Ding! Dong! Cinder's dead! Sing it high, sing it low!... Anyway, it looks like my version of Ruby is extremely underpowered judging by that Maiden vs Maiden fight. One more episode left. Hopefully it's not a letdown.


Ruby pushed the empty plate in front of her to the edge of the table. That was some good food after some of the things in Alagaësia. She looked to Viki, who also had an empty plate that once held steak in front of her. "Well, how was it?" Ruby asked.

"You were right." Viki smiled at Ruby, the salt stains on her cheeks almost gone. "This was great."

"Hungry for any desert?" Ruby gestured to the dessert menu on the inside of the table.

"No." Viki rested a hand on her stomach and her smile widened. "I'm…not hungry. I'm not hungry." She laughed out the last three words. Her eyes watered once more.

"It's a wonderful feeling, isn't it?" Ruby took out her wallet and set a few Lien on the table. The meal was on the house, but she still wanted to be a good customer, and leave an example for Viki. "So, do you want to go see JNPR?"

"Wh…why?" Viki winced and turned away. Maybe she wasn't completely in the right state of mind.

"It's okay to ask that, Viki." Ruby squeezed Viki's left shoulder. "Nora gives some of the best massages, not that my dad's that bad, but she's better. Don't let him know I said that."

Viki cocked her head. "What's a massage?

"It's…" Ruby left her head fall to the right then left, "It feels really good, and is a major stress relief for a lot of people, including me."

"Oh. Well, I think I'd like to try it."

"Okay! Let's go!" Ruby slid out of the booth and turned for the exit. As soon as she did, Claret walked into view. The rabbit Faunus was a little stiffer than before. "Something wrong, Claret?"

"A little." Claret rubbed the back of her neck. "There's a horde of reporters out front looking for you. I don't know why."

Ruby sighed. Did that need to happen when she was still with Viki? "I don't suppose there's another way out of here?"

"Dad says you can use the employee entrance. It's this way." Claret led Ruby and Viki through the restaurant and into the kitchen. Ruby felt more than a little weird walking through an active workplace, and it probably broke a few health codes, but she wasn't about to run to any health inspector.

Cerise, Ruby called, we're leaving out the back of the Vacuo Roadhouse. Can you land somewhere nearby?

I will try, Cerise returned. Hope for a red light.

Will do. Ruby peeked out the back door of the restaurant. There were a lot of cars in the parking lot, then the road, but no one with cameras or Scrolls. Coast is clear of people. We're ready when you are. She looked to the sky,

Cerise flew around one of the skyscrapers and dove for the restaurant. She hovered in the air above the road for a lull in the traffic, then landed soft enough not to break the asphalt. Now's the time, you two.

Ruby jogged to her dragon's side with Viki right behind her. When she was halfway up Cerise' back, the reporters swarmed around the side of the building. "Come on, Viki.' She reached a hand down to her charge. Viki took the hand and the Rider hauled her up onto the saddle.

Hold on tight. Cerise flared her wings, making those on the ground keep their distance. She jumped into the air over Vacuo Roadhouse and turned toward JNPR's appartment on the outskirts of the city.

"Ruby?" Viki tugged Ruby's shirt, "who were those people?"

"Reporters." Ruby sighed. "Some of them are good people, others want a story and will do whatever the need to get one." She stared back at the mass of most likely frustrated people. "Right now, I'd say they wouldn't leave us alone. They'll learn what's going on eventually, but not now."

Not until we know what's going on, Cerise added. Then, only the nice ones. She faced forward again. JNPR's apartment complex laid directly ahead of them, with a large park across the street. Cerise dove for the park and the few people down there scattered. She landed and settled on her belly. Go on inside. I'll soak up the press. I don't mind the attention.

"Call me if they get to be too much." Ruby patted her dragon's neck and slid off Cerise' back. Once on the ground, she helped Viki off as well. When she faced the building, Pyrrha already stood in the doorway. The champion hugged both other women before leading them up to her team's apartment.

Pyrrha opened the door to the apartment. Ruby noticed a difference between this place and CFVY's apartment before stepping through the door. Instead of smelling like air freshener, the scent of pancakes wafted out the door. That was so Nora. With what she's been through, she deserved it.

Inside, Ren and Jaune sat on the couch with VNN on the projector. Nora stepped out of a back room and spread her arms. "Welcome to Chateau du JNPR! Or however that's pronounced." She put her fists on her hips and focused on Viki. "So, you're my first patient today?"

Viki glanced at Ruby then nodded. "I guess I am."

Nora relaxed her arms. "Well then, right this way. I'll have you feeling better in no time." She gestured to the room she came out of. The normally hyperactive fighter walked to the room and held the door open for the former slave. Once Viki stepped through, Nora closed the door behind them.

Ruby sighed and sat by Ren on the couch. Pyrrha came over and sat pretty much on top of Jaune. The Rider faced her friends. "Pyrrha, you fill them in on what Ozpin said yesterday?"

Pyrrha nodded. "I have, but not the things that we… can't." She locked eyes with Ruby. She didn't say anything about the Eldunarí. That was good to know.

"At least we have an idea on where Salem is." Jaune shook his head. "Well, if we didn't have a whole continent to search anyway."

"Better than a whole planet." Ruby dipped her head. "Or two."

"They don't have all of their planet mapped, do they?" Ren asked.

Ruby shrugged. "I don't even think they have a name for it, or anything mapped outside of Alagaësia. Searching a continent we know about is going to be hard enough." She raised her head then cocked it. "You know, Manchu does kind of look like a dragon."

"Manchu translates to dragon in an ancient Mistrilian language," Ren said.

"Huh. Ya learn something new every day. I guess we're going to have to get the Grimm off the dragon's back." Ruby looked past Ren to Jaune and Pyrrha. "So, now that we're back, you two have a date yet?"

Jaune and Pyrrha looked at each other and their cheeks turned red. "Uh, we haven't thought about it much." Pyrrha rubbed the back of her neck. "We only got engaged a few days before we went on mission, and we've just got back."

"It's on the list." Jaune shrugged. "But for now, we all just want to relax."

"Same thing at my house." Ruby let her head fall back. "I think everyone's going to take a few days before doing anything extreme."

"Also," Pyrrha grabbed one of her arms, "my mother called and told me my grandfather is in the hospital in Mistral. I'm going to fly out there as soon as I get the chance."

Ruby's shoulders slumped. "This the same one who doesn't trust the Riders?"

Pyrrha nodded. "My mother said it has only gotten worse since we left for Alagaësia. I don't think you would be welcome there."

"I'm sorry." Ruby dipped her head. "I hope he pulls through."

"So do we." Pyrrha looked toward the back room. "How's Viki? She seemed better than what you described this morning."

Ruby smiled at where Viki and Nora disappeared. "She's doing a lot better. She's asking questions, she's talking more in general, she cried at Vacuo Roadhouse, not holding back. Who knew hearing people cry would feel and sound so right? She's breaking out. I think we're going to see the real Viki sooner than any of us thought.

"But…" Ruby's smile disappeared. "She still has a long way to go. I'm going to have to teach her how to read and write. I'm sure there's some things we haven't even thought of that will make her go back into that state. I need to figure out how to register her as a refugee or… something so she can be a citizen of Vale. She needs to be able to make her own choices. I'm just worried about how long that will take.

"I'm really worried about her. I don't want her to feel like she's a slave here. But how do I do that? There's laws, regulations, customs, traditions… Viki's been a slave her whole life. How can I show her that this isn't like that? Am I doing that now…" Ruby leaned forward and held her head in her hands. "What if I'm just making it worse?"

Ren laid a hand on Ruby's left knee and squeezed. "The fact that you're worried about this tells me that you won't let that happen."

"And Ruby?" Jaune's eyes darted to the back room, "we have fairly thin walls here."

Ruby snapped her head back there and covered her mouth with a hand. The door was still closed, but that didn't mean they didn't hear on the other side. Nora wasn't the best at keeping quiet, but hopefully this would be the exception.

"On a brighter note," Pyrrha started, "it looks like there might be a development in space travel."

"Wait, what?" Ruby stared open-mouthed at Pyrrha. "How's that?"

Pyrrha gestured at the projection. Ruby faced it as well. Sure enough, VNN was talking about something discovered in Vacuo of all places. The inventor called it 'gasoline.' While it was worse for the environment than Burn and Lightning Dust, which was saying something, it didn't have the same properties, and the inventor hoped it could be a stepping stone for fuel that could get satellites into orbit. A few Atlas scientists confirmed. "Oh. So cool."

The news was apparently on a science segment. For a while after, they talked about some other recent developments. Nothing on solar panels though. It looked like that glory would go to Weiss. That would be a major win for her early on.

After that came the reports on Grimm attacks. Ruby paid just as much attention to that, but for different reasons. That would determine how long she could rest up and how much time she could spend helping various friends and family recover. It looked like the area directly around the City of Vale was good, but that had to do with the increased military presence Ruby had already seen. The other cities were good until Bullworth on Vacuo's border. It was shaky just about everywhere else. Ruby took notes on her bionic eye of the villages that were the worst off. Hopefully some of them would still be around by the time the Riders returned to action.

Just as they were getting into politics, which Ruby had no interest in whatsoever, the door to the back room opened. She turned her head over her shoulder, and Viki walked out with the most blissed-out face imaginable. "You like that?" Ruby asked.

"You weren't lying." Viki plopped down in another chair in the room and sighed. "That was amazing."

"Good to hear." Ruby paused. "So, what do you want to do now?"

"Hold that thought!" Nora grabbed Ruby's shoulder and pulled her into the back room. "You are coming with me."

"Wait, Nora!" Ruby faced her friend as the door closed behind her. "What are you doing?"

"Making you relax too." Nora pushed Ruby onto the massage chair. "I heard what you said about Viki. If you want to help her, you need to relax." She pushed the Rider's cape to the side and pressed her hands against Ruby's back.

"Oooohhhhhh." Ruby let her hands fall. "I guess I can roll with this for a while. Just don't stress yourself out."

"If I feel an attack coming, I'll stop and let you know." Nora continued working her magic. Meanwhile, with each passing second, Ruby felt her stress pack up and move to Mistral. Nora had to have some professional training somewhere. There's no way she could get that good on her own. The Rider closed her eyes and felt them roll into the back of her head. That is what she needed.

Can Nora do me? Cerise asked somewhere in the massage.

Ohh, I'm sure she wouldn't mind. I'll ask if Viki doesn't want to go anywhere else.

A little while later, the heavenly pressure on Ruby's back disappeared. "All done!" Nora chirped.

Ruby turned her head to the right. "Thanks, Nora. I needed that."

"No problem!" Nora gave Ruby a salute. "Just come see me if you ever need to unwind."

"Got it." Ruby pushed herself up and left the room. In the living room, Viki was still blissed out, but looked more thoughtful that before. Her head lolled to the side and she looked at Ruby. Viki stiffened a little and she looked away. Something was going on in her head. Might as well bring it out. "Something on your mind, Viki?"

"I… was wondering…" Viki leaned forward and hunched over. "I… don't know how things are done here, but…" she locked eyes with Ruby again, "can we see Aaron?"

Ruby smiled at her charge. "Yes. To be honest, I was hoping you would bring it up." She reached a hand down to Viki. "I don't think he's awake, but we can still go see him. I'm pretty sure visitor hours are until eight tonight." Viki grabbed the offered hand and Ruby helped her up.

With a wave to JNPR, Ruby and Viki left the apartment. When they reached the outside door, Ruby looked for any reporters. Of course, they swarmed around Cerise across the street, and a few others roamed around outside the building. Cerise, any chance of you making it over here?

I can try. Cerise stood up and the reporters around her scattered. These people aren't making it easy. Still, when she made it to the street, the reporters scattered, but reformed outside the building.

Ruby grimaced, faced Viki, and grabbed her hand. "Just stay with me. We're going right to Cerise. Don't talk to anyone here." She faced the door and pushed it open. Cameras flashed all around and questions flew in every direction. The Rider ignored it all and kept walking toward her dragon. The sea of people parted before her, and they gave way completely when she reached Cerise. She and Viki climbed up and Cerise took off as soon as both were in place.

About a minute later, Vale General came into view. Nalia laid on the adjacent parking ramp, facing the hospital proper. Ruby's shoulders slumped. How long would Nalia be there… Knowing Cerise, probably until Aaron woke up… If he ever did.

Cerise landed on the ramp beside the other dragon. Ruby dismounted her dragon on Nalia's side. "Nalia, how you doing?" Nalia didn't even flinch.

Viki walked past Ruby and put a hand on Nalia's snout. The dragon's eyes moved from the hospital to Viki. Her pupils contracted and she raised her head. Viki. You look well. She looked the former slave up and down. This is a new look. I like it.

"Thank you." Viki paused. "How is my brother?"

Nalia's eyes dilated again and she rested her head back on the pavement. I can't read him. He's alive, but that's all I know. She whimpered. He's gotten weaker, not stronger.

Ruby dipped her head and flicked her eyes to the space behind Cerise. Umaroth, do we have some idea of what happened?

We have a theory, Umaroth said. There is nothing in the spell itself to isolate Aaron. He was cursed, in a way we have never seen before.

One of Galbatorix' magicians?

We are not sure, and we cannot begin to remove the curse until we know what it does and how it does it.

Ruby sighed. It was a mistake trying to cast that spell. It was too easy. We should never have found that… scroll. She faced the saddlebag that held that piece of paper. What if it wasn't just a piece of paper with words on it? She reached for the saddlebag and pulled out the scroll. Nothing stuck out on the piece of paper itself, and it couldn't hold spells or magic by itself. What about the scroll rod?

She stretched her mind into the piece of wood, and there was something in there. A lot of energy in a small place. Ruby yanked the paper off and smacked the rod against the concrete beneath her. The wood splintered, and a small diamond bounced out. She glared at the gemstone. That's what nearly killed her boyfriend.

Nalia saw the stone as well. Her pupils shrank to slits. Her growl shook the parking ramp. She stalked toward it with her teeth barred. This… this thing hurt my Rider.

As much as she wouldn't mind that diamond being destroyed, Ruby put herself between the stone and Nalia. "Don't. We need this."

What? Nalia redirected her glare to Ruby. That look could have scared Grimm away, but the Rider stood her ground.

"We need to know what exactly this did to Aaron. We can't destroy it yet. As soon as we do, and Aaron is back walking around on his own… we'll decide who gets to destroy this thing."

Nalia stared at Ruby for a few more seconds, then returned to her former spot. Fine. But if it's safe for me to destroy, I'm doing it.

Ruby nodded, then faced Viki, or tried to anyway. She wasn't standing anywhere she was before. Instead, she was latched onto one of Cerise legs, shaking terribly. Seeing dragons angry was never easy. It looked like Nalia noticed this at the same time. She turned her head back and drooped her ears and wings. She inched her head forward and nuzzled her snout against Viki's chest. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you.

Viki stopped shaking and shifted her grip to Nalia's neck. Ruby let them have their moment, then walked to Viki's side. "Okay Viki. Let's go find Aaron."


Yang stared at her scaled gauntlets as her chin rested on her arms. She'd used them for almost ten years now, and the biggest change up until recently had been an almost complete rebuild of the right gauntlet after a particularly rough training session at Signal. But now, she was considering a complete redesign of at least one of her weapons.

She picked up the right half of Ember Celica and removed Halcyon's scales one by one. The damage that she did herself back in Urû'baen was worse than she thought back then. Yang didn't know how it kept firing after that. Chunks of stone were everywhere and other mechanisms were hanging on by a thread. "Might as well start here."

She set the gauntlet aside and took out her Scroll. Yang looked up various ways to make miniaturized flamethrowers. It turned out there weren't very many ways to do it that were widely advertised. She knew it was possible, she'd seen flamethrowers built into something as small as a soda can. Then again, some Huntsmen didn't like giving away their secrets, like Ruby and her scythes.

After a while, Yang thought she found something she could work with. She might need to ask Ruby for some help with the final schematics, but Ruby would probably jump at the opportunity… That would be just like her, trying to make her big sister happy again.

Are you saying you would push Ruby away? Irolon asked.

"Of course not!" Yang turned to where the Eldunarí's bag rested on the other side of the shed. "She just has so many other things to worry about right now." She let her head fall. "Viki, Aaron, I don't think she's put much thought into how much it's gonna take to make the Riders legitimate on Remnant. I don't need to add onto that. Besides, you're here."

You're saying that she won't go out of her way to help you. With the little bit I've known Ruby, I doubt you'll have a choice in the matter.

"I believe it. I just won't go far out of the way to ask for help." Yang heard the door open behind her and she closed her mouth. People couldn't know about Irolon, or the Eldunarí in general. She turned back, and didn't see anyone. Was it the wind? As she turned back to her workbench, she saw a black bird standing on the edge with a die-cast car in its teeth.

The bird set the car down on the workbench and jumped back. Yang picked the thing up. It was a newer Flame Wheel car, like the ones she used to collect, and probably still had in a box somewhere. But it was Halcyon gold. It was exactly the color of Halcyon's scales. It couldn't be a coincidence that Raven brought this one.

"How long'd it take you to find one like this?" Yang faced Raven, who once again took her human form.

Raven shrugged. "Eight hours, and stores in Mistral and Vale." She shook her head. "I'm…not good with this whole consoling thing. That's definitely more of a Summer thing than me. But…You know that I wanted to come back to you for a long time right?"

"Yeah. Ruby passed it on." Yang faced Raven and crossed her arms. "You never said why you didn't."

"Haven't I?" Raven's head drooped. "The Nevermores were still active when Summer died. Against Ruby's optimism, they still are today, but they're about as strong as a normal street gang now."

"So you wanted to keep the Nevermores off our backs?"

"That, and I couldn't replace Summer in a million years." Raven looked up and locked eyes with Yang. "Something tells me if I was around, you'd end up being a rebellious child."

Yang faced her workstation again and stared at the car. "How many of these were from you?"

"Quite a few. As far as I know, you never got lucky finding them on the road to school. I planted a good chunk of them there. If you didn't find them, I picked them up and tried again another day."

"Did dad know about that?" Yang stared at her mom out of the corner of her eye.

A ghost of a smile graced Raven's face. "I don't know. I don't think you gave him the time to care."

"True." Yang nodded then faced Raven. "Why are you here now?"

Raven dipped her head. "At risk of sounding like a stalker, I watched you at Beacon for quite some time. What you and Halcyon had was special, and from what Ruby has said on the news and various talk shows, I'll never understand it." She locked eyes with Yang. "I haven't been there for you at any other time. I'm ready to do so now."

"Really?" Yang faced away from her mother and ended up staring at her motorcycle… Summer's motorcycle. Summer was always there for Yang as a kid, and had been looking out for Ruby for even longer. She was Yang's mom as well as Ruby's. But… from the little information Summer gave her through Ruby, Raven wanted nothing more than to be by Yang's side. "Well, it might be a little too late to take over the 'mom' role, but… something else maybe."

"I'm okay with that." Raven approached the workbench. "So what are you working on?"

Yang faced her broken weapon. "Messed up this thing pretty good on the other side. Trying to figure out how to get a flamethrower in here. There's not much out there."

"Flamethrower?" Raven stared at Yang then back to the broken gauntlet. "Well, there's nothing revolutionary in that. Just fuel, ignition, and propellant. You don't see it much in weapons this size because the fuel takes up so much space and isn't the most practical. But with a few modifications to your exoskeleton and armor, you'll be good."

"About that, this thing's powered off right now."

Raven's mouth hung open. "They figured out how to fix it on the other side?"

"Kinda, sorta, not really. Halcyon did it. His last gift to me." Yang hung her head and clenched her eyes. "He did so much for me, and I couldn't do anything for him."

Yang… Irolon said, don't do this to yourself.

All these things…why didn't I go with Weiss?

A hand patted the center of Yang's back. "Just…let it out Yang." Raven sounded like she had no idea what she was doing.

"I've got nothing left to let out." Yang shook her head and looked at the current flamethrower schematic on her Scroll. "Looks like I got all the parts in here already. I'll salvage what I can from this, then go from there." She faced Raven. "Could you help me out here?"

Raven shrugged. "Been a while since I built a weapon. Could be fun."

"If Ruby was here, it would be an event." Yang pulled up the old schematics for Ember Celica and focused on the right gauntlet. She cleared out everything related to the shotgun and started putting in components related to the flamethrower. Raven was right. It looked like the parts to the flamethrower itself could be brought down to scale no problem. It was the fuel solution that could be an issue. Maybe if there was some way to make it more efficient…

Yang toyed around with different layouts, parts, and fuel mixtures for a while and ran simulations for each. While she was doing that, Raven was removing the debris and intact components from inside the gauntlet. After the twelfth or so, Yang found a setup she was happy with. She propped her Scroll up on the workbench and got to work.

As Yang took a screwdriver from Raven, she realized that this was the first thing they'd really done together. Sure, Raven had been there when Yang was first paralyzed, and a few times after that, but in the end, it only made Yang kind of like her. Apparently Summer thought the world of her partner, but Yang had yet to see what made her so likable. Maybe she'd finally see it.

"Do you ever ride Bumblebee anymore?" Raven asked.

Yang sighed and set down her tools. She turned around to face Summer's motorcycle. "Not recently. Riding it in my exoskeleton never felt right, and Halcyon always carried me around." She dipped her head. "I guess neither of them are a problem anymore. Probably going to be riding a lot more in the future."

"Summer loved that bike almost as much as she loved Sun's Light." Raven crossed her arms. "I never understood why she was so attached to inanimate objects."

"Don't let Ruby know you said that. You'll get a lecture."

The door to the shed opened inward and Ruby poked her head in. "Don't let me know what?" She blinked and looked at Raven. "Oh, am I interrupting something?"

Raven shook her head. "No, we were just talking."

"Okay." Ruby stepped inside the shed and looked at the workbench. "So what are you working on?"

"This." Yang held up the gutted gauntlet. "Finally taking care of this… changing the shotgun out for a flamethrower."

Ruby's eyes widened and her smile stretched from ear to ear. Before she could explode, her eyes and mouth retreated to more manageable positions. "That's beautiful, Yang. You talk to Halcyon about this?"

Yang stiffened and she faced the workbench herself. "No. Should I have? What if he doesn't like this?" She let her head hang. "I should have gone to Atlas."

She stood there alone for a second before Ruby rested a hand on her back. "You know what he would think, Yang? He would want to know who could launch theirs farther and who's is hotter. You know him better than I do. Am I wrong?"

"No." Yang laughed once and shook her head. "And as long as we're both alive, we'd try to top each other." She stared at the wall behind the workbench. "Weiss, you better hurry up."

"You know she'll work as fast as she can."

"It's not her I'm worried about." Yang looked over her shoulder at Raven. The older woman looked confused more than anything. "Weiss made the final blow on Halcyon. He's one of her Summons now."

Raven blinked. "Oh." She shook her head. "I wonder if Winter ever had to do that."

"What's the deal with Qrow and Winter, anyway?" Yang faced Raven. "I haven't seen them together much, but they can't go two sentences without insulting each other."

"Oh, that…" Raven smirked. "They dated for about a month. Needless to say, it didn't end well."

Yang and Ruby locked eyes, and the older sister had to fight back a laugh. Judging by how Ruby's lips twisted and her cheeks puffed out, she was too. "Those two?" Some of Ruby's built up pressure let out. "That would be interesting."

"Then we'd have Weiss as a cousin… no…" Yang drew some lines in her head, then covered her mouth. "She'd be our aunt." With that, the sisters burst out laughing. Yang leaned against the workbench to avoid curling over.

Before long, Ruby wrapped her arms around her sister. Yang stared at her sister's head. What brought this on? "I'm so happy for you Yang," Ruby said.

"What do you mean?"

Ruby looked up with a lake in front of her eyes. "That's the first time I heard you laugh like that since… the first time in a long time."

Yang blinked and looked past Ruby. "That is the first time, isn't it?" She shook her head. "Well, he wanted me to be happy. I might as well try."

"Yep!" Ruby pulled away and faced the workbench. "Now, the flamethrower..."

Raven coughed behind the two of them. "Well, I should probably get going. I've got a mission near Armen… and I'm still not in the best place with Tai. I don't think he'll like seeing me around here." She pushed open the shed door but stopped before leaving. "I think you have a visitor."

Yang looked past Raven and her jaw dropped. A girl she thought she knew sat outside with Zwei running around her. "No way. That's Viki? She looks so much better."

"She is." Ruby walked up to Yang's side and ran a finger under her eyes. "I think I broke through to her at Vacuo Roadhouse. The real Viki is starting to shine through."

"I take it there's a history here." Raven looked between the sisters.

Ruby stared at the ground. "Viki's been enslaved since she was three. Now she's…roughly fifteen, sixteen." Raven clenched her fists. "I don't think she was in as bad conditions as the Nevermores put people in, but…she was broken. She still is. She's got a long road ahead of her, but she's off to a good start."

Raven looked back at Viki. "I…" She faced Ruby and Yang again. "I'm not Summer. I'm not good in these situations. But if you need anything from me, just ask."

Ruby nodded. "Will do." She paused. "I take it you're going to be around a little more then?"

"I guess so. I promised Yang I'd be around more often, and now for her." Raven stared back at Viki.

"Good. I…" Ruby shifted on her feet. "The past few weeks, mom's told me a lot about team STRQ, from Beacon to, well, right before she made it into my head. I'd like to get to know the Raven my mom did."

Raven turned to Ruby. "You're quite a few years too late. Summer would not be happy with how I've acted since she died."

"She doesn't think so. It's hard to put out that much of a ray of sunshine."

Raven stood ramrod straight, but her shoulders slumped. Her mouth hung open, and there was more light in her eyes than Yang had ever seen. "No. Only Summer can call me that." Again, there was more to her voice than before.

"Nope!" Ruby smirked and crossed her arms. "Mom said that any of her puns and jokes are free to use."

Raven groaned and facepalmed. "Of course she did. Even with her gone, I can't get away." In contrast to her words, Yang saw a smile behind the hand.

But what caused this? Knowing Summer, there was a pun in there somewhere. Ray of sunshine… Yang groaned and slumped her whole body. Rae, not Ray. "It was good, but that took me way too long to figure out."

"Mom's got a lot more for all of us." Ruby winced. "But I'm staying away from any of dad's. That could be awkward."

"The reason you've never told dad what mom said word for word?" Yang asked.

"Yeah." Ruby rubbed the back of her head. "Never gonna do that."

Raven sighed. "You are definitely your mother's daughter." She left the shed and walked toward the trees. She stopped halfway there and turned her head back. "Not to spoil your fun, but Weiss wouldn't be your direct aunt. She'd be removed… or your second aunt, however that all works." She turned back around and walked into the tree line.

"I'll see you later." Ruby waved. Yang joined in a few seconds later. Raven entered the tree line and one of her portals appeared inside. She stepped in and disappeared.

Ruby patted Yang's back. "You want to keep working, or you coming inside?"

Yang's stomach growled and she covered it with a hand. "I think that answers that. I haven't eaten all day."

"Yep. That'll do it." Ruby walked toward the house and Yang followed. Cerise hummed in their direction as they crossed the yard. Yang nodded in her direction before entering the house. Viki and Blake sat on the couch, with Blake flipping through the channels.

Yang thought she saw Ruby in the process. "Wait, go back."

"I saw her." Blake flipped back a few channels.

Ruby sighed. "Guys, we don't need to watch everything I'm on."

"We just got back," Blake said. "We might not be the most people popular people at the moment."

"True… wait, why am I on the celebrity channel?"

Yang faced the projection. It had a picture of Ruby leading Viki through a crowd of reporters. Then a rainbow came down from the top of the screen with a heart cut out in the center. Yang didn't need to listen to know what that meant. Blake changed the channel almost immediately.

Ruby groaned and brought a hand to her face. "Again?" She walked off to the kitchen. "I've never dated Weiss. I've never dated Blake. I've never dated Pyrrha…" She disappeared into the kitchen.

Yang shook her head. "Some people. Ya can't act friendly to people anymore."

"What's going on?" Viki looked between Blake and Yang.

"Something for another time." Yang shook her head. Explaining some people's relationship craze would probably be a little too much for Viki, especially since she was involved in this one.


Yes, that last bit was a dig at shippers.