A/N: Italics=thoughts

"That is what has been happening."

Qrow had his right hand over his eyes. Rubbing them, he let out a groan. All of this sounded unreal to him. What Raven was telling him seemed like lunacy to him. To think, she was still going on about how Yang had some special powers.

Raven narrowed her eyes at her brother. "You don't believe me, do you?" She spat. Venom dripping as she spoke.

Qrow looked up from his hand and gave his sister a blank look. "Oh, I wonder what could have given you that idea? Could it be the ridiculous story about Yang destroying HALF an island? When are you going to let this go? That thing is just a fairy tale. Yang isn't special. She never really has been."

Raven's eyes glowed. Though her face didn't show any emotion, her eyes shone with hate and anger. She wasn't surprised though. Her brother had always been foolish. She uncrossed her legs and gave him a pointed glare. "I'm beginning to see a pattern here brother. Can you?"

The hunter frowned at his twin. "The hell are you talking about?"

"It's quite simple really. Let's see if you can see it too."

Growling, Qrow slammed his fist on the nightstand next to the bed he was sitting on. "Dammit Raven! I don't particularly care for your stupid ass games!"

Ignoring her sibling's outburst, she stood up from her seat and walked to the window. With her back to her brother, the obsidian-haired woman crossed her arms. "Let's review shall we?"

"There is nothing to review."

"Remember when I told you about what was going to happen to Amber?" Raven said while she continued to ignore Qrow. "You didn't believe me. Neither did that arrogant ass Ozpin. What happened brother? Hmmm? Go on and tell me?" She could hear her twin growling behind her. She didn't care if he didn't like this. Raven didn't like many things about her brother and she was now going to shove everything in his face. She thought that it would perhaps allow him to cease his foolishness. "Well, since you don't want to say it, I will. Cinder and her group attacked her, defeated her, and was able to siphon half of her Fall Maiden powers. Leaving her mortally wounded in the process. Had you listened to me, that wouldn't have happened. You would have been able to get to her sooner and prevent that."

"Really Raven? Really? You're gonna do this shit? This is-"

Raven cut her brother off."I told you that Beacon was going to fall didn't I? I gave you and the rest of that so called 'Brotherhood' ample time to prepare for said attack." She turned around to see a seething Qrow. "What happened instead? You and the rest of those morons chose to ignore me and what happened? I'll tell you. Cinder was able to kill Amber and take the rest of her Maiden powers and was able to kill off Ozpin. Not only that, the Nikos girl needlessly died. She could have been a fantastic asset to aid us in the upcoming war. Salem was able to achieve one her bigger objectives in destroying the CCT. Thereby, effectively cutting off all of the Kingdoms from each other and making communication extremely difficult. Not only that, but all of the Kingdoms are now wary of each other. That witch had succeeded in dividing the world. Yang got her arm cut off and her spirit shattered. And that's not all!"

"Shut up Raven!" His gravely voice echoed in the room. It was rare that he ever raised his voice. His sister was really the only one that was able to really get under his skin. Besides Ironwood of course.

Raven continued to ignore her brother. "Summer's girl was made into a target for Salem. Her using her Silver Eyes dammed her." She paused to allow Qrow to process all of the information she gave him. She continued. "Can you see the pattern Qrow? Because I can. Here, let me tell you what it is in case you stupid, little brain can't figure it out. Every time you and those idiots ignored me or didn't believe me, terrible things followed. ALL of these things could have been prevented if you had just listened to me."

"ENOUGH!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, his red eyes glowing like a pile hot coal. Qrow was panting heavily. His outburst had driven all of his breath out of his lungs. Raven on the other hand was very unimpressed. After he stopped panting, he stood up and furiously stomped his way over to his sister. "So you're just going to do this fucking pissing contest Raven? You're going to do the whole 'I was right and you were wrong' game? The absurd 'I told you so' bullshit? How very petty of you!"

Ignoring his jab at her, she moved into his personal space. This forced her twin to look up slightly. She did this purposefully to really make their height difference stand out. Raven looked down at Qrow with a sense of superiority and authority. "Yes, little brother." She said as she emphasized the word little. "Because I want you to know how moronic you have been. How much of an idiot you have been. For dust's sake,your idiocy didn't even end with not listening to me. No. You went and used Summer's girl as bait to lure out one of Salem's lackeys. Because of your inherent lack of sense, she was almost taken by Tyrian. Almost brought to that fucking bitch!" Raven yelled as she harshly threw her arm out to her side. Pointing in the direction of where Salem resided. "You have brought this girl into a game that she is not ready for. Ruby is in way over her head. Should she continue on this path Qrow, then she will die. Or worse. Become corrupted by Salem and be a slave to her will."

The younger twin gulped quietly. A bead of sweat rolled down his face and onto his chin. He felt Raven spike her power for the briefest of moments. It reminded him of how much more powerful she was. Though he could tell, she was still hiding most of her strength.

Looking at his troubled face, Raven scoffed. "What's wrong Qrow? Don't like what I'm saying? Does it bother you so? Well, to fucking bad!" The black-haired man snarled at her. She could see his fists shaking. "This is humiliating isn't it? That is what I felt when I came before you, Ozpin and the other two morons when I told you about the power that Yang had hidden inside her. You lot laughed and mocked me. Told me that was nothing more than a fairy tale. Even though I could feel it when she was in my womb. Even though I could see small, very brief instances of the Phoenix's power when she was still just a newborn!"

Qrow knew he should stay silent, but his pride wouldn't allow it. His own ego goading him into trying to get the last word. So he spoke. Even though he would only make things worse. "And you expected us to believe that crap Raven? Come on. The whole idea of a person being born with the power of a god is kinda ridiculous."

The tribe leader's nostrils flared. The scarlet of her eyes glowed an even darker hue of red. The elder sibling could feel the anger sitting in the pit of her stomach. She really wanted to reach out and strangle her brother. "Still. Still you mock me! You have some nerve! Let me tell you something you ungrateful piece of shit. I spent seventeen damn years trying to prevent this damn war that's coming. All that time, all of that effort. All of it for naught! I gave you assholes so many opportunities, so many golden moments with all of the information I had fed you to end this whole damn thing before things got out of control. Only for you people to spurn my help and spit it back in my face. You and that Brotherhood had done nothing , but make a mess everywhere you went. And I was the one who cleaned up said mess from the shadows. While I was out there doing all of the ugly work, you idiots ran around in circles like chickens who just had their heads cut off. I spent all this time cleaning the messes you bastards left behind and doing all of the real work."

"Oh, whatever! The only thing you have been doing is rolling around with a band of thieves and murderers! Killing innocent people and taking all of their belongings! You abandon your own daughter for those scum!"

"You know nothing!" Raven snapped back. "You think I enjoyed doing those things? News flash! I didn't. However, one does not need to enjoy the things that one has to do. This is the only way the tribe can survive Qrow. Settling in one place leaves us vulnerable to the Grimm. We can't live within the Kingdom walls either. Walls may look pretty brother, but they also give very limited space. The tribe wouldn't be able fit. So the only course of action that is left to us is to take from other towns and villages if we wish to survive. Again, you show how utterly idiotic you are. If it makes you feel any better, brother, we have shifted our raids on the White Fang." The obsidian-haired woman closed her eyes. She started up her mental chant to help reign in her anger. After she calmly exhaled, she opened her eyes to peer down at her brother. "As for my daughter. I will admit that, yes, I left her. However, I did not abandon her. I've been keeping my eye on her for seventeen years. Waiting for the time where Yang's powers finally awakened." Raven paused as she let out an exasperated sigh. "I tried Qrow. I really did. I tried so damn hard to make sure this war would not come. I did everything in my power to ensure that she would never have to take part in this whole thing. I've sacrificed so much to try to make sure that Yang would not get involved with any of this."

Qrow's eyes went wide with surprise. He never expected to hear the last part of what his sister had said. It was then that he finally realized that Raven wasn't just pissed off because they didn't believe her or listen to her. She wasn't just mad about him not going to be with their father in his final moments. No. Raven's main reason for being as livid as she was with them was because Yang was now forced to be apart of this whole ugly situation. Qrow could now see that he had horribly misjudged his twin.

Raven frowned at her brother's aghast look. "What? You're only NOW realizing that I actually care for Yang?" The older twin seethed.

Qrow took a step back. Feelings of shame started to creep up his spine. "Raven. I...I." He went silent. The hunter was not able to find the words to properly express what he felt. But honestly, what could he say?

The tribe leader snorted angrily at her sibling. "I wanted better for her Qrow. I wanted Yang to be happy and never become involved in this whole thing, but because of you and the rest of those fools, that's just not possible now. All of my hard work to try to ensure her safety and that she would have a happy future was all but pissed away because of you assholes." Raven started to chuckle dryly. She leveled her radiant red eyes with her brother's. "You like to sit there on your high perch and look down upon me and lecture me about family and morality, but how about you take a good look at yourself." She jabbed her finger harshly onto Qrow's chest. "You talk about family, but you leave your own blood off to the side in favor of Summer's girl. You gave her everything while leaving Yang with nothing. Had you bothered to train her as well, she would have been more prepared for what had happened. It doesn't even stop there. You used Ruby to lure out one of Salem's minions. Those things don't exactly make you sound like you're very family conscientious now does it?"

"Okay! I get it. I fucked up. There! You fucking happy?" Qrow yelled. His face turning red from anger.

"No. I am not happy." Raven retorted. Placing her hands on her waist, she glared daggers at her brother. "Yet it still seems like you don't believe me. Fine." She scoffed as she waved her hand dismissively at the younger twin. "Then you can ask Tai when he gets here."

Qrow was about to respond, but hesitated when he heard his partner's name He gave Raven a puzzled look before opening his mouth. "Tai? What do you mean when he gets here?

The tribe leader rolled her eyes. "It's exactly what it means you idiot. Tai is coming. He will be here soon." Raven's head moved to the right. She could sense four people coming their way. "It seems that my time here has come to an end. However, I leave you with a vision that I had."

He groaned while pulling his hand through his hair. The younger twin didn't like the sound of this. "Okay. I'll bite. What is it?"

"Do not mistake me brother. I do not leave you with this because I am giving you another chance or that I have forgiven you." Raven turned her back to Qrow. She pulled out her weapon and swiped it across the air. The hellish maw that is her portal opened up a moment later. After sheathing her weapon, Raven looked over her shoulder to her brother. "I do this for Summer. So you better listen. Should Ruby continue on this path that you had foolishly set her on, then she will die. This will happen one of two ways. Either one of Salem's cohorts kills her or she becomes Salem's thrall and Yang is forced to kill her. There is still time to change that. As you know Qrow, my visions do not have to come true. They do not reveal a future set in stone. Should you chose to ignore me or not believe this time however, then it will be Yang and Ruby who will ultimately suffer the consequences of your stupidity."

A knock was heard at the door. Qrow looked towards it. "Uncle Qrow! You in there?" He heard his niece's bubbly voice echo. He looked back to where his sister stood only to find that she was no longer there. He stared at the spot where Raven was for a few moments. Their entire conversation replaying in his head. Another knock came. "Qrow! You aren't drunk again are ya?"

The sound of the diminutive teen broke him from his lamentation. He stood up and began to walk towards his door. "I'm coming short stuff. Just hold yer darn horses already. Sheesh." He opened the door to reveal team RNJR with Ruby pouting with puffy cheeks.

"I'm not short!"

The older man chuckled. He ruffled her red tipped hair. "Hate to tell ya this, but you definitely inherited your mother's shortness genes."

Ruby started slapping at her uncle's hands while making various disgruntled sounds. Once he stopped, she glared daggers at him from beneath her messy hair. "I'm not short. You're just freakishly tall!"

"Ha! Whatever helps you sleep at night kiddo." He looked upon the rest of the group and then settled his eyes back at his niece. "So, what do you kids want exactly?"

"Uh...Well, we were kinda hoping that you would show us around. You know. If it's alright with you." Jaune said.

"You mean Ruby thought of the idea, but only because she wants to know where the cookie and weapon parts shops are." Lie Rein stated in his usual calm voice. He gasped as something latched its self onto his back.

"Besides! I'm getting bored just sitting around doin nothin! C'mon old man! Show us the sights!" Nora Valkyrie exclaimed. She was pumping her fist in the air from her spot Lie's back. She looked down at him with a wild grin.

Lie smiled softly. He shook his head. She had always been this way. So energetic and easily excitable. "Nora. I don't think the best way to getting someone to show us around is to call them old."

The hammer user looked up thoughtfully. "Well, how about dusty?"

"Hey! I'm not dusty and I am certainly not old. I will have you know that women still find me attractive and young. Not many can resist my roguish good looks anyway."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Qrow! Come on! You've been here before. You have to show us around so we don't get lost and then you have to come find us. You don't want that do you?"

Qrow's face soured. He certainly did not want to fly around trying to find some lost kid. It sounded like work. Work he did not want. He looked as the cloak wearing girl started to give her infamous puppy dog look. "Hahaha. Just like Summer." The veteran hunter reached down and pulled his niece's hood right over her eyes.

"HEY!"

"That look ain't gonna work on me kiddo. Your mom use to do it to us all the time. So I know how to combat it." He grinned as he watched the silver-eyed girl struggled to pull her hood away from her face. "Fine. I'll show ya kids around. Just be glad I ain't charging ya. Now, c'mon." He gestured to the group to follow him. As he lead the group, the conversation he had with his sister came back. The thing she shared about Ruby and Yang was especially concerning. Problem was, how was he suppose to protect Ruby? He didn't know when they would attack. Qrow decided that he would just have to watch her very closely. As for Yang, he was surprised that she took her in. He wanted to argue for Yang to be away from the tribe, but he didn't because he knew that it would be useless. The booze loving hunter wanted desperately to ignore his sister. To just dismiss her, but he wouldn't this time. The events that had followed taught him that maybe, just maybe, he should listen to her.

As he walked out of the hotel with team RNJR trailing behind him, he began to think about Yang. Thinking back on it, perhaps he shouldn't have doted on the scythe wielding girl so much. His firecracker of a niece could have really used some lessons from him when she was younger. There was one positive thing he could take from all of this. It was that he could tell that Raven wasn't exactly the same person he knew. It was clear that Yang had changed her in some way.

Qrow stopped to allow the cars to pass. He could faintly hear the children behind him talking about happier times at Beacon. The alcoholic pulled out his flask and downed some of its contents. If Tai was really coming, then he would definitely ask him about what had happened. The dark-haired man looked up to the sky. "Hope you're doing good out there firecracker."

Yang had finally reached Mt. Gulg. She began to pull herself up and ascend the side of the mountain. The young teen flew higher and higher at great speeds. She could feel that this whole thing was way too easy. Could she really fly all the way? Somehow, she doubted it, but she would continue anyway.

As soon as Yang burst through the clouds, she was hit with a powerful gale. The blonde was struggling to stay in control. Eventually, she lost control and began to somersault through the air. Just before she crashed into the mountain, Yang had reverted to her humanoid form and dug her fingers into the rock face. Heaving and panting, she looked down and gulped. Even though she had this accelerated healing, she was certain that falling from this height would kill her.

Yang felt the powerful wind blast her again. She tightened her grip and began to climb. "I knew there was gonna be a catch to this fucking thing." The half-breed noticed that she still couldn't see the summit. Yang hung her head and sighed. Pulling her head back up, she frowned and continued to climb. Yang was determine to complete this trial. She would not be dissuaded from doing so.

Yang was starting to grow paranoid. She was told that there would be a lot of Grimm on this mountain. So far, she had yet to encounter any and she knew how exposed she was right now. Reaching up with her right hand, she grabbed an outstretched rock and started to pull herself up. However, as soon as she put her weight onto the rock, it immediately cracked and crumbled. Yang yelped in surprise. Her right arm fell and she completely lost her footing. Using the momentum from the right side of her body, she let go of the rock in her left hand and twirled in the air to the left and grabbed on to a small ledge. She looked down over her right shoulder to see the small bits of shale falling.

Breathing a large sigh of relief, Yang pulled herself up over the ledge she had grabbed on. Once she was sure that her footing was firm and stable, she continued up the mountain. After a few moments of climbing, she heard scratching sounds below her. Yang looked down. The blonde raised a brow. Shrugging, she continued her way up. The scratching sounds came back, but this time they were louder. Yang stopped and looked down again. This time, she could see bits of rocks from where she almost fell began to shoot out. "Oh, fucking great."

Yang's eyes widened with fright as hundreds of dime sized Grimm starting pouring out from the hole where she saw the rocks shot out. They had red circle patterns on their backs. Their small mandibles were pure black like oil and were very sharp. Perfect for tearing apart flesh. They began to crawl their way up to her.

"Fuck. Just had to be Scarabs. Fucking nasty little bastards." Yang began to quickly ascend. She knew that if they caught up to her, then they would start to swarm her and quickly dig their way into her body and eat her from the inside out. Yang noticed a large, wide ledge above her and what looked like a set of loose rocks. Problem was, that it was very far away. She didn't like it, but she had to take chances to get up to that ledge and put the plan she had just come up with into action.

Yang bent down slightly and shot up. As soon as she started to loose momentum, she grabbed on to the side of the mountain and threw herself up again. Doing this ensured that the swarm of Scarabs would never be able to catch up to her. After doing this ten times, she finally made it to the ledge. The blonde pulled herself up to her feet. She ran straight to the other side. Once she reached the edge, she stopped. Yang looked down to see if the swarm had deviated in it's course. Nodding, the half faunus let out a mighty roar and smashed both of her hands in the mountain. The force from the blow sent a shock wave up. A moment later, piles of rocks and boulders began to roll down. The Scarabs started to turn around, but it was too late. The rock slide Yang had created was squashing and tearing through the tiny Grimm. It wasn't long before the whole swarm was overtaken by the rock slide.

Yang watched on with a triumphant grin on her face. She had just passed the first test the mountain gave her. Nodding, she jumped up as high as she could and resumed her climb.

After a few hours of climbing, Yang still could not see the summit. Letting out a groan, she slammed her forehead against the mountain. "Ugh! How much higher is it!?" A gust of air hit her. She could tell that the air here was much colder. It was times like these that she thankful for the Phoenix's powers.

Reaching up, she was surprised when she felt actual stable ground with her hand. Pulling herself up over the edge, she found a large, winding path with several caves. Looking up, she saw more of the path. Yang had concluded that she would probably have to navigate through a series of cave systems to get higher up and continue the path. However, she could easily get lost in the caves. She could just ignore this whole thing and continuing climbing.

Yang watched as pieces of shale crumbled off as the wind hit it. She grimaced. "Yup. Going with the caves." The blonde felt good about her decision. Walking was much easier than climbing. It didn't waste as much energy and if she had to fight, she would have full range of motion of her body. Yang also reasoned that she wouldn't be as exposed as she would be if she continued to climb. That and she was sick of feeling like she was going to fall with each bit of movement she made on the side of the mountain.

Nodding, the half-breed walked along the path. She entered the nearest cave to her. Once she passed through the entrance, she met with a beautiful scenery of glowing green dust crystals. Yang moved further into the cave. A sense of childlike wonder spread throughout her entire being. She looked on in awe as a dust crystal suddenly began to glow blue. The limestone walls were illuminated with azure. It was like this mountain was full of pure dust deposits. Yang realized that these crystals were naturally refined dust. She remembered learning that naturally refined dust was extremely rare and very valuable. It takes thousands of years for dust to be like this, but here she was. Completely surrounded by the stuff. It was a treasure trove of refined dust. Yang was certain that if word got out about how fertile Mt. Gulg was then the SDC would stripe the mountain bare. If they could get past the Grimm that is. However, that would require someone telling people about the mountain. Though it seemed that there were only a hand full of people who knew about this and they were most likely all apart of the tribe. Of course, Yang was going to keep her lips sealed. She didn't want this beautiful place to be destroyed.

Yang shook her head. This wasn't the time to be sightseeing. She was on a mission. A mission that she would complete.

The blonde tugged on the tsuka of her sword that was slung across her back. Even though this place was pretty, Yang knew that danger was probably around the corner. With all of her senses on high alert, she continued forward. Her face was illuminated with ruby red from the dust crystals. Sounds of small water droplets hitting the cave floor echoed. Loud splashing sounds soon filled her ears as she waded through a large puddle. Yang's eyes widened as her ears registered the sound of a stalactite crashing on the cave floor. She turned around to the point of origin of the sound and leaped back. She assumed a combat stance as soon as she landed. The young woman blinked her scarlet eyes for a few moments. Yang moved her eyes from side to side, but she saw nothing. She turned her head around to look behind her. Nothing there. She looked above her. Again, there was nothing there. The darkness wasn't a problem. She could see perfectly fine. It was all of the rock formations and tunnels that she couldn't see through.

Yang wasn't convinced that nothing was there. She could feel something watching her and whatever it was, it was very good about masking it's presence. Frowning, the blonde began to slowly walk backwards in a In No Kamae stance. After a few steps back, she made sharp hundred eighty degree turn. Yang stands still for a about a minute. Her glowing ruby eyes scanning everything in front of her. She continued forward after figuring that it was safe. The half-breed was hyper aware of every little sound, every scent, and every ounce of movement she caught with her eyes. Yang was even extremely aware of every small, subtle shift of air on her skin.

Yang cautiously entered a large, round room. It was littered with numerous formations of stalactites and stalagmites. The room was a lit with emerald green. "I can feel it. Whatever this thing is, it has been following me since I entered this cave. But where is it? If this is a Grimm, then it's the first one I have ever encountered that had the ability to hide its self so well. Like it actually has some form of intelligence."

A pair of slitted red orbs appeared above the teen. The fell silently toward her until they were just a few feet above her head. Yang narrowed her eyes as she gripped her sword even tighter. She slowly started to lower herself. Then, suddenly, Yang quickly dove to her right to dodge a pair of grimy orange teeth. Once she rolled onto her feet, the blonde looked up and let out a small gasp. Before her was most definitely a Grimm, but not one she was familiar with. Floating in front of her was a large bat-like creature with giant black horns adorning it's head. It let out an ear splitting screech, forcing the blonde to hold her ears. It spread out its wings and flew at her. She instantly rolled out of the way.

Yang stood up on her feet as the Grimm turned around and started to make another pass at her. She pulled herself into a stance and waited. Just as the bat-like Grimm was about to close it's jaws around her, Yang dove forward to put herself underneath the Grimm. Just before it flew away from her, she slashed its belly. Her attack came out with the speed of a viper's strike.

It shrieked in agony. Crashing onto the cave floor with a large booming sound. Piles of rocks being trudged up as it skidded across the ground. When it finally came to a stop, Yang stood up and looked upon her handy work. The huge bat Grimm had dozens of stalactites and stalagmites sticking out of it. A black gaseous substance was bleeding out of its wound that she gave it. After a few moments of struggling, it stopped moving.

Yang walked up to the Grimm's still form. She wasn't going to be taking any chances. Raising her sword over her head, she looked cautiously at the monstrosity before her. The blue glow from the dust crystals shined off the metallic surface of her sword as she brought it down. She felt no resistance as her blade swiftly cut through the creature's neck. A half of a second later, the head fell off and landed with a thud.

Yang stood up straight. The blonde was glad her hypothesis turned out to be correct. She assumed that this Grimm could not see. Instead, it used the sounds in its environment to locate prey and maneuver around. It was also logical to assume that it used the screeching to act as sonar. Using this, Yang figured that if she moved at very last moment, the Grimm would be confused for a very brief period of time as it would try to use its natural sonar technique to locate her. She used that time to deliver a killing blow. If the creature was able to see, then this wouldn't have worked as it would have adjusted its position to avoid her attack. Yang also concluded that this Grimm was not a fighter. It was very much an ambush predator. It relied heavily on the element of surprise. It never expects to be in a fight. Which is why the fight was so easy. The bat-like Grimm just wasn't evolved to be able to fight.

Yang jumped as she heard multiple screeches. They came from the tunnels behind her. "Fuck! These caves are full of them aren't they? One or two I can handle, but not a cave full of them." The blonde began to run. She hoped she would be able to find the exit. It wasn't hard to figure out that these cave systems were like large mazes. Another handful of screeches came from behind her. She frowned. "Shit! It won't be long until they find me. I need to find a way out of this fucking place."

Sweat was dripping from her brow as she huffed and puffed her way down deeper into the cave. Yang made sharp right turn. Her boots skidding across the rocky ground. As the half-breed ran, she noticed that the tunnel started to open up. Yang came to fast stop as she dug her heels into the ground. She turned around and looked up to see a large group of stalactites just above. She jumped up and swiped her sword across the base of them. They came down and plugged up the entrance. The blonde started to cough from all of the dirt and dust that was kicked up. She waved her hand back and forth to get the brown cloud out of her face. She looked at the sealed entrance and then resumed running. "That should give me some time."

Yang rounded another corner. The cave was proving to be a veritable maze. It didn't help that everything looked the same. Her eyes widened as she heard the hell screams of the bat Grimm. "Well, that didn't take very fucking long!" The blonde jumped to avoid snapping jaws. She landed on the Grimm and shoved her sword through its skull. It dropped instantly. She jumped off and continued running. As she continued to run, Yang squeezed her eyes shut when a bright light shined on her face. Opening her eyes, Yang internally cheered.

She put on the afterburners and zoomed down the rocky corridor. Soon enough, she made it out of the cave. Yang gasped as she realized that she was about to run of the edge of the mountain. She jammed her sword into the ground. Her momentum forced her whole body to swing over the edge and to the right. Yang's left hand spun on the tsuka of her katana. She let out a yelp as her back slammed into the wall of the mountain. The half faunus quickly removed her sword from the cave entrance. A moment later, the bat-like Grimm flew out. As the sun's rays hit it, it shrieked in agony. Boils started forming on it's skin. After a brief period of writhing in the air, it plummeted towards the ground.

Yang watched with morbid fascination as it fell. She smirked. "Ha! So you bastards don't like UV light. Sucks to be you assholes." She could hear the screeches of its brothers in the cave. They didn't dare fly out. So, they decided to cut their losses and return to the dark depths of the cave.

The blonde looked over to her right to see a long path up. She breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that she didn't have to go through anymore caves. Yang thanked her lucky stars that she just happened to run in the right direction. Her gaze turned downward. She could see the point where she entered the cave. The blonde was surprised to see how far up she was. She didn't realize that she had ran so far. Turning her eyes up, she still couldn't see the top. "Ugh! C'mon man. How much higher do you go?" Mt. Gulg answered her by sending a big gust of wind that nearly blew her off balance. "Humpf! Well, aren't you rude."

A sigh escaped from her. She began walking up. Yang twirled her sword once before putting it in its sheath on her back. She really hoped she would reach the top soon.

After two hours of walking, Yang could see her breath coming out of her mouth. The temperature had dropped significantly. It didn't faze her at all. Her body just raised its internal temperature on its own to be able to withstand the frigid conditions around her. No matter how much heat is lost, it would always be instantly replaced.

Yang felt something touch her nose. She looked up to see the sky had turned gray. Specks of white started to fall. She wasn't surprised. The blonde figured that she was pretty high up. The sound of snow crunching beneath her feet filled her ears. Upon making contact with her, the snow almost instantly began to melt.

She came to stop. Before her was a tall rocky wall. Yang looked up. She could clearly see the top of it. The teen also noted several outstretched platforms. The wind whipped her golden tresses violently around her face. Yang crouched down and then launched herself up. She repeated this on each platform until she reached the top. After reaching the top, Yang instantly put herself into a stance. The sound of metal scrapping against its sheath rang out. Yang could feel danger here.

She slowly and cautiously trudged forward through the knee high snow. Hearing something shift behind her, Yang whipped around. When she saw nothing, she turned back and began to slog through the snow.

All of a sudden, the snow beside her rose. Before she could even let out a startled gasp, a massive object slammed against her and sent her flying. She landed on her stomach and started to slide across the snow. Yang came to a stop and looked up at her assailant. Her eyes widened. In front of her was the largest Beowolf she had ever seen. It was as big as a house. Even though she could tell this was Beowolf, she was not familiar with this kind. It was pure white with glowing orange red eyes. Unlike its darker cousins, this variant did not sport any bone like spikes on its body. This version had evolved to camouflage perfectly with the snow. It let out a roar loud enough to make Yang feel her bones vibrating.

The blonde stood up and went into her stance. She ran at it and swung her sword. The white Beowolf brought up its large claws to block her attack. It threw her back. Landing on her feet, Yang jumped away to narrowly avoid razor sharp claws from taking her head. She growled as she raced towards the monster. She let out a barrage of swings. The Grimm, however, was blocking all of her strikes. It parried one of her attacks and knocked her off balance The ivory colored Grimm swiped its claw across the blonde's stomach. Yang screamed in pain as she was thrown away from the force of the strike. Her head slammed into the mountain wall.

Yang slid down on her rear. She didn't have any time to even evaluate her wound. The bleached colored Grimm suddenly appeared in front of her and slammed both of its claws on top of the half-breed. It lifted its claws and grew confused when it couldn't see a body. It turned around to see Yang clutching her wound. Blood dripped staining the snow with red. Her midriff was now completely exposed. Yang frowned as she felt her wound begin to close. The feeling of her body stitching its self back together was always painful.

Her chest heaved as she huffed and puffed. "Man. I have never fought a Beowolf like this. It's much stronger and faster than the ones I'm used to. This thing almost fights like a fucking person." Yang looked down to see that her wound was completely healed. She looked up at her opponent. The white Beowolf was now chraging at her. Scrunching her face in anger Yang yelled. "Come on you ugly bastard! Round two!"

She raised her sword and slashed outward. Metal and bone clashed. Sparks flew out each time blade and claw met. Yang jumped over the Grimm's attack She landed on its large arm swiped left. The white demon pulled its head back, but it was touch too slow. It howled in agony as the tip of Yang's sword slid across it's left eye. In its anger, it raised its right claw smashed it against Yang.

"Arrrgh!" The blonde screamed. Before her back hit the ground, she throw out her left hand and pushed off the ground beneath her to dodge another attack. She felt the ivory Grimm's claws just ever so slightly graze across her exposed midriff. The snow beneath her boots crackled and crunched as she landed. Yang jumped again to avoid another attack. She twirled in the air and delivered a brutal spin kick to the head of the Grimm. The force of her attack sent the large monster sailing through the air. It smashed against the side of the mountain; creating a indentation of its body.

Yang landed and let out a vicious smirk. She frowned when the ivory Beowolf pulled its self out of the mountain. It roared in anger. Its one good eye burned with hatred for the blonde. She fell back into a combat stance as it charged at her. She bobbed and weaved through its attacks. Once she got in its face, she countered by swinging her sword up. Part of its cheek flew off. It roared and slashed its claws out. Yang ducked and rolled between its legs. She stood up and turned her blade down and impaled it through the white Beowolf's right foot. Severing its achilles tendon. The Grimm swiped right. The blonde turned the sharp end of her blade up and jumped up while swinging. Her sword cut straight through the beast's arm. When she came up beside its head, she threw out leg. The sole of her boot slammed against the side of the Grimm's head. The blow made a loud boom as the the ivory colored Beowolf was sent crashing down into the snow. Yang grinned when she felt its bones break under her foot.

When Yang landed, she looked over to her enemy. She knew it wasn't dead yet, but it was really hurt. It had limited movement since she severed its achillies tendon and now it was down one arm. She felt that victory was assured now. The blonde smiled as the Grimm's groans of pain filled her ears. Such sounds were heavenly to her. She wanted make it suffer more. Yang felt the familiar rush of power from before. She stopped a few inches from the Beowolf. The blonde grinned as she lifted her sword over her head. She brought it down to its remaining eye. However, it was merely playing possum. It suddenly opened its mouth and caught the teen's sword with its sharp, knife like fangs.

Yang's grin was replaced with surprise. "W-what?" Before Yang could react, the white Grimm brought up its reaming arm and slammed against her. She was forced away from her weapon and smashed against the mountain. "AHHHHH!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. Yang felt something tear through the left side of her stomach. Her vision started swim and become fuzzy. The blonde looked down to see a sharp piece of rock sticking out of her abdomen. Crimson began to seep out of her wound and rolled down the side of the wall. Once it touched the snow, white began to give way to red.

Each breath was pure agony. Tears began to swell up in her eyes. She brought her gaze up to see the Grimm standing. It clenched its teeth and a metallic snap echoed. Her sword fell into two piece on the snow. It began to limp its way slowly towards her. Yang gritted her teeth and started to push herself off the wall. She cried in pain as she started to slid off of the rocky spike. Once off, Yang fell onto the snow face first. She groaned as she felt her blood beginning to pour out of her. The hole was taking much longer to close up than the lacerations she received when the ivory Beowolf racked its claws against her. Yang was able to bring herself up on one knee, but a shadow fell over her. The blonde looked up to see the Grimm with it's reaming arm raised up. She gritted her teeth as the it started to bring it down. Yang threw her hands out and closed her eyes.

She waited for the blow to come, but it never did. Instead, her ears were greeted to an earsplitting howl of pain. The smell of burnt flesh entered her nose. She opened her eyes to see what was making the monster cry. When she did she was stunned. Her right hand was currently holding a golden, flaming sword. It hissed as snowflakes landed on it. Yang frowned when she heard the Grimm howl once again. She gazed upon her fire weapon. "Just roll with it."

Yang grimaced as she was reminded of the hole in her abdomen. Fighting through the pain, she stood up to her full height. Putting her self in a stance. Her fiery weapon crackling and popping. "Alright you sonuvabitch! I'm gonna make damn sure you don't get up again."

The bleached Grimm started to rush as fast as it could with only one good leg. Yang roared as she started to run at the monster. Eventually, both clashed. Yang held out her golden weapon in front of her while the ivory Beowolf had its remaining arm stretched out. A moment later, a yellow, circular line formed around its midsection. Golden flames began to spurt out. The entire top half fell over with the legs following soon afterwards.

Yang dropped to one knee. Her face twisted in pain as she was reminded of the hole in her body again. She looked down. Her injury had closed up some. This wound was taking much longer to heal than bruises or cuts. It made sense to Yang. This was a much more serious injury, so it would take longer to regenerate. The blonde reached down with her left hand to hold her wound. The feeling of a hot, sticky liquid told her that she was indeed still bleeding.

Yang's eyes went wide with fright when she heard multiple loud thuds behind her. She gulped as she slowly turned her head. Standing directly over the corpse of the fallen Grimm were four other white Beowolfs. "Shit!" She whispered under her breath. Yang turned her whole body around to face the four Grimm. She started to breath heavily just from the simple action. Getting a better look, Yang could tell that these Beowolves were a whole head smaller than the one she just killed. She figured that the one she had just killed was the alpha. She also figured that these four looked real pissed off about having their leader killed.

Yang willed herself through the pain and stood up on her feet. Her head lolled as her vision was going. The blonde violently shook her head. If she passed out here then the Grimm would rip her apart. Their orange red eyes glowed as they sensed her vulnerability. They began to slowly move forward. This caused Yang to take a few steps back.

Bullets of sweat started to roll down her face. Both from the strain her injury was causing her and fear. "C'mon Yang! Think! What can you do in this situation? What can you use?" The loud crackling sound from her golden, flaming katana brought her out of her thoughts. She looked at it and then turned her gaze towards the snow. She also noticed an opening in the wall over to her left. With a plan in mind, Yang gripped her fire sword with both of her hands. She waited for the ivory Beowolves to come a few feet closer. When they did, she raised her weapon and stabbed it in the snow. Copious amounts of boiling hot steam rose. The Beowolves howled as the steam made contact with their bodies. Yang raised her gilded katana and started swinging at the snow in front of her multiple times. Doing so created a thick cloud of very hot steam.

The Grimm were forced to close their eyes as the steam burned at them. As the heated vapor engulfed them, their roars of pain became louder as the skin under their fur started to sizzle. After about a minute of torment, the steam was beginning to dissipate. Eventually, the wind picked up the rest of the boiling vapor and moved it away from the group. Various burn were scattered across their bodies, but the frigid wind cold them.

The white Grimm opened their eyes and tilted their heads. Their prey was nowhere to be seen. They scanned the entire area, but could not find the blonde. The Beowolves split up to search for their prey more effectively. None of them noticed a large, round and white object rolling gently across a cave entrance.

Once Yang had closed the entrance, she fell back and slid down a wall. She breathed out an exhausted sigh of relief. She was so glad that her plan worked. Yang smiled as she was relieved to have escaped death. A throbbing pain turned that smile into a face twisted in agony. Her body making her acutely aware of the hole that was still present. Too tired to look down, she gently brushed her hand on her injury; gritting her teeth as she did so. She noticed that the hole was, for the most part, closed up. It was now as wide a her fore finger. However, Yang had another problem to deal with. Blood loss. She had lost a good amount of blood and she was now starting to really feel it.

Her breathed hitched as she heard the crunching sounds of snow being trampled just outside her hiding spot. The sound became louder and louder as the Grimm outside came closer. Her heart started race. She could hear it booming in her ears. Yang gulped as the monstrous footsteps stopped in front of the boulder she used to seal the entrance. She squeezed her eyes shut when she heard it sniffing at the entrance. Yang had to stifle a whimper as she heard it growl. The moment she thought she was found out, she heard the Beowolf start to move away from her. After keeping her breath held for what seemed like forever, the blonde released it and gave a sigh of relief.

Yang could feel her vision fading. She tried to fight the tug of unconsciousness on her mind, but she was far too tired. The effects of blood loss finally taking full effect. The corners of her vision started going black as her sight narrowed. Eventually, she closed her eyes completely as she drifted off to sleep.

Yang found herself in some sort of hellscape. The sky was completely covered with black and gray clouds. Looking around her, she noticed that there were dozens of dilapidated buildings around her. It was clear that she was in the ruins of a city. Like some great war had happened.

Yang pressed forward. It was eerily quiet. The only sounds were the wind and the occasional strike of lightning that streaked across the sky. Turning the corner, Yang walked into a different street. She gasped at the site in front of her. Before her were the skeletal remains of people strung across the street. Dozens of weapons lined the sidewalks. Some of the skeletons were also hanging off the edge of roof tops and dangled out of windows.

"Where the fuck am I? Did I die and go to Hell or something?" Yang said with a shaky breath. She continued to walk down the street. The only thing she wanted to do right now was to get the hell away from this nightmarish scene.

"AHHHHHH!"

Yang snapped her head in the direction of the scream. She knew this voice. "Blake." She murmured. Yang took off running. Another piercing, bloodcurdling scream filled her ears. Yang started to run even faster.

Yang came to a sudden, screeching halt. What she saw made her blood run cold. It was Blake. The faunus was crucified on a giant wooden cross. The blonde eyed the nails that bore into her partner's hands and ankles. She could tell the blood was still very fresh. Whomever crucified her partner did so very recently. She sprinted forward with all her might. "Don't worry Blake! I'll get you down!" However, before she could make it to her partner, a shadow came from the ground. It materialized into a female humanoid form. The blonde dug in her feet into the ground. She skidded across the street for a few feet before stopping. The creature before her grinned and stretched its dark visage over to her. Yang threw a fist out, but the shadow wrapped around her hand and pulled her towards itself. It then raised her high in the air and slammed her onto the ground.

Blood was forced out of her mouth from the force of the impact. The black substance began to wrap around her until only her head was sticking out. Yang struggled against it, but she was completely bound to the ground. She couldn't move a single muscle. The half-breed gasped as the all of the air was forced out of her lungs. The dark substance squeezed her body harshly. It lifted her up and faced her towards Blake. The black cocoon around Yang squeezed even tighter. Making her gag and gasp desperately for air.

It brought it's face to Yang's. Its red eyes glowed and its oil-black fangs were bared when it grinned. It turned towards the faunus. Raising its other hand, it shaped its fingers into large spear-like objects. The blonde watched in horror as the demon thrusted its hand.

Yang's eye flew open as she threw herself forward. She took a sharp breath of air. Squeezing her eyes, she pinched the bridge of her nose. Beads of sweat dripping off the sides of her face. Yang was trying desperately to steady her breathing. "It's just a nightmare. It's just a nightmare. It's just a nightmare." She continued to repeat those words over and over again until she finally calmed down.

After she calmed herself, Yang looked up to see that it was much darker in her small cave. Very thin rays of pale light came through the seems of the rock that covered the entrance. Unfortunately, this was not exactly enough light for her night vision to work. Taking all of this into account, she concluded that it was now night.

She wanted to see inside her hiding place, but she needed a little bit more light. Yang briefly pondered how she could get said light and an idea came to her. She reasoned that if she was able to make a fire sword from her flames, then she should be able to create a small flame in the palm of her hand. The blonde closed her eyes. Trying to remember what it felt like when she had her flaming weapon.

Once she found this feeling, she flexed her hand and arm. Her eyes tightly shut as she concentrated. After a few moments, Yang felt something warm form from her hand. She opened her eyes and smiled. Slightly floating above her palm was a small, yellow flame. This was more than enough light for her. So much light that her night vision wasn't necessary.

First thing was first. Even though she didn't feel any pain, she needed to check to see if she was still injured. Yang looked down to her exposed midriff to see that the hole that was there was now closed up entirely. Dried lines of blood were present. She then began to survey her immediate surroundings. The cave she was in was very small. Big enough for a person to fit comfortably, but small for a cave nonetheless . Yang caught something in the corner of her eye. The blonde teen turned to the thing that captured her attention. What she saw were some crude drawings on the wall beside her.

Upon closer examination, she saw four figures. One that looked like it had messy hair with a big sword on its back. The other was a little bit buffer and had its fist bumping together. The next one seemed to be of a cloaked figure with a what looked like a staff-like weapon. Another figure was standing, its hand on a handle of some sort of weapon that was hanging off its waist. Yang moved her eyes further to the right and saw an infant that was in the center of a giant bird with its wings wrapped around it. There were some strange symbols above this picture. Yang recognized that these symbols were from the old language that her mother's tribe sometimes used. She remembered Dove teaching her some of that language.

She squinted her eyes as she searched her mind for the information that would allow her to translate the word. "H. O. P. E. Hope? Why hope?" Her voice a soft, gentle whisper. The small flame in her hand crackled and snapped softly. Yang's eyes expanded with realization. This drawing was supposed to be her. Which meant that the four figures were of her mother, Qrow, Summer, and her father. "She was here. She was in this very spot." Yang let the tips of her fingers glide across the pictures. It was then that she was hit with another heavy realization. "You missed us. You never wanted to leave. You wanted to stay with us. You were ready to have and live with a new family. Hell, you probably wanted to change the tribe and give them a new purpose and a better way to survive. You had all of these dreams and you were going to work to make them come true, but then Salem trampled all over them. You were forced away from us."

Yang felt her heart wrench in her chest. Guilt swelled in her chest. Tears started pool in her eyes. She sniffled once before rubbing her left arm across her eyes. "For so long before I actually met you, I had always hated you. I thought you were going to be some sort of monster. I was so surprised when you saved me and even took me in. You looked after me while I was hurt. You took the broken pieces of my soul and put them back together. The truth was that you always cared. I thought for so long that you had abandoned me, but I now realize that you were always there." Yang felt tears stream down her face. She tried so hard to stem the torrent that was in her eyes, but she just couldn't contain the wave of powerful emotions. "I remember when I was crying in my room because Qrow and dad shut me down in favor of Ruby to celebrate her accomplishments. A black bird flew onto my windowsill. You looked at me and I looked at you. I thought you were just a pretty bird and I was so lonely, so I went over to it. You let me touch you and I smiled. For a while, I played with you. You hoped around on my floor and I chased you trying to catch you. I had so much fun. That really cheered me up. Though I was a little sad when you had to go, but I understood it. At the time, I thought you were just going back to a nest."

The blonde let out another sniffle. She felt her nose being clogged up as more tears were produced. She brought her gaze to the picture of her as an infant. Yang read the word "hope" again. Suddenly she had an epiphany. "You don't just mean hope for the world, you also mean hope that I would break the cycle of tragedy our family seems to be cursed with. Both you and Qrow were born into a group of people who had to raid towns to survive. Neither of you grew up in a safe environment and were forced to kill early on. You were forced to leave us. Summer was killed. I was neglected emotionally in favor for my sister. Then I got framed during the tournament. Got my arm cut off. Then I became completely shunned from society. Blew up half an island and now. Then I became public enemy number one. Our family just has one tragedy after another."

Yang slammed her head against the cave wall. She curled her left hand into a fist and smashed it on the ground. Tears dripped steadily on the ground as she kept slamming her fist. "I'm sorry." Sorrow spilled from her voice. Her crying became more hysterical as the pain and weight of guilt began to build up. "I'm so sorry mom! I had misjudged you for so long! I'm so sorry! Mom, please forgive me! Please! I'm sorry!" Her voice cracked with each word that she uttered. Mucus and tears began running from her nose.

Yang cried uncontrollably for a few more minutes. Eventually, she calmed down. She felt her chest become lighter as she felt a crushing weight being lifted from her chest. Her breathing evened out to a nice and steady pace. The blonde removed her head from the wall and looked at the picture of her. She read the word "Hope" again. Yang frowned. Her eyes narrowed with determination. Rubbing her nose, Yang looked towards the large rock that blocked off the entrance. "All of this is just even more reason for me to complete this damn trial. And no fucking Grimm is going to stop me!" She roared as she bent her leg towards her and thrusted out. The boulder was flung from the blow. Her kick was so strong that she had actually forced the large rock over the edge of the mountain and then some.

Yang stepped out. The moonlight glowed on her face. Her scarlet eyes burning. She scanned the area, but couldn't find any sight of Grimm. She also noted the carcass of the one she had killed wasn't there anymore. It seemed that its followers took it away. Yang looked up. She grinned. She could actually see the summit. All it required was a few smart jumps and maybe fifteen minutes of climbing. The teen didn't notice she was so close since she had a few Grimm to deal with. She jumped on the wall of the mountain and began her climb.

It took a little longer than she had expected, but she finally made it. Yang had made it to the top. She raised one of her yellow eyebrows. Before her was what appeared to be an old, cracked and broken stair case leading up to another cave. There were broken columns lined up on both sides of the stairs. It was clear to Yang that these were the remains of an ancient civilization. Yang began her ascent.

Once she got up half, Yang sensed something large coming towards her. "Tch. Figures it wouldn't be so easy."

A large shadow hovered over her. She covered her face with her arms as the snow pelted her from the gusts that were created from whatever was making those loud whooshing sounds. The ground beneath her shook as the creature landed in front of her with a boom.

Yang lowered her arms and growled in frustration. What she saw was perhaps the biggest Grimm she had ever seen. It was a Nevermore, but not just any Nevermore. This one was at least twice the size of the one she fought during her initiation at Beacon. She glowered at the monstrously sized Nevermore. Feeling her intense hatred and anger for it, it responded by roaring at her. Yang instantly put her hands over her ears to prevent any damage to her eardrums. Large pieces of rocks broke off and fell down the mountain. Piles of snow were dislodged and slid down the side of the mountain; creating an enormous avalanche. The columns around her cracked from the powerful force that came from the giant avian Grimm's mouth.

The half faunus snarled as she bared her teeth at her foe. She held out her right hand and flexed. A moment later, a golden flame in the shape of a katana shot forth. Yang then started sprinting to the abnormally large Nevermore. Her hair whipping violently behind her. "Get the fuck outta my way asshole!"

Once she got halfway, she leaped at it and swung. The demon bird howled in pain as the searing edge of the fiery sword cut and melted the flesh of its underbelly. It let out a horrible squawking sound as the some of its black feathers started to catch on fire. It brought up its head and lunged down. Yang jumped out of the way of her foe's lightning fast counterattack. When the beak met the ground, chunks of stone flew in every direction. The blonde punched out with her left hand. The moment her fist made contact with flying piece of debris, it turned to a cloud of dust.

While the Nevermore was still recovering from its attack, Yang started running towards it. She stopped a short distance away from the Grimm. She then jumped. Whilst in the air, Yang pivoted her waist towards her adversary. She hiked up her right knee as high as she could to give herself more height. As she tucked her left foot to her groin, she straightened out her right leg to deliver a nasty kick to the side of the Nevermore's masked head. The blow caused a bone rattling boom. The Nevermore's head violently jerked to the side.

As soon as Yang landed she crouched down and then launched herself up. She flew past her avian foe's head. She then stopped and began to descend to her opponent. On her way down, she started to flip forward. Once the Grimm recovered and brought its head up to find its prey, Yang drove the heel of her boot right on the crown of its head. The blonde's attack forced the Grimm to crash into the ground.

It opened its eyes slowly and glared at Yang. Lifting its right wing, it threw it at the descending blonde teen. Yang's eyes widened as she quickly put her flaming sword in front of her in an attempt to block the incoming attack. The obsidian wing slammed into her and sent her soaring through the air. The demon bird roared in agony as its wing made contact with the girl's gilded weapon.

All Yang could see was yellow as her hair covered her face from the hurricane-like winds that she felt as she sailed through the air. However, her instincts told her to focus most of her aura to her backside. A second later, her body smashed through one of the dilapidated columns at the bottom of the stairs. Snow kicked up as she landed on her back. She groaned in pain as she struggled to pick herself up. Yang took in big, painful gulps of air to replace oxygen that was knocked out of her. Her aura might have absorbed most of the impact, but the bit that it didn't absorb hurt like hell.

As she stood up, she heard the whooshing sounds of large wings flapping. Yang looked up to see the Grimm had decided to take to the air. She watched as it spread its wings as far as possible. Yang knew exactly what was going to happen and started to run to the nearest form of cover she could find. The larger than normal Nevermore let loose thousands of sharp, black feathers. Just before Yang got to cover, she screamed as one of the large feathers embedded itself into her shoulder. Her nose wrinkled as she squeezed her eyes. Blood started to trickle down her arm. She reached up and grabbed it and began to pull. "Arghhhh!" The blonde yelled in anguish as she continue to tug on the feather. After a few seconds of pulling, the feather came out with a disgusting wet pop.

Yang grunted as she felt the pain from her skin closing over her wound. She poked out her head to see where foe was. She immediately pulled it back as black feathers started to pelt the rock she was hiding behind. Yang only needed one good distraction and she would be able to get in close enough to kill the demon bird. "But how am I going to distract enough to let me get close?" Yang rubbed the her left hand under her chin as she pondered. Her gaze fell to the katana made from her fire. "Wait! If I can make weapons from my fire and I can create a small flame for light when its too dark for my night vision to work, then I should be able to make some sort of projectile."

She held out of right hand with her palm facing up. Her fingers curled as she flexed her arm. The sword in her hand began to bend and warp. It floated up one inch above her hand. The two ends curled to each other. Eventually, they stopped. The golden flame swirled in her hands. It stopped and formed a ball that was the size of her head. Yang grinned at her creation. She looked over her shoulder and waited for a break in the Nevermore's attack. When she found one she leaped out from her hiding spot. She reared her right arm back and yelled "Eat shit you over sized chicken!" She swung her arm like she was throwing a baseball. The flames of the fireball snapped and crackled as it flew through the air. Once it collided with the face of the avian monstrosity, it exploded. A large cloud of black smoke settled around its head. It writhed in pain in the air and gave an earsplitting squawk.

The half-breed hopped up on the column nearest to her and started to jump from column to column. Once she got to the pillar that was right underneath her adversary, Yang bent her knees and jumped with all of her might. She zoomed past the large bird. Once she got a hundred feet above the Nevermore, she aimed herself down with her arms at her sides. She had essential made herself into a humanoid bullet. After she got halfway to her enemy, the blonde reeled her right arm back and put her left hand with her palm facing the Grimm.

"There's only room for one bird to soar in these skies!" Yellow fire surrounded the entirety of her right arm. She was falling so fast that it looked like a golden streak was flying through the air. "AND THAT'S ME!" As soon as the those words left her mouth, she hurled her fist into the area just above the Nevermore's left eye. The whole left side of its head caved in before exploding into hundreds of small pieces. The sound of her fist connecting was like that of an Atlas fighter jet zooming across the sky as it broke the sound barrier.

The monster of a Nevermore's body jiggled once and then began to fall. It crashed into the side of the mountain. The corpse of the Grimm eventually slid down beneath the clouds.

Yang flipped once in the air. She landed in front of the cave entrance on one knee. Yang stood and gazed into the cave. The scarlet of her eyes gave a haunting glow. The harsh red contrasted with the gentle, pale light from the shattered moon. "Now, let's see what the big secret about this mountain is."

Yang walked through the dark entrance of the cave. The light from the moon and the stars outside provided just enough light for her night vision to kick in. After traveling for a few minutes inside the cave, Yang saw a bright light coming from around a nearby corner. Once she turned it, she saw one of the most amazing things in her life. In front of her was a rectangular room that was completely covered with clear crystals. They gave of a soft blue glow. The soles of her boots clicked as she walked into the room. It was clear that this room was not naturally made. Just like the stair and pillars outside, this was the remnants of a lost civilization.

Walking deeper into the crystal lined room, she came upon one of the walls. She blinked several times as she was staring at herself. It was like looking in a very clean mirror. Yang waved her hand a few times only for her reflection to copy her movement. The blonde turned away and went further into the room. However, unbeknownst to Yang, the image of her did not move with her. Instead, it stayed and its red eyes glowed as they followed her. The reflection grinned manically as it started to step out of the mirror-like crystal wall.

Yang made her way to the end of the crystalline room. She brought up her hand and started to rub wall in front of her. "This place is pretty. How did they even build all of this?" She was just in complete awe of this place. To her, this seemed like an architectural marvel. Yang felt the hairs of on the back of her neck stand on end. She frowned as she sensed something dark behind her. Yang did a quick hundred eighty degree turn. She threw out her elbow as she did so. However, much to her surprise, something caught her elbow. When she looked up, the blonde was stunned. Yang was quite literally shocked to see herself grinning at her and holding her elbow.

The half-breed jumped off to the side to put distance between her and her clone. Her face contorted with confusion and apprehension. "What the fuck?" Who and what the hell are you?"

Her lookalike chuckled darkly. "I'm you you idiot. Who else could I be?" The clone's voice was just an octave below her own. Though, to Yang, this copy of her sounded like a psychopath.

The blonde growled at the insult. "Well, if I'm an idiot and you're supposed to be me. Then doesn't that make you an idiot as well?" She said with a snarky tone. Her mother might actually have been proud with her just form the sheer amount of snark that she spoke with.

"Ohhhhh, scathing."

"Besides, there is only one me. You're just some damn faker. So how about you just go back to whatever shitty hole you just crawled out of." Yang said as she waved her hand dismissively at her copy.

The clone Yang scoffed. "Faker!? How could say that? I am you. But you're right. There can only be one me." The copy grinned devilishly. She instantly jumped at the original Yang.

Yang instantly reached and grabbed her clone's right fist with her own right hand. She brought up her free hand and threw a straight at her opponent. The copy caught her attack with its free hand. Both Yangs stood there, locked in place as their grunting echoed in the chamber. The lookalike cocked her head back and threw her body forward. Its forehead slammed into Yang's face. She yelped as she felt a sharp pain on her nose. The copy repeated this several times. On the last headbutt, Yang pulled her body back. She took her doppelganger down with her. Before her back touched the ground, she brought both of her legs together and tucked them into her chest. The blonde then straightened her legs out; both of her feet were planted right on her foe's sternum.

The copy let out a strangled gasp as all of the air was forced from her lungs. Once Yang felt her copies grip loosen from her hand, she let go of the impostor's right hand. The doppelganger was launched up. Its body crashed into the ceiling. Small shards of crystals broke off as an indentation of its body formed on the ceiling. The copy bared its teeth. She growled at Yang and then threw herself at her. Yang jumped out of the way as her copy swiped her fist at the ground. Chunks of crystals shot out in all directions.

Yang's eyes widened in surprise as her opponent immediately darted towards her with a fist that was covered with golden fire. She had not anticipated that her copy would recover from its attack so quickly nor did she think that it would be able to perform her abilities. Yang barely had enough time to dodge. However, the right side of her shirt was caught in the attack. Pieces of cloth were ripped off and caught on fire in the air. Once she got some distance from her enemy, Yang looked down to where shirt was destroyed. She noticed that her right breast was now exposed, but she didn't see any wounds.

Yang scowled as her doppelganger turned to her and gave a sickeningly sweet smile. She dropped into a combat stance.

"Heeeeeyyyyyy. Look at that. I'm pawsitive Belladonna would faint from seeing that!" The doppelganger laughed maniacally at her own joke.

"Grrrrrr. Don't you dare say her name you filthy fake!" Yang roared. Her fists clenching tighter as her anger rose.

"Hmmmmmm? I think after I'm done with you, I'll go find her and fuck that pretty little kitty. Oh, I can't wait to hear her shout me name in -" She was interrupted when a black boot smashed into the side of her face. A disgusting pop came from her neck. She landed on the ground with a thud. The Yang copy laid there, unmoving.

"Tch." Yang clicked her tongue with frustration as she heard the snapping and cracking sounds of bones being put back in place. "Figures this thing would be able to do this. If its a copy of me, then its gonna have my accelerated healing."

When the sounds stopped, the copy flipped its self back on to its feet and smirked at Yang. "Ecstasy." She rubbed the part of her head that was kicked. Her smirk grew even wider. "And after I'm done fucking her, I'll kill the traitorous little bitch. I'll teach her a fucking lesson. Payback for leaving me. Then, I'll break that shitty little brat called, my sister, in half. Hahahaha. It should be a whole lot of fun!"

Yang clenched her fists so tightly that blood started to trickle off of her knuckles. Her ruby eyes were a lit. They looked like they could shoot out lasers. The blood vessels in her eyes started to turn gold. An aura of yellow fire began to surround her. Yang stomped her foot so hard, that she created a hole in the crystal floor. The blonde pulled her foot out and charged. "YOU WON'T LAY A FUCKING HAND ON EITHER OF THEM, YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Yang screamed.

The doppelganger grinned like a psychopath as the ball of fire and anger came hurling at her. Both of their fists collided. The crystals in the chamber cracked and splintered from the shock wave that was created from the impact of their fists. Two golden streaks zoomed around the room. They were both throwing flurries of punches and kicks at each other as they zipped around. Each one blocking and parrying the other. Both golden streaks came to the center of the crystalline chamber. The sound of small bomb erupted. Both Yang's currently had their right fists in each others face. They were blown back from the force of their attacks.

Yang instantly righted herself in the air and landed on her feet. Her boots made an obnoxious squeak as she slid on the floor. A trail of black skid marks were left behind. Once she stopped, she lifted her head and gave her fake a heated glare. The bruise on her cheek was already vanishing. Her veins started to become luminescent. The glow of yellow radiated from underneath her skin. Yang was starting to feel it. The blonde could feel the rush of power. She felt pure ecstasy as the feeling of her power spread throughout her body. Her eyes began to dilate. A psychotic grin stretched from ear to ear. The strands of hair becoming fire until there was a golden flame on top of her head. Gilded fire surrounded her as she became even more drunk with power.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!" She growled. Her mind slipping further and further away from reason as her darker emotions began to take hold. They swirled violently inside her. Uncontrolled like the winds of a hurricane.

The doppelganger gave a cheshire smile. "Yes. That's right! Feels good doesn't it! It would feel even better to kill something, wouldn't it?" The copy egged on. She watched as the original Yang began to menacingly step towards her. She raised a single yellow eyebrow as her smile grew wider. "Oh, yes! That's right. Come here. Come and rip me apart!" The copy yelled as she gestured for Yang to come to her.

When Yang got about halfway to her soon to be victim, she caught something yellow out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see her reflection on the light, baby blue glowing crystal wall. The blonde blinked a few times. Her grin slowly becoming smaller. The fog in her mind became thinner. Blake's shy, smile flashed before her. Yang shook her head. Another image of her partner flashed in her mind. This one had Yang see that her partner was dead. And that she was standing above her with the same crazy grin she saw in her reflection. She was covered in the onyx-haired faunus' blood. Yang put her hands up to her head. "No. No. I didn't do that." She uttered under her breath.

Yang looked back up at her reflection. Her face turned somber. "I...I look like a monster. I lost control again." Her gaze fell to her feet dejectedly. Yang frowned as she as caught movement to her side. She looked back at the wall. Her eyes narrowed as she saw dark globules coming out of her and flying towards her copy. "I understand now. This is me. But a me that has allowed the power and my dark emotions to take hold. Well, no more! If I'm going to kill Adam, the White Fang, and Salem, then I will do so with me being the one who is in control! I won't let myself be some wild animal like that Taurus bastard! Besides, I'm sure Blake wouldn't want to see me like this."

Yang stood up and straightened out her posture. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The flame on her head went back to being just hair. The veins in her eyes went back to normal and her veins stopped glowing gold. Once she exhaled, the half-breed opened her eyes to give her doppelganger a hard look. It very much resembled the look her mother gave whenever they fought. "You can't win anymore. It's over."

The copy frowned. Confusedly, she asked "What the hell are you going on about? How is it over when I'm still standing dumbass?"

"It's over because I know how to defeat you. You have run rampant for too long. You have controlled me long enough, but no more. Now I am the one who is in control. You are me. You are all of my uncontrolled dark desires. You are all of my darkness. Well, know this. You are nothing more than a tool for me to use. A weapon so to speak. I am the master and a master does not allow their weapons or their tools to control them." Yang's voice was full of conviction. She continued to give her copy a steely gaze.

Veins popped up on the doppelganger's forehead. Grinding her teeth, she stomped on the ground. "You think you're the one who is control? You think I'm the tool?" She lunged at Yang. The copy reared its arm back and yelled "YOU'RE THE ONE WHO IS THE TOOL! I'M THE MASTER! NOT YOU!" She hurled her fist at Yang with all of her might. She grinned as Yang made no move to dodge her attack. However, that grin quickly disappeared as her arm harmlessly passed through the original. She staggered back as she looked to see her whole body started to become corporeal. Panic began to rise up her chest. She looked at Yang with fearful wide eyes. "What is this? What the hell is going on!?" Her voice trembled.

The blonde spread her arms wide open. "I told you. It's over. Now that I have figured out how to control my own darkness, the dark energies that were flowing out of me and feeding you have stopped. With out my darkness spiraling out of control, you can no longer exist and I am free to actually control my power." Yang flexed all of her muscles. Her face deep with concentration as her brows knitted together.

The teen watched as her copies body began to stretch out towards her as if she were being sucked in by a black hole. Her double screamed in terror. "Now go back to where you belong! Inside me and under my thumb!"

As the last part of her lookalike was absorbed, a bright flash of yellow filled the chamber. Once it was gone, all that was left was Yang standing in the center with her eyes closed. A thin, pulsating line of yellow energy surrounded her. She frowned when she heard a sharp ting. Opening her eyes, Yang looked down to see a shimmering gold crystal shard. She bent down and picked it up. Yang brought it up to her face and started to examine it. "Hmmmm. I guess this is supposed to be proof of my victory. Guess I should take it to show everyone."

Yang shoved the shard in her pocket and made her way out. Once she stepped out, she was greeted with a gentle late night breeze. Yang pulled her head back and smiled proudly. Her hair swaying with the wind. She felt so much more in control now. She felt more complete. It didn't feel like her emotions or her hidden power was trying to rob her of her sanity.

After standing with her head back for a few minutes, she brought her gaze forward. Yang stepped up to the top of the stairs and looked down. She frowned as she began to think about how to get down. "Ugh. Guess I got to climb all the way down." A thought popped into her head. She went off to the side and peered over the edge of the mountain. "Or do I?"

She stepped back a couple of paces. Then she broke out into a sprint. Once she got to the ledge, Yang jumped and aimed herself down. "Wheeeeeeeeeee!" She yelled. Yang began to laugh with all of the mirth of a small child as she passed through the clouds. She looked at the mountain and saw the four white Beowolves from before. The blonde raised her hands and flipped them off. "Fuck you assholes!"

The longer Yang stayed in free fall, the faster she fell. After passing through a second patch of clouds, the blonde had finally reached terminal velocity. Once Yang realized that she had reached the halfway point of Mt. Gulg, she turned into a bird. Allowing herself to fall for about five more seconds, Yang spread her large, golden wings to slow her descent. She was now close to the foot of the mountain. She was fast approaching the tip of a tree. However, just before she impaled herself on the tree, Yang pulled up just in time. She soared off into the night sky, back to where the tribe is.

After about thirty minutes of flying, Yang was starting to realize just how hungry and thirsty she was. She spied a flowing river and began to fly down. Just before she hit the ground, she transformed back, dirt was kicked up when her feet touched the ground. Yang knelt down and cupped her hands together and scooped up some water. The blonde took a sniff to make sure it was safe to drink. After deeming it safe enough to drink, Yang slurped up the water. She went back down to get another drink and gulped it down. The blonde repeated this until her thirst was quenched. "Ahhhhhhh! Man that hit the spot!" Yang's eyes widened when she heard her stomach growl at her. Holding her stomach, she scratched her chin. "Alright, now time to take care of you."

Yang took off her boots and then removed her socks. She rolled up her pant legs just above her knees. Once she stepped into the water, Yang moaned as the cool water soothed her aching feet. "What I wouldn't give for a good, deep tissue foot massage." The teen forced her mind back to focusing on getting some food. She scanned the water for five minutes. Her eyes immediately darted to her left as she caught movement under the water. With the speed of lightning, Yang swiped down. She pulled up her catch from the water. "Awwww sweet. A rainbow trout. Gonna be some good eating tonight."

Once Yang got out of the river, she took off her sheath from her back. She held the fish away from her and gave a well aimed blow just above its eyes to impact the brain. The trout immediately went still. Now that she had rendered it unconscious, Yang broke her scabbard to produce a sharp point and edge. She then went on to bleed out and then skin it it.

After she had done all of the necessary prep work, she took off a twig from a tree and put it through her fish. Yang didn't even want to bother making a campfire. She still remembered what her mother told her about how Salem would be sending people after her. With this in mind, Yang wanted to keep a low profile. A campfire would only serve to give her position away. So, instead of building a fire and risking the smoke from the burning wood giving her away, she created a small golden flame in her palm and put it under her meal to cook it.

After cooking the fish, she bit into the roasted meat. Yang almost squealed in delight as the flavor of the meat melted in her mouth. Grabbing the other end of the twig, she started to eat her meal like she was eating corn on the cob.

After a few minuets of munching, Yang lazily threw the skeletal remains of the trout off to the side. She let out a belch. The blonde giggled. "Man. That was so good. I haven't been that hungry in awhile." She said as she placed her hand over her stomach. Yang's right ear twitched ever so slightly. She frowned as her ears picked up on the murmurings of a conversation. Yang stood up and closed her eyes. She could feel that there were two people south of her. "Hmmm. Kinda weird that there would be people out this late in the forest. Let's take a look as too what's going on."

Yang jumpped up on the branches of the tree nearest to her. She silently leaped from tree to tree. Finally, she came upon the two people she had sensed. Keeping herself hidden behind the leaves of the branches, Yang had to suppress the urge to growl. A little ways away from her hiding spot were two White Fang members. Narrowing her eyes, she decided to listen to what they were saying to see if she could learn anything about Adam or Salem.

"Ugh! Why do we have to do this patrol? Why at night!? The Grimm are far more active at night." The male faunus complained.

"Quit your bellyaching you baby. We wouldn't be in this situation if you had just gotten to your duties on time instead over sleeping." A female faunus chastised.

"Arrrrggggh. The punishment doesn't fit the crime. Also, I don't oversleep all the time. I have right mind to complain."

"Sure, go ahead. I would love to see what brother Adam would think about that."

The male White Fang member gulped. Sweat dripping down his face at the mention of Adam's name. "Ah, you know what? I think I changed my mind about that."

"Good. Now shut up or those Grimm that you're so scared of will hear us and come running."

Yang chuckled silently. "Oh, it's not the Grimm you need to be worrying about." She looked down at her shirt. It was definitely in tatters. Yang needed a new shirt and here were two people from which she could procure said new shirt from. She probably didn't have to do this, but she didn't feel like having the men of the tribe ogle her. Though she was confident that they would never touch her. They would never risk incurring her wrath and, more importantly, incurring her mother's wrath.

The teen waited until they were both directly underneath her. She summoned her fire and formed a katana as she quickly dropped down. Whilst in the air, Yang swung her fire weapon. The gilded flame sword passed through the male faunus' neck like a hot knife through butter. No blood came out as his head fell his shoulders. The intense heat from Yang's weapon cauterizing the flesh as it passed through his body.

The female terrorist snapped her head towards her companion as his body collapsed forward. Before she could get an eye on their assailant, she felt something hard hit the side of her head. Her back hit the trunk of a tree. She wheezed as the air was knocked out of her lungs. Her vision was hazy from the blow to her head. She moved her right hand to her weapon. Pulling out her weapon, she swung wildly in front of her. The female faunus felt something harshly grip her arm and bend it outward. The nasty snapping sounds of bones breaking came when her attacker folded her right arm. It bent back at the elbow with the back of her hand now resting on her shoulder limply. This forced her to drop her weapon.

A hand covered her mouth in a painful grasp to muffle her screams. The skin beneath it had already started to become discolored as blood vessels ruptured. She opened her eyes to see a pair of glowing, red orbs staring at her. The icy grip of fear clenched around her heart. Looking into the eyes of her attacker, she could see they promised a painful death.

Yang raised her free hand to the mask of her prisoner and took it off. She wanted to be able to see her enemies eyes to make sure she was able to detect when she was lying. "Listen to me very carefully. You're going to tell me what I want to know or-" Yang let her sentence hang for a moment She moved her head closer, their noses just a hair's length away from touching. "-I'm going to have fun with your body. Do you understand?" Her enemy nodded her head. The blonde could see tears falling down, but she didn't care. "Good. Now, I'm going to remove my hand, but if you scream, then I'm going to gut you." With that said, Yang removed her hand.

The White Fang member started to take in big gulps of air. Once she had calm down, she looked up at her captor. "W-what do you want to know?" She asked with a shaky voice.

Yang kept her hard gaze fixed on her prisoner. Her face was bereft of any emotion. "Where is your camp?" The steel in Yang's voice made her prey tremble even more.

"I don't know. We...we move camp all the time and send our scouts the coordinates of the new location through our scrolls."

Yang narrowed her eyes. She grabbed a fist full of the terrorist's shirt and pulled her towards herself so that she was in her face. "Liar. I know for a fact the White Fang don't do that. Tell me the truth."

The terrorist started to whimper. "I'm telling you the truth. I swear."

"Very well then. If that's how you're going to be." Yang lifted her right hand. Fire engulfed it. "Last chance or I slowly melt your face."

"Dust please. Please. I'm telling you the truth. I swear I'm not lying." She begged. Tears streaming down her face as she began to tremble in the blonde's grip.

"Fine. If that's the way you want it." She began to slowly inch her right hand closer to her prisoner's face.

The White Fang member started to desperately struggle, but Yang's grip was like iron. She was pushed in the tree even further to keep her from moving too much. The skin on her face was now starting to singe. She closed her eyes in fear as her teeth stated to chatter. A gasp of pain escaped her mouth as she felt first degree burns beginning to form on her face as her captor's hand came closer. "Okay! Okay! I'll talk! I'll talk! Please! Just stop!" She yelled.

Yang moved her fiery hand away from her victim's face. She slapped her. "Keep it down." The blonde commanded. "Another outburst like that and I'll rip your arm off. Now, tell me where your camp is."

"It's north. North of the mountain. Please. No more. Just don't hurt me anymore." The terrorist begged as she cried silently.

The half-breed reached up and gently grabbed both sides of female faunus' head. She watched as her prisoner looked up at her with pleading eyes. "Don't worry. I won't hurt you anymore." After a few moments of silence, Yang tightened her grip and swiftly, twisted the woman's neck. The loud snap of her neck breaking bounced off of the trees. Causing an echo. She watched the life drain from the faunus' eyes. Even though she had enjoyed killing her opponents, she was still very much in control. Not once did she feel something trying to wrest her sanity from her. She took another glance at the dead woman's face one last time. "Sorry, but mercy is not something I give anymore. Besides, I don't need you blabbing to your friends about me. Don't worry though. The rest of those bastards will be joining you in hell."

Yang reached out to the corpse's shoulders and removed its backpack. Once that was done, she grabbed the hem of the dead woman's shirt and pulled it off. After discarding her ripped up shirt, she put on her newly acquired top. The teen eyed the backpacks of the two corpses. "I can take one and bring it back to the tribe. I'm sure they would be happy to know about the camp too."

The blonde went to removing contents from one bag. She then put as much as she could into the other bag. When she finished, Yang slung the bag across her back. Yang looked up at the sky to see the shattered moon was just about to go under the horizon. "Almost morning. Better get back to the tribe." She jumped in the air and turned into a bird. Yang figured she would make it to the tribe by sunrise.

Raven yawned into her hand as she exited her tent. Before she could transform to go to her training spot, the black-haired woman wrinkled her nose as she felt a familiar aura coming towards them. "So, you've returned Yang." The tribe leader did an about-face and started to calmly walk towards the edge of the camp. The other members of the tribe slowly split apart to form a path for the leader. Once Raven took her place in front of the tribe, she saw a golden bird flying with the sun rising over the horizon behind it.

The bandit queen watched as the bird began its descent. Once her daughter was close to the ground, she transformed. When Yang landed on her feet, she walked up to Yang and gave her a once over before bringing her gaze up to meet her daughter's eyes. "Were you successful?"

Yang reached into her pocket and pulled the golden shard that she had picked up. "Does this answer your question?" She asked with a grin.

Raven held out her palm. Once her daughter dropped it into her hand, Owl came out of the crowd with Dove's assistance. The tribe leader turned around and showed the crystal shard to the old faunus.

He studied it for a few moments before looking up at Raven. He smiled. "Well, looks like the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree. She has conquered the mountain!" The rest of the tribe began to murmur amongst themselves.

Raven turned to her daughter. "Congratulations Yang. You have done something that many are not capable of. You are now that much closer to realizing your full potential." The older woman raised one of her eyebrows. "However, I need to ask where you got that bag? Also, I don't remember you leaving with that shirt."

"Ah! Well, long story short. I found a White Fang patrol of two people. I killed both of them, but not before interrogating one of them for the whereabouts of their camp. It's north of Mt. Gulg if you're interested in it." Yang took off her bag and held it out in front her. "As for the bag, I thought I would bring somethings that might be useful."

Flamingo came out and took the bag from the blonde's hands. The quartermaster opened it and whistled. "Hey not bad. There's some good stuff here. Dust, food, spare parts, and weapon repair and cleaning kits. All of this we could definitely use."

Yang nodded. "I took this shirt from one of them after I killed them. My old shirt was in ruins. Part of my chest was exposed so I took this. That's all there is to that really."

Raven took a moment to digest everything she was told. After some internal deliberation, she made her decision. "Yang, you came with this information at a good time. I was starting to try to find a place to relocate. Thanks to you, I now know where to go next. I want you to go back to your tent and rest Yang. You have had quite the ordeal. I'll come by to wake you up at noon. That's when we'll move."

"Shit, you don't have to tell me twice. I'm fucking beat. Can't wait to actually get some good sleep." Yang walked past her mother. She practically skipped to her tent she was so excited about sleeping on something that is not rock.

Raven turned towards the tribe. "Alright! Get your duties done and then start packing! We leave in six hours!" The matriarch strode past her people and went about her routine.

Robin turned around and made her way to resume her tasks. Her face soured when she saw Owl standing directly in front of her.

The elderly faunus gave the young teen a shit-eating grin. "See. As I said young Robin. Yang is much stronger than you think she is. Never underestimate others young one. Let this be a lesson to you." With his piece said he turned around and looked up to Dove. "Could you help me get back to my tent? All of this excitement has exhausted me."

Dove chuckled in her hand. "Of course Owl. I would be more than happy to."

Robin watched the both of them go. She clenched her fists. "She just got lucky, that's all." She said quietly to no one in particular.

Yang felt something nudge her. She slowly opened her eyes to see her mother staring down at her. Sitting up, she stretched out her limbs.

"Hurry up and start packing. We're going to be leaving soon." Raven turned and started to leave.

Yang started to rub the sleep out of her eyes. "Alright, mom." She yawned out.

Raven froze just before she exited her daughter's tent. She turned her head to look over her shoulder. "What did you say?"

Yang blinked several times. She pursed her lips and looked up at her mother in confusion. "I said 'alright, mom'. What's wrong with that?"

The tribe leader turned to look at the entrance. She brought her gaze to the ground. "You shouldn't call me that. I don't think I deserve that title." Raven was filled with both parts joy and sorrow. On one hand, she had always wanted to her that word. She had many dreams of a tiny Yang sitting on her lap laughing and calling her mommy. On the other hand, she didn't feel that she should be called that. After all, what kind of mother leaves their child? Regardless of her reasons, mothers weren't suppose to leave their children.

"It doesn't matter if you think you don't deserve it."

She frowned as her daughter's voice brought her out of her lamentation. Raven looked towards Yang. "What?"

Standing up, Yang put her hands on her waist. She looked at the older woman right in the eyes. "It doesn't matter if you think you don't deserve it. What matters is that I think you deserve it. So, get use to it because that's what I'm going to call from now on." Her voice full of conviction. It told her mother that she was not backing down on this one.

"But why? I left you. How can you call me that after doing that to you?"

Yang smiled brightly at her mother. "You didn't. I seem to remember a black bird being there for me. I remember whenever I was sad, a black bird coming through my window and played with me. Those moments really cheered me up. You were always there. In some way or another, you were always there. In my greatest time of need, you were there to help. You took the broken pieces of my soul and put it back together. You took care of me when I couldn't even get out of a bed. Hell, you even came in to check on me while I was recovering." She brought up her hand and started to rub the back of her head. "All of that stuff sounds like something a mother would do. So that's why I'm gonna call you mom, mom."

Raven quickly turned around. She felt her heart swell with happiness. The matriarch struggled to contain her emotions. She now understood why people always referred her daughter to being the thing that turns their lives into gold. Raven's lips started to curl up. "Do whatever you want, but be ready to leave. I don't want us to be delayed because of your laziness."

Yang laughed. "See, now that's something a mom would say."

Her daughter's laugh reminded her of Tai's. Jovial, slightly childish, and full of positive energy. She had always loved that laugh. Raven shook her head and left. "Looks like she has a little bit of you, you blond dork." She thought fondly to herself. Memories of days when things were much simpler filled her head. Getting a hold on her feelings, she brought back her signature hard edged look. Now was not the time for nostalgia. She had to stay focused. There would be time for those tings later when her work was done.

"Oh, what's this now?" A crazed voice said.

A man with scars on his chest and stomach knelt down and examined the corpses of two White Fang members. How the woman died didn't interest him. The cadaver that did interest him was the headless one. To Tyrian, it looked like someone burned this man's head off. He briefly remembered what Salem told him about how his target could produce golden flames. "Hahahahahaha. She got the drop the on these idiots real good. Girl is definitely a bonafide killer. That makes this little hunt soooooo much more interesting!"

Tyrian spotted a ripped up white shirt on the ground next to the woman's corpse. He picked it up and pressed it slightly against his nose. He took a whiff. The crazed scorpion faunus then sniffed the air. He caught the girl's faint scent. Confusion spreading across his face. "She flew up in the sky? How?" Tyrian flinched as a yellow light hit his eye. He looked down to see a golden feather. With a raised eyebrow, he sniffed at it. The pony-tailed man grinned psychotically. The scent of the feather was exactly the same as the shirt. "Oh my. Looks she can turn into a birdie. Hmmmmm. The scent seems to head east."

Tyrian suddenly broke out into a sprint. He started to laugh wildly. "I'm getting close! It won't be long until find you my pretty little bird! Soon enough, you'll be all mine!"

A/N: So sorry I have been gone for so long. I assure you, this hiatus was not one I planned. I have been doing some home improvement projects. I'm sure some of you have done those too. If you have, then you know how time consuming and tiring they are. Still have to do put up more primer and more paint. I also have deal with taking the old carpet out and then put the new floor in. Ugh. Bright side is that I beat Tales of Berseria and oh my. My poor heart with that ending. Velvet has to be my favorite Tales main protagonist. I love her so much.

So, enough with all of that stuffs. Here, I decided to give an extra long chapter due to my unexpected long absence. You guys are lucky I love ya so much. So, yeah, this was suppose to be two I said before, Yang wasn't going up there to get rid of her darkness, but to embrace it and learn to have strict control over it. Learn to use at a weapon and not let it use her. I'm sure many of you have noticed that I love to reference different things that I like. Mt. Gulg is the name of a volcano from Final Fantasy 1. It's where the fire fiend and fire crystal was in. The whole idea to go up a mountain to face yourself came from Final Fantasy 4. The whole thing of Yang's doppelganger being absorbed into her and their bantering was from the Samurai Jack episode where Aku turns Jack's broken sandal into a dark version of himself. Also, the part where Yang was hiding from the white Beowolves was inspired by the part of the new Samurai Jack season where he was hiding in a stone coffin.

This whole thing with Raven I can easily see being in canon. I truly believe there is a lot more to her than what we have been shown. Here we have Yang finally calling her mom. I can totally see it happening if she saw what she saw. Now with the whole child Yang chasing her birb mom in birb form when she is sad I want to see that made into a comic. CURSE MY INABILITY TO DRAW! Also, been having another idea floating in my head for another fanfic. It's basically an AU to this AU where Raven took Yang with her instead of leaving her with Tai. And to screw with the canon even more, having picked as leader instead of Ruby (I don't hate Ruby. Just want to mess with the canon to create different scenarios.) It goes without saying that if I was going to do that then it would be after this story is finished.

I also, want to say this since I didn't say this before. There will be no Sun hate in this fic. Gonna try to keep him true to canon as much as possible. Also, with Tyrian now on Yang's trail, what do you guys think is going to happen? I only ask since I'm curious would to see what you y'all think. Lastly, concerning the part where Yang killed the two White Fang members. Notice how she just went straight to business. She didn't allow her desires or emotions to control her. She killed the woman much more out of tactical reasons than satiating her desire for revenge.

Ultimatrix bearer: Dante from DMC (not the Ninja Theory one) is a perfect example of a hero character that enjoys killing. He is actually quite sadistic. Even though it's demons and not humans he's killing, the fact still remains that he is still killing sentient beings that can feel. But never once does he kill or acts sadistic to those who aren't his enemies. Yang has plenty of things to keep her happy when there is peace. Blake is one thing. We also have to remember that she also loves adventure. Apparently she likes video games too. So she's good. Especially now that she can control her darkness now and not allow it to get out of control. Raven has her duties as the tribe leader to keep her busy and her strict control over herself. She also has Summer's spirit.

dudebladeX: Don't worry. Yang will have her revenge against her father. XD

YNI1: Agreed. Gentleman Zwei is best Zwei. I wrote Zwei as intelligent as he is because of my dog Achilles. That dog was so damn smart. We often joked around about he was a dog with one of those tiny people from MIB were in his head and would open up the face reveal themselves to us. Lol. Yeah. Apparently, Yang is very good at drawing. I wish I could remember the Tumblr post that talked about it. As for the tribe being close to Tai and Weiss, you have to realize that Yang was flying for an hour before she got to them. I haven't decided just yet on how fast she can fly, but it's between 38 MPH to 45 MPH. Let's just say she was traveling at 45 MPH. That means that in one hour, Yang would have traveled a distance of 45 miles. Which is pretty far for being on foot. So they really weren't close.