Yang took point by a tree as her eyes switched from checking the time on her scroll to examining the camp ahead doing their daily routine.
Judging by the scattered bones sprawled across the ground, these were anti-faunas bandits.
It made her sick. They were no better than the White Fang.
The hypocrisy of treating an entire species that made a rebellion wrong by making another rebellion was not lost on her. Bloodshed will only end in more bloodshed. Hate breeds hate.
Sometimes fighting fire with fire wasn't a good idea.
Speaking of bad ideas...
Yang checked her scroll again, m
hoping her favorite faunas would come in time. Her and Sun are good assets to have in pitch black darkness. Ilia wouldn't be able to assist two blind humans and do her part by herself.
Her finger involuntarily found it's way to her lip as the gears turned in her head.
The lights were out, it was time.
As Yang readied herself, a noise interrupted the short time she had to mentally prepare. The sound was low as it roughly penetrated the air.
An alarm.
"Hey! We have a man down!"
It was dark. She couldn't see the commotion, but luckily the bandits couldn't see either. The question of "Who died" "How they died" and "How could they see a fallen bandit" ran through her mind.
Something was happening and her teammates were no where to be found.
"Neptune?" She whispered, hoping he'd be nearby. "Neptune!"
Yang heard footsteps and the sound of bandits shuffling through the dark. The lack of visibility made them topple over each other as they tried to get a hold of the situation.
"Get over here! We caught an intruder."
Her violet eyes widened, not knowing who they caught. She tried her best to strain her eyes to see but they just weren't adjusting enough. All she had to go by was sound.
The sound of boots hitting the ground reached her ears. They caught someone but the fact that they weren't searching meant they only thought there were one of them. Bandits aren't that smart.
There was scratching friction-like noise followed by a dimly lit glow of light. A torch.
It was still difficult to see but at least the torch lit up the small area around the bandit, allowing her to see part of metal bars that she could only guess was a cage. The wheels at the bottom revealed that it was a cage on the back of a caravan.
She had to get to them before they were taken. She didn't get to confirm that Gray's parents were here, but whoever they had in that cage was the priority right now.
"We caught this blonde one who admitted to messing with the electricity."
"Is that right?" A low baritone voice was heard in the dark. Yang could immediately tell it was the leader, the warchief.
The one they were debriefing the situation to. The one who gave the orders.
If he did anything to any of them, he'd be the first to go.
Yang stayed silent and crouched beside the tree. She kept a hand on it as she listened. Moving around would only get her lost or worse; walk right into the camp. She wondered where everyone was, she hated being helpless and not knowing what to do.
She needed faunas eyes.
So where the hell were they?
"Hope you didn't make any plans today, boy. You're gonna stay in that cage like the animal you are."
"That's fine with me. I find it very cozy."
"That was Sun's voice." She thought as her mind wondered what happened to Blake. She was with him.
"Did they get separated?"
"You getting smart with me?"
"Of course not. I would never do such a thing."
"Don't think I won't gut you like your friend. You weren't the only one found by our antenna."
Yang's eyes narrowed. "He's bluffing."
The leader's deep voice was heard soon after. "Don't believe me? Buck, go find another torch or flashlight or something."
"Sure, boss."
"He has to be bluffing."
Not long after, one of the bandits brought back a flashlight and aimed it at the ground. The light shined on a face with blood-stained cheeks and golden eyes.
"Now go throw the body away with the rest of 'em."
The torch in his hand lit up the faint smile he had on his face.
He smiled right at Sun as one of his goons got rid of her body.
Yang blinked a few times, now suddenly needing to put both hands on the tree to steady herself. She felt like she was about to faint.
The feeling quickly subsided as her hands closed to fists. She cocked back Ember Celica and turned to the camp, walking towards it with plans of turning the place upside down.
The wind whipped at her face as she walked. Red burning eyes glowed in the darkness.
Before she stepped foot into the campsite a hand rapidly covered her mouth as she was swiftly pulled back out of sight before she was spotted.
Yang struggled as she was let go behind a bush. As soon as she was free she leapt up, grabbing their shirt. She pulled her fist back, ready to punch as soon as they tried something.
Instead of trying to get out of Yang's grasp, a hand was placed on hers. Yang was confused for a moment until a sense of familiarity was felt as their fingers interlocked. "I'm sorry I didn't let you know, but there wasn't much time. We had to improvise."
"Blake?"
Yang was instantly relieved, letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
Blake smiled even though it wasn't seen and squeezed her hand. "We'll talk later, I have to go."
"What? But wait-"
"We've got it handled, you guys can't see in the dark. Just stay with Neptune."
Yang looked around, not being able to see much. "Neptune..?"
"Sup."
Yang jumped a bit finding him closer than she thought.
"Were you here the whole time?"
"Yup."
"..Ok, what exactly is going on?"
_____
Blake slowly crept up to the metal cage they locked Sun in.
"About time!"
"Sorry. I had to get Yang before she got us caught."
As the bandits were preoccupied, Sun kneeled down to hand Blake a pair of keys with his tail. "Guess my thief skills came in handy huh?"
Blake gently unlocked the door, cringing at the creaking sound it made. Sun jumped down from the caravan and crouched beside her.
"Where's Ilia?"
Blake didn't respond, instead making a swift gesture with her hand urging him to follow.
The short walk didn't take long before Ilia started doing what she did best.
A loud whipping sound ripped through the air followed by the cackle of electricity. The bandit groaned in pain as she used her whip to disarm him. She holstered the whip in her belt and grabbed his long sword. A weapon that was found more useful in this situation.
Ilia walked up to the man and swung. The tip of the blade connected with his shoulder, leaving a large gash that started to seep blood.
The humans there, who could see nothing, only heard the sounds of him being attacked.
Ilia bent down to grab the flashlight he dropped and shined it on his body. The bandits were finally able to put the noise to a face.
She cleared her throat.
"You have 2 choices: leave this family-the whole town alone or..you're all gonna die."
She watched as the group of bandits started laughing, especially after hearing a girl's voice.
"Yeah? Why should we be afraid of you?"
"Well you see, I'm a faunas. I can see and you can't, now if you want to test that fact we can."
"You think we can't take on 1 little girl?"
The leader confidently walked towards Ilia, torch in hand. His other hand gripped a dagger that he spun around with his fingers.
Ilia stayed still and smiled at him.
"I warned you."
Before he made a second step, a bullet rapidly flew through the air and struck him in the knee cap.
He grabbed his shattered knee and screamed in pain. His audience of bandits behind him gasped and a few ran away.
"AH, you bi-" He managed to get out through gritted teeth.
The warchief attempted to stand with one hand holding his dagger.
Shortly after, another gunshot rang loudly. His other knee was done for, he was incapacitated.
The rest of the remaining bandits ran off, he knew he couldn't do anything.
"I tried to tell ya."
Ilia laughed and turned around towards Sun and Blake, both holding their guns out as smoke seeped out the barrels.
"Nice shot you guys."
"Thanks." Sun replied.
Blake simply nodded as Gambol Shroud reverted to its original form before sheathing it.
"Ilia, anyone ever tell you that you're kinda terrifying?"
"Terrifying because I'm too scared to say fucking crazy." Sun thought to himself.
Ilia responded with a laugh before walking off with Sun and Blake in tow. "Found the kid's dad..or at least I think I did."
Blake put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her and turned her around. "What do you mean you think ?"
"The guy doesn't look like a baron and they could just be lying so we'd save them."
"That doesn't matter, Ilia. We'd save him regardless....what do you mean them?"
"Yup! There were 2. Woman, man, probably his mom."
Blake nodded and took off towards the area Ilia pointed at. She put a hand on her shoulder as well.
"Blake, uh, when I say them I meant there were others..."
"Others?"
"You'll see, but I should break it to you now that we may not be able to release them all before some bandits come back with help."
Blake thought over it for a moment before shaking her head. "No, we're getting them all out. All of them. Alright?"
"Sure, Blake."
"I'm with ya." Sun chimed in.
Deeming it safe to use scrolls now, Blake opened hers sending a quick message to Yang.
She responded not too long after.
-im going with you
-how exactly are you gonna do that? You cant see.
-dammit
Blake looked up from her scroll and was met with a hand. She looked at it for a moment before Sun pointed up at a tree.
"Thought you might want to be the one to speak to them."
Amber eyes scanned the tree before they finally fell on a man and a woman.
Blake nodded, accepting Sun's hand as he lifted her up. Seeing how scared they were, she decided against shadow jumping. 2 frightened faunas probably won't take kindly to a stranger popping up there out of nowhere.
She climbed up and sat beside the woman, trying to not to be as threatening as possible.
The man beside her held up a tree branch breathing rapidly as he pointed it towards Blake.
"We aren't here to hurt you, I'm a huntress."
The woman stood still as she examined Blake. Her grey eyes were prominent, even in the dark.
Blake smiled. "Your son looks just like you."
Their eyes widened.
Probably not the best choice of words coming from a stranger.
"He-he's with us. He asked for our help, that's why we're here." Blake quickly tried to explain herself.
She grabbed Gambol Shroud and threw it down while Sun fumbled to catch it. "See? We don't want to hurt anybody."
"Where is our son?" The man's baritone voice reached her ears.
"Hiding. In a safe place. We can take you to him."
In hindsight that did kind of sound like a trap. It wasn't abnormal to be paranoid in these parts.
Both parents nodded and Sun proceeded to climb up the tree offering his hand. The mother went first, taking his hand as he helped her down.
Blake hopped off of the branch using a shadowclone to slow her descent.
As she landed, a purple glow emitted from her and she immediately clutched her side causing a concerned Ilia to run up to her.
"He did get you didn't he? You said he missed."
The overexertion of fighting and using her semblance used up a good amount of aura she had that kept her injury at bay.
"I'm alright."
"Blake, you know better than to fight with low aura. You know what that can do. Did what happened with Yang teach you nothing? Did your fight with Adam teach you nothing? You're getting reckless."
To anyone else her words would sound harsh but really, she was just worried. Sometimes people need some tough love.
"Just don't tell Yang okay? The last thing we need his her worrying and
Ilia slowly shook her head, patting Blake on the shoulder. "This why teammates shouldn't date."
Sun helped the man down and turned towards the redhead. "Is that jealousy?"
She scoffed. "Coming from the very jealous boy. No, it's common sense."
Sun smiled mockingly before his face softened looking at Blake. "Need me to carry you?"
She stared at him for a bit before speaking. "You want me to go to Yang in your arms?"
"Ah-yeah, nevermind." He speedily backpedalled.
"Mhm."
The father walked up to Blake, grabbing her attention. "Our son, is he-is he close?"
"Very."
______
Yang paced back and forth while Neptune poked at his rifle. "Could you stop that? You're making me nervous."
Yang stopped to face him.
"You should be nervous! They just dropped this new plan on us and I have no clue what they're doing and I am so out of the loop and-"
"Gray!"
The blonde turned towards the source of the voice in confusion. "Huh? Gray?"
Her eyes fell on Blake, who quickly removed her hand from her side. She followed her amber eyes upwards to a nearby tree.
Gray poked his head out from the bushy tree upon recognizing her voice. "Can I come down now?"
Yang stared up at him, surprised.
"Was he up there the whole time..."
As Sun went over to get him with Gray's parents close behind, Blake approached Yang. "I told him to be really quiet."
"Yeah...no kidding."
Yang didn't take her eyes off of the little boy whose face instantly lit up after seeing his parents.
Gray ran up to his mother and hugged her tightly, she squeezed him back not wanting to ever let go again.
The father, the baron, approached Blake with a proposition.
"I thank you for bringing me back to my boy. It feels only right that I repay your kindness. You said you were huntsmen, correct? How much?"
Blake waved her hand. "You don't need to pay us."
"The hell he does..." Neptune mumbled under his breath, earning a nudge from Yang.
"Oh but I must. You did a lot for us, we thought we were goners."
"I meant to ask...the bandits don't usually go after anyone noble, do you know why they kidnapped you?"
"It could be a lot of things miss. I'm not exactly a king, I guess they thought they could get away with it." He replied.
He walked a few steps closer to Yang. He held out a hand to shake and she complied.
"You! You're that girl they wanted."
Yang looked at him confused.
"Huh?"
"The bandits were gonna take us and drive us to their high leader after the got you but everything fell apart. You have a target on your head little miss."
"If the goons keep trying to take us we are never gonna get our mission done." Ilia added.
Blake moved closer and rubbed her forearm. "Yang, high leader? You know what that means."
Yang sighed as she titled her head towards the sky. "She is the last person I'd want to see."
"Yeah. It's Raven...my mom. It has to be."
_____
A/N:
~I thank you all for the support and love! Old and new readers! I appreciate and I'm glad you like my story! ❤️~