Chapter 2 - More Than a Name

Schnees didn't whine, they spoke up. They didn't trudge, they strode. The didn't groan, they . . . Weiss didn't know what they did instead, but at the moment, she didn't care. Because she was ready to do all the things Schnees weren't supposed to do.

I never want to see a Grimm again, she thought, though she would never say those words out loud. Not with her forced partner behind her.

Ilia walked as though they were taking a stroll through the park. She didn't stumble over a single pebble, nor was she stiff with concern like Weiss. Being able to see in the dark must have been a blessing when you had to get through dark caves, slaughtering every Grimm you find, for hours.

Weiss supposed it could be worse. They had run into plenty of Grimm, but at least they mostly consisted of Creeps and Beowolves. As for the caves themselves, they were at least wide, and so far they hadn't encountered a dead end. Weiss just wished the only paths weren't leading them away from Vale.

Ruby. Blake. Yang. Were they all okay? What about Vale? The Grimm were surely invading. Were the Huntsmen able to drive them back? Did any die? Did—

Weiss forced the thought away. Her friends were fine. Oobleck would have been on the train, and he would have called for backup. Vale was fine. Weiss had to keep telling herself that.

It was easier said than done. She needed a distraction, and that wasn't easy when they weren't fighting Grimm. There was one option, but . . . it wasn't appealing.

Weiss took it anyway. "You know Blake," she said. "How is that?"

Weiss felt, more than saw, Ilia jolt. Ilia didn't even try to hide her wariness when she spoke. "Why?" she asked.

"Blake is my friend and teammate," Weiss said, unable to keep indignation out of her voice. "I am fully justified in wanting to know more about my friend's past."

Ilia, whose footsteps had been silent before, all but stomped at that. "We worked together in the White Fang," she said. "Nothing more."

Even Ruby would have been able to pick up that lie. Weiss rolled her eyes, but she didn't press the subject any further.

"Forget it," Weiss said instead. "We've walked for hours. We need to sleep," Weiss hated herself as she said it. The longer they slept, the longer it would take them to get to Vale.

Exhausting themselves would ensure they never got to Vale.

"Once we find a good spot, we'll stop," Weiss continued. Almost, she offered to track the best spot. Before Beacon, she would have.

Taking the lead hadn't gotten Ruby and her to the relics in the Emerald Forest. Trying to find a location to rest when Ilia had the superior vision in the dark caves would have been arrogance and nothing more. That didn't make admitting her weakness to a member of the White Fang any better.

"You lead," Weiss forced out.

Based on the soft snort Ilia gave, she had noticed Weiss' displeasure. Maybe that made her spiteful, or maybe she honestly meant it when she said, "We'll rest here."

"What?" Weiss demanded before she could stop herself. She cringed after saying that, and immediately rushed to correct herself. "We need to find somewhere safer," Weiss said. "I don't want to be eaten by a Grimm while I sleep."

Ilia just sat down on the cave floor. "Did you think we wouldn't take watches? At least here we have room to fight if we get ambushed." She gestured at the tunnel they were currently in. It was almost the size of Beacon's cafeteria.

Weiss sighed, but refused to argue like a petty child. "I'll take first watch," she said, then strode away.

Working with this girl was going to be impossible.

Working with a Schnee was impossible.

It was seven hours after Ilia had settled down to rest. It hadn't taken long for her to find sleep; years of practice in the White Fang had helped with that. After four hours, the heiress had woken Ilia, then taken her own turn resting.

Ilia had to admit, she hadn't been expecting the Schnee to fall asleep so quickly. Ilia could see the steady rise and fall of her chest, even with the distance between them. Still, Weiss Schnee was a girl who lived in comfort. She had made that clear at her initial protests on sleeping in the wide tunnel. Had she expected them to find a five star resort underground or something?

At least she would be good in a fight. She had proven that the previous day. If Ilia had to put up with her temper until they escaped the tunnels, so be it. But they would never be friends.

A scratch in the darkness drew Ilia's attention. Her head snapped in the direction she had heard the noise from, but there was nothing there. Nothing but the sleeping girl. Had she imagined it?

Another noise, coming from the same spot. It might has well have been right next to the Schnee's head.

Ilia frowned. She wouldn't have missed movement, so where were the noises coming from? She stepped over to where the Schnee was sleeping, and peered over her to where the noise had come from.

It sounded again, except this time there was an echo to it, as though whatever had caused the scratching noise was hollow. That was when Ilia recognized the source of the noise.

"Move!" she shouted, picking up a surprised Schnee and leaping away just in time for a massive claw to burst through the ground. The echo rang through the cavern, making Ilia wince.

The creature pulled itself fully through the hole, unveiling its horror for them to see.

Upon first glance, it was a blob of flesh with a human-like mask at the front of it, similar to that of a Nuckelavee. Except the mask was more jagged, with a fire-like shape. Looking closer, Ilia could see the rows of white claws extending out of the entire Grimm's body. It could grow the claws, making them more hollow in the process.

It had already shown that its claws were sharp enough to break through the ground. Ilia didn't want to see what it could do to one of them. Being a blob of flesh, this Grimm had to hop to get around, which made it easy to dodge. But with claws coming from every angle, getting at that soft flesh was a ridiculous feat.

"A Salire?" the Schnee blurted. Anything else she might have said was interrupted as one of the claws expanded, rushing at her. She rolled away at the last second, grabbing her sword in the process.

Ilia pulled out her own weapon. "If I keep its attention on me, can I trust you to find an opening?"

"Of course." She held her sword before her face.

That was all Ilia needed to hear. She lashed her whip at the creature's mask. At first, the action seemed to confuse it. The entire body rotated until the mask bore into Ilia.

Knowing what was coming, Ilia ran forward, jumping to dodge the first claw, then flipping over the second. Two more came at her, which she ducked, then leaned aside to dodge.

The onslaught paused as the creature analyzed her. It was only for a moment, during which Ilia backed away. Then, three claws shot forward, forming barriers to keep Ilia from dodging, while a fourth rushed at her.

Ilia swung at the fourth, slowing its trajectory. Two more swings, and it bended, so when it finally did reach her, she grabbed the claw, using the motion to leap up and on top of it.

It started retracting into the Salire before Ilia even landed. Her grip tightened, while the claw pulled her toward the Salire.

She flung forward when the Salire extended a second claw to knock her off. Upon landing, she swung at the claw she had bent earlier. Snapping it off was her best chance at exposing the flesh beneath.

"Look out!" a voice blurted suddenly, just as Ilia was thrown into the air by a black glyph. She looked down to see a claw ram through the air where her heart had been a moment ago.

Ilia spared the Schnee a nod before rushing back in. This time, she swung at the Salire itself. Not that she did any damage, with its multitude of claws serving as armor.

"Switch positions!" the Schnee called. Ilia looked her way, to see she was already moving. Given no other option, Ilia jumped back.

The heiress thrust her rapier forward the moment the tip turned red, striking the creature's mask. Ilia couldn't see the results at first, as the explosion covered the Salire from her view. When the last of the smoke dissipated, it looked as though no damage had been done.

The Schnee had attracted the creature's attention, though. A glyph pushed her away from the swipe of a claw. Once she was far enough, she shot icicles to keep the Salire distracted.

That left Ilia to find an opening. Easier said than done.

She swung at its back, only for her whip to be deflected by claws she could barely see. The Salire realized what they were doing, and let out a piercing screech. It took all of Ilia's endurance not to cover her ears.

Especially not when an opportunity presented itself.

"Get it to open its mouth again!" she shouted when the screech ended. Then, she ran forward, straight for the Salire's back. A claw extended her way, which she leaned sideways to avoid. Just as she was about to collide with mass, she jumped, spinning mid-air so she would still be facing the Salire when she landed.

Her eyes widened when a claw shot forward, in front of her face in an instant. Just when it was about to ram into her eye, a blast of ice slowed it down enough for her to get away.

That makes two times she's saved me from taking a bad hit, Ilia thought.

Another claw launched in the heiress' direction. She caught it on a glyph, lifting the creature into the air.

Ilia's eyes lit up, since she thought the bottom of the Grimm might be exposed. Seeing it tumble in the air, protected from all directions, dashed those hopes.

Time for plan B, then.

Ilia leaped off the ground, straight for the imbalanced creature. With it distracted due to its plummet, no claws shot at Ilia. As she passed the Salire, she slammed her contracted whip into its mask. The force caused it to land with a crash.

Predictably, the Salire wasn't happy. It screeched once more. Ilia, meanwhile, had kept flying through the air, and now her feet touched the cave wall. She leaped off of it, barreling toward the Grimm again. It was still shrieking, mouth wide open.

Ilia's whip flew straight into its mouth, shocking it from the inside.

She was still moving, though. She spun in the air to land on her feet, but the movement caused the whip to retract. If she was alone, Ilia wouldn't have been able to attack again while the creature was still stunned.

She wasn't alone, though. The instant Ilia's whip fell out of the Salire's mouth, the Schnee flung her sword forward, piercing the Grimm's soft insides. It let out one last gurgle, before evaporating.

The Schnne grabbed her sword from the cloud of smoke. She was panting hard, but she still marched forward, toward Ilia.

"Are you alright?" the heiress asked.

Ilia scowled at the question. She didn't need the girl's fake sympathy.

"I'm fine," Ilia said, pushing past her.

Apparently, the Schnee didn't like that. "Well excuse me if I show care for my only ally down here!"

Ilia spun around to glare at her. She wanted to talk about care? Where were the Schnees' care when Ilia's parents died in one of their dust mines? Where was their care when thousands of Faunus suffered every day? Where was this girl's care when her father killed innocent Faunus?

"Shut up!" Ilia snapped. "You Schnees only care about yourselves, while the rest of us struggle to survive!"

The pompous heiress stomped forward until her face was directly in front of Ilia's.

"You say you're fighting for equal rights?" the Schnee hissed. "Then stop judging me because of my father! I am not him, I'm my own person! Weiss Schnee. I like coffee more than tea. I have a sister who I've missed at Beacon. I have teammates who constantly annoy me, yet I couldn't live without. I am not going to be written off as just another Schnee!"

What Weiss' posture couldn't do, her words did. Ilia lost her breath, and couldn't stop herself from looking away.

It's fake, she told herself. She just wants me to trust her more, so she can feel safer in a fight.

"You helped lead Grimm into Vale," Weiss continued. "You're a member of a terrorist organization that executed people I cared about. I'm trying to look past that so we can survive, but if you're not willing to do the same, that's going to be difficult."

The words hurt more than Weiss had intended. She didn't know Ilia's own doubts on the Breach. Seeing Blake try to stop it only made Ilia more conflicted.

Beacon is going to fall, Ilia thought. Adam will make the humans pay.

Blake might die when he does.

Ilia shook her head, walking toward the next tunnel. "Come on," she said. "We might as well get today started. We have a long walk ahead of us."

The next few days would pass in silence beyond Grimm fights, leaving Ilia with only her thoughts to keep her busy.

Blake read the same page of her book for the tenth time. Once again, the words didn't register. There was too much going on in her mind for it to make room for them.

Blake winced at the sound of a sniffle from the other side of team RWBY's dorm room. Looking that way, she saw Ruby with her face buried in a pillow already damp with tears.

When Yang sent Blake an anguished look from the bunk above her, Blake shook her head. Ruby had screamed at Yang when she approached the previous night, an action so un-Ruby that Blake was still shaken by it.

The sniffles became sobs, and each one tore into Blake's heart. And if Blake was feeling this way, Yang—

Yang practically flew off her top bunk, landing on Ruby's to wrap her arms around her sister. Unlike last time, Ruby didn't have the strength to scream. Instead, she wailed, squeezing Yang tight. Yang patted Ruby's back and whispered soothing words into her ear.

Blake knew Yang was putting up a front for her sister. She knew, because after Ruby had screamed at Yang, Yang and Blake had gone to JNPR's room, where Yang broke down crying on Blake's shoulder.

The Breach had been a major success. Ruby, Blake, and Yang had kept the Grimm back long enough for the professionals to show up, driving the remaining Grimm away. It should have been a cause for celebration.

They couldn't celebrate. Not when Weiss was dead.

The last time they had seen their teammate, she had fallen off a train into a Grimm hoard. That didn't stop them from spending torturous hours searching for her.

What are we going to do? Blake thought. Ozpin had excused them from a week of classes, but classes were the least of their problems right now.

Then there was the girl who had been with Weiss. Blake couldn't bring herself to tell her team she had recognized her old friend.

Ilia, why? she wondered. Surely she knew the attack on Vale wouldn't accomplish anything. Had Adam convinced her otherwise? Was she just as far gone as he?

Did it matter when she was dead?

Blake pulled herself from her bed. She nodded at Yang, then stepped outside the dorm. After a quick glance to see if anyone was nearby, she slumped against the wall, burying her head in her hands.

This is my fault, she thought. It was my obsession with the White Fang that pushed the others into going on the mission. Then I ran again. I ran from Ilia. I should have stayed. I should have let Weiss fight Torchwick. I might have been able to talk Ilia down.

The alternatives she could have taken rushed into her head, taunting her. She almost screamed. She would have, had she been far enough from Ruby and Yang.

What could she do when it was her fault the team was falling apart?

Keep the team together. It's what Weiss would have wanted. She shook her head at the thought. She couldn't do it. She just couldn't.

Do it anyway.

A memory came to Blake's mind. Weiss saying she didn't care about Blake's past, as long as she let them know when something was wrong. It didn't take long for Blake to break that promise. It had been Weiss to once again put a stop to that.

Blake stood, a glint of resolve in her eyes.

She had run away too much. It was time to stop running. For Weiss.