"I didn't think it would get dark so quickly" said a concerned Weiss. "Won't this make landing difficult?"
"It will" replied Winter "but the darkness is the least of our difficulties."
The Schnee sisters were only a few miles from Vale and the sun had finally disappeared completely. Winter knew how to fly at night, but she had little experience with a craft of this size and Vale did not have docks for ships this size like Atlas did. However, that was not her biggest worry.
"What do you mean?" Asked Weiss.
"We do not know the situation in Vale right now. They could be overrun with Grimm or worse, under attack from the White Fang."
Weiss hesitated for a moment, looking out at what she could see of Vale.
"Well, what do we do?" She asked
"We need a safe place to land. Somewhere not too far away, but not somewhere where there would be many Grimm or White Fang."
Weiss nodded in agreement and went back to searching the area around their ship for a good spot to land. It was not long before she saw what she believed would be a perfect landing area.
"Right there!" She exclaimed. "The coast next to Forever Fall should have an area for us to land and there were never too many Grimm in the forest when we went there."
She pointed it out to her sister who moved the ship into [psition. However, as they began their landing procedure, Weiss looked out and saw a massive group of Grimm in the forest, huddling around the area they were trying to land in.
"Um, Winter... there-"
"I see them. We will have to find somewhere else."
Winter pulled the ship back up and turned it around. The moment she did, Weiss called out in excitement.
"Patch! It's straight ahead. Ruby and Yang grew up there. I think it's fairly safe and it's not too far away."
"It is not ideal. We would have to figure out a way to cross over to the mainland, but I don't think we have a better option."
Winter continued forward as she and Weiss searched for a place to land.
"Well, maybe Yang or her dad will be there. I'm sure they could help us get to Vale" suggested Weiss.
Her tone was one of nervous excitement. A large part of her was hoping to see one of her teammates again, but the rest of her was frightened of how she would be received upon arrival, due to her absence.
"I think we can land straight ahead. Do you see that field?" Weiss asked.
Winter nodded and slowed to land. Once on the ground, they made their way out of the ship and toward the town they had seen in the distance.
"Ruby never told you exactly where she lived, did she?" Winter questioned Weiss as they began walking.
"No, she didn't. I think she said they lived in a small house away from most other people, but I'm sure someone in the town knows where they live."
As the two sisters made it to the top of a small hill, they looked around to confirm their location and Weiss gasped in shock. Only a hundred yards away and instantly recognizable by her brilliant golden hair was Yang. Winter, noticing Weiss' reaction, looked over at Yang as well.
"Is that Ruby's sister?"
"It is. I didn't think we'd find her this easily."
Winter began walking toward Yang in earnest and Weiss quickly followed her.
Yang had not expected when she woke up that day to see an Atlas cruiser in Vale and she certainly did not expect it to land in patch. As she stood motionless in the field not far from her home, she did not expect to see Weiss and her older sister coming down the hill toward her.
She was quite nervous. Would Weiss be mad that she had let Ruby leave without going with her? Would she be happy to see her? Would she ask about Blake?
As she followed her sister down toward Yang, Weiss was having similar thoughts. She was quite afraid of Yang being angry with her for not coming back to her teammates earlier. Weiss admitted silently that she was upset at herself for not making a larger effort to come back and therefore was certain of Yang's anger. At the very least, Weiss did not want to appear cowardly and while nervous, she was genuinely happy to see her teammate.
Therefore, she rushed ahead of Winter at the last second, exclaiming "Yang! It's so good to see you!" as she threw her arms around the crippled huntress. Who returned the hug with her one remaining arm.
"It's so good to see you!" Weiss said in her bravest voice as she pulled away from the hug. How are you?"
"I'm... OK" lied Yang. "It's good to see you too, Weiss."
"I can see why your parents wanted to raise you here, it's beautiful" said Weiss, attempting pleasantries. "Is your house around here?"
Yang motioned behind her with her head while replying "it's just back over there a few hundred yards. Why? Do you need water or food or something?"
"Oh, no. Thank you." Weiss was looking more nervous, as though she desperately wanted to say something.
"We're looking for the rest of your team, Miss Xiao Long." Winter had been silent up until this point, but she had grown tired of her sister's pride holding her back from speaking.
"Oh! They're not here..." yang replied, hanging her head.
"We were looking for you too!" Weiss added enthusiastically.
"Yeah, sure." Yang turned around and began walking back toward her house.
Weiss exchanged a very concerned look with her sister. She did not want to have come all this way for nothing.
"I'm sorry!" She called to Yang.
The blonde huntress stopped, but did not turn to face her teammate.
"It's OK. I wouldn't want to see me either right now."
Weiss ran up to Yang and put her hand on her shoulder.
"No. I meant… I'm sorry I left. I know that you, Ruby, and Blake needed me and I just let my father take me back to Atlas without a word of protest. I'm sorry I didn't try to come back sooner. I know I don't deserve your forgiveness now, but I want to make things right. I want to get us all back together again so we can stop Cinder and the White Fang!" She ended with an attempted smile toward Yang, who was still facing away.
"I don't blame you" replied Yang softly. "But there is no "us" anymore. You went Back to Atlas, I was stuck here, Ruby went off to chase Cinder on some stupid lead from my uncle, and Blake just ran to who knows where. So there is no more Team RWBY. We're finished. You may as well just go back to Atlas."
"Yang, what happened to you?" Weiss asked in a caring and concerned voice.
Before she could try to comfort her further, Yang had wheeled around violently, her eyes burning red.
"THIS happened!" She screamed, holding out the remainder of her right arm and pointing at it with her left. He cut right through my aura, Weiss. That's not even supposed to be possible! I have nightmares about it almost every night. I can't keep my mind straight throughout the day and I can't even train anymore because I can't fight anymore!"
Weiss was taken aback, though Winter appeared relatively calm. She attempted to speak, but Yang continue before she could begin.
"And where were my teammates?! Not here! You went home, Ruby went to go save the world, and Blake obviously decided that we're too much liability for her to be friends with us anymore!"
Both Schnee sisters stood silently for a few moments after Yang had finished her rant. Weiss reflected on how remarkably accurate Winter's predictions had been.
"Yang, I'm so sorry" Weiss began.
"It's not your fault. You didn't know." She turned away again and began walking toward her house. "But now you do, so you know you're better off going home or heading toward Mystral to find Ruby if you're really nuts."
"We came here for you, Miss Xiao Long."
Winter had done her best to stay silent for her sister's sake, but at this point it was clear that Weiss was unable to handle the situation properly. She strides over to a rather stunned looking Yang who had stopped dead in her tracks at the elder Schnee's words.
"I understand what you are going through, but sitting at home with nothing to do is not going to fix your situation. You may see yourself as useless now, but you could not be more wrong. My sister has risked my life and her own to find you and the rest of your team so clearly, you are important to her. Your wounds may still be fresh and your fears justifiably strong, but if you are half the warrior that my sister says you are, you will come out of this trial singer than ever, even if it does not feel that way now."
"Did you really risk your life just to come find us?
"Well, basically..." Weiss began, blushing slightly. She was very grateful that this was what Yang had taken from Winter's words. "Atlas is on lockdown, especially the military and the important families. All civilian ships have trackers and my dad was keeping me as a prisoner in my own home. I had no chance of getting out until Winter showed up and we still had to fight at least 30 Atlas soldiers and steal a ship to get over here."
There was an awkward pause after Weiss had finished speaking. Yang was not sure what to say. For the past few months, she was unsure if she would ever see Weiss or Blake again. Now, Weiss was here right in front of her, telling her that she risked her life to come find her and the rest of Team RWBY. She actually managed a small smile.
"Well, I guess I really can't be mad at you now."
"We need to get going" interjected Winter. "There is no tracking beacon on this ship, but Atlas military still may guess where we went. Do you have any idea where Blake or your sister went?"
"I know that Ruby was heading to Mystral with the rest of Team JNPR. I have no idea where Blake is."
"Have you heard from anyone in Vale? What about your father, would he have any information?"
"I haven't heard from anyone in Vale and my dad had to go on a mission a few days ago, so I wouldn't be able to ask him anyway."
"Do you know of a way we could get to the mainland? Our ship is too large to land over there and we would like to at least ask around over there and see if anyone knows anything about Blake or Ruby."
Yang beckoned both sisters to follow her as she turned and began walking quickly to her house.
"My dad has a boat and he left the keys. We can take that over to the safe zone in Vale. I don't know if you'd want me to come though, I'm not exactly in fighting condition" She pointed to the remnant of her arm again, but Weiss rebuked her.
"You could probably still take on more Grimm than half of our class even with one arm. Plus, you're talking to two girls who just stole an Atlas cruiser and lived to tell about it. If we can steal one of these, I'm sure we can get you a new arm!"
They arrived at the house just as Yang responded "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"It may have to wait a little while, but we will figure something out" replied Winter reassuringly.
Yang nodded with a small smile and ducked into the house. After only a few minutes, she returned, dressed in her combat clothing, though with pants instead of shorts and only one gauntlet.
"OK, I'm ready" she said with as much courage as she could muster, showing the Schnees the key to the boat in her remaining hand.
"Great!" replied Weiss happily. "Let's get going!"