[X] Qrow offered to distract her by teaching her the start of a dangerous trick that he was going to save until she graduated from Beacon.
Yang was the first off the airship when it landed, leaving without even saying goodbye to anyone. She'd be able to talk to them later, and she had more important things on her mind at that moment.
Maybe people would think she was rude because of it, but at that moment, Yang was beyond caring. Her mind was in overdrive, repeating what Qrow had told her over and over again. Ruby was missing, the person most likely responsible didn't seem to exist as far as any authorities knew, and nobody knew what was happening.
It was a good thing she came back to the Kingdoms when she did, if she learnt of this whole thing when she got a message that took a few days to arrive and wasn't anywhere near Vale at the time, she'd probably do something dumb like try to run back on her own. At least now, she was here so she could see there was nothing she could do.
Actually, maybe that would have been better, trying to return to Vale would have at least given her something to do to feel like she was working on fixing the problem.
Damn it, why was it so hard to not feel useless? She thought she'd gotten used to it after several years of not being able to track down her mother, but apparently not.
"Yang?"
The girl turned to Qrow when he spoke, suddenly realising that she'd gone into autopilot enough to have completely forgotten he was even there.
"Look, I'm not the best with the who consoling people thing." Qrow continued. "But, well, I know you feel bad. But try to think about something else, if you can. If you give it some time without moping, you might be able to keep a clearer head regarding the issue, not feel like shit as much."
Usually, Yang would've made a joke about how her father would kill her uncle for using language like that around her. But at the moment, she was too occupied with her moping.
"I know that sounds hard." Qrow began. "Especially since your father would actually murder you if I went for my usual solution of getting sad people drunk. Not to mention I have no idea if you're a sad drunk or an angry drunk, the former of which would be bad for you and the latter bad for... Well, everyone. But I do have another idea."
"Punching things?" Yang suggested.
"...That can be the Plan B." Qrow noted. "Anything that sounds like one of Raven's ideas is always Plan B at best. Nah, I'm talking about something that might be constructive, later."
"What is it?" Yang asked.
"I can't just tell you that." Qrow replied. "It's traditional that anyone learning this little trick has to deal with an annoying mentor who doesn't bother explaining anything. That, and I'd like the be able to keep you guessing on it for a bit."
"This sounds very unappealing."
"I dunno." Qrow replied. "The teacher in the pair always seems to enjoy it."
Yang looked at him for a moment, a small smile on her face. "This is just you looking for an excuse to make me do nonsense for a while, isn't it? I'm going to have to chase chickens for a while or something."
"No, no." Qrow dismissed. "I've been told that my teacher was full of it when she said it was an important step, and then laughed at for believing her in the first place."
"You sound kinda bitter about this." Yang noted.
"I may have been looking forward to this for a long time." Qrow admitted. "I was saving it until you got through Beacon for various reasons, but with the, uh, current situation..."
Yang's smile faded. Qrow's banter had distracted her, but then he slipped up and mentioned what she was being distracted from again.
"Alright." Qrow clapped before Yang could return to her moping properly. "Let's get you home. Your father will be out for a bit, so we have time before he comes home and yells at me for starting early."
"Why would he be yelling?" Yang asked. "Is this something dangerous?"
"Not really." Qrow replied. "It's just that messing up the learning is... Well, let me put it like this. You know how you can use your Aura to start burning up?"
"Yes?" Yang replied, not entirely sure where this was going.
"How much do you value the ability to not be on fire?"
Yang paused. "I... Suppose it would suck. Like, are we talking constantly burning a little and heating people up when I touch them, or setting things on fire when I'm too close?"
"The former on a good day, the latter when you get angry."
Yang winced. "Ah. Yeah, that'd be pretty bad."
Qrow nodded. "Exactly. Now, once you get past a certain point, if you're not exactly sure what you're doing, you can mess up just a little and suddenly need to live in a fire extinguisher. I, uh, won't be helping you get that far. I'm just going to establish the basics of what you need to do first."
"Can I at least get a hint at what I'm learning here?" Yang asked.
"It's a nice utility thing." Qrow dismissed. "Like, you asked how I got to the airship when it was in the air?"
"Huh." Yang replied. "Well, I'm totally not gonna look up obscure transportation skills anyone can lear-"
"Go ahead, you won't find anything." Qrow replied. "It's a family secret. Nobody outside of it's ever been able to figure it out."
"Drat." Yang noted.
"I know, I guess you'll just have to give it your full attention until you figure it out the hard way, won't you?"
Yang smiled. "Alright then, old man. How do I start?"
Qrow looked around. "Well, it's about five minutes until we get home. Let's take a detour, go find a good place with lots of trees. Being out in nature works best for this."
Yang nodded. "Alright then, lead the way."
Qrow walked away, going off the path. Yang took a moment to look around, noting that they'd gotten close to the house in the walk. She'd been too distracted to note where they were walking. Which was nice because, well-
And the distraction had failed again.
Sighing to herself and doing her best to concentrate on what Qrow had said over the fact that Ruby was gone and she was useless to stop it she couldn't do anything how is she supposed to keep Ruby safe if she couldn't even-
Don't think about it.
Picking up the pace as she followed her uncle, Yang decided to focus more on the situation at ha-
...Where did Qrow go?
Looking around, Yang frowned as she noticed that there was a lot more trees behind her than she has passed. She should be, like, a few metres from the path. Why was there desert around her as far as you can see.
"Uncle Qrow?" Yang called. "Um, the path's not where I left it!"
There was a cawing sound, and Yang noticed a black bird of some kind sitting in a tree above her.
Yang tilted her head as she looked at it, and the bird mimicked her movements.
"Is that a crow or a raven..." Yang wondered momentarily, before hearing another cawing sound behind her. Turning, she saw another black bird sitting on the tree, glaring daggers at the first. They were different in appearance, slightly, enough to make Yang think there was definitely one crow and one raven amongst them.
"Okay..." Yang muttered. "Uncle Qrow, where are y-"
Two more loud caws resounded, and the two birds flew at one another, talons extended and beaks snapping at each other's throats. In a flurry of black feathers, they fought for a time, and Yang promptly decided this was none of her business.
Pacing away from the birds, Yang went in the direction she thought she had seen Qrow in last. He still needed to explain what the hell was happening. Why the walkway was gone and why the trees seemed to be identical.
Was this some kind of trick? An optical illusion, a trick of the eyes?
...Was this going to be some trippy symbolic thing? A journey of self discovery that was all in her head or something like that?
Yang looked around briefly, and saw a clearing in the trees, with a red rose and silver coin in the middle.
Yep, this was all symbolism.
"So none of this is actually happening, is it?" Yang asked.
There was the sound of clicking fingers, and suddenly Yang was looking at her uncle's hand.
"You're no fun." He complained. "I didn't even get to the confusing bits."
"Um." Yang began, articulating her point clearly and thoroughly.
"I assume you want an explanation?" Qrow asked. "Well, you passed the first test. The fact that you were able to look beyond the face value of things means you have the potential at least."
"Does that mean I get to figure out what any of that was?"
"Family secret." Qrow replied. "I'll tell you more later, but most families of established Hunters and Aura users usually have a pattern to their abilities. All the Schnee have summonings, but most others have less strong stuff. The Branwen family has had abilities relating to being in touch of nature for a while."
Yang nodded. "I think I get it so far."
"Well, basically what that was, was creating a feedback with your soul. Basically, it was a dream, but it only worked because the trees and animals here are ones you've been around for a while. Basically, your Aura's learned to recognise them to a degree, so it was able to use them to start showing you a reflection of your soul."
"So, my soul is a forest with a crow fighting a raven and a rose and a silver coin lying around."
"Well, the only actually important thing was the rose and coin." Qrow replied. "But before I can explain anymore, I have to ask. Do you remember what colour the sky was?"
"...Blue."
Qrow shook his head. "Never mind, we're getting ahead of ourselves.
"I have no idea what's going on anymore." Yang said.
"I know." Qrow replied. "It's great."
"Screw you, old man." Yang huffed. She took a step away, then stumbled.
When did she get so tired?
"How long have we been out here?" She asked.
"Two hours." Qrow replied. "Magic stuff tends to be like that, though."
Yang blinked. "Magic?"
Qrow's eyes widened. "Uh... No, I said Mad Tricks. Not magic."
Yang looked at him.
"...Not buying it?"
"What does magic even mean in this context?" Yang asked, ignoring his point completely.
"Well, we're getting ahead of ourselves again." Qrow sighed. "That answer's something that'll take way too long to explain. For now, just forget about it."
Yang gave him another look, which was ruined by a yawn.
"...Fine." She muttered. "But you're going to have to explain everything to me one day."
"Yang, please, half the fun of this is going to be seeing you react to some of these surprises, why should I tell you anything that would give you a clue as to how anything works or why?"
"Hate you so much." Yang replied, with another yawn.
"I know." Qrow replied. "Now come on, it's well past your bed time and if you sleep before your father gets home I can pretend to be a responsible adult for a few hours before you can disprove my story."
Yang didn't remember much after that. She didn't remember walking all the way home or going to her bed. In fact, it wasn't until she realised she was dreaming that it occurred to her that she must have gotten home and fallen asleep. Or maybe she fell asleep and Uncle Qrow was carrying her.
Still, she really wished she was dreaming of anything else. Because she'd had this dream before. Walking through the woods, pulling a cart behind her, hearing and seeing the sinister signs around her but unable to force herself to react in them in any way.
Closing her eyes and trying not to imagine what was happening too much, Yang let the dream continue on to be a familiar nightmare. She'd get to the destination, be attacked by Grimm, and depending on her mental state, either just relive the memory of her uncle saving her, or watch the nightmare continue the logical path of what would had happened without his interference.
Given what was going on in the waking world, she was hoping she woke up sometime soon.
It's still several weeks before Yang is supposed to be back at school. She had plenty of free time until then, but until she found Ruby, she wouldn't be doing anything else with it. What does Yang do first to try and look?
[X] There's a club nearby that was less than legal, but not provably illegal in activity. See if anyone there would have any relevant information.
[X] Uncle Qrow had friends with resources, and might have information that could help. Visit them with him, see what they had.
[X] Dust shop robberies had been on the rise recently. If she hung out at one at night, she might be able to catch some crooks and interrogate them.
[X] Her father had reported Ruby missing, but spreading the word a bit might lead to someone coming in with information