#post-v4

((WHY YES YOU CAN.))

Blake’s eyes never left Ilia’s, even as her hand gripped Gambol Shroud.  Her knuckles were white for how tightly she held the weapon, and perhaps there was even a slight tremble.  She tried to keep her expression neutral; oh how she tried.  But the ache and guilt in her heart was too much, and a hard stare softened at the edges.

Blake had to admit, Mistral never stopped being beautiful.

The thought came to her as she hid behind a stack of crates--ironically bearing the Schnee Dust Company logo--at the edge of the airdocks.  She’d been watching the airships as they came and went, observing and listening to various conversations to gather intel.  But now, as dusk fell, she could see the western mountains stand stark against the blazing, golden sky.  She’d been in the city many times throughout her life, both with her parents and with the White Fang, and she’d never gotten used to the view that always took her by surprise.

But the surprises wouldn’t end with just a beautiful view.  Another airship touched down--Atlesian, by the looks of it, which caught her off-guard.  Hadn’t Atlas been closing down its borders?  That was something Blake had overheard earlier that day--complaints from a Mistrali far-ranger, returned from the northern shores.  So what was it doing here?

A sound nearby drew her attention, and she looked away briefly to ensure her hiding place wasn’t compromised.  Satisfied that she remained unnoticed, she looked back--

--just in time to see none other than Weiss Schnee next to the pilot of the airship that had just docked.

Her breath escaped her at the sight of her former teammate.  It had been months since she’d last seen anyone from Beacon, aside from Sun.  News from the other kingdoms had been trickling in, but slowly, since without Beacon Tower, Remnant was forced to rely on communication by hand again.  Maybe telegraph, if they wanted to spend all that money or it was an absolute emergency.  None of that had been of the remains of Team RWBY or Team JNPR.

Once Blake had emerged from her self-induced stupor of self-pity, she’d realized that she had no idea where her friends were.  Sure, Sun had told her where they’d been when she left, but that had been months ago.  Neither of them knew what had happened since.  So to see Weiss here, after so long, and after so much...

Blake couldn’t reveal herself now.  No, not out of some misguided desire to remain isolated from one of the girls outside of her family who she’d allowed to get so close to her--but because she was trespassing, and getting caught with so many people around would be a hefty fine at the least, and that for a human.  For a faunus, it would be worse, she knew by experience.  So she resolved to follow the former heiress (that news hadn’t escaped her at all) from the shadows, until they were in a safe enough location for Blake to finally reveal herself.