Chapter 7: Familiar Faces

Blake regretted a lot of things about her current lot in life. She regretted leaving her friends, she regretted dragging Sun into the mess she was currently making of her life. She regretted having to try to get back in with the White Fang.

But at that moment, the thing she regretted most was choosing to come to Vacuo.

"Seriously Sun, how did you manage to grow up with this constant heat?" She was sweating profusely, the midday sun beating down and turning the city around them into an oven. For his part, Sun looked perfectly comfortable, even relaxed as they made their way through the residential district they'd been set up in to the address they were supposed to meet their supervisor at.

He just shrugged. "Honestly, you just kind of get used to it," he said. "Ditching the coat would have been a good start though."

"What, and get sun burned to death? No thank you." The coat certainly wasn't helping the heat problem, but given Blake's complexion, it was an unfortunate necessity. It was white, with tails that hung down to her ankles. It had a high collar too which further helped stave off the relentless sun.

"Suit yourself," he said, double checking the map they'd been provided when they'd arrived in the city. They'd hopped off the train they'd stowed away on in an frieght yard, using the cover of night to slip past the few human workers who had been out late. After that, they'd met up with a representative of the White Fang who'd set them up with a place to stay and a time and place to meet their supervisor for the upcoming job.

That had left them with a week to explore Vacuo City. Not that Blake had been terribly interested in sightseeing. They had a roof over their head and a few square meals a day, but they were still broke, which seemed like all the justification Sun had needed to steal food, drinks and flowers for Blake. Despite their talk back in the port town, it seemed there were just some behaviors she was going to be unable to curb anytime soon.

Still, seeing where he'd grown up had at least been interesting. Sun had been quick to inform her that he'd actually lived most of his life outside the city itself, in one of the outlying villages. He'd hopped the train when he could, determined to get up to trouble in the city itself. It wasn't hard to see how. The buildings here were oddly cramped for a city located in a broad, sprawling desert. The streets were narrow and twisted, creating lots of shadowy alleyways that provided hiding places for miscreants and aspiring thieves. Beyond the shadows, storefronts and street vendors alike were crowded together selling whatever they could to make a few lien. With all the noise and commotion, it was easy to see how Sun the delinquent had found his humble beginnings. She herself had had to stave off more than a few would-be pickpockets, many of them younger than she would have ever considered a pickpocket being.

Yet, as they headed towards their location now, she noticed that the streets had become noticeably less crowded. The population had shifted too; where once she had seen mostly humans with a few faunus scattered amongst them, now what people they saw on the streets mostly bore signs of faunus heritage. When she asked Sun about it, he grimaced.

"Worse part of town," he said simply. "Trust me, this is not the world's greatest neighborhood. Housing's way cheaper here, and it has a reputation for unsavory characters."

It made sense as far as the location for an illegal fighting tournament went, but it still made Blake feel uneasy. Not because she was worried for her own protection, but because seeing so many faunus forced to live in the worst parts of a city reminded her of the reasons she'd joined up with the White Fang in the first place. Inequality like this, social discrimination on this kind of scale, these were the things she'd always wanted to fight. Things she still wanted to fight.

It was just one more thing Adam had taken from her. He hadn't been the first to offer the idea of extremist tactics to the White Fang, but he was one of its loudest proponents. When the old leader had stepped down and the new one had taken his place, Adam rose swiftly to power. Power he wielded swiftly and indiscriminately.

The night he'd received command of the White Fang's Vale forces was burned forever into her memory.

***Blake was sitting in bed when he entered. He shouldn't have been here. She'd already told him it wasn't going to happen. She'd told him a long time ago that there was nothing more to be said between them. She rose, and tried to make him leave, but he was stronger than her. He always had been.

He reeked of alcohol.

When she'd pushed him, he'd hit her. He must have drawn from his aura because it sent her staggering backwards. She called her own, ready to defend herself, but he just laughed.

"Do you seriously believe you're a match for me?" he growled. "Things are changing, Blake. We're getting everything we ever wanted. Siena Khan is the future of our species. And I will be right there, the vanguard of a new world, with my queen at my side."

"Adam, please," she'd begged as he approached her, his steps unsteady. "You're not yourself. You need to go back to your quarters, sleep it off, I-" he cut her off, his mouth on hers. It was a rough kiss, harsh. He wrapped one arm around her waist, the other gripping her painfully by the arm. Try as she might, she couldn't escape his iron grasp.

She bit his tongue instead, and he shouted in pain. He lashed out, striking her again and harder this time. She collapsed onto the bed and he glared at her through the slits of that terrible mask. She tasted blood on her lips, his and her own.

"Please, Adam, just go. We can forget this ever happened, we can just go back to the way things were…" he was still in there, wasn't he? The boy she'd grown up with? Her mentor? Her best friend? Surely he would see, he would save her, just like he always had.

For an instant, it seemed like he might leave, like he might walk away and let this night just become a terrible nightmare.

Then he was on her, and she screamed as he covered her mouth with his hand. "You ungrateful bitch," he snarled. "After everything I've given you, you still deny me what is rightfully mine? I made you Blake Belladonna. I love you. And you love me too."

She struggled against him, drawing every ounce of strength she could, beating against his arms and chest, but to no avail. He only laughed at her.

"You don't know what you are, Blake," he growled. "How could you? You do love me Blake, you just don't know it yet. But you will…"

He'd uncovered her mouth, his hands tearing at her clothes. She screamed. "Wait! Please, Adam, wait!" She was hysterical, panicking.

He stopped. It was just an instant, a mere hesitation, but he stopped. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She could feel his fingers digging into her flesh, feel the air on her skin through the rips in her clothes. She could only think of one thing to do, revulsion making her stomach roll as she tried to gather her courage. Blake reached up and caressed his cheek.

"Y-y-you're right. Adam, you're so, s-so right. I-I-I've been l-lying to y-you. I didn't….I couldn't...I…" her throat had seized up, and for a moment, she thought she'd be unable to finish the sentence without retching, but she forced it out. "I love you." She felt bile rise in her throat. He felt his fingers caress her, harsh grasps turning to gentle strokes against her bared skin. She shuddered as they moved to take her more intimately.

"W-wait, please, Adam I…" his fingers dug into her and she cried out in pain. She pushed onwards just the same. "I need t-time. Please, I've never...I haven't...J-j-just give me t-time, okay? P-please, that's all I a-ask." She knew what she had to do to sell it. She hated herself, hated him, but she was too scared to do anything else. She eased herself up off the bed and kissed him. It was tentative, barely anything, but it was all she could manage.

Besides, he made up for it with his own enthusiasm. His kiss was aggressive, forceful. She felt the weight of him on top of her as he pressed himself into her. She felt his teeth tugging at her lip and it was all she could do not to scream. When he parted, he was smiling.

"My Queen," he'd said, softly, his fingers caressing her cheek. "My love…"

He'd left her alone that night, and Blake had cried herself to sleep, curled in a ball, unable to move, unable to do anything but hate herself.

It was the first time she'd ever told anybody she loved them.***

"Blake, you still with me?" Sun was looking at her, concern easily apparent on his face.

Blake realized she'd been muttering under her breath. "A Man with Two Souls, The Lost River, World of Night, Gold and Glory…" she trailed off, shaking her head. Her eyes were dry, thankfully, but her stomach felt ill and her hands were trembling. "Still here," she said, taking stock of where they'd wandered to. "Are you sure we're in the right place?"

"Think so," Sun replied. They were in a much more industrial part of town now, surprisingly not unlike the freight yard that had been her first impression of Vacuo City. The block closest to them was dominated by an enormous factory with several huge smokestacks billowing black smoke into the air. Beyond that was a warehouse district, where several faunus operating heavy machines moved crates from location to location.

"Please tell me we're not going to another meeting in a warehouse," Blake groaned as she watched the workers and tried to figure out how difficult it would be to sneak into one of the large buildings.

"We're not," Sun assured her. "Address is for that building there."

They rounded the corner and Sun pointed at the building in question. It was an apartment complex, but one of the most dilapidated ones that Blake had ever seen. The brick work was crumbling and cracked in several places, and the fire escape was rusted and appeared to have chunks taken out of the metal stairs. They approached the front door and Blake saw a buzzer next to it. Each name beside the respective residence was blank.

Sun checked the address again, then reached out and pushed one of the buttons.

"Your name?" a voice with a Menagerie accent asked over the intercom.

"Scarlet Ayana and Amber Azalea," Sun said.

There was a pause, then the voice spoke again. "You're right on schedule!" Whoever was on the other side of the speaker sounded pleasant enough, excitable even. It was a little jarring given their surroundings. "I'll buzz you in." Blake twitched her ears and felt a small twinge of recognition.

"Thanks!" Sun said as the door let out a loud metallic buzz. Sun opened the door and they stepped inside the cramped, filthy staircase.

"Well, this place is horrible, but at least our supervisor seems nice," he said as they made their way up the stairs to the third floor.

"I guess," Blake mused. Why had she sounded so familiar?

"Something on your mind?" the boy asked as the stepped onto their landing.

Blake shrugged and flicked her ear like she was trying to ward off a pesky fly. "I'm sure it's nothing. We should just focus on making a good impression," she said and opened the door. The room inside was surprisingly clean given the state of the rest of the building, and furnished comfortably, if modestly.

The pair shut the door behind them and walked further into the room. Blake stared around her, taking in anything she could. Her eyes fell on a picture sitting on a bookshelf in the corner of the room. The picture prominently featured a girl, who must have also been the photographer from the way her arms were held. She had long brown hair that fell to the small of her back and a pair of long bunny's ears on top of her head that disappeared out of frame. She was surrounded by people, a dark skinned boy with wild red hair and eyes clouded white with cataracts, another boy with close cropped dark hair who hunched over awkwardly to fit his massive frame in the shot, and a girl wearing a beret and a pair of designer sunglasses.

Suddenly, Blake understood why she recognized the voice over the intercom.

"We have to leave, now," she said, turning away from the picture.

She came face-to-face with the photographer. Her huge brown eyes were wide with shock. She wore the standard uniform for the White Fang, the under armour beneath a white armored tunic, and she had a brown box trimmed with bronze at the small of her back. Her hand went to her mouth.

"Blake?"

"Velvet."

"Wait, you two know each-" Sun was interrupted by a flurry of movement. Blake drew Gambol Shroud with a swift motion and launched herself at the other girl. There was a flash of light and Velvet countered the thrust, holding something that at least resembled a sword. It was more like a glowing blue wire-frame version, but it turned aside Blake's blade just the same. Blake tried to turn her momentum into another attack, but she was answered by a swift parry followed by a devastatingly powerful kick to the chest that sent her careening over an armchair and crashing to the ground. She hadn't had the presence of mind to draw on her Aura for protection, and hitting the floor head first had left her dizzy.

"Hey!" Sun cried out, his own weapon now in his hands. "I don't know what the hell's going on here, but you better back off lady!"

There was another flash of light, and suddenly Velvet held a wire-frame pistol in her hand, trained on Sun. "No sudden movements, got it?" Sun just stood there, dumbfounded. Velvet made her way cautiously around the chair and knelt down next to Blake, who managed to focus her eyes enough to look up at her.

"You're in a lot of trouble Blake Belladonna," she said.

Yang threw herself forwards with a shout, driving towards her opponent and arresting the momentum Emerald had been steadily clawing at for the last few seconds. Yang raised her left forearm, the gunmetal steel gauntlet that she wore deflecting one of the sickles Emerald wielded. There was a shower of sparks as steel met steel, and before Emerald could recover, Yang drove her golden right arm drove straight for her opponent's exposed stomach. Emerald exhaled as the wind was driven out of her, and Yang brought the bout to a swift end, her knee coming up and impacting against the other girl's face in a way that should have left her with a bloody broken nose.

Instead it just left her sprawled out on the mat, her eyes somewhat unfocused as she tried to recover her bearings. Yang twisted her left wrist and felt as the gauntlet she wore retracted itself into a bracelet. The gauntlet had been a gift from Cinder when they'd arrived in Vacuo. People would be bringing weapons to this tournament, most of them bladed, and being a bare-knuckle fighter like Yang would open her up to some severe disadvantages if she didn't have a way to defend herself against them. Even with her Aura protecting her, it never hurt to have a few ways to block sharp objects that weren't her bare skin. Anything that would keep her in the fight longer.

Yang reached out her right arm to Emerald where she lay on the ground. The other girl glanced at it uneasily, but took it nonetheless. Yang pulled her to her feet, relishing the strength of her new limb in the moments before she dismissed it. She'd had to learn a lot about Aura in the two weeks it had taken for them to arrive in Vacuo and travel through the desert to the city itself. From what Cinder told her, Aura was something like a pool of energy you could draw from. Most of that energy was usually spent protecting oneself, projecting it outwards like a shield. The rest could be drawn on to enhance your speed and strength. It had been the reason she'd been so obviously outclassed in their first few bouts.

To her amusement, however, Cinder had refused to spar against Yang ever since she ignited her Aura, pairing her against Emerald and Mercury instead. Of the two, Mercury was the stronger opponent, though his fighting style focused heavily on kicks with those steel boots of his. Emerald fought with her sickles, which made for better practice for the weapons she would face in the tournament.

As far as she could tell, their mastery of Aura was limited to those basic uses Cinder had mentioned. Yang's had to be more than that. Her new arm drew from that same pool of energy everything else did, and while it was just as strong as it had ever been - stronger in fact, thanks in now small part to her newfound skills - it wasn't terribly dextrous, and maintaining it when she wasn't fighting took a considerable amount of concentration.

"I thought I had you for once," Emerald said, sulking. "I must have hit you a half dozen times at least."

She wasn't wrong. Yang glanced at the rips in her fatigues and the red marks on her skin where her Aura had turned what should have been a gaping wound into a bad scratch. She just shrugged. "Honestly, I didn't even notice most of them."

Emerald rolled her eyes. "I don't see how you were able to stay that strong. Not with as much punishment as you took."

"Not everybody wields their Aura the same way," Cinder said from where she was perched on a large wooden crate. The three of them were in a warehouse that they'd turned into a makeshift sparring arena. Yang had been training every day here since they arrived in the city. The tournament would start that night, in a nearby factory that was being donated to the cause when the workers went home.

Emerald frowned. "It's still a resource, right? So she has to run out of it eventually." She glared at Yang. The blonde girl just grinned back at her.

"You think of it too academically Emerald," Cinder purred, sliding off the box and approaching the two girls. She was in her not-a-dress with the gold embroidery again. "Remember that Aura, first and foremost, is an expression of our souls. Of ourselves. Just as you have your gifts, so it would seem, does our dear Miss Xiao Long."

"Gifts? What is she talking about?" Yang was intrigued now.

Emerald shifted her glare to Cinder, but it lost several degrees of heat as she did so, and eventually melted into something more like embarrassment. "I thought you said not to mention that ma'am," she said.

Cinder smiled and touched her gently on the shoulder. It was enough to send a shiver down the other girl's spine. "Come now, I think Yang has earned our trust, don't you? Why don't you give her a little demonstration of your own talents."

Emerald swallowed and nodded. She stared at Yang for a moment, her eyes shifting out of focus. Yang thought she heard a sound, something at the very edge of her hearing. Then, Emerald and Cinder were gone.

In their place, was her sister, Ruby.

Yang felt tears in her eyes. Confusion was drowned in an instant by heartache, guilt and the kind of joy she thought she'd forgotten a long time ago. She moved to embrace her, to fold her up in her arms and never let her go again, but before she could, logic came crashing back around her.

Ruby couldn't be here. This couldn't be real.

"Sorry Yang," Ruby said, but she spoke with Emerald's voice. "This is my gift. I can make people see the things I want them to see. I can make them hear the things I want them to hear."

Ruby vanished, and her companions stood where she had been. Yang's chest felt tight. Her eyes were burning.

"You shouldn't have done that."

Emerald smirked. "You shouldn't have tried to break my-" she was cut off as Yang grabbed her by her jacket and hauled her into the air.

"Stay the hell out of my head, got it?" Flames ran through her hair, bathing the both of them in an orange glow.

"Yang." Cinder spoke calmly, but deliberately. "Put her down."

Yang hesitated, but did as she was told, dropping the older girl and stepping away from her.

"I need you two on the same side," Cinder said. "Remember, these are dangerous people we're planning on dealing with. If we're fighting amongst ourselves, it will only make our jobs that much harder."

Yang tried to quell her flaring temper, but even if things had been better for the past few weeks, she still found herself hard pressed to keep a cool head when she was provoked. And Emerald's vision had definitely hit a nerve.

"If we're all supposed to be on the same side, then why the hell do I still not know what this plan is?" she barked. "All you've told me so far is that I'm going to fight a bunch of people and scam a ton of money. Any other details that might be pertinent for me to know ahead of time?"

Cinder and Emerald shared a look. "I apologize Yang," Cinder said, "but I decided that it would be best if we waited until the tournament was about to begin before telling you who exactly our mark is. I felt it could interfere with your training if you knew.

"But you're right," she continued when Yang opened her mouth to protest, "you deserve to know what it is we're planning. You see, this tournament is being hosted by an organization. An organization that has a desperate need for money, and precious few ways to raise it without drawing attention to themselves."

Yang might not have been the best student at Beacon, but she wasn't dumb either. "The White Fang," she said clenching her fist reflexively.

Cinder nodded. "Precisely. They've done their best to distance themselves from this event, even going so far as to hire outside security and allowing sympathetic parties to run the day-to-day operations, but rest assured, at the end of the day, they will be the ones who stand to gain the most."

"If you think I'm going to fight just to line the pockets of the lunatics who attacked my school and murdered my friend, you have lost your fucking mind." Yang saw Emerald take a few steps back as heat poured from Yang, her eyes glowing like embers.

Not that it seemed to phase Cinder. "Of course not," she said, her voice soothing. "You're not the only person the White Fang has wronged, after all. No Yang, this isn't about lining their pockets. It's about puncturing their wallets." The flames around Yang died down, and Cinder smiled.

"You're not just going to fight in their tournament. You're going to be invincible. This tournament will become a showcase of your skill, of your abilities. A scrappy, one-armed girl who can perform miracles, who not even the strongest fighters can stand against. Meanwhile, Mercury and Emerald will be doing what they do best; bleeding the crowds, siphoning what money they can where they can, and keeping the odds stacked in your favor. Then, on the final night of the tournament, when the White Fang stands to make their biggest score ever, well, let's just say the house is going to lose. Everything."

Yang considered what she was saying. "You want me to throw the match."

"The last match, precisely." There was a hungry gleam in Cinder's eyes now. "Who would believe their invincible girl could be bested? Who would be betting against you? Certainly not the White Fang, not when somebody can convince them they could easily triple or quadruple their profits on a sure thing."

"Nobody would believe it wasn't rigged," Yang said.

Cinder's smile widened. "Of course not. Which is why our own agents will be slowly spreading word about the White Fang's involvement and hosting of the tournament. Then, when you throw the match…"

"It will look like they planned it," Yang said. "So not only do I have to fight in this thing, I have to keep my mouth shut about hating the White Fang."

"If anything, praising them and their tactics might do wonders for us later on," Cinder confirmed.

Yang shook her head. "I don't know if I can do that."

Cinder's smile faltered slightly, her eyes narrowing. "You don't have a choice, I'm afraid," she said. "I've invested too much into you. Time. Effort. This is how you will be paying me back."

Yang glared at her, but she didn't argue. It was true, Cinder had given her so much already. More than just training. She'd given Yang direction, a way to move on. She was still angry, a lot actually, but she found she could enjoy life a little more. She could smile once in a while. Maybe she could even be normal again some day. Without Cinder's help, she might have still been getting beat up for next to no profits in one of Junior's fight clubs.

"Fine. I'll do it."

Cinder's smile returned. "Wonderful."

The door to the warehouse opened with a rusty groan. The three women looked up as Mercury walked in with his usual cocky swagger. He was carrying a package under his arm. "Delivery for a Miss Xiao Long," he said, holding the box out to her. "I really wish you wouldn't have me working as a middleman for our 'courier,'" he said with a sarcastic edge on the title. "That guy creeps me out. Never stops giggling to himself. I swear, he was in stitches handing over the stupid box."

Cinder shrugged. "We don't always have the luxury of choosing our allies," she said, "but he does have his uses." She turned her focus back to Yang. "Go on, open it."

It took some work, but Yang managed to fumble the box open one-handedly. Inside was a metal cap, nearly identical to the one she wore. It wasn't marked like hers was, the guilded steel still looked pristine and unblemished. It had the same straps on it that would attach it to her bicep.

She looked up, confused. "What do I need this for?"

Cinder gestured to Emerald, who moved beside Yang and started to remove the cap she currently wore.

"Your last lesson," Cinder said with a knowing smirk.

"So, um, how do you two know each other?"

Blake couldn't help herself this time. She drove the heel of her boot down on Sun's toe, making him cry out in pain.

"What was that for?"

"Just shut up for once, okay?"

The two of them were seated on the couch in the apartment, their hands zip-tied in front of them, their weapons across the room on the floor. Velvet had been pacing the floor in front of them for a solid ten minutes, tapping out messages furiously on her scroll.

"Look, I'm tired of sitting here, okay? If you two know each other, you can talk this out, right?"

Velvet glared at the two of them, snapping her scroll shut and shoving it in a pocket. "There's nothing to talk about," she said. "Blake, you were a known associate of the White Fang before you came to Beacon University. We were willing to let that go, since our intelligence indicated you left before the group's more violent acts, but returning to them after the attack on Beacon is something I cannot ignore."

"What the fuck are you even talking about?" Blake said. "You're a student! You, Fox, Coco, Yatsuhashi, you guys were students with us! Now apparently you've run a background check on me and you're some high-ranking member of the White Fang? And somehow I'm the traitor?"

Velvet's usually kind brown eyes were intense with her fury. She had never seen the faunus girl like this before. She was older than Blake by two years, but she'd always been shy and soft-spoken. Blake never would have expected she could hold her own in a fight, much less that she would have ever run off to join the White Fang.

"Yes!" Velvet said, stamping her foot. "You're the traitor Blake! And I swear to every god that lives I will make sure you are punished for what you did."

"Then why don't you just go ahead and call him?" Blake was nearly hysterical now. "Call him, tell him where I am!"

"Would the two of you just listen to each other for one-"

"Shut up!" the girls said to Sun in unison.

"No! Okay, I am NOT going to shut up!" Sun was on his feet now, and in a flash, Velvet had that strange looking gun in her hand trained on him.

"If you're going to shoot me, then shoot me," he said, "but just hear me out first, okay?" Velvet stared at him suspiciously, but she lowered her weapon a fraction of an inch.

"Look, you guys are both super pissed seeing each other here, right?" The two girls glanced at each other, but otherwise said nothing. "Well, think about it, okay? If you were both actually White Fang, you wouldn't be pissed to see each other. If anything, you'd be happy because, you know, you're both secret-agent informer types, right?"

Blake thought about it a minute. Sun wasn't wrong about that.

Sensing that he had made a point, Sun pushed onward. "So, that means, the only reason you'd be pissed to see each other here is if neither one of you wanted to see the other person here. Which means neither one of you can possibly really be with the White Fang, or at least one of you would be happy to see that the other one joined up!"

There was a long pause as Blake considered the strange train of logic that seemed to be a Sun Wukong specialty. There was a certain sense to what he was saying. She looked at Velvet, whose eyes were flicking back and forth between the two of them, seemingly deep in thought.

Finally Velvet let her arm fall and the wire-frame pistol vanished. "Is it weird that I think I understood what he was saying?" she asked Blake.

Blake exhaled slowly, trying to slow her thundering heart rate. The tension in the room felt like it was starting to ease up a little. "No, it's okay. I get it."

It was like somebody threw a switch on Velvet. In an instant, she went from cool, commanding and intimidating to her usual shy, awkward self. She apologized frantically as she fetched Gambol Shroud and used it to cut their ties before returning both of their weapons.

"I'm sorry Blake, but with your background…we've suspected that the White Fang might have had collaborators at Beacon for a while, and when I saw you were here I just assumed…"

"Back up a step," Blake said, trying to wrap her head around the situation. "Who's 'we'? How did you know about my involvement with the White Fang? How did you even know I was a faunus?" Back at Beacon, she'd worn a black ribbon tied into a bow around her cat's ears to disguise herself. "Do they just hand out dossiers on all the students to third-years?"

Velvet looked embarrassed. "It's...kind of a long story. What do you two know about Huntsmen and Huntresses?"

"They're myths," Sun said, "stories people tell, like the stories about the Grimm."

Blake shook her head. "They used to be, but Huntsmen and Huntresses are still real. Nowadays, they're the members of Vale's covert special forces unit."

Sun cocked an eyebrow, and Blake shrugged. "The White Fang had more than a few encounters with them before I left."

Velvet gave Blake a long look, but nodded. "Right. They receive highly specialized training, and their members are recruited from Vale's most prestigious university."

"Beacon," Sun said. He was clearly trying to take all of this in stride, with only partial success.

Blake, on the other hand, was doing a much better job at keeping up. "You're...a Huntress?"

"Huntress in training," Velvet corrected her.

"Who else?" Blake asked.

Velvet gestured to the picture behind her. "All of us. Fox is the reason we were recruited in the first place." Blake stared at the dark-skinned redhead in the picture. "His mother was a Huntress too. Fox was born blind, so she taught him some tricks of the trade as it were to help him cope."

"She helped him activate his Aura," Blake said, putting pieces of the puzzle in place.

"Yes," Velvet said. If she was surprised by Blake's knowledge of the subject, she didn't let it show on her face, though she shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "We met during initiation, the four of us. Fox was recruited thanks to his connections and his aptitude, and the rest of us were offered the opportunity to join as the year went on."

"That's how you knew about my involvement in the White Fang," Blake said. "You were, what, assigned to keep tabs on me?" Her ears flattened indignantly.

"Not exactly," Velvet said, her expression sheepish, but unapologetic. "It's our job to keep people safe, to protect against any potential threat. That included former members of a terrorist organization who might try to be infiltrating the school."

Blake blushed, but it was Sun who spoke up first. "If you really knew Blake at all, you'd know she'd never do anything to hurt a student at Beacon! We're only here now because she's trying to get somewhere the White Fang would never look for her!"

"Sun!" Blake said, whirling on him, but Velvet looked pensive at his outburst.

"I suppose it's not the worst idea," she admitted. "But it's risky. You might have never worked with the faction of the White Fang in Vacuo, but that doesn't mean somebody couldn't recognize you. Especially with how close you were to some of the organization's most powerful players."

Blake was very uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was heading and decided to steer it elsewhere. "So you're a Huntress-in-training. That means that this job is an assignment?"

Velvet nodded. "I was assigned to go undercover with the White Fang after Beacon fell. My age and faunus heritage made me uniquely qualified to join up as a militant youth, inspired by the statement the White Fang made when they attacked during the Vytal Festival. When I found out about the tournament, they told me and my partner, Yatsuhashi, to try and figure out where the money was going to go. I've been working hard to get where I am, to make sure I'm useful enough and trusted enough that I can sit in on some of the meetings the leadership have."

Blake thought about her partner. She couldn't have said she knew him well. He didn't talk a lot, but he was built like a tree and at nearly seven feet tall, he certainly left an impression. He was also unmistakably a human. "So how is Yatsuhashi supposed to help if he can't infiltrate the White Fang like you?"

"He's entering the tournament," Velvet explained. "It'll keep him close enough to protect me if something goes wrong. Not that I can't protect myself," she added hastily. "But our mentor didn't want any of us going off on a mission like this alone."

There was a pause as Blake tried to absorb all of the new information. Velvet secretly being a Huntress was perhaps the most difficult pill to swallow, but the rest of her team at least seemed to fit the profile better. Fox, like Yatsuhashi, was quiet and intimidating in his own way, even if he didn't have the same gargantuan stature. And Coco, the ringleader of their little group, always carried herself with a calm, easy confidence that was impossible to ignore. Trying to imagine how she fought in the designer boots and outfits she wore on a regular basis, however, was another story.

Again, Sun was the one to break the silence. "Well, this is great! If we're all on the same page, Blake and I can totally help you take down the White Fang! We can keep our ears to the ground too, and tell you everything we hear."

Blake groaned, and Velvet looked skeptical. "Look, I don't mean any disrespect, but the two of you aren't trained like me and Yatsu are. The people we're dealing with are dangerous, and I don't want you two getting hurt."

"Pu-leez," Sun said, dismissing her concerns with a wave of his hand. "We can handle ourselves! I'm a pretty good fighter myself, and Blake here-"

"Sun! Velvet said she didn't want our help." So much of this had already gone so wrong. "Maybe it would just be better for us to go," she said. "We can find a different place to lay low for a while, get out from under the nose of the White Fang. It was always a risk coming here anyways."

"Where exactly are we supposed to go with no money?" Sun asked. "We're broke, remember? Besides, I doubt it'd be good for Velvet's cover if the security team she's supposed to be supervising just vanishes the same day the tournament's supposed to start."

Velvet looked like she hadn't considered that. She bit her lip and started pacing again, nervous this time rather than agitated. "He's not wrong. As much as I hate to admit it, I need you two to stick around. The job should pay you well enough to get yourselves back to Vale, or Menagerie or wherever it is you want to go, but if I don't have a team, my odds at getting any kind of relevant information are virtually zero." She sighed and rubbed her temple. "In fact, I'm supposed to be showing you the scheduled fights now, all the supervisors got the brackets an hour ago. Then we're supposed to go to a briefing where we'll have all the security protocols laid out for us and they'll tell us which shifts we work."

"So just do what you're supposed to do. Blake and I will play along, we'll keep our noses clean. We can't get hurt if no actual fighting breaks out, right?" he asked with a ten thousand watt smile.

Blake still felt uneasy about the idea of going through with their plan, but if backing out meant putting her friend in danger, she didn't see that she had much choice. Velvet seemed to agree with her.

"Alright, fine. But when I say take no risks, I mean take no risks. Don't ask any questions. Don't go snooping around. You hear something, that's fine, but under no circumstances are the two of you to do anything other than your jobs, got it?" The intimidating air of command was back. Blake thought privately that it suited her.

They both agreed, and Velvet ducked into the other room to retrieve an unopened envelope.

"Here's the bracket," she said, breaking the seal and sliding a single sheet of paper out of it. She glanced over it quickly. "Looks like Yatsu's in the first fight tonight," she said. Suddenly, she froze, her ears sticking up perfectly straight and still. Her eyes widened.

"What's wrong?" Blake asked.

Velvet never looked up from the page in front of her. "Blake...who else did you come to Vacuo with?"

Blake's ears twitched. "Just Sun. There is no one else."

"So you're saying, as far as you're concerned, nobody else you know is in Vacuo right now?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. Velvet, what's going on? Why the sudden interrogation?" Blake felt a deep sense of foreboding, though she couldn't have said why. Velvet handed her the bracket.

"Because, I recognize Yatsu's first opponent."

Blake stared at the paper, her heart hammering in her chest. Disbelief and denial fought desperately with the evidence presented to her. She couldn't be here. It wasn't possible. Yet there it was, clear as day, written on the two lines marking the first round.

Yatsuhashi Daichi vs. Yang Xiao Long.

Yang made her way through the crowd of people, the heat from the room making her swelter beneath her long leather coat. She hadn't wanted to wear it, but Cinder had loved Emerald's re-telling of her reveal back in Vale, and she'd wanted to recreate some of the theatrics tonight. Of course, aside from the outfit she wore, this night couldn't have been more different than the night she fought in Junior's club.

For starters, the space made Junior's place look like the dingy hole in the wall it was. The factory floor was massive, with heavy machinery lining the walls. Equipment had been shoved aside to make room for a constructed stage that stood elevated in the center of the room. The stage wasn't ringed, and it was high enough up that falling was a dangerous prospect on its own. The fluorescent lights overhead had been shut off, and different, more focused lights had been brought in and hung from the ceiling. Like back in Vale, these more targeted lights served to illuminate the main event, while bathing the rest of the floor in shadows. It also kept Yang from seeing the upper balcony clearly. It ringed the factory floor, obviously the kind of place where the factory managers could keep an eye on things without having to worry about being in the way. She knew from Cinder that the security teams would be keeping to themselves up there, out of sight, but always watching. If she tried hard enough, she could see the shadows moving.

Yang decided it wasn't worth the effort, and she shifted her attention to taking in the room around her instead. A booth had been set up on the far side of the floor, and she recognized Mercury's silver hair above the heads of the crowd. He'd be working his magic apparently, talking up her opponent and spreading the "insider knowledge" about her own injury that would help tip the odds more against her. If the crowd lost big on the first night, Cinder said, they'd be hungry for more as time went on. It was all about whipping up a frenzy while creating the narrative they wanted to tell. People loved a good story.

And in order to tell a good story, Yang had to win her first fight. She approached the stage with Emerald trailing behind her and ascended the ladder that had been put in place to assist her. As she took the stage, there were a few shouts of approval and some scattered applause as the attention in the room gradually turned towards her. From her vantage point, she could see the last constructed object in the room - a raised stage with some mismatched chairs and tables where important guests were seated and served some refreshment. Yang could make out Cinder amongst the seated individuals, as well as a couple in the full-faced Grimm masks worn by the White Fang's upper echelon of leadership.

She heard the ladder creak behind her as Emerald followed her up. "So, where's my opponent?" Yang asked her, red eyes darting between the faces that she could only barely make out in the darkness. She was ready. Her muscles were burning with the desire to fight, to lash out. She wanted to test her new power against whatever this tournament had to offer.

Emerald gazed around with her, then narrowed her eyes, nudging Yang and gesturing towards the other side of the crowd. A man a full head and shoulders above most of the others was making his way towards them. He climbed his own ladder until he stood on stage, huge and menacing in the harsh light. When his eyes met Yang's, he squinted in disbelief. Yang raised her eyebrows. She recognized him. His enormous frame, his close cropped dark hair, and his dusty skin.

"Yatsuhashi? You're one of Velvet's friends, right?" She'd known Velvet better than her partner, but he was kind of a hard guy to forget. "I can honestly say I never expected to see anybody I knew out here."

"I would say the same. What are you doing here, Yang? This is a dangerous place." He spoke in a resonant baritone that was easy to hear over the increasing noise of the crowd. The energy was definitely beginning to pick up.

"You're one to talk," she shot back with a cocky smile. Not that he looked like he couldn't handle himself. He wore brown fatigues, not so unlike Yang's own, and a black tank top beneath a green tunic, belted at the waist with a thick brown belt that had a couple of pouches hanging from it. The tunic cut across his chest, leaving his left arm exposed...or it would have if he wasn't wearing an enormous spaulder, the metal colored to match his tunic. The armor covered halfway down his forearm, and he wore matching green metal wrist guards on each wrist. To top it all off, he had an enormous curved sword on his back, more like a giant cleaver than anything else. It was edged along the curve and ended in a long hilt that almost resembled a haft of a spear more than a traditional sword's hilt.

"You should go. This isn't like one of your fights back at Beacon. You won't find any victory in this arena." His expression was solemn, apparently having recovered from the shock of seeing her.

Yang rolled her eyes. "Please, if you think I'm going to be scared off that easily, you've got another thing coming. Too much money to be made here." She thought about throwing out a line about how the White Fang was going to make her rich, but the thought of mentioning it in front of somebody she knew, somebody who had been there when those monsters had attacked...she couldn't bring herself to do it.

She was surprised at the angry expression that flickered across her opponent's face at her words. "There is so much more than money at stake here," he said, "but if I cannot make you see reason, then please understand that I will not go easy on you."

Yang felt her own fire kindle to life inside of her. "I've heard that before," she said with a low growl.

At her response, the crowd began to cheer in earnest. They smelled a grudge match coming on, even if none of them understood the context. Hell, Yang wasn't even sure she understood the context, but she never backed down from a challenge. She rolled her shoulders back, and Emerald took her coat and slipped it off her, revealing her missing arm topped with the shiny new cap. There was a collective gasp from the crowd, though thanks to Mercury, it wasn't nearly so prominent as it might have been otherwise. Emerald draped the coat over one arm and kissed her softly on the cheek.

"Good luck," she whispered to her with a sly smile, and Yang glanced at her, fire burning in her eyes.

"I don't believe in luck," she said, loud enough for the crowd to hear before kissing the older girl on the lips. It was part of the act. The persona. Brash, arrogant, flirty...and entirely confident in her own abilities.

So, basically the old Yang. She could fake that.

She was surprised to see Emerald blush as she pulled back. It was an interesting look on her. Yang made the decision to experiment further as she turned back towards Yatsuhashi. His eyes remained focused on her injured arm as she paced towards the center of the arena.

"What's the matter big guy? No qualms hitting a girl, but you're scared of a cripple?" The crowd seemed to like that and they laughed with her as Yatsuhashi raised his eyes to meet her.

He didn't say a word, but he did draw that enormous sword of his, holding it in a low grip in his right hand. Yang's smile grew wider, and she twisted her left wrist, engaging the gauntlet she wore and feeling it expand to cover her forearm and her knuckles. As the two squared off, a voice came over the factory's PA system.

"Welcome one and all, honored guests and miscreants alike! Welcome to Vacuo Underground!" Yang instantly didn't like the man that spoke. He sounded oily, and far too pleased with himself. The crowd loved him, though, roaring at his welcome. "My name is Fennec Albion, and I will be one of your announcers for this event. Now then, as a reminder to our combatants, as well as all who are looking to profit off of tonight's events, I'll briefly go over the rules of combat.

"All fights will continue, uninterrupted until one participant is incapacitated, knocked from the arena, or they forfeit by means of tapping out. The use of weapons and armor have been allowed for this tournament with the sole exception of firearms." Yang noticed, as Cinder had pointed out, that Dust had not been banned from use. Afterall, if guns weren't allowed in combat, what use would Dust-based ammunition be? She smirked to herself.

"Though lethal force is highly discouraged, and our security team will do its best to end a match before any perceived lethal blows," Fennec continued, "please be aware that death does count as incapacitation, and therefore, a knockout for the sake of standings later in the tournament."

The room went quiet at that, but not out of dread, more out of an electric sort of excitement. Nobody in this room would lose a wink of sleep seeing a little bloodshed. Yang steeled herself. She had her Aura to protect her. She was going to be fine.

Besides, she had a trick up her sleeve.

Fennec paused to let the mood ripen before finishing his speech. "Well, I think that just about covers everything. We are ready to commence with our first bout of the tournament: Yatsuhashi Daichi, versus, Yang Xiao Long. Combatants, at the ready!"

Yang dropped into her stance. Yatsuhashi lowered his own center of gravity and took his sword in both hands.

"At the sound of the buzzer, the match will begin! Three! Two! One!"

There was the space of a heartbeat between his count and the buzzer. Yang gathered herself.

The buzzer rang out, and she attacked. She launched towards Yatsuhashi, a single bound that took her all the way to him, her left arm drawn back. She cried out as she drove her fist towards him, only for the sound of steel against steel to ring out as the flat of his blade moved to intercept the blow. He shoved her away almost effortlessly and brought his sword up to guard. Yang stumbled backwards, but recovered. He moved fast, and as he advanced towards her, she noticed he was surprisingly light on his feet for someone his size.

He brought the sword down on her in an overhand blow that she rolled to dodge. He let the blade ricochet off the ground and he changed momentum on a dime, swinging it in a flat arc that would have caught her on her right shoulder. She bent backwards, catching herself on her left arm as the enormous blade sailed over her. She pushed herself upright as he brought his sword back to guard and she backed off a little. Something wasn't right. His attacks were quick and graceful but...telegraphed? As though he wanted her to know where each blow was coming from.

Yang raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said you wouldn't go easy on me?" The crowd seemed to like that.

Yatsuhashi gritted his teeth. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Then quit." She didn't give him a chance to respond. She rushed him again, feinting one way before spinning around his guard and delivering a swift kick to the middle of his back that sent him staggering forwards across the stage.

"You have no idea what you're dealing with Yang," he said. "I cannot lose."

"That makes two of us, big guy," she said advancing again, getting inside his enormous reach where his sword would be less useful. She caught the edge of it against her metal gauntlet and turned it aside before bringing the steel cap of her right arm up to smash against his chin. He reeled back, but as she moved in to press the attack, he lashed out with a powerful kick that sent her sailing back. She hit the ground and rolled dangerously close to the edge before she stopped herself. She stood up, brushing herself off.

The crowd went nuts at that. Though they seemed to have taken a liking to Yang, it was obvious where most of their money was placed tonight, and seeing Yatsuhashi finally land a solid blow begun to stir their frenzy once more.

Yang couldn't help but feel slightly rattled. He was strong when he was trying. And unfortunately, Yang had a feeling he was about to start trying a lot harder.

Fine. So would she.

She inhaled and reached for her Aura, feeling its searing heat envelop her. She controlled it, not wanting to give away anything yet, but she began the exercises Cinder had taught her. She channeled it up from her chest and down her right arm, imagining a knot of it where her arm ended. She brushed against the new cap and what was concealed within it.

She brought her arms up and moved towards Yatsuhashi. His face was stone, his sword held with purpose.

"Last chance Yang. Please. Walk away from this."

"Not an option."

He sighed. "Very well."

Then he struck.

The blow wasn't telegraphed, it was a viper's strike. If the viper in question was a giant goddamned broadsword. Yang could only react by drawing from her Aura, raising her left arm to intercept the blow. Steel rang out as she staggered backwards, feeling a ripple of flame pass through her as her Aura absorbed the energy. But the attack was the first of many, and soon Yang found herself desperately trying to intercept blow after blow, throwing herself out of the way of the massive weapon when she could. He wasn't as fast as Mercury had been in their sparring matches, which was her only saving grace, but tanking a blow of his took far more effort than she was used to. His strength was incredible. He had to be trained, like her, like Emerald and Mercury. There was no other explanation.

But she would not give up. She'd come too far to fail now. She saw her opportunity as he swung at her with a heavy overhand blow. She reached up and crossed her arms, unleashing her Aura as she did, her golden arm manifesting itself as the blade hit the X it formed with her steel gauntlet. She groaned as he pressed down against her, his strength nearly forcing her to her knees. It was going to be now or never.

She twisted her right arm, the cap telescoping open to reveal a red crystal set into the metal. She guided the knot of gathered energy at the base of her arm and focused it through the crystal, the Burn Dust glowing as she did.

"Dust and Aura are two parts of a whole," Cinder had told her. "We were made to utilize it. It's part of us, as we are part of it. Your energy becomes the catalyst, the Dust the fuel." Yang stared in wonder, not quite believing what she was seeing.

"Isn't this, like, super illegal?" she asked, doubt nagging at her.

"It would be, if this was Dust refined to be used in something as barbaric as ammunition. A crystal like this? You would use it to heat a home. Or to power an airship. It's just energy. Energy you can use." The light of the flames illuminated her golden eyes.

"Something told me you'd have a knack for it."

Flame poured down Yang's right arm, filling the space left by the golden outline. The light and heat were intense as she poured her energy into it. The fire lit up Yatsuhashi face, and for the barest moment, she saw fear in his dark eyes.

Then she kicked him in the stomach, a solid heel kick that drove him back across the stage. As she did, she twisted her arms, grabbing the blade by the dull edge and tearing it from his grasp. It clattered over the edge of the arena and landed on the ground.

The crowd went beserk.

Yang stared at her arm of living flame, flexing the fingers, still as awestruck by it as the first time she'd called it. She basked in the attention the crowd was heaping on her. Panic flowed with excitement in equal measure. They could sense the end coming. She stalked towards Yatsuhashi, not even bothering to take a stance.

"Last chance Yatsu," she said, a smile plastered on her face as she mimicked him. "Please. Walk away from this."

He growled and pushed himself to his feet.

"Suit yourself," she said with a shrug. Then she attacked. This was what she had always been best at, what she had been born to do. The intensity of a hand-to-hand, no-holds-barred beatdown. She and Yatsuhashi exchanged a furious flurry of blows. He wasn't bad, and he still had superior reach over her, but he could only afford to block blows from her right hand on his armored left shoulder, dodging everything else, forcing him back and off-balance.

Plus, every blow of his that landed on Yang seemed to revitalize her, to stir the flames that were her Aura. A blow to her jaw that nearly took her off her feet let her retaliate with what could have been a bone-shattering uppercut. It broke his guard and put him way off kilter. As he flailed his arms, Yang grabbed his right in her left, stabilizing him for just a moment, before using his weight to hurl herself up off the ground into a spinning kick that nailed him across the jaw and sent him sprawling to the ground.

She landed hard, but on balance, and as he struggled to rise, she grabbed his arm and rolled him, effortlessly pinning him to the ground beneath her, his arm locked behind his back. She felt him struggle to rise and she drew from the enormous well of strength she suddenly found herself with, holding him in place while golden flames ran through her hair. She placed her ignited arm against the small of his back, and she heard his hiss of pain as he was forced down to the floor.

Definitely trained in Aura then. As he focused what must have been the last of his energy on protecting his skin from the flame, his strength failed him. She watched as the clothes on his back smoked and singed, burning away.

"I really don't want to hurt you, big guy," she said, low enough that it couldn't be heard over the din the crowd was making, "but I don't have many options here. I have to win, which means you have to lose. Nothing personal."

They stayed that way for the span of several heartbeats before, grudgingly, Yatsuhashi slammed the ground with his free hand.

The buzzer sounded, and Yang rolled off her opponent, bounding lightly to her feet. She raised her right arm in triumph, grinning in defiance. Some were cheering her, most were screaming. She saw people shredding tickets they'd taken when placing their bets. Cinder's hope for a frenzy had certainly been exceeded. People would be talking about this fight for the rest of the night.

She headed towards the edge of the stage, extinguishing her flaming arm as she went. Emerald greeted her there, and Yang grabbed her, pulling her in for a searing kiss, adrenaline singing through her body and fanning the ever-present flames of infatuation.

Emerald raised an eyebrow as they parted. "Laying it on a little thick there, are we?" she asked as she draped Yang's coat around her shoulders. "I seem to recall you almost beating me senseless earlier today."

"That was then. This is now." They stepped off the stage and made their way through the crowd, which parted before them. Yang noticed with pleasure that she drew just as many looks of admiration as she did looks of fear. "Besides, it's all been a game from the start, hasn't it? You're using me just like I'm using you." Two men opened the factory doors for them and they stepped out into the cool night air. The temperature would keep dropping until the sun rose in the morning, but for the moment, it felt perfect on her sweltering skin.

She grabbed Emerald and dragged her behind the Factory, pushing her against the wall. "Well? Are you going to deny it?"

Emerald blushed and glanced away from her. It was the first time she'd seen her fazed like this. "No," she finally mumbled.

"Okay then," Yang said, grasping her chin in her fingers, lifting Emerald's red eyes to meet her own. "Then let's use each other right."

Before the older girl could protest, Yang kissed her, pushing their bodies together against the dark brick of the building. Emerald protested a moment, before giving in, wrapping her arms around Yang, hissing as she moved her mouth to the dark-skinned girls neck, teeth nipping the skin she found there.

They were lost in their own world for just a moment, running from their own private heartaches. Neither of them noticed a flash of dark hair or amber eyes as a girl fled from the shadows and out into the night.