I don't own RWBY

"Seriously," Yang said crossing her arms. She'd just woken up after being electrocuted. Something the other woman hadn't apologized for either. In fact, if it wasn't for the smirk that Vernal wore Yang would have thought she'd forgotten about it. Instead, it was almost as if the brunet was silently mocking her at least she would have thought that if not for the words she'd just heard leave the woman's mouth. Vernal rolled her eyes taking a moment to bite back the insult she wanted to say.

"Yes, we'll help you save as many people as we can," she said not allowing her cheeks to heat up at the amused look being sent at her by Dakota. Cleaning his nails with an arrow he watched her fumble at explaining things to the blonde. It was fun to watch.

"Why," Yang asked suspiciously. Vernal did flush then glancing at Dakota for help only for him to roll his eyes in response. Stiffening Yang said, "you two didn't care before so why would you care now? I mean aren't you just Raven's little minions? She said she didn't want to save the village."

"You don't know a damn thing," Vernal hissed her embarrassment flying out the window. coiling like a snake she prepared to attack. Raven took them in when they had no one. If this little brat thought she could insult the woman that saved them then she would just have to beat her into the ground again. Dakota tensed his hand flying out to grab her arm. Her eyes met his as he silently told her to stand down.

"I think it's time we three had a talk," he said softly ignoring Liam's outcry at not being included. His gaze never left Vernal watching her face while she connected the dots. Panic filled her eyes and she frowned pursing her lips together. Finally, she looked away from him choosing to watch the fire instead. He could already tell she was curling in on herself. Taking it as acceptance he said, "you are one of the five contenders to become the heir to the Branwen tribe."

Yang's eyes widened in disbelief. Why would she be a contender? She hadn't even been in the tribe. Raven had abandoned her for years.

"The others are Adam Taurus, White Fang leader, Ruby Rose, your little sister, and the two of us," he explained watching the way her eyes hardened at her sister's name. He could already see the wheels turning in her mind. Smirking he lifted a finger saying, "all four of us will fight for the position because we've been choosing by a great woman."

Yang scoffed obviously disagreeing. Vernal scowled at the dismissal asking, "what the hell do you know about your mother anyway? You've done nothing but insult her this whole time. She took us in. She gave us a home. Don't you dare insult her when no one else looked twice at broken children!"

Dakota flinched phantom chains wrapping around his wrists for a moment. Reaching out he rubbed her back trying to calm her down all the while ignoring his own discomfort. Lilac eyes flickered between them in rising horror and shock.

"I- "

"No," Dakota said softly cutting her off. He hated pity more than anything else. It was fake and cruel. Those that pitied him had painful run ins with his arrows. Vernal relaxed slightly. Feeling her lean against him he said, "humans are cruel to each other. I was abandoned by my human father, tortured by my own kind. Raven took me in, chased away the nightmares, gave me a sister and brother to protect. She is my mother because she cared, but you know what she cared about even more. You. She left for days at a time to watch over you. After coming back, she would gush for hours about how special her daughter was. You don't have to forgive her or accept us, but you are our sister."

Vernal huffed but didn't disagree. There wasn't any point to arguing with him once he made up his mind about something. Yang looked away from them her heart sinking. She missed Ruby, and the cheerful days before all this happened. She'd wanted to find her mom to get answers. What she found tore her apart. Raven replaced her, her dad already knew, and Ruby did too. Her little sister kept secrets from her. Secrets that she had no right to. Her dad didn't seem to care that her mom led a tribe of murdering pillagers. To hear Dakota say he thought of her as a sister hurt her. She'd done nothing more than insult and degrade them since she learned they existed. Meeting Vernal's eyes she noticed the reluctant hope shining in them.

"fine," she said shifting nervously. Dakota smiled at her acceptance. It wasn't much but it was a start.

"That's nice and all but you do realize we're walking into a battlefield soon," Liam said reminding them all his presence. Amused he noticed Vernal bristle like a cat. It was cute. Tilting his head, he said, "you should get some sleep. I'll take first watch."

Dakota said nothing while Vernal mumbled complaints under her breath. Yawning Yang laid down beside the fire her trusting nature causing the brunet to raise an eyebrow. Sighing Vernal curled up beside the other girl letting the wolf faunus put himself between the girls and Liam.

Sitting down the blonde man pulled out his weapon. Dropping his bag on the ground he decided to work on it for a bit. He wasn't lying when he said they'd be walking into a battlefield. In his mind, it would probably worse than they imagined. He'd seen grimm tear apart villages before when they were in small packs. A group this big meant the village wouldn't stand a chance.

Hearing their breathing even out he took a moment to look them over. They were kids, yet survivors too. He knew that feeling. He'd survived every day of his life by being faster than the other guy. Vacuo wasn't a nice place. If he hadn't done what he had he wouldn't be here. Regret wasn't something he felt either.

Running the whetstone along the sharpened edge of his spear, Liam kept watching over the three sleeping children. Well, two sleeping children and one suspicious wolf faunus. Sliding the whetstone back into his back he rolled his eyes when Dakota's ears twitched. The boy thought he was being subtle, but he wasn't. Removing the burn dust crystal from his weapon, Liam replaced it with an ice dust crystal. Standing he pretended to ignore the way Dakota tensed. Spinning the weapon in his hand he smiled, it was the only thing he had.

"Watch the girls wolfy," he ordered laying the weapon across his shoulders before walking away from camp, pulling out his scroll with one hand. After making sure he had a signal he pressed down on the bounties. Sidestepping a tree, he scrolled through them looking more at the reward money than the actual grimm themselves. Feeling the scroll buzz in his hand he sighed accepting the call although he'd much rather not.

"Mr. Drake we've been trying to contact you for the last few days," Liz scolded through the call. He could already imagine the pout on her lips and the way her eyes would be narrowed.

"Currently on the outskirts of Minstrel tracking a large group of grimm," he reported, "also the armored lizard grimm I was following is dead, send the money for its elimination to my father's account."

"You weren't supposed to kill it," she said sounding almost bored. Shrugging he leaned back against the tree waiting. He could hear her typing. A sigh sounded in his ear as she said, "money's transferred. Do you need anything else?"

"sign me up for some of the smaller elimination missions," he told her after he'd checked the amount of money left in his account.

"Very well, also Headmaster Leah wants you to return to Shade soon," she said, and he could hear the annoyance in her voice. Liz and her sister didn't really get along despite both being teachers at Shade.

"Why? I'm doing my job. The deal was simple, I don't have to come back to Vacuo and you guys get real-time data on grimm movements and species," he said his hand tightening on his spear. Hearing her suck in a breath he considered apologizing.

"Because those are your orders," she snapped wiping away all thoughts of apologizes from his mind. Frowning his eyes narrowed.

"You forget I'm not your student anymore," he said calmly.

"Liam get back to Shade within the year or she'll cut off the life support," she hissed. Snarling he slid the scroll closed hanging up on her. Putting it back in his pocket he twisted his body around the blade of his spear stabbing into the bark of the tree behind him. Vacuo was lawless, Leah was a sadistic mistress to those under her command, and sadly he worked for her until the ties binding him to that place were severed. She would go through with her threat too if only to show everyone else why disobedience wasn't recommended.

Pulling the blade from the tree he growled. He'd go back alright, and he'd show her the reason he'd survived this long. Turning he started to walk back to camp, unsurprisingly Dakota was sitting up watching the two women sleep. Looking at the two girls he raised an eyebrow when he saw them curled around each other. That would be an interesting thing to experience when they woke up.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas