RWBY: Son of Qrow Branwen

Liam's POV, one day later

Me, Yang and the other students that made it to the singles round, stood in the center of the arena, waiting for our match-ups.

"The first match is...Mercury Black and...Yang Xiao Long!" Port announced. "Would all other combatants please leave the stage?"

Me and the others walked off the arena, heading to our seats. I sat next to Weiss, leaning forward to get a better view of the fight.

Yang and Mercury attacked at the same time, countering each others attacks and backing away. Mercury went for an attack but Yang jumped over him, shooting her gauntlet as he turned around.

They blocked and dodged each others blows before knocking each other back. Yang took the opportunity to shoot a few rockets at Mercury who dodged the shots with ease he got closer to Yang.

He jumped at Yang with an overhead kick. Yang blocked his kick and pushed him back. Mercury managed to kick Yang into the air but she backflipped and landed on her feet, rushing him and throwing a few more punches.

Yang elbowed Mercury back, knocking him on his stomach, and shot more rockets at him, forcing him to backflip away to dodge them. He got too close to the edge and Yang shot another rocket, knocking him off the side. The match would have been over but Mercury used his boots to blast himself back onto the arena, continuing his fight with Yang.

He kicked her back and shot a white orb at her, which she dodged by rolling out of the way.

He started spinning on one foot as he shot more white orbs around him, creating a storm of them.

Yang tried to attack but Mercury countered by kicking her into the air, jumping up, and kicking her back into the ground, making all of the white orbs crash into her.

He started to walk away, thinking he won, but Yang activated her semblance, blasting the white mist away and rushing Mercury as he was off guard. She blocked his kicks and counter with a left hook, right hook combo, ending with a punch to his gut before punching him into the ground, depleting his aura completely.

"Hell yeah!" I cheered. "Good job Yang!"

Me and the rest of team RWBY cheered as Yang walked passed Mercury, only to turn around and shoot him in his knee.

The arena filled with the echo of her gauntlet shooting and the sound of something snap.

The whole arena filled with boos and gasps as Yang glared at Mercury.

"My leg! My LEG!" Mercury screamed in pain.

"That's what you get you little-"

"Yang Xiao Long! Stand down!" Atleasian knights surrounded her, pointing their guns at her.

"What? Why?!" Yang asked.

"Mercury!" Emerald joined Mercury, kneeling by him.

"Why did she do that?!" Mercury yelled. "Why'd she attack me?!"

Yang glanced at the replay screen.

"Why would she do that?" Weiss whispered.

"Something isn't right." I told the others.

A few medics carried Mercury off, leaving Yang surrounded by guards.

"You don't understand, he attacked me!" Yang told them.

"This isn't right." I told Ruby, Weiss and Blake again. "Before any of you jump to conclusions, let me talk to her."

I walked towards the stage entrance and waited for Yang.

She walked out, her hands behind her back with guns pointed at her.

"Out of the way!" one of the guards ordered.

"She's my cousin!" I growled. "I'm talking to her!" I pushed passed him. "Yang." I placed a hand on her shoulder but she jerked away. "You said he attacked you."

"He did!" she looked up at me, her eyes looked...worried. "I swear it!"

"I'm not saying he didn't." I told her. "Let's talk back in your dorm, in private."

She slowly nodded.

A few minutes later, RWBY's dorm

Yang sat down on the bed as I sat next to her, Ruby sat across from us. The others waited outside of the room so we could talk alone.

"Yang, can you tell us what happened?" I asked.

"He attacked me." she replied softly. "I acted in self defense."

"He attacked you?" Ruby repeated.

"Yes."

"So you attacked back." she slowly looked at me. I stared into her eyes, looking for any hint that she might be lying but there was none. She was serious. "I believe you."

"You do?"

"I can tell you're not lying. And you've never done something like this before." I said as I stood up and walked towards the door. "I have to go, my fight is going to start soon. I'll see you around, Yang."

"Thank you, Liam." she said as I left the room.

"How is she?" Weiss asked.

"She's telling the truth." I told her and Blake. "Talk to her and watch her eyes. You'll see everything she says is the truth."

"Okay." the two walked in and the door closed behind them.

"The next fight begins in five minutes." Port said. "Liam Branwen against...Sun Wukong!"

I made my way to the arena, slightly distracted by what's going on with Yang.

I entered the arena and stood in front of Sun, glancing at the ground.

"Hey, you alright?" Sun asked me.

"Y-yeah." I pulled my katana off my back and readied myself.

"Three...two...one, begin!"

Sun twirled his staff as he ran at me, swinging it towards me and hitting my chest. He followed the attack with a quick uppercut using the bottom of his staff, causing me to fall onto my back.

I slowly got to my feet, holding my weapon but still distracted by what happened. Sun continued to attack, draining my aura rapidly as I barely lifted my katana to fight back.

He must not have noticed as he continued attacking.

My thoughts kept going back to what happened, sending waves of anger through me. It pissed me off.

Sun tried to attack again, only for me to catch his staff and spin around, kicking him back. He let go of his weapon and I threw it over the side of the arena.

"What will he do without his weapon?"

I sheathed my katana and held up my fists. Even though I still have my katana, I do believe in fighting fairly.

Sun pressed his hands together, creating three copies of himself that all rushed me.

I jumped over the first one, kicking the second as I dodged two punches from the third. I ducked under a punch and made a dash for Sun. As I reached him, I threw a right cross and knocked Sun onto his back.

I went for a follow-up attacked but Sun kicked my legs out from under me. I landed on my back as Sun quickly got to his feet.

I stood up as Sun punched me, grabbing my katana from my back as I doubled over and finished off my aura with a slash across my chest.

"Sun Wukong wins!"

I stumbled back as I lightly touched the spot Sun had hit, feeling a thick warm liquid damp my clothes. I pulled my hand back to see blood trickling down my palm.

"You alright?!" Sun asked, worried.

"Yeah." I stood up straight, wincing a bit. "It's not that deep." I held my hand out for my katana. He handed it back and I sheathed it. We both headed for the exit. Sun walked to the stands as I headed for the Bullheads to go back down to Beacon.

I boarded the ship and sat down on the bench in the corner. I lifted up my shirt to see the bleeding had already stopped.

"Hmph." I placed my shirt back down and waited until we arrived at Beacon.

It didn't take long to get back. I made my way to my dorm and walked inside, getting a glare from Annie.

"You lost."

"Yeah." I took off my jacket and shirt, throwing the bloody cloth to the ground as I opened my dresser. "Sorry."

"You should have won easily." she crossed her arms.

I pulled out a red t-shirt and black zip-up hoodie. "I was...distracted." I told her as I put on the clothes.

"By what?"

"What happened with my cousin." I replied.

"She went a little agro, so what?" Annie scoffed.

"She didn't go agro." I told her as I shut my dresser drawer and turned to face her. "Mercury attacked her so she acted in self defense."

"That's not what everyone else saw." Annie replied. "She broke that guy's leg and didn't think twice about it."

"Believe what you want." I growled at her.

"I will."

I walked to the door and left the room, slamming the door shut behind me.

End of chapter 21