Blake, Sun and I stepped onto the steps of the Belladonna Family Home, both Blake and Sun were holding their Scroll. "Okay. Are you ready?" Blake asked Sun as she looked at him.

"I beat up on giant monsters and robots more than once, I think I can handle getting a few signatures." Sun said with a grin, then looked at me. "You sure you dont want to help out? Your influence here could change the tides." Sun said, with me shaking my head.

"No, helping the people and talking to them is the best I can do. If I can convince them, I'll send them your way." I said, giving Sun a gist bump before he ran off. "I'll find out who is on Adam's side, this will help us in the long run." I said, with Blake looking at me.

"Right, I will see you later." She said as she placed a hand on my arm before walking off to begin her quest. After a bit, I looked back at the house, then started heading into the village.

Later

"Are you kidding me? We'd love to have someone with your skills on our side!" I heard Sun as I walked with a large sack over my shoulder. Looking in his direction, I saw he was talking to a young Faunus, around sixteen or sevenreen.

The Faunus nervously rubs the back of his head, before his mother calls out to him. "Mata! Get back inside."

"Mom!" Mata said, embarrassed at being caught with Sun.

"Listen to your mother, Mata!" I called out, with them lookinf at me. "You are too young to worry about something like this!" I said as I walked over to Sun. "You will have better luck with the older Faunus rather than the kids." I said as I sat the sack down. "I know wee need signatures, but we cant draw rhe kids into our fight." I said, with Sun sighing in disappointment.

"Sorry." Sun said as he gave a bow. "Whats with the sack!" He asked as I rubbed mu shoulder before picking it back up, Mata and his mother already back inside.

"Concrete Mix, I was asked to pick some up for the Dorin family." I said as I picked the sack back up and started making walking away. "Keep up the good work!" I said, waving at Sun as I did.

Later

Walking down the docks towards Leon's Fishing boat, I saw Blake conversing with an aquatic Faunus. "If we can get more people to sign, more will stand up as well!" Blake said as she was leaning over the edge as she spoke, even looking up as two more swam up to her. The Faunus Blake was conversing with leaves, and she turns to the two female aquatic Faunus that have just swam up, before they too swim away.

"Their father has forbidden them from signing up." I said. With Blake turning to me as I walked past her and up to the fishing boat. "Leon, their father, has agreed to sign up later on today." I said as I looked back at her, smirking. "It pays to help out, earn their trust." I said as I started walking up the ramp to the boat.

Later

"I don't get it! How can they just sit around and do nothing with the White Fang getting ready to attack?! How can YOU convince more than us COMBINED!? How weren't even tasked with doing that!!" Sun complained, the three of us sitting at a table just outside a raman shop.

"Because not everyone is like you and me." Blake said as she looked at Sun. "The Faunus here in Menagerie - the ones that weren't born on the island - moved here because they were tired of fighting, of having to struggle constantly." She informed, with me knowing most of those people as well. "Menagerie is filled with people that just want to be left alone, and here we are, asking them to put the rest of the world before themselves." She said, scuffing as she said that.

"I guess I never really thought about it like that." Sun said as he looked at me. "Then... how did you convince that many to join? Most of them are parents who don't what their kids to fight!" Sun questioned, with me looking at him, then at my bowl.

"I reminded them on why they should fight. Not for themselves, but for their futures." I said as I held my fork up. "To protect what is most important to them, and that is their families." I said as I turned the fork to where all four spikes were facing me. "In chess, what is the most important piece?"

"The king, obviously, why?" Blake asked, with me looking at her while pointing the fork at her.

"Who is the king? Who amongst us is the king?" I asked, with her thinking about if.

Ghira! Sun said, with me shaking my head. Blake? He asked, once again I shook my head.

"The King, are the kids. We are the Knights, and Sun you're the bishops. Kali and Ghira are the Rooks. The White Fang, the True White Fang, is the Queen. The People are the pawns. If they can help us take down the Enemies king, Adam in this case, then they can easily become the most strongest piece on the board." I explained, with them looking at me for a good bit without saying anything. "What?" I asked, unsure on why they were looking at me.

"Nothing, I just never thought of it like that." Blake said as she looked at her bowl. "In my eyes, my farher would be king, mom would be the queen. Me and you would be the knoghts. Sun would be able to fill the toles of bishops and rooks and everyone else would be the pawns." She said, with me shaking my head as that was rhe simple way of looking at things. "Either way, the problem is, whatever happens at Haven is going to affect them whether they like it or not. If Adam gets his way and Haven falls, it's only going to make things worse for the Faunus. Everywhere." She said, with me agreeing with her.

"Adam... He's the guy you used to... work with?" Sun asked, with us looking at him.

Blake sighs at this. "Yes." She answered, not liking that she answered with a yes.

"Sorry, forget I brought it up." Sun said as it was easy to see her discomfort.

"No, it's okay." Blake said, where she went silent for a moment and looked away. "Have you ever met someone and thought to yourself, "They are the personification of this word"?" She asked, looking back at us.

I... think so? I answered as I could vividly see the color pink. Looking at sun, he was rubbing the back of his head, lost at her question.

"Okay, well, I remember getting to know Ruby and thinking, "This girl is the embodiment of "purity". After a while, I saw Weiss was "defiance". And Yang was "strength"." Blake said, speaking fondly of her team.

"What am I?" Sun asked, a little excited to hear her answer.

"Jury's still out on that one, but I'm leaning towards "earnest"." Blake said with a smile.

"And me?" I asked, with them lookinf ar me. "Like, both of me, not just... me?" I asked as I wanted to see how much I changed compared to my old self.

Blake smiles affectionately before she answered. Dakota, back when we first met, he was "Hope". He carried the world on his shoulds and was happy." She said before she frowned and looked at Sun. "When you met him... He was "Despair". That happiness was gone, snuffed out due to a betrayal that should never have happened." She said, with me seeing pink again. "Now, the you that is here and now, you are "Hope", where you belong." Blake said as she looked back at me, going as far as to place her hand on mine, with Sun wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into a headlock.

While I didn't get to meet the better side of you, I met your worse and I've got to say, this is a plus if you are still the same as what you were back before the whole mind control thing! Sun said, making me smile at his words and tap his arm fhat was around my neck.

I guess I haven't changed if I am still "Hope" as you say. I said as he let me go, rubbing my head before going back to his food.

Blake giggled at us before looking forward. "At first I thought Adam was "justice", then I thought he was "passion". But over time, I realized I was wrong. He wasn't any of those things. He was "spite". Not "hatred", not "rage", "spite"." She said, with me feeling the fear she had towards him. "He won't accept equality, only suffering for what he feels the world did to him, and his way of thinking is dangerously contagious." She said, and I could tell that she almost ended up like him, but had the strength to turn away. "That's what worries me about Ilia. She's not like Adam, not yet at least, but I don't know how long that will last." She said, with Sun leaning back.

"She was your friend, huh?" Sun said as he thought about said girl.

"She was." Blake said with a nod. "Her chameleon traits meant she could pass as human. She could've lived a normal life if she wanted, but she didn't. I always admired that. She lost her family in a mining accident when she was young, then she joined the White Fang. Like me, she was more or less trained on the road alongside other Faunus. She learned to survive, to defend herself, but as people like Sienna and Adam started to gain a following, she became more dangerous." She said as she looked down at her food. "I guess I did too. My parents tried to get me to leave with them, but I refused. I had Adam and Ilia, after all." She said, with me looking down at my empty bowl.

"You know we're gonna have to face her eventually." Sun said, with us looking at him, then back af Blake.

I know. Blake said, giving a slow nod.

So, what are you gonna do? I asked, with her lookinf at me.

"I'm going to try and help her the way Sun helped me." She said, surprising Sun at her response. "You showed me that sometimes you need to be there for a friend even when they don't want you to be. I was drowning in guilt and fear, I tried to push you away, but you didn't give up on me. And I can't give up on Ilia. It's about time I saved my friends for once." She said, a determined expression now plastered kn her face.

We smiled at her response, and we would help her with that. No one needed to go down the path that she was going. It wasnt too lare for her, but for Adam, it sounded like it was too late for him.

Later

Opening my eyes, I sat up once I saw rhe color pink again. Ever since our conversation from earlier, I had been seeing Pink, White and Brown. Like a swirl or a mixture of colors. I couldn't place it, but I needed to know who this person or people were.

Getting out of bed, I put on the robe that was given to me to sleep in. I couldn't sleep in the robe, so I slept in the shirt and pants. Looking at Sun, he was almost out of bed. Lifting him up, I put him back in bed so that he wouldn't fall out of it.

Walking out of the room, I made my way towards Blakes room. It was on the other side of the building and for a good reason. I had to be quiet as I made my way over there, as Ghira didn't want us sleeping close to his daughter, even with how much he liked us... well, he didn't like Sun, but he liked me.

Once I reached her room, I lightly knocked on her door. After a bit, I figured that she was still asleep. I would have to ask her tomorrow, so I turned around to leave. As soon as I did, the door cracked open and Blake was looking out through the crack. "Dakota?" She questioned as she opened the door.

Blake's pajamas were a black, long-sleeved, Yukata style shirt with white edging over a purple undershirt and a matching skirt. A black obi is wrapped around her waist and tied with a black and white string. It was hard not to look down at her chest, so I had to look away.

"Why are you here?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"Sorry, I just... Had a question that has been bugging me today." I said as I rubbed the back of my head. "You told me before that Red, White, and Yellow was Ruby, Weiss and Yang... but there are three more colors I need to know about... well, one of them might be Weiss as it involves white?" I said, unsure on that.

"Pink, Brown and White, right?" Blake asked, with me looking at her with wide eyes. "Thats... a tough one to swallow." She said as she looked away and rubber her arm. "When I said that you were betrayed earlier... it wasn't a friend or a teammate who betrayed you... but your... girlfriend." She said, shocking me at the news that I had fallen for someone and was betrayed by them.

"I... had a girlfriend?" I questioned, with her nodding, unable to make eye contact with me. "I... see." I said as I crossed my arms at the news. "So, this person who is represented by three colors betrayed me, and lead to my demise?" I asked, with Blake nodding her head at that. "Another question, much like what we talked about earlier, bow Ruby was Pure and I was Hope. What would be be?" I asked, with Blake shaking her head.

"The few times I met her, I can only say either Chaos, Sorrow, or Loneliness." She said, with me nodding as I couldn't really blame her for not knowing the answer to that question.

"What's her name?" I asked, with her looking up at me.

"Neopolitan, but you called her Neo for short." She said as she stepped past me and over to the railing. "When you died... Glynda told us that before you met Neo, you were out for revenge against your sister. She killed your family, and I could understand that... You never got that chance as Neo warmed your heart, and it was all due to Revan." She said as she placed her hands on the rails, looking up at rhe moon.

"She led me into a trap, which they ended up putting me under their control." I said as I understood what lead to my demise. "I must of been blinded then." I said as I walked over to the railing and placed my hands on the railing, looking down. "I would take it that Neo never cared and was just there to be paid?" I asked, feeling hurt by this news.

"I couldn't say. The few times we saw you and her after the trap, she was very affectionate towards you, so it might of been real, but then again it might of been her way of saying "You Belong to Her" like some kind of trophy." Blake said as she balled her fists up, which I saw.

Sighing, I placed my hand on hers, with her looking at me, but I kept my eyes on her hand. "Thank you for telling me this. It feels like a weight is gone now." I said as I stood up straight and looked out at the moon. "I now know that my old self was lead on, but I wont let that happen again." I said as I smiled at her. "She is the past, and I have no need to worry about her coming after me, and if she does, I know that you will be there to guide me to the future." I said, with her turning her hand and interlocking our fingers.

"Just like I have Adam to face, you have Neo to face." She said as she leaned up and kissed my cheek. "Get some rest, we have a long ways to go before we're ready for Haven." She said as she walked back into her room, closing the door slowly as she looked back at me, a smile on her dace rhe entire time.