intoshadowsstrayed

Everything happens as normal up until ‘Alone In The Woods’. Team RWBY and Maria are in the basement. The Apathy continues to scream at them. Blake goes down. Ruby flashes her silver eyes, however when the power fades and the Apathy have backed off slightly -

She sees Blake isn’t there anymore.

The scene carries on the same. Maria helps Ruby with her eyes, Yang breaks open the cellar door. The only difference is...Blake doesn’t escape with them. In the blind panic to get out of the farm house, The rest of the group don’t realise Blake didn’t make it out until the farm house is in flames. Struck with fear, panic, and having to keep forcing Qrow to go on, the group reluctantly leave since they have no other means of fighting off this enemy right now.

But Blake isn’t dead.

Oh no she isn’t dead. Among the debris and the flickering cinders, Blake’s will is being feasted upon by the Apathy. She’s in a state where she can’t fight, she can’t run...and she doesn’t even care. But unlike the members of the farm who probably never unlocked a semblence or had a strong enough aura, Blake doesn’t just ‘die’. She becomes something far worse. She essentially becomes a husk of herself, drained of her will but now drawn to the very strong negative emotions of her former team fleeing from the farm.

She’s become a Grimm. Blake is now a weird hybrid of Faunus and Grimm - for the most part she appears the same, save for her skin now being deathly pale as well as her eyes being completely black without a slither of colour still there, as well as wisps of black smoke lingering from her body. Leaving the ruins of the farm, she slowly begins to track down the rest of the group, the rest of the Apathy dragging behind her.

Fast forward to the attempt to shut down the radio tower. Yang goes on her own instead and SHE is the one confronted by Adam. He doesn’t exactly know what happened but he knows at some point in their journey, Blake is suddenly not in the group. He tries to use this to taunt Yang as they fight, goading her over the fact that of course Blake would never stay by her side - Blake is a coward after all. Yang is barely keeping Adam at bay when she sees someone near the waterfall where they are fighting.

Adam thinks its Yang getting her shakes again and he’s preparing a Moonslice when slowly he feels his hand become lax, he isn’t sure why. Why doesn’t he want to grab at his weapon? Yang is right there, he can finish her off - then he hears it.

“Adam”

Instead of the horrid wail of an Apathy, Grimm!Blake’s voice sounds like several different versions of her speaking at once - whispering, sobbing, screaming. All at once they say his name and Adam isn’t sure what to think. He had been determined to have his revenge against Blake, all this torment in this heart, this rage and spite he had ready to unleash on her - he feels none of it now. The more she calls his name, the less he feels. Its dying in his chest. Yang realises what is happening and she does her best to stay out of range of Blake’s call.

Blake doesn’t even walk, her body just slowly hovers forward toward the now will lacking Adam, the claws and bodies of the rest of the Apathy now following behind up the cliff face. She is still calling his name in that twisted voice and the closer she gets, Adam drops to his knees, he can’t even reach his weapon. Blake plucks away his blindfold, he doesn’t even resist as his good eye barely focuses on her. Despite knowing what is going to happen, Yang can’t tear her gaze away - until Blake’s black gaze meets hers.

In that brief moment, she thinks Blake is giving her an out. Blake is giving her a chance to end both their nightmares once and for all. Whether this is all in Yang’s head, whether Blake is still somewhere in there, she knows this is her only chance. Yang aims her bike toward both Faunus, shooting it just as it plows into them and the hoard of Apathy, causing an explosion. The Apathy scream, Blake howls...Adam doesn’t make a sound.

Yang runs. She doesn’t look back, she fights back tears as she runs to join her sister. She doesn’t know if the nightmare is really over. She’ll keep it with her, even if its behind her. She won the battle but she didn’t win the war.

Not now and nevermore.

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