Blake never expected it to be simple.

One does not simply walk away from the most powerful terrorist organisation on Remnant, even if that was almost what she'd hoped. Being raised by what was now a standing army in its own right granted Blake insight, but not immunity. The White Fang, Adam, her former fellow soldiers, they would not simply let the cat Faunus slink away into anonymity.

'But would a single day letting up be too much to ask!?' Blake wondered as she tried to ignore the beating of waves against the ships grey-steel hull. Gambol Shroud rested on her back, just barely avoiding scraping against the corner she'd hidden away in. Surrounding the dark haired Faunus on all sides were red and blue shipping crates, each one marked by the runic white glyph of the Schnee family. Blake was growing to hate that symbol in a manifold of ways she'd never imagined before. They surrounded her every time she woke and went to sleep. They were everywhere Blake looked as she snuck about the massive transport ship, stealing food and water only to run back and hide in the tiny refuge she'd made for herself in the ships bowels. Her surroundings were a reminder of everything she'd fought against and all those she'd left behind.

"Hmm," Blake hummed, bringing her left arm up before her eyes and clasping her hand in quick harsh snaps, calloused finger tips bouncing off course skin. 'It took a few days but I think I'm back at one hundred percent,' Blake mused. Sighing, she closed her eyes and tried to stretch, not an easy task given the square foot or so of space she'd been able to make for herself.

'That girl... she was human, definitely,' Blake thought, thinking back to the one who'd left her arm torn to shreds by unseen chains, and crawling for the nearest escape in the first place. 'Green hair, red eyes, chain pistols, tan, and human, very, very human.' Blake had not had an easy time of it since abandoning Adam in the woods but that girls attack had been the worst of it. Blake had a multitude of plans and ideas for escaping the White Fang but each one only ever half made and poorly thought out at best. She'd memorised maps, but made no plans for where to go. She knew contacts in the cities, but could not guarantee their safety or willingness to help her. She knew how to get to Beacon, but had no idea if she'd even be allowed in.

And of course her pursuers hadn't made it easy. She may not have seen Adam but his familiarity with her followed the lesser White Fang soldiers who'd harried her through forests and pursued her in cement jungle cities like a stench. 'Tire me out, hem me into a wide open space and leave me no where to run,' Blake mused. It had been clever, and it would have worked in theory, except she'd be capable of fighting her way past the average White Fang soldiers so their efforts had only slowed her down. Escaping them would have been easy with no high ranking members present, but then the girl had appeared, bullets and chains raining from the sky. 'Was she a mercenary or someone else?I can't imagine they'd so casually employee a human, it makes no sense and yet...'

Blake closed her eyes and sucked in a breath. 'It does't matter now, I got away and once I'm at Beacon they won't be able to touch me. From there I can... I can...' For all her ambitious plans and fragmented dreams of a future without the violence of the White Fang or the prejudice and exploitation that made their existence so natural Blake still could not say how she planned to do anything about it all.

In a vein effort to distract herself Blake pulled out her beaten, and stolen, grey Scroll and flicked it open. The holographic screen flashed to life with and she scanned the shipping schedule, 'Wait... No that can't be right, we're late!?' Blake thought. 'We should have arrived by now, the ship was scheduled to land while it was still dark but we've barely moved! Why haven't they started unloading the stock?'

Blake's ears twitched beneath her bow and lacking better choices she flicked her Scroll shut and pulled her her two black cat ears free from their confines and momentarily allowed them to stretch and flex atop her head. Sliding forward Blake rested her palms against the cold steel ridges of the Schnee Dust crated and kneeled on the floor, the vibrations of the sea tickling her senses as Blake pressed one eye up against a strategically placed crack in her crate-fort. Only to be nearly blinding by a stinging flash of gold as light flooded the massive crate filled chamber. Skirting around her few spy holes Blake saw each stair-way entrances filled by what looked like half a dozen armoured guards with more filtering in behind them.

Drifting through the air snippets of hushed conversations brushed her ears, "Keep together, eyes wide, we can't let her take us by surprise. Especially not with all this Dust around," the voice emphasised as Blake began to shake.

'They know? How!? I didn't, I-' the blocks fell into place in Blake's mind with a dreadful finality as her expression dropped from wide eyed disbelief to gaping disappointment, her entire frame went limp as she let out a hushed gag and slid to her knees. 'Of course they wouldn't just let me go! If they can't catch me they'll just out me as a White Fang and let the police do their work for them!' It was absurd, the amount she could tell the police, a Hunter, anyone, was too much to risk them catching her over and yet they did it!?

A faint tremor was Blake's only warning, a subtle little vibration running through the floor that was just a bit too firm and steady to be someone passing by. That was all the warning she got before the shipping container in front of her screeched as it was pulled back in a violent blur.

Acting on instinct Blake jumped up, leaving an after-image behind her that exploded under her as someone's fist tore through it. A loud toll rang throughout the ship as it obliterated her copy and struck the floor. Blake slammed into the container above her and launched herself off, dodging the next metal tearing blow, hitting the wall she gasped as dozens of taser bolts soared towards her. "Rrr!" Blake threw an image barely centimes in front of her to take the tazer-bolts and leapt in front of the trench coat wearing Hunter who'd first attacked her.

He was a giant, thrice her width and twice her height, the red headed square faced hunter held a blue shipping crate above them with one metal gloved hand as he brought his right down as if to slap her. The massive gauntlets around his fist surging with Dust and the blistering yellow light of his Aura.

Blake launched herself up at her foe, intent on sneaking over the giants shoulder and passed her other pursuers. He was faster though, even as his hand found empty air his head shot forward and met Blake's with a violent crack that sent her crashing into the floor with a cry, "Ah!" His foot was buried in her stomach next and Blake was hurled into the wall with a clang. Even as the world around blurred and shook from the dizzying strikes Blake used a flurry of hysterical flailing to subtly slipped an Freeze-Crystal from her back pocket. He closed in on her with a single thudding step. A glowing palm strike flew towards her chest and Blake knew the mighty seismic vibrations would tear her insides apart if she let it hit! Blake flicked a hidden release on Gambol Shroud and unleashed her cache of Burn-Dust into the air. Blake threw herself below the strike, pure speed and fear driving her down as she left behind Ice and Fire Dust pumped full of her Aura to meet her attackers similarly Aura infused strike.

Blake's ear shook at the sound of ice crackling and snapping as it mingled with what sounded like the first spark of a fire sprung to life above her. In an instant Blake was lost in an explosion of mist as her attacker bellowed, "What!?" More shots were fired as Blake blurred passed the Hunter, she weathered the tazer shots and jumped into the air, soaring over the police and landing atop a pile of shipping crates in the centre of the room with a clang.

"Fire! Shoot to kill!" Someone bellowed, even though the hull was already lit up by a cacophony of gun fire. Already running, Blake sped passed her would be killers, deflecting any shot she could with her black sheath in one hand and katana in the other.

"Damn you!" The Hunter bellowed from below as he hurled the Dust crate into the air and right at Blake's head.

Blake fell into a roll, sliding across the Schnee Shipping containers as one of their brethren flew overhead, air-waves wafting across her skin. Blake dragged Gambol Shroud's blade along the containers base, letting Dust crystals and powder fall atop her. Slipping her hands around a few Red Dust Crystals Blake ignored the shaking that signified the Hunter was now atop the crates with her. Instead of turning to fight him Blake slashed her blade over the ice blue Dust beneath her and let her Aura flow through it, accompanied by the taint of red fire she buried the ship in mist once again.

Not wasting a second Blake spun around, she threw her right arm back, shoulder tensing she dragged Gambol Shroud's blade behind her as she charged. She forced Aura through the blade's frame, building up the pressure until it felt like it would explode in her hand hand. Swinging Gambol Shroud's glowing purple sword forward, Blake unleashed a blade of curved energy into the ships hull that tore through it with a thunder-clap! Leaping out of her attackers grasp by mere inches Blake found herself propelled forward by the explosive force his attack and she was sent soaring into the sky and passed the docks.

Docks that were filled with police, an airship and several police cruisers spread out across the land and sea, officers staring up at her with expressions of shock and rage. It hurt, Blake hadn't thought she could still feel such a crushing sense of loss and disappointment, least of all for something she'd never had. But the image of her half-made dream crumbling before she'd even started was almost too much to bear. Eyes quivering Blake felt like she could have wept.

But the survival instincts of a warrior dragged her back to the moment at hand and Blake conjured another double beneath her feat and kicked off its back. Launching herself into the sky and over the closest airship she unleashed Gambol Shrouds whip and lassoed the Bullhead's wing. Spinning around it in a wide arc Blake slingshoting herself back into the air at blinding speeds, the wind whistling past all four ears so loud it almost drowned out the gunfire and engines roaring around her.

Wings tilting the bulky flying war machine spun around and its turrets sights lined up on Blake's falling frame.

Blake snapped the Dust crystal in half and tossed half into the air before her and use the blur of an after-image to cover throwing the second half into the ocean.

Like a chainsaw the Bullhead filled the air with a deafening roar as it unleashed a hoard of bullets upon Blake's frame.

The Faunus swung her blade through the air and deflected as many shot as she could, each bullet crashing against Gambol Shroud with a clank that sent a sharp jarring pain through her arms. "Ahh!" Mini-guns, hurt! Finally the Red Dust crystal was struck and the sky was filled with a blistering red wave of fire.

Spinning in the air Blake fired down into the water, her Aura senses guiding her to the charged fragment of crystal she'd dropped below. After the bullet struck its mark the water below rose up in an explosive, hissing roar that sent steam and spouts of water surging into the sky.

Blake kicked herself off another after-image and torpedoed herself onto the shipping docks. Smashing against the cement Blake ignored the resounding cracks below her feet and shot off like a bullet. Smashing her way through around and over shipping crates, she cast Dust and torn steel to the air behind her before throwing herself to the ground and ducking into the warehouse sector. Behind her the sounds of police clambering in their cars and the Bullhead's twin jets roaring to full strength hit her ears.

After running the gamut through the docks, into warehouses and between the shipping crates Blake cut off from her run chaotic dash and shot towards the nearby fence. She was pleased to see only one confounded officer before her, they clearly hadn't expected her to get this far. Blake used her as a springboard, catapulting herself into the street and then she ran down the nearest alleyway.

'It won't matter if they try to follow me now, I'll be gone before they even get started,' Blake thought. As she vanished into the crowded streets of Vale, one shadow amongst thousands, Blake wondered, 'What am I going to do now?' No answer, no hope was forthcoming from the depths of her mind, and for the first time, in a long time, Blake was well and truly alone.

Notes:
So, I hope everyone who read this prologue enjoyed it, thanks to those who liked the initial idea and especially to Person With Many Aliases on Space Battles for the interest that convinced me that restarting this fic would be worth it and for simply being an awesome beta reader.

'The Knights Errant' is a 'what if' built around the idea of everyone in RWBY missing out on going to Beacon due to outside circumstances, but still managing to find one another. The prologue is basically establishing Blake's situation, initially she started on an airship and the police tried to be subtle about it but then the idea of her hiding in a Schnee Dust ship came to mind and this happened. I'm pleased as it gave me the chance to use Dust in what I hope is a creative manner and introduce a Hunter character, I doubt they'll become a recurring figure but he's based of a minor "The Batman" villain called Temblor who's fighting style and weapons seemed to fit RWBY pretty well.

So that's my nervous re-introduction of this idea, if anyone has any question, comments or critiques please feel free, I love feedback and it will help me improve!