33

Hearth and Home

"Taurus and an accomplice. I'll put out a warning. Good work Winter." Winter Schnee straightened ever so slightly at the praise from her superior. The office of General Ironwood was situated atop a tower within Atlas Academy, though the Academy itself was adjacent the Atlas military base with the school being a track school to elevate huntsman candidates into either the specialists or hunters depending on their career path.

This year alone held many promising students and Winter couldn't help but be positive about their prospects, though that was soon shadowed by the information Ironwood had given her in relation to their true foe. Adam Taurus may have been slinking around Atlas but the real enemy was Salem. Whether or not the terrorist had ties to her was moot, the man wasn't there to suddenly turn himself in. He was up to something.

"Thank you, Sir." She stood at attention for a moment as he shifted through the reports on his desk.

"You are anxious to see your sister, aren't you?" He said when he finally looked up at her, his gaze genial if not a bit exhausted. They'd all felt the lack of sleep this last ten months since the fall, though the security of the kingdom came first.

"Sir?"

"You haven't seen Weiss since they arrived, have you?"

"No, Sir. My duties have kept me quite busy." Winter replied.

"Hm." He considered while stroking the beard that had been growing. He'd not even had time to shave it though, if Winter were allowed, it suited him. Gave him a measure of sophistication and rugged handsomeness, "You need a break."

"Sir I couldn't possibly-" She began but he cut her off with a raised hand.

"I need you in top shape Winter. How about you see to assigning a pair of our students as liaisons? Perhaps some that were there for the Vytal Festival?"

Winter considered it for a moment, "I can think of several, General."

"Good. See to it and when you're done you can have the rest of the day and two more days off. Spend some time with your sister. After that we'll hunt down Taurus."

Winter almost protested before she saw the look in his eyes, she nodded and saluted, "Yes General. If I might be so impertinent: You should seek some rest as well. Atlas need you as well."

Ironwood chuckled, "I'll consider it. Dismissed, Specialist."

With a smart turn Winter headed out the door. On the way to her office she ran across one of the people she had great distaste for, his form slump up against a railing, viewing the courtyard in front of the academy, cloak billowing in the wind.

"What are you doing, Branwen?" If the older man showed any surprise at her sudden address then he hid it well. One pale red eye swiveled to eye her, unfocused. She'd seen the man at least once since they'd arrived, in a meeting with the Branwen twins, herself, and Ironwood to discuss what had happened on their journey to Haven and to Atlas.

"Just lost in thought." He said after a moment, return to watching whatever was outside. Out of idle curiosity Winter stepped up next to him and saw he was looking at some of the students, the semester had begun months ago.

"Must be terrifying." She retorted and saw him give a silent chuckle.

"Y'know, if you weren't so cold you wouldn't be so bad. You've got a sharp wit." A lazy, lopsided smirk stared back at her indignant glare, "I'm here to talk to Jimmy. Got something he should probably know."

That got her attention but she forced her interest down. If the General wanted her to know then he would tell her. He'd trusted her with the knowledge of Salem, after all. The revelation had brought a newfound if begrudging respect for the man in front of her. He was strong, she knew that from their fight last year at Beacon.

"Well the General is free now, if you need to speak with him." Finally he stood, still slouched but taller than her, and faced her. Winter inhaled sharply at what she saw. His face haggard and dark circles under his eyes. He looked in far more need of a rest than the General did. It wasn't something she had noticed upon their meeting before. The smile was brittle and forced, like if he didn't put on a brave face he would break down.

"Thanks Ice Queen." He passed her with a slight wobble in his step, "You should go say hi to your sister. Or greet her or whatever it is you Schnee do instead of being familiar with each other."

Then again he still had the uncanny ability to get under her skin but she managed to contain a retort and instead crossed her arms and ignored him. Soon he was gone and the only thing left was the stench of alcohol.

"In here!" Nikol had led Ruby all across the academy, seemingly giving her the grand tour as well as leading her to her 'father's workshop' where he spent a massive amount of his time when he wasn't in Mantle tending his clinic. She'd gone on and on about her father and how amazing he was and how she couldn't wait to introduce them, Ruby didn't have the heart to tell her she'd already met Dr. Polendina.

The good Doctor's laboratory was situated on the base side of the academy and the only reason she'd been let in was because she was being escorted by Nikol and given permission by the Doctor when they'd radio'd him ahead of time. Now the young huntress was gawking at all the advanced technology on display in front of her. The weapons and ship there were all state of the art and had Ruby drooling. She was already making plans on trying to get some upgrades for Crescent Rose and Rose Thorn.

Nikol led her by her mechanical arm into her father's shop, "Father? I have brought friend Ruby!" She announced loudly.

"Ruby, my dear! So glad you could come!" The old doctor entered the room, his lab coat splotched with blue and black stains. He hadn't changed since she had seen him almost a year ago.

"Hey Doctor. You've been busy." Ruby gazed all around the workshop. There were electronics strewn everywhere in a familiar state that she recognized as the controlled chaos of a creative kind, her room and the weapons lab at Signal often looked the same.

"Indeed I have. How's the arm been?"

"Amazing!" Ruby gushed. They'd stopped at team RWBY's new room, gifted to them by Ironwood, to pick up her prosthetic and suddenly she was waving it in front of her, "It's so responsive and I can actually feel things! Kind of. I mean you know because you created it but it's amazing! Not even a scratch either, and trust me I've put it through it's paces. The aura channeling system is just so useful!"

Geppetto laughed heartily as the young girl went on until she ran out of breath, "I'm glad you like it. It's a prototype so I was mildly worried something might go wrong with it."

"But something has, Father!" Nikol interjected, "Ruby has mentioned that occasionally the cold will bother her socket where the arm attaches."

When Doctor Polendina looked to ruby she was pushing her index fingers together, "Yeah it hurts a little sometimes."

"Hmmm, Why don't you sit right here and let me take a look." Polendina patted a bench seat next to a workstation that Ruby hopped onto.

The doctor took her mechanical arm in hand and started opening up parts of it with his specialized tools. It felt odd to Ruby as she watched him poke and prod inside her arm, even if it was a prosthetic.

"Must have been quite the journey from Vale. It's been what, a year since I saw you?" Geppetto spoke as he worked. Occasionally he would pull something out or switch tools. It wasn't long until he had almost all the plating on her arm removed and she could see the servos, wires, and lights that made up the innards. She stared with a morbid curiosity, like a patient watching their own operation.

"It was pretty eventful. We stopped a Grimm incursion, saved Haven from the White Fang, and Jaune and I managed to get back safely from being thrown off a train on the way tro Argus…. Well mostly safe." Ruby remembered the sight of her friend bleeding out on the rooftop.

She shook her head, "But we made it. Finally."

"So much at so young." The doctor seemed to be soldering something into the circuitry of her arm, "I'm sorry such a burden has fallen on kids like yourself. The Maidens were supposed to be our responsibility."

The brunette stared at him with wide eyes, "How do you know that?!"

He stopped working on the arm for a moment to give her a kind smile, "Well of course I know about them, why do you think I built Penny and Nikol?" He continued at her confused expression, "My two daughters are advanced androids capable of generating an aura. Which means a soul. The soul is the vessel which houses the Maiden's power, or so we believe."

As confused as she might be, Ruby was not an idiot, "You wanted Penny to become a Maiden?!"

Father says that one day I will save the world.

It had sounded like idealistic dreaming when Penny had first said it but now, thinking about it, the advantages were enormous. If they held the Maidens' powers then no one else would get them, they were effectively immortal. There was just one problem.

"How would they get the powers?"

"That would be classified." A new voice sounded from the door, a tall man with thin glasses stood, his gray hair wild and unkempt but the pure intelligence hidden behind his glasses burned with passion. His lips quirked up into a smile, "A pleasure to meet you. I'm Doctor Weller, I've been working with Geppetto on this project for the past few years."

"Rufus, this is Ruby Rose, she and her team has been heavily involved with Penny and the Maidens. Ruby, Doctor Weller was the one who pioneered the means of harnessing aura."

"Harnessing aura?" Ruby asked as she shook the man's hand.

"Well your scroll, for one. Rufus invented the technology to detect and quantify aura."

Ruby's eyes expanded into dinner plates as she shook the man's hand with her good one.

"Oh please Geppetto, that was when I was much younger and you know I can't talk about what I've done since then. I'm just lucky Atlas was willing to throw so much lien in my direction." Weller laughed.

"Woah. You guys must be like, super smart." The comment earned a good laugh from the two doctors and an embarrassed flush from the young huntress.

"Doctor Weller?" Nikol asked, she'd remained silent until then, "When is doctor McCloud going to return? She promised to teach me how to play video games."

"Hmmm, she'll probably be spending another week or two in Vale. You'll hear from her around next month, I'd expect." Weller replied.

A slight pinch had Ruby jolt in surprise and she looked down to see Doctor Polendina replacing the coverings to her arm.

"Well there ya go, Ruby. I tweaked with the nerve couplings as well as installed an internal heat sink. Won't keep the outside cold at bay but should do just fine indoors. Your aura should protect you most other times."

Ruby waved and flexed her arm about in the air. She could feel it heating up just a little and the weird pinching feeling was gone. Her surprise must have shown on her face because Doctor Polendina laughed.

"You know Miss Rose," Doctor Weller began, "I have some stories from Penny and Nikol's early days, if you want to hear them?"

From when Penny and Nikol were new? The Polendina sister were weird now, they had to be extra weird before.

"You bet I do." Ruby replied with a grin.

"Hey." Yang said as she knocked on the open door to team JNPR's room. The rooms they had been given were a lot more spartan than Beacon's but that just showed Atlas' view on discipline and all that, or maybe it was just the guest dorms. Jaune turned around from where he was fidgeting on his scroll with one hand, his other still in a sling. It was his face that had her almost grimacing, his reaction was not one of joy at seeing her.

"Hey Yang. Are we talking again?" This barb had her actually flinching, more than aware of how it looked. They yet to actually speak to one another since he'd woken up at Atlas, it felt like it had been forever since they'd been a long. The last time they'd talked she'd pretty much told him he'd had low chances of surviving.

"Yeah I probably deserve that one." Yang ran a hand nervously through her hair, "I should have come to see you sooner."

"I was pretty freaked out when I woke up." Yang just looked even lower, not meeting his eyes, "What's wrong Yang? Why were you avoiding me like that?"

With a deep breath Yang walked over and sat next to him on the bed, although not sitting far away from him she was still a good foot away from him, "Right. So. I had a talk with Ruby earlier about something I overheard and I didn't want to talk to you until I had calmed down."

"Does that mean you've calmed down now?" Jaune asked.

"I'm definitely not calm but this isn't something that's gonna go away by ignoring it. I was convinced the best way to handle it was to charge head on."

"So what was it?" Finally he asked. Maybe he knew what was coming, Yang could tell because her gaze was locked squarely on her feet, her hair in her hands as she played with it. A nervous habit she'd had since forever. Her heart was tap dancing it's way out of her chest in apprehension. Yang had never feared what was going to happen like this before, never been in a situation where she couldn't punch her way out of it. The last time she'd felt this helpless was back in the forest of patch, so long ago, and this wasn't even close to the same life or death stakes as back then. Now all she could lose was Jaune.

So why was she this nervous?

It was about Ruby." She began, "It was about how my sister kissed my boyfriend."

"That's what you've been agonizing about?" Yang froze, "I would have thought you'd have come flying out at me if you'd heard something like that. It's kinda cute seeing you this nervous."

Wait, what? Yang's head snapped up which was the wrong move as Jaune had apparently been leaning in at that moment. Her forehead cracked against his chin and they both cradled the point of contact for a moment.

"Jaune are you okay?!" Yang grabbed his face and brought it before hers.

His hand found hers, "I'm fine." Ignoring her protests he took her hands away from his face and worked his jaw back and forth, wincing ever so slightly before looking her in the eyes, his hand still holding hers. She could feel his warmth, "Look. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about what happened between me and Ruby. With everything that was happening it was kind of the last thing on my mind."

Yang nodded along, she'd figured as much, "I was more mad at Ruby. I shouted at her. Said some things I didn't mean."

"You're not mad at me?" Jaune asked.

"I know you didn't do anything. But that's the reason I had to calm down. No matter how much I know you didn't do it on purpose, I'm still so angry about it." Her eyes flickered red for a moment, "But more than being angry, I'm scared."

"Scared? Of what?" Jaune grew more concerned.

"I…" Yang trailed off. It was hard for her, to be vulnerable to someone. She was always the one to be the pillar. For her family, for her team. When Summer died she'd had to pick up the pieces,, suck it up, and become Ruby's mom, in a sense.

"Yang?" She forced herself to look at Jaune. His sapphire eyes looked into hers and she felt her breath catch in her throat. Naked concern adorned his features and told her she didn't need to fear looking weak in front of him. He would understand, she knew. It was one of the things she liked about him.

"I was scared you'd leave me." She finally whispered to him. Those same blue eyes she stared into widened in surprise.

"What? Why would you think that?!"

"Because you two are so good together. If she'd made a move first it would be you and her, not us."

"You shouldn't get caught up in what ifs, Yang." His voice was somber and he gave her a sad smile, "Trust me, I know from experience."

Pyrrha, Yang knew who he was talking about the second he said it. It was obvious. He'd always blamed himself for her death, blamed his weakness. It was one of the reasons he understood her so well. He knew what it was to be weak and need to be stronger except the worst had come to pass with him, she was lucky she hadn't gotten Ruby killed.

"You're right." It still wasn't convincing and so Jaune pulled her close with on hand, her forehead resting on his chest.

"Yang. You are the one I'm with. I'm not suddenly going to abandon you because someone says they like me. Besides, if I did something like that Ruby would kick my ass herself."

Yang chuckled, the sound muffled by his shirt, Ruby would, too. They were sisters like that. They always had each other's backs.

Wait.

They always had each other's back. Something Blake had said came back to her, about how they weren't taking Jaune's feelings into account. Ruby had been pushing Jaune towards her for a while. The reward after he'd saved her from that poison, for one. Yang hadn't thought much of Jaune until then, but it was little things that attracted her to him. He loved his family and seemed like he'd make a good father, something she was keen on considering her own parents. He never gave up and always got back up when knocked down, even if he was weak when they had started Beacon he had come a long way.

He had always cheered her up, since that day at Patch right before they'd left.

"Jaune." Yang looked up at him, "How long? How long have you liked me?"

One finger scratch his cheeked as he blushed, "P-probably since Verde Vista, I think?"

Since that long in their journey? Yang almost wanted to kick herself for not noticing earlier. This did, however, confirm something. Ruby had always been more of an observant girl than anyone ever did give her credit for, even Yang sometimes forgot.

It was all she could to to shake her head, her sister had noticed Jaune's feelings and had been pushing them together for months. It would have been impressive if Ruby hadn't neglected her own emotions for the stunt.

"That little twerp." She kissed Jaune's cheek when he made a confused noise, "I'm gonna need to find Ruby and have a sister to sister chat with her."

Go easy on her? We were in a bad situation."

"Don't worry ladykiller, she's my sister." Yang reassured him, after all a bear hug was hardly life threatening. Nor an apology for that matter.

Yang could wave the kiss off as a finder's fee.

A/N: Yang's a pretty smart cookie. With a little push she can figure things out. Mainly the reason why Ruby never made a move. That and Jaune happened to say the magic words.