Blake was being subtle. She would lean forwards and poke at the campfire as she had done a thousand times before, then, when no one was looking, she would move one of her books under the flames.
Seeing the pages curdle up and burn, the ink fizzling in blue and green flames and the contents that had left her hot and bothered lighting up in not so metaphorical fire was both distressing and, somehow, a balm.
There was no going back from this.
Tomorrow she and Adam would be hitting an SDC convoy heading to Vale. The first part of the plan had them alone aboard the train, which would be her chance. Stowing away wasn’t going to be difficult after that.
She wasn’t going to be able to bring much with her. Gambol Shroud, the clothes on her back, the knowledge in her head. That was the whole of it.
And then the White Fang, or Adam, at least, would know that she had betrayed them.
She kept telling herself that it was for the best.
Still, he would probably look through all the things she left behind. The thought of him finding her... literature was mortifying enough as it was. Better to burn out that part of her past too. At least Vale had bookstores. There was probably more than one person with similar... tastes. Maybe there was a bookseller that specialized in Mistralian imports?
She shoved the last of her books in deeper with a shove and started to climb to her feet when she heard a rustle behind her. “Blake?” Ilia’s familiar voice asked.
Blake turned to her friend, one of the few people she was going to miss and gave her a tired smile. “Hey,” she replied.
“A little early for a fire,” Ilia said.
Blake shrugged one shoulder and tossed her sticks onto the flames, sending a cascade of embers into the sky. “I was a little chilly.”
“I can think of one way to warm you up,” Ilia said.
“Huh?”
“Nevermind.” Ilia’s skin took on a pink tint. “Adam’s meeting had been going on for a while, do you think we should go meet them?”
“I don’t know, if it was any of our busine--” Blake cut herself off and spun around, ears twitching as she picked up a distant sound, like someone screaming only for the yell to be cut off. “Did you hear that?” she asked.
“No?” Ilia said, but she was pulling her whip out as she said it and Blake found herself reaching for Gambol Shroud herself.
Moving through the forest might have been hard, once, but years spent camping out in the woods had turned her hard, had given her the skills and experience she needed to flit from shadow to shadow with nary a sound. She wasn’t scared yet. The sound could have been a prank or someone clumsy tripping over a root, but she had to check.
For today, at least, she was still part of the White Fang.
Then there was another muffled scream, and another. She whipped around, Gambol Shroud out and ready to fire. A few bugs flew past her and leaves rustled above, but she didn’t see anyone.
Not a single person.
“Ilia?” she asked.
The girl didn’t materialize from the shadows or move out from behind cover. Blake started to worry that whatever was happening wasn’t just one idiot tripping.
Something rammed into her from the side, a heavy but soft form that had her crashing to the ground even as she tried to flip and bring up Gambol Shroud. She pulled the trigger but her gun didn’t even click. A glance down revealed a pile of bugs scuttling into the mechanisms of the gun.
She was about to throw it at her aggressor. Bugs or no a heavy blade would hurt, when what felt like a dozen strong arms grabbed her from behind.
Blake tried to scream, but something covered her mouth and it came out muffled.
When she took in a breath to try again something flew into her mouth, setting off a coughing fit that would have had her bending double if it wasn’t for the thing manhandling her.
She thought it was an assault, Atlas catching up, the SDC sending out a kill squad, some mercenary huntsman. Then she saw the Grimm moving out of the trees with slow, calculating motions.
She was about to scream again, choking be damned, then she felt a prick and the world went dark.
***
The man, Adam, had both hands on his sword. One wrapped around the sheath, the other around the handle itself.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out what he would do. She knew his sort, even if she couldn’t pin-point the how and when. She was a threat and his response to such was violence.
But he was also a leader, a man who seemed to care for his subordinates, at least according to what he had said. She had more evidence then just that. Her Grimmsects had found his cot soon after they landed, and his tent was no bigger or better than anyone else's. The half-eaten meal abandoned when they landed was the same slop the others were eating and other than his clothes his equipment looked the be of the same quality.
Did that mean that he couldn’t afford luxuries, or did it mean that he didn’t want to place himself above his subordinates.
Akelarre was beginning to regret not questioning Cinder some more. But she knew enough.
“I won’t hurt you,” she said.
“Bullshit,” he sneered.
She blinked then shared a look with Cinder. Surprisingly Mercury was the only one that reacted to the swear and he did so by biting his lower lip. “Was that,” she began. “Was that a pun on your own... what’s the proper term for animal traits?”
Adam seemed taken aback, perhaps by her nonchalance or maybe by the topic itself. “Are you kidding?”
“I’ve met exactly one faunus so far, two if we count you,” Akelarre said with a shrug of one shoulder. The tangent was useful, it was giving her time. Or rather, it was giving her Grimmsects time to move. The last few stragglers were being rounded up and her spider Grimm were hard at work already. Now she just had to move them all. “I’m sorry if I offend you by accident. I haven’t spent that much time with the other races that occupy Remnant.”
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“Other races... you really are a Grimm,” he said. His thumb moved to the edge of his blade and it started to slide out of its scabbard.
Three things happened at once:
-Akelarre’s arm, the one gifted to her by Salem, shot out from under her cloak.
-Adam started to pull his sword out of its sheath.
-The Grimm she had tucked around the edges of the tent bit through the cords holding the walls in place and a few Lancers took to the skies with the ropes held in their pincers.
As the tent flew away with a violent flap Adam, his one remaining guard, Cinder, Emerald, Mercury and Akelarre all found themselves out in the open, only the metal rods of the tent keeping them away from the elements. The elements and the swarm gathered around three sides of the clearing.
Akelarre’s hand wrapped itself around Adam’s, holding his arm in place and locking his sword in its sheath. “Please reconsider,” she said.
Adam took just a moment to look to his right and left. Akalarre imagined that she could hear the gears turning in his mind.
“Shit,” the big faunus that had stayed with Adam said as if to sum up their situation.
Akearre could feel the faster beat of every heart in the tent. Cinder had brought out her twin swords in a flash while her subordinates looked ready to fight, though if that was against the White Fang or her Grimmsects they didn’t seem to know.
There were bodies, some of them squirming, others laying perfectly still, and all of them wrapped in gauzy layers of pitch black silk. Spider Grimm the size of full grown men were guarding the White Fang while other assorted insects slid in and out of the shadows cast by the forest, the motions masking their types and numbers. Not that it wasn’t easy to tell that there were a lot of Grimm around them.
Adam’s breathing was coming in a little faster and she could feel his hands tightening around the hilt of his sword. “They’re unharmed,” she said.
“And I should believe you?” he asked.
“You should. There’s nothing to gain from putting on a production like this one if I was just going to betray and kill you.”
“You assume that I would be easy to kill,” he growled.
Akelarre blinked. “I assume no such thing,” she said. “Not all of my Grimmsects are big,” she added while bringing her free hand up to reveal a cockroach no bigger than the palm of her hand. It waved its cute little antenna at Adam then danced a little dance to show off just how much of a cutie patootie it was. “See, the little ones are good at sneaking. And because I figured you would be a threat, I snuck some onto you. I would say that I hope you’re not offended, but most people are not as casual about being covered in flesh-eating bugs as I am.”
She had all her little friends that had crawled onto Adam wiggle a bit. A lot of them were centred around his crotch. That was usually a good way to calm people down, from what she remembered, or at least make them reconsider fighting.
Adam swallowed.
“Now, could you stop it with the sword? If I wanted to hurt you I would be hurting you. But we don’t need to be enemies, Mister Taurus. Cinder’s offer was in good faith. I think you should listen to it with the attention it deserves.”
“I... can do that much,” he said, his grip on his sword loosening just before she drew her arm back. “Can you assure me that my men are unharmed?”
“Your concern does you credit,” she said with a smile. “And I can. As long as I am here telling my Grimmsects to behave there shouldn’t be any issues. Worse case scenario I die and you’ll have a few million angry insects to deal with in the few seconds it takes me to reform my body and come back to life.”
She smiled at him.
Adam swallowed.
“Can I see Blake?” he asked. “To ensure that she’s well.”
“Which one is Blake?” Akelarre asked as she took in the sea of wrapped White Fang. Some of them were both awake and had their faces uncovered just enough to see what was going on. They looked a little spooked.
“She’s a cat faunus. Black hair. Cat ears.”
Akelarre nodded twice. “Oh her. She was very skilled. It took two of my Grimmsects working together to take her out.” Some of her Grimmsects were already working to bring the girl around towards their tent. It only took a moment before a particularly large spider Grimm deposited the girl near Adam and started undoing the webbing holding her in place.
Adam moved to her side, wary of the Grimm spider but braving it all the same to poke and prod Blake until the girl started to stir awake. “Is that good enough?” she asked.
“It is,” Adam said as he moved away from the girl. His masked face looked first at Akelarre, then towards Cinder. “Alright. Tell me about this deal of yours,” he said.
***
Blake woke up with a pounding headache. “What?” she asked as she blinked her eyes and took in the forest around her.
Adam was sitting next to her, his sword tucked in the crook of his neck and one knee bent. “You’re awake?” he asked.
“Yeah, I...” Her eyes widened and any vestiges of sleep were burned away by a surge of adrenaline. “Grimm!” she said.
“They’re gone,” Adam said, his voice low and--to her surprise--thoughtful. “The Grimm left with their master.”
“Master?” she repeated.
Rather than answer the question, Adam looked at her for a long moment. “Blake, tomorrow, when we hit that Schnee train. I think it might be best that you stay aboard. Think of it as a... as an infiltration mission into Vale. Things are getting complicated here. I, I want you to be safe.” Blake blinked her eyes in a way that some might have called cat-like, but before she could form a proper reply Adam stood. “We can talk more tomorrow. I need some sleep,” he said.
She lay back and tried to make sense of the world.
“Did I burn my smut for nothing?”