She knew the White Fang wouldn't be happy about her abandonment. She knew that if she was ever discovered that her life would be forfeit. Blake Belladonna only prayed that she had covered her tracks well enough to keep hidden from them long enough to be forgotten by time. Never had she been so wrong in all of her life.

She had seen him for the first time in quite a while some days ago. Adam Taurus, her former partner, was in Vale, and he was looking to skin a cat. That was how Blake found herself in her current situation. Adam had threatened the lives of her team mates unless she was to come along with him willingly, and Blake felt she had no other alternative.

She arrived, alone, at Adam's current hideaway; an abandoned warehouse in the industrial section of Vale. She expected to see other members of the White Fang, or maybe even some of Roman Torchwick's men, but was surprised to find that it was relatively empty. She placed her hand on the hilt of Gambol Shroud as she slowly inched her way through the metal doors, unsure of what lie beyond.

It was both a surprise and a relief to see Adam standing by his lonesome in the middle of the room. His sword rested on his shoulder while he stared at the wall in front of him, seemingly unaware of Blake's arrival. She was considering her chances of sneaking up on him and overpowering him when he cleared his throat. "Nice to see you again, Blake," he greeted without turning around.

She knew then that she had no chance of surprise, and silently prayed that her huntress training had been enough to give her the strength to beat him. "Hello, Adam," she replied.

At the sound of his name, he turned around slowly to face her. His mouth was unmoving, neither smiling nor frowning, and his mask hid his eyes so that Blake couldn't read his expression. "Still as strikingly beautiful as ever," he commented. He sighed. "You know why I'm here, right?"

Blake nodded. "Can hazard a guess, but I think I'd rather hear it from you."

"The White Fang isn't very happy that you left us, Blake. Our superiors feel that you know too much about us to be able to just freely leave. You put our entire operation at risk. I'm here to silence you before you endanger us any further."

"In short," Blake replied. "You're here to kill me." Adam nodded, and Blake sighed. "I didn't want this to happen, Adam. I just wanted to live peacefully. Be happy, even."

"We all do," he answered. "But we must work for it. Nothing is free."

Blake nodded. "Even so, the White Fang isn't what it once was. It used to be a haven for faunus to express their beliefs to the ignorant humans. What is it now, Adam?" Adam remained silent and unmoved, so Blake continued. "It's a source of fear and resentment amongst both faunus and human alike. It's a blight, and innocent faunus are suffering for it."

"Humanity shunned us, Blake," Adam stated. "But we aren't here to discuss morals and semantics; we're here because you have to die."

Blake nodded. "So, there's no way around this?"

"I'm afraid not." He lifted the sword from his shoulder and positioned himself to strike.

Blake drew Gambol Shroud and readied herself, hoping against hope that she would survive the encounter. The charged at each other at the same time, and the sound of steel against steel ringed out all around them as their blades made contact with each other. Adam lunged and Blake dodged by using her shadow clones to evade through deception. She tried striking from the side as her clone disappeared, but Adam was ready and blocked accordingly.

Blake decided she should split Gambol Shrouds blade and begin fighting with both of them, but she still couldn't land a single strike. It wasn't until a few minutes of the fight had passed before she realized that all of Adam's attacks were completely defensive; he wasn't leading any kind of offensive. She figured out that he was probably trying to tire her out, but she couldn't stop; as soon as she tried to ease up she would be dead. Her only option was to keep attacking and to hope for an opening.

However, she couldn't keep up the pace. She began to slack off as her exhaustion became more and more apparent. Adam took advantage of this and disarmed her of the cleaver like blade, leaving her with her smaller blade. She tried to keep up her offensive, but Adam blocked her next strike by grabbing her right wrist and kicking her in the stomach. Gambol Shroud was now out of her grasp, and she hit the wall behind her. Pain shot down her spine upon impact, knocking the wind out of her lungs with a pained gasp.

She heard a gunshot, and saw in horror as Gambol Shroud flew at her. To her surprise, however, the ribbon was tugged on and the blade impacted nearby. Adam picked up the cleaver and tied the other end of the ribbon to the handle, throwing it at Blake's other side. She was pinned by her own weapons, and Adam slowly approached her menacingly.

Fear for her life seeped into her bones, and her eyes went wide with terror. Tears began to roll down her cheeks as she began to think about her team mates. On one hand, she had saved them today; if she hadn't come, the White Fang would have most likely captured, tortured, and then killed her friends. On the other hand, however, she wasn't going to ever see them again, and her last words to her friends were that she was going to go shopping for a book; a lie.

Adam was now at blade's length from her, and he pointed his sword at her. "This is where you die, Blake Belladonna," he said to her.

Afraid to meet her fate, she shut her eyes in an attempt to mentally escape, praying that it was all a nightmare. She heard Adam grunt as he lunged forward for the final stab. A sharp pain came from her face as she felt the blade cut her cheek, but the most prominent feeling was that of confusion. He missed? she asked herself. Adam never misses!

She slowly opened her eyes. The sword was embedded in the wall next to her, and her left cheek now had a thin scratch; it would heal quickly and wouldn't scar. Blood oozed down her face slowly, and she saw Adam reach into his pocket and produce a small vial. He uncapped it and placed it under the scratch, letting the blood pool into the container. When he felt that there was enough, he pulled away and returned the lid to the vial and slipping it into his pocket once again.

He grabbed both pieces of Gambol Shroud and removed them from the wall, returning it to its proper form and owner, before pulling his own sword free and sheathing it. He pulled the vial out again and held it for Blake to see. "Proof of your death," he said before turning around and walking away. "You are now dead, Blake. Try to keep it that way for your own sake."

Blake was relieved that he was letting her live, but she was also confused. "Why are you doing this? Aren't you disobeying the White Fang?" she asked.

Adam paused and turned to face her once more. He stared at her in thought, but Blake couldn't read his expression due to the mask. He then did something that Blake had never seen him do. He reached up and slowly removed the mask. For the first time she could remember, she was gazing upon her former partner's face. His eyes were a deep crimson, but they didn't hold a trace of the anger and hatred that she would have expected.

They looked upon her with care, concern, and fear. "I don't like humanity," he said after a long pause. "But what the White Fang is doing now is no different than what the humans once did. They, at least, are learning. We're still clinging to old grudges. Wrongs that have already been righted hold no meaning to my superiors; they are trying to correct what is already being corrected."

Blake was surprised to hear him say these things, but it made her happy to know that even Adam felt similar to the way she did. "Not all humans are bad, you know."

Adam surprised her again by returning the smile. "So I've heard. I hear you have a wonderful team." His smile faded as he donned his mask again. "Live peacefully and in happiness, Blake. The White Fang won't bother you anymore." With those final parting words, Adam left Blake alone.

"Blake, where have you been? Weiss was starting to get worried," Yang stated is a matter of fact way as Blake entered the dorm room, carrying a bag full of novels.

"I was not!" Weiss protested. "I was simply hoping she would return soon so that we may all eat dinner together. A team shouldn't be apart for such things."

"You were totally worried," Yang continued to tease.

Weiss continued to pout in her own way, but Blake merely laughed at the pair. "Sorry I took so long. I…ran into an old friend of mine."

They were about to ask her who she could have run into, but Weiss stopped dead in her tracks. "What happened to your cheek?" she asked.

"Oh, this?" Blake answered. "I found a stray cat that didn't get along with others," she lied.

"Disgusting," Weiss stated. "Cat claws are unclean, you know. I hope you washed it to avoid getting sick."

Blake shook her head. "No, I didn't have time."

"Well, we can't have you catching something because of some filthy animal." She went to the bathroom and came back with a tube of disinfecting cream.

"You know, Blake is part cat, right? You just basically called her a filthy animal again," Yang teased. Blake smiled at the joke, but knew what Weiss had intended.

"Oh, I…I didn't mean to…I'm…"Weiss stammered.

"Weiss," Blake started. "I know what you meant. Don't listen to Yang."

"R-right. Let me just use this to clean that scratch, okay?" Blake nodded in consent, and she couldn't help but smile.

She and Weiss had become better friends since their little incident some time ago. It seemed the heiress grew more open and closer to everyone with every incident, both big and small. Most prominent was when Ruby was an insomniac for a month. That resulted in Weiss and Ruby becoming an item. Now, here she was, tending to Blake's small and insignificant injury out of true concern.

Blake silently thanked Adam. Her former partner had given her the best gift she could ever hope for; unlimited time with her friends without fear. It was still their first year at Beacon, too. Time could only tell what would happen in the coming months, let alone the years to follow. Blake decided that she would look forward to and cherish each moment she had with team RWBY.

That's what her lack of fear now promised. And besides, the dead don't know fear, and Blake was now dead.

Author's Note

If you paid attention to the description and realized that no one actually dies, thank you for reading this! I don't usually like character death in fan fiction, so I avoid it. Blake's death is, obviously, A LIE! I woke up too early this morning, so when I tried to go back to sleep I had this idea. It never fails, does it? Always when I want to sleep, I get these awesome ideas.

Also, I was tired to seeing Adam as a villian. I mean, I wouldn't doubt that he actually is in the canon, but we don't really know how he feels about Blake leaving the White Fang. Do we? Nah.

Guess what? Same canon as Team Effort and A Simple Game of Chess! Enjoyed this? Check those out! Enjoyed those? Check this out! Rinse and repeat!

Drop a review if you liked it, if you please.

Till next time!