Raven had spent the entire time pounding on the door. She wouldn't even look at Tai and Yang; she was just trying to escape. "Qrow!" she shouted again.

On the other side of the door, Qrow replied: "Talk to them, Rae."

"Scheming little brother, I swear I'll cut it down!" Raven threatened.

"And lose one of your only jump points?" Qrow replied. "No, I know you too well; you still need us in case you lose your nerve and need to do a runner. So why don't you just take twenty damn minutes to talk to your husband and your daughter about your issues? Before you run away and Salem kills us, I mean?"

Raven scowled at the door frame. With Qrow only a few feet away she couldn't open a portal to the hall. With Tai and Yang in the same room, she couldn't do much but bounce around the small location.

At least Qrow hadn't tied her up. Though apparently he'd been considering it…

No, he just wanted them stuck in the same room together so they could… she wasn't even sure what Qrow wanted to happen. Raven had already sorted through at least some of her issues with Yang all the way back at Haven, and she and Tai had… well, things had been better between them after she visited Patch, but he still grated on her with his insistence on trying to…

She'd already reconnected. Now he was trying to convince her to do more than that; to stay with her supposed family for longer than a few fleeting moments. Raven balked at the notion, because…

One night was simple. One moment was something easy to remember. More than that… the long stretches of time without particularly strong emotions, with the mundane day-to-day… she didn't know how Tai always managed it… how it appealed to him. He always insisted on complicating things and not letting the moments linger, always moving on to the next thing that had to be done rather than enjoying the good times.

Raven's eyes found Yang. Speaking of 'complicating things…'

Raven sighed. She'd appease Qrow just a little and give this a try. She was reasonably confident these two didn't actually want to talk to her all that much either..

"So… how's everyone doing?" Raven asked.

Yang sighed and scooted closer to her dad. "We don't wanna be here either, Mom. Uncle Qrow's just… well, you know him."

Raven nodded. "Yeah. He thinks we'll have trouble working together when the Grimm arrive tomorrow. Feel free to let him know he's wasting all our time with this."

"Maybe he's not, Rae," Tai interjected. "Given the last time we-"

"Drop it," Raven flatly instructed.

Curious, Yang looked between them. She took a moment to speculate. Her Dad didn't usually look quite so guilty, especially when he was talking about-

"Oh, god," Yang rolled her eyes. "Dad, you didn't."

Taiyang was never a particularly good liar. And Yang wasn't one to let people lie to her. "Yeah," he quickly admitted. "She came by Patch after that thing at Haven and we-"

"What is wrong with you?!" Yang demanded, her anger flaring up. "She- she worked with Cinder and just stood by while Cinder tried to kill Weiss! To say nothing of kidnapping her in the first place and whatever shady deal she cut with Salem…"

"I was trying to survive," Raven snapped. "I'm sure you've gained a greater appreciation for that by now, Yang."

"I'm not talking to you," Yang snapped right back. "You're not the one who needs a lecture."

"Don't be too hard on your father," Raven replied. "He was just happy someone finally came by to visit him. Old friends don't come by as often as you'd like."

Yang glared at her. "I have to be hard on him. He's the parent I'll still have when all this is done. After we win, you and your tribe will just go back to your camp and we'll never have to deal with you again."

Raven's own temper rose to the surface. Aura started to leak from her eye as she felt powers swirling within her, contorted by Yang riling her up. "You think you understand-"

"I understand that you don't want to be here and you're only helping us to save your own skin," Yang growled at her. "That's all you do. That's all you know how to do."

That struck her. Raven's Aura ripped off her shoulders. Tai quickly jumped up to intersperse himself between them. "Stop it, both of you, this isn't helping."

Ever the peacemaker. But neither Raven nor Yang were in the mood.

"Don't," Yang snarled. "Just don't, Dad. You know her better than I do and you still let her come crawling back into your life, and for what? How can you even let her in the door after all she's done-"

"And when have you ever had to make a hard choice, little girl?" Raven inquired. "When have you been faced with the responsibility of dozens of other people's lives and known you had to either do the bidding of an evil witch or try to run and provoke her ire? You and your little band of friends spent so long beneath her notice you didn't have to struggle to survive every single day!"

That was why Raven hated forward planning. It usually meant knowing someone would die if she couldn't keep things strictly organized, and a band of outlaws were unruly even when they were loyal. Her fleeing them for weeks hadn't done much to bolster her credibility… now she was just the devil they knew rather than the witch they didn't.

But those moments with Tai had helped her through it. They were memories to cling to when the minutiae of managing her tribe wore her down. Yang may have been an adult now, but she hadn't suffered enough to scold Raven. Not yet.

"We didn't struggle because we had our friends helping us!" Yang fired right back. "Because they wanted to help us, because they cared about stopping Salem and all the things she did! Are you really trying to tell me it's a harder choice to run than to try?"

Raven wanted to make that argument, because she really wanted Yang to be quiet. But she couldn't find the words in her scowling anger.

Tai knew the look. Raven immediately averted her eyes from both of them so she wouldn't have to see that same look reflected back in their eyes.

"Try for what?" Raven finally asked. "All this will do -even if we win- is slow Salem down and buy us more time. You're the one who doesn't understand, Yang: just because you try to do something good doesn't mean you can. It doesn't just magically make things better because you put in some effort; it doesn't make a difference if you can't actually change anything."

It was a futile struggle. Yet Yang still followed Ozpin's helpless struggle -even after he lied to her- and still clung to some delusion she'd make a difference and that this time things would be different and they'd stop the ancient, immortal witch because… Raven couldn't stomach to even think it. Because they tried?

Yang's burning red eyes blinked away. Lilac met Raven's red once again.

"Sometimes trying is enough," Yang replied, her voice turning softer. "Sometimes all you need to do to make a difference is… at least pretend like you can help, at least be there and put in some effort. You don't always need to gain something, you don't always need to get anywhere…"

It sounded like nonsense to Raven. Every action she performed had some tangible gain. Every mission was undertaken with the expectation of success. Was this the lesson Taiyang tried to impart to their daughter? That just trying and failing was somehow an acceptable use of her time?

No, that wasn't what emerged in Yang's voice. It wasn't Yang Yang was asking to try.

Raven felt the Aura fade from her eye.

"Yang..."

Before Raven had a chance to speak, Qrow all but broke the door down. "Sorry to interrupt boys and girls, but we've got trouble. Some of Salem's buddies are on their way to the Atlas resupply station; Jimmy's panicking and calling in all hands."

Raven scoffed. Ironwood hadn't changed… nor had his timing.

Yang paused a moment to compose herself. She drove one finger to her father's chest and pointedly told him: "We're not done talking about this," before she headed out to join the fight.

Tai himself stepped past Raven. "She's not wrong, you know. Sometimes trying is enough to make a difference."

Raven may have been willing to give her daughter some ground. She was too proud to give anymore. "Still such a fool."

She headed after Yang to join the fight. Tai smiled to himself, even as she rebuked him.

Yang broke through her mother's defenses. She'd made a difference.

It was okay if Tai hadn't. Because their daughter would get there and Raven would never see it coming.

She didn't believe trying would make a difference.