Considering how the beginning of the last two episodes started, a few were assuming that this one would focus more on Blake, the fourth episode starring Yang, and the cycle would repeat. Having this in mind, Blake seriously hoped the intro was wrong about Sun joining her to Menagerie. Even though what they were seeing was the future, she knew her motives well and Sun sneaking on the boat to follow her was ruining the entire point of her running away. She knew her future counterpart ran off to avoid being the cause of any more of her friend's pain.
Blake snuck a glance toward Yang, immense guilt gnawing away at her. She's the reason Yang got hurt, lost her arm! She couldn't stomach injuring her friends further than she already has. Thus, bringing her to her next question: why on Remnant did Sun follow her in the first place?! She figures she'll get her answer in this episode, but she's honestly not prepared for it.
"Blake, are…are you okay?" Blake's brought out of her thoughts by a voice she wouldn't expect. Yang is looking at her with concern, an emotion Blake felt she didn't deserve from her. Yang noticed Blake's brows furrowing in distress as she was off in her own head. It took Yang more courage than she would like to admit, just to ask that question, and she still managed to sound hesitant!
"Hm? Oh, yes, I'm fine." Well, wasn't that convincing. "W-Why do you ask?" Blake mentally facepalmed at her slight stutter. Blake seemed to have wandered into her own head again as she didn't hear Yang's response. Blake didn't bother to ask Yang to repeat as she simply nodded and awkwardly turned her head to the screen as it began playing.
(Volume 4 Intro)
The sound of rushing waves echoed and that of creaking wood. Blake's arms are folded on the railing of a boat, frowning as she stares out at sea.
"Where're you heading Blake?" Nora asked. Blake's quiet, deciding not to respond as she knows the answer will be given to her during the episode. Blake's intentions aren't to ignore her friends, just that she'd rather let the episode do all the talking. She really doesn't feel the most comfortable when the scenes are focused on her now after…that day.
Blake is startled by the approaching Captain, asking if she's traveling alone. Her hand rests on Gambol Shroud but doesn't take it out.
"Woah, tense much?" Sun's tease didn't land as he sees Blake's stance become more guarded. Realizing that, in hindsight, might not have been the most appropriate joke, he goes to apologize, but Blake beats him to it.
"I know what you were trying to do, and I appreciate it…"
"Too soon?" Blake nods, murmuring a small 'yeah'.
The Captain raises his hands in surrender, showing he means no harm as he just wanted to check up on her.
Blake silently wonders to herself how long it's been for her since she left.
Blake asks the man why he's wondering. "Well, not many people travel by boat on their own, it can be quite a lonely voyage, but I've found those that do tend to have the more…interesting stories." Blake looks back out at sea, telling the man that's better for some people to be alone.
The rest of Team RWBY narrow their eyes. What's that supposed to mean?
Blake flinches as the same two kids run past, laughing. The Captain chuckles to himself, agreeing with her, but a few familiar faces wouldn't hurt her with her paranoia. Blake immediately becomes defensive from what he's implying, getting another laugh out of him before he goes to leave her be. Stopping once to remind her that it will be a boring journey with how long they are.
Blake looks down at the water, closing her eyes in thought before coming to a decision. "Won't be needing this." She removes her ribbon, letting it drop into the water.
Blake gave her own ears a small flick.
She gazes at the cloth, then proceeds to enter the ship. Off in the distance is a mysterious person wearing a cloak, watching her. He begins to follow her, but while doing so, red and black fins submerge themselves from the water before disappearing.
Blake releases a sigh as the hooded figure is very obviously Sun. However, what brings her even more worry is the size of the Grimm that they were given a glimpse of.
"That is one of the least inconspicuous disguises I've seen," Weiss exclaims as she takes a second to look over at Sun. "You're deciding to wear the hood over your head in broad daylight?"
"So far it's worked, she hasn't noticed me yet." This gets him a jab in the arm from the other Faunus in question. Sun releases a grunt as he rubs his arm. "Is it just me or do you seem a lot more testy since we've gotten back?" Blake sends him a glare, giving him the answer to his question.
It was either one of two things, we're seeing more of Blake and where she's off to or an inkling that has something to do with the tension between her and Yang. Sun's going with more of the former, considering Blake hasn't acted this agitated for the first two episodes, but why so annoyed?
Yang currently sits on her living room couch, grabbing the TV remote nearby to turn on the channel.
Both Yang and Blake simultaneously tense upon seeing the girl. Weiss hummed to herself, as she thought they would see Yang in the next episode and not this early. She shrugs it off though as she would have come up at some point.
Yang continues to switch through channels as each one is about the Fall of Beacon, either on the repairs or the latest update. That was until a certain report captured her attention, a report on Adam Taurus.
Yang's fists tightened against the armrests, a part of itching to make sure that her right arm was still there.
"I'm home!" Tai announces as Yang looks behind her, neck placed on the couch and everything upside down. Her father is multiple bags as he exclaims, "Guess what came in today?" Tai walks around the couch, making his way to the kitchen to put everything down. Yang questions what as Tai returns, carrying a long package.
Tai gestures to the box, and Yang clarifies that it's for her. "For you and you only." Using her only hand, she takes the lid off showcasing a new prosthetic arm.
Yang was speechless as it showed the whole thing, she didn't know what to say. That was…for her? A couple of people let out their 'ahs' and 'oohs'. Yang had no idea what to feel about it, she could tell her other self wasn't ready for this, it just solidified what shouldn't be said.
Yang didn't hesitate in grabbing her right arm, giving it a light squeeze. Ruby, sensing her sister's inner turmoil, reached over behind Weiss and let out a huff as she placed a hand on her shoulder. It was a comical sight, but heartwarming nonetheless. Yang couldn't keep back the snort at her sister attempting to stretch over chairs. "Stop laughing, I'm trying to comfort you!"
It was too much, Yang wasn't strong enough to keep her laughter laughter in, much to her sister's dismay. "Ruby!" Weiss yelled out as Ruby was smushed up against her, "Sit back down!"
"Brand new, state of the art, Atlas Tech. Y'know, I thought I was gonna have to pull some strings, call in a few favors, but you earned this one all on your own kiddo." Yang released a quizzical sound. "Before I could even talk to him, General Ironwood already had his top scientists working on this, for you! He wanted me to tell you that you fought admirably. You should be proud of yourself." Yang sat there, silent for a moment. "Well, you gonna try it on?"
"I, uh, I'm not feeling to great right now, maybe later?" Tai exhaled, understanding his daughter's wishes. Yang takes herself upstairs, pausing to thank him.
Sensing that Ruby wanted to reach over again, Weiss decided that the two of them should swap seats. Once down Ruby quickly scooted closer to her sister.
Yang proceeds to do various chores around the house like sweeping, getting the mail, and washing the dishes. She accidentally drops a glass, causing her to gasp and see recollections of Adam and the sound of cutting steel.
The sudden crash also has Yang flinching, hard, and moving further back into the seat cushions. "Yang…" Ruby whispers her name to which Yang frantically waves off her concerns, telling her sister that she's fine.
"But you're-" Yang cuts off Weiss, telling her the same thing that nothing is wrong. But that clearly isn't true. Raider gives the girl a few moments to calm down, and let her erratic breathing go back to normal.
Yang backs up into the counter, breathing unevenly. She slams her fist onto the countertop and slowly composes herself. Her father watches from the kitchen doorway, frowning as he leaves.
Yang attempted to bring her thoughts elsewhere, like the fact that she is still doing chores around the house, she isn't having some coddle her as if she weren't able to do anything. She isn't being treated like a baby that needs protecting.
Blake watches the water ripple as it's now dusk. She looks behind her, viewing two other Faunus walk by. Above her is the same cloaked individual.
Blake rolled her eyes. She found Sun was doing a slightly terrible job of spying on her if he's still deciding to watch her out in the open.
She plans to make her leave, but feels the presence of eyes on her. Whipping around, hand on Gambol Shroud she shouts. He disappears, frustrating Blake.
Behind her, the large Grimm finally makes itself known, the crew yelling 'Red Alert'. The Captain and another crewmate come out, seeing the beast themselves. "By the Gods," The Captain murmurs.
Blake narrows her eyes as she stares at the Sea Feilong. Well, I'm guessing that will take a while, momentarily forgetting that Sun was also on the ship.
The Feilong releases a horrible screech, the Captain yelling at the crew to man their batte stations. The crewmate next to him accesses that they've never fought a Grimm this big before, to which he counters they haven't seen a Grimm this big before.
Blake narrows her eyes at the battle that's fastly approaching for her counterpart.
Blake rushes to the front of the boat, using the rails as leverage to propel herself into the air. With her semblance, she throws Gambrol Shroud, the weapon catching hold in its skin. She swings herself around its neck to shoot at its back, landing a few hits.
From all around the room, everyone is shouting in encouragements to defeat the beast. Blake viewed all her friends as they were pumping their fits or yelling their wishes. I mean, it was only the beginning of the fight and Blake knew she was going to take it down eventually.
She just felt all this cheering was a little unnecessary as it was only the start of the fight, but she kept those thoughts to herself, putting on a look of appreciation for her friends kind words.
It let out a cry as it went for its own attack, barely missing the ship as the Captain veered them out of the way. Blake continued to shoot at it as it dove into the water. The ship's attack mechanisms appeared on the side as Blake sliced at the Grimm, shooting cannonballs at the monster.
The blast from the cannonballs sent Blake flying back onto the ship, damaging her shoulder.
Come on, where am I? My friend could use my help right about now! Sun thought impatiently as well as worriedly.
The Captain yells out to get the heavy cannon ready. In the process, the Feilong brings out its own wings, swirling in the sky.
"Well isn't that just great? Not can it only swim but it can also fly?!" Sun complains, seriously wondering why he hasn't shown up yet. What's he doing, waiting for the perfect moment? He would at least expected himself to help while he was wearing the cloak.
The Feilong blows a strong gust of wind and the Captain bellows out to open fire. Blake's about to go back into battle but the cloaked figure uses her shoulders to bound themselves toward the creature, revealing their identity to be Sun.
"Oh, Sun, who would have thought," Blake says in the most sarcastic of voices, now wanting the answer to why he followed her in the first place. Sun's only defense was to nervously chuckle under Blake's stare.
"Sun?!" Blake calls out in disbelif as the boy uses his semblance to hold the Grim backy by its whiskers. He prevents the Grimm from blasting the boat, now riding on its snout. "What are you doing?" Blake cries out.
"Oh, y'know, just, ah, hangin' out!" Sun screams from atop the Grimm's mouth. SUn gets electricuted from the Grimm's powers, falling off the snout. Blake's eyes widen as she watches him fall before jumping into action. Upon saving him Sun swoons, "My hero."
"You're not supposed to be here!" Blake shouts.
"Yeah, well it looks like you could use all the help you can get," Sun retorts. Blake rolls her eyes, dropping him and telling him to shut up and fight. Sun poses on the ground with a 'yes m'am'.
Blake rolls her eyes to the Sun on screen as a few others were laughing with Sun. Blake notes she could look less on the sour side, but not until Sun explains why he followed her. He just doesn't realize he's willingingly putting himself in danger by being near her.
"I'm confused on how you can joke at a time like this." Oscar looked worried as Sun seemed so carefree and relaxed in the face of such a giant Grimm.
"The cute farmboy finally speaks!" Nora cries out. Oscar's only response was to blush. Did they expect him to be really talkative?
Inside the ship one of the female crewmates declares that one of their defenses is down. The Captain asks if the heavy can is still up, to which he's it told it is by another member, but the Feilong is moving too fast for them to land a hit. The Captain grunts, asking about the engine. It's fully functional.
As Blake was about to deflect another one of it's beams, Sun swoops in, destroying it with his staff. "Huntsmen! If you can clip its wings and draw it out towards the bough, we can take it!"
Sun looks towards Blake, "I mean, you're the one with the swords." Blake replies with a scoff as Sun charges towards the Grimm, "Now or never!"
Blake's friends would really like to know why Blake is so offput by Sun being there. Wouldn't she be a little happy with the help?
Sun uses his semblance to launch both him and Blake into the air. Sun chuckles as he's ready to catch her, but his smile falls as she pays him no attention, bringing herself higher.
"Not even a small thank you?" Sun asks jokingly. Blake doesn't say anything. Yikes, tough crowd.
Soaring down, Blake avoids each of its blasts. Bringing out Gambol Shroud, she cuts through its wings. As she gets closer to the ground, ready to land on her own two feet, Sun places himself in the way, catching her with a smirk. "This is the part where you say it." The moment is broken from being brought off balance as the Grimm smashes the rock they're standing on. "Okay, maybe later!"
The two bound off the incoming rocks with the Grimm crashing through every one to get to them. The Captain uses all the ship's power to keep up.
Sun slides down of the rocks, the Grimm breaking into it, about to eat him but Blake saves him just in time. The two are put between a rock and a hard place as the Grimm is about to fire, though the ship slams right into it. The Captain shouts 'Fire!' and the upper half of the Feilong is destroyed.
The room erupted in cheers, celebrating their friends victory. "That's what I'm talking about! Up top!" Sun turns, hand in the air, waiting for a high five from Blake. The girl couldn't explain it, but she had such a strong urge to him, for some reason. She didn't plan on following through with it, but the feeling was there.
Blake left him hanging, getting a pout from the poor guy. "Blake, that was awesome!" The Faunus girl was, surprisingly, brought into a hug from her partner, making her let out a gasp. Yang realizing what she's done, lets her go, coughing awkwardly, not meeting her eye.
Blake looks around the room as everyone is still clapping.
Everyone on the ship celebrates as the Grimm dissolves. "Haha! Oh, up top!" Sun yells, his hand up high. Blake looks back at him, a glare on her face as he encourages her further. Blake raises her hand, but not to give him a high five. In the next second, her hand is smacked across his face, the sound echoing as things go dark.
Huh, that's where the urge came from.
Sun rubbed his cheek as if he could feel it. The others winced, letting out collective 'ohs' or 'ouchs'.
It's much darker now as Sun's telling the other guests on the ship that is wasn't a big deal, telling them to enjoy the rest of the trip as Blake stares at him. Sun comes up to Blake, hands resting behind his head, commenting how the other guests act like they haven't seen a fight before. Blake gets right to the point, though, asking what he's doing here.
"Diggin' the new outfit by the way, never did like the bow." He completely ignores her question, raising his hand to point at her open ears. Blake slaps his hand away, enraged as she asks if he's been following her. Sun releases a sigh, "I saw you run off, the night Beacon Tower fell." Blake's expression swiftly changes. "Once we landed in Vale you made sure everyone was okay, and then you just took off without saying anything."
Because it would be better for all of you if I just stayed away. No one else could get hurt cause of me.
"I had to, you wouldn't understand."
"No, I get it!" Sun replies, "The moment you left I knew exactly what you were doing." Blake turns to him, showing emotion that seemed almost hopeful.
He does? Blake thought, feeling the slightest amount of relief since starting this episode.
"You're going on a one woman rampage against the White Fang!" Sun exclaims.
What?! And the relief was quickly stomped into the ground.
"What?!" Blake expression rapidly falls as Sun explains.
"You always felt like the Fang was your fight, they show up, trash your school, hurt your friends! It makes perfect sense."
He's not wrong but the reason is the complete opposite.
"Blake, if that was the reason, you could have told us! We could have worked as team to-" "No, that's not what I'm doing." Blake cuts Ruby off, looking at her teammate, feeling slightly ashamed.
"Then what-"
Blake can't believe she's actually hearing him say this. "But there's no way I'm letting you do this alone," Sun goes on.
Ruby voices her grievances with Blake continuing the episode when she's trying to talk about something serious with her.
"It's an honorable approach for sure, but you're gonna need someone watching your back, and that's where I come in! Us Faunus gotta stick together after all."
Blake pushes Sun away, telling him he's wrong. This only makes Sun confused. "I'm not going anywhere near the White Fang, not yet." Now it's Sun's turn to be the one in disbelief.
"Then why are-" Sun began, but Blake did the same thing, resuming the episode. Sun looked back at the girl, wondering what gives. If this is the hint to sit and watch for the moment, then she could have just said so.
"I need to sort some things out."
"Blake, you already told us if something was bothering you we'd go through it together, you don't need to keep your feelings to yourself, we're your friends!" Weiss is looking at Blake, frown evident. They've already gone through this before, multiple times, what makes this any different?
"Then why not do it with your team? Your friends!"
"You're one to talk! Assuming Neptune, Sage, and Scarlet aren't hiding below deck!" Sun found it funny that Neptune would even fathom coming on a ship.
"You I could get Neptune that far out into sea without you noticing?" Sun questions, a light tilt to his voice.
Sun causally sits himself on the railing, informing Blake that he would catch up with his friends when he's done. It wasn't the first time he left his friends behind to take a boat.
"So, if you're not going after the White Fang, where are you going?"
Blake was quiet for a moment before answering. "Home, to Menagerie."
"Well I'm coming with you! The Grimm are getting worse, you saw it yourself and just because you're ot going after the Fang doesn't mean they won't be coming for you. Besides, I'm kinda already on the boat."
"Too late to turn back, so you're stuck with me whether you like it or not!" Sun declares, crossing his arms.
"It clearly appears that I don't have much of a choice in the matter, seeing as you snuck on the boat." Sun nods affirmitavely.
"On a different note, I want to see what I did to get on your dad's bad side. Want to know what not to do when I meet your folks for the first time."
Blake lets out another scoff, "There's really no stopping you."
"Nope!" Sun holds up a positive pose, smiling with two fingers up. "This is gonna be great! Never been to Menagerie before, it'll be a regular journey to the east! Yeah I like the sound of that."
In Salem's Domain, Cinder is gasping as the Queen uses her abilities on Cinder's arm, asking if she can feel it, demanding that she don't fight it. "It can sense your trepidation. You must make it dread you."
The room hated how the tone shifted so drastically, going from something so cheerful to a sinister atmosphere.
The lesson is brought to a halt as a seer comes floating into the hall. It makes its way to Salem, baring its news. "Cinder, I am going to ask you this one more time and I expect a clear answer. Did you kill Ozpin?"
He's still alive?! Were everyone's thoughts, elated at the revelation that Professor Ozpin had still survived. If he is alive, how?
Cinder looks over to Emerald, wanting her to translate, but Salem slams her hands on the table, "NO!" The room freezes. "I want to hear you say it." Cinder struggles, but she manages to get out the word 'yes' ableit extremely strained. "Reinforce our numbers at Beacon, the Relic is there." The seer takes its leave with Mercury and Emerald terrified as it passes the door.
Salem looks down in thought, a finger to her chin. "What are you planning?"
The screen goes blank and credits begin to roll. All the students were still silent as it got to the end.
With the episode now said and done, Ruby returned to looking at her friend. "Blake… What was the reason you ran away? The full reason?"