Interlude 1-2: Patchwork

"You sure you don't want to come?" Ruby pleaded. Her aura had healed up her injuries quickly enough, but the hospital had insisted on an overnight stay for observation. Right now, she was about to join her team and her father at the transport for their trip to Patch.

The Atlesian girl, however, was unmoved. "I am sorry, Friend Ruby, but I-" - she hiccupped - "-I'm not really interested in visiting Patch. Besides, I want to make sure I'm here when my team arrives. I…" - she averted her gaze - "...wouldn't want to worry them."

Ruby looked at her sadly, but then an amused smile came upon her features. "You're a terrible liar, you know that, Penny?"

"What?!" the coppertop started. "I'm not lying!"

She had barely finished saying those words before another hiccup overcame her.

"You're lying right now," Ruby pointed out, "about lying, fittingly enough."

At that, Penny let out a defeated sigh. "Well, yes. But I wasn't lying about everything."

"You don't have to say anything, Penny. We've all got our secrets," the dark-haired girl assured her friend, even as her mind drifted back to a Grimm mask and a bloody sword.

"It's not a secret," Penny explained. "It's just… uncomfortable."

"Well, do you want to talk about it? If you don't, that's okay, but I don't want you to feel like you can't," offered Ruby.

Penny paused for a moment, seeming to consider what she was going to say. When she eventually spoke, it was slow and deliberate. "Do you know how it felt, when Sun and I found you last night?"

Ruby winced. "I think I have a pretty good idea, after the lectures I got from Yang. And Dad. And Gl- Professor Goodwitch. And Professor Ozpin. And Weiss. And Jaune. And with Pyrrha insisting I wake up at five in the morning next semester for extra training too."

"Blake hasn't lectured you yet?"

"I think she's just waiting for the right words," Ruby said with a shrug. "She's almost started to, I think, a few times, but she always stops herself."

"How very odd," Penny noted, tilting her head to the side. "But that's not why I brought it up. I came to Vale early, on my own. It was selfish of me. Don't misunderstand! I don't regret meeting you, or your team, or Team Juniper, or Sun, but… well, last night made me wonder how Shadow, Mad Dog, or Farsight - my team - would feel if something had happened to me. Then I realized they're so protective because they're afraid that something like that would happen to me. I don't want to worry them like that."

Ruby cocked her head. "'Shadow, Mad Dog, or Farsight'?"

"Oh, yes! Most students and many of the professors at Atlas Academy have callsigns."

"Oh yeah, I think I remember that," Ruby said with a distant look off to the side as she remembered her, Jaune, and Blake's meeting with Professor Snake Eyes. She then refocused on Penny. "Do you have a cool codename?"

"Callsign," corrected Penny.

"Huh?" blinked Ruby. "What's the difference?"

"Sorry, reflex," apologized Penny, wincing. "It's just that I've been reminded about it a lot over the last semester. 'The identity of someone with a callsign is known, the identity of someone with a codename isn't.' Some people are very insistent on terminology at Atlas Academy."

"I think I can understand that," said Ruby as her mind drifted back to all the times she'd chewed people out for using "clip" instead of "magazine" when referring to a detachable container in which ammunition was stored for cyclic use in a weapon. Looking back, she thought that she should have made some of those lectures longer and more in-depth to really ensure that the people she was tearing into never made such a terrible mistake again. Though that was a drift away from the then current conversation, and so she bent her thoughts back away from the completely justified lectures she gave and towards Friend Penny and her alternative name. "So, you never did answer my question."

"So I haven't," Penny admitted before she glanced down at her feet, and what looked like a shameful blush came to her face. "I don't know if it's 'cool' or not, but I do have a callsign. I'm called Bladerider."

Ruby felt her jaw go completely slack for a moment, unable to comprehend that such a thing had been hidden from her for so long. "That. Is. AWESOME!"

Penny perked up at her friend's words. "You mean it?"

"Yes! Of course I mean it!" Ruby shouted in excitement. "How could you think that it's not?!"

The blush was back. "Well, it's just that it all seemed very plain next to callsigns like Lady Jaye, Scarlet, Cover Girl, Dial Tone, Jinx, or Bombstrike."

"Pfft!" Ruby dismissed with a wave. "Your callsign is at least as cool as theirs, if not cooler. I mean, it's your callsign, after all."

"That's… thank you for the vote of confidence, Ruby," said Penny with a little bit of trepidation.

"Anytime, Penny," Ruby said with a smile. "I should get back to getting ready to go though. Wouldn't want to keep them waiting."

"One more thing, Ruby," Penny began. "Do you think I should contact my team?"

"I think if you're asking that question, you already know the answer," Ruby replied earnestly.

"You'd think so, but General Ironwood has told us to use the CCT as little as possible, and preferably not to use it at all," Penny clarified.

Ruby blinked in shock. "That's… that's a very surprising advisement. Maybe keep it short then? If your headmaster has told you not to use… Ah! What about writing a letter and sending it with a courier?"

Penny's eyes brightened in realization. "Of course! Ruby, you're a genius!" She frowned. "On the other hand, that sounds expensive. I… don't actually have any money."

Ruby winced. She'd forgotten about that little detail; she and Sun had had to cover Penny's expenses during their tour of the city the previous day. "Right, sorry. In that case, I recommend groveling."

The Atlesian blinked in surprise. "Do you think that will actually work?"

"I hope so," Ruby moaned, her shoulders dropping. "I've been doing it all morning."

"Hey, cheer up, Reckless Leader!" called out Nora as she and Ren approached.

"Speaking of which," sighed Ruby. "You'd better get out of here before you're caught up in this too, Penny."

"Farewell, Friend Ruby!" Penny said with a wave as she began to walk away. "I will go see about composing a short message to transmit to my team through the CCT!"

"Don't disobey your teacher!" Ruby called back just as Nora and Ren stopped in front of her. "Before you guys say anything, yes, I know what I did was stupid. Yes, I know I should have waited for backup. Yes, I know that I should have called the proper authorities, my team, and my teachers, in that order. Yes, I know I should have stayed out of sight until I knew what was going on. Yes, I know that I should have retreated until I could get a better handle on the situation. Yes, I know that shouldn't have left my flank or rear exposed. Yes, I know I should have used my semblance to get away once I was hit in the back, instead of trying to block the follow up shots. Yes, I know that I've put everyone through a great deal of hardship because I was so stupid. Yes, I know that my medical bills-..."

"Stop," Ren ordered, and younger girl did so without complaint. "We're not here to lecture you, Ruby."

"You're not?" she asked hopefully.

"Nope!" Nora confirmed with a pop of her lips. "We're here to extract from your head every last detail of what you saw last night."

"What?!" Ruby asked in shock.

"We're qualified police sketch artists," Nora explained as she and Ren produced a pair of large notepads and pencils. "Start talking."

Ruby felt sweat start to run down her neck.

Yang kept herself under control as best she could as she drove along the Patch roads in Bumblebee. She was following Zippy, her dad's car, and every so often, she could see a head of white hair visible through the rear window. It filled her with rage that she was coming to their home... and shame that she was feeling that way at all. It made no sense, she hated herself for feeling this way, and she kept feeling it all the same. She needed something to get her mind off of it.

"So, Sun," she began, "what brings you out to Patch? That's a heck of a lot of trust to put in a girl you just met."

Sun laughed lightly. "Isn't that line supposed to go the other way around?"

Yang glanced at him, and a tense silence descended on the cabin for the next thirty seconds before she spoke again in a cold matter-of-fact tone. "No."

"Ohhh-kay then," Sun said nervously. After another moment of silence, he spoke on his own terms. "Say, um, what kind of flowers does Blake like?"

"I, uh, I don't know, actually," Yang admitted. She frowned. She didn't know… anything about Blake, really. "So… flowers, eh, lover boy?"

"I-it's not like that," he stammered. "I just- I thought it'd be nice. I want to be a good friend."

Yang rolled her eyes. "Just a good friend?"

"Yeah, I mean, I don't want to give the wrong idea," Sun stammered again. "I certainly don't have any indecent intentions towards her. I mean, if she's not interested in me being around at all, that's cool too. I don't want to provide any sort…"

"Sun!" Yang interrupted.

"Yes'm?" reflexed the monkey faunus.

"You do realize that it's okay to like a girl, right?" asked Yang in a motherly tone. "I'm not going to bite your head off because you want to go on a date with Blake. She's a… very attractive young woman."

"You have no idea what she's like, do you?" Sun asked incredulously.

"We don't… hang around much, outside of class and training. We tend to keep to ourselves. She's always reading something when I see her."

"So… a book, then?"

"I guess?"

Sun shrugged. "Okay then. Guess it's too much to hope for that you know what kind of books she might like, huh?"

Yang shook her head slightly, her mind straining so much it burned in order to get some information, any information. "Sorry, Sun, I wish I could be of more help, but I…"

Then, suddenly, a flash of memory lit up her mind. She didn't know where it came from, she didn't know what it meant, but at last she finally could recall something about her teammate. Blake's voice echoed in her mind.

"She grew up on the wrong side of the tracks!" cheered Yang proudly. "Blake grew up in a bad neighborhood, and her old friends were reprobates."

"Really?" blinked Sun. "Huh, never would have figured her for the criminal underground kind of person. She seems like such a princess."

"A mafia princess, maybe," corrected Yang with a smile.

Sun laughed heartily at that, and it was a joyous and uplifting thing. "Oh, I hope not," he said when his laughter had abated. "That would be one heck of a monkey's paw."

Yang snorted involuntarily, trying - and failing - to stop herself from laughing at the racially insensitive joke.

"You do realize," Sun echoed with a smile, "it's okay to laugh at jokes like that. I'm not going to bite your head off. That's why I made the joke in the first place."

"It's just… it's just…" Yang tried to get out, thinking back to interacting with some of the younger White Fang recruits and some of the stories they told. She really did not want to be part of the problem.

"It's just that your mind's tapes are being wiped by my animal magnetism," he joked.

That did it. Whether it was the construction, or a simple release of tension, she could deny it no longer. The dam broke, and so did Yang.

She was doubled over, laughing hysterically. Slowly, Bumblebee was brought to a stop on the side of the road. Yang continued to laugh, long and hard for several minutes.

Finally, after she had exhausted her body, Yang lifted herself up, a smile upon her face. For the first time in weeks, she felt light and airy. For the first time in weeks she felt... she felt like her old self.

The darkness would return, this she knew, but it would not be this day. This day, the dark clouds that had kept the blue sky hidden had been pushed away by the Sun's rays. That brilliant yellow star had managed to do what her partner, and her sister, and all her comrades in arms had failed to.

"Feeling a little better?" asked Sun compassionately.

"Mm-hmm," Yang nodded, tears of joy still blurring her eyes.

"Good," he confirmed with a smile more pleasant than she thought possible.

"We, uh, we better catch back up," Yang said with a small chuckle. Blake, if you let this one go, I'm grabbing on with both hands.

"Hey, does this old radio work?" asked Sun, pointing to the device in the center console as the car started rolling again.

Yang rolled her eyes good naturedly. "Does it work? Of course it works."

She clicked over the volume dial, and instantly, a techno rock number with a female singer came on with lyrics that spoke of a forbidden love.

Bumblebee… Yang growled in her head. I do not need this while in the car with Blake's man!

"Hmm, this song's not bad," Sun commented.

Yang felt her face heat up at that as she very deliberately stared at the road ahead. Safety first, after all, right?

Then the song ended, and another song began.

"Hey, I love this song!" Sun cheered as he began to sing along. "~We're no strangers to love. You know the rules, and so do I.~"

I will get you for this, Bee, Yang promised darkly as she desperately tried to ignore the music and Sun's not-actually-bad singing.

"~Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you.~"

"Are they okay, Dad?" asked Ruby fitfully as she looked in the rearview mirror at Bumblebee shrinking into the distance.

"I'm sure they're fine," Taiyang Xiao Long - father of Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose - assured her from the driver's seat of the family car, Zippy, a reliable red four-door convertible with a black detachable hardtop. "Looked like they were having some fun, that's all."

"I hope so," Ruby said, settling back into her seat. "If he can cheer up Yang, that definitely wins him some points in my book."

Taiyang gave his younger daughter a sidelong look. "And why would that boy need points in your book?"

"Oh, no reason!" she said quickly. "But… let's just say he didn't exactly give the best first impression."

"I sense a story there."

"He's a vagabond, a thief, and a stowaway," Weiss griped from the back seat.

"He's not... that bad," Blake defended.

"What part of what I said is inaccurate?"

"Well, umm… uh, the 'vagabond' part," Blake said, grasping at straws. "I mean, he's got a room at Beacon, after all."

Weiss frowned and reconsidered. "Very well, you're correct. He isn't a vagabond. The rest of my statement still stands, however, and I would like to add 'exhibitionist' to the list, considering his perpetually indecent attire."

"I... really can't argue with that," admitted Blake with a blush and a sigh.

"Still, eccentricities aside, he's a great guy, and I'm happy to call him my friend," said Ruby. "Which makes three. Jaune, Penny, Sun, in that order. Three friends at Beacon, and more at Signal."

Blake raised an eyebrow at that. "Ruby, why aren't we on that list?"

Ruby turned in her seat to look over her shoulder. "Do you want to be?"

Weiss's head collapsed into her hands. "Oh my goodness, are we really going to have to call you 'Friend Ruby' or something before you'll actually consider us friends?"

Before Ruby could answer, a yellow and black blur shot past on the road.

"Dad!" she called out.

"I see it," he said, face hardened into a determined expression as he poured on the power with the ease of a practiced racer. "They won't beat us."

"Are we racing now?" asked Blake, clearly terrified as the car surged forward.

"I think we're racing now," confirmed Weiss as she held on for dear life.

"Whee!" was Ruby's gleeful response as the terrain blurred past.

Several death-defying minutes later, Taiyang swerved Zippy to a halt next to where Bumblebee was parked in front of the house. The two blonds from the other car were leaning against its side, waiting for them.

"What took you so long, Dad?" Yang asked with a smug grin.

As he climbed out of Zippy, Taiyang opened his mouth to reply but stopped when he noticed an odd look cross Yang's face. He quickly traced her gaze to Sun, who had made a beeline for… did he just open the door for Blake?

He had, though the raven-haired girl didn't seem particularly appreciative as she just gave him a strange look before climbing out.

Oh, boy. Tai knew what that was like.

"So that's what you've been having Maple do!" Weiss said, jabbing an accusatory finger at Yang. "You've been having her soup up the engine! Or replacing it! There's no other way a Folkcar could reach those speeds!"

"Anything's possible with enough love and care," Yang declared calmly.

"Speed freaks, the whole lot of you," grumbled Weiss.

"Anyway," Taiyang interjected loudly. "Here we are. Welcome to our humble abode."

It wasn't a particularly large home, two storeys tall with an outer wall constructed from logs, but it was definitely a home. It was where the Xiao Long-Rose family had grown up, and while they hadn't expected to be back quite so soon, the sisters definitely appreciated the sight. Some members of the visiting group voiced their approval too.

"It's like something out of a fairy tale," observed Blake.

"I think my family owned a dacha like this in northern Vacuo," reminisced Weiss.

Yang looked like she was going to say something, but then she bit back her reply and just sulked closer to Ruby.

Huh, that's odd, observed Tai. Then again, odd is the norm when at Beacon. Eh, I'm sure they'll work it out. It's not like Team Stark was any better after our first semester. Or year.

"The Xiao Long-Rose Household, home of the little dragons," Tai declared dramatically, sweeping his hand out before them. And maybe a little birdie or two.

He was about to head up to the house to unlock it when Ruby disappeared in a blur, leaving a trail of rose petals and an open front door in her wake. He sighed. "Go on in," he said, waving them forward, "make yourselves at home. Ruby! Show your friends the guest rooms!"

The girls filed in, but as Sun walked past, he caught the boy's arm.

"I swear, I have no untoward intentions toward either of your daughters, sir!" he snapped out reflexively.

"WHAT IS THAT THING DOING HERE!" echoed from inside the house.

"That's Zwei!" Ruby protested.

"Huh," Taiyang mused, looking over at the house. "I guess your girl doesn't like dogs."

"Uhh…" Sun blinked. He hadn't expected that. "My girl?"

"So, let me guess," Taiyang said, "she moves with a certain deadly grace that you can't help but appreciate. You're drawn to her because she's got this whole mysterious and dangerous vibe going. And maybe a bit to the challenge of pursuing someone so standoffish. How am I doing so far?"

"Terrifyingly accurate, sir," admitted Sun.

"Oh, he's so adorable!" That sounded like the heiress.

"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm." Taiyang nodded. "I thought so. Want some advice, kiddo?"

"I get the feeling I'm getting it no matter how I answer that."

"Good answer!" Taiyang said, giving him a slap on the back. "But seriously, the trick is to be aggressive but not too aggressive. A girl like that armors her heart, but if you crack that shell open too hard, she'll lash out or run away. Actually, she'll probably try to run away at some point anyway, so be ready for that, but the key is how hard she makes it for you to follow her."

"Oh, come on, Blake! He likes you! 'Cause he's the best boy in the world, and he's such a good judge of character!"

"Weiss! You too?!"

"...I'll be honest. That wasn't the kind of advice I was expecting."

"Yeah, well, trust me, kiddo," Taiyang said. "I speak from experience. And if she runs too far or fast for you to follow? Try looking around. You might find love closer than you think."

"This sounds like some very specific experience."

"Why, yes. Yes, it is."

With that, the two men followed the girls into the house.

Weiss sighed in familiar contentment as she stepped out into the cool night air, away from the animated dinner still in progress. It was fun, it was enlightening, and it was also a bit… much. No, that was something that even in her mind sounded harsh and untrue.

They weren't "too much," Mr. Xiao Long, his daughters, even Sun. No, they were great, fantastic even, and that was the problem. She could stay, and sit, and just listen, and watch them talk for hours, just enjoying each other's company, and that was the problem. These things were problems, because they were completely alien to Weiss. She didn't know how to deal with them, and she didn't know how to deal with what was inside her.

She didn't know how to deal with that hole in her chest where a parent's love should be.

"Hey, Weiss."

The snowcapped girl looked up and found Blake looking back at her. She was sitting in a plastic chair on the lawn, and Gambol Shroud was resting on the armrests. Her fingers ran familiarly across the flat of the scabbard part of the weapon like a table, and she seemed completely at ease.

Weiss smiled and started to walk towards her. "Hello, Blake. How are you doing out here?"

"Good," replied the raven-haired girl with a smile. "No Grimm around, no wild predators, no… well, it's all very idyllic."

Weiss looked to the side and found a stack of plastic chairs identical to the one Blake was sitting in. "Mind if sit down with you?"

"Sure," Blake replied easily.

"Thank you," said Weiss before picking up one of the chairs and walking over to place it next to her teammate.

They sat there in silence for a moment, just appreciating the other's company. It was peaceful, quiet save for the light wind. There had been times like that in Solitas, when she'd briefly been let out from her father's grasp. She almost missed those moments, but she wouldn't trade them at all for her time at Beacon.

Weiss looked back into the home briefly, seeing three blonds and a bloodmop still chattering excitedly. "They are something else, aren't they?" she asked with a whimsical smile. "Like some kind of… peculiar peer group."

Blake blinked at the turn of phrase and glanced back into the house before focusing on her teammate. "I think it's called a family, Weiss."

The heiress frowned at that. "Yes, but it's not at all like my family. It actually looks pleasant to be around. Their father is… something else. He's like the complete opposite of my father."

Blake pondered those words and what they meant. Then she spoke, curious and concerned in almost equal measure. "Is your father really that bad?"

Weiss cocked an eyebrow at her. "Let me put it this way. My sister went and joined the Atlesian military as soon as she could to get away from him. I chose Beacon because Atlas Academy wouldn't get me far enough away. And I was seriously considering Shade."

Blake winced hard at the mention of the Vacuan Huntsman Academy. "I see." She paused as she recalled something. "Wait, don't you have a brother?"

"Whitley?" Weiss questioned. "Yes, but he seems to actually like spending time with Father."

"Hmm."

Silence descended upon them again, but now Weiss had gotten a taste for conversation, and she wouldn't let up: "How about you? What's your dad like?"

The question and tone were as curious as Weiss herself.

Blake's answer though, was mired in shame. "I… don't know."

Weiss's curious smile collapsed in on itself. "Oh," she said in realization, a thousand scenarios whirling around inside her head. "Orphan, or... single mother? If you don't mind me asking."

Blake shook her head briefly before explaining. "No, nothing like that. I can remember my father quite clearly, and he was a lot like Mister Xiao Long. It's just…"

Weiss held her tongue, waiting for her friend to finish her sentence. In the blank, her mind sketched in a picture of Blake's father, starting with Mister Xiao Long and giving him black hair… maybe a beard? As the features filled in, the snowcapped girl was struck by a single disturbing thought: the imagined father figure was giving her mental self a hug and telling her that it would be all right.

Luckily, Blake continued, finally getting out the dreaded thought. "I ran away from home five years ago. After that… well, I started running with people from the wrong side of the tracks."

With that said, she looked both ashamed and relieved.

Weiss nodded at the revelation with wide eyes, silently torn between disappointment that Blake would give up something so precious, and admiration that she had the courage to leave everything behind. "Oh…" Then, something registered and shock flowed into her. "Wait, you ran away from home when you were twelve? How? Didn't your parents search for you?"

"They tried, but I had help," replied Blake evasively.

"Who helps a twelve-year-old run away from her parents?" asked Weiss with clear and evident disgust.

Blake looked away shamefully. "People who I thought were friends, but… well, like I've said before, wrong side of the tracks."

Cautiously, tentatively, Weiss reached out a hand and clasped one of Blake's. The black-haired girl looked up, and there were ever so slight tears visible in those amber eyes. It was painful to behold, crying out to be wiped away.

"Hey, the past is in the past," quoted Weiss compassionately.

"But I'm-"

"Still my friend? Yes," interrupted Weiss. "Whatever happened before doesn't change that, and I hope you feel the same way about me."

Blake smiled a simultaneously sad and happy smile. "Yes, of course you're my friend, Weiss."

Before things could continue, the door to the house opened, and Mister Xiao Long stepped out. "Hey, you girls want some dessert?"

Yang hummed a monotonous tune as her hands deftly moved across the dirty dishes and cleaned them. It was calming in a way, familiar. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed simple tasks like this.

It was a strange thought for her. After all, her plans for the last few years had basically all revolved around going out to see the world, experience new cultures, and go on crazy adventures as a Huntress. She was a thrillseeker, and she wanted to indulge that impulse as much as she could, living without plans from one day to the next. At least, that's what she had thought she wanted, but after spending so much time with the Autobots and the White Fang, she wasn't so sure.

Maybe being a homemaker wouldn't be so bad? After all, her mother had been one, and a part time monster slayer to boot! ...Except, no, that wasn't true, was it? Summer Rose wasn't her mother. As much as Yang cried out to heaven and wanted her to be, she wasn't. Her real mother was the kind of monster that Summer slew. She was a traitor, a blackguard, a parasite.

She understood now why her father and uncle had tried to dissuade her from her quest to find her. They wanted to keep secret the nature of her dark origin. They wanted to keep Yang from finding out that the blood that flowed through her veins was the blood of a monster.

"Hey, I got some more dishes."

The voice knocked Yang out of her trance, and she turned to find her standing there with a pair of small plates in her hand. She looked a little nervous, but that was probably illusory. She tilted her head slightly, and that long white ponytail bounced.

"Blake and Sun just finished their desserts," she explained. "Should I just put it down somewhere, or…?"

Yang shook her head and pointed with a soapy hand. "Yeah, just place it by the sink, and I'll get to it."

Weiss raised an eyebrow, but complied before backing off slightly. The blonde was acting a bit strange, but then, what was normal for her anyway? She was just glad the firebrand wasn't throwing veiled insults at her again.

"Hey, do you need any help?" the snowcapped girl asked, hoping not to sound too eager. It had been a while since she tried washing dishes, and she was wondering if she could practice with the Xiao Long's cutlery. Some people thought it was monotonous, but she found it fun, even if it was usually just an act of rebellion. She was in a good mood tonight, and she wanted it to continue.

"No, I can do it myself, Schnee," replied Yang icily.

And just like that, the wonderful day Weiss had been having shattered into an incalculable number of shards.

"Okay, that's it!" she hissed, slapping her hand on the counter.

"What?" said the blonde in surprise.

"I want to know why you hate me," demanded Weiss angrily. "What have I ever done to deserve this?"

"You haven't."

The blunt answer stunned the heiress. She'd been expecting insults, justifications, denials, anything but this kind of honest admission.

"I know it's irrational," Yang continued, focusing her eyes on the plate she was washing. "I know you don't deserve it. I'm working on it, okay? Just… just give me time."

Well, at least Weiss now knew it wasn't something she'd done. Buried deep had been the fear that she'd committed some terrible faux pas, that she had done something to earn Yang's ire, or worse yet, that some minor, long-forgotten whim of hers had somehow cascaded into harming the blonde personally. Gods knew she hadn't made a good first impression, what with blowing up her sister and then scolding her for it.

Still...

"I tried that," Weiss said tiredly. "I've been giving you space, giving you time, but… can you at least meet me halfway?"

Yang looked over at her again, studying the snowcapped girl's expression, but her eyes were drawn to the hem of her sleeve. The embroidery wasn't quite the same, but it echoed the snowflake she knew adorned her back. The blonde turned back to the dishes.

"With what we know… why do you still wear that snowflake on your back?"

That… Weiss hadn't been expecting that quiet, angry question. She hadn't really thought about the Schnee emblem she wore in years. It was… it was a part of her. It was a reminder of what she wanted to fix, of the legacy she had to redeem. She didn't know if she had any outfits that didn't incorporate it somehow.

"Two reasons," she said, rallying herself. "First, it's my grandfather's sigil, and I'll not have it tainted by my father's misdeeds. Second, if I'm ever going to fix this once I inherit, I need to look the part."

Yang's hands stilled, buried halfway to her elbows in the dishwater. "Weiss, you can't fix this."

"Yes, I can!" she insisted. "I have to! You said it yourself: the SDC is too big to fight. So it's either give up and let them win, or fix it from the inside. And I am not one to give up."

"Huh," Yang mused, gazing up and out the window over the sink. "You really believe you can do it." She shook her head. "I think you're wrong, Weiss. But I really hope you're right."

It was the second night spent at the Xiao Long household, and so far for the visitors, it had been a vacation to remember, but now they were ready to turn to events that most families considered normal.

Everyone was relaxing in the living room, digesting their dinner and generally taking it easy, with a movie ready to play on the holographic screen. Weiss had pulled a chair in from the kitchen, placing it opposite the easy chair that Blake had claimed, which incidentally put Weiss next to Zwei's bed… and Blake as far away from it as etiquette allowed. Sun had opted to just sprawl on the floor next to the easy chair, while Ruby was sitting on the couch that took center stage between the easy chair and Zwei's bed. Yang had had to take Zwei out and still hadn't returned yet to claim her spot on the couch.

Taiyang returned from the kitchen, tub of popcorn in hand, and sat down next to Ruby, pulling her into a sidelong hug. Ruby leaned into his side. "So," he murmured quietly, "to poke the Goliath in the room, what the hell happened, Ruby?"

That drew everyone's attention.

"It was the White Fang," Sun said. "They must be the ones behind the rash of dust robberies the news is talking about. I saw them there."

"Yeah, the White Fang was there," Ruby agreed, "but there were also these guys in green shooting at me, and the mechs and androids too."

"Indeed," said Weiss. "You shouldn't be so quick to place all blame on the White Fang."

After all, she thought, those were SDC mechs and androids shooting at her too.

Everyone turned to stare at the heiress.

"You know," Sun said, "you are the last person I'd ever expect to hear defending the White Fang."

The heiress's eyes narrowed. "I despise the White Fang," she spat. "They've demonstrated a complete disregard for the consequences of their actions, harming my family, murdering innocent people, and in the process, justifying everything they claim to be fighting to end." She closed her eyes and forced herself to relax. "But that doesn't mean I'm blind to what's right in front of me."

"What do you mean?" Blake asked tentatively.

Weiss opened her eyes again and looked at her, then raised her scroll, tapping it meaningfully. "For what should be obvious reasons, I keep track of White Fang related news in Vale. In the last few months, they've been getting, well, better, for lack of a better word. A lot less murderous, at least. They even joined a peaceful protest recently without turning it into a riot; remember that, Blake? I have no idea what caused this, but it's a direction I think we can all approve of."

"All right, so?" Sun asked.

Weiss turned to look at her scroll and flicked through some articles. "The Vale police captured Roman Torchwick on-site," she said, "and Ruby herself encountered him robbing a dust store before the semester started. Without, I might add, any White Fang involvement."

"Yeah!" Ruby interjected, bouncing in her seat. "That's how I got into Beacon two years early!"

Sun looked over at Ruby. "Wait, you're fifteen?"

"Yeahhh…" Ruby confirmed, scratching the back of her head awkwardly.

While this was going on, Weiss began flicking through more articles. "Now, according to his record, he's never worked with faunus before, and he's been recorded making quite a few racist remarks over the years." She looked over at Sun. "You said the White Fang fought against Torchwick when he tried to kill Ruby, right?"

"Yeah," he admitted, "so they don't like the jerk they're working with. So what?"

"So... why are they working with him? He's a human who's racist against faunus. He's practically an embodiment of everything the White Fang hate." She shook her head. "No, there's something deeper going on. All the signs point to the White Fang working under duress."

Taiyang looked over at Ruby. "Was there anyone there who wasn't shooting at you, Ruby?"

She shrank down, trying to hide in her hood. Not another lecture… "Well, there was this armored White Fang lady who saved me. And, um, I didn't actually see anyone from the White Fang shooting at me, even before they turned on Torchwick."

"Yeah, and let me tell you, that lady was terrifying," Sun interjected.

"That's… strange," Blake mused aloud. She blinked at the attention her comment had drawn. "Well, the White Fang thought this one human deserved to not only live, but be protected. Why? That doesn't exactly fit their manifesto these days."

No one had an answer to that.

Well, Ruby thought she might, but she kept her theory quiet.

"Okay," Taiyang said, "so that's who wasn't shooting at you, Ruby. What about those guys in green?"

"Dunno," Sun offered with a shrug. "Never seen 'em before. Have you girls?"

Ruby, Weiss, and Blake exchanged looks.

"We have no idea who they are," Ruby admitted carefully.

"And the mechs and androids?" Taiyang asked, shifting focus.

Sun looked about ready to say something, but he was stopped by a single pale raised hand.

"They were SDC," Weiss said quietly. "Atlesian Knights, Blackguards, and the colors you described earlier match the Third Enforcer Company. My father's… personal troubleshooters."

"Are you calling me trouble?" Ruby asked, tilting her head curiously.

"Yes. Yes, you are," said her father, much to her outrage. "Please, continue."

"Are you really sure it's the SDC?" asked Blake. "I mean, it isn't that hard to buy a few buckets of paint and some snowflake stencils."

"The Blackguards cinch it," Weiss said, shaking her head. "They're in very limited production, since no one buys them, and only a few of our security forces use them. If someone outside the company had bought or stolen them, I'd have heard about it."

Especially with the digging she'd been doing recently, and what she was preparing to do.

"It's why I'm going to be visiting Atlas before the next semester starts," she added. "I want answers."

"Is that wise?" Blake asked. "I mean-"

"This isn't a decision I make lightly," Weiss cut her off. "It was an ongoing firefight, probably just a mistake, but... I need to know for sure. And get some heads rolling over poor fire discipline. Figuratively, of course."

Ruby objected. "That's great, Weiss, but I don't really think…"

"You don't understand, Ruby," the snowcapped girl insisted. "I need to make sure this was just a mistake, and that you haven't gained her personal attention."

"Sorry that you won't be staying the whole break then," said Taiyang amicably. "You'll be missed, but I guess you've got to do what you've got to do."

Weiss smiled at that, a feeling of warmth and longing creeping from her heart outward.

Sun, however, picked up on something. "So, 'her,' are you worried about your mom finding out about Ruby, or…?"

Weiss shook her head. "No. The leader of the Third Enforcer Company is a woman named Calliope Ferny. She… there's something wrong with her. Just being around her sends a chill down my spine, and I don't know why."

The snowcapped girl trailed off, leaving a spot open for Taiyang to come in.

"Hey, don't worry about it," he said comfortingly. "I'm sure this is all just a big misunderstanding."

"At the very least, I need to make sure the proper paperwork gets filed so the company accepts liability for the hospital bills."

Taiyang nodded. "And our family thanks you for that. And hey, if they give you any trouble, just come and get me."

Before anyone could formulate a reply to that, the door behind them opened, and Yang and Zwei Xiao Long walked in.

"We're back!" exclaimed Yang. "Dad, I don't know what you've been feeding him, but he had to go something fierce."

She looked at the group, and saw that they were all looking at her and not the movie. "Hey, I told you guys not to wait up for me. Why is the movie still on the main menu?"

At that, the blonde vaulted over the couch and came to rest on her father's other side. "Not that I mind, of course. I love this one."

And with that, the night returned to normalcy, or at least whatever passed for it in the Xiao Long-Rose household.

The airfield on Patch was a busy affair, busier than the one at Beacon. What the island lacked in size of landing pads, it made up for in sheer number of smaller ones to accommodate the regular travel to the city of Vale, as many people commuted back and forth on a daily basis.

It was there that they had gathered to see off their friends. It wasn't just Weiss that was leaving either. Sun and Blake were leaving as well. Blake had said something vague about errands she needed to run in the city, and Sun...

"Are you sure you can't stay, Sun?" asked Ruby innocently, looking up at him with big doe eyes.

"I'm sure, Ruby," he replied with a comforting smile. "I've got to go back and make sure my team's okay. If I leave them alone for too long… well, okay, I can leave them alone for a long time, but I shouldn't. I worry about what the Beacon teachers will say."

Ruby sighed. "Nothing good, I'm sure."

"Eh, don't worry about it, you two. Beacon's pretty lax on how teams organize themselves," interjected Taiyang. "Why, I remember hearing about this senior team while we were there that had nine members. Nine! Can you even imagine that? How they ever got it to work is beyond me."

"Lots of planning and help from the teachers, I'm sure," Ruby said quickly, almost too quickly; she must have been giving that question some thought beforehand in order to anticipate all possible variables.

And to think, some parents said his daughters were weird. They weren't weird; those parents were weird. Honestly, what kind of freak of nature father wouldn't be overjoyed to read their little girl McCollum's Encyclopedia of Rare Firearms before bed? Not Taiyang Xiao Long, that was for sure! ...At least, not anymore.

"Thanks again for taking care of us the last few days, Mister Xiao Long," said Blake with what looked like a genuine enough smile.

"Hey, think nothing of it. In fact, if you ever need to stop in if you've lost your dorm or you're on the run from ninja, feel free to step on in," Tai told her with a big smile.

Blake frowned at that. "Why do those scenarios sound like they're familiar to you?"

Tai shrugged. "It's just normal Beacon life. You'll get used to it."

"Well, it'll be a little bit longer before I'm used to it, since I'll be off to Atlas in a few hours," said Weiss, and then she gave a little curtsy. "Thank you, Mister Xiao Long. I don't think I'll ever forget these days."

"Hey, same thing I said to Blake. Don't worry about it," said Tai. He noticed that his other daughter was stepping forward, and paid special attention.

"Yang, I…"

Before Weiss could finish her sentence, Yang had wrapped her in a bear hug, quite noticeably shocking the snowcapped girl.

"I'm sorry," Yang said, just barely loud enough that Tai was able to hear. "Come back safe, you hear?"

"I'm planning on it," replied Weiss as she finally got a hold of herself.

There, now what did I tell you, me? They did work it out, thought Taiyang.

The two broke apart, and soon after, the trio of friends departed for their airship pad while the family stayed behind. As they walked on, they would occasionally look back, and the first time Sun did, Yang shot him a smile and a thumbs up which he returned before turning back around and taking a half-step closer to Blake. With his back turned to them again, Yang's grin turned sad and wistful.

Tai looked at his daughter, then to Sun, then back to his daughter.

No, he thought, memories flooding back to him of when Team STRQ was still at Beacon. There's no way.

And yet, there it was, he couldn't escape it. No matter how much he tried to avoid it, the parallels were clear. The look in her eyes, the expression on her face, the way she held herself, they all mirrored the way Yang's mom looked after her mother had made her move on him, even though he hadn't recognized what it meant at the time.

After taking a few more seconds to parse that thought out in his head, Tai refocused on his daughter. He had seen himself in Sun, and seen Raven in Blake, but he had failed to notice Summer in Yang. History was repeating itself.

As the airship pulled away, Taiyang could only wonder what he could - or should - do about it.

Yang crept carefully through the house. After dinner, Ruby had rushed off somewhere, obviously hiding something. As her older sister, Yang had a right - nay, a duty! - to stick her nose in Ruby's business (and tease her about whatever it was, obviously). After scouring through the house, she eventually found her sister in the shed out back, the one where Yang used to keep Bumblebee - the bike, not the Autobot; it wasn't big enough for a car - before all this started.

Had it really been only a few months? It felt like so much had happened since then.

As Yang carefully eased the shed's door open, she saw Ruby curled up in the corner, back to the shed's door, silhouetted by the light from her scroll.

"-way, we'll be heading out pretty soon." Yang quirked an eyebrow. That was Jaune's voice.

"Yeah, well, you be careful, all right?" Ruby ordered.

"Hey, you know me," Jaune replied. "'Run and live,' remember?"

"Yeah, I remember," Ruby deadpanned. "I also remember that you're the guy who went one on one with an Ursa Major with practically no actual training to protect a guy you hate."

No training? Yang thought, surprised. An Ursa Major?!

This did not compute. At all. How could someone without training even get into Beacon, let alone take on an Ursa Major single-handedly? She had to have misunderstood. Surely, Ruby meant no formal training, right? Hadn't she said something about him being from a family of heroes? Probably trained privately by his parents or something like that.

"Okay, first, I don't actually hate Cardin, and in my defense, I had you, Weiss, and Pyrrha watching my back."

"Huh?" Ruby asked innocently… a little too innocently.

"What? You thought I didn't see you three lurking over there?" he teased. "I think what happened the other night establishes you'd have left Pyrrha and Weiss in the dust. No way the three of you would have gotten there at the same time, just in time to see me finish it off."

"Remember, Ruby!" Pyrrha's voice came across the scroll. "Five, bright and early, or I'm bringing out the airhorn!"

Ruby hung her head. "Did you have to bring that up?"

"Yup," he said instantly, popping the P.

Ruby sighed.

"Listen, I should go," Jaune said. "Good night, Ruby."

"Good night, Jaune," she said. "Be safe."

"I will."

By this point, Yang was practically vibrating in her boots, and as the call disconnected, she dashed forward and grabbed Ruby in a headlock.

"Aww, how sweet!" she teased as she began giving her sister a noogie.

"Yaaang!" protested Ruby.

"Really, Rubes? Slipping out at night to make sure your boyfriend's okay?"

Unexpectedly, Ruby's struggling form stilled and hung limply. "Yang. Stop. Please."

Surprised, Yang let her go. That… wasn't in the script.

"Ruby?"

"Team Juniper got a mission," Ruby said with a shrug, "and I'm just… I'm worried about them, okay?"

"Haven't they been doing extra credit missions for Ozpin for a while now?" Yang pointed out.

"Yeah, but… this is different," insisted Ruby. "More dangerous."

Yang studied at her little sister. On the face of it, it made sense. She wasn't going to pry into what the mission was - odds are, Ruby herself didn't know, thanks to operational security needs - and as Team JNPR's leader and Ruby's first friend since coming to Beacon, Jaune was the person to talk to. But there seemed to be more to it than that, judging from the way Ruby kept refusing to meet her gaze.

Then it hit her.

"That date meant more to you than it did to him, didn't it?" she asked softly.

Ruby snapped up, ramrod straight. "No! Yes! I don't know!" she blurted out. Her shoulders slumped. Yang waited and watched her sister begin pacing around the interior of the shed. This wasn't a topic to push. "It didn't seem to, really," Ruby said finally. "Like he said, it felt like we were just friends hanging out."

She stopped and turned to look at Yang, her face a battlefield of conflicting emotions.

"B-but then I heard what he told you on the roof," Ruby continued, "and I don't… I just don't know how I feel anymore. I mean, I hate it when he puts himself down like that, but…" She trailed off.

"But?" Yang prodded gently after a moment.

Ruby's voice was small, barely audible, and filled with uncertainty. "Does he really see me like that?"

Yang thought back to the conversation in question and replayed it in her mind. "Well, why wouldn't he?" she asked. It was the most obvious answer in the world.

Ruby blinked. "Huh?"

"Well, what he said about you, it's not like any of it wasn't true, you know," Yang elaborated.

Ruby puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. "Yaaang!"

"I mean it, Rubes," Yang insisted, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "You are a wonderful girl, a bright ray of hope in a dark world. You're more than just my little sister. You're my hero."

Ruby stared at her for a long moment, blushing slightly, then shook her head and looked away. "You're just saying that."

"No, I'm not."

"Aren't you?" Ruby pressed, looking back at her sister. "I mean, since we started Beacon, we've been kind of... drifting apart. I actually talked to Coco about it, why no one on our team seemed to want to spend time together, and she was right, things changed, but I keep feeling like I'm leaving you behind."

Yang was… vaguely aware who Ruby was talking about. Coco Adel was the best-dressed student at Beacon when out of uniform. She led Team CFVY, the top second-year team, and they tended to sit with Teams RWBY and JNPR in the cafeteria at lunch. That, however, wasn't what was important.

"I... had some things that needed doing, Ruby, and I wanted to give you time to make new friends," Yang said. She pulled her into a hug. "Don't you worry, Ruby. I don't mind being left behind, just as long as I get to see you reach the top. You are my sunshine, and I wouldn't give you up for the world."

Of course, that still left the lingering question of Jaune, Ruby's maybe-feelings for him, and Pyrrha's definitely-feelings for him. Did she tell Ruby about Pyrrha's feelings?

With how selfless Ruby was, that was as good as telling her to give up on the guy, much like how she'd decided to give up on Sun for Blake.

Sis, we are way too much alike in some ways, she thought ruefully. Seriously, both wanting a friend or teammate's man with… blond hair and... blue eyes… Her eyes went wide. Oh god. Did we get that from Mo- Summer?

Yang closed her eyes and banished that disturbing train of thought from her mind, focusing back on the question at hand: Should she tell Ruby about Pyrrha's feelings for Jaune?

No, that wasn't the question at hand. Of course she should.

But would she?

Sorry, Pyrrha, she thought regretfully. The redheaded champion was a nice girl, and she deserved better… but between her and Ruby? There was no contest. Family always came first.

Opening her eyes again, she gently stepped back, holding Ruby at arm's length, hands on her shoulders. "Now, if you want Jaune, I say you go get him."

"But he doesn't see me like that!" protested Ruby.

"Correction. He thinks you don't see him like that and that he doesn't deserve you, so he's not letting himself see you like that," Yang pointed out. "Whether he deserves you or not doesn't matter, if you want to be with him."

"I don't even know if I do!"

"Then I suggest you find out. A second date," Yang said, then grinned, "and unless he gets fresh, I'll even promise I won't pulp him."

"Jaune wouldn't do that."

"I know," the blonde brawler agreed, still grinning, "so if he does, that means he's some Pretender fake, and we'll need to rescue the real Jaune."

Ruby giggled happily at that, a hopeful look of determination set in her expression. "Right. I'm going to give it a shot. Thanks, sis!"

"Any time, Ruby," said Yang with a smile. "Let's get back inside now."

As they walked back to the house together, their faces were all joy, but the mind was a different story.

What am I doing? sobbed Yang internally. I'm planning to sabotage the love life of the nicest person at Beacon. Pyrrha practically kisses the ground Jaune walks on, and I'm going to take that away from her? What kind of monster am I?

The kind of monster who puts the people who matter most first, a voice that sounded hauntingly like Adam said in her head. Doesn't Ruby deserve to be happy too? Doesn't she deserve that chance at happiness?

Yes! Oh, why does life have to be so hard? she wondered.

Try some whiskey! It's good for you! her uncle's cheerful voice came unbidden into her mind.

On second thought, she was perfectly happy with this and willing to tough it out.

Yang glanced down at the piece of paper in her hands, a grocery list, and then back up at the road in front of her.

"You know," said Bumblebee from the speakers, "we are undercover. That kind of doesn't work unless you at least have your hands on the wheel."

Yang blinked, and then flopped her hands onto the steering wheel rotating on its own. "Sorry, Bee, had a bad night last night."

"Didn't you say that conversation with Sun got rid of that issue for you the other day?" asked the disguised Autobot.

"Yeah, well, Sun isn't here anymore," replied Yang snippily.

After a moment of silence, Bumblebee spoke again. "Yang, what's wrong? Come on, I'm your partner. Whatever it is, you can tell me, and I'll understand."

Yang sighed. "Can you, Bee? Can you really?"

"What are you talking about, Yang? Of course, I can."

"Bumblebee, you and the other Autobots are older than anything I know except the planet we're on."

"What's age got to do with it? I bet if anything, that means that I have experience in just about everything out there, so lay it on me," declared Bumblebee confidently.

Yang slammed her foot on the brake pedal, and amazingly, Bumblebee slid to a stop. "Have you ever experienced peace?!" she practically shouted.

The Autobot's silence was deafening, but after a few seconds, he replied, "No."

At that, Yang snarled. "No? Well, I have."

With those words, Yang opened the door and began walking away, off the road and into the forest. After a moment or two, Bumblebee transformed and followed, breaking into a brief jog to catch up.

"Yang! Yang!" he called after her, heavy steps muffled by the grass. "What's gotten into you?!"

"Everything was great until you came around!" she shouted back.

Bumblebee paused for a moment, but only for a moment. It hurt, but he'd faced worse. Even from his own side, he'd faced worse.

"I'm going to let that pass," he said without even the barest hint of the edge it should have had.

"Life was simple. Then you had to walk into my life!" ranted Yang, picking up the pace.

"Roll," corrected Bumblebee.

"Whatever," she scoffed. "I was going to become a Huntress with my sister, kill Grimm, see the world, save lives along the way. But now? Now, I've got an interstellar war on my doorstep, a war against my teammate's dad's business partners, of all people! I'm hiding so many things, secrets I'm keeping from my dad, my sister, my team... people I want to trust, people I can't afford to trust, and it almost got Ruby killed!"

"What?!" gaped the Autobot, ducking under the branch of a tree as he continued moving after her. "You're going to have to run that last one by me again, because it did not make sense."

"I should have told Ruby what was really going on. I should have been there to protect her. If I had done that, then she never would have gotten hurt," explained Yang.

Bumblebee rolled that explanation over in his mind several times before responding. "Okay, even when laid out in plain Valish, that still doesn't jive with reality."

Yang stopped, and her whole body whipped around like a scared Vandarian fuzz-worm. Her irises were red, and her cheeks were stained with tears. "What are you talking about? Of course it does!"

"Yang, think this through," Bumblebee said patiently. "Say you did tell Ruby about us, about the White Fang, about all of it. How would that have changed things? None of us even knew about Torchwick's little operation at the docks until it went south, so we couldn't have stopped him or warned her."

"Ruby shouldn't have been there," she mumbled, staring at the ground.

"And how would her knowing about us cause her to not be there?" he prodded.

Her hands clenched into fists. "Instead of preparing for the raid, I could have kept her safe at Beacon."

"Could have, sure," he allowed, "but would you have?"

"What?" Her head whipped up to look at him in confusion.

He squatted down to look her in the eyes. "What happened to being glad that she was getting out of her shell, Yang?" he asked. "Would you really have kept her from spending time with her new friends?"

"I-I still should have been there for her," she insisted.

"And you were," he reminded her. "Let me ask you something. If you'd told your sister everything, would she have let you keep working with the White Fang?"

"Huh?" she blinked, surprised at the question. "Probably not, no. Why?"

"Well, if you told her, then she'd be dead right now," came the blunt response. "Because you wouldn't have been on that Bullhead to save her when she used her semblance to rush in alone. Even if you'd been chaperoning her, you'd have been left behind, just like Sun and Penny were. And she'd be dead right now."

A horrified expression grew on her face. "I- I-"

"We keep secrets for a reason, Yang," he said gently. "Granted, this particular situation isn't exactly the sort of thing we can plan for, but it's still true. Keeping certain things secret helps keep people safe, no matter how distasteful it can be. Those secrets let you operate with the White Fang, and together, you did a lot of good."

"'Did good'? With the White Fang?" she echoed, disbelievingly. "They're still terrorists."

"Not so much anymore, actually," he said. "At least, not the ones working under Adam. They've been getting better. You were helping them be better."

"Or maybe they were helping me be worse," she fired back.

"You mean the dreams?" Bumblebee prodded.

"Yeah," she confirmed. "The dreams." Not the nightmares. "And the docks."

"You did what you had to do," the Autobot reassured her.

"I don't even remember what I did!" cried Yang in frustration. "All I remember is seeing Ruby getting shot, and then… everything's a blur after that, right up until I was staring down at Torchwick's smug face while beating it in. I killed people, Bee, and I don't even remember doing it."

"That scares you, doesn't it?" asked Bumblebee, and Yang nodded shamefully. "Good. 'Cause you can't just lose control like that again, and you won't. You won't because you never let the same trick work on you twice. For now, just focus on the fact that you saved your sister, like I said."

"Did I?"

"Well, yeah, and I bet if any White Fang see her in the future, they'll let her be," reasoned the yellow bot. "They'll remember how you helped her, and how you helped them that night, and all the other nights too."

"Will they?" she snorted bitterly. The way Adam had basically thrown them out still stung. "It didn't seem to matter when that Cinder lady showed up." She turned and kept walking, deep in thought, Bumblebee a step behind. "I don't get it. Why are they even working with her? She's human, she killed a bunch of their guys, she doesn't care about their cause… Optimus was right there! We had her outnumbered and surrounded."

"I'm sure they had their reasons," Bumblebee assured her.

"Yeah, well, I suppose it doesn't matter now," she said with a sigh as they emerged from the forest onto a clifftop, disturbing some of the native wildlife, judging from the flutter of wings and bird calls that sounded from the cliff's edge. "It's not like we'll ever talk to them again."

"You sure about that?"

"I think they'd have called by now if they were going to," she said, fishing her burner scroll out and staring at it for a moment before tucking it away again. Logically, she should just toss it, but… well, burner scrolls were cheap - that was the point - but why waste even that little bit of lien when she might find a use for an untraceable scroll later?

"Maybe," he allowed, "but let me ask you this. If they were in trouble and needed help… would you help them?"

"In a heartbeat," was her immediate response. She shook her head clear and walked to the edge of the cliff where a gravestone waited, a single white rose laying across it.

"Hey, um, Summer," she said, squatting down before it. "I know it's been a while, but… this has been a crazy semester. I can't help but wonder if it was like that for you. Um, this is Bumblebee, my partner. He's… not from around here, obviously."

Bumblebee shifted nervously, and then looked back towards the tree line. "If you want, I can go check the perimeter? Make sure no Grimm are sneaking up behind us?"

Yang nodded, her eyes closed, and Bumblebee walked away. She wasn't sure if he could still hear her. She chose to believe he couldn't.

A strange smile came to Yang's face as she exposited. "They're called the transformers, in case you were wondering. They're aliens from the planet Cybertron, and they're split between two warring kingdoms: the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons. Bee's an Autobot, obviously." It was there that she paused, and her voice took on a strange quality. "I'm an Autobot."

She felt herself blushing a little bit at that. "I know, I know, it's probably not exactly what you had in mind for your little girl, but it's true. I got the rank patch and everything to prove it. Division: Ground - Unit: Special Operations - Rank: Private. It, uh, kind of looks like the White Fang's logo merged with some crosshairs. Which is fitting, because I've been doing a lot of missions with them lately.

"I know what you're probably thinking, that it's great that I've been working with a faunus rights organization, and I have! I really have, I've even spent some time volunteering at shelters and soup kitchens… but only to help pad out my cover. I need a cover because the White Fang… the White Fang have become a terrorist organization. Bombings, riots, theft, the whole nine yards, and I'm working with them, or I was. I was helping them turn themselves around. I guess it helped that we had a common enemy in the Schnee Dust Company. It was… quite a series of adventures."

There was another pause, and tears started to spring forth again. "The White Fang wear these Grimm masks, and I guess my mother thought I should match, so she went and left one of her spares with Bumblebee for me to wear. Some of the other Autobots did some digging, and that's how we found out what Raven Branwen does for a living. That's how I found out that my mother is a monster."

Her eyes narrowed then, and her voice become so much angrier than it was before. "Why didn't you ever tell me, Summer?! Did I not deserve to know who my mother was, what my mother was?!"

The headstone was silent.

"Why didn't you tell me?! If you had, then I wouldn't have risked Ruby's life after you died! If you had, then I wouldn't have wasted so much of my life looking for that... animal!"

A bird cawed, and the tears fell freely.

"If you had, then I wouldn't have gone around beating people up if I thought I could extract even the smallest sliver of information about her! If you had, then I never would have donned that stupid mask in the first place! If you had, then I could have taken steps to avoid turning out just like her! If… if… if…"

She doubled over then, and let out a sob of despair. "Why?!" she pleaded. "Why couldn't you be my mother, Summer?! I miss you so much, and I miss most of all those ignorant days when I would call you 'Mom.' I want those days back. I wish I never found out the truth about her, even the slightest hint of it. I wish it wasn't the blood of a monster running through my veins. I wish it was yours."

She sat like that for a long time, silently crying, until eventually, she picked her head up and placed her shaking hand gingerly on the epitaph. "I've got to go," she said hoarsely. "I'm the lady of the house now, and I can't dawdle. I… I promise to come by more often, and next time, I'll make sure we have the whole day to ourselves. I… Goodbye for now."

With those final words, she stood up and began walking towards where she presumed Bumblebee waited.

The song of the birds had turned into a lament.

"You know, Bee," she said sadly as she walked up to the Autobot and they began making their way through the forest back to the road, "for the longest time, I really thought she was my mom."

"Sounds like she was, in all the ways that mattered."

Ruby smiled as Yang drove away in Bumblebee. Her sister was out, and her dad was walking Zwei, so she had her window of opportunity. It was time to get to work.

With quick careful steps, she made her way down into the basement and began searching for her prize. She found it eventually in a plastic box set aside in a corner; it was sitting upon one of those impossibly high shelves. In earlier times, this would have stopped Ruby, but she was a Huntress now, and she would not be denied.

One flash of her semblance and a drop to the floor later, and Ruby was holding the box in her hands. This was it; without a question, this was it. Written in permanent marker on some tape stuck to it was a single word: "Beacon."

Ruby opened the box and found herself looking at a collection of momentos and photo albums.

Jackpot, she thought.

Some time later, she was feeling decidedly more conflicted.

She had found so much, so many pictures that she had never seen before. Pictures of her dad, her mom, her uncle, her whole family, including the black sheep of it: Raven Branwen. Ruby had never seen so many pictures of her before.

She was... beautiful. She looked strong, fair, and confident. She looked happy. Ruby could feel herself being inspired just looking at her. This was Raven Branwen? This was Yang's mom? Why had she ever left?

More importantly, why did none of the pictures show her with the mask she apparently wore?

Ruby paused for a moment and opened up her scroll. She tapped through the menus to bring up the sketches that Ren and Nora had sent her. They showed a woman in a strange set of armor wearing an elaborate four-eyed Grimm mask, and it was her concealed face that Ruby zoomed in on.

"Where are you?" she asked, shaking her head. Setting the scroll down, she turned back to her search.

A short while later, her thoughts were interrupted.

"Ruby, where did you get this picture?"

The young Huntress shot up to her feet and spun around. "D-Dad," she stammered, seeing her father standing there, staring at the scroll - her scroll - in his hand, which still had up the zoomed in image of the sketch Ren and Nora had put together.

"My friends drew it for me," she answered. "They're trained sketch artists. That- that's the woman who saved me at the docks."

"You're sure?" he asked, an intensity in his voice she couldn't identify.

She nodded. "Yeah. I got shot, my aura dropped, and she just... came out of nowhere with this giant red sword and started killing anyone who got near me. She just about threatened Sun and Penny to get me to the hospital before running off." As she explained what happened, her dad's face grew more and more… distraught? Melancholy? She wasn't even sure she could put a word to it.

"Ruby…" he murmured.

She pressed on. "I've heard people talk about Yang's mom sometimes, Dad. You, Uncle Qrow, even Professor Ozpin. The mask, the sword… is that- could that- could that be her?"

And there it was, the question she'd been trying to answer.

Taiyang looked at his younger daughter for a long moment, then set her scroll down on a nearby shelf. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out his own scroll, searching for something.

"It… sure looks like her, Ruby," he said reluctantly. He placed his scroll down on the shelf next to hers. "Your Uncle Qrow took this picture of her a few years ago, mask and all."

The clothing was vastly different, the sword was sheathed, and a black mane of hair spilled out, but the posture, the mask… everything else was the same. Practically identical.

Ruby stared at the sketch and the photo for a long moment. There wasn't a shadow of a doubt now: Raven had saved her life that night at the docks. This was it. This was the proof she'd been looking for, but...

"But… why?" she cried, whipping her head around to look at her father, unshed tears welling in her eyes. "If she cared enough to save me - if she even knows I exist - why didn't she come back?!"

Her father sighed and walked over to the stairs, sitting on the lower steps. He patted the step next to him, and she followed and took a seat. "Raven is… complicated," he said finally.

"Maybe," Ruby accepted. "But... the best things always are, aren't they?"

Taiyang nodded. "At least in our family."

"Can you tell me about her?"

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"The first thing you should know about Raven is that she didn't care what people thought about her. I remember a time when..."

As he talked, his eyes grew distant, and a fond smile grew on his face as he remembered happier times.

Author's Note 1 (Cyclone):

The first song Sun and Yang listen to is the English version of "Kiss of Death" from Darling in the FranXX and a matter of Cody's personal tastes. The second one… well, the lyrics really fit Sun, when you think about it (at least until his painfully crowbarred removal from the cast at the beginning of volume six, anyway), on top of which, it made an appearance in Bumblebee (the movie), so here it is, making an appearance in Bumblebee (the Autobot).

FYI, for anyone who missed it in the thread chatter, Ruby talking to Coco about the members of Team RWBY not socializing with each other is actually canon from After the Fall chapter five, page 118 in the paperback, location 1352 in the Kindle version.

We also did not realize until after we finished it that we wrote what has to be one of the most unusual conversations in RWBY fanfiction, in which we go from Weiss defending the White Fang to Blake defending the SDC in a single scene. Welcome to Bizarro Remnant, I guess.

Anyway, we ended up making some comparisons here that we had no idea we would be making when we started writing this interlude. Comparisons between Blake and Raven came at us out of the blue when we were thinking on how Tai would see the teenagers' interactions. Overall, this turned out to be a much more Raven-heavy interlude than we ever anticipated, especially given how little screen time she's had in the story so far.

Author's Note 2 (Cody MacArthur Fett):

You know, we didn't actually know where Yang was walking to when we started to write that scene. She walked to Summer's grave all on her own. I guess she just needed to spend some time with her mom, you know?

Heavy stuff this chapter, without a doubt, but we loved writing this. Reading it out loud for the proofreading was almost the opposite though. Almost. We bounced off each other from scene to scene to give our throats a rest.

Also, for all those wondering why we focused on the things we did in "Shatterpoint" . . . this is not the end of that little plot thread, not by a long shot. However, hopefully people will be able to understand why we did things the way we did. As we said in the chapter, sometimes not having all the information isn't a bad thing, sometimes it can lead to something wonderful…. I mean, isn't that how we all live our lives? Trying to piece together a puzzle that's missing a few pieces?