This story is my personal take on how Raven and Yang's relationship should've been handled. Raven was one of my favorite characters, so I figured I'd do her character some justice. Have a tissue box ready, because this one is tearjerker.

Takes place in an alternate start to volume 9!

The fall had seemed eternal, but it eventually found its end, Yang waking in a sweat. All she remembered before her wake was the fall; an eternal plummet into the depths of Atlas after being bested by Cinder.

Cinder…

Realization hit Yang immediately, her mind spiraling and her emotions starting to compile like pressure to a volcano, up until she just burst into an eruption of tears. She pounded the ground of what-felt-like sturdy stone or rock as tears started to fall from her eyes, her thoughts still going a million miles a second, up until they stopped at the discovery of another realization, being answered with shouts of desperation.

"Ruby!"

She had no idea if her little sister was even alive, and from how the battle had been going before she was sent to the depths of wherever she currently was, the odds hadn't been in the favor of Ruby and the others making it out alive.

"Weiss! Blake! Anybody!"

Her mind resumed to spiraling madly as her emotions continued to escape her, her hope dwindling away with each second.

Where was she? Was her team alive? Was Ruby still alive? What was she going to do?

The last question ceased her spiraling again, looking around at her surroundings. She was in a faintly-lit wide space made out of rock and gravel, the only light source being a dot of light peeking through at the far end of the cave.

The exit.

Yang pulled herself up from the hard ground and brushed herself clean of any dirt that may have stuck to her clothing. In the process, she also wiped her eyes free of her tears, not wanting to look weak if she came across any Grimm or someone looking for trouble. She needed to find her team and figure out what happened, and more importantly, what was next.

She started walking, up until she was stopped by a sudden startle.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

A voice echoed throughout the cave walls, to which Yang jumped into guard at.

"Who's there?" she commanded. "Ruby, is that you?"

Nothing.

Yang lowered her guard and turned back in the direction of the light, taking a few steps forward.

"Must be an after effect of the fall," she guessed.

"And with that, you'd be wrong?" the feminine voice returned. "I'm as real as your ability to absorb energy from strikes, and use it to deliver a massive blow to your enemies."

Yang turned around again in a dash, only to be met with the same sight. She searched her surroundings, only to be met with nothing but rock and gravel walls. She was slowly getting irritated, which became evident from her eyes changing from their natural color to a piercing red with one blink and her jumping back into guard.

"Urgh! Listen, I'm not in a good mood, so either show yourself or buzz off!" she threatened.

"Yang, there's no need to get angry or feel intimidated, for I speak not from your surroundings, but from your mind. Therefore, you are only yelling at yourself, because I'm a part of you."

Yang raised an eyebrow in shock.

"Ruby slipped something into my coffee, didn't she?" Yang questioned in confusion, refusing to believe the mumbo jumbo currently being fed to her. "She's so dead when I wake up from this dream!"

The voice only giggled at her.

"I expected nothing less. After all, you are stubborn and hotheaded. Fine, if you won't believe me, allow me to prove it in one of your favorite ways of solving problems."

Yang was suddenly met with a hard punch to the side of her face by her right arm, followed by another with her opposite fist to her forehead. Another hard strike met her abdomen, causing her to grunt in pain, and lastly an onslaught of pokes by both, up until both index fingers ended up in her nostrils.

"EWW! Ok stop!" Yang pleaded, her voice being slightly high-pitched from her nose being plugged off.

She regained control and recollected her thoughts, her eyes resuming to their natural form.

"What gives?! I never solve my problems by abusing myself!?" Yang protested.

"While that's true, you do solve them through hand-to-hand combat, the voice clarified.

"Oh...right," Yang answered, facepalming herself over her ridiculous inability to understand. "So, why are you here? You're never around any other time, so why now?"

"You called me here when you fell to your lowest point. I was around when you were recovering from the loss of your arm as well, but I couldn't speak, only give you the support you needed through my presence."

"So, you're some guardian angel or something?" Yang assumed.

"Not quite," the voice started. "I'm more a "voice of reason" or "light in darkness" when you fall to the point of being unable to support yourself, and shut out everyone willing to help you in such a crisis."

Yang paused, remembering one of her biggest regrets after the fall of Beacon; when she shut out Ruby entirely when she was just trying to be supportive. Something she had regretted upon the realization that she may have never gotten the chance to tell Ruby she loved her back. That could've been the last time, and she hated herself for ever becoming so devoid of care and emotions.

"Like I did Ruby…

Her words came out in a whisper of sorrow.

"Exactly. However, I'm not here to remind you of the past; I'm here to help you correct things that must be fixed if you plan to even have a chance at defeating Salem."

Yang grew confused, unsure of what was needed to be fixed except her current situation.

"What do you mean? If you're referring to the current situation we're in, then yeah, be my guest on helping me get out of it," Yang proposed.

"I'm not," the voice clarified. "Before you can even think of charging back onto the battlefield, you must repair your soul where it is fractured. You are currently impure, and if you want to make it back to your friends at all, you must become whole again."

"How am I impure? I don't feel weak or off-balance, so in what way am I damaged?"

"In the way that Salem has damaged the world. You've seen it yourself. The world of Remnant has been led into a state of division, corruption, manipulation, and treachery. All because Salem made it that way in her countless ages of life. While it's not visible to the eye, everyone, even your enemies, have been damaged in some way by Salem.

She is a being of pure destruction and chaos, so anybody who has been affected by some form of evil or darkness has taken damage to their souls. A different kind of damage than what you are aware of. A damage that can only be repaired by facing what caused it in the first place, and only when the factor that resides is defeated, will the damage be fixed."

"So, confronting my demons?" Yang questioned.

"Simply put, yes," the voice clarified.

"But I don't have any demons to face. As far as I know, I've dealt with all of my worst experience's in the most proper ways that I possibly could in the current state of the world. What else is there to face that I haven't?"

"Something that you refuse to face, because you feel like there's no way to resolve it in the way you had wished for so long."

"I don't understand."

"You were hurt, and it is understandable why you'd never want to face this conflict ever again, but until you do, you will never be able to defeat Salem."

Yang grew angry, growing tired of playing 20 questions and just wanting to know what she needed to do to get back to saving the world. Her eyes glew the same piercing red as she addressed the voice.

"Can you please just explain in a way I understand!"

Her fists cuffed and her golden hair blazed into a golden inferno upon her response, causing the environment to quake briefly and a few specks of debris to descend from the cave's roof.

"I suggest you calm down and keep your voice low, unless you'd rather perish under rubble," the voice warned. "That's the exact reason why you must figure out what you must confront on your own. You're so used to the answer just being given to you, and if your soul is to ever be repaired, you must dig deep into yourself and find the answer on your own. Only then will you be able to find the answer you seek, and the true way to face and overcome it."

Yang calmed, her eyes turning back to their natural purple and her hair's flames dying down. She was confused but understood what the voice was telling her, and if this was what she had to do to get back to Ruby and the others, she was all for it.

"Alright. You win, voice," Yang surrendered, slightly irritated that she had been defeated. "However, I have no idea where to start, nor have any clue on how to "dig inside of myself" for whatever it is I have to confront."

"Oh. That's simple. Just start by walking out of the cave and always keep your mind open. This will be a journey that will be hard for you to take."

Yang rolled her eyes as she resumed her walk further toward the exit, eventually reaching it and stepping out into a mildly wooded area. At first, Yang was completely clueless on where she could've even been, but a second glance at the area made her think twice; it was a familiar sight.

There was a small dirt road just ten yards from the trees she currently resided in, but across it was a desolate and dilapidated building that she recognized well. While it was cloaked by fallen trees, overgrowth, and the roof had caved in over the years of lack of maintenance, she knew where she was.

Her memories began to flash before her eyes like a slideshow being played at a million miles a second.

"No. It can't be…

One glance at the road dropped all of her doubt instantly; in the middle of the road was a rusted wagon tipped over.

There was no doubting it. She was at the house where she had nearly gotten herself and Ruby killed, if it weren't for Qrow's interference.

"This is the landmark of one of my worst mistakes ever made," Yang confessed.

"Indeed. However, that isn't why you're here," the voice informed. "You're being shown this as a reminder. Do you remember why this place even came to exist in your memories?"

Yang took a moment to sort through her memories of that horrible place, up until she came to the answer and started to see what she had to face. She cuffed her right hand into a tight fist.

"My mother," she stuttered out. "I came here out of some shred of luck that I'd finally find the answers to why she abandoned me. Something I see was pointless now…

A silence followed.

"Is that really how you feel?" the voice questioned.

Yang could feel her anger starting to boil to the surface.

"How am I supposed to feel?!" she barked. "The woman who gave life to me just chose to betray and nearly doom the world without even taking into account the consequences or who she was hurting in the process!"

Yang's anger grew all-the-more as tears started to rise in the mix.

"Am I just supposed to pretend that she didn't turn against us, joined forces with the very enemies we're fighting against, and nearly gave up the relic to Salem?!"

Her tears fell to the ground as her anger shifted into pure sadness.

"Then… she just ran. Like she always does. Instead of helping her family, she abandons them without a second thought. I understand that she's scared of Salem, but we all are, and unless we work with each other instead of against each other, we'll never win this war. It's clear she's never cared for anyone except herself, and that's why I was abandoned; because I was a burden to her. A mistake in her eyes."

Yang collapsed and let her emotions flow freely onto the vegetation. These were deep thoughts she had kept buried deep inside of her ever since their last confrontation at Haven Academy. Thoughts she had hoped to never face again, because it just hurt her in the end. The reality that her own mother didn't want anything to do with her.

It hurt her. It hurt her more than any injury she had taken in her life.

Her emotions were interrupted by the voice again.

"What you say isn't true, Yang," the voice started. "I understand why you feel the way you do, but that's what is not allowing you to see the truth. Your emotions and hurt, along with the fact that this had been something you seeked your entire life, are masking you from the truth about your mother's feelings about you."

"What's there to see!? It was all revealed at Haven Academy!"

"You only saw what your hopes and dreams wanted you to see, when in truth, you are missing vital pieces of the puzzle that are critical to the end result of this confrontation with your deepest conflict within yourself."

"We tried to console with her! I tried to build a connection! I tried-

"You're only thinking about yourself!"

The voice boomed to life as storm clouds formed above Yang, and thunder began to erupt throughout the landscape.

Yang's complaints were brought to a sudden halt as the words that the voice had spoken in full clarity ricocheted off the walls of her skull.

"To resolve this conflict, you must look beyond what you know and have tried to accomplish. There is much more than what you know that your mother has done for you."

Suddenly, the clouds shifted to form a giant opening in which a series of scenes started to play out. The first one started just outside of their old home on a very rainy night. Raven swept down from the sky in her form as a raven and transformed just at the foot of the outside door, followed by three knocks that were answered shortly.

"Why are you here?" her father asked coldly, to which Raven only answered with a stare.

"She's my daughter too, Tai," Raven stated. "I've seen the illness's impact, and wish to help her."

"Why do you suddenly care?" he questioned.

"I'm her mother. I've always cared," Raven clarified. "I'll always care."

"You've had a funny way of showing it."

Raven rolled her eyes with an irritated sigh.

"Look Tai, you can see me as whatever you wish, but right now, what matters is Yang, so you can either let me in to help her or watch her slowly die. She won't last much longer."

Tai surrendered, having no choice. He allowed Raven into the house and shut the door.

"Prepare a bottle," Raven commanded.

Tai raised an eyebrow, making his way to the fridge to grab Yang's already-prepared bottle from earlier. Once he had it, he gave it to Raven and watched as she undid the lid. She grabbed something from a pouch she had tied to her belt, crushed it in her hands, and sprinkled it into the bottle.

"What is that?" Tai questioned.

Raven screwed the lid back on and gave the bottle three good shakes, making sure everything was mixed well.

"A special medicine," Raven answered, moving toward the stairs.

Raven's heels clacked against the floorboards as she ascended the stairs to the second floor, finding Yang in her room, wide awake. Being gentle, she picked up and cradled Yang in her arms, allowing Yang to take the bottle on her own.

Yang didn't even hesitate on taking the bottle and began taking in the bottle's contents with ease. She sat down in the provided rocking chair that Tai normally resided in while feeding Yang and began to rock slowly. Looking down at Yang, she smiled, remembering when she did this on a regular basis and just spent regular bonding time with her daughter.

Times she missed, but destiny's had crafted her a different life. Despite destiny's choice, she always made time to check in on her daughter, and despite her and Tai's feelings for each other, would always love her daughter no matter what.

The scene ended and Yang stood in shock, wiping tears from her eyes.

"If it weren't for your mother's care and determination to get you the medicine she did, you would've passed away the next day. Your mother saved your life that night."

"Why didn't he ever tell me…

"Your father saw Raven as something that you shouldn't even know, thinking it would just hurt you."

"He's hurt me by not telling me anything about her…

"Yes. It's also one of the reasons you feel so negatively towards her. But, that is not all I have to show you. Let's go back a couple of years during the first time you called me to you."

Another scene formed in the cloud opening, only this time, it was outside of the cabin she and Ruby had been led to after the fall of Beacon. The sight was one she hated to see; when she didn't tell Ruby she loved her back before her departure the next day; the day she truly hurt her sister. She was thankful it was outside the cabin, where she couldn't hear the conversation.

The sight was of a lone raven on a branch just outside her bedroom window. She immediately knew who the raven was, and even recalled that one lone raven being there every single day of her recovery, watching over her. She just never knew who it really was.

Tears met her eyes again as the scenes began to change rapidly, each consisting of her and that same raven. It was clear what it represented, up until the last scene that she remembered well; Torchwick's train and the fight with Neopolitan.

A fight she lost humiliatingly.

The scene played out as she remembered, up until she was knocked out cold and Neo had taken the initiative to finish her off with a concealed blade within her parasol. Then, before the job could be finished, a sudden flash of red and intrusion of a warrior in a Grimm mask stopped Neo in her tracks.

She knew who the warrior was upon first sight, and watched as Neo retreated and Raven left before she was able to come to full consciousness. She remembered that she had caught a slight image of her mother before she was gone, but that was long before she had any clue what she looked like.

Her mother had saved her life twice, and had always watched over her in secret. A truth she had never known because of arrogance, selfishness, and secrecy.

She collapsed like a stone and let it all out as the clouds disappeared, and the sun shone through once again.

"How could I be so selfish?!" she questioned between tears. "My mother has always cared and watched out for me, while I thought she just saw me as a burden! How could I think so lowly of her, when she's done nothing but help and protect me in her own way!? I-I'm horrible for even thinking such things about my own mother! What is wrong with me!?"

She continued to rant like a child, and more tears escaped her eyes upon this new revelation; the real truth about who her mother was and what she had done for her, even in absence.

The truth she had needed to confront her entire life.

"Now you see the person your mother really is, and what you've always needed to know. Your mother never meant to hurt you, Yang. She's always loved and cherished you dearly, and despite what destiny threw her way, she always found a way to find you and guide you as any mother would.

However, you cannot blame yourself for this. You were led astray by others and told things that weren't true, and while your father is reluctant to tell you these things, you mustn't grow to hate him for it. Your father only did what he thought was best at the time, and with the death of Summer on top of raising both you and Ruby, you must understand that your father was going through a Hell of his own.

Love is one thing that can extinguish darkness, and is one of the things that must be used to defeat Salem. By conquering the hate you felt for your mother and replacing your hate with forgiveness and love, your soul can be made whole again."

Yang stood from the ground and wiped the remaining tears from her eyes.

"And I know what I have to do to forgive her," Yang said confidently. "If you can help me do that, that is."

"Gladly."

Raven sat before her daily serving of tea, her mind focused on a map of Remnant sprawled out before her. After the confrontation at Haven, Raven retreated back to her tribe and quickly worked on getting out of where they were currently settled, not wanting Salem even having a chance of ambushing them.

They resorted to a heavily wooded area that was closed off from open roads that travelers used to navigate in-between kingdoms. The tribe had been there a couple months, and that had been long enough for Raven's liking.

Her paranoia of staying in one place for too long had been at its peak for a good week, so they had quickly worked out of that area, into an abandoned village, where they currently resided. It seemed dangerous to occupy an abandoned village, but they had made a system that had seemed to work fine enough.

They'd move out during the day, while at night, they'd retreat and hide in an underground bunker that the village had essentially crafted as a hiding place from Grimm attacks. There were several bunkers to spare, her bandits having lost count at a hundred upon scouting the underground system for over a week.

They had been here for months and hadn't been disturbed once in that time, but Raven's lingering fear of Salem pushed her to not get comfortable. She was currently examining her map of Remnant for where they would be moving to next, but her current challenge was that every option within a decent travelling distance was either out in the open or occupied.

She took a sip of her tea, hoping to find some answer through the beverage's natural effects on the body. Nothing came, to which she sighed annoyingly at.

"This shouldn't be that damn difficult," she complained. "Why am I struggling so hard with simple mapping?"

"Can I make a few suggestions?"

Raven jumped at the sudden intrusion, quickly standing and sliding her sword from its sheath. However, she froze upon the sight of her intruder.

"Yang? H-how did you get in here?!" Raven questioned indignantly.

"Uhhh… it's a long and complicated story…

Raven humphed, receding her weapon back into its resting place on her hip.

"Well, I'll give you this, you certainly know how to make an entrance. So, what does my daughter want? Revenge for my betrayal at Haven? A punishment for m-

Silence fell within the room upon a sudden action by Yang that surprised Raven entirely; a hug.

A tight embrace that led Yang to tears.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry for everything!" Yang screamed as if she were a child in complete distress.

Raven didn't know how to feel. She was more shocked than anything else, but the main thing that she was lost on was Yang's words. She didn't feel like they were deserved after what she did at Haven.

"Yang, I-I don't understand…

Raven was lost for words.

Yang didn't care what her mother thought about her sentimental act as she just continued to cry and whine like a child. She had needed to do this no matter the outcome.

She gripped Raven tighter and tighter, not letting go.

Raven had no idea what to do. She was frozen in place like a statue.

"I love you! And I am so sorry for what I said to you! You aren't a coward! You're just afraid like the rest of us! I wish I could take it all back!"

Raven continued to stand still, mere gasps of confusion escaping her mouth in-between Yang's cries.

"You've always been there for me! You saved my life from assured death, while I've never even treated you like I should!"

"I...I

"I love you, mom! I always will, despite what happened that night!"

Raven couldn't believe what she was hearing; it was words she thought she'd never hear from Yang.

I love you, mom

She had to blink a few times to determine this wasn't a dream. The warmth of Yang's hug was enough to clarify she was awake, Yang was hugging her, and words she had wanted to hear for so long had finally met her ears.

Tears met her eyes as her arms met Yang in the embrace, tightening as her emotions broke free.

"I'm sorry too!" Raven stuttered. I should never have done what I did at Haven! I don't know what I was thinking!"

"You were scared. We all were that night," Yang comforted. "We made mistakes that night that we regret, but the best thing we can do is leave it behind in the past. Forgiveness is what we need right now, not hate, and I could never hate you. I love you, mom, and I forgive you for everything!"

Yang's words touched Raven in a way she'd never felt before, and all she could do was hold her daughter tighter in her arms, not wanting to ever let her go again.

"I love you too, Yang, and I forgive you for what you said!" Raven returned. "I promise, I'll make things better than I did before!"

Yang pulled away from the hug to the sight of her mother, stating only one thing that sealed her forgiveness and soul reparation.

"You already have."

Raven smiled, pulling her daughter into another tight embrace. They shared the hug for a good amount of time, up until they finally released one another and took a seat on the floor.

"Would you like some tea, Yang?" Raven offered. "Just brewed a whole pot."

Despite Yang's thoughts on tea, she fancied her mother's offer with an appropriate response.

"That would be great," Yang said, following Raven pouring her a cup and spending proper mother-daughter time together for the first time in what felt like forever.

.