Chapter 7: The Wounded Dragon, Part III

Weiss's second day as a captive had started out as poorly as the previous day had gone. The bandits smelled terrible, the food they gave her smelled worse, and all morning there was no shortage of considerate people stopping by to brighten her cage with a lift of the tarp and a few kind words:

"Wanna lift up dat skirt fo' me, Princess? Haw haw haw!"

"Daaaamn, boys, check out that quality Atlas engineering!"

"I love me a taste o' that!"

There were two highlights that morning. The first was when the staff-wielding bandit tasked with guarding her actually did his job and sent one of the offenders packing:

"Shaddup, Earwax! Everyone knows you gayer than Jemmy was, so stop tryna pretend like you ain't!"

Said bandit then proceeded to repeat Earwax's comment about her legs verbatim, and thus the moment was ruined. The second highlight came when another bandit stopped by to give her a...well, whatever it was, it was edible and didn't taste half bad. Weiss did not quite remember what it looked like, as she wolfed it down immediately, but it was definitely some sort of baked item.

"My Boo felt a little bad for you," the bandit explained, "so she made it an' told me to give it to you."

Other than that, it was easily one of the most miserable and humiliating experiences of her life, made worse by the fact that the idiot bandits had even forgotten to bring her water that day.

Then, around noon, the noise of the camp picked up in volume, and her guard made another bandit take his place before running off somewhere. At first, it was merely an increase in chatter, and then people were screaming at each other. From what Weiss could ascertain, Zarik had brought home a prostitute instead of deodorant, and the others were less than amused. (She herself found it both hilarious and disgusting.)

It was right about then that a huge thunderclap shook the camp into silence, and Weiss heard the most unpleasant sound of Vernal's voice. She didn't focus much on what she was saying, though, because she was thinking about the thunderclap that Vernal had presumably produced. It very much unnerved her, because while it was entirely plausible that Vernal's Semblance was some sort of noise projection - and Weiss earnestly hoped that was the case - she could not ignore the possibility that this woman could command the weather. If she could, then all hope of escape was certainly doomed -

"My name is Yang Xiao Long."

What?

Weiss could not believe what she had just heard. Yang was here?! The elation welling up inside her mixed with the plethora of questions that arose with it. Had Yang been captured, too? If not, then what was she doing here? Surely, she wasn't here to rescue her - she couldn't have possibly known what Weiss had been doing these last several months, could she have? No, that was impossible...and Weiss very much doubted that she was here to join these bandits. Perhaps she was here to fight them...? But she would be hopelessly outnumbered - or maybe she was here to negotiate for something - or, possibly, to ask them to help defend some village from the Grimm! That seemed like a reasonable conclusion, if a very best-case-scenario one...but that still left the question of what Yang was doing so far from home. And there was still the very real possibility that Yang was a prisoner, and so Weiss refrained from calling out to her immediately; she did not want to risk any more trouble for her teammate.

That all changed when she heard Raven refer to Yang as her daughter.

Mind.

Blown.

It took Weiss a moment to regather her thoughts after that. Once she did, the pieces all fit together: of course, Yang had been searching for her mother! She had told Weiss as much shortly after the dance at Beacon, though the name had gone unmentioned -

She paused her train of thought to listen to Yang tell of her encounter with Zarik in the woods. Weiss decided then that she hated the man just as much as she did Vernal, and was sorely disappointed when Raven let him off easy. So much for the "rules", she thought.

After that, the noise of the camp resumed in full as the bandits began making preparations for a raid. Daring a peek underneath the canvas flap, Weiss saw Yang and Raven standing close together, and decided that right then was the moment to act. She tried to call out Yang's name, but all that came out of her parched throat was a hoarse, barely audible croak that sounded more like Zarik than her. Weiss cringed at the sound, then cleared her throat and tried again, with similar results. She cursed, then went over to her guard.

"Could I get some - "

"Shut yer trap, girlie," the one-eyed bandit snarled. "An' I better not hear you bitchin' again, y'hear?"

Infuriated, Weiss went back to her place of observation and lifted the flap once more. To her utter dismay, she saw Raven and Yang walking towards a tent. Desperate, she cried out a third time, but still, nothing much came out. The two women disappeared from sight. Weiss's hopes briefly sank before she realized that she had one last option at her disposal. It might anger Raven, she knew...but if she could get Yang's attention, then she just might be able to convince her mother to let her go.

It was decided, then. She had no other choice.

She began the Summoning Glyph on the earthen floor.

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Zarik was in a good mood. He had, first and foremost, just avoided a heap of trouble with his extremely dangerous older cousin, the consequences of which he understood all too well. On top of that, he had just begun making plans for a huge raid to take on Higanbana, a town of respectable distance that had never fallen to bandits before; however, its capture would yield not only a massive windfall of loot (and, of course, deodorant), but would also mean fully regaining the fearsome reputation the tribe had once had under Raven's predecessor. If Zarik could pull that off, he would all but secure the status of the chieftain's heir-apparent (provided that Yang decided not to join the tribe), and so he was brimming with excitement. The best part of his day by far, however, was happening presently. That was because he was in the midst of his third most favorite activity: yelling at his fellow bandits.

"Faster, you stinkin' varmints! Get moving, we ain't got all day! You, Pork - get to stockin' them little wagons with provisions, and don't you dare forget the cabbages again or I'll shove 'em all up your ass! You heard me - hey! Kyle, you bozo, what're you doin' with that? We don't need that, now put it back and go do something useful - you figure it out, dammit!"

There were no hard feelings among Zarik's inferiors, though, because they knew him well enough to tell the difference between when he was actually angry, and when he was going about his own way of showing some measure of affection for his motley crew of outlaws. In this case, it was the latter.

And then the massive glowing robot monster thing with the giant-ass sword, whatever the hell it was, exploded out of the prisoner's tent. Zarik's good mood ended abruptly.

"Son of a - VERNAL!"

The bandits immediately scattered away from the twenty-five-foot tall menace, which began stomping its way towards Raven's tent. Zarik blanched at the thought of what Raven would do to him if that thing ruined her long-awaited meeting with her daughter - or worse, if it did Yang any harm. He had to stop it, with or without his magic artillery backup.

"Everyone grab your weapons and take down the prisoner, now!" he shouted as he dashed up beside the summoned creature. He saw that his gunman, Embers, had done the same across from him, getting a flank on the creature and pumping Fire-Dust rounds in the Heiress's direction. Unfortunately, she had managed to relieve some poor sap of his blade amidst the confusion, and used it to deflect the few rounds that got past her towering guardian. Zarik felt a little bad about the relief washing over him when the Heiress had her monster change direction to charge Embers. Only a little bad, though, because the expression on Embers's face right before the creature sent him flying clear out of the camp with the flat of its blade was completely priceless. In any case, he saw his opportunity and made a beeline for the prisoner - and just narrowly avoided a tremendous swing from her golem's blade, whereupon he noted that it was far faster than he had anticipated. He would have to distract it and deal with it himself while - yes! He saw that Vernal had finally leapt into the fray with her circle-blade-gun-things (he could never remember what she called them) and seemed to have the Heiress under control.

The creature turned its attention to Vernal and brought its huge sword down at her; she hurled one of her blades at the Heiress, knocking her back a dozen or so meters, and then stretched out her hand towards the creature. A flash of lightning tore downwards from the sky, striking and destroying the weapon as the Heiress accumulated several assailants. The giant armor thing started running towards its ward, and Zarik knew that it was now or never. He fired a grappling hook from his crossbow, latching onto one of the creature's back plates. With a running start, he swung up and over in a graceful flip and landed on its shoulder. He was about to ram his katana through its eye aperture, but the creature grabbed him. Zarik would later grudgingly concede to Vernal that had she not hurled her other blade thingie and severed the creature's arm at the elbow, it would definitely have squeezed the juices out of him. All the same, he was free, and hurled his own sword to land a perfect hit right through the "eyes". The blow proved fatal.

As the monster disintegrated, Zarik dropped to the ground in a roll, and caught his falling katana. He was about to rush the Heiress, but just then, his lackey Grant disarmed her with a well-placed meteor hammer strike, and then it was all over. Zarik laughed as she was dog-piled by at least twenty angry bandits. He strode up to the scene while Vernal went to notify Raven, chuckling to himself once more as one bandit staggered away, clutching his crotch before falling over. Even unarmed, the physical abilities of those with Aura were not to be underestimated, especially Auras as advanced as the Schnee's undoubtedly was. At last, Zarik reached the brawl.

"Alright, alright, you got her, good job, whoop-dee-doo," he projected as he shoved or tossed aside those who failed to get out of his way fast enough. He then began the most enjoyable task of clobbering his way through the melee (his second favorite activity) to get at the princess, who was hoarsely shouting something (it sounded like someone's name, Zarik thought) as she tried to fight off the bandits. "Now get outta my way, you little cocksuckers, I'm taking it from here - move it, Darby! - I said get offa her! Beat it, you half-witted little - hey!"

He saw right then that one of the bandits had gotten quite carried away in "restraining" the prisoner, and in a manner that could not go unpunished. With hardly anyone else left fighting, she managed to plant an elbow into his face and shove him back - right into Zarik, whose fist smashed into his jaw and sent a tooth flying a good ten feet away. He then stomped the Heiress's face into the dirt before she could try anything else, yanked her up by the hair with much protest, and secured her in an arm lock (one he had recently learned that day). His attention, however, was on the bandit he had just socked to the ground.

"Are you stupid?! Don't you know the rules about messing with - "

But then he recognized the offending bandit as he scrabbled up to his feet - in fact, one particular individual whom he had nearly cut to pieces not ten minutes ago had Vernal not intervened with a thunderclap. A smile spread unseen behind his bandanna.

"Earwax. Well, it's about damn time you screwed up big, 'cause you've been a pain in my ass since day one - and now, you've pissed me off for the last - "

He suddenly noticed that Raven and Yang had finally arrived on the scene, and just about soiled himself. Thinking quickly, he said the first thing that came to mind that he thought might placate the masked bandit queen's presumed anger:

"Uh...I got her."

"Weiss?!"

It had been hardly a minute spent inside Raven's tent when the sounds of combat broke out in the camp and Vernal had rushed outside, Raven soon following. Yang had initially elected to remain inside the tent, as she had had enough of fighting and banditry for one day, but curiosity eventually got the better of her and she also went outside. Once there, she saw what looked to be a huge brawl as she accompanied her mother; it was only when Zarik finally broke up the fiasco (and Yang had to admit, it was kind of funny watching him do it) that she got a good look at its source. By this time, they had arrived at the scene, and Yang finally recognized the filthy mess in Zarik's grasp as her friend and teammate. As soon as she had gotten over the surprise, she cried out in anger and made to lunge forward and pummel her captor, but Raven seized her by the shoulder. Yang would have paid this no heed whatsoever if not for the fact that her mother's grip was like steel. Instead, she stared her mother down, her eyes full of red fury.

"What did you do to her?" she growled, her voice lowering dangerously.

"You know this girl?" Raven asked, not intimidated in the least.

"Yes! She's my friend, and if you hurt her - "

Raven held up her hand to silence her. She initially thought about sending Yang back to the tent so as to avoid any trouble, but a thought then occurred to her. Considering Yang's unfortunate upbringing and her inherited stubbornness (which in and of itself she was secretly proud to see in her daughter), she knew that the chances of changing her mind about everything she knew and believed would already be slim. If Raven were to then punish this girl that Yang clearly cared about, it would torpedo those chances for good...but a gesture of goodwill, on the other hand, could go a very long way to improving them.

"Zarik." She saw her little cousin fidget, and she suppressed the urge to chuckle. "You and Vernal have done well today. Perhaps a reward is in order when my business with my daughter is finished. Now, release the prisoner."

Relief, then surprise flitted across Zarik's face before he obeyed. Weiss fell to her knees, exhaustion taking hold. Again, Raven stopped Yang from rushing forward, and approached the Heiress herself. On her face was a pitiable portrait of terror, anger, and humiliation, seen through a layer of tear-streaked grime.

"Get up," she commanded, then pulled Weiss to her feet by the arm. She then lightly lifted Weiss's head by the chin to look straight up at her. While the gesture might have seemed gently authoritative, Weiss felt no subtlety in the message that the hard, coiled strength of those fingers sent: Raven could snap her into pieces with very little effort.

"You have made quite a mess in my camp today, to say nothing of the danger you put my people in," she began in a low voice, not intending for Yang to hear any of this. "I ought to have the skin flayed off your back for all the trouble you've caused. But for my daughter's sake, I have decided in favor of mercy. Keep that very well in mind the next time you think to cross me in such a way."

Raven then released her, and produced a red cloth from her belt pouch.

"Tie your hair with this," she said as she handed it to her, a little more gently this time. Weiss complied, and when she was done, Raven addressed the tribe at full volume.

"The Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company is no longer our prisoner, but an honored guest. As a friend of my daughter's, she will be treated as such."

The surrounding tribe let out a semi-collective gasp, but the subsequent murmurings fell silent as Raven spoke again, this time addressing Weiss.

"Now. Prisoner or not, I trust that none of my men mishandled you in any way?"

Weiss was too awash with relief, fear, and exhaustion to respond immediately, and so the question was answered by a vengeful and opportunistic Zarik.

"I thought you'd never ask." He turned to see Earwax trying to slink away. "Grant! Get 'im!"

The shaggy-haired bandit bolted, but the head of Grant's meteor hammer quickly wrapped around his leg and tripped him up, and he was dragged back with no shortage of protest.

"No, no, no, wait - I didn't do it, I swear, I - "

"Shut yer trap," Zarik growled as he grabbed him by the back of his shirt, and then threw him to the ground before Raven. "To this here sack o' shit, 'take down the prisoner' apparently means 'grab me a pair and have me some fun'! Good thing I stopped him before he could do anything worse. Ain't that right, Princess?"

Weiss nodded blankly, too overwhelmed by the day's events to do anything else. Raven hand dropped to Omen's handle, and Earwax began visibly panicking.

"Wait - no, I - that's a lie! It wasn't me, it couldn't have been me because I, uh - because I'm gay!" the bandit's lie sputtered out. "Extremely gay! And, uh - everyone knows that, right?"

Nobody said anything. The truth was that the other bandits just liked to call Earwax gay to make him mad, because they knew that Zarik hated him. Any other day they would have happily gone along with his "confession" with no shortage of mockery, but now? That was just a very bad idea.

"I have heard enough," said Raven, her displeasure radiating through her mask. "It seems that we will need another reminder as to the rules of this tribe."

With that, she flipped a switch on Omen's scabbard, infusing it with fire-Dust; she was not in the mood for cleaning blood off of her blade that day.

The last thing Earwax saw before he was decapitated was the wicked grin in Zarik's eyes.

The crowd went silent for a long moment; it was far from the first time this had happened, of course, and they had all had a pretty good idea of what was coming. Still, the tremendous speed and violence of their chieftain was a terrifying reminder to the consequences of defying her will, even if the victim was as unpopular as this one. Yang herself, despite having been ready to throttle the fool herself only moments ago, felt more disturbed and afraid than vindicated; she quickly grabbed her left arm before it could start trembling too violently. Weiss would later remember this event with a similar horror, as the thunk of a human head hitting the ground is always an unsettling sound. As it was, she was too drained to feel anything aside from the relief that she would not be ending her days within the walls of this camp.

Raven sheathed her sword.

"Dispose of the corpse," she commanded, "then return to your business."

With that, she beckoned Vernal, Yang, and Weiss accompany her back to her dwelling, leaving Zarik to supervise the tribe.

"Alright, you drippy lot, show's over," he projected. "Now get back to work, we got a raid tomorrow! Peewee, Tungsten, lucky you - you two're on corpse duty. Get that shit outta here and buried...eh?

As the bandits dispersed to obey, Zarik saw a familiar figure stumble back into the campsite through the gateway, his entire person covered in dirt, leaves, and twigs.

"Embers!" he shouted. "Get your ass over here!"

His lackey complied, looking somewhat dazed.

"What the hell is it with you and airtime today?"

Embers shrugged. "Shitty luck. I swear, boss, Qrow's comin' back to screw with me or somethin'. Thank goodness for Aura, though..." His gaze wandered over to Raven's entourage, and specifically Weiss. "...Did I miss something?"

"Eh, not much. Looks like those fancy Atlesian upgrades on your gun are gonna be awhile, though. Also, Earwax finally bit it."

"'Bout damn time."

"You want some whiskey?"

"Hell yeah."

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The tent's interior, unsurprisingly, was mostly in various shades of red, illuminated by the glow of a Dust lantern hanging from the ceiling. Though not extravagant by any objective standard, it certainly appeared so in comparison with the rest of the camp. It smelled of some sort of incense - a frothy, bittersweet smokiness. There were two flaps opposite the entrance leading to other sections of the shelter, presumably Raven and Vernal's sleeping quarters. To each side of the tent, there was a neatly organized cache of weapons and pieces of armor or gear. In the center of this "living room" sat a low table.

It would be some time before Weiss got around to taking all this in; at the moment, the only thing that she noticed was that Yang was right there. After months spent living in stifling loneliness in that "home" of hers, then getting captured and suffering at the hands of bandits...to suddenly be in the presence of one of her dear friends made her even forget how thirsty she was. Weiss absolutely broke down and more or less fell into Yang's arms in a great, sobbing heap. Yang just held her. They sat like that for a few minutes before Weiss finally muffled out:

"I missed you, so much..."

With that, the two finally relaxed from their embrace and got a good look at each other.

Weiss was an absolute mess, Yang noticed. Her skirt was torn in several places, her formerly white hair was a tangled disaster, and she generally looked as if she had been rolling around in the dirt. More than anything, Yang wanted to know how in the world she had ended up in Raven's clutches, and of what she had been doing all this time. She put those questions aside, however, because Weiss had apparently just realized the nature of her prosthetic. She clasped the hand with both of hers, fully looking it over.

"You...you got a..."

"Yeah, I did. Ironwood sent it."

Weiss smiled at the General's name; it was good to know that he still had Team RWBY's back, even despite the alarming changes she had begun to see in him. And speaking of change...there was something different about Yang, besides the fact that she was stained orange all over. Weiss could remember the fiery spark of gung-ho joviality in her friend's purple eyes from their days at Beacon. After the school fell, though, she had been allowed to visit her and Blake in the hospital for a brief goodbye before she was taken away. That spark had been completely extinguished, and it had crushed Weiss to have had to leave her there. Now, it seemed to have been replaced by something else...something more serious, more adult. Weiss was not exactly sure what to think of this, but she was very glad that Yang had at least appeared to have recovered from her trauma. Then Yang pointed down at Weiss's skirt.

"Ooh, sorry, um..." she said sheepishly. "I, uh, might've got a little something on your..."

Weiss looked down. Her entire front was covered in the orange stuff. She shrugged in humorous resignation.

"Well'p."

The bottled laughter burst out of the two of them, lasting a good minute before they calmed down again. For that one minute, it was almost like Beacon had never fallen. Yang finally pulled herself together and asked what she had been meaning to:

"How did you end up here?"

Weiss then saw her glance move suspiciously to Raven, who had since removed her mask and re-seated herself across from them. It seemed that Yang was about to say something else when Vernal arrived with tea, setting it on the table. Raven bid the girls help themselves, which the parched Weiss wasted no time in doing, despite the less-than-friendly looks Vernal was sending her way as she exited the tent. Between sips of tea, she gave Yang her account of the last several months; however, she only went over the barest details of her capture and imprisonment, not wanting to anger either Yang or Raven into a conflict. It seemed to work well enough, especially what with her epic regalement of how she destroyed the Queen Lancer, but Weiss shifted the focus of the conversation just to be safe:

"So - what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to find Ruby, and my mom can take us to her."

"What? Why? Is she in danger?!"

Yang sighed. "I hope not. She ran off with the rest of JNPR several months back; they were going to Haven to find out more about the Vytal Festival attackers. I...well, let's just say I had a lot to deal with back at home." She clenched and unclenched her robotic fist. "But I think I've gotten over it now...maybe. And I...I don't think we parted ways on the right note. I just hope she'll be able to forgive me for how I shut her out."

Weiss nodded. "Knowing Ruby, she probably will."

"Maybe. Either way, I need to get to her, and my mom has the quickest possible way to get to her...but, before she helps us, we have to listen to what she has to say."

"That is correct," said Raven. "I can't rightly send you out into the fray without telling you the truth, especially if you're going anywhere near my brother. However, before I say anything else...there is something that I need you need to know. You listen now, very carefully."

She said this last sentence with utmost gravity, as if entrusting Yang with something extremely dangerous, and her stare matched that intensity.

Then, ever so slightly, that stare softened.

"I love you, Yang. I always have. Whatever your father and uncle may have told you about me...you are my daughter nevertheless, and you are my family. And I will treasure you as such. Know this well."

For a long time, Yang just sat there, staring half at her mother, and half at nothing at all. Weiss might have described her expression as one of shock, possibly indignation; had she seen into her friend's mind, she would have instead seen turmoil.

Beginning from Zarik's first suggestion of Raven's affection towards her and continuing up until this point, there were two dominant forces that had set upon each other in Yang's consciousness, with the conflict slowly brewing from quiet and sporadic to all-consuming. One was the twisted mangle of anger and hurt stemming from, among other things, the knowledge that her own mother had evidently not seen her as worth the trouble of staying around; it was this that Yang had had to actively fight against throughout the day, keeping watch over it as if it were a coiled dragon ready to strike beyond the limits of her control. So far, she had been able to manage this; now, however, the dragon was faced with something it did not understand...something that did not cut its wounds, but rather, mocked them.

As if they didn't matter - that she ought to just forget about them, even as they bled!

And thus did its fury rebound with a strength like never before. The other major force was an unlikely alliance between her better judgement that yet had her mission in mind, and a much smaller part of her that had wanted to break down into tears upon hearing those first four words of Raven's declaration. It was that small part alone that sought nothing more than some balm for the wounds done to her heart, much like a child will seek simple comfort from an injury; it was this need that the dragon of fire and anger could not bring itself to understand, and so lashed out in defiance of it. So it was for the next thirty seconds as Raven awaited some response from her daughter: the adult that Yang aspired to be and the little girl that she could never truly leave behind in herself, pitted against the snarling, raging dragon whose breath burned hot like the blood spilling from its wounds.

Yang looked down, deep into this conflict, and her gaze landed upon her prosthetic...

That symbol of all that had been torn away from her, that scar crowning her greatest wound.

...and the dragon nearly won.

Very nearly, but for the thought of Ruby in mortal peril.

Though its destructive wrath was quelled once again, Yang found herself not quite unable to filter the potent emotional cocktail bubbling up from both it and the child that was her, and so when she spoke at last, it was with a quavering anger.

"Y-you...then why?! Why did you just leave us like that?! To just...disappear out of our lives without a trace - why?!"

"Is that what your father told you?" said Raven. "That I just up and disappeared without warning?"

"...What? Well, I..." Yang recollected her thoughts and memories, calming somewhat as she did. "...I don't think he said that specifically, though he never said much about it at all. But he did say that it was you who tore their team apart."

"Really!" Raven scoffed. "That's odd, because if I recall correctly, I had very much wanted to keep our team together."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's start from the beginning, then," said Raven. "Qrow and I were raised by the Branwen tribe after our parents' deaths, as I had said. Now, we were sent to attend Beacon to learn how to kill Huntsmen, as they were the only ones besides the Grimm who consistently interfered with our raids. We certainly found that knowledge during our time there...but, we also found our teammates."

She had taken on a wistful expression; one might have said it looked as if her head was in the clouds.

"It was a rough start, of course, but we - I - came to love them like I never thought I would. They were almost like...family. I'm sure you would understand something of what I'm talking about," she said, nodding to both Yang and Weiss (but mostly Yang, of course). "Summer was, well..." She gave a chuckle that almost sounded like a sob. "She had a pretty ridiculous view of the world, putting it lightly, but she was also kind and loyal...she became like a sister to me. And Tai was just this great, big oaf, but I - well, you probably know where this is going."

"Yeah, no need for details."

Raven chuckled. "I will say that he took me completely by surprise. And not just him, but...STRQ, all of it. And I loved them. So much, in fact, that when the time came for Qrow and I to leave Beacon, I offered Tai and Summer the chance to come back to the tribe with us...the chance to be our family."

The cloud of nostalgia drifted away as she said these words, and was replaced by something bitterer.

"But...they refused. They had cast their lot in with Ozpin. Being young and foolish and in love, I decided to stay a little longer with Tai in the hopes of convincing him otherwise. And then you happened."

Raven's expression softened again, this time into a shadow of what Yang would come to recognize, much later, as the face of a mother first beholding her newborn.

"You were so beautiful, Yang. I remember the first time I held you like it was yesterday...words cannot describe how that felt. Perhaps one day you'll understand..."

She trailed off for a second, then seemed to get herself back on track.

"I could leave STRQ if it came to that, but not you. So I gave them one final chance to join me, and told them that I would be leaving with you either way. Tai wouldn't allow it; in fact, he wouldn't let me near you after I gave him my ultimatum. So Qrow and I returned to the tribe, and plotted to return in a couple of weeks to bring you home in the dead of night."

The bitterness returned painfully on her mother's face.

"In retrospect, I should have left without warning and taken you with me while I still had the chance... We returned to take you, but Summer and Tai were already there waiting for us. And then..." The rage in Raven's eyes could have set the table ablaze as she stared down towards it. "...Qrow betrayed me. He had tipped them off about what I was going to do, and as soon as we stepped out of that portal, he drew his blade and stood against me. My own brother - after all we had been through, after all I had done for him - !"

She pulled herself together, which brought some relief to Yang; for a moment, it had seemed like her mother would burst at the seams. No longer did it seem so, but the anger yet simmered in her eyes like the resentful remnants of a hearth fire.

"It's him whom you can thank for ripping us apart. If it weren't for him, I would have had you - we wouldn't have been separated, I wouldn't be explaining to my own daughter why I was never there for her!" Again, Raven reigned in her emotions with a heavy breath. "But...here we are. After that night, I knew there was no hope of rescuing you - not with the rest of my team standing guard. And even if I was somehow able to manage it, Qrow would have been able to lead them right to me and my people, and I couldn't afford to put them at risk like that."

"Well, why did you have to leave, then? I thought you said your team was your family!"

"No, Yang, I said they were like family. But the tribe? They were our family. And not only them, but... The chieftain before me - the Midnight Lord, he was called - raised us as his own. He even made us his heirs, as he had lost his own son long ago. He taught us that there are two things in life more important than anything else. They are family, the greatest treasure of life, and strength, by which that treasure is guarded. Of all things in this life, these will never fail you."

She said these last two sentences like a mantra. Her gaze took on its familiar hardness.

"And nothing aside from them can be trusted. That was my brother's mistake: he put his trust in Ozpin. In retrospect, I can perhaps see why he did; Ozpin had always paid special attention to him, taking him under his wing and playing upon the turmoil his Semblance had always caused him."

"His...Semblance?"

"Qrow brings misfortune to those around him," Raven said with a dull flippancy. "It's not something he can control or stop, and so he's always tended to be a reclusive person; he fears that he'll cause harm to those he cares about."

"That's...all this time, he..." Yang folded her arms across her lap and hung her head, unable to say anything more. Raven's frown remained, but there was a humorless smirk in her red eyes.

"Tragic, isn't it. I used to pity him for it, too - I even stuck with him all throughout our lives, in spite of all the potential consequences. But now, I hope that Semblance rips away every last bit of joy left from his life. It's no less than what he deserves."

"What - you - how could you!" Yang had to wrestle the dragon to the metaphorical ground, lest her rage come vomiting out of her shaking body. She very well might have lost this time, had Weiss not taken hold of her arm; the shaking subsided.

"Yang - "

She stopped, noting the hissing of breath through her friends teeth. Finally, Yang lifted her head back up to look at her mother; their eyes were mirrored.

"You have been paying attention, right?" said Raven. "I seriously doubt that you would feel any different in my situation. What if Ruby betrayed you and stole your child from you? Would you still love her as you do now?"

"That's not...she would never - "

"You're missing the point. I know you think she would never do that, but I thought the exact same thing about Qrow. It made his betrayal all that much worse. This isn't to say that you should never trust your family, of course, but it's a cautionary tale about what can happen when family loses its place as the most important thing in life."

Though not consoled by any means, Yang's eyes simmered down to purple. Weiss, against her better judgement, spoke up:

"So, uh...you were saying that Qrow sided with Ozpin. If we may ask...what's so bad about that?"

"Ah, yes...I see we're getting to the good part now." Raven cracked a half-smile and folded her hands. "What if I told you that magic was real?"

============================================================

The early afternoon sun shone over the city of Mistral as the Huntsmen-in-training went to take a lunch break. Lionheart sat outside against the wall of the combat building, resting with his coffee thermos by his side. He had been working Jaune hard all morning, and the young man had continued to impress him with his sheer will to improve himself. Lionheart had admittedly found himself a little out of breath by the time they had finished, either a testament to Jaune's tenacity or to his own age getting to him (he liked to think it was the former). Pyrrha had taught him well, indeed, and with determination like that he had shown, he would only be getting better. The rush of a teacher's satisfaction that he had gotten from watching his student improve, alongside the exhilaration of a good spar, almost translated to a sort of euphoria...almost enough to make him forget about -

Pyrrha.

The name resounded accusingly in his head. Her blood, in part, was on his hands. This he knew, and this repeated thought he could not expunge, try as he might. His mind threatened to spiral down into that oft-visited pit of guilt and self-hatred, now made all the more potent by the presence of Pyrrha's friends and teammates, whose faces he could only imagine should they learn what he had done -

And then he reminded himself again why he had made that wretched deal with Salem. There was a reason, he told himself, that meant that this price was worth paying. Besides, he reassured himself, he would be able to mitigate any future loss now that Ozpin was right in his grasp. He might lose everything - even his life, and rightly so - but he would lose it having done what must be done. And that was enough -

The last clouds of negativity broke from Lionheart's vision along with his train of thought as he saw Qrow sauntering up to him. He cleared his thoughts of conspiracy and became, inwardly and outwardly, the Leonardo Lionheart whom everyone else thought they knew.

"Is that the 'things aren't going so well' look I see on you, Qrow?"

"Sorta, yeah," Qrow said as he flopped down on the grass next to him. He took a long swig before continuing. "I went around town yesterday asking around - seeing if anyone had seen Hazel recently."

He paused. Lionheart was not sure whether it was reluctance or alcohol at work, considering that he had already emptied his flask twice during the day.

"And?"

Qrow let out a belch, which turned out to be the reason for the pause.

"No luck. Everyone else who knew him's just as in the dark as we are. Far as they know, he's dead and gone."

"Hmm, that's troubling...and I tried contacting him yesterday, too..."

This was technically true; he had tried contacting Hazel, successfully, to warn him that Ozpin knew he was alive and to tell him that he had better lay low. Hazel, for his part, had been very surprised and upset to learn that he could have gotten Ozpin right then and there.

"You think maybe Oscar saw someone totally different? I mean, he did say the guy was unarmed..."

"No...no, Ozpin would have known better than to make a mistake like that. Besides, he always did hate ticket machines with a passion - they never did seem to work for him. That was Hazel Rainart he saw, no question about it. The mystery is what on Remnant he's been doing all this time...?"

"Dunno. Maybe he just cracked or something. Wasn't his sister killed shortly before he disappeared?"

"Yes, I suppose it might be that. After all, she was the only family he had left...poor man. I do hope he's been doing alright."

"Well, this is Hazel we're talking about. There's only two other Huntsmen I know of who could make mincemeat out of Grimm like he could, and those were Oz and Summer. Honestly, I'm more worried about what we're gonna do if we can't get a hold of him, because so far, I haven't been able to find any Huntsmen who are both available and in the loop about the Maidens. Hazel is exactly that, and he'll slap Raven around like a bitch if he joins us."

It seemed that Qrow had more to say, but his countenance brightened and he paused again; he seemed to like the idea of the huge, grizzled Huntsman smacking the stars out of his twin sister. Finally, he continued:

"I'll go looking for Hazel, first thing tomorrow. I should be able to get a decent idea of where he is based on what Ozpin can remember. With any luck - " He caught himself. "Er...hopefully, I'll be able to talk him into helping us out."

Lionheart allowed his genuine worry to show through, knowing that Qrow would have no clue as to the true reason behind it.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? You've already encountered one of Salem's agents out in the wilderness, by whom you were nearly killed. They may be others looking to finish the job."

"You mean Tyrian?" Qrow responded with a light chuckle. "I had that little shit-meister by the balls. Only reason he got me was 'cause Ruby jumped in..."

He took another long swig and sighed, bringing his hand to his forehead.

"Love the kid to death, you know, but...but, damned if she doesn't make the stupidest decisions sometimes...half the time I'm worried that she'll end up just like her mom, except even earlier on in life, you know?" A second passed before Qrow realized what he had said out loud; his hand dropped and his posture shifted. "But, uh, please don't tell her I said all that. Ever."

"Oh, I most assuredly won't."

"Thanks, Leo...uh...where was I? Oh, right...yeah, if Tyrian's the worst Salem can throw at me, I think I'll be fine looking for Hazel on my own."

"...Alright, then. Do what you think is best."

As Qrow walked off, Lionheart made a mental note to contact Hazel again later in the day, this time with a request to not kill Qrow should they happen to cross paths.

============================================================

Yang and Weiss were very confused.

Magic and Maidens?

Relics and Gods?

Evil Grimm bitch queens, and Ozpin being immortal?

What the hell was going on here?!

"What the hell is going on here?!" Yang finally half-laughed, half-sputtered out. "And why in the hell should we believe any of this?"

"For one, I can easily prove to you that magic is real," said Raven as she sipped her tea; she then set it on the table. "But it is also critical that you know what those who side with Ozpin are going up against. Like I said, he traps those who side with him in an unwinnable war against Salem. So if you care at all about your little sister, you'll tell her everything I've told you here and do everything in your power to get her away from Ozpin. Otherwise, she'll end up dead for nothing, just like her mother before her."

"Mom gave her life to protect the helpless from the Grimm!" Yang retorted. "She knew what she was signing up for!"

"No, Yang, she threw her life away for - !" And Raven stopped herself, seeming to rethink her next words. "...I see that you've taken to heart whatever your father and my brother have been teaching you, as I had feared. They've bought entirely into Ozpin's folly: risking their lives for strangers who aren't strong enough to survive on their own in this world, and who will never pay them back. And all this, in pursuit of some misguided desire for purpose."

"They do it because it's the right thing - "

"My point exactly!" Raven scoffed. "There is no 'right thing', Yang! The whole concept is a lie that people like Ozpin use to manipulate others for their own gain - in his case, to use them in his hopeless war against an unbeatable enemy. And so, like Summer did, they end up trading their lives for a nebulous, idealistic concept of morality. They gain nothing from it...and leave the rest of us behind with nothing but the pain of losing them."

"You're wrong, mom." Raven arched her eyebrow. "She died working towards a better future for the rest of us - one where the Grimm are a thing of the past. She gave her life to give us hope."

"Then she has done nothing but lie to us," Raven said, her initial intensity then mellowing out. "There is no hope - that much can be seen just by looking around. If you thought Beacon was bad, I will tell you now that it was only the beginning. I have seen visions of things to come - great shadows rolling across Remnant, leaving only death in their wake. This world is drawing its last breaths, Yang - and it's only a matter of time before everything that Ozpin has built withers and burns away with it. So the only - "

But Raven stopped right there, as Weiss had just gasped very audibly. Memories of her dream two nights prior had returned to her consciousness like a single, tranquil strike of a gong. Yang turned to her friend.

"...Weiss? What's wrong?"

"I...no," she stammered. "No, you'll think I'm crazy."

"We've just spent a half-hour listening to nothing but crazy," said Yang. "I think I can handle a little more."

"I am curious as well," said Raven, and she clearly meant it.

So Weiss told them of the dreams she had had the last few nights - about the Jungle that was a Beast, the Shadow, the Wind, the blue thing. She saved the dragon and the bird for last, and recounted the latter's prophecy of doom. Raven displayed far greater investment throughout the whole story, but both women seemed very excited by the end.

"Why, I never thought I would come across another who had such visions," said Raven. "And the fact that the second dream has clearly depicted events that have already happened - "

"It's you and me!" Yang jumped in, but Raven was already on a roll.

" - and the fact that I had a similar dream many years ago, where a great Shadow devours the Kingdom of Vale! This - this is - !"

"But did you see the big Beast thing Weiss told us about?"

"Nothing of the like, though it should be obvious that it refers to Ozpin and his tangle of lies that he's fed to the people. But I am intrigued especially by the blue thing at the end. You say you didn't get a good look at it?"

"No, I just know that it was blue."

"Hmmm...that and the Wind remain a puzzle to me; perhaps the latter could refer to your flight from Atlas?"

"Maybe, I don't know..."

"Well, all the same," said Yang, "her dreams predicted what was going to happen today! Or, some of it, anyway."

"In light of that, I would suggest that you then heed my words about the world." The excitement in the room was subdued at this. "Even before the dreams I had, the Branwen Tribe has long known that Remnant is approaching its end; we've seen how kingdoms and orders rise and fall. And when this one finally does, it will be a fall from which the world will never recover. The coming darkness will snuff out every last candle of human light."

"Well, then why bother trying to fight it?" Yang's rhetoric came oozing out. "If we're all gonna die, then what's the point of continuing on?"

"Again, Yang, you're missing the point; you unfortunately seem to have inherited the bone-headedness of your mother's younger years. We are not trying to fight this impending doom; we are merely trying to survive as long as possible. It's the only thing that we can do; we must take whatever joy we can out of this life before we return to the dust from whence we came."

For a while, Yang and Weiss were speechless.

Though Weiss was certainly surprised at the sudden defeatist turn Raven had taken, most of her silence still stemmed from her fear of the bandit queen; it would be a long time before she would forget the feeling of those fingers under her chin.

It was different for Yang. Having heard her mother's beliefs, she slowly began to realize that they were not so different than her own. She certainly cared about her family at least as much as Raven claimed to, and damned if she wouldn't fight tooth and nail to protect them. She even found, to her inward shock, that elements of Raven's nihilism permeated the decisions she had made throughout the years. Yes, she had signed up to be a Huntress and put her life on the line for others, but she had ultimately done so for the chance of a life filled with excitement and danger - in essence, for her own enjoyment. Her introspection revealed that had she been forced to choose between furthering a greater good and saving those she loved, she would have always chosen the latter in a heartbeat.

Perhaps this was because, deep down, she had always believed what her mother had stated plainly.

And perhaps the concepts of good and evil were as nebulous as Raven had claimed...but Yang had had years of practice in pushing those sorts of questions aside. So she began her response with a small huff of laughter.

"Good luck convincing Ruby of that."

Raven nodded resignedly as she answered.

"Yes, I imagined she would be very much like her mother in that respect. But all the same, Yang, I still want you to try - for her sake, and for Summer's."

"And then what? What'll we do then? Run off on our own as the world burns around us?"

"You have us, Yang - the tribe. I'd even welcome in the Heiress if she so desired; I am sure she would make a fine lieutenant."

The look of suppressed distaste on Weiss's face further reinforced Yang's resolve in her response.

"I don't think so, Mom. All this - " She motioned to the outside of the tent. " - is not the life I want. I don't want to go around killing and stealing from people who don't deserve it!"

"'Deserve' implies right and wrong, Yang; I thought we discussed - "

"No! I'm done talking about that. It's not important now." Raven did not look pleased at this, but Yang went on anyway. "You know what? Let's talk about something we can both agree on: family. You said that it matters more than anything else in the world. And you're right. That's how I feel about my family, and I'm going to stick with them no matter what." She sighed. "Maybe this tribe is your family - I can't really argue otherwise if that's how you see things. But they're not my family, and they never will be. Ruby, and Dad, and Qrow, and my team - they are my family. And if fighting with Ozpin's what they've decided to do, then I'll be right beside them."

Raven's face was a bittersweet blend of pride and disappointment.

"Then there is nothing more I can do for you except to send you on your way. Do not expect that I will aid you or your friends in this fight. Know, however, that I will be watching over you as I always have; should you ever change your mind, you will not search long for me."

"Hang on," said Yang. "You've been watching over me this whole time? How?! And how come I never saw you?!"

Raven chuckled. "You did see me, Yang. Right outside of your window, in fact."

"...Huh?"

"Remember when I said I could prove to you that magic was real?"

============================================================

A minute later, Yang and Weiss were standing just outside the back flap of the tent, waiting for Raven to come out from the forest to do whatever magicky thing she was going to do.

"Yang," Weiss whispered, "do you think that maybe your mom's just a little crazy?"

"Probably. If I lived in the wilderness with a bunch of bandits for all of my life, I think I'd be, too."

"Yeah, probably."

Another minute passed. Then, both girls noticed that they were being circled by a black bird.

"...I've seen that bird before..." Weiss heard Yang mutter. "...right outside of my - !"

And as soon as Yang gasped in realization, the bird dove down towards them -

- and in a torrent of black mist, became Raven Branwen.

The two girls were thunderstruck, which Raven seemed to relish in.

"There you have it," she said nonchalantly. "Magic."

"B-but...how?" said Yang. "How is...how are you - "

"Ozpin's doing. He is from a time long lost to human memory, when magic was common throughout Remnant. He bestowed this ability upon my brother and I in the hopes that we would serve him. It is how the Maidens came to be as well, long ago."

"Okay...but if you've been watching me this whole time, then how come you never revealed yourself to me? You know - stop by to visit your daughter in person once in a while, or at least leave a message to show you cared?"

"For one, my brother has also been keeping a close eye on you. If I were to have appeared like that, I might have risked a fight with him, which could have potentially put your life in danger - not to mention that Summer would have set upon me like a raging Ursa if she saw me anywhere near you and Ruby. After she died, I did leave you a subtle clue as to my existence soon afterwards - one you evidently found. Some time later, I sensed that you were in danger and portalled to where you were. I'm sure you remember the night I'm talking about."

"The night I went searching for you...you were there?!"

"The threat had already been dealt with by the time I arrived; you were passed out cold from exhaustion in your uncle's arms. Qrow and I had a...talk that night. We agreed that I could watch over you in bird form so long as I made no attempt at communication myself, so as not to encourage you to further endanger yourself. In return, he and Tai would tell you more about me whenever they determined that you were ready, and allow you to make your own choices on the matter. It seems that they finally held up their end of the bargain."

"Yeah. Last year, during the Vytal Festival, he told me how I could find you." A flash of memory darted across Yang's eyes, and her face darkened. "He also told me that it was you who saved my life at Mountain Glenn...and that I 'shouldn't expect that kindness again'. So what's up with that? And also, how did you know I was in danger?"

"It's called being a mother, Yang," said Raven, as if that needed no explanation. "You just know when your child is in danger; that's all there is to it. And speaking of that, I had also told Qrow to relay that I loved you despite our separation. I'm assuming he conveniently forgot about that part, hmm?"

Yang just looked down; no answer came, which was all the answer that Raven needed.

"That sounds about like my brother. Now, as for your other question: all that means is that if you rush headlong into a suicidally dangerous situation alone, like you obviously did on that train, then it's not my responsibility to come and bail you out - especially if it has anything to do with Ozpin's war. That rule obviously did not apply when you were a child and could not protect yourself, but you are now an adult, and a very fine Huntress-in-becoming if you were able to stand up to the likes of Zarik for any length of time. So do not expect me to interfere in matters that are not my own when you are perfectly capable of handling yourself."

That seemed...reasonable, in a twisted way, and Yang had no more questions after that. More profoundly, however, was that her anger had mostly drained away. Yang would have initially chalked this up to her imminent reunion with Ruby, but the truth was that she simply could not be angry at her mother anymore. Certainly, she had been wrong to leave them for this tribe of thieves and murderers, that much Yang held. However, throughout their conversation, Yang had come to realize just how similar the two of them were. Raven was stubborn and set in her ways, yes, and her view of the world was one Yang liked very little. And yet despite that, she found herself almost admiring her mother's conviction and devotion to that worldview - such that Yang might even have described as noble. Her father had been right: it was indeed Raven who had torn the team apart with her refusal to accept the chance to change. But when putting herself in her mother's place, Yang couldn't help but wonder if she would have done any differently. She wondered...and in that sobering descent into empathy, the dragon's rage flickered and cooled.

And thus, it was time to leave.

Zarik's men brought Bumblebee around back in short order, and Vernal reluctantly returned Weiss's blade and hairpin to her. Yang couldn't help but smile at how her posture perked up as she twirled Myrtenaster; it was almost like watching two friends reunite.

As they stood there before the swirling, red vortex, Raven spoke one final time:

"If - if you ever change your mind...we will always be here for you. That I promise."

"I know." Yang started to leave, but looked back before entering the portal. "And...thank you."

============================================================

"...Is she going to come out?"

"Well, if she doesn't in the next five seconds, then I'm going in and figuring out what the hell this is about."

Qrow and Lionheart stood in front of the elliptical, red rift in reality, hands on their weapons. Qrow had gone back behind the combat building to finish his drink, and had been rudely interrupted by glowing herald of his sister's imminent arrival. Lionheart had immediately hurried over in response to his Scroll call, but thirty seconds had then gone by without anyone coming through.

Thirty seconds became thirty-five.

"Alright, I'm going - "

But just as he took his first step forward, Qrow saw none other than his niece walk through the portal with her bike. And also that Schnee girl who was her teammate...whose name, as much as he'd had to drink that day, eluded him entirely. Eh...she wasn't that important anyway, especially next to all the other questions that had sprung up like weeds in his mind.

"Yang?!"

"Hey, Qrow." She then looked around her new environment. "...Where are we? - Actually, scratch that - where's Ruby?"

Lionheart, whose eyes had since popped back into his sockets, took the liberty to answer.

"Oh! Ah, I believe they should be just around the combat building - they've recently returned from lunch break."

Only later would it occur to Yang that she had never met this man before in her life. She took off without another word; Weiss, however, gave Lionheart a second glance, and her eyes lit up in recognition.

"Professor Lionheart!"

"Ah, yes - Miss Schnee! Where are my manners? Yes, it is I." He shook her hand, and they both saw Qrow walking past them in nonchalant pursuit of Yang. "I should think that we ought to follow as well, no? Miss Rose will be most elated to see you, of that I am certain."

Yang rounded the corner of the building, skidding to a stop as she got a full view of Haven's campus - and of her friends from Beacon. Jaune, Nora, Ren and Ruby were walking around as a group and well into a conversation when Yang saw them. She thought to call out to her sister, but once again, she felt that accursed tightness seize her voice like it had when she first locked eyes with Raven. It was a different sensation this time, though; guilt, rather than fear, stopped her.

Ren was the first to notice her, and he alerted Ruby of her presence with a tap on the shoulder. Ruby spun halfway in one direction, then halfway in the other, before finally locking in on Yang. Her eyes bugged; Yang dared to approach several steps, but stopped when she saw that Ruby was making no effort to come forward. She fought through that tightness and finally spoke out:

"Ruby - "

"Yang, I - "

By the time they interrupted each other, only five meters or so separated the sisters. Yang decided to let Ruby say whatever she had to say, resolving to take it full force and without complaint. She bowed her head and waited.

"Yang, I - " Ruby stammered again, " - you...you came for - I - I'm sorry - " Her voice was on the verge of breaking. "...You - I mean, I just - I didn't even say goodbye, and you were just there by yourself - "

But Yang had stopped listening as soon as the word "sorry" escaped Ruby's mouth. Relief and guilt flooded her being simultaneously.

She ran up to her sister and slammed into her with an embrace as crushing as it was tender, lifting her off her feet and cinematically spinning her round. She loosened her grip so that Ruby had a chance to breathe once she set her back down, and Ruby started again:

"...I'm sorry, Ya- "

"Stop." Yang held her at arm's length, gripping her shoulders. "You did nothing wrong. I - I'm the one who has to apologize. You needed me, too, and I was the one who pushed you away...but I'm here now." She pulled Ruby back into her arms and held her tight, which she returned mightily; there was no stopping the tears from either of them, nor were they ashamed. "And you know that I love you."

A single, small sob was all Yang needed to hear to know that she had been forgiven.

A long minute passed with the two in each other's arms.

"I'm just glad you're back," Ruby finally muffled into Yang's shoulder. She smiled; the reunion had gone better than she had dared to expect. She would have to give Weiss the credit for predicting this outcome -

- ...oh, shit. Weiss!

"Well," said Yang, "I'm not the only one."

And she motioned behind her where Lionheart, Qrow and Weiss were now standing; the latter seemed somewhat pensive before the emotional display before her.

"Weiss!" Ruby gasped, and instantly set upon her in a hug that would make her sister proud. "You'rebackIcan'tbelieveitImissedyousomuchIthoughtI'dneverseeyouagain- "

"Squeezing...my...tears...out...dolt!" Weiss squeaked out, and Ruby finally let her go. A second passed by before Weiss immediately returned the hug - but, or course, with enough civility to allow her partner to breathe.

"You don't know how much I missed you..."

No more words were said, and none were needed. Then a thought hit Ruby:

"...So, is Blake here, too?"

Weiss started; she hadn't thought of Blake at all that day, and now felt a little guilty for it. Come to think of it, she now found it strange that Blake had not been accompanying Yang.

"...She's not here with you?" said Weiss.

Ruby's face fell. "Oh...I mean, uh, no, she's not - it's complicated, I'll explain later."

Weiss did not entirely like the sound of that, but Ruby was never one to let the bad outshine the good for very long, and that thought was cut short.

"This is the best day ever!" she shouted while jumping a full seven feet in the air.

"Yes!" came Nora's trumpeting reply, whose team had been maintaining a respectful distance. "And now, we must celebrate...with a feast!"

"Nora, we just ate lunch..."

"So?"

"Alright, everyone," Yang shouted out. "Gather round for the group hug!"

It was a glorious gaggle of joy, tears, and friendship that day on the mountaintops of Mistral.