"Is this really necessary?"

Yang shrugs. "White doesn't camouflage well." She says, shaking a yellow spray can.

"Neither does bright yellow." Ozpin points out.

"Bright yellow and black."

"That doesn't help, Yang."

"Shush."

Yang could hear Ozpin sighing, but she ignored it in favor of the task at hand. Heh, hand.

"Gods..."

The plan was already set: Yang's dad and Miss Goodwitch stay in Vale, to keep the Grimm from overwhelming Beacon. Meanwhile, Yang and Ozpin head to Anima, and...

"I still don't like your... addition to the plan." Ozpin says, more concerned than annoyed.

"We have no idea where Qrow and Ruby are. They might be in Mistral, or they could be somewhere in the middle of Anima. She's our best bet to find them." Yang carefully starts coating her prosthetic with yellow paint as she speaks.

"While the idea is sound, I can't help but worry about your original pursuit of Miss Bran-"

"I got over her. Raven left, I tried looking for her, and she didn't want to be found. That should be the end of the story, but we still need her stupid semblance, so..." Crunch. Yang looks down on her hand, which was holding tightly to a crumpled spray can, dripping with yellow paint.

"... We don't have to go to her. We can go straight to Mistral instead, and head to Haven and Leonardo. It's part of the plan anyway."

Yang sighs, throwing the can to the side. "We both know we need Qrow for that. I'm just a huntress in training who was last seen kneecapping one of Haven's students, even if the ass turned out to be a terrorist. No one would let me get close to headmaster Lionheart, let alone listen."

"But they would listen to your uncle, a seasoned, veteran huntsman." Ozpin finishes exasperatedly. "But Yang, I won't force you to do something you're not comfortable with."

"You're not." Yang assures the voice in her head. "Even if you didn't show up in my head, I'd probably be looking for Raven to use her semblance to find Ruby. Or just to deck her."

"And what of her bandits? Doubtless, she'd be surrounded by them. The Mistral authorities don't even know where the Branwen clan is. What chance do we have?"

"You have a better idea?" Yang asks, standing up to get an extra spray can, along with some wet wipes for her hand now splattered in yellow paint.

"Perhaps don't walk into a camp full of murderers and thieves?" A voice says. Yang looks to see Glynda Goodwitch walking up to her. Right, her old teacher was waiting for her dad to finish packing for Vale.

"Heya, Glynda!" Yang smiles, bringing up her yellow hand for a wave, then freezes. "I mean- Miss Goodwitch, hello!"

Glynda, for her part, only raises an eyebrow, but kindly doesn't say anything about the slip. She does notice Yang's raised, yellow hand. "A new fashion statement, Yang?"

"Hehe..." Yang cringed, putting her hand behind her back. Well, that was weird. Since when did she call the scariest woman (well, second-scariest. Salem exists, after all.) she knew by her first name? "You need to talk with Oz?"

"Actually..." Glynda puts her hand behind her back. "I wanted to talk to you, Miss Xiao Long."

Yang blinked. "Me?"

"Yes." Glynda confirmed. "I've realized I haven't actually spoken to you since I came to Patch. For that, I apologise."

"Oh, you don't have to be sorry about that!" Yang says, waving her arm. "You and Oz needed to talk about really important stuff. Didn't bother me."

"Still, you were my student, a crippled student with a tremendous load dropped on their shoulders, no less." The headmistress sighed. "Even if you are Ozpin's host, you are still one of my charges."

Yang paused at that. "Well, what do ya wanna talk about?"

"How about what you're feeling? About the magic. Ozpin. Salem?"

Yang frowned. "I guess... it's kinda weird? I'm fighting an immortal witch, with an immortal wizard stuck in my head, which probably means I have magic..." She tilts her head. "Right?"

Ozpin responds. "Well, yes, but we do need something to help you actually use it."

"Like what?" She thinks.

"You'd need Ozpin's cane, The Long Memory to use that magic." Glynda unknowingly interrupts, not being able to hear the short conversation. "What you would be able to do with said magic, I don't know. But I've seen him create shields and blasts of energy, react faster than anyone can..." She paused. "After he turned your birth mother and uncle into birds, I gave up trying to figure out his limits."

"Whoa..." Yang's eyes blew wide. "That sounds pretty awesome, actually."

"Yes, it does, does it not?" A faint smile on Glynda's lips can be seen, but...

Miss Goodwitch's eyes kept on darting away from her, as if she was searching for something just using her sight and trying not to look rude. Her hands were clasped tightly together, with one finger tapping her other hand. Her feet kept on shifting on the ground.

Yang's observations were barely noticeable, and if she was looking at Miss Goodwitch normally, she would have chalked it all up to stress, if not ignoring or not noticing it outright.

But Ozpin had known Glynda nearly all his life. And he knows his first friend's very few nervous tics.

"You're hiding something." Glynda's eyes snapped to look at Yang, who was staring right at her.

Glynda opened her mouth, closed it, and sighed. "I never could hide things from Ozpin. I suppose that now extends to you as well."

Yang tried crossing her arms, but only managed to grab her stump. "Well?"

A pause. "I know."

"... Know what?"

"Well, I suppose it's more of an educated guess. But I'm guessing you won't be... here with us much longer, Miss Xiao Long."

Another, much longer pause.

"How did you figure it out?" Yang asked, now clutching her stump.

"I only just put it together yesterday." Glynda says, looking down on the ground. "I guess... Ozpin never had to share his body, even after he told me his secrets. I never thought about it before, but with you now being his latest host and having to share..."

Ozpin was silent, but Yang could still feel the dread. "It's not Ozpin's fault, okay? He didn't-"

Glynda puts up a hand to stop Yang. "I know it isn't. I knew Ozpin long enough to know that he isn't some kind of malevolent, body-snatching monster." Another pause. "I also knew him long enough to know that he would stop... whatever is happening if he could. I won't ask for specifics."

The dread lessened considerably, but still stayed. But it was no longer Ozpin's dread.

"Does... does Dad know?"

Glynda shook her head. "No. Which brings us to the actual reason I wanted to talk to you..."

Yang frowned. "Yeah, yeah, 'tell the truth, he deserves it'-"

"No." Yang blinks, looking up at Miss Goodwitch, who's face suddenly became steely, like it always did whenever she does a lecture. "The truth would break him. Taiyang has already lost two wives, and you know how he had reacted to that."

Yang does remember. She remembers how distant he was, how she barely saw him. How he always left the house and came back smelling like cheap booze.

There was a reason alcohol wasn't in the house anymore.

Glynda notices Yang's expression, and sighs, some of the harshness on her face softening. "I know he's gotten better, and that he regrets how he acted. But if Taiyang knew he was going to lose his daughter as well..."

"He'll figure it out, sooner or later. Dad isn't dumb." Yang mutters.

"Maybe. But at least this will give you some time to... find the best way to break the bad news."

Yang was silent for a moment. "Gods, this sucks." She chuckled.

"Yes, it does." Glynda sighs. "Are you alright?"

"No." Yang answered. "But... I will be."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that." Glynda straightens herself. "I'll... leave you to prepare."

And with that awkward parting, Glynda leaves.

"Glynda's not the best at comforting others." Ozpin speaks up.

"No kidding." Yang mutters. She looks down on her hand, still painted yellow. "What now?"

"... Finish painting your arm?" It's obvious Ozpin doesn't want to speak about Glynda and Yang's prior conversation.

Yang obliges him. "Sure. I did use all my yellow paint though..."

"Well, there's other colors." A pause. "Maybe wash your hand first."

Yang rolled her eyes.

"Oh, I missed you." Yang grins, lifting off the dusty tarp, revealing a bright yellow motorcycle.

"All your talk of camouflage for your arm, and yet we'll be driving in a yellow motorcycle."

"Don't sass Bumblebee. I built her from scratch!"

"Ah, the motorcycle's female! Wonderful..."

"You're pretty talkative lately. What's up?"

"Oz does that sometimes. He rambles, it's a quirk of his." A familiar voice calls out behind her. A small ball of white and black fur runs through the door and around her ankles.

Yang didn't bother turning. "Hey dad." She says, waving her right arm. She kneels down to rub Zwei's belly.

Taiyang takes a good luck at the prosthetic. "Nice paint job, but don't you think yellow's more your color?"

Yang moves her hand in front of her, admiring the dark green-on-black look. "I ran out of yellow."

"I have to say, I like this color much better."

"Mhm." Taiyang hummed. "Need help carrying Bumblebee out? Airship's coming soon."

Yang smiled. "Sure, why not?" She says, standing up.

As the father and daughter bring Bumblebee out together, Taiyang hesitates. "Yang, about Raven..."

Yang rolled her eyes. "Relax dad. I'll be fine. Besides," Yang taps the side of her head. "If anything goes wrong, I'll have my soul-mate with me."

"..."

"That sounds wrong."

"Never make that pun again."

"Well then..."

"Bark!"

The airship ride was awkward, to say the least. Being the only passengers on the ship, there was plenty of space.

Still, the tension in the ship was still there. With Glynda and Yang skirting around their conversation at the yard, and the topics of their conversation either being totally confused on what was going on, or literally being inside Yang's head.

Still, the ride was short, and soon enough the trio landed, with Yang and Bumblebee standing in front of the Bullhead that would take her to Anima.

She turns to Tai and Glynda, who were both doing check ups on their equipment.

"Did you have to bring the dog?" Glynda asks, annoyed.

Taiyang grins, picking Zwei up. "Hey, I trained this little guy to be a killing machine!"

Zwei barked.

Yang grins. "I'll miss you guys." She says, walking up and hugging Taiyang, smooshing Zwei between them.

Taiyang wiggles one arm out to hug his daughter back. "Aw, don't worry lil' dragon. We'll see you soon, right?"

Yang catches Glynda's eyes, an unreadable expression on the professor's face.

"... Right." Yang pulls away. "Happy hunting."

Taiyang grins, patting Yang's back. Glynda only gave a nod.

And then it was time to go.

"I must ask again. How will we find the Branwen clan?"

Yang shrugged, driving through the well-driven paths of Anima. The Bullhead ride was uneventful. "Who knows, maybe there'll be a sign?"

"Optimistic, but we must be realistic. A sign isn't just going to show up in the middle of the..."

Yang slows down, seeing a fork on the road. A helpful sign stood in the middle, one path pointing to Mistral, the other having a crudely painted BANDITS pointed at the other path.

"... I'm going to have a long talk with Leonardo."

Yang chuckled, revving Bumblebee up.