The chapter of December is here... in January...

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"What do you mean you lost the book?" Ruby panicked. "How could you lose the book?"

"I'm sorry," Blake replied guiltily. "One second it was there, the next it wasn't."

Ruby sighed. She, Blake, and Weiss were standing right outside their dorm, the latter two having pulled her out of a video game session with Uncle Qrow to inform her of the new development, Yang volunteering to keep their uncle busy (which meant getting her butt handed to her in Ultimate Ninja Master 4) while they talked magic. Which coincidentally would have included the bit surrounding her uncle if Blake hadn't come back with the worst news ever.

"What about this girl Sun and Neptune saw?" Weiss inquired. "Have they remembered anything else about her? Any features or traits we can use to track her down?"

"Nothing," Blake hissed. "If they are the person who put the book in our room in the first place, they're obviously a master of stealth. No one noticed them back then either and the room's lock didn't show any signs of tampering."

"Then how did they get in?" Ruby growled. "Do they have some kind of magic that lets them walk through walls or something?"

Weiss and Blake's eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"Wait seriously? I was just throwing ideas out there."

"It's probably not intangibility. They wouldn't have needed to go out the library's front door if it was," Weiss noted. "But we can't rule out some kind of magic. After all, there's ethernano in the air, and we know this person must have been communicating with Earthland somehow if they got the book from Sitara."

"And we have been sensing pockets of magical energy all around the school," Blake agreed. "There's that patch that's wandering around, flaring up and disappearing at random points."

"Yeah, I noticed that," Ruby said. "It feels like some sort of elemental magic from the bits I've been able to feel, but I can't seem to get a clear read on what kind of power it is. But, if the user knows enough to suppress it, they're probably involved somehow. You know, unless they're part of a secret underground wizard society that's here to announce themselves to the world by winning the Vytal Festival."

Weiss and Blake both stared at their leader.

"It could happen!"

"No, Ruby," Weiss replied. "It really couldn't."

Her partner turned to their feline teammate. "So we keep an eye out for this elementalist, hope that they specialize in fire or ice so Yang or I can deal with them without too much trouble, what else?"

"Other than that massive collection of dormant power floating above Beacon Tower," Blake pointed out deadpan.

"Other than that," Weiss confirmed. "We don't have any way of getting that high without drawing serious attention to ourselves. It's dormant, so it shouldn't be dangerous at the moment. And if… whatever it is, wakes up, and doesn't want to be friendly, we'll deal with it."

"Yeah!" Ruby cheered, high fiving Weiss. "We'll blast it with everything we've got!"

Blake cocked an eyebrow. "And if that doesn't work?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. And hope Ms. Goodwitch doesn't get mad at us for breaking the courtyard."

"Speaking of the courtyard," Weiss began, glaring at the back of Ruby's head. "Why does your drunk uncle have more transformation magic floating off him than alcohol?"

"That… is a very good question that I do not have an answer to," Ruby confessed, nervously rubbing the back of her head. "He's never done any magic before, at least not that I've seen. But I haven't always been able to sense magic either, so maybe he's always been a wizard? I mean, he's Uncle Qrow. He's easily awesome enough to be a wizard."

"Crazy enough at least," Weiss muttered. She heaved out an exhausted sigh. "We've been back for a day and already things are going insane."

"Things have always been insane," Blake pointed out. "We're just able to notice it now."

Ruby's eyes narrowed in thought. "About that, I think Uncle Qrow might know something's up."

"Again Ruby, did the transformation magic not give it away?"

"No, it's more than that," Ruby protested. "He was asking me and Yang stuff. I mean, we didn't have our guildmarks the last time he saw us, so it makes sense he'd ask where we got them, but… I don't know, some of his questions and the things he mentioned were… specific."

Blake cocked an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"Well, he said our marks looked like 'a bird or some weird fairy'."

Weiss' eyes narrowed. "The drunk knows something."

Ruby nodded. "I think we should tell him about our magic."

"What?" Blake exclaimed. "Ruby, we can't do that."

"Why not? We weren't planning on keeping it a secret in the first place. We literally told Jaune and the others about it."

"That was before we knew there was some sort of crazy conspiracy going on," Weiss argued. "What if he works for some insane Tartaros offshoot and he sets you up to be experimented on?"

Blake sighed. "Probably a bit of an exaggeration, but the point is good. How do you know this is safe, Ruby?"

"Because he's my uncle," Ruby stated as if it were obvious. "He'd never do anything to hurt me or Yang in a million years."

Weiss and Blake paused for a moment before sighing.

"Meaning we're the only ones who'll get experimented on," Weiss muttered. "Fine, tell him. I'm going to be late for meeting Winter if this goes on any longer anyway."

"I'll see what I can do about tracking down the book or that elementalist," Blake declared. "With any luck, one will lead to the other."

"Right," Ruby smiled. "I'll tell Uncle Qrow about everything, and then head over to Team JNPR's for their lessons."

"That reminds me," Weiss said. "What exactly are you planning to teach them?"

Ruby shrugged. "Taking in ethernano, sensing magical energy, the basics. They'll have to figure out their specialties on their own. Why?"

"No reason. Just, try not to push them as hard as Erza pushed you when you were just starting out."

"What are you talking about?" Ruby inquired, one eyebrow cocked. "Erza was the best teacher I could have asked for."

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"Dodge!"

"Yes mam— ah!"

"I said dodge, not speak! Your enemy will not give you time to mince words!"

Ruby bit her lip to keep from responding again, firing another shot from Crescent Rose to blast her away from another round of swords. The blades of Erza's Circle Sword crashed all around her, driving the nimble huntress farther and farther across the walls of Magnolia Canyon.

Erza frowned at the canyon's base, her angelic Heaven's Wheel Armor shining like a divine goddess under the light of the sun. A dozen swords of various makes and temperaments floated in the air around the Queen of the Fairies. One after another, they rapidly fired off at Ruby, each blade tearing through the sky, getting closer and closer to the huntress' body, several of the projectiles smashing against her and forcing her aura to flicker crimson. And once they flew past and exploded the rockface of the canyon, Erza merely willed another weapon to take its place from her arsenal.

"Come on, Ruby," Wendy whispered, the wizard girl observing the training from atop the canyon. "You can do it."

"She isn't going to have an easy time of it," Carla noted from beside her partner. "She's picked up the basics of requip quite easily but applying it in combat is another matter entirely. She will only have a split second to conjure her weapons and that's while Erza's swords are flying about distracting her. She's falling back on her instincts and wasting that dust of hers."

Wendy cringed at the Exceed's assessment, knowing it was an accurate one. While the Sky Dragon Slayer had no love for combat, she had, unfortunately, gained a talent for it since joining Fairy Tail, the guild's constant brawls requiring at least a basic skill of reading a battlefield to escape from unscathed. And from her bird's eye view, it easy to tell just how poorly the spar was going for her new friend.

Erza wasn't going all out, but she was still pressing her assault on Ruby. The huntress continuously used her weapon to evade the onslaught but caught in the heat of the moment, she ha failed to notice that her trainer was directing her retreat. With the sniper rifle built into Crescent Rose, it would be in the red hooded girl's best interest to move farther into the canyon, get outside of Erza's range so that she could attack with impunity. Instead, the blades firing upon her had corralled the girl towards the canyon wall, trapping her between the rockface and the barrage of swords.

Another round was fired, twelve blades thrust through the air. Wendy worriedly bit her lip, the trajectory of the oncoming weapons combined with Ruby's current twisted position meaning Crescent Rose wouldn't be able to block them all. If she wanted to get out of the attack without her whittled aura breaking, she needed to summon a weapon from her pocket dimension to deflect the remaining sword or unleash the power of her slayer magic. She couldn't win without magic.

Or at least, that was what Wendy had thought.

It was so fast, the blue-haired girl nearly missed it, but Ruby's body… transformed, into a whirlwind of rose petals, whisking around the incoming steel before near instantly reforming on the other side and rocketing forward at an incredible speed. For those few seconds, Wendy was pretty sure she had Jet outpaced by a wide margin.

Of course, accelerating to that speed didn't help much when it was aimed towards the ground. Ruby smacked into the dirt, faint clouds of dust and rose petals rising up behind her as she bounced across the ground.

"Ruby!" Wendy yelled. "Carla, please get me down there!"

Her partner immediately hopped onto her back and summoned her wings, swiftly flying them both down to the canyon floor.

"You really don't need to worry so much, Wendy," Carla comforted her. "She still has aura left and that is hardly the heaviest hit we've seen her take."

Wendy didn't respond, running over to her friend as soon as she hit the ground, Erza striding forward right behind her, his armor disappearing in a flash back to her casual blouse.

"Ow," Ruby groaned, rubbing the top of her head as she rose to a sitting position. The air beside her flashed white and one of the swords Erza had lent her to start her requip dimension plopped onto the ground. "Oh, yay. At least I was doing that right."

"Let me check you over," Wendy ordered. She lit up her hands with faint blue healing magic and ran them lightly over Ruby's scalp.

"Wendy, there's no need for that," Ruby protest lightly. "It's not like I actually got hit by any of the swords."

"Let her look you over," Erza commanded, her arms crossed. "Training won't be made any easier if you have a concussion you don't know about."

Ruby pouted indignantly. "I don't have a concussion."

"That you know about," Erza repeated. "Don't rush through this, Ruby. You've made spectacular progress learning the basics of requip magic but learning to apply it in combat is not something you will master overnight. Perhaps I have been pushing you too hard. Until you're able to requip at the speed battle will require, we'll withhold on trying to use it as such."

"No!" Ruby protested, jumping to her feet. "We can't slow down. We need to go again, I can do it this time. I'm just not used to blocking when I can dodge."

"A wise strategy," Erza praised. "I will see what I can do to come up with an alternative training exercise, one that plays into your strengths as a long-range fighter. However, you are far from only a sniper. You exchanged many close-range blows with Natsu during your duel and to assist you there you will need to be able to summon the most suitable piece of your arsenal at the drop of a hat. The first step of which is gaining the necessary speed of manifestation."

Ruby scowled. "So, I'm even farther away from getting everyone home."

"Closer than you would be if you tried to rush your training and got hurt because of it."

Wendy gingerly removed her hands with a relieved smile. "The good news is that you don't have a concussion. Don't worry, you're already incredible with your scythe and that move you used to dissipate into rose petals. I'm sure you'll get the speed you need in no time."

"Aw, thanks Wendy, that means a lot—dissipate into what?" Ruby stuttered. "What are you talking about Wendy? My semblance? That's just superspeed." She dashed away and then came back, snatching one of the many resultant petals in her wake. "This is just a weird byproduct."

"No, I saw it," Wendy sputtered, waving the red flowers out of her face. "It was just for a moment, but you would have run into the sword if you hadn't broken apart and then come back together. Even just now, you were apart for a second and then you shot forward when you came back together."

Ruby's eyes widened. She stared amazed at her own hands. "Are… are you sure? No one's ever seen anything like that before when I use my semblance."

"Dragon Slayers have far superior senses to most people," Erza noted, scratching her chin in thought. "I didn't notice anything, but if the period of transformation is so brief, then it is possible that no one was ever able to see it, especially with all the petals you release on your own."

She smacked her fist into her palm, startling Wendy and Ruby. "This is excellent! With this new information, you can come up with new ways to exploit this facet of your abilities, perhaps even fuse it with your magic!"

"Wait, what?" Ruby gasped. "Don't you think we should focus on my magic? I mean, I've gotten along fine with my semblance as it is for years, why… why…"

"Because it is part of your arsenal," Erza stated. "It's not just your weapons, Ruby. Your skills, your training, your intelligence, your force of will, everything you can bring to bear is a tool in your arsenal. Your mind can produce strategies that utilize everything you have to its fullest extent, in ways no one else would have thought of."

She knelt down and gestured to the rose covered ground, plucking a petal between her fingertips. "Even just as it is, your semblance provides you with far more opportunities than just speed. If you were to cover the battlefield in these petals, your opponent would be forced to divert attention to make sure they kept their footing as they walked over them."

"It's not exactly an oil slick," Ruby muttered. "Besides, why should we put waste any time on my semblance when I'm not even ready to use my magic in a fight?"

"Because you already know how to use your semblance in a fight," Erza bluntly stated, returning to her feet, an eyebrow raised in confusion. "Both in your magic and your other abilities, we need to move forward step by step. It just so happens that you're farther along with your semblance."

Ruby sighed. "Right. Right, that makes sense."

Wendy frowned. "Ruby, are you okay?"

"What? Of course, I am. You said I didn't have a concussion."

"No," Wendy persisted. "Are you 'okay'?"

"I'm… I'm fine, Wendy, I promise," Ruby breathed out. "I just feel like I'm letting everyone down."

"What? No, you're not!" Wendy insisted. "You're putting everything you have into getting stronger."

"But it's not enough! Not fast enough!" Ruby declared. "The others, they're here because of me. Because I picked up the book and my stupid eyes activated it and they tried to get it away from me. I failed them and I'm their leader. I'm not allowed to fail! I'm grateful for everything you guys have done for us, for letting us be a part of Fairy Tail, for giving us a home here. But I need to do more and my semblance isn't enough. But magic can be, I know it. I need to get stronger faster, so I can—"

"Protect them." Erza interceded, a morose, understanding look on her face. "Save them all. Be their armor against all the evils of the world."

Ruby and Wendy both blinked in shock, even Carla stunned at the Titania's solemn words.

"I understand what you're feeling right now, Ruby," Erza continued. A dark glint tinted her eyes. "Suffice to say, my childhood was… unpleasant, before I joined the guild. I experienced things no one should ever have to go through, suffered more pain than many could ever imagine. But at the time, there were others with me I cared about more than that. I was determined to get them to safety, to protect them. And that determination, combined with the trials I went through, led to my unlocking power I could only have dreamed of."

"Yes," Ruby swore softly, her cheer kept in check by her teacher's serious expression. "That power, the one you gained, that's what I need to get to beat Tartaros, to get my team home. Can you help me get it?"

"I'm not finished," Erza informed her. "Despite the new power I gained, I was not able to save the people I cared about, and indeed, lost the one I cared about the most to a fate I could not comprehend at the time. As I result, when I came to Fairy Tail, though I cared about my guildmates more than anything, I kept myself somewhat distant from them, reserved. Mira and I didn't get along for quite a while because of that. I pushed myself harder than any sane person should have, training until my bones cracked and pushing on even then. It seemed to pay off at the time. I was S Class by the time I was sixteen."

Wendy gasped. She'd known Erza was strong since before she'd even met her, the name Titania whispered in awe among even the illusionary wizards of Cait Shelter. When she'd met her, those same rumors had seemed to be understated if anything. She'd been caring as well as strong, comforting Wendy when Cait Shelter had disappeared, and her entire world was turned upside down. But she'd never truly considered just how Erza had come to be as she was. She knew that she had a complicated past with Jellal and some place called the Tower of Heaven that Lucy told her not to talk about, but beyond that… she really didn't know anything about her past.

"I don't see what the problem was," Ruby confessed. "You gained the power to protect your friends. Why shouldn't I do the same?"

"Because pushing yourself like that, past your breaking point, taking everything upon your shoulders and your shoulders alone, it is not healthy."

"I'm their leader! Everything is on my shoulders!"

"Then all you do is isolate yourself from them," Erza declared. "If you put everything on yourself, as I once did, desperately try to be the armor of those you love, all you'll end up doing is forcing them to protect you when you inevitably can't handle everything. You may be the leader, but you have a team, all of them wonderfully skilled. You cannot help them if you break yourself training to fight their battles for them."

Ruby looked away, her silver eyes mired in torment. "I'm not allowed to fail."

"I'm not saying you have to," Erza smiled, placing a firm, comforting hand on the red hooded girl's shoulder. "But not every delay is a setback. There is nothing wrong with training hard, but don't try to skip steps you need. A few days to safely perfect your requiping speed will not cost your teammates their lives. Indeed, it more likely will save them."

Ruby paused for a moment, but soon enough she brought her head up for a stalwart nod. "I think I understand."

"Good. Requip can give you an arsenal like no other, but in the end, no matter how many weapons you have, no one can do everything alone," Erza said.

"And you won't be alone," Wendy confirmed joyfully. "You have your team, and your team has us. We'll help you every step of the way."

Ruby smiled at them both. "Thank you, guys."

"Excellent," Erza cheered. "Now then, I believe we are due for a break."

The knight lifted up her hand, the light of her magic flashing in her grip. When it faded, she held a hefty picnic basket.

"Yay!" Ruby chanted, sparkles in her silver eyes. "Food!"

Wendy chuckled lightly, and the quartet happily laid a checkered blanket down to eat. Carla sighed when Erza pulled out the meals she'd packed for herself and Ruby: strawberries, strawberry jam sandwiches on strawberry bread, strawberry milk, and, for dessert, strawberry cheesecake.

"Did you pack anything even remotely resembling a vegetable?"

Erza scowled. "Vegetables… what has anyone ever gained by eating those?"

"Quite a bit!" the Exceed protested. "They are growing girls! How are they supposed to get stronger if all you feed them is this junk?"

"Elementary, dear Carla!" Ruby declared, grandiosely holding out a pink bottle. "We'll drink milk!"

Carla dropped her face into her palm. "There is more to a balanced diet than milk."

"Blasphemy!" Ruby shouted. She instantly chugged the entire bottle of strawberry milk, finishing with a content sigh and a pink mustache over her lip. "Ah. I feel stronger already."

Wendy tried to cover her mouth to be polite, but in the end, could not stop herself from exploding with laughter.

"What? What is it?" Ruby asked.

"I'm… I'm sorry," Wendy said through her giggles. "It's just… you look so silly… with a mustache."

"Mustache?"

"Yes. You have a milk mustache."

Ruby's face lit up with mischievousness. She leapt to her feet and stood straight up, a hand behind her back to support her posture. She wiggled her coated upper lip. "Hohohoho! I am Professor Port! I am the greatest huntsman who has ever lived! I tell really long stories that make awesome huntsman stuff sound boring! Want to hear about the time I killed a Beringel with nothing but a shoe and my marmalade-soaked body?"

Wendy absolutely burst out laughing. She didn't know what a Beringel was or even who this Professor Port person was, but Ruby's deep voice impression of them was hilarious. Even Carla cracked a smile.

Erza raised an eyebrow. "What is this 'Beringel'?"

"Oh, it's a type of Grimm. Pretty rare, but one of the more dangerous types," Ruby informed them. She scratched the back of her hair. "I guess the closest comparison would be a really big gorilla. There are gorillas in this world, right?"

"Indeed, there are." Erza scoffed. "Marmalade, amateur. Everyone knows lemonade is far superior for gorilla wrestling."

She stated that fact with utmost seriousness, a cold iron truth that would have rung even in the most irreverent of souls. Wendy knew that her words were to be taken to heart and recorded for future battles.

Ruby didn't. She fell to the ground from laughter.

Wendy cringed, but Erza smiled fondly at the huntress, so it must not have been too bad. Still, the Sky Dragon Slayer could not help but feel troubled, if not by her teammate's recent words than her earlier ones.

"Erza, I'm sorry."

The Queen of the Fairies raised an eyebrow. "Sorry? For what Wendy?"

"For not realizing how much you were putting on yourself, for not helping," the dragon slayer said. She was an enchanter, a healer. It was her job to support the others, it was the only thing she could do since her own combat skills were so far behind. Yet, she had taken for granted just how much Erza had protected her—

Her moping was cut off when the older woman pulled her into a tight hug, full of warmth and undying affection. It felt like the ones Grandeeney used to give her.

"Oh, Wendy," Erza cooed, her arms wrapped around Wendy's deep blue hair. "You have nothing to be sorry about. I put that burden on myself. Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and you, you all helped me relieve me of it, showed me that I didn't have to throw myself in front of you all to protect you. You all are more than capable of taking care of yourselves."

"What?" Wendy squealed. "Thank… thank you, but I'm… I'm not a fighter. I've never won a battle I've had to fight on my own."

Erza smirked. "No, you just forced a draw with an opponent you couldn't hurt by healing them."

"That's still not a victory. Sherria was in control of the fight from beginning to end."

"You're too hard on yourself," Erza sighed. She pulled out of the hug and gently held Wendy in front of her, a warm smile on her face. "You used everything at your disposal to fight a battle most would have never thought you capable of fighting. You did everything you could, and it paid off. And the next time you need to, it will pay off again."

Wendy frowned. "I'd rather not need to at all."

"That is a good sentiment to have. But in our line of work, there will always be a next time. It is an unfortunate reality."

Wasn't that the truth. Wendy generally preferred lighter jobs as a wizard, finding lost items, healing the sick, and other not combat tasks. But since she'd joined Fairy Tail, she'd found herself embroiled in far more… violent events. She knew it wasn't the guild's fault, they only fought to protect themselves or others, but she still wasn't fond of the life or death battles.

Still, the only other option would be to abandon her friends, her family, to fight those battles alone and she most certainly would never do that. She was a Fairy Tail wizard.

"Don't worry, Wendy," Ruby comforted her, handing her a jam sandwich. "We can deal with that stuff when it happens. For now, let's just enjoy ourselves. One step at a time, right?"

Wendy smiled and took the sandwich. "One step at a time."

"Excellent!" Erza cheered. "Now then, my cake!"

Carla shook her head with an amused smile on her face. "You both may wish to stand back."

Ruby and Wendy did just that as Erza dove into the picnic basket gingerly withdrew an entire strawberry cake. A flash of requip later and an elegant fork was between her fingers. The young girls giggled and began their own meals as the knight basked in her favorite delicacy.

There were many battles ahead for them all. But they would not rush their lives. They would grow at their own pace, with faith in their friends. And those same friends would make those moments spent worthwhile.

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Qrow hadn't thought much when Oz had told him his nieces may have joined some sort of magic cult. Ruby and Yang were smart enough not to get suckered into some scam and they certainly would join anything dangerous. They were his nieces, overeager rookies, but good kids, better than he had been at that age at least.

After meeting up with them though, he couldn't say for sure.

At first, everything had seemed fine. He'd been hugged, asked if he'd missed them, joked around, and whooped their butts at video games, his semblance ensuring that they always had the bad luck of their controllers responding just a second too slow. They'd been laughing just like they always had, with the obligatory question about their new tattoos (which he was not going to be the one to tell Tai about) for Oz quickly reassured as being a team bonding exercise. A bit extreme, but Summer had convinced them all to braid each other's hair for an entire day, so it was hardly out of the realm of possibility.

No, what had piqued Qrow's interest was after that, when the girls had tried to brag about practically being real huntresses already. Yang had begun to mention something, some mission where she was nearly burned to a crisp, but Ruby had coughed and her sister had backtracked, stumbling for a moment before boasting about their capture of Roman Torchwick. His suspicions had only increased when, after pointing out that their success should not have had as extensive an impact as it did, Ruby did not make optimistic quips, but had instead turned pensive, with even hotheaded Yang's eyebrow furrowing in concern.

Now, he was more than happy that his nieces had apparently learned some of what they'd need to know to be huntresses, but the shift was more than a bit jarring. Unfortunately, their other two teammates had shown up and pulled Ruby out for some urgent conversation about some book before he could investigate further and Yang had clammed up on the matter, dragging his attention back to the video game. Which he proceeded to crush her in again.

"Ugh!" Yang growled, throwing down her controller. She pointed at him dramatically. "You're cheating! I don't know how you're doing it, but you're totally cheating."

Qrow smirked. "Don't get all uppity just because you're losing. The fact is I'm better than you at this, more experienced."

"More like old."

"Didn't I just say not to call me… ah, forget it." Qrow nabbed his flask and started unscrewing the cap. "So, word around here is that you and your team went AWOL the last few days. What was that all about?"

"Aw, you know," Yang shrugged cockily, holding up her tattooed hand. "Makeup, boys, combat training, regular girls' getaway before the Vytal Festival. Personally, I found the perfect pair for me."

Perfect pair… oh gods, she really was Tai's daughter. He did not want to hear about whatever harem shenanigans she got up to.

But… they could have been part of the magic cult she might have joined… Argh! The things he did for Oz.

"Sounds interesting," he replied, taking a deep swig from his flask. "Any details?"

"Oh, Uncle Qrow, a lady doesn't kiss and tell."

"We both know you ain't a lady."

"Any guys who loves his tenders doesn't," Yang chimed. "But I think maybe I can let you know a few details. That is, if you can give me something else first."

Qrow cocked an eyebrow. "Kid, are you trying to extort me?"

"Of course not, Uncle Qrow," Yang grinned like a cat. "We're just making a contract. It's just a perfectly reasonable practice, one a friend of mine gave me a bit of insight into recently. Just tell me what would be out of the question, and we can reach a compromise that works for both of us."

Strategy? Manipulation? This was very not Yang-like. Something big had changed and if Oz was right than this 'Fairy Tail' bunch were behind it. He needed to find out what happened to his nieces during their missing three days (and the other two, he guessed). Still, he couldn't let on that he was onto something. He had to keep it cool.

"Okay, fine," he conceded. "I'm not telling you anything me or your dad have lined for you or Ruby's birthdays. And you are not getting any of my booze or my id."

Yang rolled her eyes. "Please, like I need your cheap beer."

"It's whiskey and it's not cheap!"

"Fine," Yang relented, holding up her hands in surrender. She then reached forward for a handshake. "You tell me what I want to know, and then I'll talk about our little field trip."

"Deal," Qrow agreed, shaking his niece's hand. "So, what do you want to know—"

"My mom."

Oh.

Damnit, he should have been more specific.

Things with Tai were tense enough as they were, what with the general mess that their team turned out to be and Qrow's continued association with Ozpin, the same association that led to Summer taking her last mission and Tai suspected, and Qrow knew to be true though not why, drove Raven away. It was a strange mix of resentment towards their old headmaster and worry that Qrow would end up sharing their leader's fate. His old partner would never dream of turning him away, but Raven was a touchy subject for him, with good reason. After the scare when she and Ruby were toddlers, he didn't want to give Yang any more encouragement to go looking for her birth mother. He would not be happy if he gave her any info.

…

Eh, what the hell? He'd made a deal and Yang was practically an adult anyway at this point. Tai wasn't wrong to be protective, but he couldn't shelter his daughters forever. With the path they'd chosen, they'd find out exactly how dangerous the world could really be, sooner or later. Might as well give them an idea of what they'd be walking into.

"What do you want to know?"

Yang let out a sigh of relief and went to sit on one of the lower bunk beds. Her eyes were focused and her expression serious. "What was she like?"

"Raven is… complicated," Qrow explained. "My sister can be, and usually is, more than a bit of a bitch. She's got a view of the world that I don't particularly agree with—"

"No, not that," Yang interrupted, her lilac eyes filled with sadness. She looked down fearfully. "Before she left. Before she abandoned me and dad. I've heard enough to get a pretty good idea of what she's like now, but what was she like then? Why did she stick with dad at all if she was just going to leave? Did… did she not want me?"

Huh, that was… unexpected. Probably shouldn't have been, but Yang had always focused on Raven's present, where she was, how to find her, what she could expect, etc. She didn't much care for the past, Summer had been her mother then, and Yang still loved her as such.

"What brought this on?" he inquired.

Yang's fists clenched. "During our time away, I made a friend. He was also… left behind by one of his parents. But he kept looking for him, no matter what, no matter how dangerous things got because he knew him. He knew there must have been a good reason he left. But I don't even remember my mom, and… I don't know. Should I even be bothering? If she never wanted me, I guess it would answer why she left, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," Qrow responded, sighing. It would have been so much easier to cut ties with Raven completely if she'd just been a monster, if she'd just been some psychopath he'd unfortunately shared blood with. But she hadn't been. She'd been the sister that had fought tooth and nail to keep the tribe elders from kicking him out for his semblance. And when they'd gone to Beacon, he watched her change from a ruthless butcher to a determined huntress just as he himself did the same. He'd watched her and Tai fall in love, even as he'd tried and failed to get Summer to notice him.

And he'd never seen her more elated, or more terrified, than on the day Yang was born.

"She loved you, firecracker," he reluctantly confessed. "She and Summer spent hours playing with you when you were in diapers. The cooing was so annoying. The reason she left, it was something else, Raven's own mess."

Yang sighed in relief, a shining smile rising to face.

"Don't expect too much," he warned. "Raven might still have some measure of affection for you, but she's changed that to line up with the life she went back to."

"She saved me," Yang revealed. "On the train, during the fight with Torchwick, I was in a lot of trouble, but when I came to, my opponent was gone and I saw her. She looked exactly like she did in you and dad's old photos."

"Yeah, she mentioned that."

"What?" Yang squawked. "What do you mean 'she mentioned that'? You've talked to her?"

"She keeps in contact from time to time," Qrow said. "She told me to tell you not to expect that kindness again. Raven lives by the code that the strong live and the weak die. In her mind, if you can't stand on your own two feet, you're only going to die in the end anyway."

Yang's smile fell, and her eyes narrowed. Qrow knew it was only a matter of time until they flashed red and she exploded. He couldn't blame her, Raven was a jerk and the tribe's philosophy that she'd reembraced—

"That makes no sense."

Qrow cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean, firecracker?"

"The strong live and the weak die. That's dumb," Yang declared, not angry but merely confused, disdainful even. "I mean, does that mean you throw a baby out to fight Grimm? Everyone's weak at some point or another. The job of people who are strong is to make a world where the weak have the chance to become strong."

Qrow blinked in shock, not expecting Yang of all people to put it that eloquently. Maybe this Fairy Tail was as positive as Oz had said.

He smirked. "Well said. A little optimistic maybe, but not wrong either. Wish Raven thought like that."

Yang shrugged. "I'll just have to knock some sense into her when I track her down."

"Knock some…" Qrow frowned. "Yang, your mom is fully trained huntress, one of the best there's ever been. Between me and her, it'd be a toss-up who'd win in a fight."

"I'm not going after her now," Yang immediately assured him. "I'm going finish my training here first, and then I'll face her on an even playing field. Well, not even exactly. I do have an ace up my sleeve."

"Your semblance isn't gonna be a game changer against her."

Yang smirked. "Who said anything about my semblance?"

Huh? If she wasn't talking about her semblance then what… no way.

Ozpin said that Fairy Tail was a guild of wizards. Did that mean they had taught her… then she and Ruby knew…

Yang raised her fist. A moment later, a mass of blazing pink flames ignited around her hand. "I did promise to tell you what happened during the last three days."

Qrow's eyes widened, locked on his niece skin, waiting for the fire to start turning it black. But it didn't. The magic was completely under Yang's control.

When Ozpin had taught him and Raven their transformation magic, he'd been quite clear that he couldn't harness anything more powerful due to the thinness of something called ethernano in the atmosphere. The maidens had an ample supply built in to their power package, but the particle itself was scarce in the atmosphere. How the heck was Yang able to do something like this?

The door to the dorm flung open.

"Uncle Qrow, there's something I need to tell you—" Ruby froze when she saw Yang's blazing hand. Her silver eyes flickered between her sister and her uncle, before she frowned glumly. "Oh. I guess you already know."

"What?" Yang asked. "We were going to tell him anyway."

"Yeah, but we were supposed to do it together, Yang! You already showed him yours, now I don't get to wow him! I wanted to wow him!"

"Hey, I haven't shown him everything yet, you can still wow him. Just show him your Reaper's Rose Armor."

"I'm not finished building it!"

It was a surreal experience for Qrow. There he was, listening to his beloved, adorable nieces squabble like the teenagers they were over which one of their supernatural, potentially godlike powers would impress him more. Meanwhile, all he could think of was how he was going to explain to Tai that his daughters had run off and gained pseudo-maiden powers. Or how there was now no way Oz wasn't going to invite them into the inner circle once they'd graduated.

But most horrifyingly… Qrow didn't even want to consider it. Because if Salem knew what they could do, and Ozpin assured him she would recognize Fairy Tail's emblem, she would come for his nieces.

Very, very soon.

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYFTFTFTFT

Yang panted hard as she crashed flat on her back, orange sparks flickering out amongst the ash dirt around her. "God damn it, you pink-haired bastard, you are hard to put down."

"Ha! Thanks! You're not half bad yourself," Natsu called from a few yards away, not particularly exhausted but still winded. He wiped his hand over his mouth. "Man though, those flames of yours are hard to swallow." He frowned. "Also, the hair is salmon, not pink."

"It's not salmon, Natsu," Happy shouted, flying over the pair of pyromancers with Lucy at his side. "Salmon tastes amazing. Your hair tastes terrible."

"He means the color, not the fish," Lucy sighed. "Also, do I even want to know why you know what his hair tastes like?"

"It got in my mouth while we were sleeping once. I thought I was in a nightmare!"

"Huh. That's better than I expected."

Lucy carefully picked her way through the dying sparks and gave Yang a hand up. Happy flew over and perched himself beside Natsu, who came and joined them, rubbing a hand across his stomach.

"Man, this teaching thing really works up an appetite," Natsu noted gladly. "What do you guys say we break for a bit and grab something to eat?"

"Are you kidding?" Yang inquired. "We've been at this for hours and all we've been doing is beating the crap out of each other. Granted, there isn't really a problem with that, but I figured there'd be more than that to doing magic. Besides, you were eating my fire the entire time, how are you not full?"

"Eh, that pink stuff was weird, didn't replenish my magic power at all," Natsu remarked. "I thought you wanted me to teach you magic because it was all about hitting things?"

"I did. I just didn't think it'd be all there is to it."

"To most magic, there is. Most Dragon Slayer Magics as well," Lucy informed her. "Wendy has her enchantments, our friend Rogue can transform into a shadow, a Poison Dragon Slayer we fought a while back even had telepathy. But Natsu doesn't… specialize, in those aspects."

The fire wizard shrugged. "I've never needed them. Igneel always said that if you couldn't burn something with fire, you just needed to burn it with a lot of fire."

Yang smirked. "Can't argue with that logic."

"I'm not sure that counts as logic," Lucy moaned.

"It is superior to other thought processes, princess. As expected of your prince."

Yang and Lucy jumped and whirled around at the new voice, the huntress redeploying her weapon as she readied herself for a new enemy. In this new world, it could have been anything: a goblin, a troll, a four-thousand-year-old chaos god…

Or a maid.

Sure, why not?

"Virgo?" Lucy greeted. "Hi. What are you doing here?"

"The prince called for lunch, princess," the maid, Virgo, stated as it were obvious. She waved her arms to the side, revealing a picnic table that had certainly not been there five seconds ago piled high with meats and pastries of every shape and size. "Capricorn asked me to deliver it with his compliments."

"Awesome!" Natsu cheered.

"Fish!" Happy agreed.

Virgo nodded. "Dig in."

The two promptly did just that stuffing their faces faster than Nora could inhale pancakes. Yang chuckled at their antics while Lucy cringed. The Celestial Spirit Wizard turned to the new arrival with a questioning look.

"Natsu said that five seconds ago," Lucy said. "And time moves way slower in the Celestial Spirit World. How the heck did Capricorn make all this so quickly."

"He didn't," Virgo revealed. "He has been stocking up prepared meals for your entire team so they would not steal the food he made for your weight loss plan. Speaking of which," the maid held up a fancy covered plate. She removed the lid to unveil a whole head of lettuce, "This is the portion he suggests for you."

Yang burst out laughing as Lucy facepalmed.

"That's great, Lucy! I'll be able to actually fly you places."

"Shut up, you stupid cat," Lucy moaned. "Why does this keep happening?"

Yang shrugged. "No clue. Except for that Droy guy, the lot of you guys could pass for models back on Remnant. Or just huntresses. Now that I think about, I'm not sure I've ever met an unattractive huntress."

Lucy sighed but managed a grateful smile. "Thank you, Yang. At least someone acknowledges my beautiful good looks."

"You seem displeased, princess," Virgo noted, the plate in her hand suddenly replaced with a curled whip and a very excited grin. "Would you like to punish me?"

Yang's eyes widened in shock, but she stopped when she saw Lucy sigh. Then, she broke out into a flirtatious smirk. "Punishment, eh? Never would have pegged you for the type, Lucy. You are just full of surprises."

"What?" Lucy's face turned beet red. "No! No, no, no, no, no! That is not me!"

"No need to be embarrassed," Yang teased. "We all have our kinks."

Virgo raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, Leo informed me that the guild had new members, but he neglected to mention you had taken one of them as a lover, princess."

Yang suddenly joined Lucy in having a scarlet face. "Egh?"

"Truthfully, I always thought the water girl would be your second choice for the harem, after the prince of course. She does spend an awful lot of time obsessing over you and Gray—"

"Virgo!" Lucy screeched at last. "One, I do not have a harem. Two, I am not dating Yang. Three, I am not dating Natsu! So, can you and everyone else please stop gossiping about my love life?"

Virgo was silent for a moment. Then she leaned in towards Yang. "Don't worry. Princess shows affection through rage. She's merely embarrassed because Aquarius is always teasing her about supposedly not having a lover."

"Isn't today your day off?" Lucy growled, leering at the spirit.

"Indeed. I was doing this as a favor to Capricorn. After spending so much time possessed by Zoldeo, he prefers to stay home when possible," Virgo bowed. "But not to worry, princess. He will not let his reservations stop him from fulfilling the terms of his contract with you."

The anger faded from Lucy's face, replaced with deep sympathy. "I didn't know he was still recovering from that. Let me know if he needs anything. Contract or no, I'll try to let him rest."

"You are generous, princess," Virgo gratefully replied. "I'll be sure to let him know."

The maid proceeded to disappear in a flash of light.

Yang whistled. She'd seen Loke go back and forth from the Celestial Spirit World several times as he came and went from Blake's lessons with Mira (he was always shivering for some reason), but she didn't think she'd ever get tired of seeing it happen. Of course, that assumed she'd ever wrap her head around other dimensional beings being summoned to the alternate dimension she was stuck in. Speaking of…

"What did she mean by contract?" Yang asked Lucy. "I thought you could just summon those guys whenever you wanted."

"Oh no," Lucy replied. "If I got to call them just because I have their keys, it'd be no better than slavery. A Celestial Spirit Mage has to make a contract with their spirits, work out when they're okay with being summoned, when they need breaks, if they want anything extra for certain days, stuff like that. Most spirits are pretty reasonable about it, they like being able to spend time in the human world after all, but it's always important to reach a compromise that works for everyone."

"It's really boring though," Natsu commented, laying against the ravaged table with a leg of meat in his mouth. "It took you forever to finish doing it with Plue."

"It took me literally three seconds."

"They were a boring three seconds."

"Wait, you fight by summoning these guys to help, right?" Yang inquired. "Why would you ever choose a magic that makes you have to rely on others to fight for you?"

Yang loved her team, but she didn't need them to fight her battles. In the end, other people were just as capable of abandoning you as they were helping you. She had to be, and knew she was, strong enough to handle herself and then some. But if Lucy's spirits didn't or couldn't help her, she would be left vulnerable, and that wasn't good for anyone.

"Well, first of all, I don't have them do my fighting for me, I fight with them," Lucy corrected. "I may not be on Natsu or Erza's level, but I can handle myself."

"Yeah!" Natsu agreed heartily. "She would have kicked that crazy hair chick's butt if Raven Tail hadn't cheated!"

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"Grand Magic Games," Happy explained. "Master's son's guild cheated Lucy out of her match. But Laxus made sure they got what they deserved."

"Good," Yang grinned. She hated cheaters. If you weren't good enough to win on your own merit, why would you even try to fight?

Lucy sighed, a soft, wistful smile coming to her lips. "As for the reason I picked Celestial Spirit Magic, it is something I have talent for, but it was also my mom's magic. After she died, she left me her keys and… well… it just felt like the thing to do."

Natsu lightly squeezed her into his chest. She nodded gratefully to him.

Yang frowned in empathy. "I get that. I decided to be a huntress for the thrills, but also because my parents are. Dad didn't approve as much as I thought he would at first, but I think my mom would have approved. Both of them, maybe."

"What do you mean 'would' approve?" Happy inquired delicately, in contrast to his usual self. "Are they—"

"One of them," Yang replied. "The other… she left me a long time ago. I've never been able to find out why."

Lucy's eyes immediately shine with pity, a familiar reaction from the few she'd told the story to. She didn't like to revel in the repeated loss of her mothers, and though she knew it was well-meaning, she found the attempted empathy of others to be tiring.

Which only made Natsu's narrowed eyes even more curious.

"Did you go looking for her?" he inquired. "The one who left, I mean."

Yang shrugged. "Of course. I haven't had much luck though. I can't go too far looking for clues yet, still a teenager and all, and I'm not going to let it consume my life anyway. The last time I did that… well, nothing good happened. I'm more than some search for someone who didn't want me."

"Yeah," Natsu muttered, unusually pensive. "That's good. Don't lose what you have to get back what you had."

Both Lucy and Happy looked worriedly at the dragon slayer. Yang didn't understand why he was being so strange about the topic. He didn't seem like the sort to be overly introspective about stuff that he wasn't directly—oh, crud.

"I'm sorry," Yang apologized. "Wendy told Ruby about you looking for your… dragon dad?"

"Just dad," Natsu corrected. "Only one I remember anyway."

He retracted his grip from Lucy and trudged over to the riverbank, gazing emptily out over the rushing water.

"Well, either way, I didn't mean to be insensitive," Yang continued. "I didn't even know my mom before she left. For you, it must have been… well, worse."

Natsu chuckled bitterly. "I was eight when he disappeared. One morning he just… wasn't there. I searched all over but couldn't find a trace."

"Natsu…" Lucy murmured.

The pink-haired wizard twirled around and flashed them a wide grin. "But it's fine. Gramps found me and brought me to the guild. And looking for Igneel is how I met Lucy. I lost him that day, but I've gained a whole lot since."

He clenched his fists tight, his black eyes narrowed in determination. "And when I do finally track down that scaly bastard, I'm gonna make him me tell exactly why he left."

Yang looked down at the ground. "Do you really think he had a reason?"

"What?" Natsu cocked an eyebrow. "Of course he had a reason. People always do stuff for reasons."

"I mean a good reason." Yang clarified. "Maybe he just… didn't want you."

"Hey, don't be so mean Yang!" Happy chastised her.

Natsu held up a hand to silence him. He marched forward until he was right in front of Yang. "He had a good reason. Even if he's gone, I know him. I choose to believe in him. He wouldn't have left without one."

He clapped a warm hand on Yang's shoulder. The huntress' face shot up to see Natsu was giving her another encouraging smile. "And your mom probably did too. People can be real jerks sometimes, but there's no harm in thinking they could be better. That's one of the core values of Fairy Tail. An enemy today could be a friend tomorrow. So cheer up and have a little hope. After all, why would anyone choose to abandon an awesome girl like you?"

Yang didn't normally give into compliments, but there was just something so earnest about the dragon slayer's words that she couldn't help the light blush that came to her cheeks. "Thanks, teach."

"And if she really is just a jerk, you can always just beat her up!"

"Natsu!"

"What? That's what we normally do!"

Yang couldn't help but burst out laughing. Fairy Tail was full of crazy, awesome whack-jobs that would probably make even Uncle Qrow's head spin, but damn if she didn't love them, Natsu and Lucy most of all. The other blond always had a friendly ear to lend and kind advice to offer, and her slightly uptight nature made her just as fun to tease as Blake. And despite the insanity and embarrassment she was often bathed in, there was an admirable elegance to her, not iron like Erza's indomitable will, but silk, flowing and weaving with the craziness that came with her friends. That she maintained her sanity and her caring heart was certainly an impressive feat.

And Natsu was just plain awesome in the best way possible. He was like Nora turned up to ten and made into a pyromaniac. Yang hadn't thought there was anyone alive who enjoyed the rush of a good fight as much as she did but Natsu could take her to her limit and then some. It was amazing. Plus, while he was most definitely an idiot, he had a simple wisdom to him that, when it showed itself, made the world seem just a bit brighter.

Huh, kind of like Ruby. Weird.

All in all though, if she had to be stuck in another dimension, being with Natsu, Lucy, and the rest of Fairy Tail wasn't so bad.

Ah, Yang and Ruby's friendships grow in the past as both they and Qrow slowly discover more and more danger in the present. For the record, the girls can sense Amber because the Vault is shielded to prevent such things, otherwise, Cinder or Salem could do just that.

Now, the announcement. As many of you have undoubtedly noticed, this chapter is late and I am still behind on my other monthly story, The Third Faction. Despite my best efforts, I have proven unable to consistently recover the monthly schedule while maintaining 'RWBY Zero's" weekly one. As that story should be finished later this year, I have decided to implement a temporary fix for the monthly schedules, one that involves the input of you readers, and those of my other stories.

I will post a poll on my profile. Both Third Faction and Fairies of the Shattered Moon will get their January chapters, and then it will be put up to the readers which one will get updated each month, starting with February. To ensure that neither story falls too far behind, if either one wins two months in a row, the other story will automatically get the next month.

This very much temporary, as once RWBY Zero concludes, which I expect to happen sometime around September, Fairies of the Shattered Moon shall become the weekly story and Third Faction will become the sole monthly story once more, as my beta for that story Draconic and I work better with a longer timeframe for that story.

I wish to offer you readers an enormous apology for inconveniencing you due to my overestimation of my own writing speed capabilities. I am immensely grateful for the support you all have provided me for all three of my stories and I hope you will continue to find my future narrative endeavors enjoyable.

An extra huge thank you to my patrons: ArcherMcMuffin, Gregg Tracton, Keith Traction, StabKingPro and Benjamin Norris.

Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next!

Go Forth and Conquer!