Author's Note: What's that? Oh, just the sound of the story chugging right along...

Discord: discord (dot) ( the letter gee ) ( the letter gee ) (slash) YzqBkXR

Alright, alright, alright.


Chapter 53: "Neo, I'm going to have to ask you to not lock your weapons system onto that dog or the bird it's chasing when we are trying not to be seen. I'm sure there will be plenty of innocent creatures for you to shoot once we escape Vale." – Roman Torchwick


Qrow's POV


Keeping the spirits high of the people trying to fight the Grimm invasion is kinda important, and the spirits of these kids were already low after Raven showed up and dropped her bombshell before taking Yang from us—myself included, though I was more infuriated than downtrodden. From the confused looks from both Teams RWBY and JNPR – or RWB_ and _N_R as it stands currently – Raven dropping Jaune's name did not go unnoticed. The Belladonna girl had gone pale and went quieter than normal, which instantly put her at the top of my list to look for answers from…later. Fortunately for her, Mini-Schnee and Ruby either didn't notice or took it as her way of expressing concern, and the other two were too busy worrying over their own teammates too much. If they knew the trouble that Nikos was probably in right now, well…

Keeping spirits high was damn near impossible beforehand, but after the signal went up to abandon and evacuate Vale, it became officially a lost cause. It didn't help that there was no official, organized declaration to abandon Vale. Sure, Vale's defense forces had the ability to issue such a message to every scroll in Vale, but with how completely overwhelmed the city was, there probably wasn't anyone alive or left over to hit the button to send that message.

No, the message was much less subtle than that. Ironwood's command ship exploded with a sound that was heard for miles in all directions, probably just serving to stir up more fear and inspire fresh waves of Grimm. Just our luck, too. The giant dreadnaught was split into two pieces by the explosion, with both halves falling out of the sky unceremoniously. The sound of the ship hitting the ground wasn't as loud as the explosion, but we could hear it plenty well on Amity.

Everyone on Amity went still, all eyes watching the fireball and coming to the realization that Vale was lost.

The only people who moved at all were the very few Atlas personnel from Amity who had survived the White Fang's attack, and they only moved because not even seeing their flagship blown out of the sky stunned them enough to not back away from Ironwood in fear. James wasn't known for lashing out, but the man was furious. I'd have backed away in their position too, just in case.

The White Fang prisoners who had yet to be loaded onto a bullhead flinched and tried to get away from the general as well, though that was just smart on their part after watching Ironwood tear through their comrades like paper.

"Jimmy!" I yelled out, running up to the man in question. The sea of people around him practically parted, but his eyes remained locked out in the distance where his ship had just been.

"Any suggestions, Qrow?" he asked solemnly as I made it to him. He kept his arms clasped behind his back and his gun in hand, looking frustrated and, for the first time that I had seen, overwhelmed. Not completely overwhelmed, but enough that he wasn't certain of his next move.

"You've got the only working bullheads that I see, and you don't have to worry about getting shot outta the skies now." That last part was an attempt at dark humor, but given the situation, the humor went unnoticed and the advice was actually decent. Go figure.

"No," Ironwood agreed darkly, "we only have to worry about being taken down by swarms of aerial Grimm."

"Then, I don't know, have the passengers sing a happy song or some shit," I growled, not really having any patience left at this point in the night. "Doesn't fucking matter at this point. Stay up here and eventually that dragon is gonna come for us. We've got some bullheads and people that need evac. You do the math."

"Where are we evacing them to?"

"North," I answered glibly, "or south. Maybe east. West works too. Anywhere that isn't Vale is better than Vale at this point. Just get any civilians as far from the fighting as you can."

"What about the Huntsmen?"

"Leave some to escort the civilians and let the rest fight it out in Vale – and when they need to fall back—" I cut James off before he could cut in and ask, "—take them to Patch. It's an island close enough to act as a staging ground and far enough that it shouldn't be swarming with Grimm. Ask Ruby how to get there if you need the help. RUBY!" I called out, getting her to hurry over to us.

"Where are you going then?"

I made a show of putting my sword on my back and walking over to the edge of the arena, turning to put the swirling winds at my back.

"I'm going to find Oz." Or what's left of him. Jimmy's eyes went wide as he realized what exactly I meant, before tightening back down to his normal pleasant expression and giving me a firm nod.

"Uncle Qrow, what's going—" Ruby cut herself off as I winked at her, before falling backwards off the edge of the arena. "—on?"


The boat ride from the outskirts of Vale to Patch was just long enough for me to realize how tired I was. It had to be pushing two in the morning by now, and while that meant the world had been going to hell for well over four hours, this hadn't been the most physically exhausting night of my life. Hell, I've been in tighter scrapes in the past year; all I did was take out some small Grimm packs, knock out a few White Fang soldiers, and a lot of flying in between. Nothing in there is particularly new to me. I was fresh enough that I could fly to Patch from Vale, if it weren't for the cargo I was carrying back. It seemed to be everyone else in Vale who was hit hard tonight.

Carrying around the weight of what was happening was what really sapped your energy. If we were lucky, only tens of thousands of people died tonight. When the sun rose in the morning, it would rise on a city owned by a Wyvern Grimm, or the ruins of a city at least. It sucks to say it, but Vale is as evacuated as it's going to be; they're aren't going to be any survivors in the city come morning.

When the boat docked, everyone grabbed their things and shuffled off without saying a word. You didn't have to be Grimm to sense the negativity in the air anymore. It at least seemed that Jimmy had gotten the message about Patch being a staging ground across, as most to all the people who rode the ferry over with me had weapons of some sort that identified them as huntsmen or quasi-huntsmen. In truth, staging grounds may have been the wrong term, because it implied that Patch was just going to be the place that we got ready to launch an attack from. Really, it was the safest place for huntsmen to rest that was the closest to Vale; to say that we had any ideas of taking back Vale in the morning would just be wrong. We would need a Maiden to even risk going after that Alpha, or at the very least a Summer Rose.

And I'm not willing to sacrifice Ruby in the hopes that she triggers her mom's gift at the miraculously perfect moment, Vale be damned. Doubt that Tai is, either.

Speaking of, the homestead was more peaceful than the little port town that technically constituted 'Patch.' Although the lug would probably let every spare Huntsman and Huntress sleep on his floor if asked, it seemed that Tai got lucky and that the refugees and spare fighters were staying in the town proper.

The door was unlocked, and I didn't even bother trying to be quiet on my way in. Tai was sitting on a chair to the side of the room, positioned so as to watch both the TV and the door. All that the TV was playing was static with the words 'MANDATORY EVACUATION OF VALE' overlayed. As I understood it, the CCT went down at the same time as Atlas' last ship and all of their robots, probably to ensure that we were left as defenseless as possible. Local communication still held up, but only as far as scroll-to-scroll range would permit; there was no contact with distant cities or foreign kingdoms. The TV probably just had no one alive capable of broadcasting.

Tai glared at me as I walked in, looking for all he was worth like he was about to lay into me. Only reason for that would be he heard about Yang, which means that at least Ruby made it here safely. Probably the first thing to go as planned all night. The stack of weapons laid up against the far wall that included a red scythe helped to confirm that.

"…Zwei?" Tai called out in confusion at the sight of the dog I was carrying under my arm. He quickly recovered and went back to his angry papa-bear routine, though it didn't quite have the same punch now. "What, you bring home my dog but not my daughter?"

"Hey, I got Ruby and Zwei back here. That's two out of three," I answered defensively, though without much energy put into it. Not a ton left in the tank there, and we both knew our conversation was about to turn a lot more fun than it already was. Zwei must have read the mood in the room, because as soon as his short little legs hit the floor, he had scampered off down the hallway towards Ruby's room. Smart dog. He only made it to just past the corner of the hallway, before stopping altogether and staring up. "Honestly, that's not bad for me."

"If the stories the kids told me are true, it sounds like you're batting more 2-for-100,000," Tai shot back. "Not even you can dismiss that as just bad luck."

"Hey, what happened to Vale doesn't fall on me." There was a bit of resentment in my voice, and I made a show of reaching behind me and pulling out Oz's cane to implicate who tonight's tragedy fell to first. If I had a picture of Ironwood, I woulda held it up too; maybe taped it over the head of Oz's cane. They'd both appreciate the symbolism there equally as little. "It's not my fault that we lost so much."

"No, just Yang."

I didn't respond; just didn't have any real way to object to his point. I dropped Ozpin's cane on the couch unceremoniously, and let the Nikos girl's weapons drop on the ground by the door. My hand pulled out my flask instinctually, but the sight of the engraving caught my eye. STRQ on one side, my sigil on the other. All it served to do was piss me off further, as each side taunted me now. The other half of my sigil was Raven's sigil, and I wasn't exactly feeling too fucking warm towards the R of the former team STRQ. I chucked the flask at the couch, before slouching down into a recliner opposite Tai.

"What, you're not even going to deny that you lost my daughter to Raven?"

"Can't." Amity fell on Atlas, just like all of Atlas' systems getting hacked did. Letting the White Fang grow large enough to attack like this was on Ozpin and Vale's police. Letting Raven interfere with our Maiden selection was on Oz, but letting Raven interfere with Yang? Well, Tai wasn't wrong to blame me on that one, and he wasn't the only one here to do so. I'm sure I could figure up all sorts of excuse for why I let myself get played by that Arc kid – Yang asking me to trust her judgement, me actually doing so, the kid genuinely seeming like he cared for his friends – but at the end of the day, he was a fucking plant from Raven and I didn't figure that out in time. Now Raven had them both, and was well out of reach for the moment.

If I ever see that blond bastard again…

"What happened out there, Qrow?" Tai asked sternly. He was pissed, though saying that is about as obvious as saying that Vale is boned.

"We all got outplayed is what happened. We—" I cut myself off before I could get too worked up, forcing myself to take a breath and try to calm down. It failed spectacularly and I reached for my flask, only to find it gone. That's right, tossed it away. Damn, why did I do that? "Where do you want to start?"

"Ozpin," Tai answered after taking a breath to calm himself down in response. If nothing else, we both were so used to butting heads that we hardly needed to fight or yell anymore. We had seen it all before, so now most of the anger and bitterness just went unspoken. I assume he's pissed, he assumes I'm pissed, and we save having to go through that part of the conversation. Used to piss Summer the hell off that we could have legitimate fights and then move on without so much as saying a word, 'specially when she had to script out whole speeches just to express what she wanted for dinner. "I take it by the cane that you didn't find him?"

"Found what's left of him, more like," I answered gruffly. "He was technically alive when I got down into the Vault. Grimm Wyvern's been going after the populated areas of town, and while Beacon's fairgrounds were popular, the school itself was nearly empty, except for maybe Zwei. The place was mostly still standing, and the elevator shaft was intact enough that I could fly down."

"He was in the Vault?"

"Mmmm. This whole deal was just so Salem's assassin could get another shot at Amber." Tai frowned, clearly remembering the part he'd played in Amber's rescue – namely, that he was a portal location for Raven. Which brings up that the only reason Raven knew about Amber's condition and could even send Arc in to interfere was because I went to her to escape in the first place. This had to be my Semblance's pièce de résistance. "Wasn't dead, either."

"He wasn't?"

"Nah, but was about as close to it as you could be. Had an arm blown off and was bleeding out from more than a couple stab wounds. Managed to take out Salem's Maiden, though."

"I thought he didn't have that much power left…"

"He doesn't. She was only half a Maiden," I answered glibly, for no other reason than to watch Tai's reaction. His face scrunched in confusion. "After Amber got jumped and part of her power stolen, Jimmy and Oz built some machine to take Amber's remaining Aura and give it to someone else. Suffice to say, she's got the full Maiden's powers now… if she survived the night."

"Who'd Oz choose?" Tai asked, taking the whole stealing someone's soul thing in stride.

I nodded towards the spear and shield I had lugged back with me.

"I don't know whose weapons those are, Qrow."

"Pyrrha Nikos was Oz's choice, though… not without her difficulties."

"Nikos… as in the girl whose teammates are crashing down the hall in Yang's room?" Tai asked incredulously. "As in the girl whose partner you knew was dating Yang, which I only found out about a few hours ago?"

The edge in Tai's voice in that second question felt disproportionate to me. Seems to me there were bigger things to get hung up on, which leaves it up to me to fix Tai's perspective.

"More like the girl whose partner was fucking your daughter and was working for Raven since before Beacon…"

"WHAT!?"

"If it helps, Ruby was hiding their relationship from you too. Who do you think told me?"

There was a soft, indignant squeak from behind the nearby wall, which went unnoticed by Tai.

Tai was not taking any of that well, and several different globs of angry sounds fought each other to tumble out of his mouth. That wouldn't last forever, though, and I needed a decent distraction ready for when he collected himself enough to really get mad. My Semblance may not be a precise thing, but I pushed my Aura into it, hoping that something would give—

And it did, as a body fell over from where they had been hiding just behind the corner to the hallway. Their grip probably slipped and sent them tumbling to the ground. How unfortunate. Nevermind that Zwei had given them away by stopping and staring at them earlier.

"Uhhh…" Ruby mumbled nervously, not exactly used to seeing her father look like he had eaten a lemon while stepping on a thumbtack after having stubbed his pinky toe. She cut her eyes at me in mock-anger. "Traitor."

"The rest of you can come out, too," I answered with a shrug. Honestly, I was still more surprised that Ruby hadn't told Tai about Yang and Jaune than anything.

After a few moments of silence, the Schnee, the Belladonna, and the last two members of JNPR came out and joined Ruby.

"Uncle Qrow… what's going on?"

"I—"

"Qrow," Tai's voice cut in. I looked up to find him glaring at me, a clear warning to leave Ruby out of all of the deeper conspiracy stuff.

"What, you think they're going to stay out now that their teammates are involved?" I asked Tai pointedly, though the real question underneath that only Tai would pick up on was do you think that Oz won't bring them up to speed if they're willing to be useful?

Tai relented, though it was crystal clear that he was on the record as against this.

"Go ahead and have a seat, kids. This could take a while…"


Now it was late. There was no shortage of things that had to be explained just so that telling the kids what had happened tonight would make any sense, and once it hit four in the morning, I sent them all to bed. Not really for their sakes, since I had a feeling none of them would really get much sleep now—or maybe they would after the day they've had. Either way, what mattered is that I needed to get to sleep, so I cut them off with an assurance that they'd get to ask as many questions as they wanted to come morning.

I wasn't done, though. Tai waited patiently the whole time, standing off towards the back wall and watching everyone take the information in. Once they had all left for their rooms, he very calmly asked me to meet him outside.

"So?" Tai asked expectantly once we had walked to the trees nearest the house. It wasn't really far away at all, but would be just enough to keep our voices from carrying too much.

"So what?"

"I'm waiting, Qrow."

"You do realize that I've had one hell of a day, and that the sun's about an hour or two from rising again," I grumbled snarkily, letting how tired I was make me come off as more frustrated. "Just ask the damn questions, Tai. What do you want from me?"

"I wanna know whatever you didn't tell the girls," Tai responded, giving me a flat stare and a frown. I almost pointed out that they weren't all girls, since that Ren fellow was still kicking around, but decided that I was too tired to split hairs. "I know that you didn't explain everything to them just now, not that you even could in, what, the hour or two you had. Just tell me what you're keeping from them and we'll be good."

"You mean we'll be good to move on to talking about Yang?" I asked, pointedly. Tai's flat look was enough of an answer. "Not like I wanted to get some sleep or anything anyways. Right, so… when I found Oz," I started off quickly, making sure I had Tai's attention, "he wasn't actually dead…yet."

"But he is now?"

"Mmmm. There wasn't any way I was gonna get him out of that Vault, through Grimm-infested territory, and to a hospital in time to save him."

"You did it with Zwei," Tai pointed out.

"Zwei," I cut back, "is an animal, which means he doesn't draw attention from the Grimm. I'll remind you that I can also be an animal, and let you figure out how I got Zwei back safely." It was a decently slow trek through the edges of the Emerald Forest, what with having to have a corgi chase after you the whole way, and then cutting through Vale to get to the docks didn't help things. At least whatever I'm carrying stays with me in bird-form, meaning I didn't have to try to lug around that cane and those weapons as a crow. "I'm surprised the Vault wasn't caved in on itself after their fight. Oz managed to pass along a few things before he went."

"Such as?"

"Name of the attacker he killed, Cinder Fall—not that it matters much now. She was a student, or posing as once, so Oz told me to go back and dig through whatever records could be recovered and find out where she's from. Or where she claims to be from, whatever; point is that when Oz reincarnates, he'll meet up wherever that is."

"How's he gonna know?" Tai asked. "If he already knows, why not tell you that?"

"I'm gonna find our heading, I'll give that information to Glynda, and as Beacon's acting Headmistress, she'll make sure that any investigation into the attack reveals it to be planned by Cinder Fall, an ex-student of blank," I emphasized. "So no matter where he respawns and no matter how long it takes, all he has to do is turn on the news."

"Clever," Tai surmised. "Too bad you weren't this clever any sooner, or else—"

"Or else Raven wouldn't have Yang, or Vale wouldn't be destroyed, or I wouldn't be single—spare me the riot act, Tai. You're not the only one pissed about this."

Tai grumbled something under his breath, not appreciating his snarky comment getting cut off like that.

A tense silence fell over us for a few seconds, until Tai finally broke it.

"How did this happen, Qrow?" Tai asked again, though this time not as angry at me as the previous times. I wouldn't say he was resigning himself to face it, but he did sound like he was bracing himself for it. "Start from the beginning. Who exactly is this Jaune kid and why the hell am I only now hearing about him?"

"Kid's name is Jaune Arc," I answered, putting obvious emphasis on the surname. Tai didn't seem to recognize it, though, and I gave him an incredulous look for not remembering it. "Arc. You don't remember that name from working with Oz?"

"Nope."

"Raven's last mission with us was looking for the Arc family," I explained, still giving Tai a somewhat incredulous look.

"Eh, I was on my way out of Ozpin's inner circle around that time. That's around when he put me at Signal," Tai answered with a shrug. It was a good enough explanation, but it still felt like something I would have remembered if Tai didn't have any briefing over the Arcs at all.

"Anyways, suffice it to say that Raven and I didn't find any Arcs still breathing, and none were unaccounted for. At least, until this blond-haired, blue-eyed kid showed up from the wilds of Mistral with that name…"

"I take it the ones who didn't make it were also blond?"

"Blond hair was hereditary, as well as apparently making Ozpin's life difficult and getting involved with magic…" I trailed off, staring down at the grass. When I snapped out of it and looked up, Tai's curiosity had certainly been piqued by that last part. "Relics, mostly. Up until a hundred years ago, they had been hiding two. Since Oz took those back, they'd been mostly quiet, though it seems the most recent generation has had an affinity for Maidens."

"What's that mean?"

"Raven's already got Spring, and we caught Jaune trying to steal Fall."

"Fuck, Qrow, how the hell did you even let this dude into Beacon, much less let him get so close to Yang?!" Tai asked in exasperation, reacting to the severity of Jaune's actions with what was probably a good reaction.

"We didn't know that—"

"You didn't know that something was wrong when the kid showed up with a name that you and Raven confirmed was dead? That right there should have been an indicator that maybe Raven was up to something!"

"Give me a break, Tai! I was still undercover when Oz admitted the kid to Beacon," I cut back defensively, throwing someone else under the bus without hesitation. "Oz had his eye on the kid the whole time. We figured that maybe Raven hadn't actually done her part of the mission and used it as a smokescreen to contact the Tribe, but we didn't think that she'd be looking to pick up kids back then!"

"Why not? It sounds like that's what had to have happened…"

"Because it's Raven, Tai! The kid would have been the same age as Yang at the time!" I answered back, my voice raising a bit. "Her taking in the Spring Maiden makes sense enough; she stumbled across the new Spring Maiden before we did and wanted that under her control. But you'll have to forgive me if the sound of Raven taking in a new four-year-old didn't sound batshit insane considering she left you and Yang at the same time. We figured that it was more likely that some toddler survived alone in the woods for thirteen years than being taken in by the benevolence of Raven Branwen. Give me a fucking break here, Tai…"

"You let a seventeen-year-old play you, Qrow," Tai growled out flatly, as if that alone was significant and embarrassing enough.

"Kid didn't just play me. He played Ozpin, and played him well. Played Yang too, from the looks of it, and all those kids you've got in your house right now, and they're no dull bunch. Even Ruby liked this kid, Tai; they all covered for him in front of Ozpin and Ironwood once. The kid was good."

"Not good enough not to get caught," Tai shot back.

"Yeah, well, Oz is good at the game too. Though considering how tonight went, I'd say the point goes to Jaune."

Really, the point goes to Raven, but hell will freeze over before that gets admitted aloud.

"You speak awfully highly of this kid, considering what he just did," Tai pointed out, cutting his eyes at me. His implication that I wasn't as angry at Jaune as I should have been really got under my skin, though; it wasn't that I wasn't mad as hell, it was that I had had time to stew over the last several hours.

"Trust me, Tai, I want to rip his head off more than you do."

"I doubt that. It's not your daughter being held by your ex that he's responsible for."

"No, but you're not the one the kid fooled into letting that happen," I cut back. "This kid is responsible for my bitch of a sister taking my niece, and Yang convinced me to let it happen."

Tai gave a funny look, locking onto my eyes and trying to figure out what that was supposed to mean.

"I tried to warn Yang, before all of this went down. Tried to warn her that we were investigating her boyfriend and that she might want to prepare herself for that to come down." I paused to see if Tai had anything to add, then continued again a few moments later. "Of course, we didn't know that the kid was a fucking spy from Raven; we just thought he was tangled up with some rotten eggs. Oz was gonna use it to press the kid into the fold, but there was always the chance that it would go poorly. Hence warning Yang."

"And you still didn't think this was something I should know?" Tai asked, still clearly pissed at me for that part in particular. "The guy my daughter was dating was under investigation by you and you didn't think 'oh, hey, maybe Taiyang might appreciate a little heads up here, too.'"

"Yang… Nothing I told her changed her mind about the kid. She didn't even seem surprised. She looked me dead in the eye and asked me to trust her."

"And you did?" he asked, semi-incredulously.

I shrugged. "What can I say, I've always had a soft spot for those girls."

"…and you still didn't think that, oh I don't know, her father should know that she was dating a criminal?"

"You're really hung up on that part, huh?"

"Yeah, Qrow, I'm really hung up on the part where my kid's secret boyfriend just recruited her into her mother's service," Tai mocked in retort.

"Honestly, I figured that Ruby would have already told you," I answered with another shrug, "so I told her I'd hold off telling you for a few days. I have a reputation as the 'fun uncle' to maintain, after all."

"You—" Tai cut himself off when he realized just how loud he was being. Last thing we needed was for him to catch the Wyvern's attention from all the way across the water. "They don't have another uncle! You're the fun uncle by default!"

"Hey, what sort of uncle would I be if I showed these kids that they could make it through life without putting effort towards things?" I quipped back.

"The kind that lets his niece get corrupted and kidnapped, apparently."

"…yeah…"

The conversation dropped off after that, both of us staring off at something, lost in our thoughts. He had stirred up the memory of the talk I tried to have with Yang, and just how resolved she was to stick with that kid. She already knew what I was trying to warn her about, but in hindsight… she had probably known a lot more about him than I did. Hell, she probably already knew about his connection to Raven. There's no way that Yang would be convinced to leave her team and choose Raven in front of all her friends in the short time since our talk. She would have had to have known for a while, which is going to make getting her back difficult. What had Raven told her to sway her away? How much did Yang know, or was she being led blindly? Worse, did she actually know the truth and still side with Raven?

"What are you going to do now?" Tai asked finally, breaking me from my thoughts.

"I'm going to tell Glynda to report that the attackers were from Mistral," I answered back firmly.

"You already found that out?"

"Nope."

"Then how—"

"The people responsible for the attack are either dead, in Atlas custody, or probably sitting on some sort of twisted throne in the Grimmlands," I cut him off, giving him a coy glance. "The only people I'm interested in hunting down right now are in Mistral."

It dawned over Tai what I was getting at a few moments later.

"What are you going to tell Ozpin when he shows up?"

"That our lead was a dead-end, so we decided to hunt down the Spring Maiden, conveniently putting the people who sabotaged our Maiden in our sights. Hell, with the way things are going, she might have our missing Fall Maiden, if she survived." I gave Tai another coy look, cutting my eyes over towards him. Shockingly, he did not seem to oppose my plan at all. "In fact, something tells me that Signal is going to be out of commission for a while. Having the city destroyed will do that. What are you planning on doing?"

"It sounds like I'm going to Mistral."


Yang's POV


The confused looks on the faces of my teammates hurt, but they didn't stop me from going through with it. I had already made my choice. I wasn't going to abandon Jaune, and just because I was leaving didn't mean I was abandoning my team. I wasn't leaving them because it was hard to stay with them, and they didn't need me, not like Jaune did. It wasn't like I wouldn't have my scroll or anything; we'd still be in touch. It's just that staying in touch via scroll wasn't going to be enough for Jaune. So when Raven confirmed that she got him back, that was all I needed to hear.

I stepped through the portal and into a tent that I hadn't been in before. It was some sort of medical tent, where Vernal was standing next to a table that Pyrrha was laid out on. Pyrrha was… well, Pyrrha was in bad shape, but at least seemed to be stable, though not conscious. She was hooked up to what looked like a saline drip, and discarded bags on the small stand next to the table suggested she had received a blood transfusion.

My eyes scanned the room, and a weight lifted from my shoulders when I spotted Jaune sitting on a chair at the edge of the tent. He looked to be in rough shape, his eyes staring ahead at the ground aimlessly as he held the sides of his head in his hands. His clothes were blood-stained, and his hands were too, but none of that seemed to faze him. He looked lost. None of that mattered, though, because he was here. He was safe now. The rest could be fixed.

I fought off the urge to run across the room and wrap myself around Jaune, feeling Vernal's eyes watching me. Before I could decide that I didn't give a damn what she would think about me doing that, Raven walked out of the portal and closed it behind her.

"Is she stable?"

"Looks that way," Vernal answered, turning to look down at Pyrrha. "There's not a lot that anyone here is trained to do, though."

"Hmmm," Raven hummed, taking in Vernal's words as she stepped in closer to take a look at Pyrrha. Her breastplate had been removed and thankfully someone had at least wrapped her tits with gauze, mostly to save her any embarrassment when she woke up. There was the faintest hint of a scar just under her left boob and what looked like another on her neck, which was strange; with Jaune here, she was no doubt healed with his Semblance, but that usually didn't leave scars. Not unless he didn't get to finish the job. "We need to invest in an actual doctor."

"Sounds expensive," Vernal replied casually. "Unless you're planning on kidnapping one, but I don't think you want a hostile doctor using scalpels on your men."

"I don't think the cost is going to be an issue," Raven answered calmly. "Something tells me that after tonight, there's going to be no shortage of people willing to pay through the nose for safety. What all did you do to stabilize her?"

"Just lent some Aura. Jaune's little trick did the rest," Vernal replied, nodding her head towards him. He didn't look up, or so much as stir at his name being mentioned. "Had to give her some of our universal blood packets. Someone fucked her up, that's for sure…"

The way Vernal's eyes slid over to me made me feel like those words were targeted at me. I sure didn't do this, but as my eyes roved over the empty blood packets again, I noticed what was sitting next to them: a ceramic dagger, with dried blood three-quarters the way up the blade. I looked up at Jaune again, and this time, the distant, lost expression he wore as he stared at the ground with his head held in his hands took on a new meaning. As did the blood on his hands.

Vernal smirked at me, before rolling her eyes and leaving the tent.

"Yang…" Raven called out softly, keeping her voice low enough that it wouldn't garner Jaune's attention, not that he was in any mood to be responsive anyways. I looked up at her and met her eyes, before she shifted them over towards Jaune, taking in the state that he was in. Her eyes returned to me with a distant, sad look in them. "Good luck."

Just like that, she left the tent, leaving me alone with Jaune.

I did a good job remaining composed as I walked over to where he was sitting and took a seat next to him, unsure of what to say or even what I wanted to say.

"Y-Yang, don't—"

He hadn't looked up, but cut himself off when I wrapped around him from the side, planting the side of my head on the back of his shoulder.

"Yang—"

"Shut up," I cut him off, hugging him a little tighter.

"Yang, I—"

"Shut up," I cut him off again. "Just let me have this for a moment, okay?"

He didn't answer, but he also didn't make a move to push me off of him. Not that he even could.

"What are you even doing here, Yang?" Jaune asked, making it clear from his voice that he expected the worst. I knew that he would hate my decision to join Raven to save him, and while I was not going to regret that, I didn't feel like starting that argument just yet.

"Hugging you," I answered instead, defusing the situation a little.

After a minute or two I finally release Jaune, pulling myself back upright, though I made sure to remain all the way over on the edge of my seat, brushed up against Jaune. I didn't want him to feel like he was alone right now.

"Okay," I let out softly once I was ready. "What happened with Pyrrha?"

Jaune went stiff and his head hung a little lower than it already was, and he dropped his hands down into his lap, staring at them instead of the ground.

"I tried to kill her," Jaune admitted lowly.

"Yeah, I think I figured that part out," I tried to joke. The words fell flat, though, and Jaune flinched in on himself at them, which only made things worse. "What happened, Jaune?"

"She… she sold me out to Ozpin," Jaune answered uncertainly, "or she did but didn't mean to…? I'm still not sure what I believe, but the point is that she's the reason this all came crashing down."

Before I could respond, he cut me off forcefully, his voice growing angry all of a sudden.

"No, that's not true. She's how Ozpin found out, but she's not the reason I failed."

It didn't take an expert to realize who Jaune was blaming that on now.

"I found out it was her earlier, too," I cut in, hoping to give Jaune a distraction. "I attacked her at Beacon before her meeting with Ozpin, which… may have been an overreaction on my part. I don't think she meant to do it, Jaune."

"Yeah, well, that doesn't matter, because I meant to do what I did," Jaune responded, still not having looked up this entire time. "Ozpin chained me up in the Vault, and tried to blackmail me into working for him. He transferred Amber's Aura to Pyrrha and made her his Maiden, and told me that I would work for him because I wouldn't risk letting her die. I laughed in his face," Jaune said, chuckling darkly once at the memory. "Oz left, and Cinder came down. She offered to release me if I helped her kill Pyrrha."

"And you accepted?"

"I told her to stand back and watch," Jaune answered darkly, his fists balling up. "And I won. Stabbed Pyrrha with my dagger and let out all the rage I had, before turning her over to Cinder. I did everything I could to kill her right in that moment."

"Why didn't she, then?" I asked Jaune softly, trying my best not to come across as confrontational, though it was hard not to given what I was asking. "What changed?"

Jaune's took a deep breath, huffing it out in frustration as his hands started to shake from balling up so tightly. Without warning, he brushed me off and stood to his feet, pacing around the room for a bit with his back to me. He eventually settled for standing next to Pyrrha's bed, head hanging down to look at her with his back to me. His hands gripped the table, knuckles already turning white.

"When my rage wore off, I… I had to face the truth. The truth was that I didn't hate Pyrrha. How could I? Just last night I trusted her enough to tell her who I am. I can't just go from that to hate so quickly."

He paused, taking a deep breath again, his head still hanging low.

"I didn't hate her. She was still my friend. And I wanted to kill my friend. I wanted it badly, Yang. Who does that sound like, Yang?"

Damn. I dropped my head in shame for a moment, as the hope that Raven's prediction wouldn't come fully to bear finally died. She was right after all.

"Who does it sound like, Yang?" Jaune repeated, his voice on the edge of cracking. "Because it sounded a whole lot like Raven to me. Murdering your friend because you're angry or because they wronged you once sounded a whole lot like the woman I had spent my entire time at Beacon telling myself I was better than! Do you know why I saved Pyrrha?!"

I didn't answer, instead walking forwards to put myself just behind Jaune, but stopping myself there. I wasn't sure what to say. I wasn't sure what I could say.

"I did it because I didn't want to be like Raven. I did it to spite Raven, not because I wanted to save Pyrrha. And even that sounds like her!" Jaune cried out angrily, bringing his fist down on the table. He turned around and looked me in the eye for the first time, tears already falling down his face. "The whole point of it all was for me to get away from Raven. How am I supposed to do that if I am her?!"

Jaune broke away out of frustration, walking around the table before sending the bedside stand flying across the floor out of anger, scattering scalpels, empty blood packets, and his dagger.

"So I fled the Vault with Pyrrha bleeding out in my arms, and I didn't have enough Aura to save her. She's just going to die on me, and not only will it be my fault, but I'll be powerless to stop it, too. That's already bad enough and my world is collapsing in on itself, but then Raven shows up. I'm sitting there, my life in shambles, my friend dying because of me, and then my final reckoning steps out of a portal to make my death as painful as the last moments of my life. And do you know what she does?!

"She fucking saves her. Raven saved Pyrrha. I didn't think the metaphors could get any more heavy-handed after I stabbed Pyrrha, but then that happens?!"

Just as Jaune was about to burst out in frustration again, he caught himself, forcing himself to take a breath and internalize the anger. His eyes clenched shut and his fists shook, but he was able to wrestle control over himself.

"That is what happened, Yang. I almost lost Pyrrha, but instead lost myself. And to top it off, Ozpin walked in on us in the Vault, so I can't ever go back to Beacon or my team. And you're stuck here with Raven now, all thanks to me."

"Jaune, I—"

"Please, Yang, don't do this. Don't insult me by trying to tell me it's not true. All you're going to do is make it worse."

"Jaune, she raised you. Of course you're going to be like her. But what's important is that you're more than just that."

"You sure about that?" Jaune asked lowly, his eyes staring down at Pyrrha. "I have a nearly-murdered friend who was saved by not me who might beg to differ."

"I am sure of it," I answered confidently, stepping forward and staring at Jaune, desperate that he look up at me and see that I mean it. "Why do you think I'm still here for you? Why do you think I chose to come here, Jaune?"

He did look up into my eyes at that, his still welled with tears but staring at me distantly now. He only held it for a few moments, before tearing his gaze away guiltily.

"Honestly, I was wondering the same thing."

My breath caught in my throat. I thought I had prepared myself for whatever shape Jaune was in, but this… this exceeded it. This was bad, and I'm not sure if it is something that I can just fix. It's something he'll need time to heal from, and maybe all I can do is be there for him during that, to help guide him to a better place.

If he doesn't let me help, though, I…

Silence fell over us, but it was broken by low mumbles coming from the table between us, catching us both by surprise for the moment. We looked down to find Pyrrha stirring to life, and a new well of hope sprung up in me. Pyrrha may not have the best opinion of Jaune after what happened, but her being alive has to at least help Jaune out a little.

"Where…?"

"It's okay, Pyrrha," I answered, leaning forward to let her see me. A familiar face to help calm her down, hopefully. "You're safe."

"Who's Pyrrha?" she asked groggily, pushing herself up a little. My eyes met Jaune out of surprise and concern for a moment. She had been hurt pretty badly, and lost a lot of blood from what I gathered. Amnesia, maybe?

Jaune went to work with his Semblance, stretching his hand out towards Pyrrha to use whatever little Aura he could muster.

"Something's wrong," he mumbled, concern building in his voice. His eyes were closed as he focused in, but his face scrunched up.

"It's okay," I reassured Pyrrha, who seemed a bit panicked at Jaune's words. "You just took a big hit earlier, so remembering things might be difficult for a bit. Can you tell me your name?"

Pyrrha closed her eyes, trying to focus in to remember.

"Yang, I'm serious," Jaune's voice called out, panic ringing through it. "I don't feel her Aura anymore. Only—"

"I think my name is… Amber?"


Closing Thoughts: That's right, this arc had one more little surprise for ya.

Don't you just love cliffhangers, too? Now we get to ask fun questions like 'did Amber just take over Pyrrha's body?' or 'are they going to have to share like Oz and Oscar?' or 'is Tai going to impregnate Jaune as revenge?'

See y'all next week.


Comment of the Week: by Zexs

"Well at least a Tai and Ruby can bond over their abandonment issues now."

Well, that is certainly not the ship that was intended, but hey, if the boot fits...

Move aside Jaune x Raven and Jaune x Raven x cuck!Yang, we've got competition for the Discord's new favorite MoNT ship...