Chapter 15

Yang and Team YYRN faced down the colossal icy knight. The shadow stared back. The logical thing was to hit it with was fire. Yang loaded incendiary rounds into Ember Celica and prepared to attack. Naoto led off, launching a stream of fire at the shadow's chest. The shadow groaned as water trickled down from the impact point where the fire was melting through its frozen armor. Naoto was clearly the primary threat and the shadow acted accordingly. It slammed the butt end of its halberd down on the floor, shaking the ground enough to knock Naoto off balance. With the attack ceased, the shadow reached out a hand toward her and unleashed a blast of ice. Before Naoto could react she was encased in ice, frozen and locked in place.

Yang was ready. She charged at the shadow, firing as she went. The impacts from her shots left the surface of the shadow pitted where they melted some of the ice away. The shadow swung its blade around but Yang easily jumped over it, continuing toward her adversary. She ran up to its leg and punched it as hard as she could. The shadow did not budge, despite the rather sizable chunk that had been melted away. It simply flicked its massive leg forward and Yang went flying. She recovered mid-air and raced back toward the shadow as soon as she hit the ground. This time the shadow used a vertical strike from its halberd, slamming it down at Yang. She rolled aside as the icy blade smashed into the ground. Yang leapt toward the shadow's face, but it caught her with its free hand. In an instant it encased her in ice before tossing her aside.

Yu was the only one left who was capable of wielding fire. The shadow noticed and attacked him non-stop. He could not get off a single blast before the shadow fired ice in his direction, forcing him to move. Even a speed boost from Rise was of little use in escaping the onslaught and Yosuke's bullets seemed to have no effect on the beast. Yu could finally stand no more. He stopped and blasted fire at the shadow as it blasted ice at him. The streams met between them, the clash of fire and ice creating a gigantic and blinding cloud of steam that grew as the combatants persisted. Yu fired blindly into the cloud, hoping his attack would win out. It did, to a degree. Suddenly, the shadow came rushing out of the cloud, heading straight for him. There was no time to avoid its attack as the shadow swept its massive halberd in an arc in front of it. The blade caught Yu in the midsection and only his aura prevented him from being sliced in half. As it was the hit sent him tumbling through the air. After a short flight, he slammed into the wall and fell to the floor with a thud. He did not get up.

With the shadow distracted, Rise managed to get in the most effective shot yet. Firing her laser skillfully, she managed to slice the shadow's halberd in two. It roared in rage as it threw the useless halves aside. The halves shattered on the ground as the shadow angrily charged at her. By the time it reached her firing position, she was long gone. The shadow slid to a stop, its icy boots getting little grip. That gave Yosuke an idea. He put everything he had into a blast of wind. The wind sent the shadow into an ever accelerating slide that slammed it hard into the wall. It staggered away, as significant chunks of ice tumbled off its body. The shadow's arm was cracked badly at the elbow. Shockingly, it ripped the arm off and threw it at Yosuke. He tried to avoid the flying iceberg but could not. It smashed into him, pushed him along the floor as it slid, and crashed into Rise as well, pinning both of them to the wall as it came to rest. The shadow stomped toward them, intent on finishing them off.

Something had to be done. Weiss felt so helpless. All she could do was watch, imprisoned in ice, as her shadow beat the life out of her friends. She struggled against the ice holding her in place. She was in so much pain. With a scream she wrenched her left arm free. These were the people she cared about. She could not let them down. With all of her might she tugged her right arm out of the ice. The skin on both arms was bloody and chewed up from being dragged along the jagged ice, but the cold deadened the pain. Only Myrtenaster's hilt was free of the ice, but that was enough. She grabbed hold of the weapon, focused, and produced a blast of fire that was enough to free it. She now turned it on what remained of her icy prison and melted it away. She stood and almost fell, her strength ebbing and her balance failing. She pointed her sword at the shadow, took a deep breath, and launched a continuous stream of fire into the center of its back. The shadow groaned as the fiery lance pierced its torso, the heat melting away the surrounding ice until the entire thing collapsed under its own weight. Chunks of ice crashed to the ground and shattered before melting into a black goo and evaporating away. Completely spent, Weiss collapsed.

Moments later, Yang was free. Her own flame had finally managed to melt through the ice that had ensnared her. It was a simple matter to free the others. Yosuke and Rise were mostly unhurt but very happy to be out from under the giant chunk of ice that had pinned them to the wall. Naoto was borderline hypothermic but otherwise alright. With a little help from Rise, Yu regained consciousness, hobbled only by a lingering soreness. Weiss' condition was altogether harder to discern. She lay there on the floor, hyperventilating, just staring at the ceiling.

Yosuke rushed to Weiss and knelt by her side. "Weiss, are you okay?" He asked.

"I thought we agreed you'd never speak to me again." Weiss said weakly.

"She's fine." Yosuke said, shrugging his shoulders. "Yang, I guess you should take it from here." He stood and walked away, knowing what sort of abuse Weiss was capable of delivering and wanting none of it.

Yang sat beside Weiss. "We didn't get to see much of you and your shadow's conversation, but if it was as rough as mine I'm sure you've got a lot on your mind." She said. "Is there anything you want to talk about?"

"Not really." Weiss sighed. "My father, the Faunus, the White Fang, Blake, you've heard it all before. It doesn't really warrant repeating."

"In that case I think we should get out of here." Yang said as she stood. "So, where are we headed, the dorm or the hospital?"

"The pain I'm feeling says hospital, but my heart says dorm." Weiss replied. She still sounded terribly weak. "Where are Ruby and Blake?"

"Still in here somewhere." Rise answered. "We'll be coming back tomorrow for Blake. Her world is next in line."

"I'm definitely not going to the hospital then." Weiss declared. "That'd only stop me from coming with you."

"Alright then, dorm it is." Yang said. She grabbed Weiss under the arms. "Up you go." Yang lifted Weiss up and tossed her over her shoulder.

"Put me down you idiot!" Weiss protested. She flailed feebly before giving in. "Just don't tell anyone about this."

"Jaune, please tell us." Pyrrha begged from her hospital bed. In the bed beside her Ren seemed aloof but secretly hoped Jaune would relent. He wanted to know what Jaune and Nora were hiding just as much as Pyrrha did. Ren knew there was no point in asking Nora as she would not give up nearly as easily as Jaune would.

"I shouldn't." Jaune said. "I promised Team YYRN I wouldn't."

"If you're worried about it slowing our recovery, it doesn't matter." Pyrrha said. "We're so worried not knowing, it's just as bad." Nora gave Ren a concerned look and he nodded to indicate his agreement with Pyrrha.

Nora walked over to Jaune and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him out of the room. Pyrrha and Ren could hear them whispering to each other but could not make out what they were saying. Jaune returned with a heavy sigh. "I guess there's no point then." He said. "What happened was…uh…how should I…uh…"

"Team RWBY went missing like we did." Nora blurted out, much to the surprise of Pyrrha and Ren. "Adachi attacked them too."

"Team YYRN didn't want you guys to be worried." Jaune said. "They wanted you to focus on getting better."

"What happened?" Pyrrha asked. "Are they alright?"

"Yang and Weiss are safe now." Nora replied. "They were a little beat up but nothing like you two. They didn't even come to the hospital."

"The two of them and Team YYRN are working on rescuing Blake and Ruby." Jaune said. "We offered to go along but they want us to stay here with you guys."

Remembering what she had gone through, Pyrrha was on the verge of tears. If what Team RWBY faced was in any way similar, it would be incredibly painful, both physically and psychologically. Pyrrha would not wish that ordeal on her enemies. Pyrrha could see in Jaune and Nora's eyes that they felt the same but were doing their best to hide it. They wanted to instill confidence in their injured teammates but the anxiety was clear enough.

"Weiss, you're limping." Rise said. Together with Yang and the rest of Team YYRN, they were on their way to Blake's shadow world. "You should really head back and rest more."

"I'm not limping." Weiss protested. She was lying. "Do you know how hard it is to walk over rough terrain in heels?"

"If she says she's alright, she's alright." Yang said.

They approached Blake's world. Its outward appearance was that of a train, parked on tracks that ran through an impossibly dense forest. "All aboard." Yosuke said. He hopped up into the doorway that lead to one of the cars and reached out his hand to help Weiss up. She ignored him and climbed up on her own, though her injury and lack of height made it somewhat difficult. The others followed closely, already prepared for a fight as they entered the train car.

The train car was full of crates stacked floor to ceiling that lined both sides of a central corridor. They bore the Schnee Dust Company logo. "What's up with the Schnee logos?" Yang asked. "I thought we already dealt with Weiss' world."

"Blake is definitely the one in here." Rise confirmed. She pointed in the general direction of where she sensed Blake. "Weiss, do you have any idea…"

Before Rise could finish her question, the train lurched forward, throwing the group to the ground. After accelerating violently for a few seconds, the speed leveled out and they were able to stand again. Somehow the cargo seemed unaffected by the sudden movement. The group carefully moved down the corridor to the end of the train car.

Yu slid the door open. Looking down at the tracks as they flew past, he could tell they were going incredibly fast. This being the shadow world, it was hard to tell if the motion was real or an illusion, but it was not worth finding out the hard way. "Watch your step." He warned. He carefully stretched out his leg to the next car, seating it on the ledge just below the door. He slid it open and jumped through, soon followed by the others.

Upon entering the train car, it became immediately apparent that a fight was in store. Surprisingly, this car bore little resemblance to the one before it, and indeed its interior bore no resemblance to its exterior. It was vaguely train car shaped and had the expected décor, but far too large, by a factor of at least five. Such an arena surely held enemies. They were not difficult to discern. A large group of shadows stood across the room, taking the guise of Atlesian Knights. They did not look quite right, more like an artist's interpretation of the actual robots. They were, however, every bit as deadly.

As soon as the shadows spotted the intruders, they opened up with the guns built into their arms. There was no cover to use to hide from the withering fire. Bullets slammed into the group's auras as the shadows persisted in their onslaught. Thinking quickly, Weiss cycled Myrtenaster and used her glyphs to create a wall of ice between the shadows and the group. She had to continually add more ice as the shadows' bullets chipped away at it. Stepping out from behind the wall would be suicidal, but something had to be done to neutralize the shadows.

As the shadows slowly closed in, Yu and Naoto launched streams of fire over the top of the ice wall. Yosuke used wind to direct the fire down at the shadows and they were soon entirely engulfed in flames. It did not even slow them down. The shadows marched through the fire, still shooting. "Well, I'm out of ideas." Yosuke said. "Maybe a retreat is in order."

"The door's locked." Rise reported. "We've got to fight them."

The shadows were now only feet from the protective ice wall. Surprisingly, some of them stopped shooting. The terrible reason soon became clear. The guns in their arms retracted and were replaced by flamethrowers. They burned away at the barrier while those behind kept shooting. The barrier rapidly began to shrink. Naoto joined in with her ice abilities to try to prop up the wall but it was a losing battle. Soon the group would be without protection. Water began to pool on the floor as more and more protective ice was melted away.

"Yosuke, push the water away." Yu ordered with a calm that was inappropriate for the situation but entirely in keeping with his personality.

"Uh, okay." Yosuke said. He blasted wind at the pooling water, blowing it toward the shadows until it formed sizable puddled beneath their feet. "I assume you've got a…" Yosuke started, but Yu was already moving.

"Everybody back off!" Yu commanded. The group wisely followed his instruction as he leapt atop what remained of the ice wall. Fire and bullets deflected off his aura as his hands charged with electricity. All at once he released the built up charge into the shadows and the water beneath them. With the help of the water, electricity penetrated every shadow. They spasemed as electricity overcame them, before they finally exploded in a spectacular conflagration. What remained of the shadows melted and evaporated away.

"You should really let us know before you do something insane like that." Naoto said as Yu returned to the group.

"I thought we were all on the same page." Yu said. "Oh well."

Blake woke up in a dark place. At some point between entering the shadow world and now she had apparently lost consciousness. She felt pain across her whole body, but her calf was the main focus. The jagged wound left behind as Adachi's bullet had torn through her leg was already starting to heal thanks to her aura, but the wound still oozed blood and provided a disturbing window to the inner workings of her leg. She took off her bow and used it to dress the wound as best she could. She winced as she pulled it tight and tied it in place.

With that out of the way, there was more important business to attend to. Blake had to find the others. In the dim light of her current location, it was hard to see anything, but it was clear that the rest of her team was not with her. She hoped they were alright, but there was no way to know. She would need to find a way out. She located a door, but it was locked. The more she looked around, the more Blake felt she had been here before. There were some crates piled in the corner with writing on them, but it was difficult to make out. She approached and looked closely. 'Schnee Dust Company' and its accompanying logo was printed on the crates. A chill ran down her spine when she realized where she was. Until now she had ignored the metallic clanking sounds and the gentle swaying of the room. She was on a train. The train she had attacked with Adam. It was a special hell just for her.

"Hello Blake." Adam said. Blake drew her weapon and jumped to readiness, suppressing a scream as she put weight on her injured leg, and turned to face Adam. Adam sat on a crate across the train car with a sly smile on his face. "You remember this place." He said. "We had a really good time here. Those were the good old days, just you and me, fighting for the Faunus."

"You're not really Adam are you?" Blake asked. His demeanor was so different from the last time she had seen him at Junior's club.

"It doesn't matter." Adam replied. "What matters is that you betrayed the White Fang. Worse, you betrayed me. We were a team. I taught you everything you know. Then you betrayed me."

"I did what was right." Blake countered.

"You chickened out." Adam shot back. "As soon as things got bloody, as soon as they got real, it was too much for you to handle. Instead you ran away. You're a coward, plain and simple."

"There's a difference between fighting for freedom and murder." Blake said through gritted teeth. "I'd rather be a coward than a monster like you."

Adam laughed. "Oh, you're every bit the monster."