One of the Mistrae was mid-air as Qrow swung his scythe into the creature, killing it instantly. Before he could finish the swing with his weapon, another Grimm was directly in front of him, ready to strike. He quickly flipped his scythe in his hand and brought its blade up into the Mistrae's abdomen, barely getting the blow off before the Grimm could touch him. "Man, that was a close one."

Ruby, on the other hand, wasn't even concerned with taking a hit; too focused on her rage to think. She was getting more aggressive as the fight went on. Her hatred towards the creatures grew stronger every time her blades collided with one of the beasts.

"I..." She struck one down that was ready to attack her. "Will..." Another one down. "Kill..." She quickly dispatched one as it leapt over her, aiming itself towards Weiss. "Them..." She pressed a small trigger at the base of her smaller weapon and pushed a small button. "ALL!" The blade bent slightly and shot a small explosive round out of it, taking out several Mistrae in the process.

Meanwhile, Weiss was fighting to the best of her ability, but she was hindered by not being able to make eye contact. The new form of combat was something that she never thought she would have to deal with, and she wasn't nearly as efficient as she could be, if she didn't have to focus on not looking into their eyes. She made good use of her glyphs, however.

After the Grimm tried attacking her from the sides several times, an idea popped into her head. She summoned four glyphs around her that slightly bowed out in the center, away from her. There was one in each of her weak spots at all times – one to her left and right, one behind her, and one above her. If one of the Mistrae touched it, they immediately recoiled in pain, and the heiress could quickly turn around and finish it off.

Blake was having the same problem as Weiss. It wasn't the fact that she couldn't make eye contact, that was fine, but she was so worried about not doing it, that she was having trouble concentrating on the rest of the fight. She used her semblance to quickly dodge the Grimm's attacks, then dashed in with Gambol Shroud and launched a counter attack.

Yang dispatched a few nearby Mistrae with ease. They landed a few hits on her, but that simply fueled her semblance. She then turned her attention to the hill. There seemed to be another small wave of Grimm heading towards them. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me." She fired a few shots out of her gauntlets in their direction, taking out several of them before she had to reload.

Before long, the Grimm's numbers had quickly diminished. After the hunters had killed a large group of them, there were only two Mistrae left. They slowly backed away, then suddenly turned and ran. After they had retreated a good distance away from the hunters, they split apart and headed in separate directions.

Ruby immediately chased after one of them, while Qrow screamed at her. "Ruby, stop! Don't go running off like that!"

However, the young huntress was too focused on killing the Grimm to register that her uncle was screaming. Qrow grabbed Weiss by the shoulder. "Go after her. Keep her in your sights. Do not lose her."

The heiress nodded and chased after her as Qrow turned to Blake and Yang. "Okay, there's only two left, so I want you two to head back to the camp."

Yang was confused. "Are you sure? Don't you want us to come help you?"

Qrow smiled, but shook his head. "There's only two left. I think we can take 'em. If we're not back within the hour, I want you two to get out of the city and head back to the safe house."

"Okay, just… be safe."

The hunter nodded and turned to chase the Mistrae, but quickly turned around. "Hey, hold up, you two."

The blonde looked to her uncle. "What?"

He reached inside his pocket and brought out his flask, which he then handed to Yang. "Keep that safe."

The girl looked up at him with an expression that said, "Really?"

Qrow winked, then spun around and gave chase to the Grimm, waving his hand behind him. "I mean it!"

"Yeah, yeah." The blonde turned to her teammate. "C'mon, let's head back."

Blake scratched one of her arms nervously. "Are you sure that we shouldn't stay and help them out? These things are dangerous, after all."

Yang waved her hand dismissively. "Nah, it'll be fine. I'm sure Uncle Qrow can handle himself against things like this. Probably Ruby too, it looks like she got a lot stronger while she was gone."

The faunus looked in the direction the hunters had left, worry apparent on her face. "Okay, if you're sure..."

"I am, so let's get back. This place creeps me out anyway." She waited for Blake to start heading towards the camp, then quickly followed her.

"Ruby, wait! I can't keep up with you like this!"

"If we slow down, it could get away! I'm not going to lose it!"

Weiss followed her partner as fast as she was able, but Ruby was making use of her semblance every now and then, making it very hard for the heiress to keep her in view, let alone keep pace with her. "Just slow down a little bit!"

Ruby could see the Mistrae in the distance, and she was slowly gaining ground on it. "Man, this thing is quick!" She used another small burst of speed, trying to keep herself close to the Grimm, but not too far ahead of Weiss. "We're getting closer!"

Weiss was beginning to run out of breath. "Calm down, I'm having trouble keeping up with you."

Ruby burst forwards with her semblance again, closing the distance between her and the creature significantly. She quickly put her weapon back together and it transformed into a scythe. She looked back once at Weiss, then burst forward again, which put her within striking distance. She brought her weapon up and slammed it into the Mistrae, pinning it to the ground.

Weiss quickly approached her and stopped when she saw the creature. She bent forward slightly and placed her hands on her knees. "I'm glad that you caught this thing, but next time will you slow down just a little?"

"Sorry, I just didn't want to lose this thing." She positioned her scythe so that its gun was aimed at the Grimm's head, then fired a shot, then another, then another. She fired until the creature stopped moving.

Weiss placed her hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Ruby, it's dead."

The younger girl took a deep breath. "I know, I just… I hate these things for what they've done. I guess I got carried away." Ruby pulled her scythe out of the creature and turned to Weiss. "Well, that's taken care of, let's go find Uncle Qrow."

The heiress nodded and they began to make their way back to the last place they had seen the hunter.

After searching for a while, they couldn't find him and Ruby began to get worried. "What if that thing got to him? What if h-h'es..."

Weiss rubbed her back gently. "Relax, I'm sure he's fine." As the words came out of her mouth, the pair noticed an outline of a person in the distance. Weiss stretched her arm out and pointed a finger towards it. "Look, that has to be him. There's no way that anyone else would be out here."

They made their way over to the outline and quickly figured out that it was Qrow. Ruby ran up and hugged im. "I'm so glad you're okay! I was worried about you."

Weiss started to raise her sword and point it at the hunter. "Ruby, wait. We don't know if that's him or not."

The younger girl cursed herself internally and stepped away from her "uncle". "U-Uncle Qrow?"

The hunter pulled out a small knife and dragged it across his arm. After a few seconds, blood flowed out of the fresh cut, "There. Y'know, I'm glad you two are safe, and I'm happy that you were worried about me, but it's a good thing Weiss was here. If I had turned out to be a Grimm, you could be dead right now."

Ruby hung her head. "Y-Yeah, I know. I was just… I didn't want to think I had lost you… not after Mom..."

Qrow's face softened and he pulled Ruby into a hug. "Well, you didn't. I'm okay, so you don't need to worry about something like that."

Ruby pulled away from him and looked into his eyes. "So, did you kill the other one?"

Qrow shook his head. "No. I lost it. I don't know where it went, but it's out there, somewhere. I suggest we group back up and go looking for it."

"Right."

They then began to make their way back to the camp to meet up with Blake and Yang.

"Hey, Blake, did Weiss leave that dust here earlier? It freakin' cold and a fire sounds amazing." Yang had sat down on one of the logs in the shelter and rubbed her hands over her arms. "I don't even know how you're not cold. I mean, I'm freezing, and that's saying something."

Blake walked over to Weiss' bag and rummaged through it until she found a small vial of dust. She pulled it out and walked over to where their previous fire had been. "Actually, I am cold, but I tend to get that way a lot, so I'm quite used to it by now."

Yang smirked. "Is that because you're part kit-"

The faunus shot her a glare. "Finish that sentence, and you'll regret it."

The blonde laughed nervously. "Okay, fair enough." She then noticed the bottle in Blake's hand. "Oh, is that the dust?"

The black-haired girl nodded. "I think so, there was only two bottles in her bag. One was red and one was white. I think it's safe to assume that the red one would start fires, so this should be the, what was it, Scorch Dust?"

"Makes sense to me." Yang quickly stacked several branches and twigs together as Blake walked over with the dust. "Now, let's get this baby going!"

However, just before they lit the fire, they heard movement outside. Blake's ears twitched as she listened closely to the noise. "Something is outside."

"Huh? Oh, it's probably just the Ruby, Weiss and Uncle Qrow."

The blonde stood up and started walking outside, but Blake grabbed her arm and shook her head. "I don't think so. It sounds… different."

A perplexed expression made its way onto Yang's face. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, it sounds like there's only one thing out there. If it was the others, it wouldn't sound like that."

"In that case, it's probably just a Grimm. Let's go check it out."

The pair made their way towards the front of the shelter and poked their heads around the side of the entrance. Then, on top of one of the many fallen buildings, was a Mistrae.

Yang gasped and quickly clasped her hand over her mouth. "Blake, what do we do?"

The faunus weighed their options. They could fight it and potentially kill it, which had a high chance of success, or they could wait for the others in the shelter and possibly lose it. "I guess we should fight it."

The blonde nodded and loaded Ember Celica as Blake pulled out Gambol Shroud, but the sound of weapons being drawn drew attracted the Grimm's attention. It looked at the pair of hunters and quickly ran off. The blonde ran out of the building and motioned for Blake to follow her. "You go around the other side and cut it off!"

The faunus dashed out of the shelter and made her way around the fallen building that the Mistrae had previously been on top of. She circled the nearby area several times. "Where is that thing?" She cupped her hands around her mouth and took a deep breath. "Yang, did you find anything?"

There was no response. "Great, she must be out of earshot. I guess I'll have to find her. She better be okay." She decided to venture out further and hoped that she could find her partner quickly.

It had been roughly thirty minutes since Blake and Yang split up. The latter of the two had been looking everywhere for the Grimm. She had lost its trail about fifteen minutes ago and started to become frustrated. She placed her hands around her mouth in a similar manner that Blake had. "Blake, did you find it?" The only response she got was her own voice as it bounced off her surroundings and echoed back to her. "Blake, you still around?" Once again, she got no answer. "Damn it!"

She quickly turned around and started head back towards the camp, but stopped in her tracks when she looked in front of her. "… Oh my god..."

Blake stood in front of her. She looked half-dead and clutched her stomach with one hand, and held Gambol Shroud tightly in the other. "Y-Yang." She stumbled forward slightly and Yang ran over to her.

She helped her sit down on the ground and leaned her against a large boulder. "Blake! What happened?!"

The faunus coughed and grabbed her stomach tighter. "I found the Mistrae. I-It was running towards the part of the city that we came in through." She coughed even more. "I chased it down and killed it, but..."

"But what?" Yang grew more concerned by the second.

"It turns out that part of that place is infested with a ton of Grimm. I-I was ambushed. There were too many."

Tears were starting to form in Yang's eyes. She grabbed Blake's shoulders gently, but firmly. "It's okay, you're gonna be okay, everything will be fine. The others should be here any minute now. They'll know what to do."

Blake coughed more and took in a sharp breath. "Okay, I hope they hurry."

Yang started to reach down towards one of the faunus' arms. "Until then, let me look at your stomach. It looks like it's hurting you a lot."

However, Blake recoiled at the action. "D-Don't. I really don't want you to see it."

Yang locked eyes with her. "I need to see how bad it is. Move your arm." As the blonde reached down again, she heard the voices of her teammates. She stood up and looked in the direction the voices were coming from. "Great! They're back! All we have to do is see if Uncle Qrow can ma-"

Yang was cut off, as she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her stomach. She hunched over and looked down. Right beneath her, Blake's hand that had been holding Gambol Shroud was now outstretched, and the weapon's blade had pierced through Yang's abdomen and protruded out of her back.

The blonde looked down, horrified at the sight in front of her. Blake was smirking. The hand that had previously been covering what Yang had assumed to be a wound, was now at her side, revealing a large gash, but no blood. Yang closed her eyes. "Wow… this whole time… it was the Mistrae… I'm such an idiot." She opened her eyes, which were now bright red. She reached down and picked the Mistrae up by its throat. Its face was filled with surprise. She brought it close to her and looked into its eyes. "Imitate Blake when you're dead, you bastard."

She slammed the creature into the ground and began punching repeatedly. "Die, die, die, Die, DIE!" She only stopped when her fist collided with the ground, which meant the Mistrae's body had evaporated. After the effects of her rage wore off, it suddenly became clear to her just how much blood that she had lost.

"Whew, okay, I should… p-probably lay… down…" Her eyes closed slowly as she fell to the ground. The next thing that she heard was the sound of quickly approaching footsteps and her sister's voice.

"YANG!"

Ruby, Qrow and Weiss quickly ran over to the blonde. Ruby grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "Yang! Yang, Talk to me!"

Yang's stared at her sister with half-lidded eyes. "R-Ruby? When did you get back?"

The younger sister had tears streaming down her face. "That doesn't matter! What happened? Where's Blake? How did you get hurt?"

"One of the Mistrae showed up. Me and Blake split up and went after it. It was a stupid idea."

Blood was beginning to pour out of Yang's wound. "Somehow, the Mistrae turned into Blake and got the advantage on me."

Weiss knelt down next to her. "Where is it now? And where is Blake?"

Yang shrugged, and winced at the pain. "I'm not sure. The Grimm is dead, but I haven't seen Blake."

The heiress nodded and stood up. "You two take care of her, I'm going to go find Blake and make sure she is okay."

As Weiss turned around, her eyes met Blake's. "… What happened?"

"Yang fought the Mistrae. She's injured badly."

Blake looked around Weiss and stared at her partner. She ran over to her and crouched down beside Ruby. "Yang… I shouldn't have left you… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry." The faunus looked down at Yang and stared at her wound. Tears began to form in her eyes and she turned her face from the blonde.

Yang turned her head back by her chin and looked into her eyes. She smiled and used her thumb to wipe a tear away, which had been making its way down Blake's face. "Don't cry… kitty cat."

"Y-Yang, I shouldn't have left, I should have stayed with you... This is my fault."

The blonde shook her head. "No, it's not. I should have been more careful."

While the two were talking, Ruby ran over to Qrow. "Uncle Qrow, we have to do something!"

Qrow nodded and walked over to Yang. He pushed Blake aside gently and crouched down beside his wounded niece. He slowly wrapped an arm around her neck, and slid one under her legs. "Come one, firecracker, let's get you out of here." He picked her up and started to head towards the shelter. "Pack up everything. We're leaving."

"What about the Mistrae?"

"I think we got the last of them, but I'm not sure. I'll be sure to have a chat with Ironwood when we get back to Beacon. I don't think we're anywhere close to being done with this place."

The team grabbed their belongings and started to make their way out of the city. Ruby's eyes never left her sisters body. "Uncle Qrow, can I carry her? I can use my semblance and get her out of this place quick, then we can just wait for you guys."

The hunter looked down at his oldest niece. "Ruby, that would be good, but I'm worried about how that would affect Yang in her current condition."

"O-Okay."

They finally crossed the border of the run-down city and ran to the safe house. Once inside, Qrow placed Yang down on a couch. He then pointed to her and grabbed one of Ruby's shoulders. "I'm gonna see if I can call us an emergency ship out here. Watch her. If anything happens, come tell me immediately. I'll be right back." The hunter then pulled out his scroll and walked onto the front porch.

Ruby, Blake and Weiss were all sitting on the floor to Yang's side. Ruby took her sister's hand in her own. "Yang, just hang in there. Uncle Qrow is getting us a ship. We'll be back at Beacon before you know it."

The blonde nodded. "Great, because this couch is pretty uncomfortable. I really miss my bed."

The statement made Ruby smile slightly, but it was short lived, as Yang had started coughing up small amounts of blood. "Yang?"

The older sister patted her on the top of her head. "Relax, Ruby. Everything is going to be fine, okay?"

"O-Okay."

An uncomfortable silence filled the room, as no one was quite sure to say. The silence was lifted as Qrow came back through the door. "There is a ship on the way. It should be here in the next thirty minutes."

Yang nodded. "That's good news." She turned over slightly and winced. A sharp pain shot through her abdomen and more blood started to come out of her wound and seeped through her clothes. "Ngh, that ship better hurry."

Qrow rushed over and placed his hands on her stomach to keep pressure on the injury. "Ruby, go to my bag. I have some bandages and alcohol in there."

The young girl ran over to the bag and pulled out the items. She handed them to her uncle and he immediately started dressing the wound. He brought the bottle of alcohol up held it at a slight angle. "Hang in there, firecracker. This is gonna hurt." He started to pour the contents of the bottle into the wound.

As soon as the liquid touched her, Yang screamed. "Oh my god, you weren't kidding. T-That burns like crazy."

"I know, but we need to do it." For a few moments, the only sounds that filled the room were Yang's whimpers as the alcohol began to take effect. The fact that Yang was injured troubled Qrow in several ways. One was the fact that his niece had gotten hurt, but there was another one that bugged him. "How the hell did that Grimm get through her aura like that? It wasn't an easy fight out there, but it wasn't too difficult. She should have had plenty of aura left over. I need to talk to Ozpin about this."

After he was satisfied with how he had treated the wound, he wrapped it up in several bandages and stood up. "Okay, now don't move. Those bandages will hold you together for now, but we need to get you to a hospital as soon as possible. Especially since you've lost so much blood."

The blonde shrugged and coughed a little more. "T-That's fine with me. I don't exactly feel like running a marathon right now. Actually, I think I'm gonna rest my eyes for a little bit."

"Well, in that case, we'll leave you to it." Qrow placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Watch over her. I'm going to head outside and wait for the ship."

"Okay."

The hunter stepped onto the porch and sat down on the steps. He stared towards the city, deep in his thoughts, until he felt a presence behind him. "Come and take a seat. We're not going anywhere just yet."

After a few seconds, Blake made her way around the hunter and sat down next to him. "I wasn't trying to sneak up on you or anything, I just-"

Qrow waved his hand dismissively. "It's fine, I just noticed you behind me is all. It takes a lot to get that close without me noticing, though. You're quite the little sneak, Blake."

The faunus was confused. "I, uh, is that a compliment?"

Qrow shrugged and smiled. "Take it how you will."

Blake laced her fingers together and placed them in her lap. "So, is Yang going to be okay?"

The hunter took a deep breath. "Honestly, I don't know. From what I can tell, she has about a ninety percent chance to survive if that ship gets here in time, but you can never be sure about these kinds of things."

Blake became noticeably more nervous. "O-Oh… I see."

"I wouldn't be too worried about it though. I've seen people take worse hits than her and turn out fine. Besides, she's a fighter. I don't think she'll let something like this get the best of her."

"I suppose you're right."

They sat there without talking for the longest time and simply stared out towards the city. "I would have never guessed that there was something like the Mistrae just sitting out there after seeing the area around this place. It's so calm."

Qrow stretched his arms out in front of him and groaned. "Yup, it's pretty crazy in that place."

Blake looked down at her lap. "We're going to have to come back, aren't we?"

The hunter turned to face her. "That's something else I don't know about. I think we might have to until we're positive that each and every one of those things is gone."

The pair's conversation was cut short, as they heard the sound of an airship approaching. However, just as it was about to land, Ruby bolted out of the door. She was hysterical and had tears running down her face. "U-Uncle Qrow! Get in there!"

The hunter jumped up and ran towards his niece. "Ruby, what's wrong?"

"It's Yang… she… s-she…"

"She what?"

"She's not breathing!"

Hey, guys! Hope y'all like the new chapter!

Now, there is something I would like to talk about real quick. There was one review I got that drew my attention and I would like to address it.

They mentioned that the mod I made for Crescent Rose wasn't good for Ruby's character, but I disagree.

They said it is established in the first episode that Ruby is garbage with anything except a scythe. The only thing I could find that mentioned anything close to that was that Ruby was garbage before Qrow trained her. It also mentions that her scythe is also a gun, a.k.a another weapon type. Furthermore, in Volume 3 after the fight between Pyrrha and Penny, Ruby fights with one of Penny's swords. While it was very brief, she seemed more than capable to me.

Another thing, is that this story is not exactly canon. Crescent Rose shattered, and Qrow was there when Ruby reconstructed it, so I imagined that he would have some influence on how she fixed it/what she added to it. Plus, they've been gone for a year. That's plenty of time for Qrow to teach Ruby how to be effective with a sword when they had downtime.

Anyway, that's the way I thought about it. I just wanted to get that off my chest. If you still disagree, well, that's fine. I can't tell you what your opinion should be.

But this also brings me to my next point. I'm not trying to tell you guys what to do, but if you would sign your guest reviews, that would be fantastic. That way, I could message you guys instead of leaving a long, drawn out Author's Note at the end of the chapter like this. Don't feel like you have to do that, though. It would just make things easier on me and y'all wouldn't have to have a wall of text at the end of a chapter.

All of that aside, I hope you guys liked this chapter. I'll see y'all in the next one!

:D