Title: I Am Nothing Without You

Song Prompt: With Me by Sum 41

Genre: Friendship/Drama/Angst/One-shot

Characters: Blake, Yang, Adam, Ruby, Weiss

Pairing: Bumblebee, White Rose

Synopsis: After a year and several months at Beacon, a mission goes awry, and the team finds themselves captured in unknown territories. In hopes of escaping, Blake is forced to face the man from her past, whose very being has come to symbolize her worst mistakes, her unending fears, and her ever-present doubts.

"Thoughts read, unspoken, forever in vow.
And pieces of memories fall to the ground.
I know what I didn't have, so I won't let this go.
'Cause it's true, I am nothing without you.

All the streets, where I walked alone,
with nowhere to go, have come to an end.

I want you to know
with everything, I won't let this go.
These words are my heart and soul.
I'll hold on to this moment, you know.
As I bleed my heart out to show.
And I won't let go."

Dreadful fear filled at her bones. A thick clot formed in the middle of her throat as her body refused to let her breathe. Her senses, heightened with mortal peril, took over her. Clouding her judgment, all she perceived for a moment was the unpleasant, musty scent of blood, mixed with ash and gunpowder. It was all too familiar.

"Blake," a deep voice resonated from behind.

She froze at her name. The only response she gave was an ever slight twitch from her black bow.

A shiver moved down her spine, but Blake didn't think it had anything to do with the man's sword, pressing against the back of her head. No, it was the way he had said her name. Neutral, perhaps, to those who were confined in the room. But not to Blake. She had always been good at reading his mood. His, and perhaps nobody else's. It was almost wistful to her ears.

"Adam..." Her mouth opened slowly to speak. The word felt wrong as it rolled off of her tongue. It was rusty like it had dulled over the past year.

"It's been too long." The nostalgic gloom in his voice was evident now, and it was all it took for the dam inside to break. A flood of emotions coursed through, all of her guilt and pain rushing back inside her.

She had made the right decision by leaving. She knew that. Yet the certainty of her actions had always been questioned when she thought of him. His hand outstretched towards her. In vain, but still a feeble attempt to ask her to stay. A sense of betrayal manifested in the way he stood. His arms fell to his side, lifelessly, as he watched the distance grow between them. Blake knew he had the power to chase her down if he truly wanted to. But he had allowed for her to slip away from him unnoticed. He had given her the opportunity, to sever the ties that bonded them. Deep down, he must have understood too, that they could no longer be together in this bloody revolution he had started.

And so she took it. With a heavy heart, in a swift but painful motion, she had detached the caboose. Unlike the train that left, that forlorn look on his face was etched into her memories forever.

It was for this very reason that Blake chose not to dwell on the past.

But running away was no longer an option for her.

She quickly assessed her surroundings, searching for an escape plan that never came to mind. They were trapped in a small chamber. She had woken up to her teammates, handcuffed and gagged in front of her. Ruby was leaning against the wall, her eyelids shut. Yang and Weiss were slanted against each other, conscious, though both not free to move or talk.

Her only option would be to face him. Blake looked up into the worried eyes of her partner. The fire in Yang's eyes seemed to be speaking to her silently: "Be careful." Blake didn't say anything in reply. It would be wrong to make a promise she wouldn't be able to keep.

It took all her willpower to turn around and face the man whom she had deserted. Amber eyes gazed up to the white Grimm mask, staring down at her in passivity.

"It has," Blake said simply, knowing well that speaking too much would give away her disguise.

Adam's lips were pressed together, forming a thin line. Slowly, the blade of his weapon retracted, back into its sheath.

She moved her eyes away from his sword and warily began to observe his face. The mask, trailing down from his forehead to his nose, effectively hid any sort of emotions he may be feeling at the time. The slits of his mask were too dark to discover anything lurking underneath.

Blake knew that look too well. After all, she used it regularly herself. Her own mask, carefully emptied of all emotions, was taught by the very man before her; a weakness they knew better than to flaunt. It was something she learned from experience, from her childhood protests to her violent adolescence. Even when she could salvage peace, it was hard to break old habits.

If Adam had not spoken before, Blake could have easily mistaken him for a corpse. But cracks were already beginning to surface. The calm manner of his stance slowly shifted as the period of silence grew longer. Blake waited patiently, watching as he stole a few glances at the others. Finally, his rage began to break through.

"How could you, Blake?" Adam growled, the anger quick to rise inside him. "You deserted us. You left everything behind. And for what? To associate yourself with...with these humans?"

He gestured towards Yang and the others in outright disgust. His eyes lingered on Weiss more so than the others, and the heiress, though injured, refused to break under his vindictive glare.

"Humans," he continued to snarl, hostility clear upon his face. "Associating yourself with them is a treacherous act to our kind! And not just with any human! You are identifying with a Schnee."

Weiss stiffened in response. She knew it would be brought up sooner or later. When Adam peered down at her, his eyes gleamed in nothing but bloodthirst. Of course, she tried her best to look as unfazed as possible. Her family's notorious reputation followed her around like a shadow. She was taught, almost as a second instinct, to detest and mistrust the Faunus. A part of her saw the injustice behind her father's company.

But the loss of a normal childhood pulled her back from ever properly socializing with a Faunus. In truth, Blake was the first Faunus she had ever "befriended" in her life.

Although the two had warmed up to each other considerably during their first year at Beacon, their relationship had always been more careful than others. Restrained, and at times, solely diplomatic. Before Weiss had found out about Blake's past, and her cat ears, she was clueless as to why the girl was habitually reserved towards her. Once the secret was out, every withdrawn gesture, alert glares, and wary glances were explained. And at first, paranoia grabbed Weiss by the hand, clouding any rational judgment. It took several hours of searching for the runaway Faunus before Weiss forced herself to listen to reason, and to at least give the enigmatic girl the benefit of her doubt. She tried, with eyes not spoiled by suspicion, and noticed.

It became clear to her that each distant motion hadn't been just for her but for everyone else as well. And she could see it now: that desperation, proven through the need to wear a little black bow, whether it be night or day. Weiss understood, for once in her life, that she wasn't the only victim of the war. And with that came guilt and more empathy than Weiss ever imagined she could have towards a Faunus.

"They're my friends," Blake stated adamantly, snapping the heiress out of her thoughts. "Weiss is my friend. She isn't responsible for what her father's company has done to our kind."

Blake took a second to steal a glance towards Weiss, giving her a look of convincing verification. Yang felt a small shudder to her right, watching Weiss visibly relax at her partner's words.

The moment was cut short as Adam let out yet another aggravated growl.

"Why did you leave, Blake?" His rage diverted himself to a different, yet crucial, topic. "Why would you leave me?"

"I had to," Blake replied quietly. "The White Fang was turning to unnecessary bloodshed. You were turning the White Fang towards violence and vengeance-"

"Unnecessary bloodshed?" Adam echoed her words, sounding thunderstruck. "Blake, humanity deserves it after the years of servitude we had to endure."

"No, Adam. You're wrong." Blake glared up at him with determination. "Spilling more blood won't end a century-old war. That's never the solution."

"It's the only solution!" Adam began to shout. "The old leader of the White Fang was foolish enough to think that equality could be achieved through peace and unity. Faunus and humans will never get along! The only way we can get what we want is through force!"

"It can be achieved!" She pressed, albeit more unsteadily than her prior answers. "We just need to try harder!"

"You're still a youthful optimist, Blake. You always have been." A hollow laughter escaped from Adam's lips, scoffing at the naiveté of his former partner. "When are you going to stop living inside a fairy tale?"

Blake cringed, the unexpected truth of his words jabbing at her like daggers.

"You know better than to hope that your dreams will ever come true." He paused. "But I can make it happen," he said as he took a bold step towards her, his chest rising with false pride and confidence. "The White Fang has already made so much progress-"

"Progress?" Blake repeated, sounding incredulous. With equal exertion in her steps, she fiercely walked forward, closing the gap between them to barely a meter. Her prior resolution to keep this conversation calm and civil flew out of the window. "What progress? You're only strengthening the image of the Faunus being mindless, bloodthirsty terrorists! Humanity hasn't granted us more equality out of love or respect, Adam. It has been granted to us out of fear! Equality established through terror will never last!"

"At least I've been inspiring change amongst our people!" Adam stopped her, grabbing both her arms as he advanced. Amber eyes widened at the accusation, and Blake took a step backward in instinctive fear. "What have you been doing since you left the White Fang?"

"I..." But words failed Blake, as her mind drew a complete blank. The sickening sense of guilt held her heart once more, latching on like a parasite.

"What is it that you really do? You hide yourself among humans. You've become a slave! A traitor!" Adam swung her around with force. "You dream of a future where humans and Faunus can get along? But how do you plan to do that when you don't even believe it yourself! You are nothing but a lying hypocrite."

"I am not a hypocrite!" Blake denied as she pulled herself up. But the trembling doubt in her voice betrayed her, exposing her wounds for the beast's final attack. The back of her feet thumped against the wall.

"Then why do you still wear that bow?"

The boiling rant grew to its climax and fizzled out with an uneasy silence.

Adam had stopped in his tracks, his angry breaths slowly becoming more level.

Muffled grunts filled the air as Yang twisted and turned on the ground. She pulled vigorously at the handcuffs on her hands, desperately wishing to reach her partner, to comfort her, and equally wanting to punch the life out of the man in front of her. With her head lowered, Blake's face was unreadable, eyes shadowing out the world. But her bow was drooping towards the floor – a sign of deep hurt that Yang had only recently begun to recognize.

"I know you, Blake. Better than anyone," Adam whispered, the volume of his words mirroring the stillness of the room. "You never took that thing off, even as an operative in the White Fang. You've always been afraid. And that fact still hasn't changed."

The temperature in the room rose by several degrees. Weiss shifted nervously, trying to make contact with Yang to calm her down. But all efforts to soothe the blonde normally ended with disastrous and unsuccessful results. Desperate, Weiss looked behind her, moving her neck in an uncomfortable angle. Ruby, one of the few who could effectively calm Yang, was still lying unconscious against the wall.

Blake couldn't find anything to say. She couldn't even will herself to look up, to face Adam's anger. She couldn't dare look at Yang, who was undoubtedly staring at her and Adam in a fit of mixed rage and concern. She was afraid to stare into Yang's eyes, and see that undying love and support her partner always selflessly offered. Because this time, she would see nothing else but her own cowardice being reflected back. No, her eyes remained fixed on the floor, grounded down by the weight of Adam's words.

"You're just a stray, waiting for something to come around and find you, to accept you for who you are. But did you think that hiding behind a bow, training to become a huntress, would erase who you are? Do you really think that if they knew what you've done in the past, they would accept you as a true friend?" Adam hissed. His hands moved up in the air and pulled at the edges of her bow. In one quick motion, her ears were granted freedom from their binds.

"They aren't your friends, Blake." There was a short pause before Adam continued. "They may have you thinking you're allies, maybe even teammates. But that's because they need you for now. They are using you for your skills and knowledge of the White Fang operations."

A nervous whimper escaped from Weiss as she slid away from Yang. The blonde had become fiery enough to burn.

The heiress pushed herself with her tied legs, trying to etch closer to the back wall. Ruby looked to be out, though there were no visible injuries. Weiss tugged at her partner's sleeve, her cuffed hands struggling uncomfortably behind her back. A few shakes, but nothing. Though disheartened, Weiss refused to stop, pulling harder with every turn, until she finally heard that small familiar grunt. Ruby's eyes slowly opened, meeting Weiss's stare of icy blue.

"Weiss?" Ruby tried to say, but it came out as nothing more than an incomprehensible groan through the tape over her mouth.

Weiss simply shook her head, motioning towards Yang and the pair standing several meters away from them.

Adam gently grazed his fingers over Blake's ears. Sensitive as they were, they shivered under his touch.

"Once this is over, they will turn their backs on you. Just like everybody else you know," Adam said. His words were a pulled hand grenade. It landed in the middle of the room, waiting seconds before a detonation.

Even with the few feet of distance, Weiss could feel the heat. Yang was smoldering, steam rising from her head and her hair. Ruby scuffled on the floor. Even with little knowledge of the situation, she sensed the gravity of the situation. She knew that nothing ended well when her older sister was pushed this far over the edge. Ruby saw the handcuffs around her sister, glowing in bright red. They looked different. The edges were morphing steadily. They were melting.

Adam drew closer to Blake's face; the pair, oblivious to the scene unfolding behind them.

"Except me. I have always been there for you," Adam whispered in a gentle undertone. His right hand traveled downwards, and this time softly touched Blake's chin. With little effort, he lifted her face.

Her eyes had dulled, Yang noticed. It was clouded by some inscrutable emotion, creating an unsettling look of the dead.

The binds around her wrists broke away like toothpicks.

"Come back to the White Fang, Blake. This is where you truly belong."

And then, the flame went berserk.

The degree of the blaze caught Adam by surprise, but he managed to dodge the large cannon of fire charging towards him. The fiery fist smashed into the wall instead, leaving a deep large dent. Blake dropped to the floor, narrowly missing the hit. Her figure stayed crumpled there, legs not moving and her head bent downwards.

But Yang wasn't looking at her partner anymore. Her hand retracted from the wall, harshly ripping off the tape over her mouth.

"Take that back."

She went for another deafening tackle as Adam moved out of the way. Yang swung around quickly to her side, abruptly catching him in the stomach with her loaded punch. He was sent flying, smashing across the chamber wall, and before he could even register his injuries, strong fingers grasped his neck in a deadly grip.

"You take that back right now!" Yang roared in absolute fury, smashing a punch directly across the man's face this time.

Adam frowned at the taste of blood in his mouth. His lips curled in distaste. Perhaps he had underestimated the power of this particular human.

With the flash of an eye, his sword shot out of the barrel of its sheath. The back handle of the blade smashed against the blonde, who managed to block the hit just in time with her gauntlets. Taking this opportunity, Adam grabbed the hilt of his weapon in the air and lashed out with dangerous speed. Yang crashed headfirst into the wall, falling to the ground with a loud thud. She pulled herself up with shaky hands and looked down at the front of her attire. A large slash mark was present on her jacket. A thin, long line of red trailed underneath the tear. Even with her aura to protect her, Adam's attack had been powerable enough to cut through.

Adam swished forward, his slashes becoming blurs of red and black. With little time to recover, Yang found herself on the defense – Ember Cecilia, being rendered useless as speed overwhelmed her.

A gasp of pain escaped Yang's lips, as her gauntlets failed to block a harsh hit. Her body flung backward again, landing a short distance away from Ruby. The blood now clearly visible on her sister's torso, Ruby felt the panic rise inside her.

Urgency grew inside Weiss as well. She tore her eyes away from the blonde and looked around the room for answers. Her eyes widened as she found that her and Ruby's weapon were settled against the wall in the corner of the room, just a couple of feet away from her left. Adam was distracted, but Yang wouldn't hold for much longer. Weiss dropped to her sides and began to crawl, but with caution. She would have to be fast.

"Blake belongs with us," Yang growled. It took much more effort to get back on her feet, but she forced her aching body to take another battle stance. Adam scoffed in response, and with that, power returned to her veins.

"She is our friend!" Yang ducked under his next attack and threw her fists in front of him, landing a short uppercut across his left cheek.

"Our teammate!" A jab to the right shoulder.

"My partner!" A fast launch to the other shoulder.

"She is...my everything!" Words spilled out of her before she could stop them. A final pound to the chest and Adam was forced to fall behind, creating an appropriate distance between him and the blonde. He could feel throbbing aches across his body, blackening and discoloring.

"So don't you dare tell her otherwise!" Yang shouted viciously, an air of finality carried in her last words. A full-blown silence greeted her. Adam simply stared at her with an unreadable expression. Weiss stopped moving too, watching the man carefully before eyeing Myrtenaster, which was just inches away from her now. Another push and she would be able to knock it down and grab the rapier by its handle.

"I can see now that you're the one who poisoned Blake's mind." Adam scowled. "I'll cut you down and take her back by force if I have to."

Yang stormed onward in reply, fists raised, ready to strike. Simultaneously, Weiss lunged forward, and her rapier clanked as it fell onto the floor. Her neck felt strained as she tried to look at her weapon over her shoulders. Her fingers carefully reached down and slipped it underneath her fingers. A whirling mechanic sound was heard as the dust chamber revolved into action.

Movement hadn't been a shared activity in the room. Ruby's eyes were fixed, in horror, on her older sister. And for the last minute or so, Blake had been stuck in a debilitating trance. Staring down at the empty ground, eyes blinking listlessly, she simmered in self-loathing and disgust. Adam's words ricocheted inside her, affecting her more so than she would admit to anyone. She hated how vulnerable he made her feel. As if she were a child again, crying in some dingy corner of an alleyway. A frail eight-year-old, kneeling down in wet dirt, clinging onto a poorly-made picket sign where the ink had been wiped away by rain and tears. She was weak. She was alone.

Then, she began to hear the roars of thunderous screams. Her ears flattened at the volume. She caught the words "friend" and "partner," not realizing that Yang had been saying the words in association to her, until the point where she heard the groundbreaking declaration that she, Blake Belladonna, was in fact, everything to Yang Xiao Long.

At those words, Blake couldn't help but gaze up. Amber eyes found the source of her liberating voice.

Yang had looked better. The front of her clothes was glazed with blood. The smell of singed clothing stung her nose. But the mass of Yang's hair continued to shine gold, glowing in the lightest tone of yellow Blake had ever seen in her life.

Of course, the expression on Yang's face interrupted any further admiration on Blake's part.

To say that Yang appeared furious would be a major understatement. Red eyes indicated that solely anger was fueling Yang forward, keeping her blind to the fact that Adam had long since put away his weapon into its barrel. His hand persisted, however, keeping a firm grip on the hilt of his sword. And Blake knew exactly why.

He was buying time, waiting for the perfect chance to strike.

Yang was too distracted to observe the details. But Blake saw it. Between the blurs Adam left behind, as he smoothly avoided the blonde's attacks, she saw it: a chilling smirk.

With a piercing cry, Yang heaved all the energy she accumulated into one last punch. Adam's feet rooted themselves to the ground, for the first time since the fight began. His shoulders hunched as he braced himself. A short glimmer and he had started to pull out his sword. Blake opened her mouth to warn, but she was too late. Incontrovertibly, Yang's fist made contact with the side of Adam's blade. An explosive sound erupted in the room as energy clashed with an unannounced steel surface. His blade withdrew, power resonating in its vessel.

The pattern on Adam's robes turned red. The fringes of his hair were quick to mirror the act. Yang took a step back in severe confusion, lowering her guard for just a brief second. But a second was all that Adam ever needed.

A burst of red light shot out of Adam's sheath. Yang held up her arms in defense, mustering as much aura as she can to hold up the attack. But during the short period of panic and fear, she saw the man grimace. His fingers stiffened for a slight moment. The angle of Adam's blade twisted in an odd fashion and Yang felt the wind whip past her left ear as the fatal attack missed her by an inch.

Relief was cut short as Yang tilted her head and saw a scene that made her blood curl. Adam's aim had been off, very off.

Time seemed to slow as she watched. The streak of red descended towards the place of its new soon-to-be victim, the spot where Ruby Rose presently lay.

"Ruby!" The violet color returned to Yang's eyes, staring at her sister in utmost terror. Her words were defeated and drowned by a deafening explosion. Yang was forced to close her eyes as dust and wind surged outwards from the position where her little sister once was.

A blank silence followed afterward. Yang swung her arms violently in the air, scattering the clouds away and squinting her eyes to identify any signs of life. To her immense relief, she could make out two figures in the haze.

Weiss stood in the midst of the now rescinding frenzy, breathing heavily and coughing. Her white hair and pristine clothing acquired a coat of metallic dust. Other than that, she looked perfectly fine, and so did the girl she carried in her arms. Ruby, who was cuddled up in Weiss's embrace, simply stared up at the heiress, completely dumbfounded by what had just happened. Her left hand was gripping onto Myrtenaster, the blade of which was still holding a red-heated glow.

The wall, unfortunately, did not survive Adam's attack. Taking a direct hit, it had disintegrated into the air. The large opening in the chamber revealed a huge clearing, a cavern, where containers of stolen dust were stacked neatly in piles. Weiss speculated that they were being held captive in some underground lair of the White Fang.

Ruby struggled, and understanding the girl's long endured discomfort, Weiss set her down, slashed the cuffs away, and removed her gag.

Their leader burst out a loud gasp and breathed in a mouthful of fresh air. In a flash, she hugged Weiss, who reluctantly accepted the gesture, before meeting her sister's relieved expression. Though Ruby's grin was short-lived, notwithstanding as she looked at the sight beyond her sister's shoulders.

Yang followed Ruby's stare, to the man in the Grimm mask.

She saw Adam, in the exact same spot he last stood. But his stance was stiff and rigid. The tension of his body was matched by an awfully pale, pained countenance. With a low groan, he stumbled forward, almost kneeling down on the floor, his weapon now being used to support the weight of his upper body. Blake stood directly behind him, the blade of Gambol Shroud still held tightly in her hand.

"I always knew you had it in you," Adam smiled despite himself. "To play a part in this war of ours."

Blake's face hardened at his words.

She had chosen to pick up her sword. Violence would be her last resort, but Adam had, once again, forced it out of her. She had to, Blake reasoned, when she saw Yang on the other side. For the fear of losing Yang outweighed any other doubts and fears in her life, enough to cast aside her insecurities for once and focus on an affair that actually mattered.

"So... This is the side you've chosen?" Adam asked as he slowly stood, keeping his eyes on the floor.

Blake wasn't looking at Adam either. She faced her team, one by one. Ruby was looking at her with an unnaturally mature expression she occasionally wore. It wasn't the one she was familiar with though, which was Ruby's customary assertion of confidence and leadership before charging, headfirst, into battle. This one was much softer. It was support for her teammate, pure and untainted.

Weiss's face, unlike her excessively expressive partner, lacked any notable qualities of emotion as usual. But months of working together as a team was enough for Blake to read the little signs. The way the heiress's mouth curved downwards in unease. The way her eyebrow twitched slightly in anxiety. Most of all, Blake knew that the frigid stare, which wrongfully landed Weiss with the nickname of Ice Queen, carried so much more beneath its shallow surface.

For now, Blake knew for certain that what she caught inside was a rather complicated form of reassurance. The kind that seemed to stubbornly state: "I trust that you will make the right decision. But even if you don't make the right decision, I will chase you down to the ends of this kingdom and make sure you make the right decision. Don't you think for one second that I am giving up on you, Blake Belladonna!"

It wasn't gentle. It wasn't kind. It was Weiss. Hard on the outside but a caring heart within.

Blake's insides squirmed. She couldn't ignore her partner any longer. Her eyes trailed away from Weiss, before locking them securely onto Yang. There were no signs of anger left there anymore. Lilac eyes stared intently at her, in nothing but genuine worry. Blake looked at her partner with mild amusement.

Yang was undoubtedly an opened book. She had proven it so, countless times. On the day they first met, the blonde's awkwardly nervous banter had been strong enough to make Blake cringe in discomfort. At the Emerald Forest, during their initiation, Yang had been like an excited child, eagerly awaiting adventure at every turn.

Normally, Blake loved enigmas, plot-lines so thick and difficult that she had to give multiple reads to decipher. She didn't enjoy predictable stories, novels that used the typical archetypes and recycled character tropes. But there was something alluring about knowing as well – knowing that certain things would always remain there, waiting for her no matter what.

With Yang, Blake always had both.

Not a dull moment was present with the blonde. Everything was filled with movement and vitality.

She was unpredictable but reliable.

If she fell, Yang would always catch her, even if it meant they would go down together. If she were upset, she could count on Yang to crush the troubles out of her with her well-meaning, but life-threatening, hug. If she were lonely, Yang would be there for her, bringing either comfortable silence or nonstop chatter. Granted, it was usually the latter.

It soothed her spirit, the strength of Yang's presence in her life. All queries and quandaries left her body.

"It is." Blake couldn't believe she had let Adam doubt her partner even for a second. With the team, she would never be lonely again. She had found friends. They were her family by choice.

"...And you won't regret it?" Adam prodded on, his voice unchanging in pitch and without intonation.

Blake shared another glance with her friends, each one of them grinning at her soundlessly.

"I won't," Blake answered with unwavering certainty. Adam said nothing in return, his back still turned against her. There was an unspoken agreement between the two, something that they had known, but chosen to ignore since the revolution began. He sheathed his weapon, his body blurring into the shadows once more.

With a gust of wind, he was gone.

"Well..." Yang started, scratching the back of her head. "That was a thing."

"It sure was..." Blake replied back in good humor before her lips curved into an apologetic frown. "Yang... Ruby, Weiss... I'm sorry that-"

"Ah, come on." Yang hushed her with the wave of her hand. "Don't start doing that."

Her partner was wearing a playful smile, but her eyes continued to stay on Blake with an earnest gleam. "All I need to hear is that... You know that everything I said is true."

Blake grinned. "I do."

"Great! Because that's all we need to hear too!" Ruby bounded upwards. With the showering effect of rose petals, she was gone and back again, this time with Crescent Rose safely in her arms. Weiss rolled her eyes at their leader, who was practically cradling the scythe like a baby.

"We better get out of here," Blake said as she worried about her partner's injuries. "Yang, you need to get those wounds treated."

"Oh, I'm fine," Yang said in a frisky manner. "I've had worse."

"Good, because it looks like we've got some company," Weiss remarked as she pointed towards a group of armed soldiers. Several members of the White Fang were gathering around the chamber, approaching towards them in a menacing line.

Ruby gave Weiss and her teammates a short nod. "Let's do this."

Crescent Rose swished lively into the air. The whirling sound of Myrtenaster joined in. With new ammunition, Ember Cecilia came back to life.

The four bounded out of the chamber, standing side-by-side: Red, White, Black, and Yellow.

Blake took her usual place behind Yang's shadow. Gambol Shroud, now unsheathed and ready to fight.

The cat pounced into action; her black ribbon laid forgotten in the remains of the room.