after the attack on Vale, and Weiss had complied to keep the peace. Ruby had just finished explaining everything her Uncle Qrow had taught her about her silver eyes, Salem, the relics, and Maidens. She told them she had already made plans to go to Haven Academy because Mistral's relic was hidden there instead of at the palace, and that was the enemy's next target.
"I kind of wish you wouldn't go off on this dangerous mission to Mistral right now, when I can't be there with you," Yang said. "Who knows how long it will take me to get to where I need to be, with part of my arm gone now."
"Somebody has to do this, for Penny. For Pyrrha. For the world," Ruby replied. "Besides, I won't be alone, Jaune, Ren, and Nora have all agreed to come with me."
How Weiss longed to join them! "Speaking of Penny and Pyrrha...there's something you all should know about Cinder," Weiss announced.
"Six years ago in Atlas there was a bad case in the news. There was a woman who owned a hotel here called the Glass Unicorn. Her15-year-old stepdaughter was kidnapped and supposedly murdered by four masked members of the White Fang. They filmed their attack on this girl. In Atlas, there's a law that allows deaths to be shown on camera if a victim's family allows it. Mrs. Gold wanted people to see what happened to her stepdaughter as a warning about the danger of the White Fang, and in her mind, about faunus in general."
Weiss felt bad as she saw Blake looking uncomfortable on her laptop's screen. She continued, "The attack was awful. They beat the girl and started to dismember her. The camera went off after that, and the girl's body and her killers were never found. There was a rumored nevermore sighting at the crime scene, and all that was found was the girl's arm."
Weiss had been only 12 years old at the time, and the case had haunted her ever since. She remembered the girl's screams and cries in the video and how cruel those White Fang members had been to her. She remembered the increased fear of faunus in Atlas afterward, and how her older sister Winter had wanted people to know that not all faunus were like that.
"It was really sad- made even sadder by the fact that Mrs. Gold revealed that her stepdaughter was four months pregnant at the time it happened. The girl was presumed dead at the time. Ever since we met Cinder Fall at Beacon, she looked familiar to me, but I wasn't sure why. Now I know she was Cinder Gold, the girl from that video. Her stepmother died in a fire a year later."
"That's awful," Blake commented.
"Speaking of awful, you all know what The Hunt is, right?" Ruby asked. "Uncle Qrow explained it to me recently."
Weiss felt her stomach churn at the mention of the execution show her father had forced her, Winter, and her younger brother Whitley to watch as kids. Winter had been very vocal against it. Weiss had been afraid to make waves about it as a kid, but she had always been against it. "Unfortunately, it was mandatory viewing in the royal Schnee household when my siblings and I were growing up. My dad is a big financial backer of The Hunt."
"Blake has told me about it," Yang explained.
"I know it very well," Blake answered with a sad look on her face. "I didn't watch, but I was told that in last year's anime adaptation of the Tawny Fox execution, they added jiggle physics to Tawny."
"That's disgusting! She was a victim, and later on they found out she was telling the truth about that producer," Weiss declared.
"It has always been a disgusting tradition," Blake stated. "In ancient Mistral, before the faunus existed The Hunt was called The Story, and it was used to punish human girls and women only. Have you heard of Princess Daiyu?"
"I've heard of Princess Daiyu and seen paintings of her," Ruby answered. "But I don't know her story."
"Ancient Mistral had a caste system. Centuries ago, a child bride named Daiyu, from one of the lower castes, was married off to a prince. One day Princess Daiyu's semblance kicked in and she murdered almost everyone in the royal family. She escaped and was never seen again. As punishment for Princess Daiyu's actions, the prince's father, the king, started a tradition called The Story. Each year a girl from the lower castes would be selected to 'play' Princess Daiyu in The Story and be brutally executed as entertainment for the public."
"That's barbaric!" Weiss cried.
"It was. Unfortunately, instead of doing away with the practice altogether, the people of Mistral decided that it was only barbaric when it happened to some people, but perfectly acceptable for faunus criminals. When the plague that brought the faunus into existence came along, The Story became The Hunt and there was a new target."
"Well, this year they're putting Cinder in The Hunt as their villain. And...I think Cinder might be innocent." Ruby said in a small voice.
Everyone stopped to look at her.
"Ruby, how could you think Cinder is innocent?" Yang asked incredulously. "You saw her murder Pyrrha right in front of you."
"That might not have been Cinder. The person who killed Pyrrha- her eyes flashed purple. Cinder's eyes aren't that color."
"It could have been a trick of the light, or something related to what you did to the wyvern with your silver eyes," Yang pointed out.
But Ruby shook her head. "I don't think it was. Plus, there's Grandma's last vision. Remember how she predicted that a troubled young woman from Mistral would be tortured and executed for crimes she didn't commit? Cinder's from Mistral, and she's being put in The Hunt. What Weiss told us about her past, plus the fact that she works for Salem, means that she's also troubled. I think Cinder was the girl Grandma was talking about."
"Toward the end of her life, Grandma Cassandra wasn't the most reliable narrator," Yang replied. "Remember the weird vision she had before that? 'Bring together a solstice, an equinox, a faunus, and one touched by silver, and you'll have a crown'? What does that even mean?"
Ruby looked frustrated. "Why are you being so unsupportive?"
"I'm not trying to be unsupportive," Yang insisted. "It's just that I know you have romantic feelings for Cinder and I don't want them to cloud your judgment. Remember how she told you she lead Mom- Summer- into a trap? She's bad news- you have no reason to give her the benefit of the doubt."
"This has nothing to do with my romantic feelings for Cinder and everything to do with this feeling I can't shake that she's being set up," Ruby insisted. "This all just feels so wrong, like Cinder isn't the monster she's being made out to be."
"Even if Cinder is guilty, she shouldn't be put in The Hunt. Nobody should," Weiss offered. "I'll do what I can to get my fans in Atlas to vote against The Hunt, since this year Mistral is inviting other kingdoms to vote on it for a change."
"Weiss is right," Blake stated. "The Hunt needs to end. My dad is the chieftan of Menagerie. The people of Menagerie are against The Hunt anyway, but it can't hurt to make sure they don't change their minds just because the victim will be human this time."
"You're right. I may not think Cinder is good news, but I don't think she deserves the kinds of things that will be done to her in The Hunt," Yang conceded.
Ruby smiled. "Thanks. You guys are the best. So then it's settled: I'll go to Mistral with team JNPR, Blake and Weiss will focus on keeping approval ratings for The Hunt low in their kingdoms, and Yang will focus on getting better."