Chapter Fifteen: Weaker Than Himself
She had never seen a spider bleed before. She spent much of her life paying the arachnids no heed: she knew what it was to be surrounded by things larger than herself and did not abuse the advantage she so rarely held.
That was before she lost Roman. Now there was no one to hold her leash.
And big or small, anything that interfered in her mission…
The spiders had failed her. They let the prey they'd promised her slip through their web. They owed her compensation.
Their master insisted they all wear her brand: a simple blue tattoo always visible on their body. They were meant to be spies and observers, but they also stood out by showing such pride in their faction.
They knew what they were looking for. They knew she was wily and capable. They didn't know anything more than that.
They didn't know she had a Semblance that allowed her to disguise herself as people taller than herself, or to mask the appearance of objects and disguise them as entirely different things she could easily conceal herself within. Just when they thought they'd caught a glimpse of her, they'd curse themselves for chasing a ghost.
Neo left another one in the empty streets where his body could be discovered. She didn't have the strength to move him anyway, but leaving him out in the open for the common Mistral citizens to see would destroy the spiders' illusion of fear and control over the populace: a far worse blow than simply reducing their number. She was getting tired of waiting for their master to return her message…
Finally, however, her burner received a new call. Neo activated the device and gave the spiders' master a chance to say her piece.
"It seems you've been working your way through a few of my employees," Little Miss Malachite observed. "I appreciate you weeding out the weak ones for me. It's always nice to know someone who can provide you a more… objective measure."
Neo wasn't amused. But she granted Little Miss just a few seconds more.
"Still, wouldn't want you to think your efforts had gone unnoticed," Malachite continued. "I haven't had any new word on that blonde and her sister, but I have had a tall brunette come visit… one good eye, and a bit too much sass for my liking."
Neo had been taught to carefully temper her expectations. But that certainly sounded like someone she'd been looking for…
"I'm about to arrange a meeting for the same information you were after," Malachite went on. "She paid upfront, so I'm not too bothered about what happens to her after I tell her which direction those kids went… what say I finally give you something you want more than mucking up my network?"
Neo offered no reply. But she didn't hang up the Scroll call either.
She could respect Malachite's will to survive -and to an extent, look after her own while still seeking to save face. Malachite was offering Neo fresher meat.
Or she was luring her into a trap.
Either way, some measure of retribution awaited…
Saphron and Terra's townhouse was much smaller than the building Qrow's friend lent him; the teams were all grouped into a single room while Qrow and Maria slept downstairs. Team RWBY took what had been Adrian's room, with the boy temporarily relocated to stay in the master with his mothers. Having to share space with Jaune, Ren, and Nora made it particularly difficult for Oscar to try and reach out to Yang. The thought of trying to interact with her when her sister and the rest of her team were in even closer proximity than ever before…
But he wanted to try and talk to her before everyone broke off and started their mission in the morning. He wanted to just ask… well, to ask so many different things, but mostly just to see if enough time had passed since they left Brunswick Farms for her to talk to him again.
Passing up Raven's offer had also left him a bit restless -restless in that way he could only be because he felt tense and anxious around a woman- and he had no real viable outlet for that when surrounded by so many others.
And if they succeeded in stealing a ship and flying to Atlas, he wasn't at all sure what awaited him. Maybe tight quarters would be the rule rather than the exception. Maybe he wouldn't get to enjoy the autonomy of having his own room again for quite a while. Maybe he'd continue to face sleepless nights as these thoughts -and memories- continued to trouble him.
Jaune seemed to have no trouble: he was the first one out. Nora and Ren followed swiftly enough, each falling atop the other and occupying only a very small corner of the room… and unintentionally reminding Oscar how much he'd missed staying in a house with a bedroom to himself and a shower across the hall to deal with any… reminiscing.
Oscar pulled up his Scroll and idly perused it. Not for the first time since Brunswick, he came across his text chain with Yang and looked back on their all-too-brief conversation from a quiet morning after a night spent thinking on what he might've allowed himself to become…
He'd resisted that impulse today. He… he didn't regret that thought; he could take some pride in being stronger than that, but he was starting to remember why he'd been so insistent with Yang. It wasn't so easy to get through the night wholly on one's own.
Jaune was in his sister's house, surrounded by his family. Ren and Nora had each other. They were never going to have much difficulty finding sleep.
Yang was surrounded by her family too. If Oscar tried to text her, she'd probably sleep right through it.
But then, the last time he tried...
Ozpin had reiterated to him that Yang was warm, loving, and supportive. That, at least, had never been a lie. She just turned all that focus away from him after Jinn laid bare just how much Ozpin hid from his allies, and how well he'd known their immortal adversary…
Oscar just wanted to know if she would talk to him. Not even if she was up to talk about the trip through the snow or their relationship or the mission or… he just wanted to know if she intended to speak to him ever again. All he wanted was a 'yes' or 'no.'
Oscar trailed his thumb over the surface of the screen. The system pulled up a keyboard, ready for him to compose his thoughts.
He reminded himself it was the middle of the night. He reminded himself that there were better times to try and have this conversation… and that it was possible Yang would say 'no' and he'd feel even worse than having not known.
He'd admitted their relationship was over, out loud, unguarded, unqualified… so did it really matter if Yang ever spoke to him again about anything else? What was he even hoping to find? That she'd go back to occasionally laughing at his awkward lack of coordination? That she'd acknowledge his presence if she ever met his eye?
It all seemed so… paltry compared to what he had before. Had Ozpin ever tried to find some kind of amicable relationship after he and his lovers broke things off? Or had they just decided to do this same dance and never acknowledge any of it from then on?
Maybe that was what Yang preferred. Maybe if she kept pretending not to see him, he'd fade from sight.
One day -if Ozpin ever came out of the dark recesses he'd retreated to- he would fade away. Maybe when that happened, all this would be moot. Maybe Yang would actually relate to him better if he wasn't the same person he'd been when they started… whatever it was they'd had. Maybe that was what it'd take for her to talk to him again. At that point, he may not have needed her to. At that point, he may not even remember why it ever mattered to him.
Oscar wouldn't let the thought depress him. All their lives could end in carrying on the fight against Salem. He wasn't the only one who might suddenly cease to be one day.
Looking back over at Nora, he at least felt there might be someone to mourn him. Someone might even have remembered him as Oscar Pine and not just… not only as the wizard.
Oscar drew his thumb away from the screen. He didn't want to distract her with this. She didn't seem to be suffering through it the way he was… he earnestly hoped she was sleeping just fine.
He rolled onto his side and stared at the wall, trying not to spend too much time dwelling on Yang Xiao Long, or Raven Branwen, or Nora Valkyrie… reminding himself that no one ever needed to know what thoughts passed through his head. They didn't need him to infuse their lives with anymore drama than the man living in his head had already provided for them.
They'd never shared their secret. As far as he knew, Blake hadn't told anyone either. It may as well have never happened at all.
That thought did little to help him sleep. It just made the wall seem that much plainer and emptier…
"Is everything okay?" Ruby inquired, holding up two fingers to press down on her earpiece.
Oscar looked out over the cliffside at the ocean. He hadn't lived far from one himself, but had never thought to go out and see it… there was always something else he had to attend to first, some chore for his aunt or some expense to be managed to see them through the winter… thinking back on it, Oscar wasn't sure how often he'd really done anything for himself.
He knew he wasn't going to be especially helpful on this mission. He was just going to board the ship with everyone else when Maria and Weiss rendezvoused with them then settle in for a long, cramped flight across the sea. Oscar did what he could to savor the sight of the ocean while he was closer to it and not stuck in tight quarters with nine other people.
Blake had offered to disable the radar and temporarily blind Atlas and let the ship slip out undetected. Yang had offered to move her in at a rapid pace, using her motorcycle to transport them… something that'd make the trip across the ocean even more crowded. From the outside looking in, one might have no reason to think anymore of it: Blake and Yang had been partners at Beacon and Oscar believed the other members of their team who said they worked well together…
He just couldn't help himself. He did wonder what Blake and Yang would talk about alone together, even on a short motorcycle trip. Blake was the only one who knew about Yang and himself, and at Brunswick Farms she'd been very keen on pushing him away, in letting go of whatever relationship he'd had. He'd theorized that Blake was also interested in Yang, but after discovering the Apathy underground, he'd tried to come around and view her more favorably, and assume she'd only become so hostile to him because of the circumstances.
The prior day she'd been one of the ones to embrace him upon his return to Saphron and Terra's home. She didn't seem to have the same enmity… or at least, she hadn't let it slip around him a second time.
Alone with Yang, however…
He only ever nibbled at the edges of it. He only had Ozpin's warnings and the hints Blake had let slip. And just because he thought there was something there…
Oscar reminded himself not to be paranoid. Just because Yang and Blake were alone together did not mean they were talking about him, or acting on any prior feelings that may have been there before Oscar came into the picture. Girls may have talked about things out of his earshot, but that didn't necessarily mean he had to worry when they did.
Yet still his mind wasn't at ease. He really hoped at some point he'd be able to go back to think Yang spending time alone with one of her friends - their friends? - didn't necessarily mean anything sinister was afoot.
"Alright, we'll watch our Scrolls," Ruby confirmed. "The second Weiss is out of range of the comm tower, that'll mean she's out of range of the radar too."
Oscar turned his attention back to the water. In just a few short minutes, he'd see the ship fly out over the ocean and come to the cliffside to pick them up. He didn't have to spend quite so much time worrying about what Blake and Yang were talking about, because he wouldn't get the chance to enjoy the sight all that much longer.
He did wonder if he'd ever be paired with either of them on a mission… if their training continued and reached the point that he could go out in the field as an equal teammate without having the others there to supervise and safeguard him. Maybe that was the only time he'd ever be able to talk to Yang alone again.
Oscar shook his head and watched the waves roll up to meet the rocks, trying to focus on the present. Dwelling on the future… did not leave him optimistic to meet it. There were many trials ahead, and at best just more quiet uncertainty every time he looked at Yang or at Blake.
He tried to enjoy this sight of the ocean on his first visit to it. He tried to see the positive.
"Okay, remember: one, the radar box is separate from the rest of the communications equipment, so if you disconnect it properly it won't take out comms for the rest of the city," Terra explained over the Scroll. "Two, this conversation never happened."
"Don't worry," Blake reassured her. "This isn't the first time I've disabled Atlas security."
Terra wasn't amused. "Never. Happened."
Terra ended the call before Blake had the opportunity to offer a retort. She turned her attention back to the tower above the treeline, stark gray against the white snowfall.
Yang moved to the dropoff point, setting up the motorcycle's kickstand. As Blake ambled off, Yang inquired: "You sure I shouldn't come with?"
Blake shook her head. "More intruders means we're more likely to be seen. Besides, stealth isn't exactly your-" Blake paused. Yang crossed her arms and frowned at her. "...I mean you're great! And… I'll hurry back."
Yang's expression softened. "Go."
Blake smiled at her before dashing to the tower, announcing to the others through their earpieces: "Heading out on foot. Won't be long."
Yang watched Blake vanish amidst the snow-covered trees. Leaving her to sit on her motorcycle and wait for news…
And worse than that, to think. To… recollect.
It was getting easier for her to be alone with Blake. When Blake first arrived at the house in Mistral, Yang could barely stand to be in the same room with her. Now -if anything- Yang was actively seeking to be beside her, rather than-
Because -by some quirk of fate- Blake was the only one Yang could talk to without risking a slip-up. Blake was the only one who knew what Yang had been up to for the past week and change, and the only one with whom Yang was now capable of being completely honest.
It bothered her, to think there were some secrets she hadn't shared with her sister. It bothered her to think that -at least on some level- she was actively trying to hide the truth. She didn't want the circle to grow any wider than it had already.
She insisted Ozpin stop keeping secrets. She had been very firm on that condition. And now…
Yang tried to assure herself that this was different. This wasn't something as consequential as the fate of the world or the possibility of resisting someone like Salem. This was…
She didn't know what to call it. She never had.
More and more she was pretending like it hadn't happened. She was avoiding Oscar, always averting her gaze. Like if he were out of sight frequently enough he'd finally be out of mind too.
And when she did need to talk about it, when she needed to acknowledge all that had happened and vent about what she felt, the only person Yang could turn to about it… was Blake.
Blake, who'd still yet to apologize. Blake, who basically didn't talk to Yang at all when she returned to their group. Blake who ran and left her without so much as a goodbye.
Yang had spent the prior day looking for Oscar when he went missing. And she'd desperately hoped not to find him, not to have to talk to him… to just run.
Blake did try to make amends, in her clumsy, awkward way. She tried to help Yang but overstepped and inadvertently patronized her… was that a step Yang had to go through too? Would she find some means to reconnect after six months apart? Was that how long it took to stop running?
It made her understand Blake better. It made her… less zealous, less determined to be upset. But it also reminded her that someone was suffering because she couldn't take the time to open her mouth and just acknowledge that-
That she didn't know what she wanted. That she didn't really want anything from him right then, except maybe for neither of them to hurt and somehow just be okay… not doing anything. It was an impossible thing to request.
And Blake and herself… at times Yang had considered…
She wanted to offer her forgiveness, so Blake wouldn't be hurt every time she tried to help. She wanted to forgive Blake for choosing to leave her… and leave Oscar in limbo for something he'd had no control over and she'd irrationally blamed him for anyway.
Yang hated feeling like that. She hated trying to square that mindset… one where she forgave people who didn't apologize and blamed people who weren't at fault and excused herself for not being as open and honest as she professed to be. Not thinking about it was much easier.
Maybe that was why Blake had to go. Maybe she kept running because of how much waited at her back, and would quickly catch up if ever she slowed down…
Yang slid off her motorcycle and sat on the cold ground, hoping maybe the feel of snow and rock beneath her would pull her back to the present. She checked her Scroll for the time. Surely they had to hear from Blake and start making progress…
"Alright guys, this is it," Ruby called in over their commlink. "Blake, you're up."
Yang looked out at the tower. Head in the game now, she thought…
But the lack of response immediately pulled her back. "Blake?" Ruby repeated, filling the dead air.
"Yang, what's going on?" Ruby inquired.
Yang stood up, looking at the relay tower. "I don't know…"
She looked at her Scroll. Weiss's signal was coming into range, reappearing on the screen. If she was so close, and the tower was still up…
Yang began searching for Blake's signal. She was close enough to read…
...Aura levels…
Yang rushed to her motorcycle and started it up. No more time to think.
Action. She was much better at that.
Neo peered down from the rafters. As she promised, Little Miss Malachite delivered the goods. When the woman strode in -even clad in an unflattering gray hood and an ugly patch over her left eye- Neo recognized her immediately.
Cinder sat down across from her host. "Do you have my information?"
"Of course I do, darling," Malachite assured her. "Lil Miss always delivers… although I can't promise you'll be pleased…"
Neo only saw the back of her head. But she knew Cinder was glaring. Her temperament hadn't changed since Vale…
"Word is they were seen boarding the Argus Limited…" Malachite explained. Neo had heard it before and started to tune out the words. Her gaze remained resolutely focused on Cinder.
She'd had Ruby Rose inches from her grasp and her carelessness let the girl slip away. Neo did not mean to repeat that mistake.
"Atlas," Cinder concluded before getting up and walking away from the information broker.
"You know," Malachite observed, "You turned out to be quite the interesting customer… Cinder."
Cinder turned her head back. She'd never given Malachite her name.
Neo hadn't expected her to. For all Neo hated her, she had never thought Cinder to be a fool.
"It's not often a single client brings me double the business," Malachite offered in faux-praise.
Neo acknowledged that Malachite had fulfilled her part of the bargain. She appreciated the aid in setting the stage for her.
Roman taught her the importance of theatrics. Neo crafted an image that Cinder would recognize: an appearance unmarred by travel and time. When Cinder saw her assailant standing in the rafters, she'd see a ghost come back to haunt her.
"Wait…" Cinder realized. "...Neo?"
The illusion sparked her memory. And Neo heard fear mingled in that surprise.
Anticipating the inevitable clash, Malachite turned to one of her associates. "Maybe put away the good glasses…"
"People hurt me long before we met. All sorts of people hurt me in all sorts of ways… but no one hurt me quite like you."
He'd traded his humanity in chasing after her. He was willing to buy revenge with his soul.
Adam Taurus had been routed at Haven, humiliated in front of his supporters and forced to retreat in his very first campaign as High Leader. He had nothing to return to, and no ability to see another life for himself. All he could do was chase after her… he no longer remembered how to do anything else.
She tried to tell him to let go of the past. She was tired of letting it dog her.
It only infuriated Adam further to hear it: to know that Blake had cast their bond aside with such frustrating ease. But his hurt swiftly turned to anger and violence.
He had never been able to temper himself. And now that he'd murdered Sienna and been abandoned to his fate by Salem, chasing this need for vindication was the only purpose he had.
He'd been hurt, he'd been mistreated, he'd been branded… sometimes Blake still pitied him that. Sometimes she still felt guilty to have run without taking the time to say goodbye.
"You didn't leave scars… you just left me alone."
But he hadn't changed because of her. He'd only revealed who he'd always been.
Blake faintly heard an approach. She let him continue his spiel, buying the time, knowing that he was not so far gone as to miss the chance to savor this. He wanted not only to harm her, but make her hear every thought he'd prepared for this single moment.
"So tell me, Blake… how does it feel to be alone?"
"I'm not alone," Blake simply answered.
A motorcycle rocked over the ridge. Yang leapt from its back as she drove the metal into the face of the former High Leader.
Adam took the brunt of the impact, but rolled along the ground, letting the motorcycle slide past him, right off the edge of the rock and tumble into the water below. He quickly righted himself, glaring at Yang with his remaining good eye. "You…"
Blake had already been wounded. Yang waved her off when she tried to rise. "It's okay. Catch your breath for a second; I can hold him off."
Yang leaping into the fray on her behalf… on some level, Blake hadn't anticipated anyone coming to save her.
"She's right, Blake," Adam agreed, leveling his red sword. "We have… unfinished business."
They clashed again. Blake warned her that Adam's Semblance was much like hers': channeling kinetic force into his sword so he could redirect the damage outward. Yang's punches and concussive rounds only empowered him further whenever he managed to intercede with his blade.
Yang landed punches and kicks and started to wear him down. But whenever Adam's blade absorbed the impact instead he pushed her away, putting distance between them… letting all that energy coat the metal of his sword and oscillate out…
"Yang!" Blake called from the sidelines.
Adam's attack erupted from his blade in a devastating red wave. Yang was nearly driven right over the edge of the rock towards the waterfall… her foot barely nudged into the open air. Her prosthetic right hand managed to absorb much of the damage, but the black and yellow had many new scratches dug into the metal.
"Leave… us... alone," Yang insisted. "This is your last chance."
Adam observed her carefully. He saw her left arm trembling… a sight Blake recalled all too well.
At Brunswick Farms she asked Blake about Adam. She asked if he was still out there.
She remembered how it felt when they clashed before, and Adam answered her bravery with a brutal maiming. He'd be even more savage now.
And Blake promised to protect her when that moment came… it soured their conversation and drove Yang away.
She'd been trying to get back in Yang's good graces. She'd overstepped; she'd moved too quickly.
Now was not the time to dwell on that thought. Now was not the time to dwell on what she wanted from Yang. Blake had to think about what she needed to do for Yang.
"Do you really believe that?" Adam wondered. "Or are you just trying to scare me away so you won't have to die trying to protect her?"
Yang was still defending her, even after everything. Blake could hardly begrudge her for being afraid. Blake just needed to give Yang some reason to believe that she wouldn't fight this battle alone.
Blake reached for Yang's left hand. She'd failed at this once, but now… now she needed to get it right.
Not to merely promise to protect her, but to do it.
Oscar knew that he wasn't prepared for the mission. He'd done his utmost to contribute, even though he'd done little more than provide a vantage point on the massive mechature Cordovin had deployed to pursue them. It had been very trying having to sit on the sidelines and watch everyone else struggle and fight… and even moreso having to share the cockpit with Maria.
"Hey, Cordo- I've got one missile left and I know exactly where I'm gonna stick it!" Maria promised.
"One missile, you say…?" Cordovin chuckled over the comms. "That's a shame, Maria, because I have plenty!"
Maria continued to fly towards Cordovin, even as the Atlesian commander prepared to deploy four missiles from the wrist of her mech.
"...are you two crazy?!" Oscar protested, trying to plea for… if not a ceasefire, at least some degree of sanity. He'd already heard Maria and Cordovin spar over comms, but he hadn't had the misfortune of sharing the ship then…
"Sometimes the best approach is simply the most direct!" Maria argued, continuing her reckless charge.
He heard Cordovin shout: "You think you could fool me…?!"
A diversion. Maria had merely drawn Cordovin's attention while Ruby lined up a shot below. Oscar hadn't even kept up with his designated task of keeping an eye out…
And Cordovin caught on. She retracted her wrist-mounted missile launcher when Ruby fired her sniper round. The bullet bounced off the metal hull, and Cordovin instead leveled the mech's primary cannon. Maria tried to take evasive action, but the discharge still struck the ship, distorting the systems with electrical shocks… systems Maria had plugged her prosthetic eyes into so she could pilot in the first place. Maria's already thin slits were shuttered completely.
"I can't see- my eyes…!" Maria cried out, writhing in pain.
"No, no, no-!" Oscar murmured.
"Take the controls!" Maria instructed. Oscar -not knowing what else he could do- grabbed hold of the joystick and tried desperately to pull the ship up from freefall.
"We're gonna crash…" he mumbled. "We're gonna crash-!"
A few weeks earlier, he'd been living on a farm. He'd never operated any machinery more complex than a harvester. He'd never envisioned a path in his life where he'd be piloting a ship like this.
What had he expected to happen? That the farmboy would instinctively know how to pilot a stolen military aircraft?
He kept pulling back tighter. He kept hoping -as the forest and the cliffside drew ever closer- that somehow through sheer force of will he could get the Manta to right itself…
Stay calm.
Oscar knew the voice. He… hadn't expected to hear it again. He merely thought the day would come that it'd replace his own, and he'd never be cognizant of the difference.
It's going to be okay.
Oscar was still in control. Ozpin hadn't seized the reins from him. "Wh-what do I do?"
Relax your grip. Cut the engines until you reach the cliff.
Ozpin continued to advise him. Oscar tried as he could to relax his grip on the stick, to not violently yank it back but try to guide it backwards. The ship didn't completely level out, but when they passed over water and started along the rock face and Oscar cut the engines, their nose avoided planting in the ground. They slammed into the tee line, the metal frame holding and breaking through the wood.
"We're… we're still in one piece…" Oscar breathed.
He cut his commlink, just in case. "Ozpin…"
Silence again.
Gone, just as quickly as he came.
But a reminder, that Ozpin was very much not gone. Merely… silent.
Oscar filed that thought away for later. For the moment, the ship was down and the engines were dead and Maria was still knocked for a loop… he may have prevented them from crashing, but they were still stranded and right in the line of fire of Cordovin and her cannon.
Ozpin would have to wait. Yet again…
Oscar climbed out from the cargo bay to stumble outside. Ruby marched to the edge of the cliff, to face off against Cordovin's machine. He couldn't hear what she was saying, but even looking at her in profile he could tell she was facing down so much firepower without fear, without so much as a single waver in her resolve…
Still a job to do. Maria or Qrow may have been able to fix the ship.
Oscar reluctantly turned his attention from Ruby back to the Manta, to try and rouse the crazy old lady pilot… to try once again to contribute something more than simply not breaking their escape vehicle…
"What does she even see in you…?!"
Yang had ventured a guess. But she thought it might've been the honest outpouring before the dance, or their talk after Mercury staged his assault in the tournament… one of those two moments that solidified there was something more between them.
"You're just a coward like her!"
Yang couldn't refute the point. She'd been cursing herself for her cowardice more and more of late… and better understanding why someone would choose to run rather than face their problems. Yang hadn't expected to sympathize. She hadn't ever expected to feel how it felt.
He wanted her to run. He may have thought that he understood what it felt like.
He didn't know. He'd only ever chased those he thought weaker than himself. He'd never been faced with the weight of acknowledging his flaws. All Adam had ever done was try and impose those same flaws on others rather than acknowledge their source.
He hadn't been able to stare down his own reflection. He hid away his eyes and wore the mask of a monster rather than acknowledge what looked back at him.
Yang had never expected to look at Blake and see a reflection. She had never expected to see… value in a character flaw. She'd spent so long shunning the feeling that she hadn't ever allowed herself to try and understand the perspective.
Adam had never truly admitted fault. He'd just kept destroying the things that reminded him of his weaknesses… until the mask was more his face than the brand beneath it.
Maybe he'd been noble once. Maybe he'd sincerely believed he was fighting against corruption.
He'd never looked within. When Blake ran away from him, he only ever saw her weakness. He never understood why. He may not have been capable of understanding it.
Yang caught his blade in her prosthetic hand. With all the damage he'd inflicted upon her Aura already, her Semblance flared to life.
He kept taunting her about how weak she was. He was right to call her that.
He was wrong to think that she was any weaker than he was. Adam hadn't been willing to face who he really was.
"Gotcha."
Yang pulled Adam's sword from his grip and chucked it over the cliffside to the water below.
"No!"
In his desperation to find a weapon and carry on the fight -desperate as it'd be now- Adam scrambled to the broken half of Gambol Shroud. Yang rushed to find it first, while Blake used the remaining half in her possession to rejoin the fight.
When Yang struck she hadn't intended to hit anywhere vital. She hadn't wanted her blow to be fatal.
He was a rabid dog. He hadn't stopped to think about all the damage she'd done in return. He'd only seen her weakness and chased it to the bitter end… and both blows struck unguarded flesh, unprotected by Aura.
Yang was at his back. She couldn't see his face.
When he stumbled forward and tumbled over the rock to the cold water below, Yang only heard the splash. She didn't see him disappear under the waves.
Blake had seen it all happen. When she struck, she drove her half of the blade through his heart. She may well have seen the light leave his eyes.
Yang watched the surface of the creek below for several seconds, half-expecting him to dredge up from the water… to refuse to die and continue to haunt them.
Blake fell to her knees. Yang immediately turned her attention away from the water to search her partner, to see if the wounds Adam inflicted had been worse than they seemed…
But Blake wasn't writhing in pain- she was breaking down. She was sobbing uncontrollably.
Perhaps she hadn't meant to kill him either. Perhaps she had thought it had to be done… and had to live with it all the same.
Perhaps she hadn't forgotten a time when Adam Taurus was not such a monster.
Yang knelt beside her on the rock, pulling Blake into a hug. It was always her first instinct to stop the crying.
"I… I am not going to break my promise," Blake babbled. "I swear."
A promise… if they ever saw him again, she'd be there. She'd protect Yang.
Yang didn't think it was meaningless. She didn't think any promise made should've been without meaning.
She shunned Blake then, feeling patronized. She hadn't been able to move past the sting of her betrayal then.
But she was not Adam. She knew how painful it was to run now…
"I know you won't," Yang assured her.
Blake's ears would confirm she meant it. Yang hoped that sound would make her happy.
When Blake pressed her forehead against Yang's, Yang pressed her left hand to Blake's shoulder. She briefly glanced at it out of the corner of her eye.
No tremble. Just a gentle grip.
She'd just needed that hand to return and hold on again… after Beacon… just waiting for Blake's hand to return…
Neo hadn't believed her story. She'd learned to be skeptical.
But she did believe the evidence of her own eyes. She recognized Cinder had a power that Neo herself couldn't contend with. Neo briefly wondered if her journey would end there, and Roman would remain unavenged.
Cinder promised her some clarity. Evidently she thought she could find a use for an assassin against a… mutual enemy.
The vault under Haven Academy was empty. She recognized that there had once been an intricate structure embedded in the rock, though whether it had ever been a door…
She didn't doubt Cinder would try to deceive her. She was not naive.
But she did believe Cinder had others even greater than herself to answer to, and she needed to return to them only with a prize in hand. And Neo believed Cinder would be petty enough to seek revenge… and want to lord her power over some underling doing her dirty work.
"I've got to get the relic before it can be secured in Atlas," Cinder elaborated. "It's the only way that Salem-" She paused, evidently thinking better of her statement: "...it's the only way we can accomplish our goal."
Cinder was afraid of this Salem. Neo would keep that in mind.
"You're not the only one who wants Ruby dead," Cinder continued. "But unfortunately, Salem does not feel the same way. I've been… instructed not to kill her."
Cinder had been spinning a dagger in her hand. With an application of her powers, the metal melted between her fingers. "But you… you have no such orders. You can do as you please."
Cinder walked over to her. Neo looked up, retaining a quizzical, ponderous expression.
She was neither of those things. She knew exactly what she wanted to do right then.
But she hadn't needed a Semblance to cast an illusion.
"Help me get to Atlas, help me find her…" Cinder implored, "...and the rest is up to you."
Neo knew she couldn't trust Cinder. Roman had reminded her to never make that mistake.
But if Cinder would give her the means to finally reach Ruby Rose…
Neo cast an even greater illusion. She managed to make her smile look sincere when she offered Cinder her hand.
Eventually, one of them would be dead. But she'd be willing to wait until after Ruby Rose got there first.
When Oscar finally left the cockpit to rejoin the others, he briefly stopped to look at the way his friends had grouped themselves: Weiss, Yang, and Blake to his left and Jaune, Nora, and Ren to his right. He briefly meandered as he decided where to sit… only finally plopping down next to Ren so he could clear a path for Ruby to talk to Maria and Qrow upfront.
The day they'd had… Yang and Blake had been recounting a clash with Adam -the same man Yang had neglected to tell him about before. Weiss seemed to be in the loop about who he was, so once again Oscar was on the outside looking in. An all-too-familiar feeling.
He had been witness to Ruby's triumph over an unexpected Grimm attack, and had heard her persuade Cordovin to look the other way when their ship left from Argus… some small reward for saving the city Cordovin had pledged to protect after her mechature was damaged pursuing a petty grudge…
He didn't feel like he'd contributed nothing. Maybe not as much as some of the others…
But looking over at Yang and Blake, with their attention focused so firmly away from him… he wished he'd been there for that conflict. Even if it meant he'd have been stuck on the sidelines there too.
"I'm sorry you went through that nightmare," Weiss offered. "But I'm glad Yang was there for you in time."
He watched Yang and Blake smile at each other. He saw Yang reach over and take Blake's left hand with her right. "We were there for each other."
Oscar wanted to share in the triumph his friends were feeling. But when he saw them happy, when he saw Yang reach out for a hand to hold…
He remembered what that felt like. He felt the sinking in his stomach when he saw Yang reaching out to someone else, and knew-
He'd known for a while now. Much as he'd fought against it.
He tried not to begrudge Blake. He told himself he didn't want Yang to just be unhappy and alone; he knew she had things of her own to deal with and was glad he got to see her smile.
But knowing that smile wasn't for him, and never would be again…
If he never called attention to it, none of them would know. And Blake wouldn't bring up the past when the present meant she got to be the one beaming in Yang's presence instead.
He… couldn't quite be happy for them: his insides twisted in too many knots for him to so much as wear a fake smile. But he could have the decency not to stare.
So… that was that, then. That was how he and Yang ended things… in a way where the others wouldn't ever know anything had happened at all…
If Ozpin had told him before about the lamp attracting the Grimm… or if they'd been brave enough to tell everyone before they boarded the train…
This was better for her, he supposed. Oscar tried to be okay with that.
Tried.
"Took the words right out of my mouth," Nora agreed, joining Blake and Yang in celebrating the triumph. When Ruby rejoined them, everyone turned their gaze to her… and Oscar was relieved to have somewhere else to look.
"Hey, stop it…" Ruby shyly protested.
"You petrified a Leviathan…" Ren pointed out, "... after diving down the barrel of a cannon."
Ruby gave a nervous laugh. "Hey, don't act like you haven't done crazy stuff before…" She glanced frantically about the bay, turning her attention to Ren's left. "I mean, Oscar made a successful crash landing! He's a fourteen-year-old farmhand!"
Calling attention to him… Oscar was not prepared. Not in the mindset he was in.
"That was seriously impressive," Jaune agreed.
"We'd have been stranded without you," Blake added.
When Blake was offering him praise..
In the mindset he was in, Oscar couldn't accept it. He deflected quickly. "I… thanks, but I've been meaning to tell you guys… I didn't land the ship on my own."
He didn't turn his head. He didn't know if Yang was looking at him.
She'd stressed repeatedly how she didn't want there to be any secrets. Oscar tried to accommodate that, explaining what Ozpin had done during the freefall.
"Ozpin took control?" Nora wondered.
"No, he guided me," Oscar clarified. "And then he was gone again…"
"Does that mean he's been watching us this whole time?" Yang inquired.
The words hurt more than they should've. It wasn't an unreasonable question, given what they'd learned; given how strained their bond had become.
A reminder that Yang would never not be suspicious of Ozpin, and thus… of Oscar.
He had to try and be cordial at least. He had to continue to support her… pretend like her betrayal hurt no more than anyone else's. "I don't know, but… it at least means he was looking out for us."
That was the last time he met Yang's eyes before Qrow informed them they had reached their destination. The others headed up to the front while Oscar lingered at the back. When he saw Yang rise from the floor, he saw her pull Blake up with her: she still hadn't learned how to let go with that prosthetic hand of hers', it seemed.
I was just… embarrassed is all.
Oscar waited a moment before he joined them. He faintly heard Yang say something to her sister while he stared at the two hands still interlocked.
Though… if I had locked the door, how would I ever get girls to notice me?
He turned his attention to the back of her head.
Well… the freckles help.
Oscar gradually made his way to the cargo door, looking out the side window. He tried not to look at the cockpit, and pretended he was looking at the city of Atlas with everyone else.
I don't know what this is.
He saw the ocean disappear, replaced by ice and rock. The sea wasn't as wide as he'd always imagined it to be. The world smaller than he thought…
Well, it's a start, I guess…
So maybe we should go a little farther…?
They were never good at talking.
The blue, gray, and white beneath him looked nothing like Yang. The cold outside was much closer than the warmth of memory.
That little bit of flirting, that attempt to be bold, the kiss… the days that followed it…
He hoped Blake realized what she had. He hoped that Yang would be just as vibrant with someone else.
"Manta 5-1," came the Atlesian air control over their ship's radio, "Welcome home."
Evernight
Salem looked out at the old one slowly rising from the black pool beneath her keep. The modifications she'd made had drawn it from its slumber… reawakened its ancient grudge.
Monstra, her living warship… the seat from which she would launch her surprise attack…
Salem reminded herself not yet. Soon, but not yet.
She stepped back from the railing to her chamber, taking one last moment to go to her dresser, to find her brush and gaze upon her reflection again.
These robes would not do for the battle ahead. She would need something more striking. She'd have to once again adorn herself in battle dress. She hadn't fought directly since she'd had Ozma at her side, helping to govern when she commanded their army.
For a brief moment, that thought troubled her… to be afraid -if only for a moment- of being alone. Even with her loyal followers -even with a consort- she could still feel the gentle grip of Ozma's hand on her shoulder...
Her mirror cracked. Salem saw no trace of that fear in her twisted, distorted reflection.
She was not that woman any longer. She did not bother with such… affectation.
Salem set her brush aside and went to craft something fiercer for what lay ahead. Something that would smother all fear beneath its yoke.
The future beckoned. The woman in that broken mirror… just another life lost in pursuit of her goal.
No one was fit to judge her. Not even her own reflection.