A/N: For research purposes, I've rewatched the first two and a half volumes of RWBY as well as the entirety of the World of Remnant series, and glory are there some massive plot holes and lore contradictions. In a case like this, where the canonicity is difficult to establish due to the different mediums in addition to a lore that ret-cons or just straight up changes the lore, I feel the need to address how to best interpret/rectify said lore for my story to keep the continuity, so for the next few chapters I'll be tackling where the story has massive issues and how/what version I'm going to follow for my own story: starting with Yang's semblance.

Tai refers to Yang's semblance as an overgrown temper tantrum, and one of the board games refers to it as rage, and it's also seen as coming out when she loses her temper, but when speaking about "burn", the official name for her semblance, Ruby says she can absorb damage and send it back with double strength, further stating that the extra power is stored in her hair, which is both cool and makes her semblance more like Adam's (especially with the glowy hair). So if returning damage her body has absorbed is what her semblance can do, then why the "temper tantrum" comments and all the times Yang has lost her temper and in so doing flared her semblance. My best guess is that the temper doesn't control the absorption of damage, but it does control how well she can keep it stored. If she loses control, if her temper gets the better of her, she has a harder time keeping that power contained. So, damage is what creates the semblance, temperament is what helps her control the semblance she has. We don't see emotions being involved much with Adam's semblance, so it might not be as big of a factor for him, but his seems more based on mechanical force while Yang's seems relative to pain she experiences. (i.e. a burn would give Yang power but not Adam, and a blocked blow would give Adam power but not Yang)

It also makes me wonder then with how vaguely defined "damage" is if Yang had some weird internal problem like her appendix ruptured if she could turn that into some kind of ungodly power source and if her semblance would lead to masochistic tendencies.

Anywho, thanks for reading and enjoy the chapter.

As Sun sipped his tea, he looked over at the piece of paper Blake was doodling on. It was a nervous habit she did when she couldn't get something off her mind, and while she wasn't an artist, the strokes made with the pen were decipherable. She's drawn the White Fang symbol, their new one with the more sinister lion's head and the claw marks rather than the original symbol flown under her father's leadership. There was also a snowflake: Weiss' emblem, as well as a vague outline of the roof-line and towers of Haven Academy. Despite looking down, the dark circles under her eyes were visible.

"You're doing it again," Sun said.

Blake jolted a little, his voice startling her. She frowned at him as she pulled the notepad out of his vision to keep away from his prying eyes.

"I'm fine," Blake sighed.

"It's ok to not be fine," Sun shrugged as he used his tail to raise his teacup in her direction. "You've been through a lot. We all have."

She put her pen down and folded her arms on the table before resting her head on one elbow. "I came home to help sort out everything that happened at Beacon. And not only have I not gotten to process that, but my family was attacked, my house burned down, one of my best friends almost killed you and I find out Weiss might very well be a captive of Adam's. This is the exact opposite of what I wanted."

"Hmmm. It's almost like you can't run from your problems."

She frowned at him. "No. Some of them follow me home and embarrass me in front of my dad."

"Fair enough." He placed his teacup back on the saucer.

"It's just…I just wanted a minute to calm down and collect myself and there hasn't been a moment's peace since…well, since Penny died. I couldn't even relax on the boat trip. I can't even relax in my own home."

"No…but that's because your own home burned down. Right now, we're relaxing in someone else's spare apartment. So?"

"What do you mean "so"?" She lifted her head to squint at him angrily, her ears flattening back. "We don't even have time to get our feet under us. The attack on Haven is less than a week away. We leave tomorrow. This is all happening too much too fast. How are we ever supposed to keep up?"

"The truth is, you might not be able to. But that's part of being a huntress." Sun rested a hand on her arm. "You said once that you wanted to become a huntress to help undo all the hate you helped spread when you were still a part of the White Fang. This is your chance, and there's a huge group of faunus ready to follow the Belladonnas into battle. We'll stop Adam, and we'll keep Haven safe."

"And after that? What new crisis will there be?"

Sun shrugged again. "Who knows. But we'll rise to the occasion to fight it, because we're huntsmen, and being heroes is kinda what we do."

While his words were encouraging, Blake's mind wondered if she could do it on her own without her team. Sun seemed to feel independent going solo, but Blake had come to trust both Yang as a partner and RWBY as her team. When this was all over, she'd have to find a way to reach out to them: at least to Ruby and Yang since she could probably find out their address. Patch was a small enough island they'd be easy to find.

She owed them an apology.

Hitting the bar first or home then the bar was a difficult decision. The huntsman had spent his entire day tracking down huntsmen and huntresses only to come up entirely empty handed. The day had gone from inconvenient, to mildly irritating, to almost beyond belief to outright depressing. And he didn't handle depression very well. Not one huntsman was available on a single registry in Mistral. They'd either been assigned missions that put them on the outskirts of the kingdom, or high in the mountains beyond the reach of scroll communication, or worse, just plain missing. With not one soul to aid in the defense of Haven Academy, Qrow trudged back into town. His grumbling stomach told him food was the priority over drink, leading him in the direction of the safe-house rather than the bar. He'd eat and shower first, then go drink away his frustrations.

In truth, he was more disappointed that he was letting Ozpin down again than he was about not having any numbers to keep the school safe. The White Fang could come at full force and Salem's forces, but without the Spring Maiden, the vault would remain sealed and the relic remain safe.

He leaned on a railing overlooking the in the foothills below. How could there be no huntsmen at all? What if there was a grimm attack, who would come? In the pit of his stomach, he knew it was no coincidence; Salem had something to do with the abandonment of Haven, and that mean the missing huntsmen were most likely dead. He sighed and removed his scroll, crossing off the last name of a huntress he was unable to locate. He closed out the huntsman app and let his fingers drag across the screen absent-mindedly, eventually opening up the secret messaging app he'd installed exclusively to communicate with Winter.

Most scrolls had a messaging app pre-installed with the operating system, but they were insecure and could be easily hacked. Winter had suggested a more secure messaging application, but even then, communication was strictly prohibited to emergencies and extenuating circumstances. In the past month he'd only received two messages from her.

Please let me know you're ok when you're able.

She'd sent it on her way back to Atlas just a few hours after she sang to him while he was still in a coma. He never had the chance to respond to it though. Only a few hours after she sent the first message, she sent another:

Ironwood is closing Atlas borders. No outside communication is allowed. I am deactivating this application for security purposes. Be safe. Come back to me.

His scroll had received the messages, but the window to respond with a message of his own was grayed out. The only way he'd be able to talk to her again is if they saw each other in person, and the only way that would happen is if they had the relic and, therefore, a good reason to be allowed into Atlas, and that only way that would happen is if they actually were able to defend the academy. And, of course, the only way that would happen is if they found enough huntsmen able and willing to help.

"This isn't right. I get one or two of them, but all of them?" he said aloud to no one in particular. He let out a heavy sigh and let his head sag in defeat.

Behind him, he heard the familiar crackle of Raven's portal opening.

"Raven?"

From within the portal, he could distinctly hear the sound of…an engine?

His eyes widened with recognition as he let out a drawn out "oooohhhhhhh".

Adam personally oversaw the care of the faunus wounded in the fire, made arrangements for Hazel and the other chapter heads and helped compile a list of confirmed deaths and those still missing. Currently, there were twenty-one bodies recovered from the remains of the building: sixteen faunus, five human. Six additional faunus died from injuries or smoke inhalation, and a seventh was killed by a grimm defending the medics, resulting in a total death count of twenty-eight. Three humans were still missing, presumably escaped in the chaos of the afternoon, but the remaining White Fang had all members present and accounted for.

The loss of the headquarters was irreparable. There were wounded faunus to care for, it was getting dark, the entire population of the palace being crowded on to the few hovercrafts and airships that had been salvaged before the building went up altogether.

Using the emergency rations and tents stored on the aircrafts, the site was converted into a makeshift camp. Patrols were established, hunting parties were sent to gather food and firewood.

"Typical," one of the chapter heads mused to Adam. She was a battered looking woman with dark hair and ears like a bear sitting atop her dark, short hair. "Humans sending us back to square one."

"That's nothing new," Adam replied.

"I'll have my chapter send food and whatever supplies we can spare."

"My people will greatly appreciate your help," he said with genuine gratitude.

Ilia appeared, but stood a short distance away so as not to interrupt them. With a wave of his hand, he beckoned her forward. She saluted before giving her report.

"We sent out a hunting party and they've gotten enough fresh meat to serve the officers. The cook says it will be ready in twenty minutes or so."

Adam nodded.

"The morale seems to be good, given the circumstances," she continued. The men at least want to know what the plans for rebuilding are. It'll give them hope if we have something we can tell them: at least give them a promise we'll put a roof over their heads."

"We didn't build that palace," Adam replied, "We moved in when we found it abandoned. Using Mistral's old cities instead of building our own keeps us further off the radar. There are several small villages overtaken by grimm and bandits we can move into further north. I'll send a scouting group to find a place big enough to hold all of us and we'll relocate within the next two days."

"And Haven?"

"Haven will burn."

Weiss had wound down from a second bout of tears and was exhausted. She'd refused to talk or interact any more with the other humans in the craft, too angry to even make eye contact with them.

They could have attacked anyone, any of the guards, the lieutenant, any of their captors, but the undoubtedly chose Bran because he was young, trusting, and would probably be easy to overpower. His innocence and youth, the two best things about him were the weaknesses his prisoners exploited.

Adam collected her some time after dark. She said nothing as he pulled her up and escorted her back to his tent. Under the better lighting he got a better look at her.

"Have you eaten?" he asked.

Weiss shook her head.

As the high leader, Adam had been served roasted rabbit, and a few cuts were still sitting on a plate, which he offered to her, and she gratefully accepted. He'd gone back into a burning building to save her life; she wasn't going to complain about eating his leftovers.

"Gods I could use a drink right now," he muttered under his breath as she ate. The tent that had been set up for him offered privacy and little else. He'd gotten a small air mattress stored in the ships and a small end table that had been salvaged from the fire and two blankets. At least it was warm enough outside to not warrant a blanket for warmth.

"I always forget how you slip into that perfect refined posture whenever you eat," he said shaking his head. Her dress had holes in it, her hair had darkened from its silvery white luster to an almost lead color from all the dirt and ash, and her porcelain skin was marred with black smudges all up her arms and back and even on her face and yet, despite looking like she just survived a fire and sitting on the hard dirt with no utensils, she still managed to eat like a lady.

"What are you going to do to the humans?" Weiss finally asked when only bones remained of the rabbit meat.

"Why? Are you going to object? Get angry and call me a monster like last time?"

"No, I was just curious. I'm done defending them. Their stupidity got an innocent boy and even some of their own killed today for nothing. After this, I say let Salem have the lot of you. Humans and faunus."

Adam was undressing for bed and had already removed his outer mask and shirt when she said this. He looked over his shoulder at her. "Do you really have the nerve to look shocked after today? After all you've seen? The only thing that's shattered your faith is the death of a faunus boy you barely knew? You didn't lose friends at Beacon?"

Weiss thought back to the Vytal festival and seeing everything go wrong. It started all the way back when General Ironwood showed up with the whole of the Atlas fleet, but things hadn't truly become dire until…until Penny died. Then Pyrrha.

"I lost people, but it was different. That was a punctiliar tragedy; something only seen once a century. At least I thought it was…I always had this idea that there were grimm and maybe out there were some sinister organizations that dealt in black market trading or maybe were terrorists like the White Fang, but the normal people, and normal faunus didn't have that kind of hatred in their hearts. I didn't become a huntress to fight other people, I joined to fight grimm."

"The real world is much darker and messier than your precious academies would teach you. The grimm thrive the way they do because we act the way we do." He shut off the lamps, only leaving one remaining.

"And I think that's the most depressing part about it. Humans and faunus alike know that this kind of negativity only will bring more discord, more grimm, more death but they insist on acting that way anyway."

"Yes." Adam agreed nodding, "Humans are spiteful enough to let themselves die if it is detrimental to the advancement of the faunus. They'd rather die than see us succeed."

Weiss scoffed. "Really? That's what you're taking away from this whole scenario?"

"There's nothing else to take away. Mankind is spiteful and arrogant and the only reliable thing they do is destroy the things that benefit them." He threw one of the folded blankets at her, hoping she'd catch the hint that he wasn't in the mood to argue. He'd had a long day.

She did not catch the hint.

"We're the spiteful ones? Really?" It was too dim to see, but he was pretty sure Weiss had rolled her eyes. "You had a chance to make something of yourselves and what you made was a group of half-assed terrorists who are now bowing at the mercy of a mistress who is a combination of your two worst enemies. You are putting your people in the servitude of the humans and the grimm, risking the extinction of the earth because you'd rather see humanity extinguished than help them defeat evil incarnate. How is that anything but spiteful?"

"You sound like Sienna Khan."

"Because Sienna Khan was right, and you knew it. It's why you couldn't bring yourself to kill her. But you had to keep up appearances so you couldn't release her. Even you acknowledge the lack of logic of your actions but you'd rather stick to your guns than admit you were wrong."

"I may have been wrong about how I wanted to go about advancing the faunus, but I am not wrong about humanity's deeply entrenched belief that we will never be their equals and are just… anthropomorphic livestock." He huffed and rolled over. "And to answer your question, I haven't decided what to do with the prisoners yet. I've had suggestions from public flogging, to executing just the men, to tying them up in the ruins and leaving them behind so the grimm won't follow us to, offering to lessen their punishment if they implicate which of them actually started the fire, just to see what would happen if they turned against each other. That, however can wait until the morning, as can any other topic you want to wax eloquent about. Goodnight. Please put the lamp out, and don't try to escape, you won't make it very far."

Weiss pursed her lips. She didn't want to be done. She wanted to keep arguing: it would distract her from Dax Branagh, but if Adam wasn't in the mood she wasn't going to press him. She found a grassy spot in the tent and used the blanket as a pillow to try and bed down though she doubted she'd get any sleep.

It warmed Qrow's heart to see his nieces united. It almost made him believe there was a little bit of hope left in the world. From what he could see, Yang had started functioning normally again and had even mastered the use of her prosthetic. She'd be a powerhouse for sure and a great help when Haven was attacked, but after the conversation following dinner, it seemed like not only was she not fully on board, but that the tone of the group as a whole had gotten darker.

Qrow's secret had come out, met with suspicious stares from the five former students gathered in the room. It was hard to justify his actions to teenagers but Ozpin had done his best: his gifts of magic were not imposed upon non-consenting children as a means of forcefully ensuring their loyalty and service as Raven had portrayed it. The Branwen twins were seniors when they chose to accept the power willingly, they were twenty and Tai and Raven were already engaged. It may have been a hasty decision on her part, but Yang's mother had been fully capable of declining the offer in favor of what Ozpin referred to "abstinence" from his endeavor.

He thought he was in hot water as it was with Ozpin's interrogation, thankful that the tension had finally eased after Oscar and his host had answered their questions to satisfy them and offered to explain more in the morning. What Qrow was not expecting was for Yang to ask her younger sister if she'd seen or heard from Winter "again".

"Winter Schnee?" Ruby asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

"Yeah she stopped by Patch. She was looking for Weiss."

"Weiss…ran away?"

The room became that eerie quiet again.

"They don't know. They just know she's missing. Nobody knows where she went or ended up. I thought you already knew. Winter said she saw you while you were still about sixty miles out of the city."

The members of RNJR looked at each other confused. Ruby had to sit down.

"I don't understand. Winter never talked to us; she was never even where we were…"

Qrow sighed. "Actually, she was where we were. Twice actually. You just didn't see her either time."

"You did?" Ruby asked, the sting of betrayal clear in her voice.

The huntsman nodded. "Once when I was keeping an eye on you just south of Higanbana and once the night after we arrived in Mistral."

"The singing? That I thought was Weiss? It was Winter?"

"I was too out of it, but I did hear it, too."

"And you didn't tell us?" Nora asked.

"Winter asked me not to." Qrow replied. He pulled his flask out to get ahead of the barrage of anger and disapproval he knew he was going to get.

"Didn't we literally just talk about having no more lies and partial truths?" Yang snarled. She folded her arms defiantly. "She's our team member, our friend…she's Ruby's partner! How could you know she went missing and not mention that to her own teammate?"

"Winter didn't want you to worry. You have enough on your plate already, the last thing you needed was another piece of depressing news. Besides, what were any of us going to do to find her?"

Ren remained silent, only shooting glances at a terrified Oscar but it was apparent he also disapproved of the secret being kept, though Qrow did have a point.

"So, what? She just disappeared out of Atlas?" Jaune asked.

Qrow shrugged and took a drink from his flask. "There was evidence of a break in, but no signs of a struggle, and she left her sword behind, but there was also no physical evidence of how the intruder made it out undetected…if there even was an intruder at all. Apparently not even Jacques Schnee is taking enough of an interest to report it to the authorities. They're refusing to even admit that she's missing. That's all I know and that's all Winter knew at the time. It could have been a kidnapping, it could have been her sneaking out, we don't know enough to even know if we should be looking at all much less where to be looking."

"You should have told them. Should have told us." Yang scolded. "Look at what keeping secrets and lying has gotten us so far."

Qrow's scowl hardened into a frown. He'd just been through it once already with her today and she was already at it again. "Look, kid," he half snarled. "We promised no more secrets and half-truths, but we don't owe it to you to play grapevine whenever we find out any snippet of information. I was asked to keep something in confidence and I had every intention of keeping it. If you want to lay everything out in the open, then by all means, feel free to share, but some of us want some modicum of privacy." He threw his head back and finished off the flask as he left the room, almost staggering into the doorpost on his way out.

"I feel like we ought to do something," Jaune said, running his fingers through his hair nervously. "Weiss was part of your team, and getting your team back together was always the goal for you."

"What can we do?" Ren replied. He knew his team leader. He knew about the feelings he still harbored for Weiss from their student days at Beacon as well as how personally Jaune took it to see an incomplete team. Ruby would never be able to replace Pyrrha, but her presence definitely filled the void physically, even if it was never intended to be permanent. But Ren was also the practical one of the group and the most objective member of both teams combined. "We don't even know if we're going to make it out of Haven at this rate."

"I'm afraid Lie Ren is correct." It was Oscar's voice, but the use of Ren's full name and the cadence of his speech indicated it was the Ozpin personality taking over. "Haven might very well be under siege by the end of the month, and if Haven falls, there's nothing any of us can do to locate the younger Miss Schnee. It appears that once again, we will have to put the greater good before we can pursue our own interests."

"That's not fair." Yang object.

"No, Yang. He's right." Ruby cut her off. "If we don't stop Salem from getting the relics now, there won't be any point in finding Weiss, or Blake."

Yang's visage visibly changed from irritated to enraged. For a moment, her eyes flickered red and the position of her brows and jaw revealed the family resemblance with her Uncle Qrow. She glared at her sister, but Ruby stood her ground. After a moment, her features softened, her eyes returned to their lilac color and she had regained her composure. "You're right," she finally said. "Haven is the priority for now. What can we do to help?"

Nora sighed. "Qrow spent the entire day trying to assemble a defense force with no luck. So, unless you know some trained huntsmen in Mistral that haven't been shipped a ways off or gone missing, there isn't much we can do except train and be ready to defend the school."

Yang thought for a moment before pulling out her scroll and began looking through her contacts. "I might not know a trained huntsman, but...would a huntsman in training count?"