Chapter 19: Tipped

"Where's Yang?" Ilia asked, entering the dorm after a workout.

"Library again." Weiss replied, not pausing in writing a report for Oobleck's class. "I'm glad to see she's taking her classes seriously."

Ilia nodded. "Yeah." She agreed after a beat and heading to the bathroom to shower.

In the library, Yang was staring at a computer.

"Yang." She jolted upright at the voice of her team leader. Blake was at her shoulder. "Looking again?"

Yang let her shoulders slump. "Yeah... She's been really inactive lately. Torchwick and Neo as well." She admitted. "Its weird." She added.

Blake gave a hum, taking a seat in a chair next to Yang. "Perhaps they moved with the White Fang." The faunus mused. Yang lifted her head up.

"What?" She asked, turning herself around to fully face Blake.

Blake gave her head a tiny shake "Oh god I forgot to tell you guys..." she sighed. "Well when we were all looking for clues about Ruby, Torchwick mentioned something. He gave a speech about how all of the White Fang are moving operations towards the southeast." She told Yang, who's eyes widened.

"The southeast? But what's there?" She asked, pulling up a map of Remnant on her Scroll. Blake looked over her shoulder and her own eyes widened.

"Mountain Glenn." Blake breathed "But... What could they be doing there?" She asked.

"I dunno. Oobleck said its a place full of Grimm from a failed settlement there." Yang shrugged "Could it have to do with all the Dust they've been stealing?" Yang asked.

A horrified look crossed Blake's face. "If they are... than that would mean they plan on releasing those Grimm."

"Into the city." Yang finished, her own horror growing. "Oh no." She whispered.

"We need to warn Ozpin." Blake said.

"Blake, he won't do anything." Yang said, standing up.

"And what do you suppose we do?" Blake challenged, putting a hand on Yang's arm. "We can't exactly vanish off to Mountain Glenn to look for her." She told Yang. Yang shrugged the faunus' hand off.

"I don't know. But we can't just do nothing!" She exclaimed.

Blake sighed. "Yang, I know how you feel. You want to do what's right — but the risks are too great. Last time you saw Ruby, she almost had Drei kill you!" Blake said, guiding Yang to sit down again. "We're students — we can't stop them on our own." She told Yang.

The brawler nodded, and Blake saw defeat flash in her eyes.

"Why does she hate me, Blake?" Yang asked at last, ashamed how her voice broke.

Blake was silent, the cat faunus had no answers for the blonde.

Finding no response, Yang buried her head in her arms. Blake rested a comforting hand on her teammate's shoulder.

"There you are." A voice rasped. "Hey Yang, you forgot these —" Yang spun around and she caught the two yellow bracelets thrown her way.

"Uncle Qrow!" Yang said. "Thanks." She put Ember Celica on her wrists.

"Now than, would you like to explain what the hell you were thinking?" Qrow asked, walking towards the two girls.

"Uncle Qrow, I..." Yang was at a loss for an explanation. The man before her was angry. "I wanted to see her again, convince her to come home with me."

"Yang. Come with me, we need to talk." Qrow jerked his thumb. Yang stood up, chair scraping softly.

"I'll see you back at the dorm." Yang told Blake. Her team leader nodded and stood up before walking away.

Yang followed her uncle to an empty classroom, Qrow shutting the door behind him. "Lets start from the beginning. Why the hell was Ember Celica at Junior's club?" He asked, sitting on the teacher's desk.

Yang sighed "I met Ruby at Junior's." She rubbed her arm, evading her uncle's gaze. "I wanted to talk, and convince her to come home." She told him.

"You went there and she was there?" Qrow asked.

Yang bit her tongue, debating whether to tell him. "I talked to Junior a few days ago, asking him about her. He said she'd be there. So I went... and she didn't want to come home." She hung her head.

She heard Qrow sigh before the sound of his flash sloshing around the liquid within as he drank from it. "You knew about it, and never told anyone?" Her uncle's voice was hard.

"Yes." Yang said.

Another sigh. "Yang. I swear you'll get yourself killed doing this." He said.

"I just want Ruby home." Yang said.

"We all want her home, firecracker." Qrow responded "But, from what I've heard she doesn't want to come home." He told her.

"Torchwick... he corrupted her. She was so young! Now she only has eyes for him. She called them family!" Yang growled, hands clenching into fists.

"I know, Yang." Qrow said. "But she's a mass murderer and criminal. She cant be taken lightly at all." He told her.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Qrow." Yang said.

"Just tell me or your team whenever you do something like that again. You've come so far already, hell — you're making more progress than myself." Qrow said.

"But now she's off the grid." Yang sighed. "If you're watching as well, you know she along with Torchwick and the White Fang's activity these last few days have dropped to nothing."

She looked up to see her uncle's gaze darken. "They may be planning something." He said quietly.

Yang bit her lip, feeling the urge to tell him the conclusion Blake and herself had drawn.

"I don't doubt it." Yang said. "I'd better get going. Dinner is soon."

Qrow nodded and opened his arms. "C'mere, kiddo." He offered a smile. Yang hugged him. "Don't be so reckless, Yang. Please don't chase Ruby — you may not be so lucky next time. Junior told me she was about to kill you." He sighed.

Yang echoed his sigh. "I love you, Uncle Qrow."

"I do too, Yang." He released the hug and Yang stepped away, turning around to head away.

Roman saw Neo sharpening Hush's blade. The slow sound of the blade against the sharpening stone filled the air surrounding the mute. Drei lay at her feet. As he approached, the canine picked his head up and gave a huff of greeting. Neo set the whetstone aside to give a playful salute his way.

"Ruby's been acclimating well." He noted. "But I still think the outfit is overkill." He added. Neo covered her mouth in a mimed giggle.

The mute put Hush away into its parasol sheath. 'No, its not.' She insisted with an amused smirk.

Roman rolled his eyes. "Well she made a couple of friends at least. Two of the wolf faunus. One of them oversees her cart, the other is deaf. Figures they'd click, as Ruby can talk to her." He smiled. Neo gave a nod, pleased.

Despite it not being their intentions by forcing Ruby to work, they were happy to know she had made friends. Usually being a criminal meant you couldn't have friends. But who the better to be friends with than other people on the same side of the law as you?

'I'm glad she made friends.' Neo said. Roman nodded. 'Names?' She asked.

"I think it was Malu and Akari." Roman said.

'Alright.' Roman could tell Neo was mentally filing those names away. For what purpose, he had no clue. 'How have you been doing?' She asked.

"Good. I'm keeping an eye on Ruby." Roman said. Neo paused and immediately facepalmed. "What is it?" He asked.

'Oh fuck me with my own weapon. Blake was at the White Fang rally. She knows about our plans. For all we know, Yang will come looking for Ruby.' Neo informed him. Roman sighed.

"Ugh, those damn kids will never give us a break. Ruby needs to kill Yang and be done with it." He stated. Neo's shoulders slumped ever so slightly.

'Yang's her sister. She's hesitant to do so.' Neo pointed our.

"I know!" Roman sighed.

'Ruby will come around. She knows what must be done. When the time comes, she'll finish all of this for us.' Neo promised, a small hand touching the back of one of Roman's hands.

Roman nodded. "I know." He agreed. Drei gave a huff, standing up and stretching. His head nudged Roman's other hand, prompting the man to pat the doberman's head.