Here we are, at the end. I'm thankful for you guys still reading this despite the long ass time it took for me to finish. This has been a journey, and I'm hoping it fulfills you the same way it did my beta and me. It's been a ride and I'm happy to put the last period on Golden eyes.

For the last time

Enjoy.

Blake looks out the window of the plane, heart in her throat and nausea pushed down by sheer willpower. She had hopped on the earliest plane that could take her to Vale as soon as she had received Sun's phone call this morning. Praying, hoping to get there in time. It was impossible to stop thinking about her lover, and what she was enduring at the hands of Adam Taurus right this moment.

It made anger pool deep inside her to remember Sun's words, the way his voice was laced with actual panic as he told her what he had heard. She thought about how Adam had encouraged her so much to leave for Ménagerie, had he planned this from the beginning? Did he know since that night Blake and Yang met at the club?

Blake pushed the service button and ordered a glass of whiskey, she'd need it if she wanted to make it through her whole four hours flight without losing her goddamn mind.

Downing the entire glass, Blake set it back on the shocked stewardess' trey with a curt "thank you" before pushing her seat backward and hoping to fall into a deep dazed dream.

Meanwhile back in Vale, two men were sitting on a bench near the White Fang's, looking on as two cops exited the club and climbed in while chatting heatedly in low voices.

Sun could feel cold sweat dribble down his back. Sage was besides him, his large hand laid on top of his shoulder as the two cops drove away.

"I'm not sure that's a good or bad thing for our plan."

"I guess we are about to find out" said the taller man in a low voice. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Sun took a deep breath and gave his friend a large smile.

"Yes, Yang and I started this, I'm not about to leave her alone to finish it."

Sage nodded, his hand slowly fell from Sun's shoulder and he steeled his face."I refuse to let their story end today."

His thoughts flew to a scared boy, half lidded lecherous eyes in a room full of smoke and he closed his own. "We all have demons to face, there's no reason to make this stretch on any longer."

Sun looked up and met the dark man's amber eyes, realization passed across his face and his face mirrored Sage's. "We got this."

It's noon and Adam is close to a panic attack. The two officers left his office with the answers they were looking for; Adam hasn't seen Yang for a while now, but he knows she and Blake get along. Blake resigned from the White Fang with his support and left for Ménagerie two days ago. He doesn't tell them anything he found out about the circle, doesn't make any mistakes that could link anything back to him.

Then why does he feel so much adrenaline, as if he's about to lose everything?

"Boss?"

His hand flies to his handgun and points it at Seth as he stands in the doorway. Seth doesn't flinch and Adam sighs out before letting the gun fall to his side, body slumping backward in his chair. Seth steps in, closing the door behind him.

"We have to go find him."

Adam rubs his eyes with gloved hands and groans "it's too late, and besides, you know he won't talk. His life, his reputation and his livelihood are in our hands now. I'll be surprised if he doesn't hang himself tonight."

Seth says nothing, just nods obediently and Adam wants to punch him in the face until he shows a sliver of emotion.

"What about Xiao Long then?"

"What about her?"

"If I may, I think we should kill her."

Adam frowns, his cold blue eyes staring right at Seth, waiting for an explanation.

Without even blinking, Seth rose his arms in a bored shrug and stated what sounded like the obvious to him "if you let her go now, her own sister will demand the truth. There's no way she won't jump on the occasion to lock you up for what you did to her. Be smart, boss. We have to get rid of her, and now."

Adam gritted his teeth, he never planned on killing the woman. All he ever wanted was to keep her away from his precious Blake, make her step away so that the faunus woman could stay away from all of this and live her own life far away. But now his options were thinning out, the officers knew about her disappearance and his plan had completely fallen to shit.

Adam never wanted this, but he chose this, and now he had to play the part until the end. He put on his sunglasses and rose to his feet, making his way to the door that Seth opened for him. "Let's go prepare then."

Nodding, Seth straightens his jacket and walks to the door, opening it for Adam who walks straight for the stairs, not wanting to waste another minute. What he expects to see are the cleaning crew and his security, not the blond monkey faunus and his giant human friend barging in past Tukson who's jogging behind them. Adam frowns, looking over his shoulder to see Seth lifting a hand into his jacket.

"You boys do realize we're closed, I thought you got this med kit inspection done this morning, Sun."

Sun stops right in front of Adam and leans forward, hands on his knees and he raises a finger up, breathing heavily. Sage remains stoic, but his eyebrows are slightly furrowed in what seems like concern.

"Adam, Sage heard some troubling news around his district as he was working. Apparently some humans are looking for trouble, they talk some shit about how your club lowers the value of these parts or something. They wanna come tonight and trash the place, make it look like the faunus just started a brawl and attacked humans."

Adam grit his teeth, grasping at the hair beside his horn in annoyance. "Are you sure about this?" he asked Sage, blue eyes doubtful as he peered into his.

Sage's face turned somber and he gave the bull faunus a nod.

"The men I overheard are trouble, I have no doubt this will happen tonight."

Adam cursed loudly, pacing along the floor and kicking an upturned chair off a table.

Soon panic takes over the daily tasks of cleaning and prepping the club. Every security staff members are called early and asked to help prepare for tonight. Sage and Sun offer their help and soon enough chaos overtook the White Fang. Much later, Adam slips into the room where Yang is held by himself and the blonde recoils at the sudden flood of light in the dark room.

"Time for a little field trip."

Yang doesn't look at him, she barely lifts her head off the floor as he closes the door and walks towards her, pulling out his gun.

"You're going to get in my car and follow me to a remote location where we'll hide you until we figure this shit out."

Yang merely glanced his way and scoffed "if you're gonna kill me, at the very least stop lying to me."

Adam grit his teeth, flinching forward and hand flying behind him as the door opened. Seth gave him a nod "way's clear. Everyone is too busy to notice if we sneak her out back."

Adam takes a long breath, closing his eyes as Seth throws a black sweat shirt at Yang.

"Put this on, and for the love of god hide your fucking hair in the hood."

"Yes your highness" mocked Yang "lemme just put one arm in each h- oh wait, my arms are tied, bummer."

Adam grabbed his hair in annoyance and his voice came out as a sharp ordered hiss "cut her goddamn ties so we can get out of here."

Seth let out an exasperated grunt and leaned over the blonde to undo her improvised handcuffs... dodging Yang's headbutt by a mere inch before taking a hold of her hair and slamming her face on the floor.

"You try that one more time and I promise even Adam won't be able to stop me from ripping that cat slut in two" he breathed in her ear. Yang's eyes turned blood red and she stared at him with such murderous intent that even Adam took a step back. "Okay fuck this."

Yang felt a prick in her arm and she lost consciousness.

The sun is slowly making it's way past the horizon when Blake steps out of her taxi, phone in hand still showing her the last text she had received from Sun:

They took her somewhere, I duno where YOU HAVE TO FIND HER BLAKE ADAM MIGHT LISTEN TO YOU

It isn't far now, she could probably make it fast enough. She had to. She pays the driver and puts away her phone, she knows the rest of the way already...

The sun is set now, Blake takes one look at the house and she knows. Her feet move by themselves, walking backwards once, two times. Flashes of dirty mattresses and naked men run behind her eyes and she presses the heels of her hands over her eyes to stop it. She has no time for this, Yang needs her now.

She takes in a deep breath, lets it out slowly through her mouth and makes her way inside the burned building. She remembers the steps, remembers the layout of the house. She hadn't seen much of it when she was captive, but she remembers the way out from being in Yang's arms and she follows it backwards. Her heart pounds in her chest when she sees him.

The light of the moon in the collapsed ceiling is just enough to see his tall silhouette over Yang, see the glint of an axe in his hand. As her eyes adapt to the low light she can see the only other faunus with him is Seth and Blake shudders at his presence. He's screwing a silencer over a gun in his hands and Blake gasps, stepping forward in the room.

"Adam!"

The man freezes, obviously recognizing her voice instantly. Seth is still holding the gun, still in the process of screwing the silencer on it. He barely reacts at her appearance, as if he knew it was going to happen, or as if this new information did not change anything.

Adam turns around, his eyes are sunken and red rimmed, his expression crestfallen and his voice comes out low, unsure. "What are you doing here?"

Blake took the time to look at Seth, at the gun in his hands and the axe on the floor and she grit her teeth behind her lips. Now was the time for acting, for hiding emotions and for playing with men.

"I heard of what you were doing, I came back as fast as I could. Don't do this Adam."

The tall bull faunus looked aside and then back to Blake, unsure.

"Look Blake, I didn't want to get to this, but I had to. I had to keep you away, keep you safe."

Blake took a step forward, hand outstretched between them "it's okay Adam, I understand. You were out of options, you just wanted to help."

Adam's face softened slightly and his shoulders slumped forward, Seth gave him the side eye and kept the gun in his hand, poised to shoot at any target.

"I just... I couldn't let those men get away with this... what they did to you... it's unacceptable."

Blake took another careful step forward, keeping an eye on Seth as she did "I know... and I know that if you could, you would have saved me yourself. Then someone did, Yang did. So you helped me afterwards, you helped me a lot."

Adam's lips curled upward half an inch and he rubbed his cheek, his eye, as if invisible tears had fallen. He was sweating, whereas Seth still stood at his side, unmoved, unaffected.

"Yang didn't do any of those things to me, you know that right? Yang also helped me, she helped me a lot."

Adam shook his head and looked at Yang, the woman still bound and gagged, staring at him with wide eyes.

"I know that now... we talked, I know that even if I still don't like your relationship... she didn't do anything to you."

Blake let herself smile a bit, looking at Adam with a carefully crafted expression of relief. Maybe she still had a chance to talk him out of it, to get a fresh start at having her old friend back again.

"But that doesn't mean that she won't."

Blake swallowed, eyes searching Adam's as he took a hold of the gun in Seth's hands.

"Do you know of the Yang Xiao Long before she became a "hero"? Because I do. I know that she was some punk, a careless soul who just took whatever she wanted and screw everyone she wanted. And that was fine, I decided that after what she did for you, she deserved a second chance..."

Blake waited for Adam to continue, trying very hard to stabilise her breathing.

"But not when it comes to you. I can't risk a second chance if it can harm you."

Blake bites her lips in frustration, the pain keeping her next words in check.

"You know that part is not yours to decide."

Seth finally showed some form of emotion as he stepped in their back and forth.

"Adam, this bitch has to die. We'll never get away with it if we don't kill her."

"I KNOW THAT! Just... give me a second to think!"

Blake glanced nervously at the two men, now facing each other instead of her. She peered at the rubble, looking for anything that might act as a weapon. She knew that if she tried something, Adam wouldn't kill her, but Seth might. Her eyes met a glimmer of reflected light on the ground and she inched towards it.

"At this rate we'll have to kill the both of them, make up your mind already."

"Are you insane? The very reason I got us into this mess was to find Blake, I won't let you lay a hand on her!"

Blake's eyes met lilac and she dove for the ash covered chains on the floor as Yang rolled behind Seth. She picked up the chains and thrust them at both men, making Seth stumble backward and trip over the brawler's body. Blake took hold of the axe and pressed the head to the tie wraps holding Yang bound.

She barely had time to start before a meaty fist met the side of her face and she stumbled to the side, rolling over once at the force behind the blow.

"Blake!"

The dark haired faunus barely registered the voice of Adam as she pushed herself off the ground, trying to shake herself back into focus. Her vision swam and she crawled towards Yang, pressing the axe harder against Yang's bounds.

Blake felt the tie wrap holding Yang's arms start to give when she was pulled backwards and felt a muscular arm wrap itself around her neck.

"Aack! Let m- ack-"

"I don't give a shit if you live or die, I'm not going to jail because Adam wants to keep his pet alive."

Seth's grip on Blake's neck tightened, she felt tears trickle at the side of her eyes as she stared forward into panicked lilacs. Yang's mouth was open wide around her gag, but Blake couldn't hear anything anymore. Her vision was turning dark at the edges, gold glancing one last time at a desperate Yang pulling at her bounds like a mad woman.

Something warm and slimy fell on the back of her neck and she fell forward on her knees, coughing violently, trying to suck in oxygen. Turning on her back she felt Yang's hand pull her in and saw Adam standing still behind Seth, a pocket knife covered in blood as Seth fell forward on his knees, clutching at his throat.

Adam was breathing hard, clutching the knife in his hands as if holding a sword. Blake saw the manic glint in his eyes and her body moved by itself, shielding Yang from the tall faunus as he stomped his way towards them.

"Stop! Adam don't hurt her, please!"

"She's no good for you Blake, can't you see that?"

Blake grit her teeth and spat "and you are?"

Adam gripped his knife tighter and growled. A beat came before he answered.

"No, I sure the fuck am not. Now move aside Blake."

Blake growled, her teeth bared to glare at Adam.

"I won't. You'll have to kill me first."

Adam paused, his face fell from its grimace and he angrily threw his knife across the room.

"Why didn't you stay in Ménagerie Blake?" came a disgusted whisper from his lips. Blake felt her heart pinch painfully at the expression on her oldest friend's face, but she steeled herself over Yang, unmoving. His words held no more weight in her eyes, that space had been taken over and he had no more place in her heart.

Adam let out a long sigh, sadness and pain painted all over his face before a shot rang in the dusty basement and a splash of blood covered Blake's face. Adam's eyes widened and he coughed a mouthful of blood before crumpling face first to the floor, revealing Seth holding the gun, hand clutching at his bloody neck.

Blake screamed, staring at the mess of scales messily closed around Seth's throat. He smiled toothily, white teeth red with his own blood.

"I should have known I'd have to finish the job" he rasped, stepping over Adam's crumpled body. "But the question is... do I take my time with you? See what the fuss is all about eh, Nightshade?"

Blake was frozen in horror at the sight of the massive, bloody faunus advancing on her. She screamed at her limbs to move but she couldn't; memories of chains and flesh and moans smoking out anything else.

The gun was at her throat and survival instinct kicked in, but... not the one she was used to. Something primal burned inside her belly and ran across her skin and she saw red.

"If you so much as lay a finger on me I'm gonna rip it off with my teeth."

Seth laughed, and his breath was disgusting over Blake's face. He grabbed her and threw her across the room. Blake braced herself and rolled to her back. She crawled backwards trying to make as much room as possible between them.

"Ohohoh... I love it when they're feisty."

Blake growled, ears pinned to her head "don't fucking say that to me." Her hand landed on something sharp and she took a hold of it.

Seth leaned over her, lips crooked and eyes crazy.

"Here kitty kitty kitty..."

Blake shoved the top of her skull on Seth's face, making him wince back and she chucked the item on the floor, and away from them.

"You're just making it easier for me to get it up!" Laughed Seth, punching Blake across the face and grabbing her by the throat

Blake grit her teeth, gathering blood and saliva in her mouth to spit it in Seth's face. His features finally lost all amusement. Pausing, he lifted a hand to his face and wiped the blood from it slowly, smearing part of it among the blood covering his neck.

"Oh pussy, you just went and got me mad."

He grabbed and smashed Blake's head on the floor. The impact made Blake's world turn to bright flashes and pain, a pained cry making its way of of her bloody lips.

"And you do not want to make me mad."

Reaching in his pants, he pulled out the gun and Blake stopped breathing when he pushed it against her mouth.

"Open wide."

Blake tried to snap her teeth down on the gun, tried to push the faunus back but he kept pushing more and panic sank in her gut.

"How about you open wide."

Seth paused, looking back to see who talked when a foot landed square on his face and he fell to the side. There stood Yang, red streaks on her arms and the knife in her tightened fist. She wasted no time and kicked him again, and again, and again. Blake shot to her feet and took hold of the axe before running back and lifting it high in the air. Yang's eyes grew wide and she jumped aside, axe falling forward with a sick sound as it fell in the middle of Seth's forehead.

Seth twitched and Blake pressed her foot on his shoulder, pulling the axe out before lifting it high in the air again. Screaming, she embedded it in his chest, then his shoulder, until Yang wrapped her arms around her and pulled her back. Shushing her, whispering words that didn't register to her ears. She had to hit him again, he could get up he could start over, he cou-

"He already got up, he could get up again!"

A gun shot rang out, covering the loud silence in her brain. Seth's corpse, covered in blood, Adam on his knees, looking at her with his bright blue eyes and blood still pooling under him. His gun is pointing Seth's head, which is covered in blood and sporting a new hole in its forehead.

"Adam..." Blake breathes, looking at the man as he gasped for breath, the gun still gripped tightly in his bloody hand.

"I can't believe I let him get near you..."

Yang looked at the both of them with a careful glance, seemingly ready to jump on Adam at the slightest aggressive movement. Adam chuckles, but just shakes his head wordlessly, while Blake looked ready to slap him.

Yang walked over to Blake and wrapped her arms around her, carefully cradling her as close as she could. Blake's eyes were still firmly set on Adam's.

Adam broke their stare first, looking down at the ground, hand still firmly pressed to his side.

"I'm not your burden, Adam. I'm not your responsibility or your ward. I'm a person, a friend you took upon yourself to save at the cost of your own soul, and despite what you may think, I'm not responsible for giving it back to you."

Yang's hand tightens in her own and she squeezes once, trying to be reassuring.

"Adam, you're no better than Seth."

Electric blue met with amber eyes and Blake stood up, pulling Yang with her with steady arms. Looking down at Adam she could hear the police sirens, her cat ears swiveling on her head. Adam looked back into Blake's blazing golden eyes and groaned in pain, teeth gritted around the blood falling over a tight jaw.

"I'd never lay a hand on you."

Blake didn't even blink before answering "yet the one who just did was on your payroll."

She turned away, her hair whipping behind her as she left the room. Yang gave one last look at the kneeling faunus before following Blake out of the room. The corridor smelled like getting out of a stuffy apartment.

They lean on the doorway to the room where Adam lies down, huddled together on the floor.

Yang doesn't let her eyes move away from Adam, but he's still lying down, eyes downcast and eyelids low. He's breathing harshly, hand cupping his side and groaning in pain. She doesn't let him leave her sight as her hand goes for Blake's phone, bloodied fingers dialing 9-1-1.

"Hello, I need police and an ambulance at the burned house over on Dust street. Someone died, and someone is critically injured..."

Adam lifts his eyes to Yang's and she yet refuses to glance away. Coughing, Adam just shakes his head, and lets go of the gun. Blake flinches in Yang's arms as he does and Adam notices; his eyes close, his teeth grit and he lets his face rest on the floor.

Yang and Blake are sitting down when the police arrives. Still holding hands, still tightly holding on to each other; sitting away from a still bloodied Adam. Ruby runs into their arms, smiling in apology when Yang winces at the overly agressive show of love and relief coming from her sister. Her eyes rise and meet Weiss' cold blues, thin eyebrows frowning at her, but they soften when their gaze meet. The small woman smiles, shoulders sagging in apparent relief.

They finally get up, helped by Ruby who calls a fireman with blankets over. The warmth covers them both and Blake stops Yang from leading her away from the room.

"Wait."

The dark haired beauty looks around herself, at the burnt walls, the collapsed ceiling. She looks at Adam, surrounded by medics. She breathes deeply, then lets it out, pulling the blanket firmly around herself and pushing against Yang's side. A smile crosses her face and she looks at Yang, bloodied, battered, gorgeous Yang.

"I'm ready."

Yang smiles back, soft eyes and even softer lips. She holds unto Blake and pecks her neck.

"Let's go home."

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Yang tries to stop her knee from shaking but the damn thing is just going up and down on its own and she cannot stop it from bouncing! She notices an old couple starring at her with distaste and she stops suddenly, smiling sheepishly at them as she places her hands on her knees and looks straight in front of herself, red faced and embarrassed.

So much for being on her best behavior today.

The man on the podium is still talking and she's still trying to stop herself from...bouncing ...her leg when-

"And now I'd like to call miss Blake Belladonna to the microphone for her alumni speech."

Suddenly able to focus her thoughts on the stage again, Yang clapped loudly but managed to stop herself from whistling loudly with her fingers.

"Thank you professor, and thank you everyone."

Yang leaned her head on her hand, elbow on her armrest as she stared dreamily at her girlfriend making her super important speech.

"It's been long way to get here I won't sugar coat it." Some people among the students snickered, amused at their friend's dark humour. Blake smiled down at her fellow graduates, smiled softening a bit more at the ones she called friends among them. She kept speaking.

"But what we live through, all the hardship, and the pain and the heartache... it all starts to make sense when you finally know what you want to do in life. Who you want to spend it with..." Blake's gaze grew soft when she met Yang's eyes through the crowd. "And what we learned here will make it possible for us to reach whatever our dreams may be. Because education, knowledge and the feeling of being in control of your life is the best gift life can provide us."

Blake rose her eyes at the championship flags lathering the walls high on the walls of her University gym, a nostalgic wave slowly washing over her.

"Community and sisterhood, brotherhood and friendship, those are what this place brought me and I'll always be grateful. Now rise graduates of 2020, and let's go conquer the fucking world!"

Yang shot up on her feet, laughing loudly at the sheer balls Blake had to actually go off with the dare that came from her classmates. She saw her girlfriend dart across the room to avoid the angry professor yelling at her with his first raised high and his face stuck between humour and fury. Yang made her way away from the seats and into the hallway, looking around and meeting the brilliant eyes of Blake, ducking into a door. Yang bit her lip and ran towards her, opening the door and walking a few steps on the concrete.

"Blake, where the hell did you g- aah!"

Laughing, out of breath, Blake hung on tightly to Yang's neck.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Blake bit her lip, smile firmly in place as she looked up into lilac eyes soft like the woman's hair.

"I made it."

"You sure did."

Blake closed her eyes, head leaning backward, making Yang chuckle and hold her back as she bent backwards.

"I'm free. I've never felt so free Yang."

The hands holding her suddenly let go and she yelped, bracing herself when Yang caught her way before her safety was in any way questioned.

"What? I wanted to make you feel even more free."

Blake snorted, pulling her head in to look up at Yang, grin in place.

"You're dumb, kiss me."

So Yang leaned down and kissed her, chest pressed tightly against her own, her heart beating strong and loud in her ears. Her smell and the feeling of her golden locks falling over her familiar and full and perfect.

"Let's get out of here."

Blake nodded and let Yang pull her back to her feet, walking hand in hand to the parking lot, back to Blake's car. Yang opened the door to the driver's seat for her and Blake sat down with a roll of her eyes, but not before slapping Yang's ass with a cheeky "thanks babe."

Blushing and giggling, Yang ran to her side of the car, sliding in the car seat and instantly leaning in to kiss Blake's neck as she buckled her seat belt with a high pitch laugh.

"Stop until we get home or I'll get us both killed you dumbass."

Yang leaned backwards with a little smirk "but what a way to go right?"

Blake shook her head and smiled at her girlfriend's antics, she leaned over and bit her jaw, nudging her face to the side before biting down on her ear with a whisper of "when we get home I'm bending you over my desk in from of my diploma and you're gonna call me master Belladonna."

Yang's laugh didn't stop until they were halfway home, but she kept her hands and lips to herself for the whole ride.

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.

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Darkness and emptyness

Faceless crowd and honeyed praise

Promises of riches and power

Flames and ashes in her mouth

In her hair

The bottom of a bottle

The coldness of loneliness

The sharp tang of humiliation on her tongue

And the acceptance of the misplaced and unheard

The sharpness of the broken

The warmth of someone lost

The sweet taste of being needed

The pain and the terror

Of making it at the end...

Only to make it...

into something soft and warm

so warm and encompassing and hers

saying her name

saying her name

saying her name and burning it in her skin, into her soul

turning your world upside down

just to be on top of it

and murmuring promises and everything in your ear

opening her eyes

You see golden eyes