Here's chapter 82, everyone.
"I'm not trying to sound ungrateful, but how come you're still here?" Lazuria asked Tai, and the blonde huntsman stopped playing on his scroll for a moment to look up and speak with her.
"Huh? Uh, because I'm not about to leave you here by yourself. You never know if one of those Relentless will show up." Tai explained as he set his scroll down on the partially broken table. "Besides, my wife is at Beacon, so I don't exactly have anything going on."
Lazuria shrugged and took a seat on one of the chairs. "Okay then. Well… Besides the fact that your wife is involved here, how come you want to help with this? It's not exactly a go out and hunt Grimm kind of mission."
"So? I didn't become a huntsman to just kill Grimm. Helping others and making sure people can actually live their lives is another part of being one." Tai explained.
"Something my youngest daughter always reminds us old people." Tai let out a smile, thinking about Ruby and her resolve. "And seeing as these guys are making your life impossible, well, I'm going to help you stop them."
Lazuria wasn't the kind to let herself look as surprised, so she simply hummed in response, while Tai nodded and went back to playing on his scroll.
"So, I know this sounds a bit of an intrusive question, but have you ever seen what your daughter has been doing?" Tai asked, and that time Lazuria was actually surprised by the question. "My daughters have been friends with her for years now, so I just thought if you didn't know much about her, you'd like to."
"I-I… Have tried to see how she's been with my semblance." Lazuria explained. "Enhanced sight, so at least I don't have to be as close…"
"Right." Tai knew she didn't want to risk Weiss' life, so she had to stay away. "Well, I can say your daughter has a promising future as a huntress. She's even on a team with my two daughters."
Lazuria was really happy to hear that, since it meant her little wolf had a dream to strive for. "A team… That's good. A team can grow into a family." She sniffled a bit, thinking of her husband and even Glynda.
Tai heard the sniffle, but he chose not to ask any questions on it. "Yeah… You got that right. I mean, I'm on a team with my wife, ex-wife and… Ugh, Qrow."
That actually got the Shifter to chuckle a bit. "He can be a pain from what little I've seen of him. Still, I'm a little surprised that you all stayed as a team for this long."
"Eh, well… I mean, we're on and off as a team." Tai sighed. "My ex-wife. She and I settled things a while back, and," He set the scroll down. "I still care about her a lot, but sometimes I wonder if we can ever really go back to how we were back then. All of us."
"If that's a fear of yours, I think you should probably deal with it before it gets out of your control entirely." Lazuria suggested.
Tai looked over at the Shifter for a moment. "I think that ships already sailed to be honest with you."
"You never know. I mean, your ex-wife is already choosing to stick with this mission, and if your wife and her are still friends, I don't see why you two can't patch things up even more." She countered, and the blonde huntsman thought about it for a moment.
"I, maybe. It's still a bit tough between us, but…" He thought about Yang for a moment. "Our daughter. Raven and mines', she's had her share of anger towards her Mother, and I honestly hate that. A daughter shouldn't hate their Mother, but not too long ago, my wife told me they had a few good talks together."
"Then shouldn't that get you to patch things up even more than you have?" Lazuria questioned.
"There's never a good time to do that." Tai tried making the excuse. "And seeing as we're dealing with this Relentless issue, we really can't risk upsetting each other with this right now." While his reasoning seemed to still be more on the making an excuse side, as the person who requested their help in the first place, Lazuria agreed with that.
"Okay, you got me there, but I still don't think you should wait too long. Just how things are with that woman… I can tell she still has a heart. She wouldn't have agreed to help me if she didn't." Lazuria said.
"Hmm, I don't doubt that." Tai commented, and as he looked over at the entrance of the warehouse, he saw Qrow walking in. "Qrow, where's Raven?"
Qrow shrugged. "Sulking as usual, so I just ditched her."
Tai scowled at the man. "And what made you think that was a good idea?"
"Raven isn't a kid, Tai. She knows how to get here, and besides, I can only deal with her attitude for so long." He pulled up a chair and grabbed his flask from his pocket, instantly taking a swig of it.
"Same can be said with you." Tai said with a roll of his eyes.
Lazuria sighed, wondering if what she said to him about patching things up would be entirely possible with Qrow. "Uh, sorry to cut in, but is she going to be coming back here or not?"
"Don't know, but if she listened to what I said, and I can only hope for once in her life she does, then she'll be back here soon enough." Qrow answered.
"And what DID you say to her exactly?" Tai asked, not liking how he phrased that.
Qrow sighed and put his flask down. "I told her that she needs to stop babying Willow," That caught Lazuria's attention. "And try to let her figure out what she really wants to do with her life, since I'm sure you know she made a deal with Raven, and if she manages to disarm her in a training exercise, then she needs to take her on a hunt."
Lazuria's heart jumped at that. "What? Hold on a second. Willow doesn't have the same kind of training as everyone here. She can't-."
"Ugh, don't you start too." Qrow complained. "Look, you people need to understand that if you just say no to someone, it'll just make them prove you wrong in the long run. Besides, Willow was the one who made up the deal, so it's her choice in the end."
"You're right." Raven suddenly said, getting the three to look over as she walked in. "Which is why I'm not going easy on her, so if she really does improve enough to disarm me, I'll be confident enough in her to bring her on a hunt."
Tai and Qrow were glad to hear that, and Lazuria stood up, choosing to voice her own opinion. "I don't like it, but she's still someone who I respect more than anyone else in this world, so if you do take her out on this hunt," She walked up to the huntress, surprising all three of the Team STRQ members when she used her Shifting ability, becoming the size of a wolf that was on eye level with her. "You better make sure she doesn't get hurt. Do you understand me?"
Raven wasn't easily intimidated, and knew how much Willow meant to this woman, so she simply nodded. "You have my word."
"Uh…" Tai looked at the white wolf that was now in the warehouse, since it was the first time he saw her using that ability. "Soooo, you gonna stay like that?"
Lazuria rolled her eyes and grabbed her clothes with her teeth, as she made her way into the back of the warehouse.
"Did I ask something stupid?" Tai inquired, and Raven pinched the bridge of her nose, while Qrow snorted.
"Go on and head inside, Winter. I need to check in on something for a moment." Willow said as she opened the door to Summer's room, and after her daughter walked in, she checked on her scroll, seeing that Raven had sent her a message.
"I thought about the deal we made, and yes, I still plan on keeping my end of the deal, but you better prepare yourself. If you're serious about going with me on a hunt, then know that I won't hold back."
Willow didn't expect a message from Raven in that regard, but she examined the message several times, thinking about her deal with the huntress, and how serious she was about it.
"I'm not just trying to prove a point to her."
She nodded, mentally preparing herself as she knew it really wasn't going to be easy to disarm the woman who's trained most of her life to be a huntress. "I have to do this." Willow nodded to herself and began to write a message back that read.
"I am serious about it, Raven. So yes, don't go easy on me. And thank you for accepting my deal."
Willow sent the message, happy that Raven was finally able to accept what she wanted to do. Still, while she was able to feel happy about that, not a moment later her daughter was back in her mind.
"Winter wasn't wrong to be angry with me. Goodness… I suppose I had to face this day eventually."
After a few moments, she used her scroll to open Summer's door and as she walked in, she noticed Winter was on her scroll. "Doing a bit of off time work?"
Winter looked over from her scroll and hummed. "Hmm? Oh, yes, I have an assignment that I need to work on after I go back. Before you ask, Mother-."
"I know, sweetie. Classified." Willow was very understanding of her daughter's work, so she sat on the other bed Summer had set up in her room, seeing as she knew there would be times where either Willow, Raven or Tai would visit with her.
"Yes. How are you feeling?" Winter asked.
"I'm doing better now, but still, your sister. I hope to talk with her before she goes to bed tonight." Willow answered.
Winter thought about how Weiss left the room earlier, and with how long she'd be, it was about that time to get back. "She walked out in a hurry." The Specialist folded her hands on her lap. "I can speak with her if you'd like."
"I can speak with her." Willow assured and got up. "Try not to stay up working too late, sweetie." She smiled and left the room, while Winter could only hope that Weiss and their Mother could work things out.
Yang was rubbing Weiss' back, and Ruby was holding her hand. "Yang, about the nickname… The reason I don't really feel like hearing it anymore is because my Mother, my birth Mother I mean, she's the reason my semblance is being able to change into a wolf."
"Oh," Yang pulled her hand away and frowned. "I didn't think you'd be so against it, Ice.. Weiss. Why though?"
Weiss dug her nails into her lap, while biting her lip. "Because, if… If she wasn't around back then and for my whole life, then maybe I should just focus on the family that did raise 's why I didn't use my wolf semblance while I trained."
Ruby spoke up not a moment later. "Weiss, you shouldn't disconnect yourself from your other semblance like that. It's not about who you got it from."
"I know that, but even so," Weiss sniffled. "I'm a conflicting person. I lived my life as a Schnee, and now I have this other Mother who's the reason for why I can become a wolf. Ruby, it's all just hard to accept."
"Cutting off that other part of you shouldn't be the answer though." Ruby squeezed her hand and looked into her eyes. "Weiss, you took control of your own life, and all this time, without knowing why you had a different semblance, you made it your own. Don't throw it all away for this."
Blake was next to speak her mind. "She's right. This doesn't have to mean you drop everything you've done with that part of you. Letting go of the past can help at times, but right here, right now, I honestly don't think you should."
Weiss didn't think Blake would chime in, but hearing both her and Ruby expressing their concerns for her choice made her rethink it. And in that moment, she looked down at her wolf pendant and her eyes went wide. "My pendant…"
"Your mom, Willow, she knew the connection you had. It's why she got it for you." Ruby smiled and gently took the wolf head pendant in her hand to lift it up slightly. "Please, Weiss. Don't let go of who you are."
Weiss blushed, letting out a sigh as she couldn't help but smile. "First you tell me to never stop seeing myself as a Schnee, and now you're telling me to continue keeping the wolf part of me alive… I feel like such a dolt for keeping you away earlier."
"Hehe, you called yourself a dolt." Ruby giggled a bit, and Weiss held her smile.
"You two are such dorks." Yang chuckled, and Weiss gave her a death glare. "There it is."
"Oaf." Weiss countered.
"Ice… Uh-." Yang stopped herself, not knowing if it was okay to use that nickname still.
Weiss rolled her eyes. "Oh stop. You can say it, Xiao Long. I didn't just sit here hearing how ridiculous I was acting for nothing after all."
Yang smiled at that. "Good, cause you're always gonna be Ice Wolf to me."
Not much to say here, but things are ready to pick up again. Can't wait to see how people will react to that soon.
To JJ- Pretty much, yeah. Weiss will end up getting upset at moments to come, but what those moments are have yet to really get fleshed out, so it'll take a bit of time to get there. Anyways, Ruby isn't one to get flustered over kissing her girlfriend in front of the team, as she only wants Weiss to be happy.
I hoped you all enjoyed chapter 82. Remember, reviews are welcomed, but not required. See you all in chapter 83.