NOTIMETOPREPAREYOURSELFTHESTORYSTARTSNOW!

"Really? Nothing at all?"

"Nothing," Blake groaned. "None of our teachers have seen her, none of the students, no one."

"Oh, this is ridiculous." Weiss grumbled, pacing in front of her team in frustration.

"I don't understand," an exasperated Ruby added, letting her head fall into her hands, "she'd normally be in the gym or the cafeteria on her own, or she'd head into Vale."

"Did yo-"

"No, I didn't check Vale for Yang, Weiss. I'm not that fast. Jeez." The Heiress huffed, and Blake couldn't tell if that was because she didn't like the fact she was being sassed back to, or she was going to scoff and tell Ruby that she could have done it if she'd put her mind to it. Either or, and both just as likely. "But Yang's bike is still here, and she never goes into Vale without Bumblebee."

"It's true Weiss," Blake added, deliberately omitting the part where she had ridden into Vale once with Yang at ludicrous speeds just so the blonde could prove that Bumblebee was faster than a Bullhead over a distance like that.

Yang was, ultimately, right.

Yang also ignored every traffic law on the way into Vale.

'Traffic laws are just a slippery slope to the big ones,' Blake's inner voice reminded her, 'maybe that should have been a sign that things were going to crash and burn like they did.'

Remembering one of the things she spotted on her search, no thanks to the niggling inner voice that wouldn't go away, the onyx haired girl mentioned to her teammate something else. "There were a few crashed Bullheads just outside the school grounds, but they were all inbound, if the way the debris was flung is anything to go by, so she couldn't have been on those."

The Heiress rubbed her head, trying to think of something, anything, that would give them an idea of where Yang would be. It had been a good 40 minutes since they split up, but they had all come up empty handed. "Let's try again. She can't have gotten far."

"Weiss, it's been nearly three hours. She could have gotten pretty far if she wanted to."

"I am aware of that, Blake," Weiss snapped back. "I am also trying to think positively about this so that we don't dig ourselves into a hole and make things worse by drawing another horde of Grimm our way and dragging this search out even longer."

"Well, maybe we should spend less tim-"

"Guys, please don't fight," Ruby whimpered, like a small child caught in the crossfire between two parents squabbling. "Finding Yang is our priority. We lose her, we lose Team RWBY."

"You're right Ruby," Weiss admitted with a sigh, easing the reins back and calming down before it escalated even further. Blake simply nodded. She couldn't bring herself to do more than that. Ruby's attitude always affected the rest of the team, it was just so infectious. Even when she felt bad, it affected everyone.

"Great! So, we'll split up again, but this time, we'll search a section of the campus each, and then we're going to all head back to the dorm. If we can't find her on our patrols this time, we rest and continue tomorrow."

"Sounds… great."

"Oh come on, Belladonna," Weiss chastised, busting out the surname to prove how serious she was being, "she's your partner…"

'Gee, thanks for reminding me Weiss,' she thought, noticing the word used and seeing the slight upturn of the Heiress' lips knowing full well why she said that word.

"…you can't just give up on her."

"Yeah Blake. Besides, you're like our team ninja. And ninjas are amazing at tracking stuff."

'Not true, Ruby,' came the cynical voice inside Blake's head.

"So… your next target is Yang Xiao Long." Again, her heart ached every time someone mentioned the blonde by name. "Go get her, Team RWB_! Banzai!" Blake continued to look ashamed, whilst Weiss stood cross armed facing Ruby, never having partaken in one of Ruby's 'Banzai!' cries and certainly not starting now. "Oh Gods, it's started! Quick Weiss," she cried, grabbing the girl's wrist, "we've gotta get Yang back, else my energy won't be matched and I'll explode from too much energy!"

Blake was pretty sure she heard Weiss try to tell their energetic leader that "less sugar in her coffee and a cutback on her cookie consumption would help a lot," before she disappeared in a flash and a scream that was cut eerily short from how fast they were travelling away from her.

"Might as well…"

'Yes, because wandering around alone has always worked out fine for us.' Blake frowned at her internal voice and it's snarky remark.

"Shut up, we don't have a choice in the matter."

Taking the right hand path back towards Beacon, Blake kept her eye out for any signs of her partner. With the fighting all but done, there was no telltale screaming and hollering she could follow, nor the signature kachunk! sound Ember Celica made when it reloaded.

There'd be no partying, what with how everything had gone to pot once the Grimm arrived and people started panicking making more Grimm arrive. That said, when members of the general public started to realise that they were literally surrounded by men and women with weapons who combat these creatures for a living, their panic fairly promptly subsided and less Grimm were attracted to the school, the influx of Grimm petering off to near non-existence after about an hour or so. 'Partying might not be out of the question then,' she thought to herself.

Her search for Yang lead her to the airfield, hoping that the blonde hadn't left without telling anyone where she'd gone or how long she'd be gone for.

'Hey there Kettle! Name's Pot, have we met?'

"Okay, you are not helping the situation here," she told herself.

'And you are?'

Blake chose to ignore that comment, and continued onwards. The airfield was nearly barren; a few airships remained for last minute transport of Huntsmen and Huntresses out onto the battlefield far away from the Academy, but for the most part remained still and empty. No one was running onto or off of the landing areas, so it was still. To Blake, if she tuned out all the sounds around her - hard to do with her Faunus heritage, but wishful thinking nonetheless - it almost be described as a place where time had just stopped dead.

Blake only stopped walking when, behind one of the park Bullheads, she saw the instantly recognisable golden locks of her girlfriend. There were only the four of them there, the three Atlas soldiers standing square opposite the student in an intimidating line, but with how they were glaring down at her it felt to Blake like there were dozens of men opposing her. She couldn't imagine what it felt like to Yang. But before she could do anything and apologise for how she acted earlier that day, she heard the conversation going on between Yang, Ironwood and the men by her side.

"...that's what you want to hear, right?" she said, arms waving about wildly and voice raised in frustration and anger.

"Miss Xiao Long, please," the General pleaded. "Think of the ramifications of saying that out loud, particularly now when the world is already gunning against you."

"But it's what you want to hear, isn't it? It's why I'm here right now. 'I punched Mercury because he deserved it. Even after I had won, even though he was helpless. I nearly did it again! I'm just a criminal, a monster.' Reporters are going to have a field day when they… hear…" She spotted Blake too late, the shocked look on both girls' faces - one from seeing an hearing her partner confessing, the other fearing what she had heard - expressing what words couldn't at that moment.

It didn't take long for her to put the pieces together: Yang was turning herself in.

A wave of all kinds of emotions struck her, and she was too overwhelmed to differ one from the other. They told her to scream. They told her to cry. To fight her. To fight for her. To apologise. All different things cancelling each other out, leaving her at a standstill.

Blake did what she did best under those situations, against every instinct she'd fought to suppress over the last month.

She ran away.

"Blake!" Yang tried to run after her, even as one of the guards accompanying General Ironwood grabbed her arm to stop her. He was swiftly dissuaded from doing that again with a firm elbow to the gut, giving her enough of a lead to take off after Blake.

Her mind was a havoc; her heart even more so. She ran without a destination. She was aimless.

All this time, she had been thinking in the back of her mind, hoping and praying to whichever of the Gods would listen, that she was wrong. She didn't want to be right. Gods, she so didn't want to be right. But Yang had said it herself; she was a criminal, a monster.

Just like Adam…

'Told you so.'

Blake was lighter and therefore naturally faster than Yang, but Yang had adrenaline on her side to keep her on her toes and firmly on her heels. "Blake, wait!" she called out after getting within normal earshot of the onyx haired beauty.

Seeing how Yang was reluctant to stop, Blake did eventually come to a halt. Heavy breathing aside, Yang still looked good considering everything she'd been through in the last few hours, even through the grime on her face and clothes.

To an outsider, at least. But Blake saw it…

She saw it in those purple eyes. They looked so different from they did only hours ago. Something was missing...

It was Yang. She was what was missing, and Blake realised that with unfathomable horror and loss.

She simply wasn't all there anymore.

The life and love she'd felt before was gone, leaving only a husk - only remnants of what had been.

"Blake, let me explain," Yang huffed, her mind still playing catch up with her body.

"How could you do that, Yang?" Blake responded, feeling far less mentally disoriented after such an intense burst of running. "I thought you knew better than that."

"I do know better, Blake! That's why I'm telling you, it actually happened." Yang tried closing the gap between them both, but the Faunus kept the spacing the same, stepping back an equal number of steps "I swear!" she tried, sounded as hurt as the slight look in her eyes told her she was at Blake remaining that distance away from her.

"That's not what everyone in the stadium, not what tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people saw on the cameras. They saw you attack him out of nowhere, completely unprovoked." Amber eyes locked onto amethyst, and with conviction, Blake told Yang the truth. "And I saw it too."

"But it felt really real, Blake. It was real!"

Shooting down the response, the bookworm simple stated, "not to me it wasn't."

"Oh, come on Blakey! Do y-

"Don't call me 'Blakey'," she spat, ignoring the blood rushing through her ears. "Don't call me by the name you used to call me back then. Don't call me by the name I love, Yang Xiao Long. You don't deserve that. Not after what you did to me - to all of us. Not anymore."

"'Back then'?" Confusion spread across Yang's face at the remark. "C'mon Blake, it was, like, a few hours ago. I haven't changed at all, really..." The blonde flashed her the Xiao-Long grin. "I'm still the same old me!" Blake crossed her arms, not buying it. Yang's smile was forced. Her easy-going attitude was forced. Blake saw through it all. "Well, can I call you 'Sweetie'?" she offered with a careless smile, her head leaning towards her in that way she'd always done whenever she expected Blake to respond to her puns and jokes with a witty comeback. The way she looked, talked, acted; it was all so familiar. But Blake took one look at those hopeless eyes and her resolve steeled.

"No."

"Kitten?"

"Pushing it, Yang," she warned.

"…My Starlight?"

"Enough, Yang!" the Faunus snapped, frightening a small scream out of Yang. She was done with this. Done with everything. Even the most patient of people had their limits. And Blake never exactly prided herself with being patient. "Get to the point, or I walk away now."

With a defeated sigh, the blonde continued her previous train of thought. "Do you honestly think I'd make something like this up?" With a chuckle, she added that, "I'm not Nora."

"Yeah?" snapped Blake. "Well, at least with Nora, Ren's always there to correct her ramblings!" Momentarily, she was taken aback by her own words - by how venomous they were. But then she remembered something important; at this point, she didn't care anymore.

Yang wanted to say something back. Really, she did. But her girlfriend just outright denied that she'd believe her based on the fact no one else saw what she did. That was ultimately the straw that broke the camel's back.

But there was no explosive anger, like there may have been before.

Yang quieted.

Blake looked at her.

She looked at the girl's face; there were dust, sweat, and what she hoped weren't blood and bruises. She looked so broken.

Blake… wanted to hug her. She wanted to comfort her the way she would have if not for everything that had happened.

There was a quiet voice at the back of her head who whispered. And, through all of this noise of destruction and hatred and fear… Blake heard it, clear as day.

'Despite everything, I still love her.'

And that was what compelled her to give Yang one last chance.

"Yang, tell me what's going on," her voice shook. "Please. I can't help you if you won't tell me. Just… just stop this, Yang. Stop this before it's too late. I… I still..." 'I still love you, Yang,' she chose not to say, despite the way her heart ached for her to say it. "I still want to help you, Yang." Her voice was hoarse, breaking. Just like herself.

She looked at Yang. Yang didn't look at her. She looked down on the ground. As if she was ashamed of herself. As if she didn't want to ever see her again. It hurt Blake. It hurt her so much.

But she didn't give up on her. She couldn't.

Her feet seemingly moved on their own. Her hands did too; they gently touched Yang's cheek, tilting it so she could see the face of the girl she'd fallen in love it…

Her heart broke at the sight of guilty lilac eyes.

"Yang… Please…" She couldn't say anything more than that.

Blake realised, as her heart slowly sank into a hole of despair, that the woman she loved might truly be gone.

But there was a stubborn part of her that still hoped that maybe everything would be alright, that maybe Yang would stop this madness, and that maybe, just maybe, there was still a future for them where they could still be together and happy…

So she watched. And waited.

Seconds felt like an eternity.

Two pairs of eyes stared at each other; one filled with thousands of emotions, the other filled with none whatsoever.

And suddenly it was as if everything except she and Yang was pitch black. As if the world didn't exist anymore.

Blake could only look at the face of someone she loved.

… A tear fell down. It wasn't her own.

Yang, for a single moment, broke. She looked at Blake as if she was everything to her. As if she was the only one that could save her. Yang smiled, and it was such a… sad smile. Blake wondered how it was possible for a smile to be this sad. Blake could see it; the things Yang had never spoken before.

Blake's heart stopped when Yang broke eye contact to look down. She wanted to scream when Yang gently lowered her hand from her face. She wanted to cry when Yang looked at her with that same hopeless look on her face.

"... I'm sorry, Blake."

And the part of her that still had hope was buried. Deeply. Never to be seen again.

No tears fell. Not from her face, at least. Not even when the guards rounded on Yang again. Not when Yang allowed herself to be handcuffed; to be chained like a criminal.

She didn't move when her Yang was taken away from her.

Blake stood there even until she was gone.

She stood there.

She breathed, shallow and clipped as it may be.

She moved and trembled. Maybe it was out of exhaustion. Maybe out of shock.

She blinked every once in a while.

And yet... she didn't feel very alive.

"Blake! Oh thank the Gods, we were getting worried." Weiss. That was her. A part of Blake noticed that the surroundings weren't as wrecked as it was before. There was no more Grimm nor the White Fang in sight. There were only Huntsmen and civilians.

It made her wonder how long she'd been standing there.

"Blake?" a scared voice of a little sister asked. "Where's my big sister?"

And suddenly, Blake hated Yang.

She hated her because she was being burdened with the heaviest, most horrible task of all. Telling her precious team leader, telling her closest, dearest friend that…

"Yang… Yang's gone, Ruby."

FeugoFox42

Bananas!

...What? Clementine didn't do it last time, I had to make up for it now.

I will apologise for the lack of an update last week - London Comic Con was last weekend (SO GOOD! Make Clementine jealous by telling her your Comic Con stories if you've been :P) and I was enjoying myself far too much to upload. Also, the Wi-Fi was crap in the hotel and it only had breakfast options. Maybe a bar for the evening, I never paid attention to that.

I will also apologise for this next nugget - 'Three Masters' will go on a bit of a hiatus. I am aware it's only four chapters in, but someone has to do exams and the like. They're more important that a side project story, so it'll take a backseat whilst that happens. I personally will continue with it for that duration, but nothing will go up until Clementine has corrected my mistakes and writed all my wrongs [yes, that was intentional]

Also, the prologue's done, I guess.

Clementine Davidson

And now, the real fun is going to begin. I'm excited to hear your thoughts on the matter. I mean, for a prologue, I think we did more than just "good", but yeah, what do you guys think? I personally think it's really well-made.

I can sort of see our writing styles shining in each and every scene. Fox did super well on the first part of the prologue, seeing as how he writes most (okay, all) of the chapter (back then, my role is still just a beta). And I'd like to think I did pretty great on the third part of the prologue.

I wonder if you guys notice the way the writing sort of changes in its style. If you do, then… err… I hope it doesn't bother you?

FeugoFox42

Hopefully it doesn't. The amalgamation of both of our styles is what'll make this story stand out.

As always, feedback - good or bad - is most appreciated.

Clementine Davidson

And to think we're just starting the story… hehehe.

Have a nice day, everyone!