Taiyang stared in horror at the screen as the broadcast from Vytal cut out. There was no way that what he had seen had just happened- Yang would never attack someone while they were down. Maybe Taiyang had fallen asleep halfway through the match- he hadn't been sleeping regularly as of late, maybe this all a dream. Taiyang slapped himself on the cheek, pinched his forearm, but the 'station down' graphic remained on the screen, telling him that this was all too real.
"Dammit, dammit, dammit..." muttered Taiyang, grabbing his keys and stepping over a take-out wrappers from days ago as he headed to the airbus station.
"I should have been there," he muttered to himself as he looked for Ozpin. "I should have been there for them instead of moping like a damn teenager."
He didn't even wait for the receptionist to buzz hm in, he just walked straight into Ozpin's room. "What the hell did I just see?" he asked, looking around to see Qrow, Ozpin, and Glynda there. Qrow tensed when he saw Taiyang. Ozpin, however, remained composed.
"The tournament officials are talking with your daughter to get to the bottom of what happened at the end of the match." Ozpin said calmly. "And nobody thought about calling me?" asked Taiyang, his voice rising. "Getting worked up wont help anyone, Tai." said Qrow, taking a sip from his flask. "As soon as we figure out howto handle this, you'll be the first to know."
Taiyan gave Qrow a glare. "Easy enough for you to say, it's not your daughter in there." Qrow crossed his arms and returned the glare. "I know Summer's death as hard on you, but I miss the old Tai, the one who made dumb jokes and cheered everyone up. When are you gonna lighten up?"
A cold, bitter anger spread through Taiyang like venom. "I'll lighten up when you're done living in a bottle." he said bitterly.
As soon as the words left Taiyang's mouth, he regretted saying them. But there was a tiny part of him that felt vindicated about it.
Qrow's glare became a look of shock and hurt. The flask he was about to stash in his pocket slipped out from his fingers, falling to the floor and spilling its contents.
"...Mr. Xiao Long, maybe you should head back home." said Ozpin, intervening before the two stopped trading verbal blows and started trading physical blows. Taiyang's gaze diverted down, fixing on his feet as he felt shame fill him up. "Yeah, maybe I should." he said quietly.
Yet as Taiyang walked out, Qrow followed behind him. "You think you can just say something like that to me and just walk away?" he asked. Taiyang sighed wearily. "Look, I'm sorry I said that, my mouth just got a head of my brain-"
Qrow grabbed Taiyang by the collar. "You can't use Summer and Raven to act like a complete tool!"
That's when Qrow sniffed, and smelt the stink of body odor. "Damn, Tai, when was the last time you had a shower?" asked Qrow, letting go of Taiyang. Taiyang shrugged. "A week? Maybe two? I've been having a hard time-" (Taiyang stopped mid-sentence to yawn.) "-keeping track of the days."
Qrow's face softened as frustration gave way to pity. He shoved his hands into his pockets, looking away from Taiyang. "It's not gonna make Yang fell any better to see you like this, Tai. Promise me you'll take a shower and get some sleep."
"I'll try." Taiyang mumbled half-heartedly. "No, don't say you'll try, you need to start taking care yourself." argued Qrow.
"Fine." said Taiyang, walking away.
Taiyang found himself a hotel room and, per Qrow's request, took a long shower. Sleep, however, eluded him. He tossed and turned before giving up and deciding to watch some TV.
That proved to be a mistake- the news was totally fixated on the controversial end of the match between Yang Xiao Long and Mercury Black. The reporters began to talk of the social media posts that were lashing out at Yang and Taiyang felt despair crash over him like a tidal wave. He turned off the TV and stared out the window at the starry sky and the shattered moon. "I wish you were here, Raven..." Taiyang said sadly. "You were always stronger than me..."
Back when Taiyang, Qrow, Raven and Summer were just students at Beacon, Raven had often been taunted about the red color of her eyes.
"Doesn't it ever bother you?" asked Taiyang as he and Raven sat on the academy's roof one day. "I don't know what 'it' you are referring to." said Raven. "The way people talk about your eye. The people who call you creepy- not that I, uh, not that I think that, it's just...doesn't it upset you?"
Raven didn't even pause to think. "No."
"Why not?" asked Taiyang.
Raven quirked an eyebrow. "Do you want it to bother me?" she asked with some amusement in her voice. "No, no, no!" Taiyang said, going red in the face with embarrassment. "It's just...if I was in your shoes, it would definitely bother me after awhile."
Raven looked out on the horizon. "I've never cared about what other people think about me. The only person I have to answer to is myself."
Taiyang must have dozed off in the middle of reminiscing, because it was daylight when he woke up. His stomach rumbled needfully as he took a glance at the clock- it was already quarter past four in the morning.
"Can't believe I slept in that long..." he muttered as his stomach growled again. He ordered room service- some steak and a salad, he needed to cut back on the greasy foods- and debated if he should go see the Vytal tournament fight. Eventually, he decided to go catch the tail end of the match and as he left the hotel, the sun was just starting to set. Maybe he'd see Yang or Ruby and be able to talk to them face-to-face. When he got to the stadium, the sun had sunk below the horizon.
That's when everything went wrong.
The screaming.
The speech, broadcasting on every device.
The Grimm. So many Grimm.
Taiyang had laughed at himself for bringing his weapons- they'd just be taken by the stadium security- but he was now grateful. It had been years since he'd done any serious fighting- just hitting the punching bags in the basement when he felt really low- but as he opened the carrying case he kept the gold-colored gauntlets in, it all came back to him. Taiyang's gauntlets were heavily plated and reinforced, and unlike Yang's Ember Cecilia, Taiyang's Gilded Emperor were full gauntlets that covered his palms and fingers. There were also a thick ring-like bands around each wrist with six holes on the side facing Taiyang, each one for holding Dust vials. He loaded them up with the Dust vials he kept in the case.
Taiyang didn't even bother with picking the case back up, he just left it in the street. He began charging through the town, running like a man possessed and punching his way through Grimm and eventually rogue Atlesian robots.
He kept running, hoping he'd find Yang and Ruby, or at least someone who knew wher they were...
"RAVEN!"
Taiyang ran through Forever Fall Forest, shouting Raven's name at the top of his lungs. He'd gotten a lead that Raven had been spotted here by a train operator. His shouting attracted the attention of a Deathstalker the size of a car.
The scorpion-like Grimm came out from behind some trees, tail poised to strike at Taiyang. The Dust chambers on Taiyang's gauntlets spun and his armored fists became wreathed in flame. Taiyang snarled as he charged head on at the Deathstalker, ducking under the stinger and driving a flaming fist directly into the Grimm's face. It shrieked, and Taiyang grabbed by the mandibles as he switched from fire Dust to wind Dust. With a roar of effort, Taiyang spun the Grimm around and around before throwing it aside, directly into a tree trunk.
There was a hissing sound behind Taiyang, and the twin head of a King Taitiju struck out from a blind spot. Taiyang tried to roll out of the way, but felt a fang graze his arm. He glanced down to see a long, narrow cut on his upper arm that was starting to bleed. Taiyang took a boxer's stance as his gauntlets became charged with ice Dust. The heads of the Taijitu snapped hungrily at him, but he ducked and weaved around and under each attack. He thought he'd found an opening for him to strike, but the white head swiped at him and knocked him over. As Taiyang got back up to his feet, he decided to change tactics.
"You wanna piece of me, Two-Heads-No-Brains?' taunted Taiyang, running behind a particularly thick tree. "Or are you just gonna sit there so I can make a pair of boots out of you?"
The serpentine Grimm slithered after Taiyang. Both of the heads struck out at once, coiling their heads around the sides of the tree trunk. Taiyang grinned and grabbed the heads by a fang. He smashed the heads together and knotting them around the tree trunk while they were stunned. The heads struggled to disentangle from one another in vain as Taiyang began pummeling them with the icy gauntlets, freezing them in place.
As the Grimm stopped writhing around and became totally still, Taiyang took a moment to catch his breath. Then, it was back to what he had been doing before.
"RAVEN!"
Taiyang kept searching, and as he ran around he heard two familiar sounds- the sound of a sniper rifle's sharp report, followed by the sound of Ember Cecilia being fired. He'd recognize that shotgun sound anywhere, he'd heard it so many times when teaching Yang how to fight that he could tell it apart from any other weapon just by sound alone. And if he heard a sniper rifle, that just had to mean Ruby was with Yang. Taiyang's heart lept- they were alright! They'd always be alright if they were together. Taiyang ran towards where the sound had come from, rounding a corner-
-and not seeing Yang or Ruby. The noise had come from a Faunus girl with rabbit ears who was wielding some holographic-looking replica of Ember Cecilia. She was laying into an Atlesian mech, the replicas changing shape, becoming new weapons, and Taiyang's heart sank. He still had no idea where Yang and Ruby were.
"No, wait, maybe they know where they are." he said to himself. He looked at the people with the girl and recognized them from the tournament- Sun Wukong, Yatsuhashi Daichi, Coco Adele, and-
Weiss Schnee. Yang had told him in one of her letters home that Weiss was on the same team as Ruby and Yang. Another Atlesian mech came around the corner, trained on the group and ready to attack. Taiyang grit his teeth. Weiss was his best shot at finding his daughters, and he couldn't jeopardize it by letting Weiss get hurt.
His gauntlets burned and the Dust chambers broke apart into equal segments, half of them extending away from the gauntlet and flipping over, revealing tiny booster rockets powered by the Dust in the chambers. Taiyang took a running start and jumped at the mech, the rockets propelling him forward at the mech. He grabbed the mech by its head, the metal exterior starting to warp and bubble from the continuous heat generated by Taiyang's burning gauntlets. Dangling off the side of the mech with one hand, Taiyang began rapidly slamming his other hand into the mech's 'face' while the machine tried to buck its attacker off. There was a sound of crunching metal as Taiyang's fist finally caved the machine's head in. Taiyang jumped safely off the mech as it collapsed to the ground, reduced to a useless pile of scrap.
Weiss looked at the man in amazement as he approached. "Who are you?" asked Yatsuhashi, cautiously stepping back and moving a hand towards his greatsword. "My name is Taiyang Xiao Long." said Taiyang, watching the look of recognition in the students' faces when they heard his surname. "Do any of you know where Yang and Ruby are?"
"I don't know where Ruby is, but I think Yang's with Blake at Beacon." said Weiss. "Thank you." said Taiyang, right before rocket-leaping away towards Yang.
"Please be OK, Yang." Taiyang said quietly as he bounded down streets. "I can't lose you or Ruby too..."
Taiyang stood on the cliffside, dressed in a black suit. "'Thus I kindly scatter'," said Taiyang, reading the epitaph on Summer's memorial. "You were always so kind...even after Raven left me behind, you were the one who would look after Yang while I searched for Raven. You were the one who comforted me when I couldn't find her. You made me feel like I wasn't alone...but now you're gone..."
Taiyang felt his eyes fill up with tears. "And I wasn't strong enough to save you..." he said, voice shaking, shoulders trembling as he tried to fight back the tears.
He heard someone walk up behind him and immediately knew it was Qrow. "Thought I'd find you here." Qrow said somberly.
"I don't know what to do, Qrow." Taiyang said. "It was difficult raising Yang without Raven...how am I gonna raise her and Ruby without Summer?"
Qrow was quiet for a long moment as he thought. "I could take care of Ruby for you." said Qrow. "Are you sure?" asked Taiyang. "I assumed you'd want to take in Yang. She's your niece, after all."
"Yang's closer to you than she is to me, Tai." said Qrow. A small smile crossed his face. "At least I'll be able to spare Ruby from your terrible jokes."
That got a chuckle out of Taiyang. "You'll keep her safe, right? Train her?"
"I promise." said Qrow.
Taiyang eventually reached the place where Weiss said Yang would be.
There was the sound of Ember Cecilia being fired as Yang launched her self as some red-haired boy with a Grimm mask over his eyes and a katana. The boy drew his sword, and just before Taiyang could say anything, he swung once and Taiyang watched in horror as the blade effortlessly severed his daughter's right arm.
"No..." whimpered Taiyang, feeling like he was going to choke. He was too late.
Again.
As Yang fell to the ground, the man turned to advance-
And sorrow turned to rage as Taiyang screamed at the top of his lungs, rocketing at the swordsman and smashing his fist into the side of his head. The man was pushed back by the blow, and he looked up at Taiyang. "This isn't your fight, old man." said the boy, holding his sword out at Taiyang.
"It became my fight when you hurt my daughter." Taiyang said, barely hiding the rage in his voice. He looked over to his daughter's friend, who looked completely shocked. "Blake, get Yang to safety." he said. Blake nodded wordlessly and carried Yang away from the burning cafeteria.
"You part of the White Fang?" asked Taiyang, pointing at Adam's mask.
"I run the White Fang." said Adam, walking slowly towards Taiyang, sword still held out . "You're making a mistake if you think you can beat me."
"Save me the lectures and the high-and-mighty rhetoric." said Taiyang, giving Adam a stern look. "All I care about right now is making you pay."
Adam smirked. "When I'm done killing you, I'll make sure to tell your daughter before I finish her of-" He didn't get to finish his sentence as Taiyang drove both fists into Adam's stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
"I won't go down easily, boy." said Taiyang, spitting the last word out like it was poison. "I taught Yang everything she knows about fighting."
"Then clearly, you failed as a teacher." Adam goaded, holding his sword at the ready. Taiyang took the bait and rushed Adam, who cut along the man's back. Taiyang collapsed face down to the ground, motionless.
Adam smirked. "Heh..."
Then Taiyang moved, pushing himself up. The only trace of Adam's attack was a rip in Taiyang's shirt. Adam took a step back. "How are you uninjured?! You should be screaming in agony!" he shouted, not believing what he was seeing. Taiyang's eyes went from lilac to stony gray. "My Semblance lets me keep fighting when I'm hurt." he said as his gauntlets lit up with electricity. "Cut me all you want, I won't feel a damn thing." Taiyang lunged forward, striking Adam squarely on the jaw. There was a flash of red and Adam chuckled darkly. "Big mistake, old man." he said before swinging his sword down, a blast of red energy ripping up the already-ruined floor and knocking Taiyang into a wall. Taiyang didn't even seem fazed. "See? Didn't even feel a tickle." said Taiyang. Adam wordlessly pointed at Taiyang's chest with his blade, and Taiyang looked down to see a burn mark in the shape of a blade's cut on his now-torn shirt.
"...huh." Taiyang said, only sounding mildly surprised. "Looks like Dust's out, then..."
The lightning enveloping Taiyang's gauntlets dispersed. "Didn't really need anyway." finished Taiyang. Adam brought the sheath of his blade to bear, and it became a rifle that Adam used to fire at Taiyang as fast as he could. Taiyang just held his hand out to block some of the bullets, not even reacting to the ones that hit him, even as they wounded him.
Adam took a step back as Taiyang drew closer, and first time in a long time, Adam was afraid. He took a wild swing at Taiyang and looked on in horror as Taiyang's hand snapped up to catch Wilt's blade in one gauntlet-clad hand. "Is this all you've got, boy?" said Taiyang as Adam tried to pull his sword free from the man's vicelike grip.
Taiyang instead wrenched the sword out of Adam's hand and hurled it aside. Adam leveled Blush at Taiyang, only for Taiyang to grab it and throw it the opposite direction he threw Wilt. "Looks like you're all out of toys," Taiyang said with a glare on his face. Adam took another step back and made a dash past Taiyang, trying to get to his sword. There was an intense blunt force strike to Adam's back that sent him sprawling to the floor. Adam could feel Taiyang grabbing the back of his coat's collar and dragging him along the floor like a ragdoll. Taiyang yanked up, moving his grip to Adam's shoulders, forcing him to look beyond Beacon's campus at Vale, where the battle against Cinder's forces still raged.
"Look at what you and your friends have caused. So many lives lost, and for what? Some cause? You want to change the world, make it a better place for Faunus, but everything you do only tarnishes their reputation. You don't give a damn about freeing the Faunus, you just wanna give 'em a gun and a pretty uniform and tell them to kill anyone who isn't like them."
Adam felt Taiyang gripping the back of his head with one hand. "Was it worth it?" Taiyang asked.
"...yes." said Adam, his voice completely devoid of remorse. Taiyang let out a furious shout as he turned on the spot and slammed Adam up against a wall. "Let me make one thing clear." Taiyang said angrily as he tightened his grip on the back of Adam's head. "I don't care about your philosophies and your lectures. All I care about right now is that you hurt my daughter.
Taiyang tipped Adam's head backwards before slamming it against the wall.
"AND THAT!"
Wham!
"IS!"
Wham!
"UNFORGIVABLE!"
Taiyan slammed Adam's face against the wall one last time before dropping him. By this point, the mask had shattered and revealed a number of scars around his eyes. They looked old, like Adam had gotten them when he was much younger- likely from some bladed weapon. Adam glowered up at Taiyang. "You hate me for hurting your daughter, but don't realize how many sons and daughters have been beaten for being a Faunus." spat Adam. "Quit wasting your breath," scolded Taiyang, turning his back and walking away. "I'm not interested in your rhetoric."
There was a scramble of movement as Adam retrieved his sword and charged at Taiyang with a frenzied scream. Taiyang spun around and blocked the blade with his left palm before engaging the rockets on his right to deliver a megaton backhand across Adam's face. Adam was hurled into a wall, still gripping his sword. "I won't let you walk away from me." said Adam, glowering at Taiyang. Adam then coughed, a trickle of blood running down his chin.
"Either stand and fight, or kill me now." demanded Adam, teeth red with his own blood. Taiyang shook his head. "I'm not gonna rob my daughter of a chance to get even with you, boy."
He pointed a gloved finger at Adam. "But hear this: you hurt my daughter ever again, and I don't care if I take her shot at vengeance away, I will personally rip you limb from limb in front of your whole army."
Taiyang turned his back to Adam, who slumped to the ground, barely conscious. Two White Fang grunts ran in. "Sir, are you alright?" said one of the grunts, extending a hand to help him up.
"I'll be fine." croaked Adam, swatting the hand away and using his sword like a crutch. I'll find you one day, Blake. And on that day, you won't have anyone to come to your rescue...
(A/N: This fic is inspired by the fanmade theme for Taiyang, 'Answer to Me', made by The Gypsy Caravan. Check it out on Soundcloud, it's awesome.)