Chapter 1

The air in the room was hot and stuffy, which one might expect after spending so much time in it. The three sunflowers on her left besides her bed were withered, some of the once golden petals having fallen now onto the bedside table, dried and lifeless. The window to her right was difficult to see through, snow brimmed the outer side of it and there was condensation on the glass. She almost wanted to reach out and draw something on it but quickly regretted even thinking of the notion as she looked to her bandaged stump arm. With tired eyes she elected to simply continue staring out the window. She had seen Ruby leave some time ago, she didn't know where she was going and frankly she didn't care. She knew it was wrong not to, her sister could end up in real danger. But even if she did chase after her, what could she do? She couldn't defend her if she were attacked, not with how she was now. She'd be useless.

She was a thrill-seeker, always had been, and the best thrills came from the dangerous situations she'd find herself in. The buzz of a fight, the rush of adrenaline. But that had been taken from her when she lost her arm. There seemed to be nothing left for her now. Only time to let her thoughts wander in her isolation. Though her mind kept going back to two things in particular. The first being her biological mother Raven and her search for her. The other was Blake, though every time she came up in her thoughts she'd furrow her brow and quickly try to forget about it. But it always came back. In truth she wanted to know why she did it, why she ran. But with how she was now, it's unlikely she'd ever get the chance to go and find her. It seemed to her that she was destined to forever chase shadows, be it of mothers or of friends.

She shifted in her bed to a more comfortable position, turning her back to the window as she looked directly at what else was on the bedside table asides from the sunflowers. Her left gauntlet. Ember. The other, Celica, was never recovered from when she lost it at Beacon. And there again, the thought of Blake came back to her. She knew that Blake had rescued her from the White Fang member in the burning cafeteria and she probably didn't have time to pry Celica from her severed hand, nor did she probably want to. She couldn't blame her for that, though part of her wanted to just so that she could spite her. Her brow furrowed again before she knocked Ember from the table with a swipe of her left hand, the gauntlet made a loud clang against the floor. She shut her eyes tight as she tried to expel the thoughts of Blake from her mind once again.

That was when hurried footsteps came down the hall outside her room. In response Yang opened her lilac eyes to squint at the door as it opened. With quite a rush her father, Taiyang, came stumbling in with his eyes instantly darting to Yang, he looked startled. After a brief pause and a glance at Ember upon the floor he gave out a relieved sigh and took on a more relaxed posture, rubbing his blue eyes with finger and thumb. "I thought you fell out of bed or something" he said with an eased tone. He looked back up to her, offering a languid smile. Yang did nothing but stare back at him with a bleak expression. Taiyang's own smile wavered as a result before his eyes caught the sunflowers with a surprised and urgent look. He raised a finger to Yang, "Wait just a second" he said before briskly walking to the sunflowers, pulling them from the vase and leaving the room with the door open. After he turned the corner out of sight his footsteps got a lot quicker.

Yang gave out a sigh as she rolled onto her back, her messy blonde hair in her face and her eyes yet she did nothing to remedy it. Her father's footsteps quickly came rushing back and into the room, three fresh sunflowers in hand as he made his way back to the vase and placed them within it. He also picked up Ember from the floor, placing it back on the bedside table but this time out of Yang's sight and behind the vase. He seemed to adjust everything with precision, ensuring the room was as good as it could be for his daughter. After brushing away the fallen petals of the last sunflowers he looked to Yang who turned her head back to the window as he did. He frowned before sitting down at the side of her bed. He reached out his hand towards her shoulder but before he could touch her she shrugged him away as if knowing his intent.

Taiyang sighed to himself softly, he didn't want to force Yang to speak to him, he just wanted her to be comfortable and at ease. And right now it seemed like she wanted to be alone, and so he would offer that to her. With another short sigh he stood up from the bed and walked towards the door in a rather downcast manner. As he reached the door-frame Yang called out in a weak tone, "Dad" she said. Immediately Taiyang turned to face her, she was still looking out the window. "Thanks..." was the second word to come from her lips.

Taiyang paused and smiled, his spirits having been lifted by the simple gratitude of his daughter. "Any time buttercup" he responded with a positive tone. He took one last look at his daughter before gently closing the door behind him as he left. She could hear his footsteps moving back down the hall.

Yang looked to the fresh sunflowers now at her bedside table, they were so very vibrant and full of life. She should be blessed to have Taiyang as a father, he was always coming in to check on her, make sure she wasn't too lonely or needing anything. He always cleaned her room and managed to replace the sunflowers rather consistently (From where she had no idea, it was winter). And here she was, being gloomy and despondent in return. Yes, he definitely deserved better. Better than both of them in fact. After Ruby had left he had ran outside to catch her, the only reason he stopped was because he couldn't leave his other daughter behind. If she was fine then no doubt he would've kept running until he caught her sister and brought her back home. Another thing she could now blame herself for it seemed.


An hour or so had passed, though Yang would never have been able to tell. Time just seemed to blend into itself for her now as she lay in bed staring at the ceiling. Her mind began to wander once again, she was thinking about Beacon, what it looked like now, if Atlas was going to clear the Grimm out. If she'd ever get to go back and finish her training as a Huntress. If Team RWBY was even a thing any more. If Blake... She furrowed her brow again and shut her eyes. Why did Blake keep coming back to her? She told herself she doesn't care about her or wherever she is or what she's doing. Or if she's coming to Patch right now to see her. No, of course she wouldn't. She ran away, and that's all she'll ever do. Run away. She said it herself, she's a coward. Yang grit her teeth and slammed her fist against the bedside table, the vase rocking dangerously as she did so.

Just then the door opened. Yang half expected to see her father again, come to check if she'd fallen out of bed or such. But her lilac gaze did not meet Taiyang's blue eyes. They were crimson eyes, the eyes of her biological mother. "Hey Firecracker" came Qrow's voice as he idly strolled into her room as casually as he ever did. Yang never offered a reply and turned back to face the window once again. "What? You the brooding type all of a sudden?" mocked Qrow as he walked over to the bedside table, using his index finger to prod at one of the sunflowers in a blithe manner while he examined it.

Yang glanced back but didn't turn to face Qrow, she spoke in a mild uncaring tone, "I'm not in the mood".

Qrow turned his attention to Ember upon the table, picking it up and turning it around, once more examining it as he replied, "Why? What's got you so down?" he asked.

Yang finally turned around to face her uncle, she looked confused. How could he not know the reason she was so upset? "Are you joking?" she asked, her voice raising somewhat.

Qrow smirked before placing the weaponized gauntlet back onto the table, he turned to face his niece and crossed his arms with a smug expression. "No, really, what's wrong?" he asked again. Yang glared at him with gritted teeth, she offered no reply to his question. After a few seconds of silence Qrow brought his arms out wide, "Okay, look kid" he said before lowering his arms and sitting down at the side of her bed. "You lost your arm, plain as day to see, and that kinda sucks. But what I don't get is how someone as headstrong and stubborn as you is willing to let that stop her" he spoke, his tone growing more serious but remaining at the same volume.

Yang responded, her eyes narrowed. "What do you mean you don't get it? I lost my arm! What good am I with just one!? I can't do anything right any more!" she said in a raised and annoyed tone, clenching her fist.

Qrow continued to smirk and shook his head, looking back to the door. "You think Raven would give up if she lost an arm? Hell no, she'd keep fighting because she's so hell-bent on her mission. But you? With how much you say finding her is important to you? She'd be ashamed, kid" he replied. In response Yang tried to push him off the side of her bed, but before she could even reach him he had stood back up to his feet.

"Shut up! You don't know what it's like!" yelled Yang, her uncle certainly knew how to set her off.

He pointed a finger at her, "You think?" he said, pulling out his canteen and unscrewing the cap before taking a gulp from it. He wiped his mouth afterwards before his voice returned. "It ain't personal experience but I know someone who lost a lot more, and you know what he's doing right now?" he continued before screwing the cap back onto his canteen and pocketing it. "Fielding an army. He's still an ass though." He chuckled softly to himself for a moment. "You know I'm starting to think you've been waiting for an excuse like this, an excuse to give up" he spoke, crossing his arms as he started walking back towards the door. Yang was furious by now, but she couldn't deny that there were likely people who'd lost more than her and kept on going, what did that make her?

Qrow stopped in the doorway, leaning against the frame as he looked to Yang. "Listen, I ain't telling you to get on your feet and run outside right now, but maybe it's high time you started thinking about how you're going to do it. It's either that or you spend everyday in that bed of yours, throwing away what you worked so damn hard to build. And there's nothing I hate more than wasted potential" With that he winked at Yang before throwing something yellow towards her bed. With a light thud landed Celica, her right and previously missing gauntlet. "Found it when I was at Beacon looking for Ozpin, but now I gotta get out of here. Need to make sure that sister of yours doesn't get herself into any trouble. See you around, Firecracker" with that he left, leaving the door wide open. Yang stared frustratingly at Celica upon her bed as his footsteps grew more distant down the hall. She thought for certain she'd never see it again, but what could Qrow have meant by giving it back to her? It's not like she could use it.

After a few minutes her mind did what it usually did and started to wonder once more. She thought about her search for Raven and how it'd taken her all over Vale. She had made a lot of connections through that search, and some enemies too. But her drive had been unstoppable, but not to the point it controlled her. She had taught someone that very lesson. And there again Blake came into her thoughts. She remembered how Blake had told her all she could do was run away. Back then Yang was sure she had somehow talked her into a sort of change, to have her stay and face her problems, and it seemed to work. In fact the only time it failed was when Yang herself was so seriously wounded. Did Blake blame herself for it? For costing Yang her arm? Maybe the reason she ran away was because she simply couldn't face her for what she had done. The more Yang thought about it the more she wanted to know the answers.

Maybe Qrow was right, maybe it was time she started thinking on a way to get out of here, to improve herself and deal with her condition. To find a way around it. If she didn't do that, then what else was she going to do? Wait until her father died of old age looking after her? She could feel an urge she hadn't felt in some time rising up inside her, one she thought she had lost with her arm. She looked once more to Celica, grabbing it with her left hand. She began to examine it thoroughly, maybe there was really something she could do about all this. She was always there for Blake, and if she really did leave because she couldn't face Yang, then she should find her and help her through it like any friend would. And if she left for any other reason... well, she'd cross that bridge when she got to it. Besides, as much as she hated to admit it right now, she missed her.


It had been a while since Ruby and Qrow had left the house now. It was early morning and Yang was already dressed, putting her grey jacket on over her orange tank top. She looked back outside towards the window, the snow had long since gone and spring had moved in. She had been managing to keep herself fit and healthy through a mixture of training and simple runs outside. At first her father was hesitant to even let her go out by herself, but eventually it had become routine. And as had become usual for her she was prepared to head back out for her morning run today. Taiyang couldn't be happier that Yang seemed to have recovered from her loss, but she knew herself she hadn't entirely. Since she set herself this goal thoughts of Blake had dominated her mind, more so than Raven. She had repeatedly imagined the many ways their reunion could go. From open conflict to an embracing hug. She didn't try to push her out of her thoughts half as much now too, but that didn't change the fact she wanted her answers.

She left a folded note on her bed before leaving her room through the door. Walking down the hallway and into the living room she could see her father sitting on the sofa, reading the news with a mug of coffee on the floor besides him. He turned to her as he heard her approaching and smiled, "Hey buttercup, heading out again?" he asked in a friendly tone.

Yang smiled at her father and nodded, "Yup, I'll catch you later, wouldn't want to keep you from the news" she said with a wave of her hand, heading for the front door.

"Alright, stay safe!" responded Taiyang with a wave of his own, sitting up straight to do so but in the process knocking over his cup of coffee with his feet. He cursed to himself as Yang left through the door.

The air outside still had a chill to it, but it wasn't anything to be bothered by. Yang preferred the crisp morning air, it kept her cooler during her exercise. She began to jog down the dirt path, but a frown was on her face. She didn't want to leave her father by himself so suddenly and with nothing but a note as Ruby did, but he'd never let her leave in the condition she was in, so deceit became her only option. She was making her way east, not on her usual route. She was heading for the skyport that would take her over the water and to the city of Vale where her search for Blake could truly begin. There was no doubt in her mind that she was ready for the truth.