I looked down at my two poisoned companions, shocked at slightly horrified of their current conditions. Thankfully, however, I had the universal cure to any poison or sickness. I knelt down beside the dying Draco and lifted his head up a bit. "Not today, Draco..." I said softly, before biting deep into my wrist and drawing blood, clenching my fist tightly to make the blood pour out faster and flow down into Draco's mouth.

"Eww!" The other members of team SRRNJ said in a disgusted tone, but then gasped in shock as my blood quickly bringing color and life back to him.

I smiled at this, before looking to Ruby's uncle. "Alright, Qrow, your turn." I said.

"Wait!" Ruby said, getting in between us. "You're just gonna pour your blood down his throat?! Is that safe in any way? What if you're different blood types, what if-" She started.

"Ruby, you already saw how it worked on Draco. It's the best shot we've got. You wanna risk the alternative, making him suffer as we go through abandoned town after town, looking for medicine that probably isn't there?" I asked.

She hesitated for a minute, looking back at Qrow, then back to me. "And you're sure this won't hurt him and it will work?" She asked.

"You have my word." I told her. She nodded and moved out of the way, allowing me to kneel beside Qrow. "This will taste bad, Qrow, but right now, it's the best thing for you. And besides, I'm assuming you've drank worse." I said, letting the blood drip into his mouth, getting at least a few ounces before the wound on my wrist sealed.

"Did it work?!" Ruby asked.

Qrow's coughing almost immediately lessened, allowing him to look up at Ruby for a moment. "I'll be fine." He said, before passing out.

"Just like he said, he'll be fine. But they'll need some rest and it will still take some time for them to get back to 100%. That and... Well..." I said, looking at Draco.

"Whoa, dude! There is a bear on fire! That is not something you see every day!" Draco said, mystified, trying to reach out and touch the non-existent fire bear.

"Papa, tell me the story of when you were a book..." Qrow said in a slurred, drunken tone.

"They're gonna be tripping balls for at least 6 hours." I explained, face-palming and shaking my head.


Yang lifted up her head, arms as the ready for a fight. Taiyang took a swing at her with his left hand, but she easily blocked it with her robotic wrist, pushing his hand away from her. The interplay repeated with his right and her left, only this time Yang used the momentum to turn and come back at her father with a roundhouse kick. Tai bent backward to dodge it, his legs in a lunge. He gave his daughter a solid punch, pushing her back a few feet.

Nearby, Zwei watched the two spar, panting happily. Beside him was a low stool with two white towels. His head changed angles, oscillating to the sounds of grunts and contact. Abruptly he held his head straight and made a noise of surprise.

Tai stood alone and moved forward, doing his own roundhouse kick. Yang joined both hands atop each other to block Tai's landing foot. With a loud cry she pushed it up and back. Tai regained his footing in a flip while Yang waited for his landing. Using her robotic arm, she knocked him back with a single hit.

Holding onto his right bicep, Tai slid through the dirt, his feet flat on the ground until he came to a stop. "Whoa, that thing packs a punch!" He said.

"We've been at this for weeks. I get it, you wanna make sure I can still fight." Yang said, bumping her own fists. "I think I'm doing just fine." She said.

"You're close." He told her, standing upright, no longer nursing his arm. Walking around his daughter in a circle, he assessed her progress.

"Oh, really?" Yang asked.

"You're still off balance." He explained.

"What?! No I'm not!" Yang snapped, to which her father chuckled. "Honestly, I'm kind of surprised." She said as she lifted her robotic arm, looking down at it with a smile. "I thought it would be just this huge weight, but it feels… natural. They did a great job with this thing." She said.

Tai came in from off-screen, delivering a left hook right into her face. Yang's upper body reared back both from impact and surprise. She was ready to block his right hook, however, and used the turning momentum to deliver an elbow jab. Grinning the entire time, Tai blocked it and then dodged all the kicks she followed through with. Yang switched to punches, but Tai was too on point for her. While she used her left hand to block an elbow thrust, Tai had grasped her robotic arm and pulled it forward. The position put Yang in the position of having her balance rely on the weight of one leg.

"I wasn't talking about your actual balance." He said as he swept her forward leg, sending her onto the ground on her back. He left her there and walked over to Zwei, who happily got the top towel for him. "Although, that could use some work too." He added. Tai took the towel and gave Zwei a rub on the top of his head. Zwei hummed happily.

Arms spread on the ground, Yang took a breath before speaking. "Meaning?" She asked.

"I saw your tournament fights. During the Vytal Festival." He explained, toweling off his sweat.

"Let me guess: I was sloppy." Yang guessed in mocking accent

"No, no, you were predictable. And… stubborn. And… maybe a little boneheaded." He listed. Yang sat up and spun to stare at her father. "Do you realize that you used your Semblance to win every fight after the qualifiers?" He asked.

She spun again to have her back to him. "So what? How is me using my Semblance any different than someone else using theirs?" She demanded.

Tossing the towel on the ground, Tai moved toward Yang. "Because not everyone else's is basically a temper tantrum." He explained, laughing and crouching by her side. "I'm serious! Once you take damage, you can dish it back twice as hard, but that doesn't make you invincible! It's great when you're in a bind, but what happens if you miss? What happens if they're stronger? What then? Now you're just weak and tired!" He noted the flaws of the semblance.

"You've always been one to burn brighter than everyone else, whether it was with your smile, or, well, I remember your first haircut." He teased as he playfully tugged the hair on the back of her head. Smiling, Yang batted him away. He chuckled and got up, walking away a few paces with Zwei just behind him. "But you gotta keep your emotions in check. Keep a level head, and think before you act. Your Semblance is a great fallback, but you can't let yourself rely on it. It won't always save you." He explained once more as he lowered his head, sadness creeping into his tone. "Obviously. You definitely have your mom's stubbornness." He said as he faced one of the trees, not looking at Yang. Between the two of them, Zwei moved his head back and forth as each spoke.

"Oh, so now we can talk about her?" She asked.

"Well, as I have been informed, you're an adult now, remember?" He said.

"Well, sorry I remind you of her." She said.

"Don't be. Raven was great in so many ways - her strength, her ambition, her dedication to whatever cause she thought was worth fighting for." He explained as he turned around. "I'm proud of how much of her I see in you. But, I'm glad I don't see all of her in you." He said.

"Why?" She asked.

"Your mother was… a complicated woman. Like everybody, she had her faults, but those faults are what tore our team apart. And, it did a real number on our family. You both act like the easiest way to tackle an obstacle is through it." He explained again, pointing at Zwei. "That strength is all that matters in a fight. But if you just take a second look, then maybe you see…" He went on, walking toward her, stepping around Zwei. "there's a way around as well." He finished, extending his hand. "Come on - one more before dinner." He offered.

Yang took his hand and he helped her up. They circled each other, arms at the ready. Taiyang made the first move with a left hook, followed immediately by a right cross and a kick. Yang blocked and dodged, continuing to avoid being hit even when Taiyang flipped in the air. She cartwheeled, avoiding him and he landed across from her. They faced off again, Taiying doing a single punch and kick. Veering to avoid it, Yang rolled a few feet away before turning and rushing at him. They met in the middle, each with their left hand on the other's right elbow, pushing against each other.

"Heh. See? Alright! Now you're using your head instead of your—" He started, but then Yang kicked his leg out from underneath him, but caught him as he fell back. They paused in that pose, grasping hands and smiling together.


In the makeshift practice area of her room, Weiss held Myrtenaster at the ready. She stepped back and twirled, a stream of blue-white light coming from the tip of her sword. On the close of her twirl, Weiss held it aloft before striking the tip to the floor. A Summoning glyph appeared, the Arma Gigas' sword slowly but surely beginning to emerge. Weiss' eyes were shut as she concentrates, the power of her Summoning causing a small wind to blow the hair around her face.

But then, a voice interrupted. "Hello, sister." Whitley said. He was propped up against the frame of her open door. The sword shattered and disappeared, the glyph fading away after.

"Ugh, leave." She snapped.

"How hurtful. And here I am, about to offer you a favor. Father's taking me to town to introduce me to some of his business partners. I'd thought I'd see if you wanted me to pick up anything, since you're … well, stuck here." He said.

"Are you jealous? Is that it?" She questioned.

"Whatever do you mean?" He asked.

"Is that why you hate me? Are you jealous of my abilities? Of Winter's?" She demanded.

Whitley stepped away from the door frame. "Hmm… no, not really. Honestly, I find it barbaric. It's beneath people like me. Like Father. What can a single Huntsman possibly do that an army cannot? That's why we have one, even if it is run by a fool." He said.

"I said, leave." She ordered.

"Fine, fine. I've got better things to do." He scoffed, leaving. "Enjoy your… training, however pointless it is." He taunted.

At the door Whitley turned around, on hand on the jamb. "What is your plan, anyway? What do you hope to accomplish while trapped in your own bedroom?" He questioned, but a black glyph appeared on the open door, promptly swinging it shut on Whitley's briefly surprised face.

Weiss lowered Myrtenaster with a sigh and resumed her Summoning position. The glyph appeared and this time Weiss looked at the portrait of the Arma Gigas on the wall. She repeated the same twirl and stab. The glyph glowed brightly and spun faster.

The books shook in the bookcase on the wall. One particular tome, decorated with floral relief, fell off the shelf and opened on the floor.

The window burst outward as the room was consumed in a bright white light. The light abated to reveal Weiss covering her eyes with her arm. The door to her room was pushed open by an urgent Klein. "Miss Schnee! Are you alright?!" He asked. The butler's eyes widened and he leaned backward, looking amazed. Weiss smiled at him and turned to face the Arma Gigas she successfully Summoned.

"Yes." She confirmed proudly. The Arma Gigas went down to one knee and bowed at Weiss. "Klein, I need a favor." Weiss said, looking out the broken window.

Klein nodded determinedly.


Blake Belladonna and the masked White Fang member leap from tree to tree, Blake in pursuit of the other Faunus. They both pause for a moment, gripping different trees. A noise above the spy makes her gasp and Sun Wukong appears, dropping down.

Sun: Gotcha!

She leaps on, out of his path. Blake pursues while Sun lands on a branch.

Sun: Hey, wait up!

Blake: Don't let her out of your sight!

The spy emerges from the trees and onto a roof. She continues to run across the buildings, Blake right behind her. Sliding under some arching pipes, she finally turns and stops. Using her weapon in whip form, she slices the pipe, releasing steam to block Blake. It doesn't work; Blake moves right under the pipes through the steam.

Blake: Why are you watching me?

The girl smiles and lowers her weapon. Sun lands on the roof behind her, causing her to turn around.

"Give it up! I'm not above hitting a girl, you—" Sun started, but he was cut off when the spy's whip comes at him in an attack, which he falls back to avoid. Blake takes advantage of the distraction to kick the Scroll out of the spy's hand. The girl is surprised, avoids Blake's next attack, responds with a kick of her own and attempts to retrieve the Scroll. Sun tackled her instead. "Grab the Scroll! Seems someone thinks it's important!" He said, looking down at the spy beneath him.

"Get off!" The spy snapped, headbutting Sun, cracking off the part of the mask covering her left eye and tried to race Blake to the Scroll. Instead first one and then a total of four clones tackled her. Sun was holding his pose to control his Semblance and Blake paused.

"Quit staring and grab it!" He ordered. Blake listened, and Sun finally released his Semblance, which he had been struggling to maintain, and fell to his knees. The clones disappeared from atop the girl. She rose and aimed her weapon at Blake.

"Blake, watch out!" Sun warned.

Blake turned, rising with the Scroll in her hand. She saw the broken Grimm mask crumble from the spy's face. "Ilia." She said.

"Wait, you know her?! But she doesn't even look like a f—aagh!" Sun started, getting to his feet, before he got cut off when the color-changing Ilia struck an electric hit near his shoulder with her weapon. Sun cried out and fell.

"Sun!" Blake cried.

"Give it to me." Illia demanded.

"No." Blake refused.

Ilia changed color again. "You shouldn't have come back." She said, using her weapon to create a rush of dust, which allowed her to escape.

Blake briefly acknowledged that Ilia had disappeared before rushing over to Sun. "Sun! Sun!" Blake screamed as she ran to his side. Sun was lying on his back, bleeding from the wound Ilia caused. Blake covered the wound with her hands. "No, no, no, not again, please! Help! Somebody! Hold on, Sun, just hold on." She pleaded.


The landscape was looking dreary as Ruby can be heard breathing heavily. "You'll be fine, Uncle Qrow. Just keep resting." She said hopefully. Ruby and Jaune were carrying Qrow on a makeshift stretcher. Ren was before them on the path, leading the way while Nora, Saphyra and I brought up the rear as I carried Draco under my arm and Saphyra reading the map.

Qrow was groaning in pain and was a touch delirious. "Tai. She's not… coming…" He said to himself, grunting in pain. "Tai." He said again, coughing a couple times.

Draco was in a little better condition, just slurring his words and trying to stand on his own, but would faceplant after two steps each time. "Sai, look out, there's a zombie in the boat!" He said, struggling free and trying to run, only to once again crash to the ground.

"Sai, your miracle blood really doesn't seem to be doing the job." Jaune said, slightly annoyed.

"Hey, they were on the verge of death before, I'd say it's doing its job fine." I counter.

"Uncle Jaune, any form of medicine takes time to work its effects. cobra venom is composed of fast-acting neurotoxins and enzyme inhibitors that quickly shut down the victim's bodily functions and cobra faunus, with much larger tails and venom sacs than a regular snake can administer far greater and more lethal amounts than any normal cobra, so it's amazing the two are even in this good of a condition. Not to mention, Qrow's been drinking alcohol, which actually accelerates the flow of poison through the body. Without Daddy's blood, they'd likely be dead now, so we should be thankful for how well it's worked." Saphyra explained.

"OH! She shut you down!" Nora said to her leader.

"Oh, man, I seriously need to get you a little mic to drop." I said.

"Well, you learn something new every day." Jaune said a bit bitterly.

"How much farther?" Ruby asked.

"We're getting close. According to the map, Mistral is maybe 50 miles away. We should reach it by the end of the day." Saphyra said, looking up from the map confidently.

"She's right, but I feel like we're close to something." Ren said as he holstered StormFlower.

"What is it?" Ruby asked. Directly ahead was a fork in the road with a signpost. We were coming from the direction of Higanbana. Kuchinashi and Mistral are to the right, where the land was mountainous. To the left was Kuroyuri, its name crossed out. The path that way remains low ground.

"Hey, hey! Mistral! We're on the right path! Oh…" Nora said as she realized something.

"Does it say how close?!" Ruby asked.

"No. And it looks like the path takes us up the mountains." Ren explained.

Jaune and Ruby set Qrow down. "Guys, I don't know if all of us can make that climb." He said.

"Well, it's suboptimal, but we could just sit around for the next 4 hours until Draco and Qrow can get back on their feet." I offered.

"The Grimm would likely set upon us in that time. Draco and Qrow are in pain. The two of them would give off more than enough negative feelings to draw the Grimm." Ren explained.

Ruby looked at Qrow, concerned, before rushing forward to the sign post. "Okay. Well, what about this place?" She asked, pointing to the sign to the left. "Kuro… Kuroyuri? Can we get help there?" She asked as Jaune approached.

"No... Not there..." Nora said, terrified.

"Nora, what's wrong?" I asked in concern, dropping Draco and turning my full attention to her.

"That village was destroyed years ago." Ren explained.

"But if it takes us around the mountains, it's the best bet we've got." Jaune suggested.

"We can't do it!" Ren snapped, closing his eyes, lowering his head and shaking it. We're not going there!" He insisted.

"Ren... What happened?" I asked.

"I just... I can't go there. I'm sorry." He said.

"I... I really don't want to go there, either." Nora said, still somewhat terrified.

There was just a brief moment of silence. Ruby watched the two of them, clutching her hands before her chest. I looked at my friend and girlfriend, sighing before coming up with a solution. "Then we won't." I said.

"What?" Everyone asked.

"Sai, we can't take Qrow up the mountain in this condition!" Jaune said.

"You're not going to! We'll split up. You guys will go through Kuroyuri. I'll go with them through the mountain paths." I explained.

"Huh?" Ruby asked.

I put my hand on Nora's shoulder. "I'll go with Ren and Nora through the mountains while you and Jaune take Qrow around through the village." I explained. "I don't know why you two want to avoid that village like the plague, but if you don't want to go there, I won't force you to." I told them.

Nora's eyes watered a bit as she looked at me like a hero, before she threw herself into me, hugging me tightly. "Thank you!" She said.

"Yeah... Thanks, Sai. I just... Can't bring myself to go there... Not again." He said, saying the last part under his breath. I only caught it because of my demon hearing, but I decided to leave it alone.

"No, we're supposed to stick together! We keep each other safe!" Jaune said.

"Jaune... You used to lead these two. You know as well as I do, if something like this happens to them, there's a good reason for it. You can't drag them through a place they're hellbent not to go. Everyone has their monsters. And clearly these two aren't ready to face theirs. There's physically safe, but there's also mentally safe and if they're acting like this before they even reach the village, it's clearly not a mentally safe place for them. And we can't ask them to put themselves through that." I said. Ren and Nora turned to me, both giving me a small, appreciative smile. All of us remained silent, feeling the weight of the choice before us.

Qrow coughed, making us all turn in concern and giving the motive to continue. Jaune looked at Ruby before turning to Nora, Ren and I. "OK." He said, stepping forward, him and Ren hugging each other, before turning to me, the two of us doing a bro-hug. "Just take care of each other." He said.

"You have my word." I told him.

"We always have." Nora said, smiling at Ren and I.

I then looked back at Saphyra. "Maybe you should go with Aunt Ruby and Uncle Jaune." I said.

"What?!" They all asked.

"You were talking about safe, right? Well, which is safer? A mountain likely full of wild animals and Grimm, or a city with nothing in it. And besides. She's half-demon and half-Pyrrha. That alone puts her on your level. She can keep you safe as much as you can keep her safe." I explained.

"Are you sure?" Ruby asked.

"Okay, Daddy. I'll do it." She said.

"That's my girl." I said, kneeling down in front of Saphyra, handing her a Wakizashi, basically a shorter katana. "Keep them safe. And keep yourself safe as well." I told her, kissing her forehead.

"I will, Daddy." She said.

On the path to Kuroyuri, Jaune and Ruby lifted Qrow as Saphyra stood beside them. They turned to Nora, Ren and I, who were on the path through the mountains to Mistral after I picked up Draco. They nodded and Nora waved while I nodded. Ren started to turn, looking back one more time, and then running again as Nora and I followed. An aerial shot showed the split Team SRRNJ going in separate directions before the visual focused in on just Jaune and Ruby. "They're gonna be fine, Jaune." Ruby said confidently, offering comfort.

"You don't know that." Jaune said.

"We do know that. Daddy is with them. He can protect anyone from anything." Saphyra said confidently.

Ruby turned forward, her expression saddening, remembering how I failed to save Pyrrha from Cinder, a fact we still kept hidden from Saphyra. Moving forward, her step left an imprint on the ground, shortly after overlapped by Jaune's own. The visual pulled back again, revealing that their footsteps tread over another, larger mark—the same one discovered in Shion.