[X] She needed to do something. She didn't care what, she just needed to go out, search the city, see a chance to be helpful and take it.
[X] Taiyang

Standing on the rooftop and looking down, the Hunter waited, and watched.

Melanie was walking down the street, her barely conscious sister being carried on her back. Miltia struggled faintly, but wasn't able to struggle free of Melanie's casual grasp.

Taiyang had known that Miltia would be outmatched. She had said she and her sister were roughly equal before Five's enhancements, and the demonstration from Melanie's fight with Yang betrayed a much higher level of strength than Miltia knew to match, but there had been the vague hope that Melanie would go easy on her sister.

It looks like Five's song was even able to overcome familial bonds.

What must Miltia have felt, when her sister was attacking her, violently enough to hurt her that bad? It was hard to tell from the distance, but Taiyang doubted that trail of blood being left behind was from Melanie.

Torchwick better be telling the truth about Ruby being immune to the song. If he was lying, if Ruby was effected in any way...

Taiyang didn't want to finish that thought. The last time he had let himself mope, it had taken the news that Yang and Ruby were almost attacked by Grimm to get him to break out of his stupor. It was a terrible feeling, and people were relying on him too much. Ruby needed him. If Yang had gotten into any trouble, she would need him. Right now, Miltia needed him too. There was too many problems in the present for him to dwell on the past or worry about the future.

He'd have to take this one step at a time.

Seeing a figure down the street approaching Melanie, Taiyang dropped, laying down on the rooftop to conceal himself from any watcher as he looked over the edge of the roof to observe Melanie and the one coming.

Cent and Two were somewhere on the other side of the street, in a building, but Taiyang didn't know where. As long as they kept hidden until Five arrived, they would be fine.

Melanie stopped in the street, as another explosion sound resounded in the distance. Taiyang turned back to see a beam of light being shot upwards, as one of Two's summoned creatures attacked.

He didn't appreciate the thought that those things were so close to him. He'd fought Five's crab monster for a while, just distracting it, and it had been hellish enough. Even if Two was an ally, the Angels were destroying the city as a side-effect of their battle. Being in the vicinity of the fight was probably bad for your health.

The figure down the street ran closer and closer, and their features became more and more visible. Taiyang recognised their features from the video feed of Ruby disappearing. Definitely Five. She was carrying around the boy who had also been around, though he was unconscious.

"Five?" Melanie asked.

"Ah, Melanie." The woman replied, slowing down her approach as she came to. "Good to see you well. I see you won your fight."

"Of course, my lady." Melanie replied. Five drew closer, coming just in front of Melanie, and put a hand on her cheek.

"That's my girl." Five smiled. Then, with a smile, she started singing.

Taiyang covered his ears, just to be safe, and Miltia struggled and tried to pull away. Melanie stumbled forward, and Five caught her as she fell. Even with his ears blocks, Taiyang could vaguely hear a sound, as muffled as it was. As the sound faded, though, he pulled his hands away and kept trying to listen in on the conversation.

"This hasn't been the most successful excursion." Five admitted, as she pulled Melanie up to her feet again. "But at least I have you, and your sister now. I haven't had a chance to enjoy twins before, so perhaps I'll have some fun tonight."

Okay, yeah, putting an end to that right now.

Popping a crystal of fire-aligned dust into his gauntlet, Taiyang vaulted down off the building and pushed off the side of the building, landing in front of Five and Melanie a moment later.

Five blinked at the sudden appearance, then chuckled. She moved the unconscious boy on her back and gave him to Melanie, who struggled under the weight of the now two people she was carrying before she just resorted to dropping him on the ground.

"Be careful with him, Melanie dear." Five requested.

"Are you done?" Taiyang asked. "I'd like to have a discussion with you, regarding my daughter."

Five looked back at Taiyang, looking at his hair before anything else. "Oh, you're Yang's father. Which also makes you Ruby's parent."

"Oh good, we don't need introductions." Taiyang noted. "So, I don't suppose you're willing to surrender?"

Where were Two and Cent? Shouldn't they be getting ready to fight by now, just in case?

"Surrender..." Five mused. "Hm, no. Handcuffs are fun, but I prefer to be the one tying people up. I suppose if you were good enough-"

"Stop that." Taiyang cut in.

"Oh, denying me the pleasure?" Five asked. "Denial play is-"

"This is going nowhere." Taiyang interrupted, an edge to his voice. "Stop playing around. Where is my daughter?"

Five chuckled. "Why should I tell you?"

So much for diplomacy. Pressing a button on his gauntlet, Taiyang raised it into view to allow all present to get a good look at his palm as the crystal popped out of it.

"Reason number one."

The crystal detonated, and the explosion ripped outwards for a moment. The flames that spread towards Taiyang froze against his Aura before being repelled off, hitting Five a second after the first half of the explosion hit her. She and Melanie were forced back, and in the half second they were cowering, Taiyang rushed in, grabbed Miltia, and pulled her away.

"You alright?" He asked the younger girl. With a closer look at her, Taiyang was able to note her injuries. Her leg was bleeding heavily, the back of her dress was torn with a cut underneath it, and her eye was bruised and swollen.

He might not have known Miltia, but seeing a girl so close to his daughters age hurt still didn't feel right.

"...Mel..." She wheezed out, before coughing. Taiyang put her down, resting her against a wall, and turned back to Five and Melanie.

"Don't worry." Taiyang assured Miltia. "I won't hurt her too bad."

Melanie stepped forward, but Five put a hand out to block her.

"Let me." Five interrupted. "I want to have some fun."

Taiyang reached into his belt, and pulled out another two crystal.

This was a trick Raven had taught him, way back when. Both of the crystals had that red shine of fire, but only one of them was explosive through and through. The other was just a thin layer of fire dust, hiding a wind crystal underneath it.

Throwing the fire crystal at Five, Taiyang loaded the second crystal into his gauntlet while Five stepped into the path of the crystal, allowing Melanie to grab the unconscious boy and pulling him away out of the way of the fight. As the explosion faded away, Taiyang ran forward, punching into Five and pressing a button on the palm of his gauntlet. The crystal in his gauntlet detonated, a burst of wind pushing in every direction. Once again, Taiyang's Aura deflected the burst he had created, forcing the wind away from him in time with his fist.

Five, bracing herself for an explosion and instead getting a burst of wind, was too surprised to react to Taiyang's fist, knocking her off balance. He kept up the pressure as much as he could, not able to take time to reload his gauntlets with another special crystal, and he managed to hit her twice more before Five recovered enough to catch his fist.

"Clever boy." She moaned. "But surely you didn't think you could take me alo-"

There was a suddenly melodic shout from the rooftops, and Five pushed Taiyang away while moving back as Two came down. Cent's sword in her hand, Two hit the ground and cratered the ground where she landed.

"Sorry I'm late." Two panted. "Took a wrong turn after we split up, and Cent insisted I take his sword even though I'm better than him unarmed so we missed another turn while talking about it and-"

Melanie leaped in, slicing at Two, and the Intoner caught the bladed heel, slammed her into the ground, and threw her away. She grunted as she hit the ground and rolled, eventually stopping when she ran into Cent.

"Hello." The man in black grinned. "I don't suppose-"

Melanie swiped at his throat, and Cent ducked back to dodge it.

Taiyang turned his attention back to the more important threat just as Five attacked her sister, slamming a fist into her sisters face. Two didn't react, and swung the sword in return. Five blocked it with her arm, gritting his teeth, and Taiyang circled around the battle, as Two pushed the attack.

Most of the advantages were with the blue-haired woman. She had a weapon, and she seemed the stronger of the two. The one thing against her was that she was the more restrained of the two, but turning the tables was easy enough when it was two on one.

Once he was behind Five, Taiyang lunged, grabbing Fives arm, pulling it back to pin to her arm, and activated the crystals in his gauntlets. Ice spread from his fingerprints, freezing her arm to her back. Two crystals worth of ice wasn't anything to laugh at, even if Five was strong enough to break it.

Taiyang would just need to end the fight before she had time.

Five's other arm reached around, for Taiyang's throat, but before she could reach she had to duck Two's blade, and the blonde sister moved her hand up to try and tear the weapon away from the blue-haired ones.

Taiyang grabbed Five's leg and pulled it out from under her, and Two took the opportunity to slam her sister into the ground. Taking the chance while she was down, Taiyang twisted Five's leg to hold her in place. It wasn't a hold impossible to break, but it'd be painful, and likely drain her Aura a bunch if she didn't want to tear a muscle.

Two put a sword at Five's throat. "Stop, Five. Please. You've lost."

"Like hell I-"

Putting the side of her sword on Five's throat, Two pressured.

"I'm sorry." She said, as she cut of Five's circulation. "But you're an Intoner. This won't hurt you. You'll be fine. But... Please, just give up. I don't want to do this.

Five glared upwards, and finally pulled her arm free from Taiyang's ice. Her arm reached for Two's, and Taiyang pulled at her leg. Five screamed in pain, and Two winced visibly.

"Please, Five-" Two tried to ask, but Five tried to reach for her again, causing Taiyang to continue putting pressure on her.

He needed to keep her distracted if he wanted it to end now. This had gone on long enough. If she wasn't going to give up, then she was still an enemy. And Two was saying she was tough anyway, so it should be fine.

Five gasped as she reached for Two one last time, and Taiyang felt her Aura fail as Two pushed in further. A few more moments passed, and with a shuddering whine, Five stopped moving.

Taiyang let go of Five, and put a hand on her back to check her vitals as Two pulled her sword away. There was a heartbeat, and her breathing restarted a moment after Two moved away.

"...It's over." Two said, looking down at her sister.

"Not quiet." Taiyang replied, looking over at where Melanie and Cent were fighting. Cent was on the defensive, dodging her kicks, but was otherwise untouched.

Melanie looked over, and saw Five on the ground, and screamed. She rushed towards Taiyang and Two, but Two stepped forward, caught her leg, and sand.

Melanie's eyes glazed over, and a smile was brought to her lips for a moment, before Two stopped and Melanie shook her head. "You-"

"-Have to stop." Two interrupted. "That's what you want, right? The song? Five can't give it to you. I can. You don't need to fight."

Melanie looked at Two. "I..."

Two sang again, and Melanie fell to her knees.

"It's over, okay?" Two asked. "It's over. Just stop, and I'll give you more. Just let it end."

Melanie looked up at her, torn. "I want..."

"Shhh." Two interrupted, putting a finger on Melanie's lips. "It's over. I'll take care of you. It's fine."

Melanie shook for a moment, but eventually nodded.

"That's a good girl." Two said, her voice stuttering for a moment. "It's over. It's fine."

Taiyang breathed out. "Now we find the others."

Two nodded, then looked over into the distance.

"Phanuel's gone." She noted. "Five and Dito are both down, so that must have cut it off?"

Taiyang had to admit, he hadn't noticed. He'd been too focused on stopping Five that he stopped listening to anything unimportant to the fight.

"Well, it's a good thing we don't have to pay the property damage bill." He tried to joke.

Two didn't respond, too walking over to Five and picking her up.

"Let's go get your daughter, then." Cent spoke up. "Finish up here. We just need to find the airship."

"Did you see where it landed?" Taiyang asked.

Before Cent could answer, there was a shattering, and Neo appeared, looking surprised. Quickly pulling out her scroll, Neo started typing. A moment later, Taiyang pulled out his scroll, to read the message.

I missed the fun part? Aw. Can I at least stab Five a few times to make myself feel better?

"You do realise scrolls have a text to speech feature, right?" Taiyang asked.

Where's the fun in that?

"Fair point." Taiyang conceded. "Now, where's my daughters?"

Oh, we found them. Uh, I'll let Roman tell you what happened. I wasn't watching and left before I could see how everyone was so I didn't have to give answers.

Stepping onto the airship, Miltia on his back and Five's Disciple, Dito, in his arms, Taiyang put the two down as soon as he could and rushed for the medical bay. Neo had said they were there on the way back, and even if she wouldn't say how hurt they were, he had to check.

Bursting in, passing the sliding door as he did so, Taiyang froze when he saw Yang. There were so many machines hooked up to her that even if he couldn't see the wounds past them all, he knew it was bad.

"...What-"

"Hey." Qrow spoke up, and Taiyang turned to him. He was on a bed in the corner, his arm in another machine.

"What happened?" Taiyang demanded.

"I messed up." Qrow admitted. "Got caught. Yang saved my ass when she got here, but that Dito kid beat her too. She's fine, though. She'll make it. Her Aura started up again now long ago, it'll heal the worst of it. It's been long enough that it won't fix everything, but she'll just need a few months to heal up properly and it'll be fine."

Taiyang shook, as he looked at Qrow. "How are you?" He demanded.

Qrow looked down at his arm.

"...I don't think I'll be keeping this." He admitted. "Fucker put a bomb in it and blew it up. Well after the fight, too. He just wanted to show Ruby what happens when he's in a bad mood."

He tried to keep his tone casual, but the last words were spat out as a curse.

Taiyang closed his eyes. Yang was in a terrible state and Qrow was losing an arm, but Ruby wasn't in here, so she had to be fine, right?

"Where's Ruby?" He asked.

Qrow didn't answer.

Taiyang looked up at him again, trying to not be angry.

"Qrow..." He forced out. "Tell me she's fine."

"She was moping." A voice behind Taiyang said, and he turned to face Roman Torchwick in his own bed. "So she decided she needed to help somehow, and went for a walk."

"What?" Taiyang demanded, turning to the door. "She's still out there? Why would you let her leave?"

Qrow didn't answer, and Roman laid back down, so Taiyang swore and stormed towards the door.

"If anything's happened to her..." He muttered under his breath, as he passed by Two carrying everyone to the infirmary.

As he reached the door to the airship and started down, however, he saw movement in the distance. Two distinct figures, one small, and one round.

"Ruby!" Taiyang called, rushing to the scene. He sprinted towards her, reaching her side as fast as he could. As he approached, he confirmed that the man with his daughter was Port, carrying two unconscious teenagers on his back.

Taiyang knelt down and threw his arms around Ruby, hugging her close to him.

"I'm so sorry." He choked out. "I should have found you faster, I shouldn't have let you be taken in the process, I-"

"Breath..." Ruby wheezed, and Taiyang let go of her as he realised how tight he was holding her.

"What are you doing?" He asked. "You've been kidnapped for far too long, and then you run out to help? You don't need to help, you should be resting-"

"Taiyang." Peter Port spoke up, drawing his attention. "Perhaps I shouldn't speak, but your daughter did well, coming to my aid when she did. I admit, I was in a bit of a predicament. There was two great beasts engaging in combat, and they'd managed to force me into a corner. I had to keep shielding my students here, and by the time I got away, I was out of Aura. With the Grimm that were near the site of the battle, I had resigned myself to camping it out and waiting until I recovered to escape, which could have kept me out there for another day."

Taiyang looked at him. "You mean..."

"If your little girl didn't arrive when she did, I could have been stuck out there for a while more." Peter confirmed. "I assume that you wouldn't want to leave your injured in a airship infirmary when you could return to a hospital, so there was a chance I could have been left behind all together."

Ruby smiled, faintly. "You're all out here because of me anyway." She said. "I didn't want anyone else being hurt because of me. Not after Uncle Qrow and Yang..."

She trailed off, her breath hitching and tears pooling in her eyes. Immediately, Taiyang pulled her into a hug, less restraining than before, and whispered reassurances in her ear.

"It's fine, it's fine." He said. "Everthing's alright. We're going home, Yang will be fine, and I won't let anything happen to you ever again."

He'd made that promise a thousand times. He failed it almost every time. He'd lost people and almost lost people so often, that to anyone else, that promise would become meaningless.

But in that moment, the conviction in Taiyang's heart was unbreaking. The promise had been broken a thousand times before. This time, he swore, would be the last.

With Five defeated, this particular incident is almost resolved. There's only one more event of importance to record before we record Pyrrha's story, and it shouldn't take long to reach it. But before we do cover it, Yang has to awaken. But who is at her side when she does wake up?

[X] Ruby
[X] Taiyang
[X] Qrow
[X] Two
[X] Miltia
[X] Nobody? She's alone when she awakens? Man, that sounds like it'll be depressing. Can't things be a bit happier for a bit?