The waterside docks of Vale weren't the pandemonium of activity the Vale's airship docks were, but they were still bustling with more people than Blake had ever seen there before. People too poor to afford an airship ride out of Vale and people who didn't want to wait for space to open on one of the airship were all around, dragging suitcases and little children with them, all hoping to find some way of leaving the kingdom stricken with the worst disaster in living memory. It was simple for Blake to go unnoticed in such an environment.

No one knew what she was about to do. Ruby was unconscious with Weiss at her side while Yang… Yang was hurt because of Blake. Because Blake thought that she could leave her past behind and keep it from hurting the people that she cared about. Now that it all turned out to be a fantasy, there was only one thing Blake could do to protect everyone. She had to go.

It turned out that there were many ships heading for Menagerie. Even after a semblance of order was restored the Faunus of Vale were not keen on staying in a city where they could be easily blamed for the White Fang attack. Fear and desperation were in the air and the Faunus had always made a convenient scapegoat. The perils of a long sea voyage were preferably to fear of being killed by one's own neighbors.

Blake did not have many belongings to take with her, so she didn't fear that she would be turned away for lack of space. It was impossible to return to the small room that she had called home, so all she had were her weapon, her Scroll, and the clothes on her back. Just another rat looking for a lifeboat to escape from the sinking ship that was Vale.

She found a ship that had just arrived at the docks and so was presumably still taking on passengers. Just as she was about to head over to it, she heard a familiar voice calling her, "Blake!"

She broke into a run. Everyone would learn about her escape sooner or later, so trying to talk her way out of this would be pointless. If she managed to get on board the ship and hide, she had enough money on her to pay for her trip once the ship was on the sea. The multitude of people crowding the area would make any pursuit difficult and Blake was an expert at running away.

Or so she thought, but just as she turned around a corner to get out of her pursuer's sight, she slammed into a bright white glyph that made her lose her balance and fall to the ground. That was enough for Weiss to catch up with her. "Blake Belladonna, do you mind explaining why you're running away from me?" she said while catching her breath.

Of all the people she could run into it had to be Weiss. Anyone else she could just run away from, but Weiss would just get the wrong idea. Weiss didn't let it show, but she loved being at Beacon more than anyone else and now that Beacon was gone, she would be very angry. Weiss usually used anger to mask other emotions and that anger could lead her to believe that Blake trying to run away was proof of her still being connected to the White Fang. Weiss, in spite of all her flaws and issues, was Blake's friend. She couldn't let her believe something like that.

"I'm leaving Vale," said Blake, "I was looking for a ship."

Weiss opened her mouth as if to say something, but she just ended up staring at Blake. None of the people rushing around them paid the pair any attention. Just like Blake and Weiss, they were all too preoccupied with their own problems to pay attention to someone else.

"Without saying a word to anyone?" said Weiss after she finally managed to gather her thoughts.

Blake nodded. "Is that wrong?" she asked.

"Of course it is!" cried Weiss, "Don't you remember what you promised? We're your friends and we're here for you, so stop and talk to us."

Tears started to well up in Blake's eyes, but she angrily wiped them off with the back of her hand. "Why do you think I'm leaving?" she yelled at Weiss, "The White Fang, Adam, they won't stop until they kill everyone I care about. Look what happened to Yang because of me! Everyone's in danger if I'm around!"

Weiss' voice was almost calm, but Blake could hear that it trembled a little. "Blake, get up." Blake did so and Weiss continued, "I'm going to do this just once, so don't read too much into it."

And with that Weiss hugged Blake. Once again, tears welled up in Blake's eyes, but the smaller girl's arms wrapped around her prevented her from wiping them off. She could hear Weiss mumbling something into her chest. "You unbelievable dolt."

Weiss broke the hug and took a step away from Blake. The smaller girl was blushing furiously from embarrassment, but her voice was firm and didn't betray any of the emotion that was in it mere moments before. "Blake, we're a team. I don't blame you for what happened. Ruby doesn't blame you for what happened and I'm sure Yang doesn't blame you. But… if you absolutely insist that you have to leave, I'm going with you."

"What?" said Blake, "Didn't you hear what I said? Even if you don't blame me, now that I know Adam's after my friends, it will be my fault the next time something happens to one of you."

Weiss held up her hand to stop Blake from saying more. "Two things," she said, "One, it will still be your crazy ex-boyfriend's fault, not yours. Two, do you really think the White Fang won't go after Weiss Schnee just because you're not around?"

"Why do you want to go with me?" replied Blake, unwilling to admit that Weiss might had had a point.

"Because Ruby and Yang are both recovering and I won't let you run away alone," said Weiss and held up her Scroll, "Plus I got a message from my family's butler, Klein. The CCTS might be down, but my father spent a lot of money to obtain a permission for the SDC to use emergency military channels. My father is coming here to bring me home whether I like it or not. If we're both running away, we might as well go together."

"You're not going to change your mind no matter what I say," replied Blake. She was starting to resign herself to her fate.

"I'm Weiss Schnee and I made my decision," said Weiss with a smile.

Blake sighed. She couldn't believe that out of all the people she met at Beacon, it would be Weiss Schnee who would accompany her when leaving. The heiress – probably ex-heiress by now – turned out to be very different from what she knew the Schnees to be.

"Before we go," said Blake, "You should know that I'm headed to Menagerie."

After a White Fang camp, Menagerie was the place a member of the Schnee family would be the least welcome. The Faunus there might have given up on fighting the humans, but they would not be happy with a Schnee waltzing right up to their homes.

"Menagerie?" said Weiss in surprise, but she quickly regained her composure. "I can dye my hair. Maybe get one of those animal ear hairbands. If you could pass for a human, I could pass for a Faunus. Do I need a special perfume for that?"

An image of Weiss with Faunus ears flashed through Blake's mind and she had to laugh. "No one in Menagerie will try to actually hurt you," she said, "They'll just be extremely unfriendly."

"I can handle unfriendly. It'll be just like coming back home," said Weiss, "Why Menagerie though? Is it because the White Fang doesn't bother operating there?"

"There's that," said Blake, "But also my family lives there."

"Your family?" Weiss got a thoughtful expression on her face. "Belladonna. Menagerie… Don't tell me…"

Blake nodded. "My father's the chieftain of Menagerie and the founder of White Fang."

"I feel so stupid right now," said Weiss, "How could I have missed that?" She looked around as if looking for something. "I should get that hair dye after all. How big of a grudge does your father have against me and my family?"

"Huge," admitted Blake, "But he wouldn't want to help the current White Fang by tearing you into pieces."

"That's good to hear," replied Weiss, though her hand was still hovering over her rapier's hilt. "Now unless you want to go back to Beacon to look for our things, we should find a ship."

"I already found one," said Blake, "It just docked, so there should still be room on board. We should hurry."

She set out towards the ship and Weiss followed her. Blake was surprised to find herself smiling. She did not know why Weiss cared so much about her that she would go with her to Menagerie of all places, but her heart felt lighter now that she wasn't alone.

"You should send a message to Yang before we're out of local network range," said Weiss as they lined up to board the ship, "She deserves to know why you're gone."

Weiss was right and Blake knew it. Yang got horribly injured because of Blake. She did not want to think about it, not now at least, but now that Weiss brought it up, Blake had to face it. Yang was her partner and she had saved Blake more times than Blake could remember. Now that Weiss gave her the push she needed, there was no way Blake could just disappear without a word.

"I'll send her a message," said Blake. She wasn't really sure what to say to Yang, but she could at least try to cheer her up a little. "I could ask her to tell your father something when he comes looking for you. Something that would make him really angry."

Weiss eyes sparkled at the thought. "Do I really want to know?" she asked, "I'm already going to get disowned when he shows up and doesn't find me so if you think it'll help Yang, go ahead."

Blake just nodded and started writing the message.

I'm sorry Yang. I can't face you after what happened. Not right now, maybe not ever. I can't stay, so I'm running away again. I'm sorry. I wanted to just disappear, but Weiss caught me and made me send you a message. She's going with me. When her father comes asking after her, tell him that we've eloped together. We are not actually eloping.

Note: It has absolutely nothing to do with the story, but I took the story's title from one of the stories in Hitoma Iruma's 2017 collection Shoujo Mousouchuu.