Significant Changes: Like the previous chapter, this content is also entirely new, never seen before. Just enjoy the ride for now, we'll get back to double updates once it's time to cover old ground again.

Original chapter length: 1,392 Revisited chapter length: 3,586

"Regular dialogue" [Faunus speech only]

Chapter 10

The sisters made their way beyond Vale's gate and into the forested boarders. It started as every other mission ever had, just this time, without the briefing beforehand. A flash of their licenses and they were outside the city gates without even a raised eyebrow. No one would think to question them, but, even if someone had, the excuse was a completely valid one.

Keeping Vale safe was largely a preventative process, many hunters taking it upon themselves to see that things got done in a timely manner.

"Hey, Yang, think we should stop off in Patch while we're out here?" Ruby asked in an attempt to fill the stifling tranquility with idle conversation. Anything to keep her mind off of where they were going, and why they were going there. The clinking of her equipment served as a dark reminder, one that she just didn't want. "Maybe if he's home, we could give dad a visit and tell him what's been going on."

"Nah, he probably isn't even home yet." Yang hoped that was the case. That he was still out, far away from all of this unpleasantness. "How'd we even get there now, anyway? The airbus is all the way back in Vale."

Ruby hesitated, knowing that no boats would come for them. They'd see the destruction from the water, and a smart sailor would know not to even get close to the shore's edge. At least, not any of the boats they were so used to taking. There was one other option, though. Something she used so rarely, even she normally forgot about it.

"Well, I was thinking of following the coast to the hunter's tavern. Boats should still dock there, I think. They'd take us to Patch for sure."

"The tavern? That old thing's still standing?" Yang laughed softly. "Hell, wish I would have known that before carrying Weiss halfway through Vale on foot. We could have stopped in for bath."

"Was it that bad?"

"Ruby, we were covered in all sorts of stuff." Yang deadpanned. "We totally reeked."

Even though the small-talk filled the empty air, it did nothing to distract Yang from her impending destination. They were making good time, and that was a double edged sword. A few hours away from Vale's main gates, it shouldn't have taken long to reach the small village that had become a gravesite. Knowing that made her steps just a little slower and her stride hesitant.

The sun was low in the sky, dew still clung to the grass and moistened the dirt paths. Birds were awake and singing their tunes, and in spite of all of it, the pace the sisters adopted was a slow one. Ruby seeming to agree that they needed to slow their pace.

They meandered along the paths, one foot in front of the other.

"Soo… the tavern." Yang said, clearing her throat.

"Right… It's still running. I mean, it was last I looked…" Ruby said after a moment. "It used to always be full of people, so I can't imagine that it would ever be attacked." She shrugged, ignoring the crunching foliage underfoot as they turned onto another dirt path. "Last time I visited was about a half-a-year ago now..."

"Ah, yeah, that supply mission." Yang recalled it. "You took Blake on that one, right?"

"Had too." Ruby said. "I couldn't pull the cart all by myself. She complained about it the whole way there, too."

"Ozpin didn't give you a mule?"

"Nope." Ruby told her, popping the word between her lips. "The yearly caravan to Vacuo was coming in to trade custom supplies. Everyone on that mission had all the mission animals, even the bloodhounds were taken. Blake and I had to pull the cart ourselves."

"The things you do for charity…"

"I know, right?" It was a soft laugh, but, it was completely forced.

Yang chose not to comment on it. Her own spirits weren't particularly high, either, and it was finally time to address all of the little things neither sister wanted to say.

They knew these dirt roads by heart.

So many memories, plenty of juvenile training missions. There wasn't a piece of this section of forest that went unexplored by many particularly adventuresome youths. The Grimm here were old, thus more docile. Almost all of them went into hiding, staying well out of sight. It wasn't that they couldn't attack the settlements, but that they'd never before had the urge to do so.

In fact, for the longest time the sisters had been oblivious that there might be Grimm nearby at all.

Then again, they'd grown up alongside a plethora of Grimm in Patch. They weren't particularly rare. The wandering creatures were usually in search of a good meal or shelter. Their father had done his best to slay all of them in the vicinity, but still, more would come on occasion. It was only as they got older that they learned the value of elder Grimm.

The oldest of the beasts were not as senseless and bloodthirsty as one might think. No, the old ones were usually passive, at least when left unprovoked to their hunting grounds. Oobleck went to great pains to impart his wisdom to his students, and they had never forgotten his lessons.

Ruby saw a large Nevermore making a nest, recalling his tutelage.

The creature was one of the largest she had ever seen, its beady red eyes gazing at her. A younger Grimm would have been impulsive, ready to attack at a moment's notice. This one just watched her, it had likely nested here for years. As the sisters bypassed the enormous creature, it couldn't help but take notice. Cawing idly in their direction.

Yet, in spite of that, it didn't move.

"Hey, Ruby…" Yang started, her voice tense and uneasy. "You're sure that it wasn't Grimm that destroyed the village?"

"I wasn't there when it happened, but, there are no tracks or anything." Ruby said slowly. Her gut told her that it wasn't a Grimm. Her training reinforced that thought. It had to have been something else. What exactly? She didn't want to know. "At least, there weren't any tracks last time I was there. It's been a while now, and Grimm have probably passed by since then."

"Raiders?" Yang posed. "Thieves?"

"Maybe…"

"You don't sound so sure."

"I'm not." Ruby told her. "It just doesn't feel right. If it was something like that, it would have to be a lot of them…" Ruby trailed off, glancing towards Yang sadly. She wished she had something more reassuring to say. Nothing came to mind. "Those sorts of people don't normally have the numbers to take on an entire village. Even if they did, they don't usually go for an attack like that…"

"But, they could have…" Yang muttered between her teeth. "Right?"

"It's a long shot." Ruby took a breath. "It's just not that kind of attack. Buildings were burned. People were dead in the streets. Women and children, too. That counts out trafficking, which is one of the only reasons raiders would go after a village that size."

"We'll deal with all that when we get there…"

Of course they would. Ruby would make that her utmost priority. It's the only reason she wanted to go back. Her pride as a huntress demanded it. She knew that wasn't why Yang wanted to come, and it hurt to think that Yang wouldn't get the answers she wanted to receive. "Sis, we're probably never going to know what happened that night…"

"If that turns out to be the case, I'll be fine." Yang promised softly. "We're going to give everyone a proper burial, seal up the doors on the homes, whole nine yards. That'll be our main focus."

"I know…" Ruby agreed.

The promise itself didn't seem like enough. Even with the tools to do so strapped across their backs, it felt hollow.

Then again, on journeys like these, nothing felt completely whole.

There was no way for Yang to brace herself. Ruby knew there was no point in trying to prepare her sister, either. Even if Yang knew what was coming, it never got any easier.

Trying to describe the souls that were lost would be a complete disservice, and Ruby refused to try. Instead, she said nothing, adjusting the backpack on her shoulders.

As students, they'd gone through months of training. Stepping into more than one wreckage, seeing what might be thought of as hell itself. As full-fledged huntresses they'd been tasked with more than one mission as a cleaning crew. Even after all of that, neither one of them thought themselves immune to the tangible realities of a fallen village.

For Yang, all of the mental preparation seemed moot the moment that she smelled the faint hints of decay in the air. No amount of lying to herself would change what that scent was from. The moment she saw the first shards of broken glass on the ground. A few more steps was all it took for the magnitude of it all to set in. The person lying face down in a pool of dried blood was a nameless casualty.

Him, and many others, were left behind to be forgotten.

All of the training in the world couldn't have given Yang the edge she needed. Then again, sights like these weren't the sort of thing a person should get used to. Stagnancy itself was harsh, filled with putrid odors, and sights that were little more than gore.

There were bodies to tend to, homes to search and then close up. Plenty of work to be done. Tasks that would never see completion if she just continued to stand there and gawk.

Forcing it from her mind as she pulled out her facemask and got to work dragging the bodies to the village square one by one. She searched the homes, but, there were no other survivors. Meanwhile, Ruby began to chop wood into planks and tinder. They both worked quietly, as though making too much noise might unsettle whatever tormented souls remained.

As per the usual instructions, they'd need to put a board across each doorframe indicating that inside only belongings remained. That was likely for the best. A survivor left out here for so long would have suffered horribly. Yang chose not to think about it. A large hole was dug, the bodies placed within and set to flame to be cremated. The billowing smoke would burn all afternoon and late into the night.

As an afterthought, they stopped at the infirmary and broke open the file cabinets. Both of them searching for any health records Ace might have. The slender folder they located was only two pages in length. It seemed like so little, but, it was a start.

They saved the most important home for last.

It was the home that Ruby had found Raven. A dried pool of blood lingered where someone's body had once been, standing the wood and nearby rug.

"Signs of a struggle." Yang murmured under her breath. "Everything how you remember it?"

"Yeah…" Ruby breathed.

"Walk me through it…" Yang told her. "I want to know everything from the ground up."

"I came in from the kitchen entry looking for survivors, just like we just entered. I found the upturned table and bloody scuff marks on the wall, and followed it. Trail cuts off here…" Ruby said, pointing to the dried pool in question. "A grown man was laying here in a pool of his own blood. No signs of life."

"Armed?"

"No, and from the pictures over there on the mantel, I can only assume that he was Ace's dad. He was injured pretty badly before he died, but, it wasn't a sword that did it. It was blunt force."

"So, he had a shattered aura?" Yang asked.

"Probably, there was no cauterization around the wounds…"

"There's more blood over there." Yang said, nodding to the flight of stairs.

"Raven's." Ruby told her quietly. "Least, I think so. I found her upstairs, but she had already bled out too. I don't know for how long. So, when I found the baby unharmed, I figured, you know…" Ruby sighed at length. "So, I buried Raven and the man out front…and you know the rest."

"Yeah... Okay." Yang breathed.

"I'm sorry, Yang." Ruby told her, voice hard and scratchy.

"Don't be." Yang told her, her own voice no better. "You didn't do this, it's not your fault."

"Still..." Ruby said quietly.

The house could hardly be called a home. There wasn't much to it. Yang didn't know what might have belonged to her mother on the rows of shelves. Books ranging from cooking to combat stuffed the nooks and crannies of the home. Thick tomes stacked on end tables, old maps sitting on a corner desk to be stored. A workbench abused by time had been left in the basement, a place to maintain her weapon, no doubt.

Yang felt guilty for every step she took.

It felt wrong to snoop, even though no one was there to scold her for it. She ran her fingers along the spines of the books, but there was nothing personal among them. Everything felt so generic, and so few photographs promised that whoever else had lived in this home would forever be a mystery.

The most curious thing, however, was what lay in the yard. Yang expected the grave site. Ruby told her that she'd done it. It was what lay among the mound of dirt that felt so confusing. A half empty bottle of scotch, and an empty glass that had tipped over in the dirt.

"You didn't put this here, did you?" Yang asked question.

Ruby, keeping her distance, only shook her head. "No."

"You should finish what you started." Yang muttered thickly, holding out the hammer. There was only one thing left to do here, and Yang couldn't find the strength in her to do it herself.

"You sure you don't want anything?" Ruby asked, almost hesitant to place up that final board.

"I…" The elder sibling could only shrug. "It's not like I know any of the meaning behind any if it…"

"Looters won't either." Ruby said, rushing off, only to come back with the only family photo in the entire home. "At least take this. It won't be missed…"

"Fine, just finish this Ruby, please." Yang sighed softly, feeling the weight of the hammer slide from her palm as Ruby took it from her. The picture replaced it. Somehow, it felt much heavier.

"Alright…"

The sound reach her ears, nails landing swiftly, digging deep into the wood. Yang couldn't look at the plank being affixed to the front door.

She felt numb, her soul like pins and needles.

It finally hurt…

They stayed the night huddled around a small campfire. The sisters had exhausted things to say, words of comfort were hard to come by. Nothing could change the way that Yang buried whatever she was feeling.

Ruby felt like a child all over again, watching as Yang clenched her jaw, biting back soundless tears. It used to scare her, but now, she just felt helpless. It never got easier as the years went on. Ruby just couldn't watch Yang truly cry over anything. It happened so rarely, Ruby doubted many knew that Yang was even capable of tears.

Out of sight, out of mind, it was the easiest way to deal with the concept of death.

Summer's death, and the loss she represented had never fully healed. When she passed away, the family was no longer whole. The emotional scabs still hurt. They had a way of bleeding when Ruby least expected them to. Some days were easier than others, but the occasional memory could slice through whatever wall Ruby had carefully built up.

Shedding a few tears came natural at this point. There had been a time, not long ago, that Ruby had been different.

Somehow, in her teens, Ruby had convinced herself that she was too old cry like a child anymore. That silencing herself was the adult's way to handle things. For a small handful of years, she even believed it. That pretending everything was alright was the right way. That grief itself came at the bottom of a bottle, and a long list of regrets too numerous to name.

It was only as an adult that Ruby learned the truth. That denying grief, and medicating it with liquor caused damage too. More so, than crying like a child possibly could.

What Yang was doing wasn't healing…

It was just hurting, with no hope for catharsis, only denial.

"Move over." Ruby said, when it became to be too much to bear.

"Hmm?"

"See, you're doing that thing where you're pretending not to cry again…" Ruby said in way of an explanation as she nudged her way into her sister's sleeping bag. "You've always kind of sucked at doing that, and I kind of wish you didn't." She didn't know if honesty was too cruel or not. Yet, she didn't want to lie.

There had been too many of those throughout the years, so many of them hurtful.

Worming her way into her sister's sleeping bag and wrapping her arms around her seemed like the only solution. At least, if nothing else, Yang would have a shoulder to cry on.

"What are you doing, Ruby?" Yang asked with a voice that could hardly be called steady. Feeling warm lips pressing atop her forehead.

"Just doing for you what you did for me…" It wasn't enough. It wouldn't ever be. Ruby knew that.

"You don't have to worry about me, Ruby. I'm not a little kid like you were."

"It doesn't make it any easier, Yang." Ruby doubted it ever would.

The sisters came home the next day before noon. They said nothing as they got cleaned off and tossed their mission clothes in the washer. They put away their tools and unused equipment with small one word questions and answers. Empty small talk became a thick smokescreen.

Weiss and Blake quickly noticed.

"I can't shake the feeling like I screwed up somehow." Yang said after finally finding the words that had gotten stuck in her throat hours after returning home. "It's like, I left something important behind. I just don't know what…"

"Probably too many things to name, I'd bet. You just came back from burying a whole village. I don't think you could have gone through all of that unscathed…" Blake told her, placing her book aside as she looked over to her roommate. "Whatever you think left behind, it probably belongs there to stay."

"Maybe…"

The way Yang just laid there, staring up at the ceiling was unsettling.

"Just let it go, Yang." Blake told her, hearing an annoyed huff out of the blonde for her trouble. "I'm not trying to be insensitive, but, you don't even know her. At this point, you never will. There's no point to get stuck in your own head like this." Blake felt her ears tilt back, she couldn't do anything to stop it even if she wanted to. "She's not worth it, Yang…"

"My whole life…" Yang said, sitting up and gazing at Blake, her eyes turning crimson. "My whole damn life, I've been trying to form some sort of bond with her, and you tell me she's not worth it?"

"She never was…"

"Yeah, if only it were that easy."

"I'm not saying that it's easy." Blake told her. "I'm saying that you deserve better than feeling like this. She owes you a lifetime of questions, and she refused to let you have any of them. You don't owe her anything, Yang, do you understand me?"

"She was still my mom."

"Oh, bullshit." Blake shook her head, standing up and crossing the room. "That's bullshit, Yang. Look at me." She said, keeling down in front of the blond. "I need you to understand something. Your mom died years ago when you were just a child. Raven wasn't your mother. She was never even close to that. In my eyes, she was a willing egg donor at best, and an abuser at worst."

"You don't know that."

"She didn't give a damn enough to prove me wrong, either." Blake shot back. "Raven abused the hell out of you. It was just in her actions, not her fist…"

"We don't know what happened, not really."

"That doesn't matter." Blake growled quietly, teeth bared. "The damage is done either way." A hard breath and a curse later, the woman kneeling one floor deflated entirely. "You suffered needlessly because of her actions, and she knew it…" She couldn't bring herself to even look Yang in the eyes. Her own, starring daggers into the floor. "That's what abuse is. She could have ended that cycle at any time, but she refused to do that…"

Yang said nothing, and it was at that moment Blake knew letting the sisters go alone had been a mistake.

There was nothing she could do. Yang would have to come to terms with everything on her own.

She licked her lips and pushed herself up from the floor. "To diminish what she did to you would be unforgiveable too. You're worth more than this. You, Ruby, even Ace. You're all worth more than the way you feel right now. Learn to let this go, Yang. For your own good…"