Behind The Mask

"It's her…"

"She's returned!"

"Alert the Empress! Tell her that we captured the Barbarian Queen!"

Yang wasn't sure about what happened or how it happened, all she remembered was landing in a carriage and finding herself surrounded by cloak wearing people with White Fang Masks on their faces, after that it was all a blur. From the moment she woke up; she found herself on her knees in front of an empty throne surrounded by armed guards, one of which was a slightly shorter girl than her with a rapier strapped to her hip. 

"So, it took all this time for you to come to your senses and return to the Empress's side…Not that I think you deserve it but you made the correct choice." The guard sneered at Yang as she struggled in her restraints; "Don't bother trying to cause a fuss, you're not getting away without a punishment; your troupe's all outside of the Palace walls, your annoyance of a sister is nowhere to be found and little Miss Ice Sprite i-"

"Ilia, that's enough!" A regal sounding voice echoed in the loud hall as footsteps approached the throne, making everyone present except for Yang stand at attention once they recognised their Empress's tone.

Yang felt her face flush a deep red when she saw what she could easily interpret as the Negative Blake elegantly taking a seat on her throne; This "Blake" was wearing a flowing kimono that was a mix of deep black and purples with some faint sparkles in the fabric that made it look she was wearing the night sky as a robe. Her long raven hair had been tied in a low ponytail that seemed to swing along her back as she walked, it also looked like she did nothing to hide her Faunus ears along with what looked like a White Fang mask; one that was an onyx black in colour but had gold markings instead of their typical red. "B-Blake? Is that you?"

"Looks like you've finally returned to my palace; but I do have to ask why? You stormed off with such determination that I thought you'd never come back." Negative Blake would ask Yang as she let a smirk spread across her lips; "Did you have a change of heart about what I do here? Or did you decide that serving me is better than a life out there in the deserts?"

Remembering her mission and knowing that their time in here was short, Yang tried to put her focus back on track; "L-Look we don't have time for this Fantasy bullhonky; Blake, you're possessed by a Grimm! You need to snap out of it and tell me where it is before it becomes too much for you!" She said urgently to the empress while trying to ignore the fact that this robe was doing nothing but tempt her when Blake leaned down to her level and unintentionally showed off her deep neckline in her kimono.

"How dare you speak to the Empress with such brazen rudeness! I ought to have y-" Ilia barked at Yang but held her tongue when Blake held up her hand to stop her.

"A Grimm? There are no Grimm in this Palace, let alone in this city…But I can assure you that if you do wish to come back, I'll allow all your transgressions to be forgotten and even give you a better room…" Blake would offer her as she used a slender hand to tilt Yang's head up towards her, "One that is just as exquisite or perhaps more so then the one I have given to my Darling~"

"Darling?" Yang mentally asked as she pulled her chin away from Negative Blake's gentle grip; "Look, I'm not here to play along with whatever…this is, but I'm not leaving this place until I find Jae and get this Grimm out of your head!" Yang fought back a little as she struggled in her cuffs and tried to get out, only serving for the guards to wrestle her to the ground to stop her.

"Such a shame….Take her to her old room, if she's going to act like a child, then I'll treat her like one." Negative Blake sighed as she watched them drag Yang off to the deeper parts of the palace with her yelling about the Grimm and Jae.

"Empress, I suggest that you think about this…If she could escape you once then perhaps maybe putting her in the dungeons would be more effective. She's already turned her back on you once so why not rely on me an-" Negative Ilia suggested softly and rested a hand on Blake's bare shoulder, however her sentiment was ignored as she felt her hand get brushed away.

"Don't assume that you know what I intend for the people I keep safe here…" Negative Blake snapped at her retainer as she turned to glare at her through the mask; "The world is cruel out there…And unforgiving, I don't care if they hate me for this but I will ensure that they will be kept safe and comfortable here where I can see them…I lost her once before and now I'm never letting her go…either of them."

——Meanwhile in the desert——

"Yang? I didn't know you'd end up here so quickly, how'd you find me and what exactly was that you were talking about?" Jae mentioned as he climbed off of the bike; "And what exactly is that you're wearing?"

"Yang" seemed to be clad in barbarian armour fit for the desert; a helmet that was made of an Ursa's faceplate and leather, a rather open looking brown vest that was held together by a bronze ring in the center of her chest but with bleached white fur on her shoulders and her gold gauntlets that halted at her elbows. A little further down was what looked like skin tight shorts that came down to her knees along with an armoured plating around her waist and thighs, finishing in a pair of boots made for the desert and a faded symbol near the top. "Don't dodge the question! I found you riding through my territory like you owned the place and on top of that, I know for a fact that the Empress would never let you out of her sights for a second so you've either got a group of guards waiting nearby or you've gotten lost."

Jae raised an eyebrow; "Whoever this Empress is must be pretty paranoid…" He thought to himself as he then glanced around; "As you can see, no guards or anything…Look, we need to find that Nightmare and get Blake out of trouble before she gets any worse already." He explained to Negative Yang who at least seemed willing to hear him out.

"You never normally talk about the Empress so casually…But what's this about a nightmare? It's always daytime out here and I highly doubt she's gonna get attacked with all those guards plus the Beast that's been walking the perimeter of the Oasis." Yang mentioned while crossing her arms; "Though now I'm getting a better look at you, you do look a lot different…Come on back to camp, being out here can mess you up." She offered and showed him the way back to where she made camp.

Once the two made it back, Jae could see that even though the place was sparse and there was probably around 15-20 other people wandering around, it was clear that she had yet to hit her stride as a Bandit Troupe. "I'm assuming that this is one of those mental images of Yang that Blake made…it would explain the outfit a lot." He mused as he tried to take his mind off of the fact that he could see just how toned and "on display" this version of Yang was.

"So tell me more about this Nightmare and why it's so dangerous?." Negative Yang asked him as she took a seat on a flat looking rock; "And don't hold back any info on me either, because I can very easily just take my group and leave you here in the desert."

Jae sighed; bandit or not, Yang was still blunt and to the point so he figured it'd be better to try finding out as much as he could. He began explaining about the Nightmare Grimm and what it could mean while hiding the fact that he was pretty much a dreamhopper. "And so I need to find this thing at it's source, once I kill it then things can go back to relative normalcy." 

Negative Yang listened intently and raised her eyebrow; "Okay, you don't look like you're lying…But I still need to know if I can trust you with handling the palace, so hop in the ring with me for a little…Fighting each other is as honest as it can get, so if you win, I'll help you find a way in…If I win then you become MY slave~…No weapons and no outside help." She snapped her fingers as a bunch of bandits made up a ring for the two.

"I don't have time for this, if we don't hurry then things could get worse." Jae insisted as he followed after her and frankly starting to get annoyed at her persistent skepticism.

"Too bad because we fight now!" Yang suddenly declared as she thrust a jab at his face and knocked him out of his frustration, making a chorus of cheers from her other bandits and drawing blood from his nose.

Jae winced as he wiped his nose and saw Yang barefisted and in her boxer's stance; "Fine, you wanna fight…Then bring it!" Jae thought as he rushed forward with a barrage of swings and heavy punches, to which most of them were ducked under or blocked by Yang's forearms as she pressed forward.

With the two now in full Fight Mode, it became a little more even as the two swapped punches with kicks and knees with elbows; Jae managed to swing a high kick upwards once he ducked under Yang's swinging elbows. "That all you got?!" Jae yelled with a smirk as he was starting to get into it.

Yang however wasn't as amused as her real counterpart would have been, she let out a yell of anger as she activated her Berserker mode and rushed him with a series of haymakers; many of which were blocked at the last moment or ones that Jae ended up taking directly before a solid hook knocked him over.

"Dude…You had to go and run your mouth on this, even if this is some weird mind thing…that's still Yang and not someone you deliberately annoy." That same voice lectured Jae in his head as Yang's punch knocked him for a loop.

"It's not my fault she started it by slugging me…Besides I can't just back out, this version of Yang can tell us how to get in to that palace thing."

"That is a fair point, but if this is how you intend to fix things for Blake; you're doing it all wrong…Here…I found this little number hiding in your psyche; just remember all those times that your pops tried to "train" you for taking a hit…that's a good catalyst."

"Catalyst?" Jae thought in confusion but then suddenly he felt his forearms start to tingle and that snapped him out of it when he saw Negative Yang rushing forward to swing another dangerous hook into his face. On reflex; he brought one of his arms up to block and felt her fist connect with his forearm with a solid THWACK! "Huh…That felt like it should've hurt more…" Jae murmured as he then pushed her back and got into his stance once more.

"Alright, we're getting somewhere~" Negative Yang grinned as she started to get more intent on ringing him out as her fists swung with more speed and aiming for his face and body.

Jae kept his guard up as he blocked each punch, even though the last real serious punch he took from Yang ended with a broken nose; these ones barely felt like anything more than a poke. As he took them more and more, he started to slowly push back before he felt the right moment come as Yang reared her fist back for a haymaker; he thrust both palms outward and connected with her chest. 

Yang wasn't sure why or how he suddenly got his second wind but the double palm push or rather it's shockwave knocked her off her feet and onto the ground out of the ring with an unceremonious Thump.

"He…did it?"

"He beat the boss?"

"On his own!"

Negative Yang would get to her feet as she kept her gaze squarely on him; "That's more like it! Ever since I got a look at you in the desert, you looked like you were all wound up tight. That pushback there was proof of what you can really do…I'm excited to have you help us getting in…But damn, you holding back on me like that is real annoying!" 

"So…You'll help me get in?" Jae asked as he felt the tingling in his arms die down and he could feel energy leaving him.

"Deal's a deal, you beat me so I'm gonna hold up my end of the bargain and help you get in…Shame really, I think you'd make a good slave for me~" Negative Yang mentioned but finished her comment with a sly wink and a shake of her body as she headed to the main tent.

Shaking off the flush in his cheeks, Jae followed after her into the tent where a bunch of weapons, a map and a person sized bundle of red would be sat; "So this is the war room, essentially?"

"Yep, I got my intel back so you and my best infiltrator will go find a way in and then after that, you go find your nightmare and we'll get our foot in the door." Negative Yang mentioned

The red figured bobbed out as it looked up at Jae and revealed that it wore a white mask with a rose emblem plastered where the face would be; "Unless you get caught by the Beast, then you'll be on your own."

"Well, that's not going to happen because YOU'LL look out for him…Won't you, Ruby?" Negative Yang asked as the figure pulled off the mask and showed the spitting image of Ruby.

"Yang! I'm trying to be serious and intimidating here…" Negative Ruby would say as she glared at her sister but much like the real Ruby, it didn't seem to have the same effect.

"As long as you don't attract any attention, you two should be fine…So head on towards the walls and see what you can get accomplished." 

——Meanwhile——

Yang was stripped of her Ember Celica and placed in what looked more like a luxury bedroom more then a prison cell; Yang had been placed on a large bed with a desk, a mirror and just about any amenities that a princess could want. "With the way that shorty was talking, I was expecting her to throw me into a deep dark pit…Not some ritzy Princess suite." Yang would then start looking around as she tried to find her way around; so far from what she could tell, she could roam the hall and anywhere on the floor but the windows were barred despite their luxurious look and the door leading to the stairs was guarded as well as fortified.

Doors and doors lined the hallway that Yang was in; each one was ornate and had their own name tag on it. All of them seemed to be a literal name bar one which was unsurprisingly enough, the one nearest to the back of the hall: "Darling~"

Raising an eyebrow at this particular epithet and the fact that despite it's attempt at being a 5 star room door; Yang didn't need to have a sniper's vision to see that the door had been broken/repaired on more then one occasion. "That looks promising…And more than a little ominous." She thought to herself as she decided to test the door. The door clicked open followed by a creak as it slowly opened up.

This particular room looked somehow more luxurious then her own, it almost seemed to make Yang jealous as this room had an open balcony with a view over the greenery of the Oasis, coupled with the occasional sight of a large lumbering beast's silhouette in the distance. Curious about why a place that was Negative Blake's idea of detainment; Yang grabbed one of the books that had an awful lot of dust for someone supposedly being here and headed for the balcony. She pulled her arm back and threw the book over the side; seeing if she could earn some points if she could land the book in the water, the room had other ideas however as there was a ripple in the air and it ricocheted the book back towards the room and hit the floor.

"A barrier? This just keeps getting more interesting…" Yang mumbled to herself as she turned to leave but found herself staring down the guard from earlier in the doorway.

"So you just make yourself at home in other people's rooms?" Ilia asked Yang dryly as she shut the door to give the two some privacy.

"Well when you get thrown in a dungeon then every room's your room…Besides, what kind of prison is made up to look like a mansion." Yang quipped but the sight of Negative Ilia's mouth twitching in anger meant she was in for another lecture.

"You don't dare get the privilege to criticise the Empress's choices in how she protects people! She keeps everyone in this palace safe out of the kindness of her own heart, even those undeserving of her love get treated with nothing but tenderness and care!" Negative Ilia would snarl as she stomped up to Yang; though her mask stayed on, Yang could feel more anger and bitterness directed at her then anything else.

"So who is this Darling that Blake seems adamant on keeping here? Surely you can at least tell me that much!" Yang fought back, because so far from where she was standing; that name could apply to anyone…And possibly the Nightmare if she was lucky.

Negative Ilia sighed as she walked past Yang and then moved a curtain to show a stairway leading downward; "If it means you stay and don't cause a fuss than I'll show you." She beckoned for Yang to follow as the two silently descended the stairs.

The deeper and deeper they got; Yang could tell this was something that Blake would definitely try to hide since all that surrounded them were cobwebs and dimly lit sconces, "So what's kept down here, anyway?" Yang asked as she kept walking; though the deep grooves in the stone walls gave her a vague idea.

"The Empress has a lot of love in her heart…But there are those who wish for things that she cannot allow….Or those that wish to claim that love all for themselves…" Negative Ilia explained as they reached a thick looking wooden door; "This is where we keep those who persist in testing the Empress's benevolence."

Yang held her tongue as the door opened with an unsettling groan and the sight made her stomach turn to ice; There was a large square for people to maneuvre along with two large cells, One looking almost pristine while the other had a gaping hole in the wall and opened up into what looked like the night despite it being daytime where they came from before.

"Now this is a prison…" Yang thought to herself as she eyed the broken up cell; "So who's the lucky one to get out?" Yang asked as she saw a discarded White Fang mask by the open hole.

"The First One to escape…Adam, he was The Empress's head of the Royal Guard and showed nothing but loyalty, but one day he started demanding more…Even demanding that the Empress submit to him as his betrothed." Ilia growled as she clenched her fist; "The audacity of him! He even forced himself on her in the middle of the throne room!" 

Yang felt her stomach clench a knot of anger but decided to try keeping her cool for now; "What happened to him."

Nega-Ilia looked to Yang once she calmed down a little herself; "The Barbarian Queen beat him into the ground and dragged him into the lowest part of the Palace to await judgement…But something changed in him; he became more furious and finally broke out of here into the wastelands…The Barbarian Queen decided to go after the beast during the time that the Empress made the barriers to ensure no one else could leave…and it was because of HIM that she made the barriers like they are…And why this second cell was made."

Yang slowly walked over to the other cell and then clasped her hand over her mouth as she stifled a frightened gasp when she saw what was inside; "You…She…"

——Meanwhile——

Jae was riding on Ripper through the sands while Ruby held on to him as she hitched a ride; he was surprised when she opted to ride along with him rather then using her own transport; "It's more practical if we travel as one." was what she advised however her actions showed that despite her tough sounding words, Nega-Ruby was still Ruby as she clung around his waist while they sped down the desert paths. "You said there's a hole here?" Jae asked her as they stopped a few feet away from the giant wall.

"Yeah, The Empress had a jailbreak some time ago and most of us managed to make a break for it." Nega-Ruby explained as she steadied herself after they disembarked.

"Yeah, me and Yang managed to get out…But we weren't the first ones out of the gate…" Ruby explained though she couldn't help but feel the heebie jeebies when she saw the colossal hole in the wall; "When we heard she was going to create a barrier to stop people getting in or out of the palace and keep us safe "For our own good", I think that was when we decided to fight back."

"Wait…You aren't worried that we won't be able to get past?" Jae asked as he eyed the intricate looking barrier covering the hole.

"No, I doubt she truly wanted us to leave and even if we left, she'd want us to come…back!" Ruby grinned as she phased through the barrier to the other side; "Alright, now it's your turn t-BEHIND YOU!" Her joy turned to terror as she saw a creature coming up on Jae.

Jae noticed the look of terror before her scream as he jumped away; had he been a few seconds later, a gigantic clawed hand would've crushed him into paste. "Alright, no problem…Just gotta fight my way in!" Jae tried to calm himself as he looked up at the beast that stared him down.

Towering over him was a 19 foot reptilian creature that was covered in jet black scales from head to tail with the exceptions of the upper half of it's face which seemed to have a white patch over it and what looked like red scarring, atop it's head was a pair of horns that curved upwards and looked like they could uproot a tree with zero effort. Each hand was tipped with some sharp looking claws and to add to it's dangerous look; the lower half of it's tail was a deep crimson and almost seemed to resemble a katana blade.

Negative Ruby recognised this monster well and even seeing it again was three times that of the brief glimpses she saw from her nightmares; "The first one to escape…The first one to turn on her…The first one to attack her…"

The monster's burning red eyes placed squarely on Jae, its body shook in ever growing rage as it acted like it recognised Jae; "You….Kill…You…Blake…Mine…BLAKE MINE!" The monster then reared its head back in a vicious howl of a roar.

Meanwhile Ilia could hear it too from the cell and peered from the hole; even though they were incredibly high up and far away from it behind a barrier, that voice and the blood curdling rage that it carried dragged the final sight of her former comrade back into her memory.

"Adam…."