Chapter One

Ruby traded glances with her sister as they silently closed their father's bedroom door. Taiyang laid, slumped over towards his headboard, still clutching their family photo. Tan and white sheets pooled at the end of his bed, seemingly neglected for another night. Bottles littered the floor before him. By Ruby's guess, there were a few more than the night before so he'd probably be out for a while. The girls took that as a sure sign that he wouldn't be trying to get up any time soon.

They crept downstairs quickly, going for the bottom row of cabinets in their small kitchen. The almond themed doors creaked slightly as Yang's small hands swung them wide and she pressed forward to grab for their contents. Yang passed a backpack over to Ruby as she slung on one for herself. The taller girl grinned and whispered, "Aren't you glad I got us to hide these here yesterday?"

Ruby nodded but still shushed her. Yang had never been the quietest whisperer so she couldn't help but cast a glance back towards the stairs in anxiousness. Emptiness and silence met with her paranoid senses and she felt herself relax marginally. Their dad may be asleep at the moment, but there still wasn't any need to take any chances. She flanked her sister as they snuck out of the back door.

The night air was several degrees cooler than it had been inside the cabin. Ruby pulled her small cloak closer before looking to Yang and offering her some warmth. It wasn't much as her cloak really wasn't made to house two people, but it would have to be enough. Yang smiled but passed her up on the offer as she led them on. They'd gone over to the side of their home where they'd left a wagon full of 'supplies'. Fiddling with their wagon is where, for the fourth time in two days, Ruby hesitated. Silver pools flitted between their home and their things before landing on her sister again in doubt. Small hands tightened their grip on her cloak.

"Don't chicken out on me now."

"But are you sure we should be doing this?" Ruby started, fingers fiddled together as she tried and failed to match Yang's gaze. These actions together were a habit she had been trying to stop as Yang had told her before that the nervous ticks made her a terrible liar. Back then, in her sudden offense, Ruby had responded that it didn't matter if she couldn't lie anyway because she was just trying to tell the truth. The truth could hurt and she knew that well; she was just internally fussing over how to say what she needed to and how the other person would react to it, and that's how her worries presented itself. "Uncle Qrow is gonna be mad when he gets here tomorrow and we're not here. You know he doesn't like when we go anywhere by ourselves and when he finds out we're gonna be in trouble."

Yang rolled her eyes. "We'll be back before he gets here."

"You don't know that! We don't know how far this place is!"

"It'll be fine. We're leaving early, and I'm pretty sure it isn't that far away. Stop being such a scaredy cat! We're wasting time!"

"But Yang-"

"No! We are going!" Yang whisper-shouted, "We already talked about this! We have everything we need and it won't even take that long. We'll go, get my mom, bring her home, and she'll fix Dad. That's it. I'm the older sister here and I'm saying that we're going to do it. Now quit being a big baby and come on."

Yang stormed ahead, blond pigtails bouncing angrily on her shoulders, leaving Ruby to pout and grab the wagon. Behind herself, she could hear Ruby grumble about how she was only three and a half months younger, and how just because Yang was a little older than her that doesn't mean that she gets to boss her around or that she knows everything. Still, the redhead latched onto that wagon handle and trotted along. Rolling her eyes again, Yang just shook her head.

The girls took to the road, following it south in mostly silence. Ruby kicked a rock ahead of herself, using the small stone as a distraction as her thoughts drifted more and more into doubtful territory. Over the last few months, she'd found herself second-guessing and questioning things more often. The first time being the night Uncle Qrow had come over to give them the news about their mother. Whereas their father accepted everything almost painfully quickly, Ruby and Yang were more hesitant. But after another week, and the funeral falling three more days after that, she'd come to understand that it was the truth. Once Uncle Qrow said that he would try to be around more, again she had her doubts. Uncle Qrow was a hunter just like her parents, but unlike her parents, he usually went on missions that lasted for months on end. She'd asked him before if he would tell her stories about his adventures but none of those requests ever really panned out. He'd said that maybe when they were older he'd fill them in on some stuff if he felt like it. She took that answer as a hard no and stopped asking once their father began shutting himself off. Then Qrow got called away.

Things went on like that for a time; Uncle Qrow popping in and out for a week or two intervals before he'd have to go back to the field while their father became harder to talk to. Taiyang fell into drinking harder than Uncle Qrow had, according to Uncle Qrow that is. He'd told the girls that their father just needed time to think over some things and get back on his feet. He'd also told them not to worry too much and that he'd handle it. Well, Ruby felt like they'd been waiting forever but their father still hadn't changed. If anything, he's just gotten worse.

Then Yang had come along with her brilliant plan earlier in the week. The blonde was sure that if they could just bring Raven back then their father would get better. Ruby immediately had a feeling that things wouldn't be that simple. Raven had left years ago, giving birth to Yang and not even sticking around to see Ruby come along. They'd never met the woman and as far as she could tell, their parents hadn't seen hide nor hair of her since. The chance of them finding Raven was abysmal (she'd learned that word from Uncle Qrow), and the idea of convincing her to come back was probably even less than that. All of this she'd let Yang know and then had to deal with Yang brute forcing her way through the ensuing argument.

With the situation at hand being no different, Ruby wondered if this is what the rest of her life would feel like. Before their mother had left, she'd never really thought about how their ideas would pan out. She'd been more like Yang and just carried a go-with-the-flow attitude. Now she found herself to be skeptical of everything and every person she'd come into contact with, her family especially. Being in such a state of constant alert was tiring.

Remnant's shattered moon shone brightly on the island giving them more than enough light to follow their path but further deepening the shadows of the forest to their sides. That was another thing she worried about. Ruby was old enough to convince herself that she was no longer afraid of the dark, but the forest; its gloominess just felt like another thing entirely. Things were quiet, almost oppressively so; the girls' steps thudding softly on the dirt, with only the cadence of Ruby's kicks to beat off the distended the lack of words between them.

Ruby chewed at the thumbnail on her free hand while she followed Yang, the rock having been lost to a ditch some yards back now. She had stewed in the hush long enough for her doubts in the situation to become uncertainty in herself. The blonde was in a bad mood and it was her fault. Of that she was sure, and while she might have her doubts about that, they were doing this for Dad, so maybe Yang had a point. "I'm sorry, Yang."

The blonde hummed but didn't spare her a glance. Yang rolled a shoulder, in a sort of half shrug. "Don't worry about it. I'm not mad at you anymore anyway."

Ruby shot her back a look of disbelief. If that were true, then she wouldn't still be plodding away so far ahead of her. Yang and her temper; sometimes, Ruby really wanted to smack her.

Up ahead of them, a path split off, going into the forest. Coming upon it, they stopped. Ruby knew then where they were about to go and for a moment, her mind was not even having the idea of that action. As she gazed into the obscurity of their new path, she wondered if this was really worth it. Maybe they didn't need Raven, because looking back on the years they'd never needed her before. Maybe, instead of walking off into this nothingness, they could just go back home and figure out a way to take care of their dad themselves. There had to be something they hadn't tried before that could work.

Looking at Yang, she'd almost pouted. The sheer determination overshadowing Yang's slight hesitance spoke volumes on how the conversation would go if Ruby tried to talk her out of going through with this now.

They trade glances and Yang kicks at the dirt. "I think this is it," Yang says.

Ruby looks between her and the shadows again, clearly unwilling. "I mean... I guess we can try it," she pauses, "But I really don't know about this. I don't like it. It's really dark in there and we don't even know if Dad's old house would be this close to our home. I mean we don't even really know if they lived together in Patch. That picture could have been taken anywhere. Maybe we should think about this some more."

"Nope. This is the place. I'm sure of it." Yang was playing off her stubbornness as confidence, and Ruby wasn't sure if she appreciated that right now.

"Well, you know what? I'm not. And you don't like hearing it, but this is a bad idea."

"But it's our only idea and we're already this far. Let's go." Yang once again stomped ahead. "Just stick with me and we'll be fine."

The red-tipped brunette grumbled. The further on the path they traveled, the darker their surroundings seemed. It was almost like the woods were trying their best to fade into the shadows engulfing them. Soon, Ruby couldn't even distinguish the bark of a tree from the ink-like blackness thirty feet ahead of them.

She shook her head. She really didn't have a good feeling about any of this. They didn't know enough about anything they were trying to accomplish and charging headfirst into the woods, at night, was not a good idea. The only reason she's out here is that she knew Yang would just go on her own if she had said no. Uncle Qrow was going to kill them; that is, only if the Grimm didn't manage it first.

Stewing in her reluctance, Ruby hadn't noticed Yang come to a stop. The younger girl walked into the blonde, her nose colliding into blond locks and sending them both toppling to the ground. She rubbed her nose as she pushed herself off Yang and onto her knees off to the side. Great. Now her eyes were watery.

"Why'd you stop?"

Yang turned to her and the cautious look in her eyes had Ruby sitting up straighter. "Did you hear something?"

"No?"

Yang stood again, biting her lips for a moment, before seemingly shaking whatever she was thinking off. "Must've been nothing. Let's keep going."

That was... Odd. With how upset she was earlier, Ruby had expected her to at least yell at her for knocking them over. And if she was hearing things, then shouldn't they turn back instead of still heading forward? Granted, she hadn't heard anything herself, but she wasn't exactly paying attention either. Again, this was a bad idea.

She grabbed the wagon again and trotted to catch up with Yang, coming to her side. Ruby scowled at the nothingness ahead of them. There was no telling how long they'd been out here, walking down a dirt trail that led to goodness knows where to find a person who may or may not even be where they hoped she was. Maybe she would be more up for doing this if it were, oh she didn't know, the middle of the day when things were bright and sunny and she could see a bit more than what felt like ten feet ahead of them. It was all well and good for Yang to want to pretend to be fearless, but Ruby would rather not lie to herself. So in turn, she wouldn't lie to Yang either.

She came to a stop and dropped the wagon's handle, grabbing Yang's arm so that the girl would turn to look at her. Yang shot her an irritated expression but Ruby pushed on. "Let's head back."

Yang's eyes narrowed, lilacs hardening as she opened her mouth, but Ruby cut her off.

"No, I mean it, Yang. Let's go home," she pressed, "We've been out here forever and I really think we would have seen the house by now if it really was here."

"It could just be further down. The road hasn't ended yet."

Ruby growled, sounding about as menacing as a puppy, but it was enough to get her mood across. Yang yanked her arm back and clenched her fists at her side. She stepped forward, bringing a hand up to press her finger into Ruby's chest. The girls locked eyes, molten silver looking slightly upward into darkened lilac as they glared at each other.

"Why do you keep trying to back out of this?! If you didn't want to come, you should have just said no! I would have been just fine by myself!"

Ruby shoved her back. "No, you wouldn't've! You won't listen to me! I've been telling you this whole time that this is a bad idea, but you won't believe me. I'm not going to let you go off by yourself to get eaten by Grimm!"

Yang came close fast and shoved her harder, sending her to the ground on her backside, her backpack breaking her fall. "I wish I had left you at home!"

Ruby was really done with things as they were at this point. She shot upwards, pouncing on her sister and sending them toppling to the ground. They grappled together, rolling and pushing the other to the side when they could. Ruby, with some luck, coming out on top and pinning Yang to the dirt beneath them. She huffed as she straddled the blonde, trying to grab the other's hands to stop her from hitting back. Out of the two of them, Yang always had the upper hand when it came to strength and Ruby had figured out early that if she couldn't take Yang out fast then she'd always lose the fight. Yang reached up, locking fingers in Ruby's crimson tipped sable hair, and yelled as she tried to pull her off. Ruby winced as her head was forced sideways and Yang used the distraction as an opportunity to latch onto Ruby's arm with her teeth. Ruby flinched back at that, disentangling them for a moment as she rubbed her forearm. They glared, neither moving to continue the fight.

That bite really hurt, but as Ruby took a second to look at it; Yang hadn't broken skin only left a ring of small marks. Yang herself was sporting a scratch on her cheek from Ruby's tackle. Ruby scowled again, "Cheater."

"Whatever. It's not like you could beat me in a fight anyway."

They sulked and Yang moved to sit up. She rubbed at her cheek, Ruby having nicked her during the tackle, and tsked. "Don't you want to know why she left?"

Ruby looked at her. As much as the thought had burned at her earlier in the week, she couldn't say that she truly did. Raven had her reasons, whatever they were, and Ruby didn't really have the want or time to find them out. "Well, Dad and Uncle Qrow did say that she probably had a reason."

"And don't you want to know what it was? Because I would like to know why she'd just leave us. Or why she hasn't come back to see us just once. I wanna know why we weren't good enough for her to stick around."

"Yang..."

"I wanna know what was wrong with us- wrong with me that she would just up and leave and never come back."

"Dad and Uncle Qrow might-"

"Dad can't answer because half the time he can't even remember we're around and Uncle Qrow can't because half the time he isn't. The only person we could have asked was Mom. And she's gone now. She's gone, and Dad needs someone to help him because we can't and Uncle Qrow isn't around enough. We don't have a choice."

Ruby looked around them, taking in their situation. She could understand Yang's stance, but still, there had to be a better way to go about things. "I'm not saying that I don't want to find Raven; I just think that finding her tonight probably isn't how we should do this. I don't think she's here."

"We don't have anywhere else we can look."

"I know."

"We have to try."

"I know."

"You know but you don't care."

Ruby looked at her in confusion. "Why do you think I don't care? I care."

Yang shot her a defiant sneer. Ruby couldn't brace herself quick enough as Yang lashed out at her, words heated and aimed to hurt.

"No, you don't. If you did you wouldn't keep stopping us or trying to get us to turn around. You don't care about trying to find my mom. You don't care about helping me. And you don't care about Dad. All you care about is staying out of trouble."

"That's not true!"

"I'm gonna call things like I see it. And that's how I see it. You're just a big baby that cares about nobody but herself."

Ruby was one line away from throwing herself back into the scuffle when Yang stiffened. The brunette watched as her sister's mouth dropped open, the color draining from her cheeks, as her eyes latched onto something beyond her shoulder. Slowly, she shifted in place as she turned.

She wanted to scream.

Not ten paces from her stood a beowolf in all its terrible wonder. Red eyes gazed so coldly at her that Ruby was extremely aware of her body locking up in fright. She unconsciously held her breath, sure that this was it. This was how they were going to die. Because they were going to die. She could just barely hear Yang shuffle behind her, probably to run away like she should be trying to do. She really should be trying to move.

Hands grab at her roughly and Yang nearly drags her to her feet. They sprint, deeper onto the path, trying to put as much distance between themselves and that monster as their small feet were capable of. Ruby pushed ahead. She was always the faster of the two and her fear did nothing but help her speed. In her panic, she somehow managed to latch onto Yang's hand, tugging the other girl with her. The further they ran, the more unkempt their footing became, grass sprouting in patches around them as the forest worked slowly to reclaim its hold.

It was dark, she was scared, and they were going to die.

A small part in the back of her mind wondered if they were running into an ambush. Uncle Qrow had once told them that beowolves came in packs. He said that wherever you saw one of the ugly things, then you could be sure that there were more of them around. He'd also said that the best thing to do if you ran into one on its own was to kill it before it could get its howl out. The nasty suckers just loved calling in other Grimm to the party.

He told them that he'd teach them how to kill Grimm when they were older. Ruby really wished that she had been old enough for that lesson now.

Yang was the one to stop them. Panting harshly and covered in sweat, that was probably more from fear than the sprint, she looked around. "I think we lost it."

"I don't think so. We need to keep going. Uncle Qrow said that they also come in a group. There are probably a lot more that are going to show up."

"You're probably right, but we're out of road," then she pointed to their left and grinned tightly, "and look what I found."

Ruby couldn't believe it. Before her was the house from the photo. It was in terrible shape and looked like it would fall in any day now, but it was there. Yang was right. For a moment, she forgot that their lives were in danger. She took in a quick breath. "Yeah, okay. Okay. We can use this. We can hide in there for now and try to leave in the morning?"

She'd said it as a question, but really, they both knew that was their only real option.

They took off for the cabin, coming to the door quickly. Yang jiggled the knob, frowned, and jiggled it again. Ruby could just hear her mumble under her breath that the stupid thing should come on and open up already. So they were locked out. That wasn't good. Turning around, she cringed. Just beyond the fence was the beowolf. She just knew it was the same one from before. Things just got a whole lot worse. She backed up, putting her back to the door and leaned towards her sister. There was no way she was taking her eyes off of that thing.

"Yang, if you're gonna open the door, you should really do it right now!" Ruby whisper-shouted. Red eyes drilled into her as the beowolf sat. "Like right now, right now!"

"I'm trying!"

The beowolf tilted its head upwards and howled, the sound piercing the air and making the girls flinch. Ruby tensed. It was calling for other Grimm. They needed to get out of there. Now. Her heart threatened to thump its way out of her chest as she grabbed Yang's wrist and pulled them over the railing. If they couldn't get into the house then they needed to run. She pulled Yang faster, not caring at how the blonde almost tripped over herself, as they fled into the woods behind the cabin. They could barely see ahead of them. Darkness swallowed them, hiding the monsters they could hear rustling in the shadows of the forest around them.

Yang stumbled again, catching her toe on a root, and nearly took them both to the forest floor. They could hear that beowolf behind them, trotting to keep pace with them. Ruby wished the thing would just kill them already instead of playing with them like this. It'd had so many chances to finish them off. Still, she ran on, never loosening her hold on Yang's hand.

She was so focused on putting one foot in front of the other that she couldn't react in time to the paw that swiped at her. Coarse fur and dense bone smacked her side, sending her rolling across the ground. Her grip on Yang faltered and disappeared. Blearily, she could still hear Yang; the blonde had shouted something, probably her name. The more her senses returned to her, the more she hurt. One of the beowolf's claws had nicked her arm and she could just feel her blood drip down the limb. She needed to get up because if she didn't, she would die. She needed to get up because Yang was still screaming her name.

Shakily getting to her knees, she brought her head up and looked for Yang. The blonde stood between her and the pack. It would seem that the rest had finally shown up.

The largest of them paced slowly in front of the group. The thing had more bone plating on its body than the rest of the beowolves combined. It sniffed at the ground then pawed at the dirt, carving lines as it drug its paw back to itself. Ruby tried to think back to anything her uncle had told her about beowolves, trying to come up with a way out of this hopeless situation. Uncle Qrow had told her that the Grimm were dumb, but they worked just like any other animals. You had the small fry and then you had the leaders. He'd said that you could always tell which ones were the leaders because they were meaner. They were bigger. Older. But he made sure that she understood that they were smarter. He'd told her that humans had called them alphas and that if she were to ever see one, she should run. Run as far and fast as she could and hope that the thing didn't hunt her down.

Yang was trembling. She held her hands in front of herself, fists clenched, but shaking badly. No doubt, she'd remembered what Uncle Qrow had said, too. Ruby pushed herself to her feet. This was really it. They were going to die.

The alpha stalked up to Yang, baring its maw at her face and letting its breath wash over her. It reeked of rot and Yang stumbled backward into Ruby. The alpha watched them steady each other before letting out a bark, the sound deep and unnatural. Two wolves broke off from the rest, coming to either side of their leader. The largest Grimm proceeded to strut around the girls, eyeing up first the blonde then her sister before it seemingly came to a decision.

Ruby cried out as the alpha bit onto her cloak, kicking her feet as the beast lifted her from the ground. She reached out towards Yang and could only cry out again as one of the other two wolves batted her sister to the ground. Yang's head bounced off the forest floor with a dull thud. The blonde groaned as she curled into herself, clutching at the back of her head.

They were moving. Ruby kicked at the alpha's chest and tried to wiggle out of her cloak to get back to Yang. The other beowolves had broken their line and were now starting to surround Yang. If she didn't do something soon, she would lose her sister in that sea of evil.

She struggled harder when she heard the first scream. Her cloak was digging into the underside of her chin. Still kicking for all she was worth, she wrestled with the fasten; if she could just get it off, she could get back to Yang. She could still see her. The beowolves were racking her with their claws, never more than one at a time, leaving crimson trails in their wake. Even now, when they had both girls at their mercy, they were still playing with them. Ruby frantically shouted Yang's name as the beowolf closest to the blonde's head gave her face a testing lick.

Yang curled into herself as tightly as she could, trying to give the beowolves as little room to hurt her as possible. Ruby called out to her again, still hanging from the alpha's jaws.

Finally, her fingers caught on the button, pushing it through its hole and she flopped to the ground. She rolled quickly as she landed on her injured side, sucking in a quick breath as she was reminded of the cut on her forearm. The alpha didn't even move. Red eyes drilled into her as she got to her feet, the large head of the alpha coming down to her eye level. Mockingly, the alpha opened its jaw, letting her cloak crumple on the dirt between them. Ruby glared back as she tried to stop her body from shaking, but her head whipped around as Yang cried out again.

A beowolf had her by her hair, using the golden locks to drag her sister upright. It dragged its tongue down her face and Yang whimpered. She brought her hands up to push it away, Ruby beginning to sprint at the circle to get to her.

Fangs closed around Yang's upper arm.

The girls screamed.

Yang kept screaming as the other beowolf backed away with her arm, anguish and tears painting her face as fragmented moonlight fought through the canopy to fall on the area. Her body thrashed as the original beowolf still kept its grip of her hair. Ruby pushed herself to go faster. She needed to get there faster. The beowolf lifted Yang higher and Ruby could only watch as the next monster shifted forwards and latched onto Yang's leg. Yang had tried to kick out at her attackers, the short limb not even coming close to where she'd aimed it. A wet crunch entered her ears and Yang wailed.

In moments, Ruby had lost half of her sister.

She sobbed as she willed herself to sprint faster. She had to reach Yang. Yang needed her.

Ruby pumped her feet faster, not noticing the red hue beginning to cover her body. From that moment, two things happened. Ruby broke through the circle of wolves, her momentum enough to send her speeding into the beowolf holding her sister and knocking it back. In the next instance, she grabbed Yang around the waist and spun. Petals and blood bloomed around them as she jumped over the downed wolf, coming to rest a few mere feet from the rest.

She bent to the side and puked. The world had rubber banded around her, snapping in and out of speeds she hadn't experienced before. Her insides felt like they were being pushed outwards as she tried to settle her stomach. But she had done it. She'd reached-

Yang. Yang was being so quiet now.

Ruby wiped her mouth and turned to her sister. The stumps where her right arm and leg used to be were bleeding. They were bleeding a lot. Ruby looked down at herself. There was more blood on her clothes now than there had been before she grabbed Yang. But it was okay, right? She would be okay. Ruby would just need to do what she did just now to get them away from the Grimm and find Yang help. She just had to do whatever that was again.

Almost as if it could read her thoughts, the alpha clawed her side. For the second time that night, Ruby skipped off of the ground. She slammed into a tree, back first, knocking the air from her. Her head knocked against the bark, dazing her. She rolled onto her front and sobbed as her body throbbed. She yelled as the alpha just watched her. It was still near Yang. It was going to make her watch as it toyed with her sister. It wanted her to watch as it killed her.

It's bone covered paw came down on the unconscious blonde, pressing onto the stump of her thigh. At first, Yang only looked disgruntled, but as the alpha put more weight onto it, she slowly built back into her wails from before. Ruby crawled towards them, half blindly moving in their direction as her vision blurred from her tears and blood. Her side twinged, begging her not to stretch her arms out again.

Yang needed her.

She could get them out of here.

She needed to get Yang.

She had to reach Yang.

She had to save her.

Her world faded to white.

There were no more screams or sounds of shuffling paws; just her body reminding her that she was in pain. But underneath the pulsing from her head and side came something else. It filled her senses until it was all she could comprehend. She was burning. She felt the heat scorch her from the inside as it pushed its way out. The light was consuming her. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't move. She wanted it to stop. It had to.

Her body shuddered as the light died down and she gasped for air. The world was fading from her again, this time surrendering to the blackness on the edges of her vision. Before succumbing to the darkness, she stilled, head turning towards the frantic steps approaching them. Were more Grimm coming?

Qrow was not in a great mood. Raven studied him for a moment as she leaned on the wall beside the entrance. He'd used their link to call upon her, using her portal to help him move the girls to the hospital. Tonight was the fastest he'd ever flown between the island and mainland, but it still didn't feel like he'd moved fast enough. It seemed he'd always be too late when it really mattered.

Now she watched him as he paced the concrete in front of Vale's hospital, silently berating himself and probably Taiyang as well. Still, as worried as she felt, she wouldn't stick around too much longer. Being back in Vale was pushing things enough; she didn't want to risk a confrontation with Taiyang as well. Pushing off from the wall, she drew her sword and slashed the air before her, the low pitched hiss enough to draw her brother's attention as he paused and turned to her. Pairs of rouge locked onto each other in silent communication before Qrow huffed and looked towards the portal.

"You're leaving? Can't even wait for news about Yang and Ruby?"

"If something comes up then I'm sure you'll let me know."

Qrow's brow twitched. "Raven, you can't be serious. The girls need you."

"No. They have you." She sheathed her sword. "I do care about them, but I care more about their future safety than their current comfort. Our tribe 'needs' me. One of us needs to take command or they'll hunt both of us down." She paused as he shot a scathing look at her portal. Years on and he was still so bitter about this. "If it will comfort you, I have made changes to the tribe. I know it may not seem like much, all things considered, but I have still been acting on our plan. We both knew things would pan out like this. We both knew that when it came down to it, I would take up the lead because we both knew that I'm far better suited to such. Plus, you were never any good at giving orders, baby brother."

Raven started towards her portal, the red circle casting a muted glow over her surroundings. Qrow tsked but didn't move to stop her.

"Just take better care of my daughters for me. Keep them as far away from the tribe as you can."

"And what about you?"

"I'll continue to protect them in the one way I can for now. I just hope that you and Tai don't make me regret it."

He watched her step through her opening before it sealed shut. Raven was gone and he didn't know when he would see her again. Frustration flared within him, forcing his semblance to spike. The entrance doors shot open, the left side shifting back and forth while the right stuck in its open position. Fantastic.

Qrow stomped over to a bench and plopped onto it, head in hands as elbows came to rest on knees.

If the girls hadn't lived through that, he didn't know what he would've done. He had so many questions to sort through as they tumbled around in his head. Just what had provoked them into going out there? What were they trying to find? They'd been told time and time again how dangerous it could be. He'd made sure to instill in them just how much of a threat the Grimm were. What had they been thinking? What was more important than staying safe? And where was Tai?

He'd called the older blond nearly three hours ago, yelling into his scroll that the man should make his way over immediately or so help him Qrow would kick his ass. Was it too much to ask that he at least act like he cared right now? Qrow didn't think so.

Frustration mounted in him again. If anyone should be here now, it was Taiyang Xiao Long.

"Qrow Branwen?"

Ruby orbs shifted behind his fingers as he looked upon an older man. He returned to his feet and held out his hand, the shorter man grasping his firmly. There was strength in his grip and tired gaze, something that comforted Qrow as he released his hold.

Dr. Broer Wolk, if his nametag was to be believed, introduced himself as the physician in charge of the girls as of the moment. Running a tanned hand through greying, blue hair, he explained that he normally didn't perform on children, but he was on call when the girls were brought in so he was the one to perform their surgeries. Come the morning once everything had settled, they would have a new primary physician to handle things from then onwards. But as of now, if there were anything he could do for them, he would be happy to help.

Qrow got straight to the point. "How are they?"

Wolk sighed and his frown deepened. "I take it by that sword on your back that you're no run of the mill civilian, correct? Would you like a huntsman's answer or would you prefer we use within the walls' speak?"

He didn't even hesitate. "Huntsman. I need the truth."

"They're in bad shape." Wolk started and gestured back to the bench. Waiting for Qrow to sit, he continued, "I'll start with Ms. Rose as she's the easier of the two for now. She has eight lacerations, one to the forearm; five to her side that stretch from her right hip around to her left shoulder blade; and two to the scalp. They were deep but with proper care, she'll have nothing to worry over except scarring. The bottom of her ribcage is littered with cracks, the right side again being the most damaged. Beyond that, she is suffering from a severe concussion and aura depletion. We have her in a room ready for you, but do be mindful of the equipment. Miss Rose will be drip fed small doses of aura stimulant until we can get hers back up to a stable level, though that will be tricky since she's so young. We should count her lucky; had it not been for her aura, the wound to her side could have been much worse.

"Now," Wolk paused, taking in a deep breath, "Miss Xiao Long, on the other hand, is a very different matter. The numerous lacerations covering her body and the loss of her right arm and leg are the most obvious injuries. She came in already in a state of hypovolemic shock, that is to say, that the amount of blood she'd lost was life-threatening. She is also concussed, though I don't believe it is as bad as Miss Rose's, but couple that with the shock and I don't think I need to explain to you how concerning this situation is. And unlike Miss Rose, she doesn't have an aura to help her. Now, while I do believe-"

"Qrow."

Qrow's eyes flickered ahead to the disheveled blonde before him. He'd been so focused on Wolk that he hadn't even noticed Tai's approach. The man was a mess, with dark bags beneath his eyes and reeking of booze. He looked dazed and uncomfortable as he panted, the upper portion of his shirt drenched in sweat. Tai must have run the rest of the way from the docks. Irritation flared within the sable-haired man immediately.

"Tai. Nice to see you finally show up."

Taiyang flinched and frowned deeply at his teammate. "Getting transport from Patch to Vale at this time of night isn't easy. But that's not why we're here." Turning to Wolk, Taiyang asked, "Where are my girls?"

"I'm sorry, but you are?"

"Taiyang Xiao Long," Tai grunted, "Their father."

"Right then," Wolk took that answer with just a grain of doubt but let it go as Qrow nodded in agreement, "As I was just saying to Mr. Branwen; the girls are in their rooms. You're both free to visit Miss Rose together. Her room can be found on the left wing, third floor. Room 311. As for Miss Xiao Long, with her situation as it is, she's been placed within our ICU. She can have only one visitor at a time. I've gone ahead and bent some rules for you for tonight, but I request that from tomorrow onwards, you two follow the visiting hours rules set by the hospital. For now, you both may spend the night with Miss Rose, but only one of you may check in on Miss Xiao Long for an hour."

With that, Wolk excused himself, stopping just inside the hospital doors to pry the right side door back into place. Qrow waited for the doctor to be out of sight before rounding on his teammate.

He stopped himself just before Taiyang, glaring at the blond like he was sizing him up. "Where the hell were you tonight! Why the fuck didn't you stop them!" He nearly growled as he brought his hands up to grip Tia's collar. "Why didn't you tell me they were gone when I got there?! You let me in! You told me that they were in bed! Why the fuck would you lie like that?!"

Taiyang shoved him off weakly and nearly stumbled from the effort. "Because I didn't know! I thought they'd gone to bed earlier. I had no idea they'd snuck out."

"Yeah, sure. And while I was out tearing through Patch to find them; where were you?"

Taiyang flinched again. "I-"

"You nothing!" Qrow cut him off. "You wallowed on your drunken ass until I called you. You sat there while they were being chased, mauled by Grimm because you're too pathetic to act like a father to the girls you helped make!"

"This isn't my fault!" Taiyang argued. Qrow's clenched fist lashed outwards, scoring a solid hit on Taiyang's cheek, sending the blond to the ground. The fire in his blue eyes flared before dying down again as he looked upon Qrow. The man was livid, but more than that, he was distressed. It was an expression he hadn't seen on Qrow since he'd learned of Summer's death months before.

"We are both to blame for this," Qrow ground out, "Don't you for one second think anything else. You neglected them and I was a fool for trusting your words over my instincts. Because of us, they nearly died."

"Qrow..."

The red-eyed huntsman turned his back to him, head still bent downwards, and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I'm taking the girls to Ozpin after this. Clearly, we can't take care of them on our own."

"Qrow, you can't just take my daughters from me-"

"Ozpin'll will make sure they're well taken care of and Glynda can keep them in check."

"You're not seriously-"

"We failed, Taiyang! And our failure nearly cost them their lives... I'm not able to stick around without risking killing them with my semblance and you won't even come out of your head for a few minutes to be their father. Raven's not an option and Summer is... Summer is gone. You were the last - the only good option left. And look where that got us."

Qrow began heading inside at a slow pace. "I'm going to see Yang first. You can have the last thirty minutes. Once they're able to be discharged, we're going to take them to Beacon. After that, I'll figure out what to do with you. For now, I have calls to make. Thanks to tonight, it looks like I'll be owing a lot of people a lot of favors."

Hello everyone and thanks for reading this far. This is an idea I've been mulling over since November, spending that time creating and arranging the barest of story outlines before settling on the start of the one before you. I have to say, this whole thing took me the better part of the last two weeks just to pick a good draft and edit it to Hell. Honestly, I should edit it some more but I'm just sick of rereading this so please excuse me if there were things I missed. I used Grammarly (the free version, that is) to get the bulk of my grammar and spelling mistakes, but if there is anything I can do to improve on this chapter going forward, then please let me know. I would love the feedback.

So now that I have the obligatory 'review me please' out of the way, I'd like to talk about what path I plan to follow with the story going forward. First off, there will be action. It's not something I've ever focused on before nor will it be the focus of this fanfic, but it will be included. If for no other reason than I want to branch out of my comfort zone and improve my writing. So any criticisms and tips for action scenes that will come along in the far future will be greatly appreciated.

What I do intend to greatly focus on and base this story around are character relationships. Hence the title (because I'm not at all that creative. Seriously, if any of you can come up with a better title then PM me and we'll talk. Please.). I want to practice developing relationships and common grounds between characters. I want to practice putting to words how slight interactions, no matter how meaningful or inconsequential, can change a character. I just want to practice developing bonds. Again, any pointers on this front would be awesome.

Will there be shipping? At this point, yes. Smut as well if I feel comfortable enough. Never wrote that before so I'll be practicing off to the side. It will be another thing worth stepping out of my comfort zone to figure out. Though most relationships will be slow-burns unless the plot calls for otherwise. Some things I just don't want to rush through. There will be more focus on building friendships/rivalries at all times though.

Will there be OCs? For a scene here or there, yes. Like Wolk, any other OC will serve some purpose for the time they have but they are not the focus of this story nor will they come around often. Personally, I'm not a big fan of OCs but RWBY has a severe lack of named characters that aren't fighters or Schnees or integral to the plot so I'll do what I must. I'm just more interested in developing canon characters.

Will the plot follow canon events? Yes and no. Or better yet, loosely. If I can work them in and still have everything make sense then I'll figure it out.

Will there be flashbacks? No. Story wise, I don't intend to break from current scenes. There will be abridged stories told from the relevant characters and once it needs be, I will create a separate fanfic with each of those side stories and expand on everything there. That will probably be filled with OCs but for world building purposes, I'll do what I must. I just don't think I can work those in and keep a comfortable pace. I know that having to go from one fanfic to another just for background information can be a pain, but I'll try to keep it to a minimum.

Will there be character deaths? As of right now? Not if I can help it. I don't think I have the heart to kill off a character. Life threatening injuries, sure, but death is a bit much for me. I'm a softy so I really don't plan on doing that. The characters can't grow if they're dead.

Will every chapter be this length? Hopefully? I've set a hard limit of no more than 10k per chapter. Mostly so that I don't burn out while editing. I don't want make a chapter a slog to get through so I'm hoping the limit will help me with pacing, but I really just don't want to unintentionally overdo something.

How often will it update? I'm going for once a month to every two weeks. Aiming for midnights on Wednesdays. And that's me being generous with the time frame. This way I don't rush the story and I can focus on giving each chapter ample attention for quality purposes.

With all that in mind, that's why I decided to just go completely AU with RWBY and work on building the characters from the ground up within reason. I don't intend to make any character too different from their canon counterpart, but I do recognize that there will be noticeable changes to them as the story progresses. As of the moment, the characters with the most abrupt changes are Ruby and Yang, but I'll expand more on that using the story instead of this A/N.

I think I've covered the gist of this fanfic. Really, I just wanted to put that out there so you all could get an idea of how things will go. If this story is for you then that's great and I'll be happy if you decide to stick it out with me, but if not then I hope this will be enough information for you to determine if this fanfic will be a waste of time. No need to come back if you know it won't be something you'll enjoy. If there is anything you would want to know then please ask me. I would be happy to reach out to you and address any questions you may come up with. Some discussion may help me come up with more ideas for this fanfic.

All future A/N will be significantly shorter than this (if they happen at all) and consist mostly of responses to reviewers. Again, thank you for reading, please drop a review, and I'll see you around midnight in the next two weeks to a month depending on how things go. For now, I have stories to catch up on and review myself and I'm so looking forward to this break. Goodnight everyone.