Here's chapter 55, everyone.

"Summer, we asked you to help us with this a few days ago." Raven said, looking annoyed with the blacksmith, who sighed in response. "You were the one who said you'd be here in Atlas if we needed you for this."

"After Willow's fight with Jacques, I wasn't ready to just leave her there alone. Even with Klein with her, I can't take that risk." Summer explained.

Raven shook her head in disagreement. "I helped train her to stand up for herself. Babying her now will put all that to waste."

"It's different when it's someone who she lives with, okay." Summer said in a serious tone. "Look, I'm here now, so what exactly did you need my help for?"

The black haired huntress looked over to her twin brother. "This one is your mission, so you fill her in." Raven said as she walked over to the bed to sit down. "And we should start finding a better place for these meetings. A cabin isn't going to cut it with more people getting involved."

Qrow shrugged. "I think it works fine." He turned his attention to Summer. "Anyways, it looks like there's some group of trackers who hunt specific people." Summer looked taken aback. People being hunted by others? It didn't seem like something she'd ever encounter. "They're called The Relentless."

"The Relentless?" Summer repeated.

"Yup. I would've called them The Painters, but since they already made a name for themselves, I'll stick to the proper name." Qrow said as he took a drink from his flask.

"What is their reasoning for hunting people?" Summer questioned, not taking the information lightly.

"We were told that they believe this specific group of people will go after the ones they hunt, because they think they pose a threat to humanity." Qrow answered.

Summer felt confused on what kind of people would be considered a threat to humanity. "Who exactly do these Relentless hunt?"

Qrow placed his flask down, trying to get a bit more serious. "We call them Shifters. Now, brace yourself for this." Raven rolled her eyes. "Shifters are… Animals. They have the ability to become humans."

The blacksmith blinked a few times. "So… Like what you and Raven can do?"

"Not exactly. We have the ability to become our namesake, but these people were born as animals." Qrow began. "It was confusing to us at first too, but it looks like a small percentage of animals tap into their aura to use this ability."

"Whoa… I… That's a lot to take in." Summer remarked, but then a thought entered her mind. "Wait, there was a fairy tale that sounds just like that! Raven it's-."

Raven stopped her. "Trust me when I say this, it's not a fairy tale anymore."

Summer took a breath, shaking her head a few times. "Okay, I need all the details you two have right now."

Qrow nodded. "We learned about this from a woman who contacted me after she learned who I was from… Her." He pointed his thumb at Raven, who glared in response. Summer was gonna ask what he meant, but he continued. "Basically she got caught by the woman and went through her scroll."

"Make a comment about it, and I promise you won't be able to drink for a week." Raven threatened.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get your panties in a bunch, sis." Qrow said, earning a growl from the raven haired huntress. "Anyways, after she contacted me, I brought Raven in. Looks like that woman is one of The Relentless' targets."

"So… She's an animal that can become human." Summer realized.

"Yup, and she let us know how these Relentless hunt her and the others like her down. It ties to a semblance they all seem to have." Qrow said, shocking Summer.

The blacksmith knew a lot on semblances. "Wait, how is that possible? If this is a group, there has to be a lot of them. No way can they all have the same semblance."

"Stranger things have happened." Raven commented.

Qrow sighed. "It's still a mystery, but what we do know is that she's a Marked. It's what they call themselves when one of those Relentless tag them with their semblance."

"D-Does that mean they can continuously track them?" Summer asked.

"Yes, and even when she manages to kill one, they link her mark to another in the group. Then send them out almost a month later." Qrow explained.

Summer's eyes widened. "S-She's killed them?"

Raven got up from the bed and crossed her arms. "Summer, this woman has been hunted for seventeen years. Killing them is the only time she can ever feel safe."

Killing monsters was never a problem to Summer, but to kill another person was a different story. "There… Has to be some other way than that."

Qrow cut in. "Honestly, I get why you're upset about that, Summer, but in this situation, it's kill or be killed for that woman."

The blacksmith sighed, while Raven spoke up. "This isn't your choice to make, so don't begin to feel sympathy for the kind of people she kills. It's how she survives."

"Fine…" Summer muttered.

Raven continued. "We're going to try and find this group's HQ, and then deal with them ourselves. You don't have to help us if you don't want to, but remember what they're doing to people. Hunting them down, and murdering them."

"I know!" Summer yelled, surprising Qrow, but Raven didn't flinch. "It's wrong what they do… But if I help, then you both have to promise me that you won't kill anyone. Whoever this woman is… Fine, I get she has to, but we as hunters don't."

Qrow was about to try and say something, but Raven cut him off. "I can agree to that much."

Summer took a sigh of relief. "Thank you." She thought about something for a quick moment. "Who is this woman by the way? Is she in Atlas still?"

Raven looked down for a moment, closing her eyes as she had to tell Summer who it was. She lifted her head back up and opened her eyes. "Her name is Lazuria Okami." Summer's eyes widened, a gasp escaping her lips. "She is Weiss Schnee's birth mother."

"What…" Summer already knew the information about Weiss' mother, but to hear that she was the one who was being hunted. It brought a new fear into her mind.

"I can sit here and explain how I know this, but-." Summer cut her off.

"No, it's not that. I already know that Willow isn't Weiss' birth mother." Raven was surprised by that. "She told me about that a few days ago… But… Is she really the one being hunted?" The black haired huntress nodded, so Summer needed to take a seat on a chair. "No…"

Raven sighed. "Do you understand why this mission is a bit more important now?"

Summer lowered her head, placing both hands over her face as she shook her head. "This must be what Willow meant when she told me Lazuria had to give Weiss to her… She didn't want her daughter to be hunted like her…"

"Looks that way." Qrow commented, grabbing his flask from the table to take a drink. After he did, he leaned up against the wall. "Raven here decided for the woman that it would be best to not let her wolf cub know of it all though."

The blacksmith was shocked by that, so she turned to face Raven. "Why would you tell her that?"

"How she looked at us when she begged us for our help, and how she sounded when she talked about how she wanted her daughter to be happy, the only real way to be sure of that, is to not get her involved in this." Raven explained. "Lazuria does want to tell Weiss the truth, but she wants her to have a happy life. She's contradicting herself."

"Raven, you shouldn't force her to stay quiet…" Summer voiced her concern.

"I gave her a choice." Raven stated. "If she wanted my help, she needed to promise not to speak with her daughter about the truth."

Summer looked upset with her friend, so she got up and walked right up to her face. "Listen, this isn't how you should handle things here, Raven. I already can see you're trying to bring out how you feel about your own personal stance on this."

Raven was taken aback. Summer wasn't one to get that serious with her, so she took a step back and glared at the blacksmith. "Don't speak to me about what you don't know, Summer."

Qrow could feel the tension between the two women, so he got in between them and pushed them away from each other. "Hey, hey, calm down, you two. No need to get at each other's throats right now."

"It's still not right to just make her avoid her daughter." Summer's voice was raised a little.

All Raven could do was roll her eyes. "Stop acting like a kid. Willow raised Weiss for seventeen years. Bringing in some woman after that long will mess that kid up."

"How would you know?!" Summer yelled.

"Because I've been through it!" Raven countered, Qrow sighing since they didn't calm down when he told them they should.

"That's enough!" Qrow shouted, both looking angry still. "This," He motioned around them all. "Is not the place to do this crap right now. We have a mission to do, and both of you need to stay the hell out of their business." The scythe using huntsman ordered. "If Lazuria wants to talk to Weiss, she'll talk to Weiss. If she doesn't, then she doesn't. Leave it at that and get over it. Both of you."

Raven turned around and walked out of the cabin, refusing to acknowledge what he said, while Summer clenched her fists and sat back down on the chair. "I'm sorry, Qrow…"

He simply sighed in response. "Just try not doing this right now. That woman is still out there, and we don't know when she'll be targeted again. So the sooner we get this done, the better for her." Qrow leaned over to whisper. "And the sooner she can talk with her daughter."

Summer was surprised he was on her side with that, so she whispered back. "Don't you think Raven will try to keep her from doing that?"

"I don't know, Summer, but we can't think about that right now. First things first, we have to find out where these Relentless guys keep their base of operations."

"And figure out how they could have the same semblance… I know like the Schnee family semblance, it's hereditary, but I doubt this whole group is just one giant family." Summer noted.

"We'll have to find that out one way or another." Qrow sat on the bed and looked out the window, seeing his sister sitting by the fire they had outside. "She's not gonna be talking for awhile."

Summer sighed and walked over to the door. "I can get her to."

"Good luck." Qrow threw himself back on the bed and closed his eyes, while Summer walked outside.

Raven didn't need to look over at the cabin to know who was walking up to her. "If you're going to try and argue about it again, don't bother wasting your breath."

"I won't," Summer responded, standing a few feet behind her friend. "I'm here to ask you about the mission. What do you plan on us doing?"

"Find one of them, get any intel we can, dead or alive, and trace the Relentless back to their HQ." Raven explained, kicking some of the wood into the fire to keep it going. "Once that's dealt with, and that mark is off of her, our mission will be done."

Summer rubbed her arm a few times, sighing. "What if we end up finding a bigger group than we're bargaining for?"

"It shouldn't be that hard to deal with." Raven stated as she stood up and turned to face Summer. "Besides, I doubt they have an army. If they did, they wouldn't have a problem expending more people to go after Lazuria."

Summer let out a light chuckle. "Honestly, even asking you, I wouldn't be too worried facing an army. Still… This is more than just finding an HQ. They may have more bases out in other kingdoms."

"Which is why we find one base, and then, the rest will be a lot easier." Raven reasoned.

"This isn't really about how hard it'll be… It's how we deal with them that worries me." Summer reiterated.

Raven took a seat on one of the logs, looking directly at Summer with a gaze she was all too familiar with. "How blunt do you want me to be here?" Summer bit her lip, but after a moment, she nodded. "Some people may have to die, and it wouldn't be our first mission where that's happened."

The words that came out of Summer's mouth next were soft and barely audible. "I know…"

"Yes, we promised to not kill if we don't need to, but… If you want that woman to have any chance at seeing her daughter, no not tell her the truth, but at least see her again, then we have to deal with them as best as we can." Raven stated.

"Even so… I won't kill them." Summer stood her ground.

Raven shook her head and turned around on the log. "That's you, but like I said, I'll keep to what I agreed to. I won't kill anyone if I don't have to, but if something happens and it calls for it, I won't hesitate."

Summer held her own arm, taking a breath as she turned on her feet and headed back to the cabin, but before she reached the door, she glanced over her shoulder at her old friend, hoping she wouldn't have to cross that line.

So even Summer can get into arguments with Raven. Luckily Qrow can… Somewhat get them to calm down. And I like to think Summer would be the kind of person to not want to kill other people.

To JJ- I'm doing what I can to get the team to really interact well together, though to be honest, I need to work on Ruby and Blake interactions more. Just hard to do since the show barely does that to begin with. And I'm glad you like the talks they have, as well as the funny moments I add in here and there.

I hoped you all enjoyed chapter 56. Remember, reviews are welcomed, but not required. See you all in chapter 57.