This Chapter was rcently reedited withthe help of MasterGamer132e
Yang had wandered through the dark, snow covered Forest for most of today, pulling along a small cart containing her younger sister Ruby, covered in a red cloak and a pair of blankets.
"Yang, are we there yet?"
Hearing her sister's question, the six year old blonde stops and turns around. When she saw that the four year old had drawn her cloak's hood down over her face against the cold, Yang realized how cold and exhausted she was herself, but that wouldn't stop her now.
"Not yet but we should get there soon."
True to her word, they arrived at the location she found written on the back of an old picture of her dad's team shortly after that. But what they found wasn't a lived in home where she could just ask her real mother to come back, it wasn't even an intact house. What they found was a long burnt down ruin, only barely resembling a two story house, most of it covered in snow due to the missing rooftop.
This was when Yang realized what she had done, and what risks she had taken today. She had dragged her sister through a forest, probably filled with Grimm, hoping to find their way along the small game trail noted on the back of a picture. She hadn't even left a note for her dad or uncle to find, let alone told them where she was taking her sister. All on the off chance that they could find her mom, a misplaced hope that started this whole fool's errand.
Crashing in with that realization, and the frustration it caused her, came all the sorrow she managed to hold back since Summer's death, by hoping to finding her own mom. Yang couldn't take it anymore and punched the fence in front of her, managing to do nothing but drive a few splinters from the remaining wood into her knuckles. Loud sobbing was heard as the six-year old fell to her knees and began crying. As always in their little family, she was soon hugged by her little sister from behind, little gloved hands barely managing to reach around the older sibling's torso.
But unlike at home, her sister wasn't the only being attracted by her sorrow, as evidenced by the snow crunching under heavy paws, heralding a Grimm's approach. When Yang looked up, her lilac eyes were confronted with the sight of a pack of roughly half a dozen Beowulfs closing in on the siblings. While the older of the two knelt there, frozen and shivering from both the fear and the cold, the younger girl let go of her sister, threw her head back and let out a loud deafening howl while raising her tail as high as she managed with the heavy jacket she wore.
When Ruby lowered her head again to stare the leading beowulf in the eyes, her hood had fallen off her head, revealing Canine ears covered in red fur dark enough to appear black, and a face covered by a white boneplate, nearly identical to that of the Beowulf her silver eyes were staring down, with the only difference being that the red marks on the girl's face formed rose petals.
The silent staring contest went on for about a minute, but just as Yang decided to ask her little sister what was going on, the Beowulf in front of the Sisters lowered his head and rolled onto his back. Little Ruby running towards the big Grimm immediately after that only confused poor Yang even more.
Getting that youngling to stand down had taken way too long for Ruby's taste, but now that was done, she ran over and began rubbing its belly. after Yang sat down on the cart, still giving off a bit of fear for her sister and her new pack to enjoy, she tarted up a game of tag with the other wolves. They grasped the concept quicker than the young girl had hoped and soon they started playing, although Ruby made sure to stay in Yangs field of vision.
After they played for a while, Ruby felt her sister's fear rise again, similar to how the older Sibling reacted when they first encountered the pack. As she looked towards her sister, an Ursa was already charging at the blonde, but just before it could reach her, it fell apart, split in half by the Scythe wielding Huntsman revealed behind it. Just as she was about to greet him, after all he was her uncle Qrow, he began moving towards one of the Beowulfs, his weapon ready to bisect them too.
Unwilling to let him harm her new found playmates, she began running, hoping to intercept him before he reached one of the Grimm. As it started to appear like she wouldn't make it, she suddenly found herself standing between her packmate and uncle, a few rose petals trailing after her. The Huntsman, surprised by her sudden appearance tried his best to divert his strike away, but didn't manage to stop it entirely. His scythe carved a notch across her bone-covered face, from her right bro to below her left eye, and ripped open her left sleeve, leaving a small cut, not deep enough to draw blood. When the sleeve started to fall open, it revealed a line of fur and bony nubs along the outer right side of the girl's arm.
"Ruby what-"
He didn't even finish his question before his niece interrupted him, looking at him with a hint of fear in her eyes.
"Please don't hurt them, we were just playing tag!"
When he found out that his nieces ran away, without any note or anything of the kind. Qrow was determined to find them before something bad happened to them, he rushed outside and looked for any sign to where they went. It wasn't hard to actually track them, as the cart the sisters had taken with them left deep tracks in the snow. But what he saw when he found them caused him to fear for their lives. They were surrounded by six beowulfs, none of them older than a couple of years at the most but would still be strong enough to tear either of the siblings to pieces. Before he could begin taking care of those though, he would have to take care of the Ursa charging at Yang.
A short sprint and a swing of his scythe later, the Ursa was dealt with, allowing him to begin work on the remaining Grimm. Although what happened next was so unexpected, not even his years of experience working as a Huntsman allowed him to react quick enough to avoid hurting Ruby. Just as he started his swing against the first Beowulf, his younger niece appeared before him with a burst of red rose petals, her eyes seemingly close to tears. He tried his best to divert his overhead swing away from his niece, but his weapon's momentum was against him. The Scythe's blade tip ran over his niece's face and cut her sleeve.
"Ruby what-" -are you doing, he wanted to ask, but the fearful look she gave him caused the words to stop in his throat before she began to talk.
"Please don't hurt them, we were just playing tag!"
Of all the things he thought he might now hear from the Grimm-like girl, he hadn't expected her to say something like that.
"You sure they won't hurt you girls, kiddo?"
"Uhuh, they are my pack now after all." while saying that, she turned her head and growled at the beast behind her, which obediently walked next to her and laid down.
"See? You can pet him if you want."
This confused him a bit more before he began to laugh lightly as if remembering an old joke.
"Well okay then, but we need to return home girls, after all you don't want to sleep out here in the cold tonight, do you?" Barely registering the calls of, "yes uncle Qrow" and "I don't sleep" from Yang and Ruby respectively, the Huntsman pulled out his scroll and selected Taiyang in from his contact list and pressed the dial button. The recipient of his call immediately picked up.
"Qrow, did you find my girls, please tell me you found them!"
"Relax Tai, I found them, they are safe for now. But say, do you remember how Summer used to call Ruby 'her little Alpha?'
"Yes, why did you bring that up?"
"Well as it so happens, your youngest just got a pack of Beowulfs to listen to her like trained dogs."
"THIS IS NO TIME FOR JOKES QROW, please just bring my girls home."
"That's no joke Tai, at this moment little Ruby has about six Beowulfs doing most of what she tells them. They don't seem older than a year or two, so congratulations, Summer's little bath in those spawning pits made your daughter Grimm enough that random Beowulfs accept her as their elder."
"Whatever Qrow, please just bring them home, I can't deal with your stupid jokes right now."
At this his brother in law ended their call, which caused Qrow to turn towards the Girls who were busy petting the beasts around them.
"Girls I just talked to your dad, and he wants us to come home as soon as we can."
At that the younger girl's ears dropped down a little while she turned towards her Uncle.
"Aww really?"
"Yes really Ruby, now come. If you really want to I'll come back here with you so you can play with them again."
As there was no further response from her, he turned towards the cart and waited for the Girls to come to him, so they could start the long trek home. Yang came to his side as expected, but Ruby managed to shock him for a second time that night, when she came not on her own two feet, but holding onto the back of one of the Grimm as best as she could, growling what he presumed to be commands or directions into his ears.
"Ruby, what are you doing" the older sister asked.
"I'm coming home with you duh."
"That's not what she meant Kiddo, why are you riding that Beowulf?"
"I don't wanna walk, and Eins here can carry me home."
Qrow was about to ask her to leave the Beast here, but then he thought about how Taiyang would react when he saw her coming home like this, so instead he continued.
"Well ok then, but you stay at my side at all times, got it?"
"Uhuh."
"Well then let's go home."
With that last exchange finished, Qrow began leading the two Girls back home through the dark forest.