Their house on Patch was modest in size but it had never felt too small even when there was only the three of them in the house. But now it felt empty, far emptier than the small house had any right to be. For the first time in years only two people resided there, both far more withdrawn than their former exuberant exteriors could ever have hinted. The holes left by those they loved were cavernous, and the emptiness was only amplified by the quietness in the once homely building. Both of the inhabitants were lost in thoughts that were only too similar, though neither would be willing to acknowledge the similarities out loud.

Taiyang Xiao Long was a strong man; one, it was part of his semblance and two, you have to be a strong man to get up each day after everything that had happened to him over the years. He had passed on his strength to his daughter, his favourite thing she had received from him followed closely by his colouring, the golden curls that fell around the face that reminded him with a pang of his first love. However of all the traits he had hoped for his daughter to inherit from him the fate of always being the one left behind by those you loved was not one of them.

He would almost not wish it on his worst enemy but at the present time he prayed for far more hellish punishments to befall the people who had once again torn his family apart. Summer, Raven, Yang, Ruby; the list of women he failed to protect grew longer as he sat about useless in his home teaching the next generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses. For what? What good were the lessons he pressed upon his students when Beacon fell so easily to the Grimm? An entire school of heroes scattered to the wind, with some of the brightest lights dimmed and snuffed out by an evil that was incomprehensible to him. One daughter out trying to bring balance back to a world spinning out of control, the other broken physically and emotionally as the bonds of her team stretched too far and snapped under a pressure that should have never been placed upon them in the first place. It took a careful and talented smith time to work a blade into something beautiful and strong, time being a luxury not afforded to the four young girls. They had been quenched too early in the process and had shattered as a result, tossed out alone into the world with only the jagged pieces left to protect themselves.

He stood at the doorway of his eldest daughter's room, watching as she stared aimlessly out the window. She had always been strong, stronger than anyone gave her credit for but people never looked too deep and dismissed her as a shallow girl playing at being a Huntress. She was the literal light of his life, a light that was slowly being suffocated by the loss of her team and the loss of her arm. Seventeen was too early for her to experience this, she was too young.

They had always said she took after her father.

Sure she may have recieved her mother's looks but everything else came from her father. How could it not, when he was the one to raise her? She would go as far to say that she had more Summer Rose in her than her own mother. Raven Branwen had left her in the crib. But then Summer had left her too. Her father who raised her had left her when Summer died. So she stayed. She stayed for Ruby, when no one else had. Her father came back of course, different but fundamentally the same, yet she still couldn't quite forgive him for blanking out on her and leaving her to grow up quicker than she ever should have. Qrow was a constant variable, she couldn't count on him as he fluttered from place to place in a state of constant transients but he was reliable and in the end he always came back.

So the adults of her life were flaky: Beacon had been a new start, a chance to gather people of her own around her, a chance to prove to herself that it wasn't her. That there wasn't something defective with her.

It had been a strong start, taking out a Nevermore tends to be a "forged in the crucible of adversity" moment for any team. Ruby had been made leader, Weiss had resented that; it got resolved. Blake was a Faunus, Weiss was a racist; it got resolved. The team fought the White Fang, Blake panicked about being a Faunus; it got resolved. Time and time again they overcame whatever was thrown at them, consistently going above and beyond to save others and themselves. They became a unit, more than friends, more than family. Ruby would always be her little sister but now she was her leader too. Weiss and her might have been opposites in so many ways but she was proud to call her a friend and team mate.

And Blake. Blake was more than a partner. Blake was a missing piece for a puzzle she never realised created her. Blake was a new reason to be a Huntress, no more adventuring and thrill seeking unless Blake was going to come along with her. She would have followed her to the ends of the world and protected her until her dying breath, done anything and everything for her. But she left. She left her.

Another mark against her, joining the others that already crisscrossed her heart. What was so wrong with her that caused everyone she loved to move on without her, to leave her behind and add more cracks to her fragile sense of self?

At least Weiss had an excuse, someone pulling her away from the broken remnants of her team, the force of nature that was her father. Ruby and Blake had left her.

She turned to her father halted in the doorway. The suffocating tears that she had held at bay with a cracked dam spilled out as she choked out gasping sobs and grasped at her face with remaining hand as her right arm twitched ineffectually, desperate to join its twin.

"Why does everyone leave me dad?"

Taiyang moved into the room crossing it in three quick strides before gathering up his eldest in his arms as she sobbed.

"What's wrong with me?"

Summer was gone. Qrow had a purpose. Raven had left.

"There's nothing wrong with you sweetheart."

They left him here.

"Then why do they all leave me, why?"

The only sounds in the small home were the shuddering breaths of the brawler who looked so small in her father's arms and his quiet hushing as he rocked her in a futile attempt to calm her anguished heart.

Weiss was gone. Ruby had a purpose. Blake had left.

"I don't know Yang."

They left her here.

"I don't know why they left us."

They'd all left them behind.