Big Issues

AN: I'd like to thank CharlieFreemantheJumerch for the fave and follow of this story and Obsidian Slasher for following me overall. Plus the usual reviewer's nice comments.

Final Preparations

Five hours had passed and Denko found that he couldn't sleep anymore. It wasn't because of the soft, warm mass on him, negating most of the need for the sheet that covered them. It wasn't any sort of bad dream, hopefully he had filled his quota for the month… the one Yang had to calm him out of was one of his worst fears playing out at his most helpless.

Grelod following through with her torture of Itazura, no spontaneous activation of his semblance to save her. The incomprehensible screams of pain from the faunus as her tail was cut with shears, the blood spurting from her small body… the pleasure the bitch took from the act. Then she moved onto more painful acts against the child. Knives dragged across her skin, deep enough for maximum pain yet with minimal blood loss. Denko struggled against his chains, blood running from his limbs from his attempts to reach the one he considered his sister.

Then the tortured changed. Again and again, Grelod would have her way with her victims. At first it was the other kids from the orphanage, their faces blurry due to the faded memories but their pain still haunted him after all these years. Then they became the friends he made at Shade, the few he could call friend there met their ends at her hands in the most painful ways possible. Through it all, he was just a helpless child, no power to do anything to help, forced to watch as the massacre continued and the bodies tossed around him so he could see everything done to them even more clearly.

Then came his friends from Signal, the miniscule number was a small comfort but Taiyang was among them. One of the most powerful and respected men he knew was hacked to death in front of him. Then came those from Beacon, those he found himself closest to and most recently bonded with. Pyrrha having her arms bound to her spear and it held in front of her, Jaune was in the same position with his sword. Grelod turned a crank that pulled their chairs closer until they impaled each other, their demands to be released ignored, their cries of pain as their blades bit into and through their flesh, their choking pleads for forgiveness to each other being their last words. Ren and Nora were next, maybe as gruesome as their deaths were, at least it was quick as Grelod used Nora's own weapon to fire grenades at the pair in the corner with nowhere to run.

The next victims weren't shown any mercy, such a concept was foreign to Grelod and none was given when she was alive. Why should she bother with it in death? Ruby was thrown into a pit full of briars and other thorny plants, every struggle only creating more cuts and stabs, until she stopped moving as the vines captured her limbs and grew over her body, the thorns on them dragging across her skin. Her blood serving as the water to feed the plants choking the life from her. Weiss was slowly encased in ice, her already pale skin turning blue. Frost solidified her hair, froze her pained face in place before the ice entombed her. Blake was tossed into a pit full of starved dogs, torn apart and eaten as she was still alive. Yang was tied to a stake and branded with hot irons, searing her skin with his name before the log pile at her feet was set aflame.

The mere memory of the nightmare threatened to draw him back into it. But the comforting embrace he was in seemed to be the wall that separated him from those fears that manifested in his mind. He smiled at the thought of Yang saving him yet again. Then what woke him up nagged at him again.

"Yang, wake up." He shakes the girl softly. She simply squeezed the arm she held onto tighter. "Come on, I need to get up." He shook the captured arm as best he could, his growing urgent need helping him to ignore that the limb was pressed between her breasts. She stirred a bit but refused to release him or even open her eyes. "Yang, I gotta piss." Those words combined with him lifting his arm got her attention, especially since while he wasn't lifting her in this position, he was about to roll her off the bed.

"Fine." She grumbles as she rolls herself off the bed to sit on the floor long enough to let him leave the mattress before she crawled back in before too much heat was lost.

Denko relieved himself, feeling much better. But he felt cold thanks to leaving the very warm occupant of his bed. Returning, he found her bundled up on the bed. Through the window, the sky was barely growing brighter as the sun was growing closer to rising. He estimated that he could get at least another hour of sleep before anyone in the house would be up. He wasn't up for trying to wake Yang, she was sleeping soundly, so he worked his way to the other side of the bed and tucked himself back in under the sheets. He yawned and shut his eyes, already drifting off… maybe he should have expected for Yang to hug his arm again. Her warmth washed away anything that was keeping him awake.

Ruby woke up with the sun in her face. Looking around, she was initially confused as to why she was in her room at home before her mind caught up to her. Looking around, she saw that Yang's bed was empty. 'Maybe she's going to the bathroom or about to make breakfast.'

Movement caught her eye and she looked down to see Itazura nuzzling her pillow. The younger girl knew from experience that telling her to get up was useless, had to shake her. Maybe not the best quality for an aspiring Huntress, but something that didn't hold her or her team back.

Ruby stretched her arms over her head as she yawned, her shirt lifting and exposing her doughy belly to the cooler air than that of the confines of her blankets. That woke her up well enough. But that same stomach growled for food so she slipped out of bed, shivering at the cold floorboards under her feet before she made her way out of the room and to the kitchen. The fox would wake up on her own.

At the end of the hall, Taiyang relaxed in his bed and enjoying the morning. His home was full again with life. The only thing that could have made things better would be to have Summer by his side again, even having Qrow around would be nice to talk to.

His girls were home, of course, there was a lot more to them than he ever expected. But they were his daughters and they had been doing their best to keep up their training as Huntresses. He couldn't help but be proud of them for pushing through this particular hardship. Then again, he remembered a pair of women complaining about the weight they gained eighteen and sixteen years ago. If they could see their daughters now… it made him laugh at the thought of the girls showing up their mothers with how they were dealing with their situation.

Seeing Denko and Itazura was nice as well. He may not have adopted them into his family when they were younger… he was barely coming out of his most troubled times back then and the siblings had an independent streak as strong as Yang was blonde. But having someone else to check in on and his daughters having friends they could do almost anything with, it brightened his life enough that he regretted shutting down like he did after Summer. Then again, he was sure that she would have welcomed the kids into the house with open arms. At the same time, having another male around was something he needed to bring some balance to his life, even now they were outnumbered.

He left his room in time to see a pair of blondes leaving the guestroom. "What's going on?" The question was simple but as a father of teenage girls, there was a slight edge to his tone considering that one of the two was a boy.

"Had a bad nightmare. Yang had to snap me out of it." Denko answers, looking ashamed.

Tai saw his daughter nod in agreement and neither looked like they were lying or trying to hide anything. The sheets in their arms did smell of sweat and it was sad to say that this situation had happened many times before. The young man in front of him was so scarred on the inside that he respected the boy because he tried to push past it. The cotton bands were on his wrists and ankles, nothing new there but it was a physical reminder of his past that made him wish he could have found that orphanage and rescued the children before his ordeal.

"Got any plans for today?" He asks them as he unconsciously relaxes.

"We were going to throw these in the washer before getting a quick spar in." Denko responds.

"Gotta call up Iris and catch up with her. Probably will take the girls to town and see what changed while we were gone." Yang shrugs.

"Alright, I'll get breakfast started so you can have something to eat after your spar." Tai tells them before heading downstairs where he found his youngest at the table with a bowl of cereal and tracing the maze on the back of the box. "Some things never change." He chuckles as he pulls out a fry pan and a dozen eggs and ham.

The blonde pair soon followed the older man but changed direction to the washroom, a large closet that held the washer and dryer. Yang wasn't surprised to see that the washer was empty, given that her father was living alone for the past few months, unless Qrow stopped by to crash on the couch again. It didn't take them more than a few seconds to load and get the machine started.

"Ready to go?" Denko asks, eager for a bit of action.

"Give me a minute, I need to get some support first." Yang responds before running back up the stairs.

Denko shrugs before walking out the front door into the cool morning air and the warm sun. The light breeze was tinged with the scent of salt that the surrounding forest couldn't quite filter out or overwhelm. That breeze also made him shiver slightly, reminding him that he wasn't wearing a shirt. He started stretching, the actions helping to stave off the cooling wind.

Yang came out the door not long after he started, adjusting the straps of her bra over her shoulders. "Woke up your sister while I was up there." She informs him as she begins her own stretches. Like he had, she was similarly affected by the cool breeze, though she was at least wearing her orange tank top. Unfortunately, not only had her undergarment had yet to warm up but her shirt barely covered much more than her chest leaving her large belly exposed to the air. Bare feet weren't much of a help either but they were both on even footing there.

"Ready now?" Denko asks after ten minutes of stretching and light warmup exercises.

"Yeah." Yang was arching her back so she could reach the ground with her hands, so she kicked her legs up into the air and held the handstand for a few moments before transitioning to her feet and brushing her hands off.

The two blondes raised their hands and squared off, slowly circling each other in the grass. Yang was the first to attack, punching at the boy who deflected the attack and the next one. The third punch was a fake for her to kick at his legs and tripped him. He fell while Yang followed him down with a punch at the ready.

"Not bad, you're learning." He comments as he looks at her face over her fist hovering over his nose. "I wonder where you learned that one.?"

"I had good teachers." She smirks as she flicks his nose.

"And I taught you both that move. Glad to see that you're finally using it." Tai adds from the window he'd opened, a plate of steaming eggs and ham in hand that he was eating.

"There's also something else." Denko says before sweeping Yang's feet from under her while she was distracted by her dad. She didn't have much time to react but managed to catch herself with her hands enough she didn't eat grass but Denko had flipped over and sat on her back, pulling her right leg with him while hooking his left foot into her left elbow.

"Damn it!" Yang yells thanks to the combination of the surprise reversal, the slight pain of her leg being pulled like that, her pride being wounded, but most of all the dew on the grass was extremely cold on her bare belly and was getting her shirt wet.

"Done yet?" Denko teases, reaching down to pat her side as she squirms under him.

Yang held in her laughter, he had started tickling her foot while holding it and his fingers playing with her soft side didn't help. She struggled under him; she may be a fair bit heavier than her friend but he wasn't exactly light either. Her movements slowed as she began to relax, causing the boy on top of her to relax and look at her.

She felt his grip loosen and weight shift, using that with a burst of strength to roll over and pin him under her own bulk- straddling his waist, feet keeping his legs spread, hands on his arms while her front molded itself over his body.

"Looks like I win this time." She grins at him, enjoying the victory.

"I guess so." He smiles back, though he quickly became aware of their position. "Um… are you gonna let me up?"

"I dunno… this feels pretty good." Yang could feel from her soft middle how hard his was, especially as they were breathing and their chests touched. The latter part made their faces heat up and she quickly got off of him.

"Nice reversal there, Yang!" Tai calls from the window, having seen the whole thing. Maybe it was a matter of luck that he didn't see everything clearly but that comment still made their faces burn. "Come inside before your food gets cold. You'll have your fill of fighting tomorrow and through the rest of the week." He closes the window and walks back to the kitchen.

"So, um… food and grab a shower before we leave?" Yang asks, refusing to look at Denko.

"Uh, yeah. Sounds good." He responds, not looking at her either as his stomach growls in agreement.

"Did they really need to record Yang sleeping?" Neptune asks at breakfast. Much like Weiss, he was eating a large bowl of mixed fruit with yogurt on the side.

"At least it was only audio. At least it wasn't a video." Weiss responds with distaste at the idea. She doubted that the blonde recorded herself but she wouldn't put it past Ruby to do something like that given her bouts of immaturity. Probably had help from a certain fox. Blake nodded, thinking the same thing, but remembered that she had a picture of Sun and herself sleeping together in that shelter room. It wasn't something she looked at often but couldn't bring herself to delete. There was something relaxing about it that stirred things within.

"Isn't that kinda creepy? Y'know… hearing her but knowing she's not even around?" Sun asks with a banana held in his tail as he ate some waffles with fruit toppings.

"Just a bit but we got used to it. At least Ruby and Yang aren't tossing and turning on their beds." Blake says between bites of rice, her fish long gone.

"At least Yang's bed sits flat… somehow. Ruby's is just hanging by ropes from the ceiling. I get worried she's going to fall on me in the middle of the night, especially since she's gotten…" Weiss trails off as she uses her hands to gesture at having a much larger stomach. While the rest of them knew how big the young team leader was, they also held their tongues about the one making the gestures being not that far behind as it was only a matter of distribution that differentiated them.

"So… why not fix the beds yourselves?" Sage asks after he finishes a salad.

"They're not here. You could surprise them with it." Scarlet suggests as he eats his oatmeal.

The girls stopped everything and stared at him.

"Wait, you never thought about doing that?" Sun asks with wide eyes, the banana slipping from his tail and falling to the floor. It was mostly finished anyway.

Blake looked to the side as she blushed. "We… may have thought about it. A few times."

"It, it would just seem rude to not do it with them." Weiss argues.

"It would be a nice surprise for them." Neptune says as he finishes his bowl. "Why didn't you do it earlier?"

Both girls couldn't really think of reasons. "We kind of got used to it?" Weiss offers.

"We didn't have much time?" Blake tries with a smile.

The boys gave them both a flat look, not buying their excuses for a second. "Alright, why don't we help the ladies with their beds?" Sun asks his team. He got a trio of raised fists as a result.

Team JNPR were in their room going over strategies for the tournament using pieces of candy on some paper. The only problem about doing this was…

"Okay how about the move "Pomgrenade"? Just like you did at initiation where Pyrrha launches Nora into the air and he comes down with her hammer." Jaune went to move Nora's piece to Pyrrha's only to find that the two candies were gone and Nora had her lips sealed tight with the other two staring at her. "Nora! How many times do we have to tell you? Don't eat during strategy sessions."

She gulps. "It's not my fault you keep using candy." She chuckles as she scratches the back of her head.

"You really should change that." Ren adds. Missed by everyone as they were focused on talking to each other, Pyrrha slipped the remaining candies into her mouth.

She'd rarely gotten the opportunity to enjoy candies for the past few years thanks to her trainers and their insistence on keeping a strict diet. On the other hand, a small rebellious portion of her was laughing at what she imagined their faces would look like if they could see her now. She may have doubled her weight but she had made sure that her skills were every bit as sharp as before the weight piled on. Any speed she lost due to having to carry so much more of herself was made up for in raw strength and she hadn't lost her endurance, she made sure of that.

But the candy was too good to pass up and Jaune never suspected her as he had to get more out for their plans to be visualized. The noise coming from across the hall in Team RWBY's room gave her another opportunity, this time raiding the container while the rest of the team peeked out the door.

"Uh… what's going on?" Jaune asks as he sees Sun carrying a box of nails and some wood in his hands, hammer held in his tail.

"Fixing beds." Was his simple answer. As he walks into the normally all-girls room.

"I know Yang and Ruby got big but did they really get THAT big?" Nora asks with her usual lack of tact. The rest of her team looked to her and back to her bed. Nora may be short but she had packed on the weight fast like all of the other girls while never stopping her reckless behavior like jumping on the bed out of boredom or simply flopping on it after a grueling training session. It was unspoken that if anyone should have broken their bed by now, it would have been her.

Then again, they'd seen the state that the sisters' beds were in across the hall plenty of times, leaving it to them to wonder when they would fall for whatever reason. Maybe now they would be stable.

In the RWBY dorm, Weiss and Blake had quickly made sure that things were cleaned and ensured that nothing embarrassing was left out such as their hygiene products. Then they allowed the boys in where Sage and Scarlet were left to marvel at how the bunkbeds were set up, to the resident's embarrassment.

They started with the easy one first, dragging Blake and Yang's beds out of their corner so they could work on them. Sage and Neptune, being the tallest, were volunteered to lift the blondes' bed so the girls could collect the books and pass them to Sun and Scarlet to sit on the desk. Eight of the books had deep impressions in the covers from the weight they'd been subjected to over the months since they were put between the beds. Blake had also found a book she thought she had lost under the bed along with a pair of her panties and one of Yang's bras, she concealed the latter two as best she could until she got them into the laundry bin inside the closet.

The bed was lowered then so the posts lined up with each other squarely and the small boards were nailed in place to secure them together. Four boards per post, nailed to each other and then the beds kept anything from moving, tested by Sage rocking the bed and the new joints didn't budge.

"Where did you learn carpentry?" Weiss was curious since it had been Sun who had created the plans for the supports and cut them for use in record time.

"Back in Vacuo. Not much wood out there but we learn to use what we got without wasting it. And we tend to build some things to last if we intend to use them often." He shrugs as he starts to study how Ruby's bed was suspended. They eventually settled with holding the bed while Scarlet, the lightest of them all, cut the ropes. The remains in the ceiling could be dealt with later.

That later turned out to be less than ten minutes and they had found a supply closet where they patched the holes before they sanded the new additions to the beds, Weiss vacuuming the mess to the irritation of Blake's ears, then the wood was painted to match the rest of the bed. The window was opened to let the fumes drift away and allow the coating to dry faster, the sheets taken to be washed since they were already dirty from use.

"So, what do we do now? That didn't take as long as I thought it would." Blake asks. Her nose wasn't liking the new smell in the room but it did come with a greater sense of safety when she could go to bed, especially when her teammates would return.

"How about we hit the gym for a bit?" Sage suggests, the big man was trying to maintain his physique but the Issue had seen that he was covered in muscles with a layer of softer pudge all over. He may have always been the bulkiest of his team but sometimes he envied his leaders hyperactivity. Granted, that hadn't spared Sun from sharing the same effects as all of their abs were hidden under their softer skin.

The girls shared a glance before shrugging. "Why not? We need to keep ready for the tournament." Weiss says before ushering the boys out so they could change into their workout clothes.

"We don't have our home anymore?" Itazura asks as they stood in front of the old converted shed that once was the siblings' home for years on the Signal Academy grounds.

"Well…" Yang began to play with her hair, a nervous tic that they all recognized. "The Headmaster saw the succuss that that you had and brought in more kids." She gestures to the trio of newer small homes.

"You'll always have a home with us." Ruby offers, knowing that Denko and Itazura had spent plenty of time at her home over the years. The siblings may have been rather independent compared to other youths, but few had their kind of experience.

"Sorry I'm late!" Iris ran up to them from the school gates. The tall girl was wearing a green sundress with loose sleeves, with a blue vest over it. A leather belt wrapped around her thin waist and darker green leggings donned her legs with brown shoes.

"No problem, we were just killing time." Yang responds, glad for the distraction. She could see it on Denko and Itazura's faces, how much that home meant to them. It was among the first things that they could claim was theirs, and now it belonged to someone else.

Iris saw the looks that the older siblings were giving the buildings. Having been friends with the sisters meant that she was at least on good terms with the other pair while they were at Signal. It was kind of a given with how much the pairs of siblings were together.

"Well, um, I guess you saw the big change that happened at Signal." Iris rubs her arms nervously.

Denko turns away from the homes with his hands in his pockets, walking towards the gates. Yang was quick to rush after him leaving the three other girls behind, Ruby attending to comforting Itazura with a hug.

"Are… are you alright?" Yang asks as he leans on the wall just outside the main gate.

"Just… surprised. I guess." Denko sighs as he stares at the ground. Yang leaned on the wall next to him. "Always kinda figured that we wouldn't have that place forever… just thought that we'd have a little more say in the matter."

Yang understood that sentiment, having been the de facto woman of her home for most of her life, loving her home yet wanting to just get away and travel the world. Every time that she thought about that idea, she always believed that the home she grew up in would be there and waiting for her. What he said, made her think about the possibility of losing her home and it made her blood run cold and guts twist.

"Ruby is right." Yang says softly, wrapping an arm over his shoulders and pulling him into a sideways hug. "You have a home with us. We're not about to have our best friends out on the streets again." She could feel Denko lean into her a bit, glad that she was able to get him to relax so well. He might have refused to tell her what his dream was that made him freak out so much, but he wasn't objecting to her touch.

"I'm just glad that there are more kids off the streets." They heard Itazura say as she followed Iris out the gate with Ruby still having her arm over her shoulder.

The siblings were able to calm down quickly enough and the group toured the town. Needless to say, the town of Patch wasn't the largest settlement of Vale. The slight bit of militarization of the past was centralized in Signal Academy. The docks were expansive as expected for a community that highly depends on seafaring for its major trade with some large defense guns located at either end as well as in the center, remnants of the Great War but also to help with any Grimm that would come from the ocean. The shallow sea between Patch and Vale would force the large creatures to the surface and the guns and Huntsmen would pound it until it died or fled.

Further inland, there was little change beyond some homes getting a new paint job or landscaping. The market was as lively as ever, the open stalls were busy as people bought their preferred goods for the day, usually food items. Hestia's was a new restaurant among with a handful of places that have changed hands over the past few years.

The farmlands outside the town were essentially unchanged and were as expected for the time of the year, nearly everything was harvested and the fields were left to decompose the remains. Livestock roamed their pastures eating the grass and hay.

Eventually, the five of them wound up at a salad bar for lunch. "Are you trying to say something, Iris?" Yang asks her friend as they ate. Sure, they had all loaded up their bowls with plenty of toppings but for active Huntresses in training, they were hoping for something a bit more substantial.

"What do you mean? I come here often." The taller girl defends herself.

"I could tell, especially when you simply ordered 'The usual'." Itazura smirks at her before popping a crouton in her mouth with a crunch. Next to her, Ruby kept glancing at the stack of cookies in between them all. There was one for each of them but Yang had 'reminded' her that they are for after their meals.

Iris blushed at that. "So, what's with the new look, Yang?" She tries to change the subject. The blonde in question had changed her attire for the day from her usual Huntress outfit to the same outfit she'd worn during that night on the town with Denko before the dance, though the coveralls had to be sized up since then.

"Just wearing something comfy for the day." Yang responds as she stuffs some kale and lettuce in her mouth. Honestly, she thought that they were running late and this outfit was at the top of her bag. She'd found more grass and dirt in her hair than she'd expected and had to have Ruby come up and help her with the skin cream before she got dressed. The cream had been something that Weiss had gotten early on when the Issue had begun and told her team that it was to help keep her skin smooth and clear of stretchmarks and the like. Needless to say, it wasn't long before Yang and Blake had used some and had convinced Ruby to use it as well. When Weiss had found it nearly empty, they had to come clean with her or face her wrath. In the end, Weiss had gotten all three of them their own supply of the high-end skin cream to take care of themselves.

"It looks good on you." Iris compliments the much thicker girl. Yang did look like the rural tomboy she is with style. The orange tank top that showed cleavage and her sides, her arms were bare besides her weapons clasped around her wrists. The black spandex shorts covered her upper legs as the coveralls she wore that were cut more like a swimsuit as they had no legs at all, just the front panel with pockets with clasps at the top for the straps, a strip that had little more than unused belt loops until reaching her back where it covered most of her backside and lower back before the straps went over her shoulders. Her usual boots with one orange sock reaching over her left knee, a purple bandana tied under her knee.

Iris could have seen the girl wearing the outfit back when they attended Signal together, but the blonde had a bit of a flair for the dramatic and was a tease, and dressed to show off her body but kept it functional for her duties as a Huntress. At least she wasn't arrogant about it or loose with the boys.

"But, are you really alright with all of that happening to you?"

"It's not that bad." Ruby was quick to dismiss the worries over her weight. The only problems she found was having to get new clothes and not fitting in tight places as well.

"It's not something any of us wanted. But we're forced to deal with it until they find a way to fix it." Yang admits as she sits back to pat her bulging belly, the part of her that had taken the brunt of her gains.

Iris stared at the girls as they were so casual about the whole thing. There was a bit of jealousy that Ruby's chest was bigger than hers. Trying to compare herself to Yang was something she'd given up on nearly three years ago when puberty hit them, the blonde's chest had blown up so fast that other girls thought she'd been padding or gotten enhancements. She had to show them in the locker room that her girls were real.

But it was the fact that their growing waistlines that had her attention and the grudging acceptance of it that got to her. Then again, she hadn't seen them out of breath during their walk around town and the girls had yet to complain about being tired. Just a joke about avoiding tight spaces and about Ruby needing a slightly longer skirt to cover her rear.

"Are you sure? I mean, uh, gaining so much and so fast would be bad for your health." Iris was still worried for her friends.

"Everyone's been getting weekly full check-ups." Denko answers the girl. "Blood samples, urine, the works with some of the best scanners from Atlas. We're all heathy, just tired of having to give samples."

"Not many have been developing health problems." Itazura adds as she holds up her scroll, probably having hacked into some records again. "Pretty much it seems that so long as we keep up our training and the rations, everyone effected is fine besides the weight gain. The ones who are having problems are mostly the older teachers and some of the faculty who don't have any real training."

"So… that means?" The purple haired girl wasn't sure what to make of that exactly.

"Keeping active is what is keeping us from blowing up like balloons and having problems." Yang explains as she finishes her salad and smacks Ruby's hand that was reaching for the cookies before she was finished with hers, proving that her reactions had yet to slow.

"Um, will you be watching the tournament?" Ruby tries to change the subject.

"Of course, I will!" Iris was glad for the switch in topic. "A good chunk of Signal will be gathering to watch the fights. Pretty sure some of the professors will be making some homework from it somehow."

"Hehe, Dad might do that." Ruby laughs as she finishes her salad. She turned her gaze to her sister and tipped her bowl to show it was empty. Yang relents and gives Ruby to cookie on top before tossing one to each of the others and finally taking the last for herself.

It was late in the evening and Ruby was standing near the edge of one of the cliffs that made up the shore line of the island of Patch. The sun was getting low in the sky, bathing everything in an orange hue. Wind blew from the sea, making the girls cloak billow out behind her, something she was used to when she'd stand here. It was often enough that the small family had stood in this spot that it had become mostly bare over the years. But it was in front of her that was important. A simple carved gravestone depicting a rose and underneath it read Summer Rose – Thus kindly I scatter.

The young girl always insisted that she be the last in the family to talk, preferring that they go in order of age. Maybe that was just an excuse to have more time with one place she felt she could speak the most openly, imagining that her mother could hear everything she said.

She stood for some time with her hands clasped in front of her chest, head bowed in respect to her mother before she pulled her hood back. "Hey mom. Sorry I haven't come by in a while." She holds her hands behind herself, looking guilty. "Things have been… well, things have been pretty busy. We brought Denko and Itazura home too, Yang probably told you about them earlier. And from the stories we told you before. They've done pretty well for themselves going to Shade.

Dad's still hanging around, still teaching at Signal. But he told me he's gonna start taking missions again. I think he misses adventuring with you. I miss you too." She was obviously sad and missed her mother dearly.

She brightened up at the new thought. "Haven't gotten kicked out of Beacon yet! So that's cool. I think being on a team with Yang helps… I keep her in line… that, was a joke." She looks down at her pathetic attempt at humor. "She's actually a really great fighter! You can tell she learned a lot from dad. Well, so are Weiss and Blake. Oh! They're my teammates. Together, we form Team RWBY! Oh, and yes, before you ask that does cause a lot of confusion." She smiles at that and the number of times people have confused the team for being named after herself.

"Anyways, I uh, made a bunch of new friends. And I met some, ah, let's just say… odd teachers. Oh! And we also stopped some bad guys too. I guess it's like they say, like mother like daughter. I still wonder why Ozpin let me into the school early. But, uh, I guess he'll tell me one day." She shrugs. "You know how he is. Its funny, the more I get to know him, the more he starts to sound like Uncle Qrow."

Ruby rocks on her heels a bit. "And yeah, I've… grown a bit since last time. Just not how we expected." She pats her belly. "It's caused us some trouble, but our friends don't mind, they're kinda in the same boat we are with this." A bark from behind let her know that Zwei was there along with her father, back from their short walk to give her some privacy. Yang was probably already home with Itazura and Denko.

"Oh! Looks like dad's back. I gotta go! He's dropping us off at Beacon for the tournament match before he goes on his next mission! Wish me luck!" Her smile truly bloomed across her face. She put her hood back over her head and began to walk away. She didn't take more than a few steps before she turned back to the stone. "It was good to talk." With that final word, she joined her father for the walk home.

Yang walked home with Denko and Itazura, feeling a bit better after her talk at Summer's grave where she felt it was best to reintroduce them to her. She had spoken about the troubles she had, the friends she had made, the weight she'd gained, and how she found herself having to play the big sister to nearly all of her friends. How she had Denko to help her sort things out, how he had been a help with her training, how he and his team were always helping her, her team, and friends. There was so much that she wished to talk to her about and wished that she could at least get a response. But as always, there was silence. Yet she felt calmer, having expressed her feelings in such a peaceful place. Maybe it was just the presence of Summer that calmed her there just as she used to when she was alive.

Denko and Itazura had never met the woman who's grave they had visited, but they had seen her pictures many times and heard more than a few stories over the years. They never had parents in their lives to give them direction but wondered what life would have been like for them if the woman had never disappeared on her last mission. Would she have insisted on them living in the house with the rest of the family? They figured that she'd at least do her best to take care of them. But their parental experience was really limited to Tai and Qrow, things were generally more hands off but they were welcome to join the family at any time.

"Getting some activity here." Talon says as she looks at her scroll. Itazura's little fox program had gotten to the final firewall. It was able to let them know that the user was getting rather busy as of late but the codes used were harder to find a hole through or make a hole with every wall it got through.

"Not through yet but all of the tracers are pointing to this one." Anya reads the feed over her sister's shoulder.

"Think we'll get through before the tournament?"

"That starts tomorrow, I doubt it." Anya scoffs. "Just be ready for anything."

Weiss and Blake were able to sleep more peacefully than ever now that the threat of being squished by the beds above them was gone. Tomorrow was the opening ceremony and the opening rounds for the Vytal Tournament and they couldn't wait. The sisters would be back first thing in the morning and their team would be complete.

Cinder sat in her bed as she flipped through her scroll, trying to find things of interest. There was little that she had found so far but she was hoping for some new users, particularly those in positions of power. There were some barriers that the Queen couldn't enter, yet. It was designed to infiltrate without leaving a trace it was there, taking advantage of any open doors it could. All she needed to do was wait and let it do its job.

The best she found was that a serum was developed to fix the Issue and was being produced in mass and being distributed to the kingdoms. She smiled. There was almost nothing more satisfying than giving your victim a chance to escape, to survive, the flicker of hope… only to shatter that hope in front of their eyes.

AN: Next up is the beginning of the Vytal Tournament! Finally! I hope you all don't mind that I expand on it a bit more than what we received in canon but I believe it's needed. Plus I already have a good chunk of that written up so I should have it done fairly quickly. I have a few other projects that I'm working on, most of them will be found on DeviantArt along with the artwork for Big Issues.

Reviews are welcome!