#post-v3

[plcyersandpieces]

‘ stay with me tonight? ’

Blake knew she needed to leave. She shouldn't have come to Patch in the first place--what if Adam had eyes on her? What if he knew she'd come here? He would hurt Yang all over again, and she couldn't bear to see it happen again. Blake needed to leave, to run.

But she couldn't leave without seeing Yang again, without saying goodbye. Ever since the dance in their second semester, ever since the night they'd shared their first kiss, Blake had promised herself that she wouldn't do to Yang what everyone else in her life had done. She wouldn't disappear. Blake needed to separate herself from Yang, from her team, for their safety and to get her head back on straight after the Fall--but she would never leave Yang without telling her where she was going. And so she'd come to Patch, where Yang and Ruby had been brought, to tell her girlfriend that she needed to leave.

But that small, pleading tone in Yang's voice gave her pause. Maybe it was just the painkillers, but Blake had never seen Yang so vulnerable. Her heart split in two, and she pulled herself from the windowsill on which she'd been perched, approaching her golden dragon on her bed.

"For tonight," she murmured in agreement, pulling Gambol Shroud from her back and setting it aside. "But in the morning, I have to go. I'm sorry, Yang..."

[plcyersandpieces]

(( @stirlingargentum from x))

“What, I can’t watch?” Blake shrugged lightly. “I realize this isn’t something I need to get involved with, so I won’t.  But I wanted to actually see a Phantom in action for once.  If it gets too hairy, I’ll run; my semblance’s gotten a lot stronger since you last saw me, so I’m very good at that.  Besides...” She swallowed. “I’m--not a student anymore.  Remember?”

[siennakhcn]

The Fall of Beacon had been devastating.  The moment she saw the mechanical girl torn apart, she knew something was very, very wrong. When the Grimm attacked, followed up by Schwarz's White Fang, Sienna knew that their cause was lost. Cameras had followed the Dragon, and it seemed almost the end times. Then... then, everything went dark, world wide, as the CCT network collapsed with the tower.

When the Grimm attacked, she had her people ready. The White Fang headquarters were surrounded, but their walls were sturdy, and they were able to defend themselves. Soon enough, the waves of Grimm ebbed, and Sienna felt it was safe enough to send a messenger.

She sent her swiftest, most agile courier with a recorded message. A hologram, of sorts, displaying her in full.

"Adam," she began. "Though you had left the White Fang not long after Blake, I still considered you a fighter for our cause. We were not enemies, but neither were we entirely allies. But Schwarz has done the unthinkable...and I assure you, that was not on my order. But I need to prove it, and I'm sure you do, too."

For a moment, she paused. "I propose an alliance. Should you wish to discuss the matter... meet me where you first became a hero."

And so it was that Sienna and a few of her more devoted guards were camped in a clearing near a mountainous back road well outside Mistral. She had no doubt he would get her message... but after the Breach and Beacon's Fall, she wondered if he would come.

@white-fang-adam

[plcyersandpieces]

Cause I’m bored and stuff. And the maybe someday will never come, so today! “Excuse me, could you pass me my pen, it fell beneath your chair when the boat rocked.” Sapphire said,pointing to where it fell.

Blake looked up, slightly startled by the other woman’s approach, her ears tilting back slightly.  It took her a moment to drag herself from her thoughts and slight pulsing ache from her midriff before she realized what was being asked.  Bending to look under her seat, she spotted the pen and reached for it, pulling it up quickly.

“Here,” she said, handing the utensil to the stranger. “I’m sorry I didn’t see it, but at least it didn’t roll very far.” Taking a moment to look her over, Blake realized that she had no visible faunus traits.  Was she human?  Or just human-passing?  Either way, Menagerie might not be the best place for the woman just yet… though hopefully her father was keeping things under control.

[plcyersandpieces]

((starter for @stirlingargentum!))

Blake’s side was in agony.

She wasn’t bleeding, not anymore.  She’d stayed long enough with the medics to get the wound stitched, and to ensure her teammates were safe.  But once she was sure, and once she knew she wasn’t going to bleed out, she left as soon as she could.  After all, she was being hunted, and she knew she couldn’t stay.  They were in danger--and she had to draw that danger away.

So Blake ran, as she ever did.  From rooftop to rooftop, she hurried away from Beacon as fast as her wounded side would allow.  But it burned, and it throbbed--she had refused the painkillers, because she needed her mind clear.  She was having a very difficult time, and as the night wore on, she realized she needed to find shelter.

The trouble was, Blake wasn’t sure where to go.  At least, not until she found herself in a very familiar neighborhood in Vale’s residential district.

At first, Blake hadn’t noticed.  But she spotted a fence down below that she hadn’t seen for quite some time--a neighbor’s, a few blocks down, and one she passed every time she came here.  The idea crept into her mind, and her first reaction was to refuse--she couldn’t put them in danger, too!

But then she remembered she had no need to worry.  Not with Libra.  Blake knew she was here in Vale--she’d come for the tournament, and she’d met with her a few times already.

For the first time since Penny’s death, Blake felt a little relief.  Adjusting her course, she hurried across the rooftops until she spotted that familiar front door.  She leapt to the doorstep--but a jolt of pain from her wound when she landed made her stumble, and she had to catch herself on the doorframe before she was able to ring the doorbell.

Please be in, she thought, glancing around quickly with her ears swivelling. Please...

[plcyersandpieces]

@sterlingmoonstone​ (from x)

He knew her name.  Granted, it wasn’t hard now--she’d been broadcast worldwide as part of one of the most favored teams in the tournament, after all--but his words held more weight than ones from just a fan.  And then his hood came down, and she stiffened, her grip on her weapon tightening until her knuckles were white.  Now she recognized him; that hair was distinctive, and even without the mask, she remembered the shape of his face.

Sterling, she recalled. His name was Sterling.

Her ears pressed back against her skull, shifting the ribbon back. “What makes you think I need any kind of help?” she countered. “Where I’m going, A--Ad--” She found it hard to say his name, and she was suddenly aware of the throbbing, burning pain in her left side.  Surely it was that which brought her nearly to tears. “--he can’t touch.  He won’t, not if he’s still truly behind the cause.”

Lifting her weapon, its flat sheath pointed straight at him. “And as for you, Sterling, how do I know you really have turned?  After everything, not just what happened here, I have no reason to trust you or any of the White Fang.”

[plcyersandpieces]

"Where do we go from here."

The voice took Blake by surprise as she sat on a rooftop in Vale itself, and her hand immediately went to Gambol Shroud.  Almost instantly, she was on her feet, whirling around to face the silver-haired stranger who’d snuck up on her while she was vulnerable and in pain.

Except he was no stranger, was he?  She vaguely recognized him.  His name was a mystery–but she’d seen him before, somewhere.  She was sure of it.

“We do nothing.  I’m leaving Vale,” she growled in reply, her hair and her weapon’s black ribbon whipping in the chill wind. “You, whoever you are, will go on your own way.  Now.”