RWBYond Hope

AN: I said last chapter that this is a tough one for me to do. I'm not good at writing arguments, which is a core thrust of this chapter, and I want to get it to a certain point but without knowing how it would get to that.

Chapter 21: Mommy Issues

This was the point that Tai had been dreading. Yang was now a full blown teenager. Tai didn't grow up with a lot of girls so he had no idea what to do. He took advice where he could, from Daisy, Qrow, the other girls and parents around town. None of it really helped.

Yang wouldn't listen to him. She got angry more easily. She had become more aggressive in their training sessions. Luckily she was able to blow off a lot of steam now that she was at Signal, but so much of it still carried over at home. Tai didn't know how to deal with it, especially at first when Yang freaked out about her first time of the month.

Tai was thankful that she chose to express herself through fist fights instead of, say, chasing after boys. Luckily he and Qrow could both cut imposing figures, and all the boys that had any interaction with Yang, were also students of Signal. Apparently, to Tai's benefit, trying to hit on someone as violent as Yang who had a father and uncle directly responsible for their academic future wasn't a good idea.

Yang had realized this early on. She was obviously attracted to boys, but had no desire to date anyone from Patch. She wanted out of this town as soon as possible. She wanted to travel the world and have crazy adventures. She told Ruby that much, and Ruby told Tai when he was worrying about Yang becoming flirtatious in school.

After that he swore she was doing it just to mess with him. She would flirt with boys, right in front of him, and lead them on only to see the look on their face when she cut them loose. Obviously this gave her a reputation of being a, as Ruby put it, a poopy head. Tai highly doubted that was the way the teenage boys but it.

Yang didn't seem to talk to anyone, not to express her true feelings anyway. Tai used to think that Yang was always going to be his little girl, now the only one who didn't smart off to him was Ruby, and she barely talked to him. If Tai didn't know any better, he would suspect she was more Qrow's kid than his.

"Yang." Tai knocked on the door.

"What do you want?" Yang said from the other side of the door.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure, whatever." She said. He walked in and saw her put her headphones down. Tai's hear sank as he looked at her golden mane of a hair. Long gone were the girly pony tails. She now wore her hair like Raven's. Tai didn't know exactly why, only that she was rebelliously determined to find Raven someday.

"Where's Ruby?"

"How should I know?" She was more focused on drawing in her notebook. She always an artistic kid, Ruby too, but the younger sibling was clearly more into drawing cartoons than actually drawing anything realistic.

"So, what're you drawing?" He asked.

"I'm designing my weapon." That's right. She had to make her weapon next year. He took a peak at it and saw that it was indeed a pair of gauntlets. That made Tai happy. Just then, someone came through the door.

"Dad! Yang!" Ruby called followed by Zwei's bark.

"There she is." Yang said.

"Yang come look at this." Ruby called out. Tai went to the living room where Ruby sat with Zwei.

"Where were you at?" Tai asked. Yang followed close behind him.

"So…I went to take Zwei for a walk and we went to see Mom and I introduced Zwei to Mom and while I sat there I just so happened to have my note pad and so I drew this picture. It made me happy but also sad to think that Zwei never got to actually see Mom and I drew a picture of all of us together." She went at ninety miles an hour telling her story.

She showed Yang the picture. It showed Ruby, Yang, Tai, Qrow, Summer and Swei all together looking happy. Yang looked at the picture longingly and grit her teeth. Her eyes flashed red for an instant as she tossed the paper away.

"Stupid." She said.

"Hey!" Ruby whined.

"Don't you get it Ruby? Summer is not coming back."

"Summer?" Ruby said. "You mean Mom?"

"Yeah, your mom."

"Yang." Tai tried stopping her.

"No!" She shrugged him off. "I'm tired of this."

"What are you talking about?" Ruby said.

"Your mom isn't coming back. She's dead Ruby, don't you get that. There's no ghost, nothing on that Cliffside except a hunk of rock!"

"Don't say things like that!"

"Why not?"

"Because it's mean and mom lives on in our hearts."

"You don't actually believe that do you?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Because stuff like that isn't real."

"Yang!" Tai raised his voice.

"Your mom is not coming back, she's not here with you or any of us."

"Why are you saying that?" Ruby said with increasing distress.

"Because she's not my mom!"

"Yes she…"

"No, my mom is Raven!" He eyes went red. "See? Summer never cared about me, she just put up with me for dad's sake."

"That's not true." Tai tried cutting in.

"And one day I'm going to find my real mom and leave this place!" Yang shouted. Ruby's face twisted in pain and she disappeared in rose petals to her room and slammed the door.

"Ruby!" Tai didn't bother following her, he knew he'd never manage it. "Yang, you're in big trouble."

"Why? She deserves to learn the truth."

"There's a time and a place."

"You can't keep babying her."

"I WILL NOT be talked down to like that by my own thirteen-year-old daughter."

"Then maybe you should have actually been there for her. I'm the only one who has been there for Ruby the entire time. Summer died, you shut down, Qrow doesn't even live here and he's been more of a father for her than you."

"And what? You think that gives you he right to make decisions like this? Ruby loves you. She's your sister. She still wants to be a happy family and there's nothing wrong with that."

"There is when that family doesn't exist."

"Go to your room…actually go to the guest room, you're grounded." Tai put his foot down and Yang stormed off.

"Fine!"

Tai looked down and sighed deeply. He walked to the girls' room where Ruby was sniffling from the other side. He didn't even bother knocking on the door. He was curled up into a ball on her bed, her picture at her side and a photo album clung to her chest.

"Ruby?" He leaned down at her side.

"I…" Ruby sniffed out. "I think…I always knew…especially with the way she's been wearing her hair, and how her eyes turn red…. I just…I just didn't want to believe it…that Yang could be see Mom… so much worse… than I do." She said between sniffs.

"I know." Tai rubbed her back comfortingly.

"Dad, I…I don't want you to be sad anymore." She started crying harder now. "I can't take you being sad anymore…or Yang being angry…or…or…" She couldn't finish. "I wish Mom was here."

"I do too." Tai said. "I do too."

"How could Yang hate Mom?" Ruby said in distress after a minute of crying, she seemed to be calming own though.

"She doesn't…she better not anyway. If anything she's mad at her mom, for leaving her. More so I think, it's because Raven never came back, not once. Even when Summer died, prime time for her to return and take responsibility, to do for you what your mom did for Yang, and she didn't. She hasn't so much as called or wrote a birthday card."

"Uncle Qrow knew…didn't he?" Ruby started to relax.

"Of course…Raven is his sister after all. They were twins once upon a time. They were even more inseparable than you and Yang. When she left, he took it the hardest. We…we actually knew it was coming. She made it clear the entire time she was pregnant with Yang, that she was only staying long enough to give birth and then leaving. We all had time to prepare. Even if we didn't, I had too much responsibility to just shut down."

"Then why did you shut down when Mom left?" Ruby accused.

"I…I'm so sorry Ruby." He wrapped his arms around her and sunk his head into her side. "I…I didn't know what to do. Your mom, is what kept me afloat when Raven left. I didn't have anyone to help me after she was gone. Qrow helped as he could but…you know." Ruby nodded. "So, what album is that?" Tai hadn't seen it.

"I found it in the attic." She leaned up and opened it. "All the pictures are old…but I think this was grandmas." She pointed to a baby picture that was labeled First minutes of Summer. Tai recognized a few of the people in the album. There were some other pictures of them around the house. "Mommy, lost her parents when she was a little girl too." Ruby noted. "If she became so strong with the people she had, I can do the same."

"Well, I'd be proud of you regardless. But I know you'll be a great hero someday. You have so much love and care in your heart to give. Like mother like daughter."

AN: I think that turned out rather well actually. There's a lot to unpack with this chapter. A lot of call backs to STRQ and other RWBYond stories and even another semi-name drop of Violet Rose (can't wait to do that story). Hope you enjoyed, if you did leave a review.