Raider, who has been quietly watching all these interactions, deems that an intervention desperately needs order. She snatches the remote away from all the other students and gives them all a hard stare. "I've noticed that these past few episodes with a certain individual have been getting a lot of undeserved backlash." She flies down and stands right next to Sun, looking at all of them disapprovingly. "It pains me that I am going to have to be the one to bring up this issue with the both of you."
Raider points a hand directly at Blake, "You are the one who is the most responsible for this problem as you are part of the sole reason this is being brought to light in the first place. Now, you and Sun are going to handle this like adults and talk this out because what I've noticed is that you've all been repeatedly giving him shit for wanting to be a worried friend. The rest of you aren't exempt from this either as you've all done nothing to say anything." The rest of them at least have the nerve to look ashamed as they avoid her gaze. Raider floats to the back of the room, looking at Sun and Blake.
Blake felt an awkward silence befall the room and hesitantly looked over at Sun. Blake let out a sigh, figuring she's done enough talking as it is. Sun takes her overt quietness as his queue to start, "I just feel like all you're doing is yelling and being angry at me without giving me a chance to explain myself. All you see is me wanting to bring only problems with you, but I just want to help! I get some of my actions can come off as interfering with the very thing you're trying to avoid, but it's not your choice to stop me and keep me away from my friends that I want help to protect. The very bottom line is that all I'm doing is that I want to help and be there for you, but you continue to yell at me and give me the cold shoulder for trying."
"I…" Blake stops, realizing this was a lot harder than he made it look. She gives herself a deep breath before going on, "I get where you're coming from–"
"But it doesn't seem like you are! I can tell even on the screen that all you're seeing me as is a distraction! And, if that were the case you wouldn't be needing to be so harsh with me!"
Blake looks down at the ground for a second, trying to come up with a way to piece her words correctly. It was hard as she's never great with them, to begin with. "I see you're point and I'm sorry, Sun, that I've given you such a hard time these past couple of episodes. I see that your heart is in the right place and you want to look after me. I also… I also just want you to see how things look from my end as well. The whole reason my other self ran away is because my friends were because of my past, my choices. I ran because I assumed that it would be better for my friends, so none of them would be hurt by me ever again."
"By doing that, you're thinking you're being selfless, but all that does is isolate yourself and push your friends away from you." Blake felt she was on the verge of tears, but knew at the moment that she was the last person in this conversation that deserved it. "But, hey, doing this helps us realize that we're growing and that we're going to get through this rough patch before any of these events in the show. Watching all of this and reacting shows all of us what we need to work on. And, if you ask me, it seems like communication is a biggy in this scenario."
Blake didn't know what else to say, she gave the rest of what she had a bit ago, so she opted to apologize repeatedly. Not once did she let a tear drop and Sun took notice of it. "Blake, it's okay to cry, you shouldn't have to be holding it in." Sun thinks about the reasons for a moment when it hits him, "Just because you're a bit in the wrong doesn't mean you're not allowed to cry." Sun brings Blake into a hug and softly rubs her back. A prideful person would try and defend themselves, disagree, and say that they're not in the wrong. Right now, Blake isn't prideful, she's vulnerable and takes the words in stride because she knows she's been unfair to Sun and promises to herself, and him, that she'll be better. Finally, Blake lets them out, and they come out in waterfalls.
Sun looks at the rest of his friends who appear regretful. "We're sorry too, Sun, we haven't been the most understanding of friends either," Weiss confesses. The others do the same, bringing a big smile to his face. He gestures for all of them to join in the hug as there's room for many more. The group stays in that tender moment for a while and in the back, Raider observes them all, proud. It's a wonder what talking through your troubles with your friends can accomplish. You're able to open up to all your friends, letting your feelings out, and you form closer connections with all of them.
They all pull apart and situate themselves in their normal seats. Blake's eyes are still red as she says, "I'm sorry, Sun, I know I still have a lot to work but I know I'll try harder to do it."
"You have all of us now, Blake, you don't need to close yourself off from us, remember? You made a promise that you would tell us if something was bothering you. Try not to keep those things bottled up for too long or else it will negatively affect you."
"Huh, whoever thought Sun would be the therapist type," Yang says with a smirk.
"Hey, thanks for forcing us to talk about our problems Raider," Sun exclaims, looking at the back of the room to the floating entity.
"When you say it like that you make it sound awful," Raider says, feeling a tad bit offended.
This has been heartwarming and eye-opening to all of them, but they had to get on with the next episode if they wanted to get home.
(Volume 4 Intro)
Yang spars with her dad while Zwei watches from the sidelines, sitting next to a stool with towels on it.
Yang smiles as she's the first thing in the episode. It's been a while since they've watched something with her. The last they've seen was her walking out of the house with her new prosthetic arm on, holding her hand up to block out the sun. Oh, and of course they couldn't forget about Zwei, either. Their precious boy, it's been so long.
"Aww, why can't we see your dog more often," Weiss pouts, missing the poor greatly, even if she's never officially met him yet. She will await that day patiently when they all return home after all of this.
Tai is knocked by quite a bit after Yang punches him in the arm. "Woah, that thing packs a punch."
"We could imagine. What kind of metal is it made out of?" Yang asks, looking back at Raider. The entity shrugs with a shake of the head. Raider was thinking of saying a sturdy kind, but that would be stupid.
"We've been at this for weeks, I get it, you want to make sure I can still fight. I think I'm doing just fine." She bangs both of her fists together, smirking confidently. Tai tells her she's close, informing her she's off balance, but Yang immediately refutes it.
Yang sighs exasperatedly, "What more does he want me to do? If I've been training for weeks with that thing I should be ready! What else is there?"
"Honestly, I'm kind of surprised, I thought it would be this huge weight but it feels… natural. They did a great job with this thing." Yang's observations are interrupted by Tai throwing a surprise punch at her. Caught off guard, the two are in a hold position as Tai tells her he wasn't referring to her actual balance. In seconds she's on the ground.
"Although, that could use some work too." Tai walks over to Zwei who gives him a towel, wagging his tail.
Blake was the only one who grimaced at the creature as everyone else awed at the dog's adorableness. Blake doesn't think she'll ever warm up to that dog. She wasn't about to say that out loud because then her friends would simply remind her of the Chibi episodes. Particularly, one where she's napping and Zwei initiates unauthorized cuddle time. Blake let it slide as long as he never told the others.
It was needed, they witnessed every. Single. Detail.
Yang let out a breath, asking what he meant. "I saw your tournament fights, during the Vytal Festival?"
"Let me guess, I wAs SlOpPy," Yang mocks, remaining to lay on the ground. Tai corrects that she was predictable, and stubborn, and a little boneheaded.
Yang grunts, "Dad, get to the point, you're clearly going somewhere with this"
"Do you realize you used your semblance to win every fight after the qualifiers?"
"So? What's your point? How is me using my semblance any different than someone using theirs?" Yang talks as if her dad were actually in front of her.
Yang questions how that's any different than someone using their semblance. "Because not everyone else's is basically a temper tantrum."
Yang feels her cheeks go red, looking away from her dad on screen.
"I mean, he's not wrong," Nora mutters to Ren. Yang retaliates by throwing a box at her head. No one wanted to question where the box even came from or how Yang had found it.
"I'm serious! Once you take damage you can dish it back twice as hard, but that doesn't make you invincible. It's great when you're in a bind, but what happens if you miss? What happens if they're stronger? What then, now you're just weak and tired!" Yang looks down as she thinks this over.
Yang does the same, looking over her previous fights.
"You've always been one to burn brighter than everyone else, whether it was with your smile, or…well, I remember your first haircut," Tai jokes, touching Yang's hair. She merely shoves it away with a smile.
Ruby wasn't there, but she could assure herself it probably ended with a lot of fire and scarred customers who were around for that appointment. Thinking about it brings a chuckle out of her before turning into a laugh. "I remember when dad came back he looked so traumatized!"
Yang couldn't stop her laughter as all she could remember was the anger of that poor barber assigned to her, cutting her hair. That visit must have made them turn in their two weeks' notice.
"But you gotta keep your emotions in check, keep a level head, and think before you act. Your semblance is a great fallback, but you can't let yourself rely on it, it won't always save you…obviously."
Ruby and Yang know he was referring to her arm, just as much as he was referring to mom. That good feeling a couple of moments was gone, replaced with something solemn.
"You definitely have your mom's stubbornness," Tai adds. Yang asks so now they can talk about her. "Well, as I have been informed, you're an adult now, remember?" There was a small moment of silence until Yang apologized for reminding him of her. "Don't be. Raven was great in so many ways her strength, her ambition, her dedication to whatever cause she thought was worth fighting for. I'm proud of how much of her I see in you, but I'm glad I don't see all of her in you."
What parts of her are you glad that I don't have? The fact that if I was given a child I wouldn't abandon them? Yang thinks sourly. Or how I don't have a rule that I only save each person she meets a single time?
Yang asks him why. "Your mother was…a complicated woman. Like everybody, she had her faults but those faults are what tore our team apart, and it did a real number on our family. You both act like the easiest way to tackle an obstacle is through it, that strength is all that matters in a fight. But if you just take a second look, then maybe you see there's a way around as well."
Yang takes a few to think this over. She had heard the term brains over brawns, but she found it to sound a bit ridiculous at the time when she heard it, whenever fighting solo. Looking back on it, now that she has a team, there's more to it than she originally thought.
Tai reaches out his hand to Yang, "One more before dinner." Yang takes his hand and the two circle around in a fighting stance. Tai makes the first move, lunging forward. The two soon find themselves in the same situation as before, the only difference is that Yang sweeps him out from under his feet, catching his fall by grabbing onto him. Tai eyes her proudly.
Yang, unfortunately, recalls her fight with Neo. Albeit Neo being small, and she uses that to her advantage incredibly well, Yang would like to add another factor to that loss: Her simply blinding charging. Another example is Yang losing her arm, she let her emotions get the better of her, rushing forward without a fighting plan. All her fighting is basically reckless attacking of whatever is in front of her.
Weiss stands in the middle of her room, practicing her summoning when Whitely makes his presence known. Weiss scoffs and then asks him to leave. "How hurtful, and here I am about to offer you a favor. Father's taking me into town to introduce me to some of his business partners."
I can assure you you're gonna have a bunch of fun with that. Weiss feels bad for Whitely as he doesn't realize the amount of boredom that's in store for him. Though, she is curious as to what this 'Favor' he speaks of.
"I thought I'd see if you wanted me to pick you up anything. Since you're, well, stuck here." Weiss cuts to the point and asks if he's jealous.
"Whatever do you mean?" Whitley wonders.
"Is that why you hate me? Are you jealous of my abilities? Of Winter's?" Weiss clarifies.
He hates you because you left him alone with an alcoholic mother and an abusive father. A voice inside Weiss's head reminds her, making that same regretful feeling bubble up inside her.
Whitley thinks on it for a fake moment, "Hmm, no, not really. Honestly, I find it barbaric, it's beneath people like me, like father. What can a single huntsman do that an army cannot? That's why we have one, even if it is run by a fool."
Weiss couldn't the tightening of her fists upon hearing that. General Ironwoods has only been wanting to do what's best for the people, unlike her father whose only interest is in money and greed.
Weiss, once more, demands Whitley leave. He surrenders and wishes luck with her summon training, calling it pointless. "What is your plan anyway? What do you hope to accomplish while trapped in your own bedroom?" The door is aggressively shut in Whitley's face using a gravity glyph.
There were times when Weiss honestly couldn't stand the interactions between her brother and her.
Weiss sighs in relief and gets back to her training. She looks over at the painting of the Arma Gigas and concentrates. The power she's putting into it makes everything around her tremble and fall. The force of it even shatters her bedroom windows.
Yang and a few others let out encouraging cheers, motivating the Weiss in front of them.
Weiss removes the arm that was shielding her eyes as Klein bursts into the room, asking if she's alright. His words are stopped short at the summoned Arma Gigas.
Weiss couldn't be more proud of herself. She refrains from squealing in delight, but Ruby or her friends don't hone that kind of strength. "Weiss! You did it!" Ruby screams, jumping on top of Weiss, and catching her off guard.
"Ruby!" Yang had to physically pry her sister off her to separate them. "Ruby, don't you know boundaries?!" Ruby would have resembled a puppy wagging its tail for how she looked. She sported a large smile and if she had a tail it would be wagging ecstatically.
Why does she look so cute?! Wait…CUTE?! Weiss questions her own thoughts as Ruby and the others ramble on but she doesn't hear a word, too trapped in her own thoughts about her thoughts.
Weiss tells Klein that she has a favor to ask of him. The look on his face describes that he already knows.
"Jailbreak!" Nora yells, kicking her feet.
Blake and Sun continue to run after the supposed 'Ninja'. Sun claims that he has her while she holds onto a tree but she escapes. Blake yells at him to not let her out of his sight. Blake and Ilia run across the rooftops of Menagerie, keeping pace with one another. She gets rid of her black disguise as the two stop at a pipe barrier.
"Woah! Who is she? You seem to know her, Blake," Jaune asks.
"She was one of my friends from the White Fang, her name is Ilia Amitola, and she's a chameleon Faunus." The skin-changing thing makes total sense to them now.
She whips the pipes, releasing clouds of steam from the breakage. It doesn't phase Blake and demands to know why she's watching her. She doesn't answer and then Sun makes his appearance, ordering her to give up as he's not above hitting a girl. His sentence is cut short when she swings her weapon at him.
Blake jumps into the fight, kicking the scroll, that was once in her hands, away. Sun tackles Ilia and yells for Blake to grab the scroll. Ilia headbuts Sun in the forehead and both the girls go for it. Ilia is taken down again by Sun's clones.
He runs out of energy and the clones fade. Ilia holds her weapon towards Blake as Sun shouts for Blake. Her mask completely breaks, revealing the opposer's whole face. "Ilia," Blake says.
"Wait," Sun gasps, struggling to get back up, "But she doesn't even look like a–" He's cut off by Ilia turning red and yellow, signifying her anger and electrocuting Sun with her whip.
"Sun!" Everyone shouts in unison.
No, no, no, no! This was exactly the thing I was trying so hard to avoid! To keep my past separated from my friends, but now I see it's only come back to bite me.
Blake calls out for Sun while Ilia demands Blake to give the scroll back. When she refuses, Ilia turns green and blue.
The group, besides Blake, was a tad fascinated. Was that her semblance or just her Faunus trait? Is her skin changing colors based on her mood?
Ilia tells Blake that she shouldn't have come back. With a flick of her weapon, she was gone with a cloud of smoke. Blake quickly rushes over to Sun, muttering 'No' and 'Not again'.
The room hated how future Blake was having to relive the moment of her not being able to stop the White Fang from hurting the ones she loves. First Yang and now Sun.
Blake cries out for anybody and desperately tells Sun to hold on as she holds the wound shut with what she has.
Blake begs the people who decided to animate their lives to stop doing this to her friends, to stop leaving them hurt. It dawns on them how sick and twisted the people are, letting others watch their pain and suffering, and for what?! A damn profit?!
Ruby gasps, telling Qrow to hold on as she and Jaune carry him on a stretcher. Qrow mutters to himself about 'Tai' and 'She won't be coming back' before coughing hysterically.
Ruby and Yang didn't need to hear the name to know who Qrow was referring to. Things are bad enough as they are, can't they get a single reprieve or a miracle of some sort?!
Nora thinks they can't be far from a village. Ren doesn't disagree, but by the tone of his voice, it doesn't sound like the village will be of much help. Ren stops as he sees a fork in the road with directions. The cities were Higanabana pointing behind them, Kuchinashi and Mistral were right, and Kuroyuri was left. That last village was crossed out.
Ren and Nora's eyes widen the moment they see the name. The show doesn't plan on taking them there, does it? There's nothing there anymore, it's all deserted so what would even be the point?
Nora happily shouts to Ren that they're on the right track to Mistral, but then stops to take a second glance at the directions.
Their friends look behind them to find Ren and Nora quietly staring at the screen with a forlorn look in their eyes. Does one of those towns mean anything to them? They turn back around.
Ruby asks if it says how close Mistral is. "No, and it looks like the path takes us up through the mountains."
"Uncle Qrow would never be able to survive that journey in his condition!" Ruby wails.
Jaune and Ruby set Qrow down. "Guys, I don't think all of us can make that climb." Ruby becomes panicked after hearing this, rushing over to Ren and Nora.
"Okay, well, what about this place? Can we get help there?" Ruby says hurriedly, pointing to Kuroyuri.
Ren clenches his fist, telling Ruby that that village was destroyed years ago. "Buf if it takes us around the mountains, it's the best bet we got," Jaune adds. Ren shouts that it would take too long.
"Well, come up with something then because our uncle is just setting duck the longer poison spreads into his body!" Yang screams, barely able to keep her voice from breaking. This was how they lost that man at the very beginning, they were indecisive and questioned each other on what to do.
"The town would have had a doctor, right? Maybe we can scavenge for medicine!" Ruby attempts, but Ren stands firm that they're not going to find anything.
"You don't know that! There could be something there if it's been a long time!" Ruby shouts, looking back at her friend. Ren was about to refute but stopped dead when he saw just how desperate she was, to the point of looking hysterical.
Jaune is so confused about why he acting this way, but Nora interrupts him, "We can split up. Ren and I can cut through the mountains while you and Ruby take Qrow around through the village." Jaune doesn't agree with the idea, opting for all of them to stay together as they keep each other safe.
"We don't have time for safe! If we make it Mistral, we'll bring back help, if we don't we'll at least have better view of the land, up there we can see if there's somewhere else we can go," Nora tries to reason.
Why are both of them so adamant about avoiding Kuroyuri?
For a single moment, as Ren looked at Nora, it was like they were communicating silently with one another. Their argument was broken by Qrow's coughing. Jaune realized that there was no other choice and agreed, hugging Ren and them to take care of each other.
Jaune felt queasy. The last time he parted with one of his teammates, his partner, she ran off to fight an impossible battle she knew she couldn't win and got herself killed. Jaune wouldn't be able to bear the same thing happening to his other friends.
Nora states that they always have. Ruby and Jaune pick up Qrow, looking over at their friends and then parting ways. Ren and Nora rush off on the other path. Ruby tries to comfort Jaune, telling him that they're going to be okay. He isn't reassured, "You don't know that."
On the path, Jaune steps on Ruby's bootprint. It expands to reveal a giant hoofmark.
Nora and Ren stare at the screen in horror, wishing to any Gods that it's been a long time since that mark has been there. Praying that it has. Those two had basically just sent their friends to a death sentence.
All Ren's emotions come bubbly up at once into a single scream, "NO!"