Chapter Four: Whistle in the Wind

Jaune's first instinct was to take hold of his throat, to try and hold in his last gasp of air before Raven threw him into the portal. When he found himself in the blackness, he seemed to float through it, moving up and down as though he were floating on the surface of deep water. He tried to find his footing, but there didn't appear to be ground for him to stand on. There were slight discolorations in the dark, places where there seemed to be dim light rather than empty blackness, and Jaune attempted to move towards them, towards something with substance and matter, but every time he drew nearer that dim light only seemed further away.

Eventually Jaune had to catch his breath, and after several brief and painful gasps found himself able to breathe… though he couldn't tell where the oxygen he took in came from. He decided not to question it further, relieved he was able to breathe, even if he hadn't yet figured out how to stand. Jaune kept trying to pull himself forward, dragging himself through the blackness as though paddling through thick, swampy water, unable to orient himself to a standing or walking position.

The process was very draining, and he never seemed to draw any closer to the dim lights. Jaune changed tactics and tried rotating himself downwards, as though he meant to stand upright on his palms, and somewhere in the process of his movement he found himself tumbling backwards and landing hard on his back.

At least he'd landed on something solid, and when he righted himself, he found himself standing on some sort of surface in the darkness, albeit one he couldn't actually see. Jaune glanced around behind him –for want of a better term- and saw only more of the same blackness, dotted with a few patches of light, now oriented above or below him.

Jaune tapped his right foot a few times against the dark 'floor' he stood upon, and while it felt solid beneath him it made no sound when his shoe impacted against it. Jaune tried walking ahead, and found more solid 'ground' to stand upon, but he wasn't sure how long that would last or whether it'd lead him anywhere. His footsteps made no discernible sound but the impact of his foot on fabric and the faint ruffling of his legs moving in his jeans. With nothing he could see and nowhere he could walk to, Jaune stopped moving, looking periodically in each direction and listening intently around him.

There were sounds in the dark: gusts of wind that didn't match his own breathing. Jaune wasn't sure he saw any movement, as the light was so dim he wasn't sure if shadows were actually moving about or the darkness around him was moving to obscure the light source, as though pushing it further and further from him. Jaune focused on the gusts, listening to them. If there was a source of wind, it might give him a direction to proceed in, and maybe even a way out of this darkness.

But as Jaune paid closer and closer attention to the gusts passing by, what he heard didn't sound like simple air pressure, nor even the high-pitched whistle in the wind he'd heard from time to time at Beacon or riding the airships to Mistral. Instead it sounded… multifaceted. The gusts sounded almost like…

Whispers.

"Smother it."

"Wandering light."

"Wash it away."

"Too bright his eyes."

As Jaune really listened, he heard more and more, each speaking at a different pitch, talking over one another as their statements sailed past him.

"Wandering light."

"Let him pass."

"Find the others."

"Wash it away."

"Need more."

"Wait for him to go."

"Wandering light."

Jaune listened, standing still for several seconds. He closed his eyes to try and focus only on the sounds, and he heard them speaking more and more, muttering to one another… and possibly even trying to speak directly to him.

"Smother it."

"Find the others, we need more."

"Wandering light."

Jaune cleared his throat and spoke straight ahead –though he couldn't really tell where the whispers were coming from- and greeted the empty blackness. "Hello."

The whispers abruptly stopped, just as Jaune had resumed listening intently. He struggled to hear them talk, to make sense of the words flung his way. He couldn't hear them breathing, he couldn't hear anything moving. For a long time he just listened to empty air, until:

"Wandering light."

Jaune tried to follow the source of the deep voice that continued to draw his attention, but eventually fixed his gaze directly ahead, figuring that if he was actually going to interact with… with whatever these things in the dark were, he should try and project confidence rather than confusion. "Who are you?"

"You speak to us, wandering light. You seek a pact with us?"

A pact? Jaune already had one too many of those, but he figured he should try humoring this thing speaking to him, and gain as much information as he could. "What is this place?"

For several seconds the deep voice was quiet. Surely it must've known… "A stain. A bloody patch between two pieces of flesh."

"What does that mean?" Jaune asked.

"Your have Aura, wandering light. You come from the remnant apart and not the fragment apace," the deep voice observed. "We exist between, in the blood linking the two severed limbs."

"And what are you?" Jaune inquired. "How did you get here?"

"Abandoned. Betrayed. Forgotten. Each of us came to be and each found its place. But enough of us, wandering light. Have you come to make a pact?"

"What kind of pact?" Jaune asked, still not keen on the idea but curious.

"Whatever you wish," the deep voice replied. "To sit a throne over a river of blood, to break a world against your knee, to turn back and begin again."

Jaune didn't like the sound of the first two, but the third… "Begin again?"

"In the remnant apart, time flows forward. In the fragment apace, space turns back."

"So I could… go back in time?" Jaune asked, trying to suppress his skepticism.

Again the deep voice was silent for a long stretch. "You are lost, wandering light. Now we know why you are here… to begin again, and right what has been made wrong.

"We can take you back, wandering light… we can carry you on our backs and guide you through the currents in the fragment apace, and return to the remnant apart. We can take you to the moment that left you lost."

It was Jaune's turn to fall quiet. This couldn't be possible, this couldn't be real. He couldn't even see this creature, yet it said it could take him back in time?

Could take him back to before Beacon fell?

Could let him see Pyrrha again?

"Tell us, wandering light: what do you want most? What would you give to have it? Would you let the darkness in if you could only begin again?"

Jaune didn't want to admit it, but he was entertaining the idea. He was actually picturing it, trying to piece it all together and understand what he'd be giving away.

This thing offering this to him had to be one of the creatures Raven feared, the ones she said would try to cover Remnant in their darkness if they ever escaped this place. There was no reason to assume they had such power to offer, or that they'd use it to help Jaune even if they did.

But if it was true, if by some strange series of events it was possible to go back and save Beacon from the fall, and stop Cinder and… and save Pyrrha…

He wanted to believe. "Tell me more."

Nora was decidedly not happy. It was incredibly rare that she became upset with Ren, but upon his return from the ground level to report on Raven's absconding with Jaune, she showed him venom the others had never seen. Yang and Ruby could only recall a single instance where Nora had been displeased with him, and that was over a missed breakfast. It seemed she valued Jaune at least slightly more than pancakes, hard as it was to believe.

Qrow -though still sitting in bed- was a bit more ambulatory and expressive, trying to wave Nora off. "He did the right thing, kid. Raven was being patient with him as it was by not skewering him when he drew his guns."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Nora snapped. "She came here to take Jaune away and she succeeded. We could've-"

"Done what?" Qrow quickly interjected. "You don't know her like I do. If you got in her way, she'd have cut you in two."

Nora took a moment to calm herself. She would've argued they could've fought her off, but after Team RNJR's decidedly losing battle against Tyrian, she had reason not to assume they could've fended her off. "And what about Jaune? What reason does Raven have to bring him back when she already has what she wants?"

"Raven needs Jaune to agree to accept her proposal," Qrow explained. "If he doesn't, he's no good to her."

"Um, not that I don't have faith in Jaune, but…" Ruby began, "…why? Why can't she just force him?"

Qrow looked past Ruby at his bedside to Yang, still looking sullen in the doorframe. He knew the real reason… but he didn't want to say it in front of her. Not when Yang hadn't told Ruby about their connection yet.

His gaze went a bit too long, and Ruby followed her uncle's line of sight to Yang. It wasn't like Uncle Qrow to ever bite his tongue… and why would he ever hold anything back in front of Yang?

"You can't just give Aura away," Qrow explained. "You have to link it with someone else. You need to let them in, meld your souls together. Maybe, maybe Raven could snatch it from him a little at a time, but my guess is she needs a lot… way more than she'll ever get if she tries to take it piecemeal."

Ruby heard her uncle talking, but she was no longer listening. Her attention was on Yang, still standing in the doorframe, quiet and brooding. It reminded Ruby of how Yang had been after Beacon, while she was recovering from her maiming and had become distant and withdrawn. She thought –she hoped- Yang had overcome that and returned to herself when they met up again in Mistral yet now… it was odd Yang hadn't offered an opinion on any of this. Ruby figured she'd barely get a word in edgewise while Yang formulated a plan to rescue Jaune and beat up the woman who'd apparently kidnapped him.

Ruby's sister senses were telling her something wasn't simply amiss, but very, very wrong here.

"You mean like Pyrrha did?" Nora asked. "She was the one to unlock his Aura."

"Makes sense," Qrow nodded. "An act like that binds the souls together, and makes it possible to move Aura between the two. If Jaune agrees to that, he can send all that extra juice he's got Raven's way."

Qrow's phrasing seemed to really irritate Yang, as Ruby saw her robotic hand clench its fist once again. Why? Why did this bother Yang so much yet somehow not lead to her planning a hunt for the kidnapper? Yang was usually very emotional, but now she seemed to be containing a lot of anger without a clear source for the feeling.

"Are you sure she'll bring him back?" Ren finally asked.

"No," Qrow admitted. "But she needs him to work with her. So if your boy Jaune wants to see you again before he goes off to get hitched, he'll convince her to bring him back."

Yang was gritting her teeth, glaring outside the room and out into the hall. Something was definitely troubling her. Something big.

Ruby stood up from Qrow's bedside and stepped over to Ren and Nora. "Guys, can you keep an eye on Qrow for me for a bit? Wanna talk to Yang about something."

Nora seemed surprisingly eager to accept her request. Ren seemed content there'd be a witness around while Nora remained displeased with him.

When Ruby stepped over to her big sister she took hold of Yang's hand, very deliberately taking the Atlesian tech and pulling her forward. Yang seemed caught off guard, largely dead weight in Ruby's hands as she was led along. "Rubes?"

Ruby continued to lead her forward, waiting until they were a good distance from Qrow's room before turning around to face Yang and simply directing her: "Spill."

Yang considered playing dumb, but only briefly. Ruby had a look in her silver eyes that suggested she wasn't interested in being patronized while her best friend was off in some stranger's clutches. She was seeking answers, and knew Yang was in on some of the secrets being kept from her. And Yang had kept secrets: one for her sister's sake, and for the sake of the memory of her –of their- mother, Summer Rose.

But the other secret… it hadn't even been half a day, and Nora and Ren already knew. Yang really would've preferred she had a chance to speak to Jaune again before this, to get his input and know where he stood, where he thought things were going… or had been going before Raven decided to interject herself.

Her silence was already telling Ruby a great deal. And the longer Yang hesitated, the more her baby sister might realize how much this secret had affected her, or worse, Ruby might think back to Yang at her lowest, when she'd been unable to respond to even the most sincere gesture of love and affection, and Yang never wanted to let Ruby see such doubt again.

Yang took a deep breath and then said very quickly and very quietly: "Jaune and I hooked up."

Ruby didn't seem to grasp her meaning at first. "Hooked what? Why would Jaune-" Eventually it dawned on her; even Ruby wasn't quite so innocent as to misunderstand Yang's lingo. "Oh."

"It was just a few hours ago," Yang explained, finding herself mumbling, embarrassed to acknowledge it; not because she was ashamed, but only because of how quickly it had occurred, and right under her sister's nose. "We sparred together and caught up, and I saw him feeling down and invited him to have a drink and…"

What should she say next? No doubt Ruby would be hungry for details… but then again, perhaps not, considering the participants involved were her best friend and her big sister. Ruby's expression wasn't exactly one of disapproval; more like confusion. Yang understood why she'd feel that way. Yang wasn't certain how she herself felt.

"You… like Jaune?" Ruby finally asked, her voice once more turning meek and timid.

Yang thought long and hard. Did she?

Yes, but not like this. Yet when Raven dragged him away, she'd felt jealousy, somewhere in the back of her mind. She'd felt possessive of him, as though Raven's claiming him for herself had been some personal theft from Yang rather than, say, from his teammates and closest friends. She was upset Raven hadn't even acknowledged her, but that was only one of many strong emotions that ran through her at that moment… and still churned slowly beneath the surface now.

"I don't know how I feel about Jaune," Yang admitted. "We didn't get a chance to talk before… before Raven showed up. Kind of a lot's happened today."

"No kidding," was Ruby's dry response.

For a long time both were silent. Ruby uttered a quiet, very awkward cough.

"Are you worried about him?" Ruby asked.

A day ago, Jaune had been a friend from school. Not even necessarily a close friend… someone she'd smile at and wave to, maybe someone she'd hug if the mood took her (and she could endure Pyrrha glaring daggers at her), someone she'd make small talk with. She didn't know about his family, or his home, or his hopes and dreams, other than wanting to be a huntsman and do right by his family name. When she spent time with him it was usually in tandem with the rest of his teammates, and before seeing his new training method and their sparring session she'd never indulged in a single romantic thought about him.

Now he was her first. Whatever he'd been before, he was an important part of her life now. It'd be easy for her to blame the alcohol or their mutual sorrow bringing them together, but Yang didn't want to consider the act a mistake. She didn't want to think what they'd shared together was wrong just because it hadn't been something either of them had planned.

And when she thought back on what they'd shared, when he took hold of her hand, showing the same acceptance of her changes Ruby had, and then when he'd held onto that hand all throughout, feeling cold metal against his body and willingly intertwining his fingers with hers', allowing her to feel him and let go of any shame or doubt she felt with the new appendage… and when he held her hand as they lay in bed together, never releasing that spark she'd felt the first time he held onto her…

Yang wasn't sure what word was best to describe that feeling. But she didn't need to know exactly what it was, so long as she knew she didn't want to let it go.

"Yeah," Yang finally admitted.

"That's how you know," Ruby told her.

Yang looked down at her robotic arm, flexing her fingers. She'd gotten used to reaching out with their artificial senses, the electricity they sent into her neurons to simulate the same feelings she'd had when her arm had been made of flesh and blood.

Her fingers felt cold now, without his hand to hold.

Raven had been delayed in following Jaune into the pathways, and as a result emerged a good distance from him as he'd tumbled through the dark. This place didn't adhere to the usual geometry of a plane like the remnant it sat adjacent to: when Raven walked on the surface of the dark, she stood perpendicular to Jaune, who hadn't even realized what he'd wandered into.

With the small piece of his Aura she'd retrieved, Raven embedded her sword with his light, cutting into the gaps to shorten the breadth of her journey, the soul seeking to rebuild and complete itself. She allowed it to guide her, and moved quickly in pursuit of it, because she knew the creatures would pursue her now that she'd dared enter their house.

Jaune's light had kept many of them at bay, so hopefully if Raven drew nearer to it they'd abandon their pursuit of her. She could already hear their whispers, and she could hear their skittering feet and their flapping wings. They saw their means of escape, and they would try to reach her while the opportunity presented itself.

There was only one clear light in this void, and Raven made a beeline for it. She didn't break her stride for even a moment, not stopping even when she slashed at an oncoming adversary on her right, dividing it from its outstretched limb, depositing the offending appendage into another section of the pathway, buying her time and diverting the attention of one of the innumerable horde.

She raced to him, pulling the two disparate strands of light together, illuminating more and more of the dark path and eventually finding her quarry, only to find she wasn't the only one interested in acquiring him.

One of the horde was encircling him, slowly drawing him into its web. It must've been an elder to have grown so large and so bold, with its spindly and segmented legs gradually enveloping Jaune under their sheer number…

"Jaune!" Raven called, her voice reverberating in her mask and echoing through the dark, the sound sending some of the younger and smaller ones away.

Jaune started to turn, and the elder reacted, trying to close its trap and ensnare Jaune in its many legs…

Raven concentrated, reaching out with her Aura to bind the fragment of Jaune's blade to either surface of her sword, and then added a second helping of energy as she reached out with her Semblance and found the gaps in the smothering darkness, the places where she could move the matter around…

Raven struck in time, striking at the elder's spindly leg, driving half of the limb to elsewhere in the void. The elder screeched in pain and drew back, but remained before her. Clearly it wouldn't give up on its target when it had been so close.

Jaune -who likely couldn't see his dangerous adversary- asked her: "Why did you do that?"

Qrow was right; he was slow. "What did this one promise you?" Raven demanded.

"Promise me…?" Jaune repeated, but Raven had no time to inquire further. The elder righted itself on its remaining legs and moved to capture Jaune again, and Raven once more had to utilize more of her Aura, severing another of the creature's legs and sending it back again.

She might be able to best this elder, but the others already knew of her arrival. If she exhausted too much of her energy, she'd be left vulnerable. If they managed to summon their courage and attack in force she'd be outmatched. If this old one succeeded in capturing Jaune Arc, all this would be for naught.

"Give me your Aura," Raven flatly instructed.

"What?" was Jaune's eloquent reply.

She had no time for this. She had to show him what they were up against, before his ignorance cost them further. She had tossed him into the pathways for the express purpose of educating him, and the best lessons were memorable.

And direct.

Raven slashed Jaune where his armor was weakest, and -as she expected- his Aura responded to absorb much of the impact, flickering along the surface of his body. Raven concentrated, bending the fabric of the dark and pulling the bright yellow pulse of his soul to the surface of her blade.

Jaune winced and held to his unarmored side. Raven took hold of the back of his head with her free hand and pushed him to look forward, to see the monster about to ensnare him…

Jaune's blue eyes widened as he saw it, a shadow illuminated by the light now encircling Raven's great sword, of a multi-legged, spider-like creature reaching down towards him, though he couldn't make out greater detail than that. He could, however, see when those details were altered by Raven's blade, as she slashed the spider-like creature, bisecting two of its spindly legs. It staggered back, its shadow becoming darker and murkier as the light faded on the surface of Raven's sword.

"What did it promise you?" Raven demanded. "Why did you listen?!"

Jaune was still taken aback. Raven growled to herself as she pushed Jaune forward and slashed across his back, disrupting his Aura again and drawing the light to the surface of her blade.

She had to concentrate now, and find their way back. She searched for the disruptions of the remnant adjacent, to the point where reality bent and contorted, responding to the uncontrollable misfortune generated by her twin. Raven saw where they needed to be, and pulled Jaune down to join her on her section of the pathway, having to carry his extra weight behind her as he failed to find his footing.

As Raven ran –as best she could dragging his dead weight- Jaune looked behind them as the multi-legged creature chased after them, accompanied by other, smaller creatures of varying shapes and sizes. Unlike the Grimm and their various uniform species, these creatures in the dark had no unifying feature: some looked almost humanoid, others like various animals, with wings and claws and tails. They ran the gamut of sizes, but Raven ran by them so quickly Jaune couldn't make out all the details of them. Some actively fled from his and Raven's path as they ran by, others joined the large spider creature in chasing them.

Jaune tried to stand -to run alongside Raven- but found no 'ground' to plant his feet upon. The beasts and shadows pursuing them had no such difficulty, pursuing on the same path Raven ran along or crawling along the 'walls' illuminated by his Aura on her blade, or even seemed to simply float through the empty black in their chase. Jaune wasn't sure which of these things had spoken to him, but they seemed less interested in making any sort of pact now and more likely to cut him up with their claws or their spindly legs.

Raven was beginning to lose her step as she tried to manage the extra weight. She slashed to her right at one of the creatures drawing a little too close, but carrying Jaune with her left arm, she'd left another flank unprotected…

She was struck in the side. Her Aura, already directed to her blade, made for a feeble defense that the creature's claw easily pierced. She felt it scratch right through her black cloth and dig deep into her armor plating… eventually driving several gashes deep into her skin.

Raven kept running, trying to will herself towards the distortion. But she felt blood dribbling down her side, all the way down to her hip and along her leg… she was slowing down, and if she continued to lose her step… if she didn't reach the exit in time…

Another creature struck her unguarded flank. This time she had no Aura to shield her at all and took the full brunt of the attack. Raven tumbled forward, flinging Jaune over her head and she rolled along the dark floor, skidding to a halt.

Jaune, still floating through the dark without ground to stand upon, looked back at Raven lying on some indiscernible ground, her sword lying a few feet from her hand, still illuminating the legion of creatures chasing them, drawing closer to Raven while she was vulnerable.

She'd thrown Jaune into this nightmarish place, attempted to bind their souls together against his will, and deliberately cut him several times since she'd found him in here. Yet she was his only means of escaping this place –short of agreeing to the spider monster's offer- and more pressingly, she was still a human being surrounded by monsters. He may not have graduated and become a huntsman, but defending others from monsters in the darkness was what he'd devoted his life to doing.

Jaune wiggled about in the dark, trying to find something to stand on, but failing that he pushed himself towards Raven, even in his slow floating motion. He drew Crocea Mors and continued to force himself closer to her.

Raven was gradually managing to her feet, and Jaune saw the pair of bleeding wounds in her left side. He was tempted to make a smart comment about the predicament Raven had placed them in, but he really figured there'd be a better time. He continued to move closer, trying to reach a hand out towards Raven as the monsters in the dark continued to fall upon her.

Raven summoned her strength and reached out to pull Jaune by his wrist, dragging him beside her and then pushing him down, giving him a solid surface to stand upon in the dark pathways. Jaune turned his attention to the approaching monsters, readying his sword and shield.

"Is this what you wish, wandering light?" the spider-like creature whispered, in more hiss than words. "To die beside your jailer?"

Jaune raised his shield and stood between Raven and the horde. "You won't be killing anyone today."

He heard Raven's haggard breath behind him as she picked up her sword, pressing her back to Jaune's as she faced off against others of the horde, even the smaller ones finding courage now that they had their prey surrounded.

"I need you to trust me now," Raven told him. "I've shown you why I need you –and it pains me to say I need you- and right now you're our only way out."

"How?" Jaune asked, keeping his eyes on the spider creature and its allies, slowly creeping nearer.

"Give me your Aura. Willingly bind it to me," Raven instructed.

"Uh… okay," Jaune agreed. "And I do that… how?"

Raven couldn't believe this boy had somehow survived travelling Anima this long. She reached her free left hand over and took hold of Jaune's wrist and snapped at him: "Don't fight me. Just let this happen."

Jaune didn't much like the sound of her wording, but complied. He felt himself becoming rapidly more worn down, his armor feeling heavier on his chest and shoulders, his shield weighing down on his arm…

He saw the spider creature drawing close, its shadow growing dimmer…

Then a surge of light, all around him, as Raven forced him to the invisible ground, swinging her sword over his head in a wide arc, cutting many of the innumerable shadows in twain. The spider creature fell forward, unable to support the weight of its central body with too few legs to hold it up.

Jaune felt himself being dragged along something that felt like flat ground, seeing the heel of Raven's boots ahead of him, a single point of red in the dark. Raven was saying something he couldn't make out, still illuminating their path with his Aura encircling her blade.

Jaune faintly saw some of the shadows in his peripheral vision, lining up on either side of Raven but never daring to engage her. Even as she staggered and Jaune felt a drop of her blood splatter on his cheek the creatures did not continue their pursuit.

Raven found the distortion she was seeking, and when Jaune looked up he faintly saw one of the dim lights he'd seen before, the place where the darkness was not so thick, and illuminated by Raven's blade he saw what looked like some sort of air current, pushing the shadows back and forth.

Raven cut into it, and stepped through, pulling Jaune along behind her…

Nora wasn't sure what Ruby saw in her uncle. He constantly stunk of liquor and seemed to enjoy telling stories about himself; mostly stories where he ended up getting drunk in some seedy tavern and somehow winning over a local waitress with his charms. Every single story seemed to involve him indulging his alcoholism and womanizing his way through every town he passed through… it was a small wonder Ruby turned out to be the good girl she was if this was one of her primary role models. Nora would make a point to extoll a favor from Ruby after the fact if she had to put up with Qrow's company much longer.

She was just about to reach for her hammer after one of his particularly derogatory remarks, only for her attention to be drawn to a portal appearing beside Qrow's bed. She and Ren immediately readied their weapons and Qrow sat up, only to stagger back a bit onto his pillow as he overexerted himself.

Raven emerged, dragging Jaune behind her, the blonde lying flat on his face as she pulled him onto the wooden floor of the inn. Nora immediately rushed to his side, reaching down to help him up and support him at his shoulder. As she helped Jaune to his feet, Nora noted the wound in Raven's left side and the blood still dripping down her armor and onto the floor… she'd been wounded, and based on how heavy her breathing was on the other side of her mask, probably quite vulnerable. If they worked in tandem, she, Ren, and the sisters could maybe deal with her in a way that didn't require giving Jaune to her for the rest of his life.

"What happened?" Qrow replied, intervening quickly to defuse the tension before Nora got anymore ideas.

"I showed him what we're up against," Raven explained. "I showed him why I need him."

Ren stepped over to help Nora carry Jaune, the two setting him down on the bed adjacent to Qrow's. He took a moment to gain his bearings and –though he didn't seem to be harmed- he seemed just as winded as Raven with his haggard breathing. "I'm… I'm okay, guys… I just… I saw them…"

He wasn't sure how to describe what he'd seen. He wasn't sure he'd believe it himself were the monsters in the dark not so fresh in his memory.

Jaune looked up at Raven, then to the wound in her side. "Look, I'm sure now's not a great time to talk, but now you've forced me to pay attention. So tell me."

"Tell you what?" was Raven's flippant reply.

"Why you need to marry me," Jaune replied. "Why do you need that when I could just give you my Aura and you could fight them off?"

Raven was slow to respond, waiting until she caught her breath, still holding her side, willing the wound to scab over under the pressure she'd applied. "I'm thinking about the future, Jaune Arc," she explained. "I could've cut you until you bled out every last drop of your soul, and it'd have been enough to fend off that horde we faced. But that was only a small detachment of the army wandering that darkness.

"And you could let me draw it from within you, using it as fuel, but without binding our souls together, I was vulnerable to the enemy's attack," Raven continued. "It doesn't matter how powerful your strike is if there's another enemy waiting to hit you before you can attack again. Your Aura is powerful, and it damaged them… but it is still your Aura, and if I were to use it I'd have to leave myself without my own protections. Until we have sealed the pact and be made as one, you are a sword without its shield.

"And finally, because I am not the only one who peers into the gap," Raven added, glancing at Qrow, who pointedly averted his eyes "Because there are others who might try to reach into that dark and find their way in, I want to pass your Aura on… to the next generation."

Jaune wasn't quite dumb enough to miss her implication. "You want to-?"

"Please," Raven interjected. "Not the point. The point is the enemy is getting stronger, and if you agree to join me, I can keep them at bay. If you don't… eventually, inevitably, they'll find their way out. They'll find their way to this remnant and make it just as black and empty as their home."

Jaune recalled what the spider creature had offered… the first two suggestions had involved death and destruction. Many of its peers had been afraid of his light, encouraging others to 'smother' him and 'wash him away'. Whatever temptation he'd felt at the possibility of returning to the past, of writing the wrongs before now…

"And what will you do if I don't?" Jaune asked.

"I will fight as long as I can," Raven promised. "But eventually I will weaken. Eventually, they will overwhelm me. I don't know how long it'll be –I'm sure this trip bought us at least some time while they rethink their movements- but it'll happen, sooner or later."

"You said you'd heard them all your life," Jaune reminded her. "Why is this happening now?"

Raven glanced back at Qrow, who still avoided looking at his sister. Nora and Ren remained perplexed, and Qrow's lack of response left them even more lost. Raven turned her attention back to Jaune and said: "They sensed another distortion fading, and pounced on the opportunity. When they saw that I had faltered too… they knew their chance had arrived."

"But Qrow'll be healed in a few days," Nora interjected. "Then they won't have any reason to keep trying, right?"

"They'll have more reason to," Raven flatly replied. "Because his Semblance will once again assert itself and distort the energy of this remnant further. Once my brother is healed, they will be able to cut me off from him again, and I won't have anywhere to retreat to."

Silence hung in the room.

"I know this is a lot to take in," Raven allowed, her words still blunt but her tone much softer. "And I'm sure this isn't the life you pictured for yourself. So take time and weigh your options. Decide your course once your mind is clear."

Raven patted at her wound. "I'm sure you need time to rest, and I'll need some time to heal. Take this day and consider my request. Speak to those you love, set your affairs in order, decide on what price my tribe must pay to add you to our ranks, and prepare for your new life. I won't force you to come with me… I'll leave our fates to you."

She stepped forward, hobbling a bit on her unsteady feet. She hesitated a moment at Jaune's beside, turning her masked head to look directly at him. "And for my daughter's sake, come with me. Do not think she'll be safer in your bed. Forget what you had and be ready to move on."

"Your what?" Jaune barely muttered as Raven stepped outside.

"You what?!" Qrow snapped, turning his attention to Jaune. Ren and Nora glanced sheepishly at him as Jaune thought on what Raven meant. Qrow had no such difficulty, as he tried to drag himself out of his bed, approaching Jaune with clear malicious intent.

Jaune could swear his life made sense a few hours ago. Even in mourning as he was, he had some sense of his place in the world and could push on despite the pain of his loss. Even pursuing someone strong enough to command people as powerful as Cinder and Tyrian, Jaune felt fewer things were trying to kill him back then.

And as Qrow drew nearer, Jaune was less concerned with the impending attack of an overprotective uncle than the fact the woman asking to marry him to protect the world from evil shadow monsters was the mother of Yang Xiao Long, the first woman he'd ever taken to bed.

And he thought he had girl problems before.

Raven staggered into the nearest unoccupied room and sat on the nearest bed, propping herself up against its headboard and the wall behind it. Once she found a comfortable groove she rested there, even as she bled onto the mattress. She'd made a point to pay the innkeeper for two meals, but she really wasn't inclined to pay for a room right now. She'd sort that detail out later.

Until the door opened and a familiar girl stepped inside, lighting up the room with her shining blonde hair, fair skin and lavender eyes. For a long time she just stood in the doorway and looked at Raven.

"What do you want?" Raven asked, harsher than she might've intended to be.

"You're the one in my room," Yang told her. "Did you finally decide to acknowledge me?"

Raven never intended to acknowledge her. She hadn't expected to ever see this girl again. "What do you want me to say?"

"I have a lot of questions," Yang answered simply. "I'm sure you can guess a few of them."

Raven sighed. She had hoped to avoid this, but she needed time to heal up, and so long as she'd be taking away the boy her daughter liked enough to lay with… "Very well." She gestured to the second bed in the room, and Yang sat across from her.

Raven reached up to remove her mask, finally meeting her daughter's eye. When their eyes met, Raven saw the blazing red behind the cool lilac. "Yang…" she began slowly, "we have a lot to talk about."