Chapter 26: Sly Ciphers
"There seems to be a grievous conflict of interest present," The Atlas officer said looking up from his scroll which was displaying stats and records regarding team RWB_. It had taken them about an hour to see this man alone, and that was thanks to Weiss' bureaucratic know-how and Penny's connections within the Atlas military.
Apparently, the usual wait time is 4 hours at least. Ruby thought almost miserably as she stood in front of the head of the Atlas military base here in Vacuo. The Officer was a short-bearded man by the name of Hodeer with a raven black beard that was a strange juxtaposition to his crisp white uniform. And by Short Ruby meant very short, the man was about 3 inches smaller than Weiss. Officer Hodeer was also sweating like a snowman in spring, constantly dabbing his head with a cloth he kept on hand.
"Considering your connections with the target, and the recent news about your other team-mate…" he trailed off leaving the implication clear for all present. Ruby pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "…well I'd be well within my rights to detain the both of you"
"Not really" Weiss cut in already in the bureaucratic zone. "Seeing as your presence in Vacuo is a courtesy at best and that both Ms. Rose and I are not Atlas citizens with no criminal records, you'd be illegally detaining us. An action that I'm sure the good people of Vacuo would not appreciate."
"And besides Ruby is my friend!" Penny cut in trying to help in a manner that was not actually helpful.
"Well, be that as it may, we still have no reason to offer either of you any assistance from the Atlessian military!" He shot back to Weiss ignoring his robotic subordinate.
Ruby let out an exasperated sigh, Weiss might like these long legalese and arguments, but she was tired of it. "Officer Hodeer We're just here offering you an exchange of information regarding Yang! It's an information trade!"
Weiss had an almost disappointed look on her face that was made all the sadder by her still red eye. Hodeer blinked as if he'd just been awoken from a strange dream. Nice that my words finally got through to him. Ruby almost laughed, she'd been saying just as much for the past hour and no one really seemed to want to pass her intent onto the next person up the line.
"Oh… you have information then?"
"Indeed we do" Ruby tried to put the joy back into her voice but the maze of paperwork and waiting had drained her. "starting with an explanation about why half your scrolls say north when they should say south"
Ruby let out a groan and took a deep breath of the Vacuo Air finally glad to be out of that base.
"We got more than I expected," she said enjoying the feeling of the sun on her skin. The warmth that came with the sun and aired climate helped offset the cold feeling lingering in her mind. "Thanks, Weiss… Weiss?"
The ex-heiress was staring off again thumb resting on her lower lip. She'd done this over and over again since they left the Huntsman infirmary.
"WEISS!" Ruby shouted knocking Weiss out of her daze. Her hand quickly retreated from her face and she put on an annoyed look at Ruby.
"What? You shouldn't yell at people like-" Ruby's stare silenced her. The stare wasn't judging, it wasn't even angry, it was pleading, pleading for her friend to not leave her in the dark.
"Weiss, what happened between you and Yang?" Ruby asked resting her hand on Weiss' wrist. "We're partners you can tell me"
Weiss' cheeks turned as red as her left eye and she was silent for a good minute of waiting. Eventually, Weiss started walking towards a secluded palm tree and motioned for Ruby to follow. Obliging Ruby left Penny patiently waiting by the Atlas gates. Even as Ruby approached she saw that Weiss was nervously looking every which way for someone, anyone who might've been listening in. Her paranoia sated she finally broke.
"I kissed Yang" Ruby flinched back, that was not what she'd been expecting. "I've loved your sister since our second term at Beacon, Ruby I'm sorry I should have told you."
Weiss started to go through the various cliché apologetic phrases, but it had already faded into white noise for Ruby. Ruby loved weapons, like really loved weapons and a key element of any ranged weapon was the rate of fire. There were many types of firing capability for guns, some were bolt action, some were double action without the bolt, some had only semi-auto speeds and others were fully automatic. Now that didn't necessarily determine how fast the bullets were going to come out but it did help, one pull and the little slugs were flying.
If bullets were conflicting emotions, then they were firing at full-auto right into Ruby's face. Anger, sadness, jubilation, love, regret, envy, happiness, betrayal and many many more. Ruby took a stumbling step away from Weiss, bringing her hand up to her forehead to make sure she didn't have a fever and that this wasn't a hallucination.
"-uby! Are you ok?" Weiss' voice finally cut through the white noise haze. Ruby doubled over resting her hand on her knees, she didn't feel like vomiting, but she needed balance. She felt like she did that one-time Uncle Qrow let her take a sip from his flask on her 18th birthday, it was all still hazy and her recent stint in the huntsmen hospital was not helping.
Weiss is in love with Yang! Ruby thought to herself trying to find ground. How did I not notice? Why didn't she tell me, I'm her partner?
Ruby started to tip over but luckily Weiss was there to catch her, Ruby could feel her partner shuddering as she held onto her. Unconsciously Ruby's arms reached up and held Weiss in a tight embrace.
The Vytal festival was worse for Weiss than I thought. She'd been suffering alone for so long. The leader instincts took over and Ruby held Weiss and patted her back.
"Its… its ok Weiss" it wasn't really ok but Weiss needed to hear this at this moment. "I'm just…" betrayed, happy for you, pissed, envious of the fact Yang didn't want to break your face but was happy to try and bust mine. "… a little conflicted by the whole thing is all."
Ruby let go of Weiss and lent back against a nearby palm tree, her balance restored.
"Why didn't you say anything," she asked looking the Heiress up and down. "Not about the kiss I mean… well maybe the kiss, but about the 'in love' thing."
Weiss shifted nervously before lifting her hand, palm up, and twirling a summoning circle around her fingertips. She stared at the tiny knight she summoned for a long second, glancing around looking for any eavesdroppers.
"Because after the Vytal festival, I didn't need the attention. I didn't need everyone's focus and help on me. You'd just lost a sister, Beacon was breaking apart and well we know what happened with Pyrrha." She shivered despite the heat. "My unrequited love wasn't that important in the grand scheme of things"
Ruby nodded a bit before slapping her open palm right against Weiss's forehead causing the Atlesian to stumble back.
"Ow, Hey!" she began before Ruby grabbed her shoulders and began to shake her hard.
"Weiss! You silly selfless DOLT!" Ruby shouted still shaking the short girl.
"Hey that's my line" Ruby stopped her shaking glaring at her partner. "...but I guess I was a little dolt-ish"
"Weiss, We're a team, we share the burdens and we don't keep secrets" Ruby let go of Weiss. "Blakes kept her white fang roots a secret and that almost got her killed. Pyrrha kept her maiden thing to herself and that ruined her life. We still don't know what was going through Yang's mind but it would be easier to deal with if we did"
Weiss looked ashamed by what Ruby said, clearly her words were getting through that ex-heiress stubbornness of hers.
I'm getting a little intense maybe it would be best if I dialed it back. She wiped sweat from her brow before putting on a calm and friendly smile, the type of smile that her mom used to have, that Yang used to wear. Weiss seemed to relax a bit from the grin.
"Weiss I'd love it if we were sisters, and you're already pretty much a part of my family" she pulled into the hug once more. "But don't keep secrets ok? It never turns out well."
Weiss didn't reply only nodding and squeezed Ruby back in response. That'll have to do for now. Ruby motioned for Penny to come back and join them. The robot girl was happy to oblige practically skipping as she approached the two. We have a lot of information to compile.
"So Penny how has your skills for connecting data improved?" Ruby asked handing her the file drive that commander Hodeer gave them, after their generous donation that is. Penny took the drive and plugged it into a port behind her ear.
"I've improved it's efficiency by 32.54% in the 6 months since I saw you last" she responded one ear wiggling as it processed data. The data they'd received were reports made by all Atlas forces that had searched the desert already, where they searched and what they used in their search. "Know any parameters that'll simplify things for me?"
"Keep an eye out for the South-North replacement issue and pay attention to any reports that include soldiers seeing anything odd; a strange focus of Grimm or sightings of aircraft that shouldn't be in the area or those whose sightings conflict with reports" Penny complied with a mechanical nod and a little hop. Ruby raised a finger to add another parameter. "She has Neo with her, do you think you can factor in Neo's semblance?"
"It might require more run time but I think I can, yes" There was hesitancy in Penny's words but not enough to make Ruby worried. "Oh and I can maintain conversations while I compile data" the robot girl rapped her knuckles against her own head for emphasis. Ruby chuckled at the antic and was thankful for the robot girl's presence here.
"Hold that thought while I get some more info from JN_R and Blake" Ruby flipped out her scroll and began corresponding, keeping to the code they set out in the morning.
R: Time wasted! The Atlas forces gave us nothing we're running on bones here. Tell me you guys have something.
N: DARN IT! TELL ME YOU THREATENED THEM ATLEST?!
L: The brothel owner wouldn't say much but, Y is clearly highly connected now, with enough resources to get a Bullhead or similar transport. Will talk more when we meet up.
J: Blake and I've been struggling with some desert transport so far.
B: Atlas has been on my tail a bit recently.
Ruby had to hide a smirk of pride over Blake and Weiss' code, it was fantastically perfect in its simplicity. If the first word of a text ended in a vowel everything after it was actually the opposite of what was stated. If the first word ended in a consonant then the statement was true, except in the case of Ren and Nora who really just counted as one person, so their texts were treated as such. So in full, they had transport, Blake was still pursued and Yang had connections. Ruby could roll with that.
She snickered, still able to appreciate the little mischievous moments in her life as a huntress. She was about to answer Nora's text when a shadow fell over her scrolls screen and the iron scent of blood flooded her nose. She didn't look away from the scroll, too nervous to look up as she felt an overwhelming force bearing down on her. The slow constant drip was almost unbearable to listen to and echoed incredibly loud in her ears.
Yang
Yang snapped the scroll closed. They hadn't figured out what she'd done yet so that was good, but they were prying and Azraq might have just pissed the wrong bird mom off. She stood up from her seated position atop the bullhead looking down on Roman as he finished clearing up the evidence they left behind.
Yang cupped her hands around her mouth before she spoke. "HEY ROMAN!" the crime boss was startled by the shout and gave her an annoyed look, Yang couldn't help but chuckle at that glare. Hopping down from the bullhead she lifted the heater he was struggling to pick up with one arm.
"What?" he asked ignoring her obvious display of physical dominance.
"The bug is still working"
"Of course it is, I paid good money for it" he spoke brushing the dirt off his white jacket and readjusting his hat upon his head. "Got anything relevant to us?"
"Azraq gave them hints at my connections but didn't drop any names" she was a bit annoyed by that but had to admit Nora and Ren could be an intimidating pair when they put their minds to it.
"Smart man. Maybe we should send him a fruit basket as thanks" the man was great at sneering and gifted Yang a perfect sneer now.
"They're also lacking in desert capable transport, Atlas is being its usual unhelpful self and Blake's got bounty hunters on her ass" Yang felt a tiny pang of guilt over that last one but it was drowned out by her joy at karma smashing Blake in the face. "That should give us enough breathing room to leave them in the dust while we travel to Vale"
She set the heater down in the bullhead shaking the whole ship as she did. She kept her back to Roman so he wouldn't see the conflict she felt was evident on her face. I need distance from RWB, let them get bogged down in crap I need focus for the job ahead.
The tip of Roman's cane tapped the box right in front of Yang. She turned back to face his calculating grin as he lit up a cigar.
"Speaking of which" he took a deep pull savoring both the cigar and Yang's spent time. "What's the plan?"
The air had been tense since Yang had been rescued and if she was being honest with herself most of the blame fell on her. I've been too short lately. Getting annoyed at Neo for being a psycho and Roman for being full of himself, I might as well berate Zwei for peeing in the woods. I gotta regain control and respect before we move on.
Yang squeezed her knuckles till they audibly popped, it was a tick she'd developed whenever she was busy thinking and she knew it was one that Roman could read. She grabbed a dust crystal and tossed it to him, he caught it with his usual quick reflexes. She stuck her hands in her pockets and leaned against the ship's frame.
"How would you do it?" she asked playing to Roman's rampant ego. "You get a shot at Ironwood how would you make it happen?"
Roman smirked at the attention and hidden praise. He tilted his hat as he collected his own thoughts, tossing the dust shard up in the air as he paced the cabin.
"First I'd try and get as many of his forces away from him as possible" he caught the Crystal between his ring and index finger before rolling along his knuckles.
"Well, a few of his forces are in Vacuo hunting after a dastardly crook" Yang retorted add Roman's own brand of sarcasm and mockery directed towards the forces of Atlas. "So check one for that"
The crime boss chuckled and Yang joined him. "After that we've got to gather as much info as possible about the wheres and whens of Ironwood's movements. Is that what old has up his sleeve?"
Yang nodded. Roman lifted two fingers. "2 checks then. Still, fighting the man himself won't exactly be as easy as a dust store hold-up and getting that many fights that close to him will be a pain in the ass"
"I thought you said you could rely on Neo for that?"
Roman looked offended at the suggestion, holding his hand over his chest in fake surprise. "Poor little Neo against a hardened soldier like General Ironwood? Who would dare to suggest such a thing?" Yang laughed out loud at his antics, though she laughed more than his bit really warranted. Have to play into that ego of his. He nodded before retrieving one of his cigars. "Joking aside, Neo's good but Ironwoods a beast, she might need back up"
Roman flicked his lighter only garnering occasional sparks. Yang calmly approached him, taking the red crystal from his hands and focusing her aura to the tips of her fingers, a small flame ignited from the tip of her nail. Roman had a tiny flash of fear on his face, no doubt remembering his previous employer, before leaning in and lighting his cigar. Yang waved her hand dispelling the fire as Roman took a long drag.
"I can get us in." Yang said, Roman's eyebrow raised. "Raven can portal to me from wherever she is at any time, I go in with Neo and with one scroll message it'll be a 4 on 1 fight."
Roman sneered at the idea and Yang matched him. They both knew it wouldn't be that simple, her plan was just the bones of an idea and they both knew that things went wrong in a plan. But why spoil the fun?
Spinning his cane around Roman blew out his smoke, he wasn't looking at Yang anymore his mind was traveling to another place, his mind was thinking up different aspects to the job, the riches he could grab along the way and the cred he could score just from being apart of this gig. He stopped halfway out of the ship and pointed the cane back at Yang, point just an inch from her face. Yang didn't flinch and just smiled back at him.
"Still there's the problem of you being the one to 'finish it'" he said not lowering the cane. Yang's eye twitched once before she was able to suppress the compulsion, instead, she gave him a toothy smile reminiscent of the Ursa helm that decorated her head. She pushed the cane away, not too forcefully but hard enough the Roman could feel her strength through it.
"Roman, that's not a problem" she picked up one cigar from his pocket and lit it with her thumb. "that's one less thing for you to worry about"
He was either going to be very annoyed with her for that action and response, or he was going to be impressed and respect her more for it. When Roman smiled back and tipped his hat Yang knew that it was the latter.
"If everything's packed up, I guess we'll be on our way" Roman said walking around the ship towards the cockpit. "Be a dear and tell Neo that playtime is over"
"Got it" One issue fixed now to the more pressing one.
Ruby
Ruby took a deep breath before lifting her face up to look at Pyrrha Nikos gazing down at Ruby's screen, peeping like a curious kid at Signal. Her eyes hadn't locked with Ruby's and there was a splash of blood across her face, Ruby could tell the blood was both fresh and human. Ruby took all of the Mistralian in, her arms were coated in ichor up to her elbow and that the former MRT champion was sporting the green metal armor of her new office. Ruby's mouth felt dry and she had to hammer down the urge to go and grab as many civilians as possible and store them away in a bunker.
"Pyrrha?"
The Mistralian girl looked up from Ruby's scroll, gave the little red leader a smile that only reached half her face then took a step back.
"I'm sorry for prying" the person that was once Pyrrha Nikos said in her strange strange voice. "You just seemed so intent on what was on your scroll that it was contagious"
Ruby concentrated on Pyrrha's mouth as her old friend spoke, doing her best to avoid looking at her eyes. Their discordance always unnerved her. It was hard enough task without the blood splattered on the girl's face almost pointing right at the eyes.
"Pyrrha, It's fine. I haven't seen you in a while Pyrrha" she kept repeating the name as Uncle Qrow had taught her. Pyrrha's face was shocked for a second before sliding back into a sly sort of look, as she crossed her arms. "How've you been Pyrrha?"
"I've been… WELL" the well was forced and ran counter to the smile on the redhead's face. Still, she stepped forward into Ruby's personal space, her finger pointed right at the smaller huntress. "I know you don't I? You called me Pyrrha. How do you know me?"
Weiss took a step forward putting herself into Pyrrha's view and grabbing her gaze. Her red-coated finger tracked over the Atlessian.
"I know you too."
"We went to Beacon together" Weiss spat defiance in her tone though Ruby knew she must have been as scared as she was. "We used to spar in Glynda Goodwitch's class"
"Did we now?" Pyrrha purred at the idea of an old rival and before Ruby could blink there was a sword in the Amazon's hand. She cracked her neck and a shiver of obvious pleasure ran through her. "Care for a rematch then?"
She had the kindest smile on her face, one that left one expecting a calm enjoyable bout going back and forth till aura broke. But I know better. Ruby thought with a chill. Few people know better than me.
The next move she made would be a risky one but she had to think quickly. She took a step between Weiss and Pyrrha her hands raised in both a sign of placation and a subtler sign of surrender. The Mistralian looked down on Ruby and her upraised hands, the sword still tight in her grip. She didn't say anything, she didn't move all she did was smile that old warm smile that used to encourage her friends.
Now that smile only ever worries me. Ruby thought now that the maiden was focused on her.
"We're not looking for a fight" Ruby spoke hoping everyone missed the warble in her voice. "We're just-'
"Hunting after my target." The maiden finished, still not sheathing her sword. "Yang Xiao Long, the instigator of the Vytal Festival incident and former member of team RWBY"
A light shown in Pyrrha's mismatched eye as she spoke and slowly took a step towards Ruby. "if my memory serves, you and she were… sisters right? Its been so long and my head gets so muddled so much these days that things like that just slip my mind."
Ruby swallowed, there was electricity in the air, and she'd raised her aura without realizing it. The clouds overhead started to darken and Ruby's mind raced thinking of how long it would take her to reach down and retrieve Crescent Rose, and how quickly Pyrrha could react. There was a soft click as Pyrrha's armor began to shift and another sword started to unsheathe itself.
"Tell me," she said emerald eye twitching slightly. "have you heard of the works of Urial Nakuta?"
Penny stepped in front of Ruby halting Pyrrha's advance.
"Fall maiden' she said bowing low to the former Mistralia regional champion. "I hope your hunt has been going exceptionally!" As quickly as they came the swords vanished and Pyrrha was relaxed again, her emerald eye most of all. Penny rose from her low bow and gestured to Ruby and Weiss. "My friends Ruby and Weiss have just submitted helpful information to the Atlas forces here in Vacuo and are doing their best to help me in OUR investigation."
Penny turned towards them and for a second Ruby saw a look of pleading desperation in Penny's eye. Ruby nodded in response before Penny turned back.
"That's right We want to make sure Yang is caught as quickly as possible" by anyone else but atlas. "Weiss and I are sorry if we provoked you Pyr-" she caught Penny's glance that showed, of all things, fear. "-fuh-fall maiden." The word tasted like poison in her mouth.
Pyrrha gave a graceful gracious bow. "Apology graciously accepted, and I hope we could work together in the future."
"Such a meeting would be delightful," Weiss said in a tone that implied it would be anything but. The fall maiden didn't seem to notice instead returning her gaze to the robot girl.
"My hunt has been going well, despite a few hiccups" Penny mechanically scanned the crimson-covered arms.
"Should I alert a coroner?" she asked in a bland mechanical tone.
"No need an ambulance is already on the way and should suffice." The fall maiden started to walk towards the Atlas military base. "I'll need you to collate some data for me before we split again."
Penny saluted as the maiden walked into the base without looking back. Before Ruby could reach out to hold Penny back from going into the base, the robot girl turned about and gripped Ruby in a bone-crushing hug. Ruby was stunned for an instant as she felt the machine girl shake around her.
She's crying!
"Keep away from her, Ok Ruby? Don't start anything with her alright?" Penny whispered into Ruby's ears so quietly only Ruby could hear. "I'll be back in a bit, keep safe"
And with that, she parted, and Ruby felt the urge to use her speed to stop her, to bring her away from the Fall maiden and Atlas to someplace safe and away from it all. She would be willing to fight the fall maiden for Penny, but she knew that she needed to trust the Robot girl, so Ruby just stood there and watched her go.
When Ruby turned around and saw that Weiss was hugging herself eyes locked on the Atlas base, Ruby knew that Penny could wait. She can handle herself and team leader duties come first.
She pulled Weiss back into the shade of the nearby palm trees and Gently held her shoulders feeling her vibrate in what had to be a cocktail of anger, excitement, terror, and sadness. Ruby knew that shake since it was going through her too.
"Pyrrha's dead," Weiss said stating it like a fact, no doubt remembering the red stains and the sword in the maiden's hand.
Ruby didn't respond, instead deciding to lean against the palm tree and hold her hands between her knees.
"We can't let her get to Yang" Weiss continued. Ruby nodded knowing what would likely come from such a showdown. And dreading who would win. An Idea hit Ruby's mind, a simple dastardly idea that left her feeling just a bit conflicted.
"No Weiss we can't" she pulled out her scroll and set to typing rapidly, Weiss stood up from the tree and looked over the screen before gasping in shock. Ruby's finger hovered over the send icon for what felt like an eternity before it fell and digit touched screen.
Yang
It didn't take Yang long to find the assassin. The tiny Ice cream girl was resting atop the bullhead's wing, hanging upside down and ogling the blonde. Yang rested her hand on her hip as she looked up at the dangling Neo.
"Get down here, Roman says we're gonna be wheels up any second now!" Yang ran her fingers over the mask on her head letting its electrical feeling course through her fingers like static. "and I have something I want to talk to you about"
Yang was sure to add the faintest hint of weakness and fear to her words so what happened next would be even more surprising to the tiny assassin. Neo had a cruel grin on her face from her perch and Yang was forced to stifle a grin of her own. She bought it hook line and sinker.
Neo tumbled down from her perch as gracefully as any dancer Yang had ever seen landing with similar grace. As soon as her legs left the wing Yang was moving and when her feet touched the dirt Yang was already upon her. It was a rare sight to see Neo surprised but this did put shock into her eye and she reeled back from Yang's bull-rush. Neo's back knocked against the side of the bullhead.
Yang's hand slammed next to Neo's head and she leaned close to the Ice cream girl, close enough to smell the slight apprehension wafting off her so thickly she could sense it with or without the Grimm-mask. Yang gave Neo a leering grin and lent closer to the much shorter girl's face.
"You're playing with fire here Neo" Yang purred to the smaller woman, who had still not regained her composure. "I'm all for living on the edge, hopping from rush to rush keeps me Alive!"
Yang's eyes must have shown like embers when she said that cause Neo's eyes widened as she spoke. Yang slid her hand up the metal of the bullhead leaning closer to the assassin until she was resting on her elbow inches from Neo's face.
"But Neo, I can't have this thing with Weiss getting to mom" Yang's face was so close to her partner-in-crime that one of her curls brushed against Neo's eye. Neo gave her a look that screamed 'or what?' Yang let out a hearty laugh throwing her head back as she did. Gotta keep her off balance as much as possible.
"Look I made nice with Roman and I'm not gonna start anything" Yang hand rose and took one of Neo's pink locks between her thumb and forefinger, rolling the hair between her fingers pretending to observe it ignoring how close they were to one another. Ignoring how intimate their nearness was.
"So this isn't a threat, not really. I'm just asking a favor from you is all" She unleashed Ember Celica in their Grimm bone glory and amped up the predatory grin on her face. "Just keep this secret between us alright?"
Neo was Crazy and Yang knew it, you don't use reason when dealing with insanity all you can do is dive into their insanity with them. And hope you can pull yourself out of it. She knew she'd struck the right nerves when Neo rested her arm on Yang's shoulder and Yang felt a thin blade pressing against her back. The smile on Neo's face was just as Predatory as Yang's and she nodded to the blonde before jaunting off into the bullhead.
That's them taken care of thank dust! Yang blew out a relaxed sigh running her hand along her face. At any point Neo could have flipped out and gone slashing at her or worse could have darted across the tiny distance between their faces and kissed her. Yang laughed at the conflict roiling in her stomach at that imagining, her libido said yes but her Grimm-slime covered heart said No! but in a more growly aggressive sort of way.
But besides that confliction, everything was back on track; her past was far behind her desperately getting their act together, Roman and Neo were less moody and now they were on THE Mission.
"Now all that's left is mom," she said to no one in particular… which was unfortunate due to her very real audience.
"Yang." Yang nearly jumped out of her skin as Raven spoke right behind her. She spun around bringing her Gauntlets up in a defensive position. Raven's hands were crossed over her chest while Yureru and her mask were hanging off her belt. Her exposed skin was still milky white and seemed to shine in the desert sun.
Raven's face wasn't disappointed or angry or filled with judgment, but this didn't fill Yang with ease. She was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Without a word or even a twitch of her face, Raven uncrossed her arms and held them open for her Daughter. No further prompting necessary Yang lowered her gauntlets and embraced her mother with the Xiao-Long standard bearhug. Yang felt safe when Raven hugged her back and her worries ebbed away in her mother's arms.
"I missed you mom" was all she said burying her face in her mom's shoulder. Raven ran her fingers through her hair letting it fall gently to her back.
"I missed you too Yang" When they parted Yang spied the tiniest hint of a smile on her mother's face. "I am curious what that whole 'All that's left is mom' comment meant"
"That psssh" Yang waved the comment away. "I'm just planning on usurping you as top dog of the criminal underworld, Roman's agreed to help"
Raven laughed and rested her hand on Yureru's hilt, not a threat just to show that she'd always be ready for the day Yang challenged her. "Good luck to you and Roman in that endeavor!"
Laughing back the both of them settled into a comfortable silence as the ship's engine started. Yang motioned towards the ship. "Well, we should probably get going then." She started moving towards the ship's cabin when Raven's hand shot out and gripped Yang's forearm. Fear shot back into Yang and she slowly turned to face her mother again.
"Yang" her mother's voice was as somber as her face, there was a sadness in her crimson eyes. "We need to talk."
Yang swallowed, opened her mouth to speak when she felt her scroll buzz in her pocket. Raven let go and Yang reached down to retrieve her scroll. Her eyes widened as she looked over the message, she read it again and again and a final time making sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her.
"Mom it'll have to wait, we have to go now," she said turning the scroll around towards Raven. It simply read.
R: Fall Maiden is here and she's on Yang's trail.
Author's Note
Again thank you for your patience, I really appreciate it, I have a clearer plan in my head now for how the story will progress and eventually end. My tv tropes-friend is draggin his feet but I'll roll with it for a bit prior to whipping him into shape. Please pass this around, leave a review and share it. Again I've very sorry for the week delay, I needed to clear my head and this extra week did it.
