Yang always thought that meeting Raven would be more... private. She never imagined that by the time Raven and her finally met face-to-face that the two of them would have an audience of bandits surrounding them, or that Yang would have a immortal headmaster in her head.
Or that Yang wouldn't be there for Raven.
"You don't have to speak to her. I can take over." Ozpin says.
Yang rolled her eyes, still carefully watching the bandits glaring at her as they escorted her to a large tent. 'I'm not gonna break down at the sight of her Oz. Besides, I'm pretty sure that you mentioned that Raven's not the biggest fan of you.'
A mental sigh. "If you're sure..."
Yang finally came to a stop, staring at the entrance of the tent as the bandits waited for their leader to come out.
'Do you know why?' Yang asked suddenly.
"Pardon?"
'Why Raven left.'
Ozpin was silent, for a moment. "I... I sincerely don't know. She was loyal, if impolite, but I never did think she would..."
'Run?'
"..." Whatever Ozpin would have said was cut off as the tent flaps open, a masked woman wearing black and red emerging from the tent, hand resting on the black handle of a sword.
Yang stares, unimpressed. "Raven."
Raven removes her mask, all smiles. "Yang."
"Hm. She's barely aged a day. The resemblance is uncanny."
'Oh shush, you. It's already weird enough with you rattling around my head.'
"So, you've finally found me. Took you long enough." Raven says, tossing the Grimm mask to a short-haired woman standing beside her. "Still, did you have to be so rough with my men?"
"They started it. Not my fault they couldn't take me even if they outnumbered me a dozen to one." Yang meant it as an insult, but Raven only grinned.
"You are my daughter." The Bandit Queen says. "And you've proven yourself. Any questions that you might have, I'll be happy to answer-"
"I'm not here for you." Yang interrupts.
Raven frowns. The tension rises as the bandits surrounding Yang mutter angrily.
"Excuse me?"
"Yang..." Ozpin says warily.
'I know what I'm doing .'
Yang folds her arms. "I'm here for Qrow. He's somewhere in Mistral, I just need you to take me to him."
Raven scoffs. "And why would I do that?"
"Because we're family."
Raven rolls her eyes. "Family. Only coming around when they need something." She stares down Yang. "Honestly?. I'm disappointed. After all, you found me, didn't you? Why not take that drive and use it to find my brother if your uncle means that much to you?"
"Because you're going to save time. Qrow might be at Mistral. Or he could be in Anima. Or another kingdom altogether. It would take ages looking for him." Yang smirks. "But I know how your semblance works."
Raven grunted. "Tai..."
"You could bond with certain people." Yang continued. "And when you do, you could create a portal that takes you straight to them. You've got one for Dad. One for me. And you've got one for Qrow. So, make a portal for my uncle, and I'll be on my way."
Raven tilts her head. "It takes real strength to march in here and demand such a favor of me. I'm impressed." She sighed. "But my brother's a lost cause."
A pause. "What do you mean?" Yang asks carefully.
Raven narrows her eyes. "You don't want to get mixed up in all of that, Yang. Ozpin is not the man you think he is. And Qrow is a fool for trusting him. I would know, I trusted him once, too."
Yang's eyes widen. 'Does she know?'
"It's impossible."
'But she said- maybe the arm-'
"If she knew, her entire clan would be attacking us right now."
Seeing Yang's hesitation, Raven smirked. "Having second thoughts?"
Yang snapped back to the conversation, shaking her head, and glared at Raven. "I don't care about Ozpin. All I want is for you to send me to Qrow."
"Well, aren't you stubborn?"
"I get it from my mother."
Raven sighs, disappointed. "Well, if that's how you feel..." She turns around, going back inside her tent, gesturing to Yang. "Take her away."
The bandits begin to surround Yang. Yang's eyes go red.
"Yang, let's go-"
"Didn't you hear me?!"
"Miss Xiao-Long, we won't be able to fight off this many enemies!"
"I said send me to Qrow, damn it!"
"Hey!" A hand grips on Yang's shoulder. Spinning around, Yang punches him in the stomach, making him fly off into a tent, knocking it down and revealing-
"...Weiss?"
The bound, white-haired girl gasped from inside her cage. "Yang?"
The bandits pause, uncertain what to do.
Weiss paused. "Alright. Well, subtlety's out."
The cage promptly exploded in a blue light.
In the midst of the chaos, somewhere between her Arma Gigas destroying her prison and frantically running to her teammate, (ex-teammate?) Weiss couldn't help but wonder why Yang was here.
(And of course she's glad and shocked and a whole swirl of other emotions but Weiss doesn't want to dwell on that now.)
"What is that thing?!" Yang exclaimed.
'Right, she doesn't know about summoning.'
Well, now isn't the time to explain what the giant suit of armor is. "It's a long story." Weiss says, watching Yang's back. "What are you doing here?"
Yang frowns, pointing at Weiss's kidnapper. "Family reunion."
Weiss gaped. "Your mom kidnapped me?!"
Yang gaped, turning to her mother. "You kidnapped her?!"
"Ugh." The black-haired woman looked unapologetic.
Shouts from behind drew both of the girl's attention to the crowd of bandits rushing towards them, some taking aim with crudely made firearms.
'There's far too many of them.' Weiss thinks, even as she, Yang and her summon turn to meet the horde. 'My summon could protect us but they'd destroy it eventually, and-'
Kra-koom!
Lightning strikes the ground, stopping both bandits and huntresses in their tracks. Weiss looks up in the sky, bewildered. Lightning? With no rain?
"Enough!" Weiss whirls around, eyes landing on the bandit who took Myrtenaster. The thief was holding her hand out towards the sky.
Weiss frowned. A semblance that calls down lightning? That explains the freak lightning strike.
The raven-haired woman- Yang's mother- sighed. "Thank you, Vernal." The bandit turns towards her henchmen. "Get a hold of yourselves! All your negativity would start drawing the Grimm."
Then, to Weiss's surprise, the leader orders Vernal to give back Myrtenaster.
The short-haired bandit looks as surprised as Weiss is, but she reluctantly tosses the sword back to it's rightful owner, then follows the dispersing bandits.
Yang's mother looks over Weiss and Yang, the woman's eyes lingering on the latter with a slight raise of her eyebrow. "Right. You two, in my tent."
Weiss raises her sword, still wary. "And why should we trust you?"
To Weiss's chagrin, the woman didn't even acknowledge her, instead still staring at Yang. "If you're so determined in getting to my brother, you need to know the truth."
With that, the bandit leader turns and enters her tent.
Weiss waits a moment or two before finally releasing a breath. She turns to Yang, who looked shaken.
"Are you alright?" Weiss asked hesitantly. Odd, her teammates eyes almost looked... green. Must be a trick of the light.
Yang blinked, turning to Weiss. "Yeah..." She answered shakily. The blonde then sighed. "Look, I'm sorry about-"
Whatever Yang was going to say was cut off as Weiss jumps onto her teammate, arms wrapping the blonde in a hug.
"I missed you, so much." Weiss muttered onto Yang's shoulder.
Yang's hands hovered above Weiss, before she hugged her back. "Me too, Ice Queen."
'You sure it wasn't just a semblance?'
"I know magic when I see it Yang. This 'Vernal' didn't even look winded when she called down that lightning bolt."
'Well, at least we know where the Spring Maiden is now.'
"Yes, in a tribe full of bandits who kidnapped my student and your teammate."
'Bright side Ozzy, bright side...'
Raven watches the Schnee and her daughter hug each other through the small openings of her tent, fingers impatiently rapping on a nearby table.
He wouldn't be that arrogant, would he?
Wanting to find Qrow. The green eyes that appeared when she summoned her lightning. The green prosthetic.
Walking into my camp. Using my daughter's body. Using me for his own ends yet again.
From what Raven saw from afar while Yang was growing up, Qrow was always a favorite. Maybe her daughter really, really wanted to be with her uncle.
Pretending to be my daughter. Consuming her soul.
Maybe the green eyes were a new evolution of Yang's semblance. Didn't they also turn red?
Trying to trick me.
Maybe Yang just ran out of yellow and painted the damn arm green for giggles.
I didn't survive on 'maybe's' though.
"Vernal."
Like a dog running to their master's call, her faux maiden came to Raven's side. "Yes?"
"Organize the men. Wait for my signal. If I say so, make sure those two don't make it out of here alive."
Vernal nods, already heading out.
Raven glances back outside, seeing her daughter and the Schnee walking up to her tent. She decides to put the kettle on.
Time will tell if Raven's being paranoid or not. If it's really her daughter, she'll criticize her fashion choices and send her away. If it's not...
Well, Ozpin always appreciated some tea. She could grant him that last favor before her clan kills him again for desecrating her daughter's body.
