So this was a short I wrote for the DeviantArt RWBY contest for the winter season, which takes place between volumes 3 and 4. It centers around Yang and her father's relationship, but I don't want to spoil anything here. Now that the contest is over I wanted to share it.

Now I can go back to continuing the story of my own OC team, PERL.

Read and enjoy! Also, please share your thoughts.

One-Winged Angel

Taiyang Xiao Long did his best not to look too worried around his eldest daughter, but it was difficult. They hadn't talked about it yet, but the negative atmosphere around the life-changing loss of Yang's arm hung in the air like a stench throughout the house. Only two months had gone by since the crisis at Beacon. With Ruby gone, it was just him and Yang now, and everything seemed quieter than when he had been all by himself.

Winter was in full swing, crisp snow covering the ground and trees in layers of white across the entire island of Patch. Taiyang had many fond memories of past winters in which his daughters made forts, had snowball fights and surrounded the house with angels. The three of them would often walk along the beach on frozen nights when the stars were at their brightest, with any luck catching a glimpse of the dancing northern lights out in the far distance over the ocean.

True, his girls weren't little any more. But he didn't want to spend an entire ice season with one of his daughters without having at least one treasured memory if he could help it. If there was one thing he was sure of, it was that happiness helped the body heal.

"Yang?" The man said after knocking on the door to his girl's room. "Are you up, sweetie?"

"...Yeah." He heard her say from inside. As usual, Yang sounded...not herself.

"How are you feeling?" He tried being casual by not sounding too casual. Being too casual always raised alarms in teenagers.

"Okay, I guess." Yang replied. "You know you can come in, right?"

The wooden door opened with a slight squeak as Taiyang pushed it. He made a mental note to fix that later. Yang was sitting in her bed, legs still under the sheets, staring off into space. Her room usually carried the scent of summer flowers, but recently the atmosphere had begun to grow stale. Taiyang sat down on the bed at his daughter's side.

"My hand was itchy this morning." Yang said, looking out the window to the snow coated world beyond. She wasn't talking about her left hand. "I'm not going to lie, it was a bit of a shock."

Taiyang cleared his throat. "It's called phant-"

"Phantom pain. I know." Yang interrupted. "I was expecting it to hurt, not to itch."

"And now?" The blond man asked kindly.

"Nothing." Yang's reply was distant and numb.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out through his nose, Taiyang patted Yang's left leg and rose up from his daughter's bed.

"Get dressed."

It took a moment for Yang to register. "What? Why?"

"We're going out for a walk." He said, buttoning up his brown vest. "It's a picture perfect winter day outside and I want to experience it firsthand with my first born. Besides, you've been cooped up in here like a chicken for too long now. We need to keep the rest of you healthy."

"Dad, I'm not really the mood..." Yang started.

"Why? There's nothing wrong with your legs, right?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

A shadow of a grin crossed Yang's face. "No."

"Then let's get out of here." Taiyang smiled, rubbing the stubble on his chin with the back of his hand. "And when we get back, I'm gonna make your favorite brunch."

"Strawberry pancakes and ice cream?" Yang asked.

"...Absolutely." He had actually planned steak and cheese, but he was flexible.

The weather outside was even better than he could have hoped for. The chill was just right, causing his breath to steam and the tips of his ears and nose to redden. He had always enjoyed the cold because it had an odd way of making a person feel alive. Fifteen minutes passed before Yang stepped out and joined him.

"Wow, it's cold." Yang remarked as she looked up at the countless falling snowflakes.

"What are you wearing?" Taiyang asked as they left the front of their house and began walking a nearby trail that cut straight into the woods and towards the seaside cliffs.

Yang looked down at herself, her face a mix of subtle emotions. "My...Beacon school uniform. It was the only thing that was clean. But the scarf is my old one."

"I've never seen you in that before. It looks nice." The older man remarked. "Bet you had to beat the boys away with a stick."

"Not really." Yang shrugged. "Well, there was this one boy I thought might like me, but nothing ever happened. Which was for the best, since..."

Taiyang didn't interrupt for the longest time, simply listening to his daughter talk as they kept moving, fresh snow crunching beneath their boots. He already knew everything that had happened since his girls went to Beacon; Yang and Ruby ending up on the same team, the breach of the wall of Vale City, the rigged fight with Mercury, and the tragic loss of Phyrra Nickos. But to hear Yang say it, with her viewpoints and her feelings on all those events, helped him see just how difficult the past several months had been for her. Nearly an hour into their walk, Yang began getting more personal.

"...I mean, it takes forever for me to get dressed now, doing the dishes sucks big time, and don't even get me started on tying my own shoes!" Yang's breath came out in angry puffs from her mouth, while white snow fell softly on her golden hair. "How am I supposed to fight, to be a fighter, when I can't even do simply things? What's the point anymore if I-"

Yang stopped suddenly, her lilac eyes staring straight ahead. Taiyang didn't have to follow her gaze to know why.

They had arrived at the end of the trail and were now at the cliffs by the sea, where the memorial stone for Summer Rose rested. Several moments passed, the silence only broken by the hiss of snow falling off tree branches and the crashing of waves against the cliffs far below. Out in the distance, white gulls were flying in the pale gray sky.

"How did you do it, dad?" Yang asked, looking up at her father's face. "How did you keep going after...what happened?"

Taiyang looked at her and bravely smiled. "When you were very little, shortly after Ruby was born, Summer told you a story one night just before putting you to bed. It was about how a small boy protected his family from a pack of evil grimm by making snow angels all around his home. The grimm saw these figures in the snow, were tricked into thinking they were an army of Hunters, grew afraid and retreated. That was the first time you had ever heard of snow angels.

"The following morning you begged Summer to show you how to make them, because you wanted to protect your baby sister just like the boy in the story had protected his family. And you did. You made seven little snow angels all around the house that day. It was cute because you forgot to wave your arms and legs. You'd just fall with your limbs wide apart, get back up and do it all over again. And every winter since then, even if you didn't remember why, you enjoyed making snow angels everywhere."

Yang began to feel hot tears welling up as her father continued to speak, wiping them away with her left hand.

Pulling his daughter into a loving hug, Taiyang spoke in a kind and reassuring voice. "Yang, you've always wanted to protect people, in any way you could. I'm very proud of you. And I know I'll keep on being proud of you because you will keep on protecting others first."

Yang began to cry openly. "But dad...I can't!"

"Of course you can." Taiyang squeezed his daughter lovingly in his arms as winter continued to fall around them. "A one-winged angel is still an angel. You're hurt now, but you haven't changed inside. It will take some time, and it won't be easy. But I know that the day will come when you'll be chomping at the bit to get back into action. You'll be strong and you'll be unstoppable! And until that happens, I'll be here, no matter what."

With her one good arm, eyes red with weeping, Yang hugged her father back. "Thanks dad. I love you."

"So do I." Taiyang felt his heart glow, knowing that he found his little girl again.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Later that afternoon, Taiyang was busy in the kitchen preparing dinner when his scroll went off.

"Hello? Oobleck! It's good to hear from you! You and Port should come over and visit sometime...Yes...Yes...Yang is doing better, thank you. In fact, she's outside as we speak, making snow angels..."

I greatly enjoy playing in the RWBY-verse, especially since it is inspired from classic fairytales. Writing my own team has proven to be a delightful yet endurance testing challenge, so taking a break and writing about canon characters can be fun from time to time.

If anyone is interested, we did do an artwork for this short at the DeviantArt site. Just type in RWBY One-Winged Angel and it will be one of the first options.