4

As Jaune drew forth Crocea Mors with a rasp he stepped forward to attempt to cut down the two murderers in front of him but was stopped when Ruby placed herself between him and the two criminals. His sapphire eyes bore into hers as she returned his gaze with a scathing silver one of her own, her arms held out.

"What are you doing Ruby?" He asked while faltering. He knew he wasn't imagining that she was, indeed, standing in the way of him getting vengeance.

"I need you to listen to me Jaune." She started off slowly, quietly.

"Don't you know who they are?!" Jaune shouted, causing her to flinch slightly.

"Of course I do!" Ruby replied, her voice raised a bit in response, "but-"

"Then how could you be here with them?!" He cut her off, "They- they killed her, Ruby! They're murderers."

"You think I don't know that Jaune?!" The small girl finally yelled back causing Jaune's mouth to click shut. She stepped forwards, the edge of Crocea Mors resting on her collarbone before he jerked it back, eyes wide and staring staring into her determined silver ones, "I have no other choice Jaune. Just hear me out. Cinder, their boss, is under the control of a Grimm. I can kill it and help save a lot of people that will get hurt."

"How. How can you sit here and defend them when you know what they've done?!" Jaune stared over her and glared at the pair with utmost hatred in his eyes, it was clear that Ruby was the only thing keeping violence from being had.

"Because I have no other choice Jaune! There are lives on the line and I'm not going to sit back when I have the ability to help."

"By helping them?!"

"If I have to! This is more than me or how I feel. Trust me when I say I would love to drag them to jail but I will do what I need to to make sure no one else dies."

"Pyrrha died because of them." Jaune turned to the side, no longer able to look at his friend, "I can't do this. I can't knowingly help you with this. C'mon guys." Gripping his sword tightly, Jaune turned and started walking back towards Ansel though he only got a few steps before turning to look at his remaining teammates who had yet to take a step. Nora looked torn, her eyes darting between Ruby and him while Ren's expression was, as always, unreadable, "Guys?"

"Jaune." Ren spoke up, "Ruby is our friend. This task she has undertaken is perilous. I- We want to help her. To watch her back. I don't believe Pyrrha would forgive us if we left her to fend for herself."

"That's not fair Ren." His hand was shaking as he desperately clung to his sword.

"Life isn't fair Jaune." This time it was Nora who spoke up, walking up to Jaune and turning his head to look at her. She smiled sadly when she saw the tears streaming down his cheeks. Using a handkerchief from her pocket she wiped them away, "It isn't fair. Pyrrha was taken from us but you know she'd want us to save those lives." She drew him into a hug, "Besides, if they try anything we can just break their legs. Ruby needs us."

Jaune stood in her embrace for a moment, head hung low and instead of replying to Nora he looked over to Ruby. His face betrayed his feelings, anguish clear on his face, "You're sure we need them?"

"Yeah. Cinder wrote a letter to us in a moment of clarity for her. She said she didn't know the whole plan but Haven was the next one to be attacked. Something about a valuable relic being stored there. She wants me to stop her, and Emerald and Mercury have agreed to turn themselves in if we can free Cinder from the Grimm."

Ruby launched into the details from the letter, about Salem and her the Maidens. By the time she finished Jaune's eyes were wide, his hand over his mouth. He may very well have fallen if Nora didn't have a hold of him. Even Ren had gone to his side as a scene of team solidarity.

"That's why Pyrrha died. That's what Ozpin involved her with!" Ruby looked at her friend in confusion, "During the Fall, Pyrrha said there was something Oz had offered her. Something that she needed to do. She'd been acting so weird but this explains it! I followed them to some kind of massive basement under Beacon. There was a woman in some kind of machine. Ozpin had Pyrrha get in and something happened, she started shouting in pain. And then…" Jaune trailed off, glaring at the criminal pair, "Anyways that woman must have been a Maiden, they must have been trying to give Pyrrha the powers."

Their friend had been killed over this, his partner had died for these powers and Ozpin had put her in that position. Jaune clenched his jaw so tight he could feel his teeth creaking.

"Jaune." He looked over at Ren, "I think Ruby is definitely right. This situation makes sense if you consider that they were forced. What reason would Emerald and MErcury have for going to Patch and contacting Ruby? It's a massive risk when they have an entire kingdom after them. We all saw what she did to that Dragon, her power is real."

"You're right, like usual." Jaune relented to the relief of the others present, "I told my Dad I was going to bring everyone back safe and sound. I'm not about to go back on that promise. An Arc always keeps their promise, after all."

"Thank you, Jaune." Ruby stepped up a little worried until he gave her a slight nod.

"Right, now that that's all over with. We should figure out where to next." Emerald spoke up. The pair had been quite the whole time, not wanting to antagonise Jaune for fear of him turning them all in. They couldn't afford to evade the authorities here.

"Airship travel is being watched heavily across Sanus and we can't exactly walk to Anima." Mercury added.

"So we go by boat. That leaves a few options, then." Ruby deliberated, " There's Northrend at the northern tip of Sanus, they do trading with Atlas but we should be able to find someone going to Anima, maybe a vessel bound for Argus, that or we go to Kingsport with trades directly across the straight to Kikeshi."

"Northrend is too small and too out of the way." Ren spoke up, "With how many are looking for...them…. It would be wiser to go to Kingsport. It's much larger and closer. We would have an easier time blending in."

"Pinky's right." Nora's hand twitched aggressively towards her hammer at Mercury's nickname for Ren, "The faster we're off Sanus and on Anima, the better."

"Alright then. Let's head out for Kingsport. Hopefully we can book passage there."

"And if we can't?" Emerald asked of Ruby, hinting at the rather notorious pair

Ruby bit her lip as everyone looked to her. It was obvious they were expecting her to have the answer but it was Jaune who came to her rescue, "We'll cross that bridge when we have two. Kingsport is still days away by foot anyways."

Letting out a sigh of relief she nodded at her fellow team leader who returned it. There was still a tension in the air and as they made their way away from Ansel she could see it in the way Jaune walked slightly behind everyone, keeping an eye on Emerald and Mercury with Nora and Ren flanking the group like an escort. Ruby was grateful for them coming along even though her stomach still flipped at the thought of putting her friends in danger.

With a deep breath she forced the thoughts away, she had to focus on other, more important, things now. Like what if they couldn't secure passage to Kikeshi or if Emerald and Mercury betrayed them. Oh they wouldn't, not yet at least. But once they had freed Cinder from Salem?

Well Ruby didn't expect the criminals to keep their word.

Yang stared out at the darkness, knowing what she would see if it were light out, the familiar sight of the place where she and her sister had grown up. The trees that had been there since she had been born were ingrained on the back of her eyelids. With a sigh the back of her head thumped against the wall that her bed was situated against.

Her arm throbbed.

It didn't, she was just imagining it. A phantom of a limb lost but it reminded her of what she didn't have.

That she was a cripple. That she had been weak and unable to do anything to protect those she cared about. That her partner had left her for her weakness.

Her arm throbbed in time to the dull ache in her chest. She felt empty, like nothing mattered. Everyone had left her. Weiss was taken, Blake left, and Ruby had run away. All of them had abandoned her. Even Qrow had left after learning Ruby had gone.

Only her father was still here for her. Oh she knew he'd rather go after Ruby and appreciated him having stuck around for her.

At least someone cared.

A sound droned in the distance. It wasn't the entertainment center, although her father was still awake he hadn't watched the news or anything since the Fall, without the CCT there was no signal to watch. Instead he busied himself around the house. No the sound was coming from outside and growing louder and stirred a muted interest in her, a mild curiosity. It was rare to get air traffic around patch, most took the ferry to Vale if they needed to get anywhere even though Signal did have a few bullheads of their own.

The running lights on the aircraft came into view and Yang raised an eyebrow as the ship descended into the clearing besides their cabin. Try as she might, however, she was on the wrong side of the house to get a good view of the craft in the dark, though she could make out the aft end which had a completely different shape to Vale's bullheads.

With a frustrated sigh she sat back and tried to go back to gazing out the window but the thought kept gnawing at the back of her mind until she got up and padded out of her room. She made her way to the top of the stairs that led down into the living room just in time for the front door to have been opened by her father, "General Ironwood?" Taiyang asked in surprise.

"Good evening Mr. Xiao-Long. May I come in? There's something I'd like to discuss with you."

"Uh. Sure. You want something to drink?"

"Something stronger than I should have while on duty. Though I wouldn't mind coffee if you have some."

"Yeah no problem."

Feet shuffled as the two moved the the cabin's kitchen, a chair scraped back and creaked as a weight settled on it. Clinking came from inside and Yang moved down the stairs to hear more of their conversation, "-okay with you?"

"Beggars can't be choosers, Mr. Xiao-Long."

"Call me Tai, it'll be easier."

After a moment of silence, "Taiyang, then. Call me James." She could hear the begrudging town in the General's voice, "How is your daughter, Yang?"

Another pause, "Not great but that's to be expected after what happened."

"Losing a limb in the line of duty can be a harrowing experience. Some never recover."

Yang's chest tightened.

"Yang's strong, James.."

"Indeed." Ironwood agreed, "I hope she doesn't let this deter her. She's a promising huntress. Both of your daughters are."

"She'll bounce back when she's ready."

"I hope so. Maybe Atlas can repay its debt to her then. I'm having one of my top men engineer her a prosthetic."

"Really?!" Her dad sounded excited at the prospect, even though Yang struggled with how she felt about it, "That's great news! I was actually looking to talk to you about something like that."

"Well you don't need to worry. Your daughter will be back to normal before you know it, however.." The General paused for a moment, hesitating, "I came to talk about your other daughter."

"Ruby? Did you find her? Where is she?"

Yang's breath hitched at the mention of her sister. Ever since Ruby had disappeared, she'd been in an even worse mood. This whole time she'd just felt unwanted and the constant nightmares about that Adam guy hadn't helped.

"Calm down. We spotted her and that's why I came to talk to you." There was a pause as the coffee machine beeped and Taiyang prepared a cup of coffee for their guest, "Thank you. I've hardly gotten any sleep since Beacon. Where was I? Oh yes, Your daughter Miss Rose. Soldiers on the checkpoint out of Vale spotted her leaving the city. Tell me, when you last saw her, was she acting strangely? Was there anything you noticed about her prior to the events at Beacon?"

From her position at the bottom of the stairs Yang could only furrow her brow in confusion. Ruby had been the same right up until she had abandoned them.

"No, nothing. Why?"

"Well when she was spotted at the checkpoint she used her identification to leave the city. It was proper. But what raised a flag was something found later in the archived footage. She left accompanied by these two."

There was the sound of something metallic being placed on their wooden dining table, "Who are these two?"

"They were identified as one Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai. Accomplices to Cinder Fall and the White Fang who committed the act of terror on Vale and Beacon."

Her heart froze in her chest at the mention of those two.

"What?! No, that can't be true. There's no way Ruby would be with them!"

"And yet here proof is that Miss Rose is traveling with those two."

"Yang?" The voice came from her father and she only then realized she had come to the doorway, her eyes glued to the image hovering above Ironwood's scroll. In it was clearly her sister presenting her ID to some official and behind her were Emerald and Mercury.

"Ruby's with them?!" Yang heaved, her breath coming short, "No. It's a lie. It has to be. They want to ruin our lives."

"Miss Xiao-Long, please calm down. I'm not here to make accusations. I'm trying to find out why Miss Rose might be with them."

"Ruby wouldn't be with them, at least not by choice." Her father spoke quietly but the comment robbed the room of warmth, or maybe it was just how Yang felt.

Could it be? She knew her sister, Ruby would never willingly help a criminal, willingly. What if they didn't give her a choice?

"You are sure?" Ironwood asked.

"One-hundred percent." The two stared at each other before the General stood.

"I'll relay to the authorities that we believe Miss Rose may be a captive of Black and Sustrai. Unfortunately that's the best I can do. Atlas is pulling out of Vale. The Valean council has ordered us to return and I won't risk further harm to our relations."

"Thank you for telling me, James. I appreciate it." Taiyang's heart wasn't in it and Ironwood looked like he understood.

He got up to leave and Yang thought about her sister. Had she not really abandoned her?

"Wait." The General stopped and turned towards her, "Weiss was taken by her dad right?" He nodded, "Then can you please make sure she knows as well? They're partners."

His hard eyes stared into lilac and she began to think he was gonna say no before he slowly nodded, "Miss Schnee seems to care a great deal for her partner. Very well, when I get back to Atlas I will be sure to inform her."

"Thank you General."

"Farewell Taiyang, Miss Xiao-Long." Without another word then General was out the front door, his craft rising into the night sky and disappearing into the night.

Yang stood with one hand on the back of a wooden chair for support, the silence between father and daughter growing by the second. Her hand was trembling so she gripped the wood so hard she felt a crack.

"It's okay, honey." Taiyang wrapped his arms gently around his daughter, "Qrow went after Ruby. If anyone can get her out of whatever she's gotten into, it's him." She buried her face into his chest, the scent familiar and warm.

"It's my fault." She mumbled into his chest.

"What?"

"It's my fault." She spoke out louder, "If I hadn't been so weak, so arrogant. If I hadn't lost I'd have been able to protect her."

"Yang." Her father was at a loss for words, "You couldn't have predicted that. This isn't your fault it's theirs."

"If only I was stronger."

"No." She looked up at him in surprise to find his blue eyes staring at her, steeled, "Being stronger is fine but it wouldn't have made a difference. Thinking like that… I don't want you to become obsessed with strength. You did everything you could, Yang, and the only thing left is to try and do better next time."

She couldn't think of how to reply to that so instead she sought comfort in his embrace again. No one else was here for her but she didn't need them, her father was enough.

A/N: I'm back, Lithium Rose is due for an update next.