A/N: This is a companion work to Stalwart, which can be found on my profile page. This is not a independent story and should not be read as one.
In order for the references to make sense, you will need to have read through to the adjoining chapter of Stalwart, Part 2: Misdirection.
All copyright for canon goes to RoosterTeeth. I do not own any characters, their likenesses, nor sell or maintain this work of fan fiction for profit or material gains. All spoilers for RWBY are unmarked. All publicly available canon is used as source material.
This work is rated for mature audiences. This work is not family friendly. All characters, due to the nature of the involved circumstances (war, war crimes including rape and sexual enslavement, trauma, death, PTSD, soldiery and similar themes), are not to be perceived as children. No characters under the age of 15 will be depicted in a sex or sex adjacent act. No characters under the age of 15 will be sexualized in any manner. This author does not support or tolerate pedophilia, or "minor attracted persons". Assume all sex acts that are indirectly depicted are consensual. Violence will not be tagged or trigger marked.
This is your global trigger warning. It will not be repeated. If you are sensitive to the above themes and topics as well as topics on their peripheries such as mental health, crime and general worldsuck, please do not read. Continue at your own risk.
Thank you for reading. Please review.
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She watched the snow fall.
Got up. Bathroom. Back to bed.
More snow.
"Sunny..."
A tray of food. "You have to eat."
"I'm not hungry."
"That's depression." Her father sat at the edge of the bed, took spoon in hand, and waited for her to open her mouth. "I fed you sixteen years ago. I'll feed you now."
She opened her mouth to complain and got a mouthful of eggs and vegetables. "You can sit here and stare out of the window until your eyes cross..." She took the spoon. "But you're not dying of starvation."
He got up, rolling his shoulders as he did. "Besides, I was wondering what color you wanted your room painted. These white walls aren't good for you."
"I'm not staying."
Taiyang leaned against the dresser, sweater fuzzy in the reflection. "Where are you going in the dead of winter?"
"To find my mother. And then Ruby."
"Ruby's...intent on disappearing into the void. You'll search through all of Remnant before you find her. Your mother...She's probably overwintering in her stomping grounds. You want to die of exhaustion?"
"No."
"Then spend your time doing what you can, not what you can't." He left and returned through the heavy door, holding box with Atlesian Military Emblem emblazoned on the pearlescent finish. "A gift from Atlas, in the wake of Ironwood's assassination." He laid it at the foot of the bed. "When you're ready, it's there."
She pulled open the box, a prosthesis shining under the ceiling light.
"Dad."
"Hmm?" He stood in the doorframe, one hand on the knob.
"Why are my eyes like this?"
"Do you really want to know or are you looking for thunder to add to rain?"
-.-.-.-. * -.-.-.-.
The snow broke the next morning.
The apartment still smelt too new. The old couch was the only thing left from home, everything else was new and spotless, three bedrooms with only two beds in use.
So she curled up in it, pulling the sun yellow quilt over her legs and turned on the television, the tag stuck in between her toes. Zwei curled up in her lap.
"Today is a sad day for all of Remnant as we lay to rest one of Atlas' fines-"
She turned the channel.
Cooking. 'It'll do.'
"Hey, Sunshine." Taiyang shrugged on a chestnut brown trench coat, boots already scraping the floor. "Do you want to go with me to the city or are you staying in the house?"
"Are you going to answer me?"
He huffed. "When I get back...I promise. See you soon. Don't leave the television on if you're going to go back to sleep." He locked the door behind him.
Cooking. House decorating. Gardening. Fitness for the elderly. 'Never thought 'disabled' would apply to me.'
worthless
'Not this shit again.' She got up. 'Come on, television.'
Cardio for the Average Joe. 'It'll do.'
She took the rug as a mat and got to work. The blood in her ears was better than the alternative. A half hour ticked by before her face stuck to her face, chest heaving like a vacuum. 'Two months in bed shouldn't be this...taxing.'
The door opened and closed, Tai jamming to his tunes in his headphones, putting away groceries.
"DAD!"
Nothing.
"DAD!"
Broken lyrics.
"Bàba!"
"WHAT?" He leaned out of the kitchen door. "WHAT'S WRONG?"
"You're back."
"Can I put the meat in the freezer and dinner on the stove before you start asking questions?" She got up, trudging to the bathroom. "You...worked out? YOU GOT OFF THE COUCH?!"
"Dad, please."
The shower muffled his cheering.
-.-.-.-. * -.-.-.-.
Zha Jiang Mien. Homemade.
Not that it tasted any different. Tai was messing around in the kitchen still, both plates still empty. "You said," he came around the corner, holding a kettle and cups, "you wanted to know what's wrong with your eyes."
The tea kettle got placed on its trivet, Yang pouring a small serving for him then her. "What if I were to tell you there's nothing wrong?"
She looked at him, blue eyes meeting lilac. "What are you talking about?"
One after the other, he slid his contact lenses out.
They were colored. She returned her gaze to his face. The dull blue was now piercing, slit pupils focused on serving dinner. "There's nothing wrong with you or your eyes. You just...look human for everything else, the color is more distracting than the shape for most people. Ruby was lucky and dodged that axe. Spitting image of her mother." He filled her plate.
"We're Faunus?"
"My father was mixed. My mother was not. Your mother is Faunus. Summer is Human. Do some math, and by blood, you're less Human than anything." Chopsticks scraped bowls.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"You handle news like your mother handles stress. Poorly. Watch your Semblance." She looked down, the wool fabric on the seat singed. "And then you get mad that I told you. Eat."
She did. She put down two helpings. "Your grandmother," he thumbed through his Scroll, "is Huo Xiao Long." She took the glass as it was handled to her, a tiny woman with curling horns and slit pupils stood next to a huge man with blue eyes, golden hair falling in a long braid. "She's long lived. Or very, very, stubborn. Took to the mountains to retire. Her wish was to see you born Human. So I did the next best thing."
"Why did you lie?"
"Because you, like your mother, will bash through any problem head on. I didn't want you to get bullied in school." She opened her mouth to protest. "You yelled at the top of your lungs when we went anywhere, 'I'm Yang Xiao Long!' When you were old enough for school, I dreaded it. 'I'm Yang Xiao Long, the strongest Faunus in this school!' I could hear it and see you coming home with your teeth pulled out and black eyes an-" He buried his face in his hands.
"Thank you, Dad. But I'm not four years old any more."
"You're not. And you never will be again." She got up to clear the dishes.
The arm fit her like a glove.
Snowmelt brought warmer temperatures and her father dragging her to the roof to train on his off days. The city of Arbor Mills stretching beneath them, the steam from the factories rising high and mixing with the clouds. 'She'll be gone soon, and I'll be teaching for licensing in the city. I should have enjoyed them while they were here. I'm getting old...didn't know I had to get alone too.'
"Dad."
He turned from overlooking the railing. She finally sat on the lone bench, hair pulled up in a ponytail. 'She looks like her mother. Acts like her mother. Thinks like her grandmother. What, did I just dip the girl in blond and blue?'
"Where's Grandma?"
"You can't..." He walked back to the bench, draping his trench coat over his shoulders. "You can't just bust up in her fortress and go 'Hi, I'm your grand-baby.' That's not a thing, ever."
"You have her number?"
"Why do you want to talk to her?"
"I want answers to my questions."
"You knew Ozpin, right?" Her eyes flared red. "Didn't he tell you that you shouldn't ask more questions than you actually need to have answered? What's the question?"
"We're dragons?"
"...I mean. I would have hoped that you would figured that ou-"
"Where's the scales?" She leapt off the bench. "The teeth? The fire?" He bared his teeth. A pattern of canines reached farther back than they should. "Oh gods, how are you not cutting your tongue?"
"Practice. You still have your baby teeth."
"...what? I'm grown!"
"You're a baby."
"How old are you?!" He opened the door to the elevator downstairs.
"Older than Qrow. Let's go."
The sixteenth floor couldn't come fast enough. "What about the scales? The fire? The hoarding?"
"I...think that's more of being the family packrat." The elevator dinged, he barely got the door open, Yang darting inside. "Trust me, your grandmother hoarded knives. What are you trying to do?"
She held pliers and tweezers in a hand each.
"ABSOLUTELY NOT! They fall out when they fall out!" The tools clattered back into their box, Tai popping pain pills.
"What about the scales and fire?!"
"That's even worse, and you'd literally have to get treated for that. And the most you'll do is roar."
"Do you have scales?" He was busy warming a slab of roast pork in a pan. "Are they cool? Now that I think about it," she slumped into the chair. "You never wanted to go to the beach. Or the spa."
"...I have scales." She flipped the chair around, watching him through the glass-less opening in the wall, megawatt smile back as if it never left. "Sand gets underneath them. Spas want to pluck them out. I don't like being naked in front of strangers. And before you go, 'Can I see them?', you get to eat. And I get to shower. Watch the meat. Don't let it burn and then complain about it."
-.-.-.-. * -.-.-.-.
"Are you in a speedo?"
"No. That's inappropriate." She had a pillow over her face, claiming she wanted to be surprised, the plate of roast pork empty. He pulled the shades closed against the setting sun. "You can take off the pillow."
And she did.
Scales covered the outside of his shoulders and arms, running down his back in shades of black and gold, disappearing under pajama pants. A t-shirt hung on his neck, as he was preoccupied with digging through the kitchen window for something.
"Oh gods, how far do they go?" 'As far as you think!'
"I got them done like this. If you're unlucky, they're triggered like callouses. Repeated damage."
A finger booped him on the shoulder. "When can I get them done?"
"It's a incredibly painful procedure that takes weeks to heal from. You wouldn't do it unless you've gone through...well. I guess you have gone through your own rite of passage." He finally got what he was looking for. A box of dried boar jerky. Extra chewy. "Beat me in a fight. Then I'll take you."
'Things that I regret. Fucking Blake. Eating two bags of marshmallows at once. Doing this shit!'
She laid on her stomach off the worse of it, the top layer of skin peeled off and now healing in rough, a pattern carved in from her arms to her thighs. The snow finally melted, the buds of new leaves starting to grow in.
"Hello, how are we doing in there? Do you need another shirt?"
"Yeah!"
Tai threw in another 9XL shirt, the wrapper crinkling as it fell on her head. "Sorry."
Another fifteen minutes passed before she wriggled into it and crept downstairs, standing to eat at the table.
"Are you having fun?"
"A absolute riot." She stirred soy sauce into her congee. 'At least it's not literally baby food.'
"Don't complain when you're replacing clothes like water."
"I'll replace them. I found a couple of contracts in the next city over. It's time I get moving. I have to find Ruby."