Arc Farm, Bastion, late afternoon

Pyrrha woke to Jaune's gentle caressing. "Come on, we should get up and not sleep the day away." His parents had allowed them to share a room, his father begrudgingly after persuasion from his mother; something to do with the Mistrailian tradition. Jaune had been trying to pretend he didn't understand what that meant, which she found adorable.

"Do we need to help your family with something?"

He laughed. "It's a farm so I'm sure we can find something, but after helping dad mend a fences all morning, I think they have it covered." She suspected that mending fences had been something Jaune's father had made up in order to get his son alone to talk to him, but she didn't know the subject and decided she'd let Jaune tell her if he wished. "How about we train a bit before dinner."

She nodded, rising from the bed. They'd taken a nap together after he'd returned with his father, a regular feature of their time at his parent's home. Mostly from staying up too late and their mutually enjoyed intimacies. Without turning, she could tell Jaune was admiring the view, so she intentionally sashayed to put emphasis on her hips and her rear. She'd been wearing a simple t-shirt and some cut-off leggings that she'd borrowed from his sister. All told, she often made Pyrrha feel like a fashion doll; they'd spent the entire morning going through her closet and having Pyrrha try on various outfits, again. The woman had also gifted Pyrrha a set of unused lingerie, deep green in color and made of sheer lace. The brassier was a bit tight, but for how long Pyrrha expected she'd wear it once she put it on, acceptable. The thong underwear had covered little, not even her pubic hair, and if Pyrrha wasn't mistaken, she'd seen a hint of lust again in the face of Jaune's sister, but found it less disturbing than she had when she'd tried on that sweater.

Maybe that was because of how right the woman had been about how much Jaune would enjoy it on her, and while he was in her.

At any rate, they were leaving soon, and with the loss of their luggage, while Jaune had been able to resort to raiding what he'd left at home when he left for Beacon, Pyrrha needed some clothing while she was there, and for the longer trip home that they'd be leaving for the following day. Because of the travel time, their actual visit would be shorter than here in Bastion with his family, and they'd be coming straight back to Beacon. She'd tried to talk him into canceling the trip and staying with his family, but he'd been oddly insistent on going to Mistral to meet her parents, which made her suspicious as to his intent. She was hopeful, but wasn't prepared to be certain.

That they'd discussed the idea of marriage and family already, and she'd basically given her answer to him already, did lead her to think that was his intent, however, so she indulged him. She could easily afford the trip, and it would be good to see her mother and father.

She pushed the leggings down, slipping her fingers into her underwear as she did. She didn't usually sleep with underwear on, but during their naps she didn't bother to change, and she needed different underwear under her armor. She knew he was watching, and enjoyed the small groan from him as she bent at the waist, her womanhood in full view of her lover, to pull them off her ankles. She then pulled off the t-shirt and unhooked her bra, dropping them with the leggings and panties and folding them, taking her time while nude in front of Jaune. When he reached for her and pulled her back into bed, she laughed until she felt his erection, hot and hard, against her outer thigh as they wrestled, until she allowed him to pin her, stomach down, face turned to the side in a pillow, and his erection pressing against the crack of her ass.

"Jaune, we promised your dad not to do things like this in here."

"That's not what you said last night, or any other night, Pyr."

"Yes, but they were asleep."

"You wanted me to do this."

She laughed. "Of course I did. I wanted to tease you before our training." She rotated her hips a bit, and he fell over, only to have her straddle him, the length of his erection now pressed through his jeans between the lips of her vagina. She resisted the urge to grind, realizing she was already likely leaving a wet spot he'd have difficulty explaining. "Let me tell you what I have planned for you, Mr. Arc. I'm going to put you through your paces, and when you've satisfied me as your tutor, I'm going to take you somewhere we can be alone, and you'll satisfy me as your lover."

He barked out a laugh, but didn't disagree, as she got up from him to continue getting dressed. While she was putting on her armor; exquisite work that she'd never dreamed would be so light and move so well, she marveled as Jaune did the same. She looked like a golden avenging angel, but Jaune looked every bit the silver knight. His skills had vastly improved under the tutelage of herself and his son, moreso herself at this stage. Blanc had given Jaune a good basis to start from, and had shown her in doing so how to improve her own teaching methods. She'd been a novice at teaching, and it was obvious Blanc had trained specifically to teach them. She hadn't thought she had anything to learn, and as far as combat prowess, she'd learned rather indirectly from fighting and watching Blanc fight, but the time traveler had done wonders for her ability to impart her knowledge onto others. She now found herself with a desire to be an instructor as well as a champion and huntress. Jaune's son had been a wonder in both their lives. The memories of her dream, however, clouded her thoughts.

Now that Blanc was gone, the strange attraction she felt to him was gone as well, but her dreams seemed to be constantly full of him. Well, whenever they weren't her typical odd dreams she couldn't make sense of, or sex dreams about Jaune, or sometimes about other men. She was a huntress, after all. These new dreams seemed more like memories; more specifically, like Blanc's memories.

"Another dream about Blanc, Pyrrha?" He no longer had the jealousy of his son he'd seemed to have initially over this... connection.

"Yes. He was... he was floating in the air, and lightning filled the sky and wind... He seemed to have control over it. It felt like... well what I think being a god would feel like."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She turned to face him, her eyes glowing a bit, before she blinked and it went away, a small breeze dying down that neither had noticed until it was gone. "No, let's go train. I think I'll need to talk to him about it. You're not going to be jealous, are you?"

He smiled at her; that smile he seemed to reserve for her, filled with love and admiration. "No more than usual."

She rolled her eyes and chuckled, gathering their weapons and handing Crocea Mors to him. "Let's go get that practice in. I'm eager for the second half." She then sprinted from the room, Jaune following a moment later. Both of them were eager for her plans.

Xiao Long Home, early evening

Blanc decided to return, so after a sufficient amount of time meditating on the nature of winter, or in his case, plotting what to do about Blake while worrying about his relationship with Yang, they returned. The family had already sat down to begin the evening meal, except for Yang who refused to leave her room. Winter followed him in; he'd settled on staying on her couch in her yacht and had left his bag there. Taiyang met them at the door, a scowl on his face.

"You seem to have a knack for upsetting my daughters, Arc."

Blanc said nothing. If the man wasn't aware of what happened in his home, then he didn't think it was his place to inform him, and if he was and was still angry at Blanc for it, then saying something wouldn't change anything.

"Da... Uncle Tai, please stop being mean to our friend. HE didn't do anything wrong." Blanc could count on Ruby being in his corner, evidently.

"Ruby, you can still call me dad if you want. I was your dad for nearly 15 years. That doesn't have to change."

Ruby looked frustrated. "Just let him in, please." She turned to face Blanc, her face softening into a smile. "I'm glad to see you. Sort of missed you earlier with all the arguing. We were just having dinner; won't you both join us?"

"Is Branwen still here?" Winter's voice barely hinted at nervousness.

"Not right now he's not. We're not sure if he'll show up or not. He does that; just sort of drops by when he feels like it." The change of subject softened the atmosphere as Taiyang stepped aside, allowing them through. Ruby led Blanc through the kitchen into a dinning room that looked a bit more formal than the table he'd seen that was likely the place the family usually ate, while Taiyang pulled Winter aside to talk to her. At the table were Weiss and Blake; a place setting had been put out for Yang next to Blake, with three additional settings. Taiyang's seat was at the head of the table, with Ruby next to it, then Weiss, and an empty place setting, presumably for Winter. Across the table was another empty place setting, probably for Yang, then Blake, and then an empty place setting, and one at the end. Blanc looked at the table and the arrangement around it, befuddled about how this was going to work.

"Ruby, I don't know. Maybe this isn't a good idea." Her face screwed up, and she blew out an frustrated breath.

"Just sit." She pushed him down into the chair next to Blake, who scooted away. "I'll be right back." With that, she left.

Blanc stared at Weiss, who looked between him and Blake, who pointedly stared at her as well, until both looked away from each other at exactly the same time.

"What's going on with you two?" Both turned toward the heiress but when it became apparent neither would speak, she tried again. "I asked what was going on? Yang won't come out of her room. She just sits in there crying; I've barely seen my sister because you marched out of here almost as soon as you arrived, and now even Ruby's acting strangely. Strangely for her, that is. I mean, I get why Mr. Xiao Long doesn't like you, but this is all upsetting Ruby when she was already pretty upset over how that buffoon of a father acted earlier. I mean, I was totally mortified but it was all completely uncalled for, and now this? I think I'm owed an explanation, at the least."

Both responded at the same time, telling her to ask the other party. They turned toward each other, comically opening their mouths, then closing them, then looking back at Weiss, opening their mouths to speak, saying her name at the same time, then promptly shutting up.

"Oh, for dust's sake."

Blanc instinctually looked at the door to the room, his eyes drawn to it by a feeling. In the doorway stood Yang. Her face was a mess, eyes puffy from crying all day, and she held a tissue that looked like it should have been thrown away hours before. "Um... Ruby said you were here." The silence became ackward when he just stared at her. There wasn't malice in his gaze; if anything it was a look of longing. Tired of waiting, Ruby pushed her sister forward, sitting her next to Blake and where her father would sit.

"The plate at the end of the table is for Uncle... for my dad." With that, the reaper sat herself next to Weiss. Winter and Taiyang followed, quickly going to their places. The food was already on the table, some sort of fish that Blanc didn't recognize, along with some bread, a potato dish, and a large salad. "I made the salad. There's plenty of food."

Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Taiyang had already filled their plates, so starting with Winter and then moving to Blanc and finally Yang, food was passed again between them. Yang's plate was almost empty, which was slightly more than the completely untouched clean plate in front of Blanc. Blake, on the other hand, had an unsually large portion of the fish on her plate. It seemed likely the dish was made specifically with her in mind.

"My food not good enough for you?" Ruby sighed, but Yang spoke up.

"Dad, please. Enough."

"He made you cry. You've been up there in your room all day from what I understand."

"Dad... this is my fault, not his." He seemed a bit shocked, but quieted down to listen.

"Look, I did... I did something I shouldn't have. He has every right to be angry with me. I'm kinda surprised he's here. I thought he'd never want to see me again." Ruby's eyes narrowed at her sister, but as her mouth opened, Blanc interrupted.

"Yang, can I talk to you... alone?" He spoke the last word pointedly, aimed at Blake, and the defeated look in the faunus' face as enough to put the rest of the pieces together for the three at the table who weren't aware. He excused himself from the table, as politely as possible, and then left the room, hoping Yang would follow on her own.

It took her a bit longer than if she'd rushed out, but he supposed that was inevitable. No doubt they'd questioned her before letting her go, though he hoped they'd had enough sense to leave her alone. "You okay?"

"I'm terrified. I just got grilled and I'm sure when I go back it will get worse. I've never seen my dad look at me that way before, and Ruby... but I'm more scared of you."

He turned to face her, shocked. "Do you think I'd hurt you?"

"Not physically. And I know I deserve it."

He sighed, facing out to the darkening sky again. "I didn't ask to talk to you so I could make you feel bad. I don't want to know why... that's a lie, yes I do. I want to know what it means. I'm as scared of you as you are of me, I think."

"I swear. I swear I'll never hurt you Blanc. I love you!"

Facing her again, he replied "Do you? You have a shitty way of showing it. But that's the problem, Yang. I love you too, and because of that, I'm vulnerable. And you do hurt me. You... you do these things seemingly without thinking about them first, like you'll never have to worry about what comes after. Well, this is the after, Yang. So, what comes after? Can you tell me?"

He waited, turning away when she didn't say anything. She walked forward, sitting on the porch next to where he was standing. "I don't want to lose you."

"But you want her."

"I don't... I don't know what I want. I hadn't even thought about it; it just happened. And you're right. I do let things just happen and then I'm not prepared for the consequences. I don't think things through. I'm sorry. But I am trying. I never meant for what happened to happen, Blanc."

He sat next to her. "But it did."

She leaned over, putting her head on his shoulder. He didn't wrap his arm around her like she'd hoped, but he didn't push her away, either. "Yang, I don't know what to say to you, or what to do. I love you, and you know how much. And I'm really in no place to ask anything more from you than you want to give. Maybe I shouldn't have..." she went to interupt him, but he stopped her. "No, I need to say this. Maybe I shouldn't have done this. You know that."

"I remember being part of that decision. I wanted you; I still want you."

"You're only going to end up hurt. This was never going to work out in the end."

She hissed at him. "Blanc, you don't have to die. We'll find a way!"

"I already did, Yang. I died on that train." She pulled back from him, shock in her eyes. "Pyrrha brought me back, somehow. I don't even... I know you think there's some way to do this without dying, but... it doesn't matter."

"Of course it matters! I want that life with you, Blanc. I want it more than anything!"

"I'm already dying, Yang! No matter what I do, I'm dying. I... after what happened on the way out to see Jaune's parents, I went to the doctor. Check up after bleeding to death, you know." She lightly slapped his arm, unamused at his dark humor. "I have some kind of blood cancer." He paused, took a breath, and then continued. "Don't you see? I live a cursed life. My whole life has been like this, one thing after the other."

She latched onto him, trying to hold on as tight as she could. "Yang, how can I say I love you and keep you tied to me, knowing what's going to happen. No matter what we do, I'm going to die soon. I had the chance to let you go when I came back here, but I didn't. I had the chance when you put me in the hospital, and I still didn't. Now... now I think it's best if I listen to what fate is trying to tell me."

"No. No, you don't have to. We can fight this."

"No, Yang, we can't. There's no point. If I fight the cancer then I have to get treatments, and I won't be able to finish my mission. And you know I have to."

"If you loved me, you'd fight this." She was playing dirty.

"Don't do this to me, Yang. Don't manipulate me. I deserve better after everything... and you deserve to be able to love without having my ghost haunt you."

She didn't say anything for a while, and he let her think. After a few minutes, she finally responded. "Do you truly love me, Blanc?

He turned to face her, sincerity in his eyes. "You know that I do."

She nodded. "Then give me whatever time you have; whatever time you can. I want it all."

"And what about Blake? We don't even know if we can trust her."

"We can. I know we can. I don't know what happened that made you think otherwise, and you can't say."

He turned to her, looking at her without saying anything. After nearly a minute, he asked "Have you told her?"

"Of course not!"

He sighed. "Well, it can't wait anymore. I need to be certain. There's too much at stake to risk it."

She put her hand on his arm, pulling him in close, hugging him. "What do you need me to do?"

He looked toward the front door and the windows, then pulled her out further from the house.

"I'm going to take the bullhead tonight and go take care of some business. I want Blake to follow me, but I want her to think it's her idea. I need to see what she'll do. It'll have something to do with the White Fang, so I think she'll be interested. If she's not, then I don't know what that means. If she is, we'll see what she does."

"So what it is you want from me?"

"I want you to slip it to her without being direct, so we can see what she does."

"Are... are you going to hurt her?"

"Not if she's on our side. If she isn't... I can't guarantee anything without knowing what she'll do. I'm not planning on hurting her, Yang."

She stepped back and away. "I'm not sure if I should do this."

"Well, I guess that tells me how much I mean to you."

Her eyes turned red. "Didn't you just ask me not to manipulate you?"

Blanc caught a shadow moving in the corner of his eyes. Could be Qrow, but he guessed it was his quarry.

"Forget it. I'm doing this, with or without your help. Do what you want." He stalked off, her eyes turning lilac as she called for him. The shadow followed discretely, but now that he knew what to look for, he was certain she'd taken the bait.

"Blanc! Please don't go! Blanc!" It hurt him to hear the pain in her voice, but he ignored her, heading off toward town, and the school.

Signal Academy, Late evening

Getting to the bullhead was simple. A fence, surrounded by tall grass in a field was all that guarded it. He supposed it was pretty reasonable; not many knew how to start one, let alone fly one, and without the ignition key it would normally be difficult. It would be for him as well if Grandpa Qrow hadn't shown him how to get around that.

The tall grass also gave his stalker the ability to follow him unobserved, but that was as desired. Following him had to be her decision if he wanted to know what her position really was. He leapt over the fence, landing in a roll and swiftly moving toward the aircraft. It wasn't even locked. He slid open the pilot-side side hatch, under the wing, and climbed aboard, intentionally leaving it open to make things easier for Blake.

The noise of prying off the panel to get at the ignition circuitry provided all of the cover Blake needed to get onto the aircraft. He'd even been prepared for it when he felt the tip of Gambol Shroud touch his neck. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Blake. Why are you following me?"

"You left her crying and alone, you bastard!"

"And you didn't?"

She didn't have an answer for that, so she changed the subject. "You didn't answer me. What are you doing here?"

"Going to take care of some business."

"With the White Fang?"

He laughed. "Take a seat, Blake. I'm glad you're here." She seemed surprised, but did as he asked, keeping the blade at his neck, though it was no longer touching. "I'd appreciate it if you put that away. Wouldn't want any accidents."

"While you sabotage their bullhead?"

"I'm not sabotaging it. I'm borrowing it." He hit the ignition switch and the aircraft's engines came on, turbofans spinning up and the lights and instruments coming on, startling the faunus girl. "Sit back while I get us in the air and set our course. We'll have some time to talk on the way there." He stepped into the back, shutting the hatch, and returned. He didn't wait for a her to put on her harness, lifting off and swiftly moving forward, running with his lights off.

"You've done this before."

"I've done a lot of things, Blake. We're going to see some of your old friends. When we were at the docks, I put tracking devices on the shipping containers, and I know where some of them are. We're going to intercept them before the Fang can move them out to their final destination."

"You act like you know what they want that dust for; like they have some plan for it other than to use it in their fight."

He turned the aircraft out over the water and toward the mainland, south of Vale, then set the autopilot. Turning to her, he responded "I'm pretty sure I know exactly what they're going to do with it. The question is, do you?" When she didn't respond, he turned back to the forward view. "We've got about an hour. What do you want to talk about."

"I'm sorry. I... I'm not sure how I feel about Yang but I don't want to let her go. Still, I shouldn't have done that. Not that way, anyway."

"And how should you have done that, Blake?"

She looked out the window, shame on her face. "Not while we were drunk."

"Well, congratulations. I'm sure you overheard her. She chose you."

"She still loves you."

He signed. "I know." He sounded saddened by that. "Look, Blake. It doesn't really matter. Sometimes love just isn't enough."

She waited a while, then spoke again. "What are you going to do when we get... wherever we're going."

"That depends on you. Since you decided to come along, I'm going to ask you to scout them out, so we can develop a plan to stop them."

"Are you going to kill them?"

He turned to face her, no emotion on his face. "Yes. If they run I'll let them go, but I won't let them take the dust, and if they fight they'll be trying to kill me."

"But..."

He interrupted her. "I'm not a cop, Blake. I'm not going to be arresting anyone. You need to decide, now. That dust isn't going to up to Mantle to fight Atlas. It's not going to be used on raiding Schnee mines to free faunus workers from jobs they took willingly without undo duress. They're going to use it to kill civilians all over Vale. So where do you stand, Blake. There isn't a neutral position on this. If you can't stomach killing, sit in the bullhead and do nothing. If you're with them, kill me now, because it'll be the only chance to stop me. If you're serious about your new life; about being a huntress and protecting the innocent, then fight with me."

"We don't have to kill them!"

"I get it. What do you want us to do then, Blake? Let them take the dust? Ask them nicely?" He paused, waiting for an answer. "How many do you think died at the docks, Blake?" She flinched. "We're warriors. We're fighting a war, Blake. You put a blade to my throat tonight." He got up, and she turned to watch him as he went into the back. There was a bag in the back, and Blanc began to pull black clothing out. He slipped off his coat, and began to undress, then redress in a black shirt and form fitting pants. "You're welcome to look, Blake, but try to control the drooling." He smirked at her as she huffed at him, and then tossed a set of clothes to her. "If you're going to help, put those on."

She got up, stepping into the back, and began to change in front of him, going so far as to slip of her bra as well before putting on the sports bra to support her under the form fitting clothes. He didn't look away. "Like what you see?" she teased.

"I do. You're beautiful."

"Were you serious earlier?"

"About?"

"About... about fucking us both."

He paused. "Do you want me to?" She bit her lip and nodded. "Well, that I didn't expect."

"You obviously expected me. You didn't bring the bag with you, so you put it here beforehand, or someone did it for you, and you had clothes in my size just for this." He put his armored duster back on, tonfa in place, then went back up to the cockpit. "Is this a setup?"

"It's a test, Blake, to see where you stand."

"And what it is that you want me to do?"

"I want you to do what you think is right, Blake. I'm pretty sure you're serious about not being with the Fang anymore, but I need to know if you're willing to fight with us, or if you'll still try to protect them because they were your friends."

She sat next to him. "I don't want to hurt them, but I can't let them hurt innocent people. I should have stood up earlier. I should have tried to stop it. They used to be peaceful protesters, you know? Humans as well as Faunus. And then... then when the attacks on us didn't stop, we started protecting each other and the faunus victims. And the humans... they stayed with us. It really showed me that humans cared about us too. But Adam was so angry after his mother died. Murdered. I should have tried to stop him. I was young... infatuated I guess. I thought I was in love. Angry too. She was such a sweet woman, like having a second mother. But I should have tried to stop it when they started bombing and assassinations."

He grabbed her hand across the aisle between them. "I don't think you could have done anything. The past is done; the only decision you have is what are you going to do now? I've told you what that dust will be used for; will you fight with me to stop them, even if it means killing them? Or are you going to stand by and do nothing?"

She looked down at her hand, then up at him. "I wouldn't have changed if I didn't plan to help you." He let go of her hand.

"We're 15 minutes out. I'll need to set down somewhere a bit distant so they don't hear us coming in. Do you feel comfortable scouting ahead so we can plan our assault?" She nodded, determined. "Alright. Don't engage; we'll form a plan before attacking. I've got the containers marked, and as you can see on my scroll, they're still there. They've got caches of the dust in other places as well, and some of it has already disappeared." He pulled up the map on his scroll, zooming in to their destination. "I'll set down in this field; it should be outside their patrol range, but that means we'll have a hike. How do you want to do this?"

"I'll scout ahead; you stay at the bullhead so I know where to find you. We're outside CCT range, but I'll take images with my scroll and return."

This was it; if she returned with the Fang to betray him, he knew what her position was, and what to do about it. If she returned without them to report, he was certain he could trust her. "If you don't come back within 30 minutes, I'll come after you, so be quick. If you get caught, you just need to hold out until I come for you."

"You're awfully confident. You think you can take them all out if they catch me, without any information about where they are?"

"I have my ways. You've seen me fight, and I will tell you that I've not used nearly all of my bag of tricks. You were right; I wanted you to come. I wanted you to follow me here, and I came earlier to prepare for that, but if you hadn't followed me, I'd still have gone and I'd still accomplish my mission. Yes, I'm confident I can do that and rescue you."

"If we do this, I want something from you, Blanc." He raised his eyebrow, questioning without responding. "I want you to give Yang another chance." He turned and scoffed. "I mean it."

"You don't know what you're asking, Blake, and it's not fair to ask that of me."

"Screw fair. If you care about her half as much as I do, and I know you love her, you'll do this."

"She wants you, Blake."

"Then we share her... we share you."

"Blake..."

"We can make this work. I have to believe it. She's devastated and it's my fault. And I know you're attracted to me, so don't even deny it."

"Wanting to fuck someone doesn't mean you should be in a relationship with them."

She grabbed his hand. "We won't know if we don't try." He rolled his eyes, but when he went to pull his hand away, she held on. "At least promise to try."

"Fine. I'll... I'll think about it. That's the best you'll get. I can't believe I'm even considering this."

Blake looked triumphant, though, relishing in the idea that she might get to live out her fantasy.

"I'm guessing that means you're attracted to me too?"

"If we weren't flying and you weren't still only Yang's, I'd fuck you right now."

"Damn. All you huntresses are feisty."

"We're horny, Blanc. Hell, I bet Weiss'd fuck you if you were open to it." He gagged. "What?"

"I'll... I'll explain it later.

"What, are you fucking her sister or something?"

"No! Dust no. Blake, I'm not fucking anyone but Yang. Dust, give me a break and get your head in the game and out of my pants." She grabbed his groin. "Blake! Not now." She let go, but was smirking herself.

White Fang Encampment, south-southwest of Vale, late night

Blake landed quietly on a tree near a container. She couldn't believe they'd hidden themselves so well. If Blanc hadn't known they were here... they couldn't really be seen from the air unless you were directly overhead, and despite not being far from Vale, there were no settlements out this way. The forest cover was thick, almost like a jungle, and she'd been surprised at the lack of Grimm until she'd stumbled upon a patrol of Fang methodically killing nevermore in the trees, forcing her to hide.

Blake was well trained at infiltration, however, and the guards, while having excellent night vision that was common to almost all faunus, weren't looking for someone in the branches; they were looking for something in the air or arriving via the nearby stream. There was a small road, little more than a pair of tracks, and even now trucks were being loaded up with dust from the containers that had likely been flown in. Once the dust left on those trucks, Blanc would lose track of it. He'd said he had some way of tracking the containers, but the containers were not easily moved in this kind of foliage. She darted into another tree, avoiding the wandering gaze of one of the sentries on top of a container, and moving further into the camp.

Most of the sentries were on top of the containers, stacked to make walls, and underneath branches that remained unbroken. Someone had sawed off the lower branches, and the containers had been moved. She hadn't seen any equipment that could move them, nor was the ground hard enough that such equipment wouldn't sink; it wasn't a marsh, but the ground had that softness of a forest with relatively frequent rainfall. Not quite mud, but especially close to the water, where even now some were filling water bags and canteens, the ground was soft and left impressions from footsteps. She guessed that the containers had been moved by hand, indicating a lot of manpower.

There were what appeared to be hastily erected barracks; she'd guessed that they'd used the limbs and trees from this man-made clearing to build them. Even then, trees still dotted the campsite, providing overhead cover. Enough cover that she expected it would keep anyone not looking for them specifically from seeing them, and one of the few defensive emplacements she did see were the strapped together dust weapons that the Fang used for anti-aircraft if they couldn't steal something from Atlas or the SDC. Vale had relatively no military to speak of, just the guard on the walls, and their weapons would be noticed if they went missing. Especially because they were built into the wall itself.

All four of the kingdoms had some sort of wall. She'd heard that Vacuo's was the smallest, having been made from hewn rock, and Atlas' was made from the ever present ice, though she knew for a fact that inside that ice was a concrete wall capable of supporting it and allowing the kingdom to move troops inside. Vale's was built into the mountains, and where they didn't have mountains stood an impressive bullwark of wood, stone, and steal that was supposed to be the tallest of the kingdom's walls that weren't natural barriers, like Mistrals, which was some sort of ancient hardwood that was both attractive, and semi-petrified. She'd only seen any of them from the air; assaulting the walls was considered suicide, at least from the outside. Even Vacuo's wall was supposed to be crammed with weaponry and constantly well guarded, and capable of withstanding the common sand storms and some extremely large and fierce grimm.

This camp had no walls, but it did have guards within no greater than five arm lengths from each other; some standing so close that they bumped into each other occasionally. The camp had too many guards for them to assault, and as she checked her scroll's timer, having finished photographing the positions of the sentries, guards, trucks, dust stockpiles, and AA positions, she prepared to return to Blanc. Maybe they could get Vale to strike it from the air, or at least assault it with a hunter team or three.

"Going so soon, my love?" A hand reached out and grabbed her from behind, wrapping around her mouth and dragging her back into the assailant's chest, and knocking the scroll from her hand, unnoticed.

Blake was late. It didn't mean she'd turned on him. He hoped that wasn't just himself being hopeful. Either way, it was time to check on her.

Crossing the forest took him no time at all; when you can go back in time and displace in space, all he had to do was look to make sure he knew where he would land and that he wouldn't be observed. What had taken Blake 10 minutes of quick but careful jumps between trees took him less than one. He found the sentries inattentive, paying attention to something going on in the middle of the camp.

There were no torches or fires; the faunus didn't need the additional light to see, and they'd likely avoid a heat source that gave off light.

"I'm happy to see you, my love. Did you come back to me to beg forgiveness? Back to your brothers and sisters? I'd heard rumors that you'd sworn yourself to the filthy humans in their city." Blake was on her knees, while a red haired faunus stalked around her, blade drawn. Blanc hadn't seen him before, but based on the description he was sure the man was Adam Taurus. Blake didn't speak, head down, and Adam smashed her with the pommel of his sword, knocking her to the ground. Blanc pulled the boltor he'd carried with him up to his shoulder and sighted, but instead of moving to strike her again, or worse, he put the blade away, squating down in front of her, reaching a hand out to caress the cheek where he'd struck her, like a parent would to a child, if they were abusing that child.

"Speak up, Blake my love. I'm ashamed to admit it, but you did hurt me so with your betrayal when you abandoned me on that train." Her head looked back up at him, and given the way the brute sat back, slightly shocked, her face must've been startling. "You would throw away this chance at reconciliation?" He stood back up, turning from her to the crowd of white cloaked terrorists. "Sisters! Brothers! Our wayward sister has rejected us, having come to us here. What shall we do with her?"

He turned back to her, looking down at her. Blanc could see blood coming down from her scalp where she'd been struck. "Shall we strip her and leave her for the grimm? Perhaps 200 lashes and another chance to repent?" He drew the blade, putting it to her neck as she backed away to keep it from cutting her. "I think perhaps we should show her the most kindness we can show to a traitor, and help her leave this world." Blanc's fingers were on the trigger, but again Adam put his blade away, unwet.

"What say you, my people?"

Blanc didn't wait for an answer. He put the gun back on magnetic harness, then ripped through time and space, tonfa out, and began to quietly kill the sentries. There was murmuring from the crowd; evidently Blake was better liked than Adam thought, and even now some were willing to speak up for her. Blanc quietly lowered the corpse of a deer faunus to the container she'd been standing on, a hole punched into her neck at the jugular, then repeated the same a half-second back to the next sentry, this time a male rabbit faunus off on a container to her left, enraptured by the spectacle. Unfortunately, a dust round pinged off the container from a sentry who'd spotted him, and the rapid fire from the woman's rifle was loud and attention catching. It didn't save her; Blanc appeared to her side, swinging his arm around, and her head left her body as the tonfa along his left armed ripped it away. Even now sentries and members of the crowd, armed for patrol, began to track their guns up to his position, even as he disappeared yet again, stabbing both the gunner and the loader for one of their hastily-made anti-aircraft weapons, and turning the thing on the crowd in front of it. It only took a few seconds to empty the extended magazines on the rifles into them, but he'd gunned down at least 10, and caused the crowd to scatter. It'd also left he impression that they had been infiltrated by a much larger force.

He dropped from a container into a patrol that had taken cover from the AA gun position there, the corpse of the sentry from above them landing on one of the unfortunate souls. Glyphs flashed along his arms as the tonfa in long sword form stabbed each of them in the back, rapidly, finishing with a downward thrust of both blades into the poor pig faunus trapped under the corpse of the sentry. Adam fired Wilt at the intruder, a certain hit, but the attacker disappeared instead. The buckshot did not strike the container behind it; it was as if Adam's shot had been a blank.

Everywhere around them, Blake and Adam could hear the screams of the dying. The rapid thump of a weapon was heard as a faunus who'd been running for one of the barracks was struck in the back and pinned to the wall with metal bolts, beside the door he'd been seeking for cover. "Fight my brothers and sisters!" Adam screamed, trying to rally his troops. Most were simple laborers, entranced by the idea that they were being held down by humans, rather than failing to live up to their own potential, either through laziness or poor decisions, but now that they were actually witnessing the horror of the war they had thought would be glorious, they fled in terror.

Adam struck a fleeing dog faunus down himself, her eyes stuck open in shock as she died. "Fight or I'll cut you down myself!" A bolt struck his blade where he'd deflected it from his face, but the shooter wasn't visible to him. Adam stalked forward, Blake leaving his thoughts for a moment, when containers on the outskirts of their encampment exploded. Shortly afterward, the trucks loaded with dust exploded, destroying half of the camp and lighting nearby empty containers on fire. Adam, like everyone else, was thrown to the ground from the blast.

Paulie, a former lumber jack who insisted on being called 'Bonesaw' when wearing the mask of the white fang, exited the barracks, now burning like most of the remaining camp. Most of the faunus had been killed in the blast from the trucks, but of those remaining, only Adam was now standing, still nearby Blake. A nearby faunus crawled, his leg broken, the tibia sticking out as he dragged himself away, toward the barracks and Paulie. Paulie revved up his weapon, looking for a target to take out his revenge upon. "Boo." Paulie didn't have time time to react; a blade jammed through his back, up inside his ribcage, and into his heart. The chainsaw dropped as a hand reached around, pulling his mask from his face, and 'Bonesaw' died as Paulie the lumber jack, having never fought a single human while in the white fang's great crusade. His murderer put the mask on, dropping the lumberjack's corpse, and then stabbed the crawling faunus through the neck. Blake watched in horror, and Adam stood before her, almost protectively, hand set to draw Blush.

"Who are you? Do you know what you've done?"

The man in the black coat, wearing a stolen mask, said nothing, twirling his twin swords to fling the blood off them, then snapping them up along his arms, and Blake recognized him. Her gorge rose up, and she let it go, vomiting. Adam didn't spare her a glance, unwilling to take his eyes off the man who'd destroyed their encampment. "Do you know how long it took us to get this dust?"

Blanc charged, glyphs accelerating his limbs, and caught Adam's blade before he could fully draw it, punching forward with the tonfa on his left, only for Adam to turn his head slightly, causing it to miss. What followed was a flurry of blocks as Adam used his arms to direct the weapons away from his body, finally being kicked away from the cat faunus at his feet, and now their positions were reversed. Adam stood, dropping his right hand over to draw Blush again, while Blanc stood between him and Blake, protectively. As Adam began to charge his semblance, Blake tried to warn Blanc, but the man dropped his tonfa, both long points sticking into the softened earth. One stabbed through her puddle of sick, which fascinated Blake for a moment. Just long enough for Blanc to draw his rifle, already firing, and forcing Adam to stop his attack in order to use Blush to block the bolts. Blanc emptied the magazine, mechanically dropping it and reloading from another stored inside his coat as Adam panted with the effort necessary to block so much in such a short span of time, his aura damaged from those he couldn't stop.

"Wait. Wait!" Blanc didn't wait, opening up on the bull again, forcing him to drive for cover, rolling through the trampled earth, and pulling another fang member over to cover him as he rolled, the bolts smacking into her flesh, piercing through it. It was the dog faunus he'd killed earlier. "Stop! Please Stop!" Adam screamed as bolts began to cut through the corpse above him.

The magazine emptied, and Blanc dropped it, taking a third from his coat to reload. He never completed the action, however, as he was drop-kicked from the side by a giggling man with a long braid. "Time to go! Our mistress isn't quite done with you yet, young man." The man grinned, blades snapping out on his arms like claws, and built-in submachineguns firing on Blanc, who quickly turned his back and ducked down to cover himself and Blake with the armor of his coat. "Get to the bullhead!" he yelled at the Fang leader, firing in bursts to keep his target down and protecting the girl, and Adam listened, running for the aircraft that had landed nearby after the explosion.

"And you! You're supposed to be dead!" The madman screamed in anger, charging at Blanc, who kicked back at just the right time to strike the charging man in the chin and knock him onto his ass. Blanc then disappeared, reappearing on top of a nearby container, fire dwindling on it's side as the dust traces burned off. He dropped from it's height three containers up, coat flared to slow his fall, and his tonfa drawn, almost catching his target by surprise. "Oh, you're just full of surprises!" The sound of the bullhead's engines ramping up was the crazy man's cue, and he stepped back and away, quickly bowing at the waist. "Until next time, unstoppable man." He giggled as he ran away, leaping into the side of the fleeing bullhead, already lifting off.

Instead of pursuing them, Blanc knelt and pulled Blake up and into his arms, her eyes wide. He hugged her, fearing she was going into shock, and cooed at her, trying to sooth her heart. "Shhh... I'm sorry I took so long. It'll be okay."

"You... you... you came. You actually came."

"I said I would. I keep my word. Something I got from my father."

"You killed them!" He held her tightly, keeping her close to prevent her from attacking him, letting her weep after she'd exhausted herself struggling, saying nothing. He lost track of time, holding her while she sobbed, and when he next looked up and around, it was to see Yang, Ruby, Qrow, Taiyang, and Winter, standing nearby and looking at the carnage, weapons ready. He reached up, pulling the mask from his face.

"Blanc? Did you two... ?" Yang reach down to help him with Blake, who'd fallen asleep in his arms.

"I did. Adam Taurus was here, and took her hostage."

Winter interrupted. "The terrorist leader?" He nodded back, as Yang lifted Blake into her arms, beginning to walk back toward Winter had landed her yacht after they'd pursued the stolen bullhead.

Blanc stood, and Qrow addressed him. "I gotta hand it to you, kid, you don't hold back." Blanc said nothing, reaching down to pick up the tonfa and put them into his coat, wiping the dirt and fluids off on one of the nearby corpses. "Not much respect for the dead?"

"It doesn't do them any good, and I didn't know them. Besides, Taurus killed this one himself when she ran." The corpse was almost cut in half, metal bolts jammed through the torso everywhere, but the long slash down her back that had severed her spine was evident.

Taiyang finally spoke. "And how many did you kill while they ran from you, Blanc?"

"As many as I had to. How'd you find us?"

"You mean other than the giant fire in the middle of no where? Yang followed Blake's scroll." Tai handed it over; the device was cracked but still functional, the camera function having switched over to the gallery and showing a collection of pictures of White Fang zealots in position around the camp. "There must be over a hundred dead here."

"I didn't come back in time to have teaparties and ask them nicely not to doom us all." Taiyang looked over at Winter, eyes wide. "Don't worry, she's in the know." He looked over at Winter and Qrow, standing and quietly talking together. "Nice to see you two not screaming at each other."

Qrow spoke before Winter could. "Kid, this is business, and we're both professionals. We looked at those photos. There's no way the two of you could take this camp alone. You'd at least need a good team."

A voice spoke from behind him, tonfa blade carefully tapping him on the throat, softly enough his aura didn't flare. He was still looking at Blanc, when Blanc disappeared from sight. "I don't think you understand what I'm capable of, Grandpa."

He twisted around. "Don't call me that! Makes me feel old." Winter chuckled. "I'll go back and get the bullhead. I'm pretty quick when I want to be. You go on with the rest of them."

Taiyang waved his arm to the burning camp. "And the survivors?"

"Tai, if there are any survivors, there won't by in a few hours. Grimm are definitely on the way, and it's not our job to save them." Blanc disappeared, reappearing a few seconds later.

"Nope. No survivors."

"Made sure of it, did you?" Taiyang was still angry.

"I'm not without mercy."

"Kid, you're fucked up. And coming from me, that's saying something." Blanc shrugged, then walked away, heading for the yacht. Qrow turned toward Winter and Taiyang, who'd gathered with him. "Be careful with this one. Something tells me he's broken." Qrow stepped away, whistling, into the treeline, then disappeared, a small bird flying just over the treetops, headed for the stolen property of Signal Academy, it's homing beacon still functional, turned on intentionally while Blanc had landed.

This was a pretty long chapter; I'd wanted to get right to the action, but it needed some buildup and I didn't want to skip the flight over with Blake.

In the original plan I had for this scene, the others arrived and exposed Blake on accident, leading Blanc to jump into the middle of the camp and start slaughtering everyone, much to his friend's horror as they watched. The problem with that is that it didn't seem reasonable to me, given that the Fang have had time to setup and prepare, and that this was supposed to be a large encampment with the majority of those who ended up at Mountain Glenn. By the time Blanc directly confronts Adam, he would have been covered in blood from those he'd slaughtered, and in the dark fire it would have looked a lot like a grimm. I ended up scrapping that as unrealistic.

This is also a sort of turning-point in the story. The action from here on tends toward violence and death. There is still about two weeks left of their break before returning to Beacon, at which point there's still a day or two before classes resume. No ETA on the next chapter, which I haven't yet started.