The prompt this week was "Shortly after abandoning Tai, Raven gets pregnant with another child. 17 years later, her two children meet."
"OK team!" Ruby cheered. "It's time to shake off the rust from the semester break because it is-"
"Yes, Friday training, we know," interrupted Weiss. "There's no need to yell."
"Ah, let her get excited," Yang said. "We haven't sparred with each other in almost three weeks. I need to make sure I can still beat all of you."
"Ha!" laughed Ruby as she walked into one of Beacon's training rooms. "We'll see just who's beating who when- And it's occupied."
Sure enough, another team, two girls and two boys, were in the middle of a four-way bout in the middle of the room. None of them were familiar to Team RWBY, but they looked like first-years.
"Didn't you reserve the room?" asked Weiss.
"No," admitted Ruby.
"What? Why not?"
"It's 7:30 on Friday!" Ruby protested. "No one's ever in here at 7:30 on Friday!"
"Hold on," groaned Weiss. "Are you telling me that all the times we've come here you never reserved the room?"
"7:30 on Friday," Ruby mumbled.
"The students from the other schools are here for the Vytal Festival," Blake pointed out. "Of course the training rooms are going to be more crowded than last semester."
"Oh, were you guys hoping to train here?" asked a voice.
Team RWBY turned to see one of the girls who had been sparring now jogging over to them, or more specifically to a water bottle that was sitting on the floor near them. Her teammates were still fighting, so she must have gotten tired or run out of Aura.
"Yeah, but I guess that train's left the station," Yang replied, giving a winning smile.
The girl laughed brightly. "Yeah, if you wanted to train here, then you're on the wrong track."
"Them's the brakes!" Yang said with a chuckle.
The girl took a swig of water before answering. "Like a train's brakes? That one's a bit of a stretch."
"Yeah, but I couldn't just leave you Yanging! Oh uh, that's my name by the way. Yang."
The girl giggled. "I'm Yoki. We're from Haven." Then her face fell. "What's up with your friends?"
Yang turned to see the rest of Team RWBY staring at Yoki with eyes wide and mouths hanging open. It was no wonder they hadn't commented on any of the bad train puns; Yang had to nudge them to get them to react to anything at all.
"Guys? What's the matter?"
"Just look at her," replied Weiss.
Yang turned back to Yoki and really paid attention to her appearance for the first time. She and the Mistralian girl seemed to realize it at the same time.
They looked the same.
It wasn't exact. Yoki's skin was fairer, her eyes were darker, and her hair was more orange than yellow. But her face, her build, and her height were all the same as Yang. With some makeup, hair dye, and colored contact lens, they would have been identical.
"You-" they started at the same time, cutting off immediately. "I-" they tried again, to the same result.
"I never knew my mom," Yoki blurted out as quickly as she could. "Maybe…"
"I didn't either," Yang said slowly.
There were a whole mix of conflicting emotions written on Yoki's face. "Do you… know her name?"
Yang hesitated before answering. "Raven Branwen."
Yoki flinched as if she'd been struck. "Are you shitting me right now? If this is a joke it's not funny."
Yang frowned. "I'm serious. That's her name."
Yoki looked like she was going to be sick. "But that doesn't mean… You don't really think we're…"
Yang glanced to her teammates for support, but none of them seemed to know what to say.
"Hey, listen," Yang said softly, reaching a hand out towards the Mistralian girl.
"Don't touch me!" shouted Yoki. She spilled her water bottle as she used it to slap Yang's hand away.
"Hey!" yelled Weiss. "That was-"
"Yoki!" shouted one of the girl's teammates. The three Haven students ran over to stand around her protectively.
"What did you say to her?" demanded one of the boys when he saw the look on Yoki's face.
Yang gaped, struggling for words.
"Wait, why do you look like her?" asked the other boy.
Blake stepped in front of her partner.
"Yang didn't do anything wrong. They look alike, so Yoki started asking about Yang's mother."
The Haven students gaped in shock as they put the pieces together.
"Hold on," said Weiss. "They're both first years, right? There's no way that they could have the same mother."
"I skipped a grade," said Yoki, her voice completely dead. "I'm only sixteen. Gods, it's true…" Tears started to well up in her eyes as she choked out the last few words.
"My mom killed my dad."
Ten minutes later, Teams RWBY and CYAN were still sitting around the training room. They'd made it through introductions, and then fallen into an uneasy silence as they tried to comfort the two long-lost daughters of Raven Branwen.
Yoki was sitting against a wall, crying softly into the shoulder of her team leader and boyfriend, Cirrus. Her other teammates, Aurora and Noir, stood nearby and stared at the floor.
Yang was seated on a bench, her head resting in one hand while the other clutched both of Ruby's. Blake sat on her other side with a hand resting on Yang's back. Weiss stood sentinel by the door, watching in case anyone tried to come in.
"Do you want me to call Dad?" asked Ruby softly.
"No," said Yang, her voice not betraying any emotion. "I don't want to talk to him right now. You could try Uncle Qrow."
Ruby nodded and extracted a hand from Yang's to take out her scroll. She placed the call, but it didn't go through. Qrow either had his scroll off or he was somewhere without CCT coverage. Ruby sent a text asking him to call them.
Pretty soon after that, Yoki's sobbing quieted down. Yang waited another minute before speaking up.
"You said she killed your dad?"
Noir shot her a glare while Aurora just looked shocked that Yang would even go there.
"Do you want me to tell her?" asked Cirrus.
Yoki shook her head and slowly stood up, shrugging off Cirrus' attempt to help her.
"Um, I'm from a small village in Anima," she said shakily. "We got hit by bandits… three years ago. I wasn't there. I was… at combat school. But they told me the bandit leader killed my dad. Raven Branwen."
"That's her?" Yang asked incredulously. "That's who I've been looking for? A bandit leader?"
"You didn't know that?" asked Yoki.
"And she just… killed a guy she had a daughter with?"
"Maybe she didn't know it was him," Blake offered.
Yang stood up and whirled on her partner, eyes turning red.
"How could she NOT KNOW?" Yang shouted. Blake dropped her eyes to the floor. "No, I want to hear it, Blake. How could she not know that?"
"Yang," said Ruby firmly.
Yang glanced between her sister and her partner, then took a deep breath. Her eyes returned to their normal lilac color. "Sorry."
"It's OK," whispered Blake, not looking up from the floor.
Another minute passed before anyone spoke.
"My dad never told me about her," said Yoki. "Not even a name. I guess now I know why."
"My dad didn't tell me much," Yang replied, not turning to face her new half-sister. "Ruby's mom raised me as her own. If she hadn't died, I don't think they ever would have told us Raven was my mother."
"How did they know each other?" asked Yoki.
"They were-" Ruby started, then stopped and looked to her sister. Yang nodded, and Ruby went on. "They were on a team together at Beacon. Along with my mom and Raven's brother, Qrow."
"You tried to call him earlier," said Noir. "That means he's… in your life?"
"Yeah," confirmed Ruby.
Yoki rocked back a step. For a moment she just stared at Ruby and Yang, then she turned and pushed past Weiss to run out of the training room. Cirrus was close behind her.
"He's not a bandit!" Ruby called, but Yoki was already gone.
The six people left in the room stared at each other for a moment, before Aurora sighed and walked over to Team RWBY.
"Can we trade numbers?" she asked. "At some point she's going to want to get in touch with you."
For a moment Yang looked like she was going to say something harsh. Then she just sighed and took out her scroll.
After that, everyone went back to their dorms. No one felt like training after that. No one slept that night either.