"You're not even gonna say your name?" Nora swung her hammer low, high, and downwards; Neo jumped, ducked, and leaned aside. "Rude! I gave you ours!" She'd done so at the start of their fight, very loudly at that. Of course, Neo already knew their names thanks to the information Emerald had passed on from Beacon. She scowled at the thought of Cinder Fall's green-haired simp. It was beyond her, how that girl could be so devoted to someone who was obviously a piece of shit. And what was the deal with that rip-off Semblance, anyways? Imagine only being able to cast illusions on one person at a time! Pfft! Nora's hammer crashed into the floor following her missed attack, pulling her arms down into an awkward position. Neo took the chance to aim a hook kick at her undefended head, only for a green knife to block her boot. She nimbly cartwheeled away, and Ren's other blade sliced through thin air instead of her ankle. "I mean, this is, like, the second time we've met! Maybe third!" Nora continued. "It's a mouthful to always call you 'that pink and brown girl', you know?"

Did this kid love the sound of her own voice, or what? Seriously, what idiot bantered during live combat? Well...okay, Roman did, but who else? On her own, the hammer girl would've annoying, but not for long—Neo ate cocky brute-force types like her for breakfast every morning and dessert every night. Sadly, she was not on her own. Ren moved to engage, and that was a whole different story. He swung his twin gun-blades in carefully measured arcs, a far cry from his partner's all-out attacks. When Neo dodged, he immediately switched to defense, dropping down to avoid her roundhouse kick. A man of culture, that one. Not many people appreciated that the best offense was a good defense, and the best defense was not getting hit. She redirected her leg to come down on his head in an axe kick; from a near-full split, Ren executed a slick backwards handspring and somersaulted out of the way. His moves seemed awfully polished for an Academy freshman, and Neo wondered if he had some extracurricular experience, so to speak. Nora's hammer swung again, and Neo ducked again. She managed to strike the loud girl once with Hush, her trusty parasol, before she noticed Ren aiming both guns at her. Emerald light flashed from his muzzles, but Neo extended Hush's canopy and easily deflected the splash of bullets.

"Forget it, I'll just think of a nickname!" Nora said in a sing-song voice. Ren rolled his eyes, apparently as fed up with her antics as Neo was. The partners now attacked in sync, but Neo flipped clear of their pincer. She landed neatly atop a crate on the other side of the car. Hell yeah, that looked cool. "Pink, brown, and white, huh, that reminds me of...something." Neo favored Nora with half-mocking, half-encouraging smile. Getting there. Everyone settled on some variant of 'Ice Cream' sooner or later. "A cow! That's it!"

What?!

Eye twitching, she flicked the switch hidden in Hush's handle. A sword popped through the parasol's tip with a menacing snikt. "Look out!" Ren exclaimed. He quickly stepped in to save his partner from being skewered by the irate ice cream girl. "Nora, don't provoke her!" The fight dragged on, and Neo's mood bumped from annoyance up to slight frustration. Every time Nora missed a hit, Ren was in place to stop her from punishing the mistake. It was uncanny how well he knew his partner's weak spots. Had they really only met at the start of the school year? Taking him out first would be the smart move, but with his style, it wouldn't be a fast kill. It'd take time and focus to break through that defense, focus she couldn't afford with Nora lurking. Those big whiffs were simple enough to dodge, but one solid hit and, well, the phrase 'ice cream soup' came to mind. "No, you get what I mean, right?" Nora said, still obnoxiously cheerful. "Cows are white with brown spots, yeah, and pink udders!" Her eyes briefly flicked down, to the level of Neo's chest. "Udders?"

Okay, fuck this. Neo backed up a few steps and held up her hand. Ren and Nora saw her showing them a piece of paper with 'NEO' scribbled on it. Yes, it was an illusion. Yes, she was actually burning Aura to tell them her name, Nora was just that annoying. "Neo? What kind of color is that?" the girl blathered on. Like she was one to talk. The hell kind of color was 'Nora'? "Neo Brown? Neo Pink? Neo White?" she snapped her fingers. "Oh, I get it, like the ice cream! Why do they even call it that?" She finally noticed that the Neo in front of her wasn't moving at all. "Uh, boop?" She prodded the image with her hammer, only for it explode into a million glass shards. "Ahh!"

"A decoy! It must be her Semblance!" Ren spun in circles, peering into every corner of the train car, but saw nobody there. "Huh? Did she...just run away?"

Nora laughed. "Guess we were too scary!" She slung her hammer over her shoulder, flexing in victory. "Neapolitan ice cream, though! Why? It still bugs me, Renny!"

"Really not the time—" Ren began, before relenting under her insistent gaze. "I think it's named after the city of Naples."

"Where the heck is Naples?" Nora asked. Ren opened his mouth, then shut it. Everyone present felt an inexplicable shiver of existential dread. "Eh, never mind!" Shaking her head, Nora ran forwards into the next carriage.

"Hey, be careful—"

"Come on!" Nora called back. "We gotta go help Ruby and—hrk!" The smile slipped from her face. She stared down at the thin blade that had stabbed her in the chest; Neo's triumphant pink and brown eyes met her shocked turquoise ones. The mute's lips curled into a malevolent grin. Gotcha. She loved her Semblance. Few, even her supposed allies, understood how it worked—she couldn't exactly talk through it, to be fair, plus a lot of people who saw it tended to die right afterwards. Poor Mercury Black was under the impression she could teleport, which was inaccurate, if flattering. When pressed for an explanation, Roman had shrugged and told him "it just works." In truth, it was illusions all the way down. After casting the image of herself, Neo had put up a series of false walls depicting an empty train car, used their cover to escape into the next car, and dispelled them. There, she'd set up another wall, and lain in ambush behind it. As she'd hoped, Nora had let her guard down and wandered ahead of her partner, right into the trap. Pink Aura flowed from the wound along with a trickle of blood. Neo immediately knew it was too shallow; she was grudgingly impressed that Nora had enough command of her Aura to stop Hush from piercing her heart. Or was it her bust that had done it? Regardless, this wasn't going to end well for her. Her weapon was stuck at an awkward angle over her shoulder, not to mention the massive Aura loss from getting hit in such a vital spot. Before Nora could recover, Neo simultaneously headbutted her and kneed her between the legs (not just a weak spot for the guys, fun fact). With her off hand, she pulled the heavy hammer from her opponent's loosening grip, and swung her it into her cranium. Nora let out a soft gasp and toppled backwards, jerking her arms in that funny way concussed people did. Neo drew back Hush for the finishing blow, and—

"NORA!"

Well. This had turned into an awkward situation. Raven pulled herself up by her sword's hilt, and carefully balanced on the part of Omen's blade that stuck out from the wall. Not the most comfortable place to stand, but at least she looked sort of dignified while her daughter shouted at her. "You—YOU!" Yang sputtered, angrily gesturing with her index finger. "Don't you dare leave! I want answers!" How had her brilliant plan gone so wrong? Step one, sneak into Beacon the day first years chose their missions. She'd suspected Ozpin would assign her and Summer's daughters something ridiculously over their heads, to try and get Team STRQ: The Sequel off the ground, and by the two very real gods, she'd been right. Step two, tail them on their mission. Easy enough, in spite of Qrow's provocations and that unfortunate incident with the exploding building. Step three, save Yang if she got into mortal danger (or rather when, considering her little brother's millstone of a Semblance), then make a suitably mysterious exit. That was when things had hit a snag. To be fair, a giant skeleton arm coming out of nowhere would've surprised anyone, even a shapeshifting Spring Maiden. Seriously, what the hell was up with that?

"Erm...hello, Yang." Raven began. Damn it, this wasn't how it was meant to happen! She'd envisioned her daughter finding her in the midst of her camp after an arduous search, seated on her throne like the great and terrible bandit queen she was, not catching her like a child with a hand in the cookie jar. She was sorely tempted to cut her losses and portal out, but at this point, it would accomplish nothing but make her look like a weak coward, and she was neither. Raven had defied immortal wizards and queens alike, had delved into the darkest secrets of the world and come out intact on the other side; surely she had the strength to face a teenage girl. "So. I know, it's been a while—"

"Huh? You say something?" Yang cupped a hand to her ear. "Take off the damn mask!"

"Yeah, I can't hear a thing through that." A tired voice added. The Schnee boy had stopped laughing like a madman, and he pushed himself into a sitting position atop the white glyph. An interesting specimen, that one, even if Raven was a bit annoyed about him stealing her thunder. He seemed like quite a rational person, a far cry from the generically selfless and pure sort that the old man usually favored for leadership. She doubted he and Summer had much in common besides their first initials. "Why the hell are you wearing a White Fang mask, anyways?" With the King Tajitu's gruesome demise, the rest of the Grimm seemed content to mill about on the tunnel floor, incapable of reaching up to them (and perhaps unwilling to). The summoned arm dissolved into pale mist. After some hesitation, Raven unfastened her Grimm mask, figuring that the mystique had been well and truly ruined already. Yang gasped at the sight of a face so similar to her own. "You!...do you have any idea how many times I looked at that picture?" she growled. "How hard I tried to find you? And now you—you just decide to fucking show up! Why?!"

Raven felt a twinge of guilt. Her daughter had good reason to be upset. All that work, only to have her goal accidentally handed to her on a silver platter? Any true Branwen would take it as a slap in the face. "I didn't mean to insult your efforts. It's my fault for being so easily spotted." she apologized. "I...I've denied you the satisfaction of finding me properly, and for that, I am sorry—"

Yang laughed humorlessly. "Are you for real? I'm not mad about that!" she insisted, despite her eyes glowing red and her hair being literally on fire. "Just...very confused! I mean, since when do you care? How old was I when you ditched me and dad, like, two minutes?" Sable averted his eyes, tactfully pretending not to listen while Yang aired out her family issues at top volume. Their other teammates, the quiet bow girl and the hapless-looking blond, did likewise, still hanging from that ribbon. "I damn near died looking for you one time, and where were you then? If it weren't for Qrow we'd have been Grimm food!"

Come on, that was unfair! That had been years ago! Not that it stopped Qrow from giving her shit every other time they talked. "You survived, didn't you?" Raven said defensively. "And surely, you can't expect me to protect you at every turn. The world is cruel, Yang, and you must learn to stand on your own—"

"I was FIVE!"

"Yeah, protecting you is kind of what moms are for, right?" The other boy on the team, Juan or whatever his name was, offered his entirely unsolicited opinion. "Um...no offense, Mrs. Xiao Long—"

"Be quiet. You have no idea what you're talking about." she said sharply, and he closed his mouth in a hurry. "Also, it's Branwen." She didn't need parenting advice from anyone, least of all some blond mediocrity half her age. "That is why I'm here, though." she admitted. "As your mother, I acknowledge that I owe you a debt of, um, kindness, a debt that I've yet to pay."

"Um, okay." Yang took a second to digest that statement. "So...in other words, you're here to help?"

"Well, you're doing great so far." Sable said sarcastically. "How would we have survived those skeletons without you? Or the bomb, or the King Tajitu? Oh, wait!" He mimed punching and strangling something. "Looks like I'm the better mom, huh?"

Raven shot him a dirty look, which he returned. Maybe he wasn't so rational after all. There was a fine line between courage and insanity, and as far as she was concerned, deliberately antagonizing a Maiden crossed it. "Don't try my patience." she warned. "You've done well to make it this far, yes, but look around you. The tunnel's blocked. It's miles back to the surface, and gods know how many Grimm in the way. Face it, you could use my help." Concentrating, she visualized a network of invisible strings radiating out from her. One for Vernal, one for Yang, one for Qrow, a broken link for the teammate she'd never see again...finally, she located Tai's long-disused connection. "Here. Yang, my Semblance can make a portal to your father; you'll be safe there. I'll let your teammates through too." A generous offer, perhaps too generous. Raven's own mother would have saved Yang alone, and left the other three to fend for themselves—after all, they didn't have a drop of Branwen blood between them. But, well, this was the first real conversation she'd had with her child, and depending on how much Yang liked her teammates, letting them all die might sour the first impression a bit, so a four-for-one deal it was. Oh Raven, she chided herself, you spoil that girl too much.

Yang still seemed unsatisfied, generosity be damned. "Does it have to be dad? Can you portal to Ruby instead? Or Qrow?"

"Why?" asked Raven. "They're most likely still fighting on that train. I came to save you, not send you into more danger."

"Is that a yes or no?!" Sable demanded.

"...I could with Qrow." she admitted. "But—"

"Then send me to him!" Yang shouted. "My sister's up there, fighting for her life, and you expect me to run? Do I look like you?" She put a hand to her face, wincing. "Okay, not literally, but you know what I mean!"

"My sister too!" Sable added. "But I guess you wouldn't understand about family, huh?"

"Don't lecture me about family!" Raven spat. Did he think it had been easy for her to leave Tai and Yang behind? Vernal and the rest of the Tribe were family too, and it was only logical to choose hundreds over three (plus the Tribe had no plans to fight an immortal Grimm witch, but she ignored that traitorous thought). Taking a deep breath, she continued in a calmer tone. "Yang. Sable. If your sisters are strong, they'll survive without your help. If they're not, you'll only delay—"

"Are you here to help, or give us a fucking lecture?" Gritting her teeth, Yang dropped to one knee. "Please, mom. If it's too crazy over there, you can just send us all to dad, right? Help me help Ruby and we'll be even! You can forget about me, go do whatever it is you do..." The sight of her daughter kneeling to her was bothersome, somehow. Raven looked away, cursing her soft heart, and cursing Summer for infecting Yang with her useless sentimentality. "Mom!"

"Um, guys? Maybe we should take the deal." The bow girl—Blake, that was her name—spoke for the first time. She'd tied herself and Jim (?) into the ribbon so they could take a rest. "It's not like we could catch the train on our own. Even escaping from here...it'd be tricky."

"So what?!" Sable bellowed, making Blake flinch a little. He was awfully loud for someone who'd been on the verge of passing out a few minutes ago. "She could fix everything with two portals! Two!And she won't! Like hell I'll take help from someone like that!"

John's head bobbed up and down. "Yeah, it feels kind of dirty..." he parroted.

Raven raised a condescending eyebrow. "And your alternative is...what, exactly? Enlighten me."

"We do it ourselves." Sable crossed his arms disdainfully. "What, you really think we need you? The tunnel's blocked, sure, but we can dig around it, keep going until we find the others, and then on to Vale..." he shrugged. "Not easy, but I like our odds."

Raven tossed her hair and adopted an equally disdainful pose. "Hmph. All that, just because I didn't give you exactly what you wanted? To think I took you for a rational person." Blake and Jamie exchanged looks of utter bafflement; she ignored them in favor of the only person whose choice mattered. "Well, Yang? Will you follow a leader who values his pride over your life?"

"SHUT UP!" Raven nearly slipped off Omen's blade in surprise. Yang rose to her feet, looking ready to explode, but then the flames in her hair went out. "Don't talk to me." She turned her back with a somber finality. Ugh. Was this what they meant about kids going through a teenage rebellion phase? Sable barked some orders to Blake, and the dark-haired girl quickly climbed up her ribbon. Raven watched patiently. It had to be a bluff. She knew Yang could be proud and stubborn, but surely she wouldn't choose danger and death over safety out of pure spite. Surely. Climbing back onto the ceiling support beams, Blake pulled her sword loose and began moving over towards the white glyph, while James nervously admonished her not to drop him. Yang and Sable kept their eyes on the ribbon, not once glancing at Raven to gauge her reaction. Would she? Raven had a general idea of her daughter's personality from spying on her as a bird, but admittedly, they'd never spoken before today. Yang reached out to grasp the ribbon with her right hand. Would she really give up on her own blood so easily? Before Raven even had a chance to explain the truth...?

"Wait!" The word burst from her mouth, and she hated how desperate it came out. "I, um, I see you're serious. I had to be sure." she lied, forcing herself to sound more composed and less needy. "Of course I can send you to Qrow. It's no trouble at all." The renewed interest on Yang's face made her feel a little less pathetic, though she averted her sight from Sable's smug smirk. The little bastard drove a hard bargain, as she should've expected from that family.

Little Red didn't say a word. No grandiose promises about stopping Roman's evil schemes, no self-righteous speeches about justice, no tearful questioning of his motives. All she did was close the distance in a blink and try her damnedest to end his life. Melodic Cudgel whistled past her head, a second too slow. Roman gasped as the scythe's blade hugged his waist, lifting him from his feet; he could feel the thing biting into his guts. If not for Aura, he'd have been half the Ro-man he used to be. He fired a flare blindly from his cane, blasting some unlucky crate to smithereens. The recoil pushed him free of that deadly embrace, but before he could even breathe the Ice Queen came at him. He raised Melodic Cudgel, prepared to deflect however many icicles the Schnee heiress threw at him, only for her to send out a wave of flames instead. Bullshit! That attack was totally off-brand! Sadly, a thin cane wasn't well suited for blocking a wall of fire, and most of it landed on his clothes. Hot, hot, hot! He needed to get rid of this garbage before it ruined his signature outfit, or, you know, burned him to death. Blowing frantically on his coat, Roman ran at the locomotive's wall (which was annoyingly far away; somehow these train cars were much wider than they looked on the outside) and smothered his front against it.

The girls did not relent. Roman dived aside with an undignified yelp; a scythe ripped through the wall where his head had been. Little Red tore her weapon loose, a hank of orange hair still stuck to the blade. He backpedaled, barely parrying her lightning-fast strikes, and noticed too late that his foot had stepped on a pulsing black snowflake. The next thing he knew, he shot straight up in the air like a human firework. His bare head impacted the ceiling, making him see stars. Something hit him in the gut, flipping him so his head hit the floor as well; miniature Nevermores joined the stars in his field of vision. In his dazed state, he was aware of a blurry shape on his stomach, bringing something pointy down on his face—oh, shit! Roman instinctively grabbed it with both hands, yelling in pain when its razor-sharp edge sliced his fingers. Shit, where had he dropped Melodic Cudgel? Normally he wouldn't complain about the girl being on top, but when said girl was giving him crazy eyes and trying to put five feet of cold steel through his lung, he'd make an exception. He was pushing back on the scythe with all his strength, but even that wasn't enough to overpower whatever murderous spirit had possessed Little Red. The tip pressed down, down, down, ever closer to penetrating, and not in the sexy way either. To make matters worse, his left eye suddenly found itself looking at the point of a rapier, while his right stared down the red-tipped barrel of a familiar cane.

"Stop! STOP! I surrender!" Roman shouted. He was genuinely nervous that Little Red would ignore the safe word, but thank gods, the awful pressure lessened and she got up off him. "Don't move, Torchwick!" she ordered (with three weapons poking his face, he didn't want to anyways). "Now tell us! How do we stop this train?"

"I have no idea! It wasn't supposed to stop!" That wasn't even a lie. "I'm a thief, okay, not a train driver! The animals did all the work, and well, they're probably dead now..." He stared cross-eyed at the scythe, half-expecting it to come down and carve his head into a jack-o-lantern, but Little Red merely sighed and pulled her weapon back. "Welp, that sucks." she said. "Okay, Weiss, forget stopping the train, we'll just blow it up!"

Roman choked on his own spit. "Holy shit, what?!" The bulky bag on her back caught his eye. Had the Beacon staff trusted that girl with a bomb? Gods, why?! "Do...do you even know what you're doing?"

Weiss Schnee scoffed. "I've never bombed a train before, but it's all Dust stuff. I'll figure it out." She flicked her sword, and a black glyph appeared on top of Roman, pressing him into the floor. "Now stay here and shut up." Off they went to go play with explosives. A Schnee blowing up White Fang property, now that was irony. He would've laughed, were he not currently scared out of his wits.

"NORA!" The sheer volume of Ren's scream made Neo look up in surprise. The next thing she knew, two black shoes crashed into her gut and sent her flying. "NO!" Barely three seconds had passed since she'd stabbed Nora, but in that time, the boy had managed to process what was happening, catch up, and attack. Neo landed in a graceful crouch, seven or eight feet back. Quite an impressive kick. A pain in the ass (or stomach, rather), but impressive. At least Nora was down for the count, judging from the lack of pointless chit-chat. That was good. Alone, Ren would be much less trouble. They might have similar styles, but he was still only a kid, not a seasoned killer with years of industry experience. No way was he going to out-Neo her. And if he tried to stop her from landing a kill-shot on Nora at the same time, it'd only be harder. Honestly, his odds of surviving would be much better if he let his irritating partner to die. Surely he knew that, clever boy that he was, but for whatever reason he seemed against the idea. He stood protectively in front of the other girl, body spread out to shield her; Neo could make out little except a pair of boots and a mass of pumpkin-orange hair. All signs indicated a man prepared to die before stepping aside. Hmph. Death it was, then. Neo breathed in and raised her parasol; Ren stared at it, apprehension plain on his face, but put up his guns in reply. She hadn't noticed before, in the poor lighting, but his eyes were pink, the same shade as hers (sometimes) were.

He doesn't need to die...

Huh? Where did that come from? Since when did Neo's internal voice tell her to not kill people? Hmm, it was true, though, her job was only to stall the Huntsmen, and these two were pretty well stalled. Even if he survived the train, she'd be in disguise for the tournament, so he wouldn't recognize her anyways—no, Ren had seen her use her Semblance, he had to go—maybe not, he hadn't seen the full-body disguise part—ugh, was she really fishing for excuses just because the kid had some vague similarities to herself? What next, would she start sparing anyone who carried an umbrella or ate ice cream? Ridiculous! For Roman, she reminded herself; she had to do whatever it took, to make sure he survived this mess the Fall bitch had dropped them in. Although...what did it take? Those two were teammates with that Ruby girl, and there was a fair chance she would end up being the one to capture Roman. There was bad blood between them, and she'd already seemed pretty upset earlier; if she discovered her friends' deaths with Roman at her mercy...surely not? She looked like a such an innocent little thing. Neo knew, though, better than most, what awful things innocent-looking little girls could do.

"What? Colors..." Ren muttered. For some reason, his gaze focused on various spots to either side of her and over her head. "Neo? I...I don't know what you want, but please. Let me take Nora away from here." Oh, and he'd picked up on her inner conflict too. Probably from the fact that she hadn't impaled him yet. "I won't try and get revenge. I won't tell anyone what you did. I swear..." he swallowed hard. "I swear on my parents' graves." Neo didn't know how to feel about that. Usually people begged and cried about how much their living parents would miss then, rather than swear by their dead ones. The two orphans kept staring each other down, and Ren kept squinting at the air around her. Seriously, what was he looking at? She was sure she'd dispelled all her illusions. Maybe his mind was cracking under the pressure. "No, I think I understand now. You...you're afraid too?"

Afraid? As far as most of her associates could tell, Neo was as ice-cold as her namesake dessert. She'd long ago shoved her weaker emotions into a fridge and sunk it to the bottom of the sea, if she'd ever had any at all. Always confident, always in control, no pity, no remorse, certainly no fear. Part of her wanted to cut Ren's lying tongue from his mouth; another part wanted to scream and demand how he knew, even though that was impossible. Before she could do either, or something else entirely, there was a loud crash above. The blade of an axe stuck through the roof over their heads. "HERE'S PETEY!" a man's voice roared. She leapt back as the axe swung again, knocking a person-sized section of the ceiling loose. For gods' sake, there had been a perfectly good hatch right next to it! Two people dropped in through the hole. Neo recognized Pyrrha Nikos on sight. Four years ago, Roman had won a fat stack of Lien betting on her to win the Mistral Regional, then lost it all on her opponent the year after. He'd been so convinced the bookies were overrating her, but turned out they were a lot better at reading the odds than he was. "So much blood..." the so-called Invincible Girl muttered, with the eyes of a woman who had seen some shit.

"Pyrrha? Professor Port?" Ren gasped. With a slightly skeptical expression, he reached out and touched Pyrrha's arm. "You're real! Where did you—how?"

The other newcomer chuckled. He was a heavyset old man, and his hair and mustache had long turned grey, but a large part was currently dyed dark red. More red stained his clothes and rose steaming from his axe. Neo was familiar enough with the smell of fresh blood to guess what it was. "Well! We...erm, dealt with the White Fang easily enough, and then Zwei led us here." With one hand, he pet the dog that sat on his shoulder. "Good nose on that boy, eh?"

Now, Neo hardly considered herself a sensitive soul. She'd wet Hush's blade many a time in the blood of heroes and monsters alike, rarely with much guilt, and sometimes with downright pleasure. But honestly, there were things that creeped out even her. And this man...the eager eyes, the toothy smile, the way he treated being covered in blood like it was a luxurious bath, it all screamed crazy. Not the fun kind, either, but the head-in-the-fridge, wear-your-skin-as-a-vest kind. "Hello, my darling." Port purred at her, tongue darting out to lick some red from his weapon. "Mm. I've still got room for dessert."

It was time for Neo to leave. She had seen enough. Putting up another illusion wall, she ran out the door and jumped off the train. From her enemies' perspective, she'd simply snapped her fingers and vanished. Port sighed. "Drat. Looks like ice cream's off the menu."

Team SJBY were all gathered atop of the white glyph. Raven—still trying to look cool and aloof and definitely not bitter at all—twirled her hand in a circle. An oval of red and black energy spawned in front of them, swirling like an eldritch whirlpool, or perhaps a toilet after some bad Vacuan food. "Whoa." Jaune laughed nervously. "No offense, but it kind of looks like the entrance to some sort of...uh, hell dimension?"

Sable peered suspiciously into the portal. "Yeah, I don't like how we can't see the other end. How about—whoa!" A shower of rocks and concrete chunks spilled from the portal, piling around their feet. A squawking black bird, feathers covered in dust, fell out as well. It bounced on the edge of the glyph and rolled off, but then righted itself and flew over to Raven. The portal shrank to a pinpoint and fizzled, leaving nothing but a puff of red smoke. A moment later the bird was gone too, and Qrow Branwen hung from the tunnel wall by his weapon, breathing heavily. "Hey, Raven." he grunted. "Finally got off your ass, huh?"

"What?!" A vein pulsed in Raven's temple. "I was going to send them to you! Why did you come through? It doesn't work like that!" She ground her knuckles into her brother's scalp. "Idiot! You idiot!"

Qrow batted her hand away. "Ow, ow, stop it! I was in a tight spot, okay? That bomb went off, and a fucking building fell on me!" He shook some concrete dust out of his hair, scowling. "Damn lucky shot. Would've smashed me flat, if I hadn't..." his eyes widened in belated realization. "Oh. Oh, shit."

"Um, Yang?" Blake asked hesitantly. "Did that bird just turn into your uncle?"

"Oh, you saw it too? I thought I was hallucinating." Yang said calmly. Two seconds later, the screaming started. Raven facepalmed. "Wait, WHAT?! How the hell did you do that?!"

"He can turn into a bird?!" Sable shrieked, holding his head as if it were about to explode. "A fucking bird!"

"Oh my gods, you're like, crow Qrow or something—"

Jaune raised an eyebrow at his freaked-out teammates. "Uh, hey man? I think it's pretty neat." He gave Qrow a thumbs-up. "Like, you can fly and stuff! Wish I had a Semblance like that." He mumbled something about landing strategies.

Qrow smiled a bit too wide, and laughed a bit too loud. "Haha, yeah! My Semblance." Raven put both hands over her face. "Thanks, Jaune. I know it's sort of weird."

"He can turn into a bird!" Sable repeated like a broken record. "That—that's not normal!"

Jaune shook his head in exasperation. "Dude. You just, like...summoned a punchy skeleton ghost or whatever, and you're worried about a bird?"

"Yeah, don't Semblance-shame me!" Qrow waved a finger. Sable made a strangled noise remarkably similar to an angry bird himself. "See, this shit is exactly why I don't like using it! People find out you're secretly part animal, and they get all judgemental!" Blake adjusted her bow in an innocent and not-at-all suspicious way. "I'm still the same Qrow, okay, I'm...just, a bird sometimes."

Yang took a deep breath. "No, I get it. Sorry I flipped out there."

"All good." Qrow nodded. "Still, I'd, uh, appreciate if you all kept this is a secret. Even from Ruby. I'm real self-conscious about it, you see?" Raven had turned to face the wall, wanting no part of this conversation. "Wait, wait, what was that about a skeleton ghost?"

"OH SHIT! RUBY!" Yang clapped both hands to her face. "We're here, she's here, you're here, what the fuck do we do now—"

"Calm down, Firecracker." Qrow pointed to the pile of rubble blocking the tunnel. "See all those building bits? Means there was a hollow above us that caved in—there should be empty space up there, and birds can fly, you know? I'll just go up and over. Shouldn't take long to find them." He elbowed Raven in the ribs. "Hey. Portal to me in...say, ten minutes?" His sister sighed and shooed him away.

For a moment, Sable roused from his stupor. "Wait! You...you could do that the whole time? What was the point of us looking for the base then? Couldn't you just..." he descended back into angry gibberish, a bit of foam leaking from his mouth.

"Welp, gotta go! No time to lose!" Qrow said loudly. His form shimmered and shrank; the Qrow-crow flew down the tunnel, into the broken ceiling and out of sight. Raven and the students were left to stare uncomfortably at each other. Blake set a timer for ten minutes on her Scroll. Sable continued to mumble angrily; his head started to droop onto his chest, but he slapped himself and jolted upright. "So...Mom." Yang began. "I still have a lot of questions—"

"I've given you enough today." Raven said curtly. "When you feel strong enough, come find me. You'll get your answers then."

Yang looked away, pouting. "Fine. Be that way." Silence fell again, broken only by the Grimm growling and rustling below like chirping crickets. "So, uh, Mrs. Branwen." Jaune said hopefully. "How's the weather where you live?"

Raven sighed.

"This has to be the engine, right?" Ruby said. A bit further up from where they'd fought Torchwick, the car narrowed down to a cramped hallway. A giant rumbling hunk of metal with lots of pipes and valves occupied the rest of its width. She emptied Qrow's bag, pouring those strange green-wrapped bricks onto the ground. "Weiss, do you know how to use this stuff? See-For, or whatever?"

"C-4." Weiss corrected. She turned over one of the bricks in her hand. "I think you unwrap them, set them up in an assembly, put in the detonation cord—"

"That sounds slow!" Ruby looked out the small window, but the featureless tunnel wall gave no indication of how much time they had left. "Crap! Okay, if I just shoot this thing up, it should stop working, right?" She pumped a few sniper shots into the engine. Her heavy rounds pierced the metal with ease, but the train didn't seem to be slowing down. "Dang it! Weiss, is there some Dust thing you can do?"

"I could—wait, this fires explosive rounds!" Weiss held up Roman Torchwick's cane in her right hand. She carefully aimed it at one of Ruby's bullet holes. "Where's the trigger...yeah...ow!" The cane went off with a bang. The recoil sent its hook right into Weiss's nose, and the heiress fell over with her legs in the air. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Ruby couldn't help but laugh. "Sorry! I forgot you don't use guns. I can do it."

Weiss braced herself against the wall. "I'm good." she grumbled. She fired the cane several more times; with every shot, a dull boom sounded inside the engine, and the rumbling and clanking sounds it made increased in volume. Jets of steam and fire began to spout from the holes. "Nice!" Ruby yelled. An ember shot out and landed on the pile of C-4, which started burning merrily. "Ahh! Cheese it!"

Ruby and Weiss fled the engine room in a hurry. "Wait, what's happening?" Roman cried in panic, still pinned to the floor. "Don't leave me here!" Weiss flicked her sword and the gravity glyph dissipated. He sprinted after them down the length of the next car, still strewn with the limp forms of White Fang members. They were halfway down the third car from the front when a giant explosion went off. Again. The engine blew up with a almighty roar that made their ears ring. The shock wave hit a split second later, briefly lifting the entire car into the air. So did the fireball; flames billowed through door they'd come from. Roman screamed like a little girl, and Weiss spammed as much Ice Dust as she could. Steam filled the car, as it heated up like a spacecraft re-entering the atmosphere (except...not, because Remnant hadn't invented space travel yet). They felt a massive jolt when the car hit the ground again, bouncing free of the tracks—an entire section of them had been reduced to kindling and scrap metal—and a second when it tipped over onto its side. There was a horrible shriek of metal as the rest of the train derailed behind them. They skidded across the bumpy ground, a wild ride that seemed it would never end; every few seconds they got knocked one way, then another, as walls and other pieces of the train collided with them like bumper cars. Eventually, basic friction slowed them down, and with one final, bone-rattling crunch, they came to rest. The steam and smoke cleared, to reveal Ruby, Weiss and Roman sheltering in a rough sphere of cracked and melting ice. The rest of the car had been almost totally obliterated; only a few blackened bits of metal remained. Countless carriages and Paladins lay in a jumbled mess at the base of a thick stone wall, like logs against a dam.

"Holy shit, Ice Queen!" Roman shrieked. He pressed his sleeve to his face, trying to staunch the bloody nose he'd picked up somewhere. "How much explosive did you use?"

"Um...yes." Weiss said sheepishly. "But, I mean, C-4's supposed to be heat insensitive! Maybe it was a defective batch—hey!" She jabbed him with the tip of her rapier. "You're under arrest! Stick those hands out!"

The thief obliged, raising an eyebrow. "What, you bring handcuffs with you? That's kinky—GAH!" His hands were frozen up to the wrists. "F-fuck, that's c-c-cold!"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Deal with it."

"B-bitch..." Roman muttered. Ruby crawled out of the makeshift igloo. "Professor! Ren! Pyrrha! Nora! Anyone?" she called. "Zwei?" she added for good measure.

"Hello!" Pyrrha's tall figure waved at them, from next to a suspiciously non-destroyed car (was Polarity useful on a metal vehicle, or what?). Ruby and Weiss ran towards their friends; Roman stumbled behind them, cursing. "Oh gods, Nora!" Ruby gasped. The normally hyper girl lay silent and still, with Ren crouched over her. A small red blotch stained her white shirt. "Is she...okay?"

"The wound's not too bad, but she's still out cold." Ren explained. "That pink-and-brown girl, she was strong. Luckily these two—" he inclined his head at Pyrrha and Port "—showed up and she ran off." Roman sagged in relief, an action no one but Ren noticed.

Port nodded. "Indeed." He looked even grosser than the last time Ruby and Weiss had seen him. "Well! This train certainly seems stopped, doesn't it? Good work, you two." he remarked, surveying the wreckage. "And a prisoner, too!" Roman flinched from his gory gaze.

"Yeah...now what?" Ruby asked. The train was stopped, and her family hadn't magically reappeared. "Yang and Qrow and them, they're still stuck back there!" Her breathing became increasingly fast and panicked. Weiss and Pyrrha both awkwardly rubbed her back. Port also patted her comfortingly on the shoulder, and Ruby cringed in disgust, angst suddenly forgotten. "Fear not, Miss Rose, I do not believe in leaving men behind. Er, and not women either. Particularly my students. Of course we shall return for them—"

"Are you out of your mind, old man?!" Roman interrupted. The Beacon Huntsmen started heading away from the train crash, back towards Mountain Glenn. Ren and Pyrrha carried Nora between them. "Hey, hey, listen to me! There's a fuck-ton of Grimm back there!"

"And whose fault is that?" Weiss snapped.

The criminal ignored her. He ran alongside Professor Port, gesturing as hard as he could with both hands stuck together. "It's suicide! We've got to break through that wall and run for it, that's our only chance!" He pointed at the Great Wall of Train-Stopping behind them. It sported a web of fresh cracks at the bottom. "I'm not lying, okay? If you die, I die too!"

"Vale is behind that wall, isn't it?" Pyrrha said. "We're not doing your job for you! How dumb do you think we are?"

Ruby nodded fervently. "Yeah, tell him! You really think we'd ditch our friends and save ourselves, Torchwick? Frick no!"

"Frick? Gods, I've been captured by a six-year-old..." Roman snorted. "I get it. You're a bunch of fucking heroes. That attitude, Little Red, that's why you don't see many old Huntsmen. Let's be real, they're probably dead already—gah!" he flinched again. Weiss pointed Myrtenaster right at his neck, her eyes flashing. Port coughed. "Miss Schnee? The authorities will want to question that man." he said mildly. "Please refrain from any actions that would damage his memory."

The heiress lowered her sword, looking furious. Roman smirked at her. "Yeah, Ice Queen, my brain's real important." Without saying a word, Weiss swapped Melodic Cudgel into her left hand, and swung it full-force into the seat of his pants. "YEOW!" The blow sent him stumbling forwards. Port grabbed him by the collar, easily lifted him with one arm, and winked. The others politely stayed quiet as Weiss proceeded to literally beat Roman's ass with his own cane, pretending not to hear the thwacks and yells of pain. After a half-dozen hits, she calmly hooked the cane back onto the belt of her dress, looking much calmer. "Fucking bitch..." Roman groaned. Zwei promptly bit him on the ankle. "Ow! I didn't mean you!"

Port chuckled. "If anyone asks, he was injured in the train crash." The professor slung Roman over one shoulder, while the captive gagged and complained about how bad it smelled. "If you hate this so much, Mr. Torchwick, I can always let you go. How long will you last in here without a weapon, I wonder?" Roman's whine of distress was answer enough. "Hm, that's what I thought. Now pick up the pace, children!" Port boomed. "There's a long way to go, and we can't expect a shortcut to just fall into our laps—"

With suspiciously appropriate timing, a man literally dropped from the sky into their midst. "Geez, you went far!" Qrow Branwen stood up, stretching his limbs. He cocked his head at the broken remains of the White Fang cargo train, and whistled. Everyone stared at him, dumbfounded by his sudden appearance, except for Zwei who happily ran up to lick his part-time owner. "No, ew, you're filthy! Don't touch me!" Qrow complained.

"Qrow! You're okay!" Ruby flung herself onto her uncle's neck. "Wait, where are the others?"

"You didn't abandon them, did you?!" Weiss demanded.

"Calm down, Ice Queen. And Ruby...not so tight." Qrow choked out. "You'll see in, uh..." he checked his Scroll. "...eight seconds? Talk about cutting it close." He counted the time down on his fingers. As the last one tucked into his fist, absolutely nothing happened. "Um, wait for it..." Qrow started counting back up. When he hit five, a smoky red-and-black pool formed next to him. "Ta-dah!" A few strands of blonde hair and a raised gauntlet emerged—

"YANG!"

"RUBY!" Yang jumped fully out of the portal; the sisters collided with approximately the force of the train hitting the wall. They fell to the ground, tangled together and gibbering incoherently. Yang picked Ruby up and swung her around in circles, laughing and crying at the same time. Sable was the next one through, looking around for a certain someone. "Weiss! Are you—oof!" The white-haired twin ran up and wrapped him in an unexpected hug. "Hey, I'm fine, okay, I wouldn't die that easily!" Despite his protests, Sable hugged right back, smiling faintly. "It's good to see you too." Jaune and Blake followed, fondly observing the family reunions before going to check on Nora. Raven came last, the white mask hiding her face once more, and closed the portal behind her. "Yo." Qrow greeted her. He cast a slightly envious glance at the other pair of twins. "How come you never did that for me?" Unamused, Raven karate-chopped him in the neck. "Ow! Stop that!"

Roman craned his neck to check out the newcomers, then let out a shrill yelp of terror. "Holy fuck, you're friends with her?"

"Oh, I wouldn't go that far." Qrow grumbled, still rubbing his neck. He dug out his flask and went for a much-needed drink, only to find it empty. "Damn..."

"Who is that?" Pyrrha asked curiously.

"Not a word, Pumpkin Boy." Raven shook her finger at Roman. The thief gulped. "Yes ma'am." he whimpered. The bandit leader slashed her sword at the air, and a second portal appeared. "My work here is done." she told Qrow. "You explain it to them."

Port gasped. "Miss Branwen? Goodness gracious, but I thought you looked familiar! We have a lot to catch up on, eh? I've got seventeen years of stories to tell!" At the prospect of being subjected to Port's 'stories' again, Raven visibly shivered.

"Wait, Branwen?" Ruby whispered. "Yang, is that...you know?" At her sister's nod, Ruby squealed in delight. "Ahh! I'm so happy for you! Did it go all right?"

Yang grimaced. "I don't know, Rubes. Stuff is...complicated."

Qrow fired Harbinger into the air. "Oi, listen up! We don't have all day! This thing..." he pointed at the portal. "Uh, it's hard to explain, but basically, go through this funky-looking hole and it'll take you somewhere safe." Raven hit him again. "Ow! If you don't like how I say it, do it yourself!" He took a quick headcount of the crowd. "Okay, no one's missing, plus we got a prisoner...Pete, should we take some of the White Fang too?"

"Erm, I'm afraid none of them made it." Port said, slightly embarrassed. "Quite unfortunate." Qrow cocked his head, looking at the bloodstains that covered the professor from head to toe, but chose not to comment. Ruby and Yang were the first to approach the portal, hand in hand. Yang still avoided looking at Raven, her expression troubled, but Ruby gave her father's ex-wife a cheerful little wave. "Thanks for the help, Aunt Raven!"

"Aunt?" Raven made a funny choking noise behind her mask. "Don't thank me, girl. Just remember who got you into this mess, and who saved you." Qrow grabbed her roughly by the shoulder. "Don't you dare." he hissed. "Keep that bullshit to yourself—"

Raven huffed, pulling free of his grip. "I'm just telling her to think for herself. What are you afraid of?" She turned her head to regard Ruby, face inscrutable under the mask. "It might keep her alive." Qrow recoiled, wincing as if her words had hit harder than her hands had. Ruby seemed about to ask what that meant, but Yang pulled on her arm, and they both disappeared into the portal.

Pyrrha and Ren went next, still supporting Nora between them. "Hey, what about Neo?" Ren suddenly said, then looked surprised at himself. "She almost killed us, but still, I mean...okay, I have no idea..."

"Don't worry about Neo, kid. She can take care of herself." Roman reassured him. "Wait! How the hell do you know her name?" The trio vanished before he could get an answer. "Eh, whatever, at least we're out of here. And everyone lived, too! Good job, team!" He let out a fake-sounding cheer. "Well, except those hundred or so White Fang you brutally murdered, but who cares, I honestly don't even remember their names."

"Shut up, Torchwick." Blake growled. "You're not on the team." The rest of the group crossed over, one or two at at time. Sable paused to deliver a parting shot at Raven. "For the record? You didn't save us." he insisted, straining to keep his eyes open. "You just happened to be the fastest way out."

The Schnees passed through, leaving the Branwens alone in the tunnel. Faint growls began sounding in the distance; the Grimm released far back in the tunnel were finally catching up. Qrow groaned loudly, running a hand through his messy hair. "Welp. I'd say it was a pleasure doing business, but it really wasn't." He stepped halfway into the portal, then looked back. "Hey, you coming? If Tai's in a good mood, he might be willing to, you know...make up for lost time?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "I mean, how long has it been since you got—"

Raven turned angrily on her heel. "Fuck you, I'm going home. All these favors make me sick." She opened another portal, to her camp back in Anima. "Ugh. I'll need to raid three villages to forget about this."

Taiyang awoke in the middle of the night to the sensation of a full bladder. He closed his eyes, trying to go back to sleep—the sleeping bag was soft and snug, and his limbs felt like lead—but the ache kept gnawing at him. Damn it, too much hot cocoa before bed again. He was getting old. Eventually he gave up and crawled out of the bag, drowsily pulled his shoes on, and walked out of the tent. He picked a random tree, a safe distance away from his campsite, to (ahem) do his business. It was a beautiful summer night, full of stars. The moon was round and bright, at the phase where it showed an unblemished face to the world and hid all the broken pieces behind. Was it strange that he found a celestial body relatable? Gods, but he'd needed to get off the island for a bit. With both daughters suddenly out of the house, their cabin felt unnaturally large and empty and quiet. He'd known the day would come, of course. Their future professions had been clear since childhood, when Yang wrecked that poor barbershop and Ruby pretended to slay the mashed potatoes at dinner. But part of him resented Oz for taking Ruby two years early, before he could mentally prepare himself. As great as Zwei was, he missed the laughter and chatter that came from living with other people. Even after so long...at every one-man dinner, every time he walked Patch's streets alone, there was a void where a certain silver-eyed woman should've been. Here, at least, in the thick woods south of Vale, the silence felt peaceful instead of stifling. There were breathtaking sunrises, marshmallows over the fire, and the odd Beowolf to practice the ol' Xiao Long Right Hook on (he still had it!).

As he finished up, something flashed red in the corner of his eye. Huh? He looked over his shoulder, and what he saw made his jaw hang open, pajama pants dropping from limp fingers. It'd been a while, but he could never forget what Raven's portals looked like. Why now? He suspected she came around to stalk Yang every now and then, but she'd never come right to him before. Oh gods, his first meeting with Raven in seventeen, almost eighteen years, and she was going to find him with his pants around his ankles? He was bent over, trying to pull them up, when both his daughters came through the portal. "Hey, this doesn't look like—GAH!" Yang shrieked at the sight of her father's rear end. "Ruby, don't look!"

"Too late..." Ruby whimpered.

"Privacy, girls!" Taiyang yelled. His face burned with the heat of a thousand suns. Yang moved to block him from view, hands pressed firmly over her eyes. He heard more footsteps and voices coming from the portal. "Um, so, this is our dad." Yang said awkwardly. "Dad, these are my friends...um, whenever you're ready."

He hastily buttoned up and turned around. Goodness, that was a lot of people. "Hey, nice to meet you." A blond boy waved politely. He looked vaguely familiar, though Taiyang couldn't put a finger on it. "Uh, sorry for interrupting like that." He noticed how tired and disheveled they all seemed, as if they'd come straight from a pitched battle. One girl was unconscious and bleeding, held up by two of her friends. And as he watched, a tall boy (he thought?) in dark clothing collapsed into the arms of a white-haired girl; she gently lowered him to lie snoring on the ground. Peter Port was here too, covered in blood, with Zwei at his feet and a very battered-looking man over his shoulder.

"She's not coming, Tai." Qrow stepped out of the portal, and it blinked out of existence behind him. His old teammate looked around the campsite and dense forest, then slapped a hand to his forehead. "Ah shit, I forgot you were on your trip."

"Wha—what?" A million different questions came to mind, but Taiyang settled for the most direct phrasing. "Qrow, what the hell happened?"

"It's a very long story..."

Holy crap, they actually stopped the train? How? Choose between: a. Pyrrha saved them time fighting the first wave of grunts; b. Ruby and Weiss took out Roman faster than Blake did; c. The author is too lazy to write another big fight scene for the Breach.

I'm a bit nervous about adding Neo and Raven as POVs, to be honest. There's such a range of interpretations with those two, you get everything from 'nice girl deep down who turns good after a few hugs uwu' to 'pure evil'. Last thing I want is to make them too nice, because, well, they're not, though they've got their humanizing qualities. Most people who seem cruel and awful do (looking at you, Sable).

I don't know if Neo actually feels empathy for people not named 'Roman', but I needed a way for Ren and Nora to not get horribly murdered since they don't have moms to save them, plus I thought that parallel was an interesting one to explore. So Neo liked Ren enough to actually wonder if murder was the right solution, while with Yang she was just like 'lmao eat shit'. If you're caught up on the show, you probably figured out what Ren did there. (SABLE: I unlocked something a volume early! REN: hold my health drinks)

Raven...is even more of a headache. Her ultimate goal re: Yang is (IMO) is to have Yang join her in the tribe, but she seems very picky about how to make that happen. She could've told Yang about Salem at any point, or straight up portal-napped her as a baby, but nope. I think that fits with the Branwen philosophy actually; she has to earn her way in and then choose the 'correct' path voluntarily, not have it handed to her. So if they accidentally met at this point, I feel like Raven would do the bare minimum to keep Yang interested, and not drop the big reveal early. If her actions still don't make sense, um...let's just chalk it up to Raven not being the sharpest tool in the shed (her whole Relic plan kind of proved that) and not me being a shitty writer? Please?

Unrelated: about Raven's Semblance...we haven't seen what happens when the 'linked' person comes through from the other side, but I think it makes sense that would break the portal, seeing as it's no longer connected to anyone.

Unrelated #2: Sable didn't exactly outsmart Raven there, despite how it may appear. He had no way of knowing she'd give in, and was 100% ready to risk everything on Plan Minecraft (I leave the morality of that up to the reader).