[X] A plea, begging Yang to help her, to escape, to get everyone out of this situation before it got any worse.

Human beings react to grief in a variety of different ways, and repeated trials of the emotion tended to provoke what was at the core of a person before long. Some people grew numb. Some responded to emotional trauma by lashing out at everything around them. Some simply ran away until they stopped hurting. Others let the tunnel vision seek in and focused so much on one goal that they could endure the pain.

When Yang was the broken gates to the Schnee estate, she felt her blood boil and chill at once. When the rest of the Schnee manor came into view, that paradoxical feeling of fury and fear was pumping through her veins harder than ever.

As the taxi slowed, Yang's gaze turned around, and she set sight on the broken bodies on the front yard of the Schnee mansion.

By the time she realised she was moving, she was out of the vehicle and rushing towards the people laying on the ground. Her nails were driven into her palm enough that Yang had no doubt that she would be bleeding if it wasn't for her Aura, and her fist only tightened from there, as she stepped forward to recognise the bloodied bodies before her.

Ren was trying to push himself up, as he looked towards the Schnee manor. His usual green clothes had been died red, and was torn in so many places. He looked back for a moment to acknowledge Yang, before turning to the ground again.

Peri was trying to claw her way towards Yang with just her left arm, and Yang noted momentarily that she wasn't moving her right arm or legs. As she took a moment to look her classmate over. The positioning of her legs weren't natural, her bones shouldn't let them bend that way.

"What happened?" Yang demanded, as she stormed towards the two. At the back of her mind, she noticed that Ren wasn't moving, but Peri was dragging herself over glass to get closer. Yang shifted direction, and kneeled in front of Peri so that she knew to stop moving. "What's going on?"

"Y... Ang..." Peri wheezed out, as her eyes started to tear up. "R... Run..."

She coughed, a sickening sound, and when her jerking movements shifted her right arm, she screamed in pain.

"Don't move." Yang replied, trying to sound reassuring. The tint of rage in her voice ruined any attempt towards that, but Peri didn't seem to be focusing too much on what Yang was saying.

"H-Hurts..." She whimpered. "Pl- Puh... Don... Hel... p..."

She was barely getting the words out, Yang realised.

Turning back towards the taxi, Yang glared at Em and the driver, who had barely stepped out of the vehicle.

"What the hell is taking you so long?" She demanded, her tone fiery. "Help them!"

Em rushed forward, even as the taxi driver looked around in some combination of terror and awe. She reached Yang and Periwinkle after a moment, and as she did so, Yang reached for Peri's waste, pulling the girl up without touching her legs or broken arm.

Yang didn't bother trying to reassure her this time. She could barely focus on just being gentle with her, with how angry she was feeling right now. Em quickly moved to support Yang, holding Peri up, and the two of them carried her towards the taxi.

The girl had stopped moving at some point, and even if Yang could hear her soft breathing, she could also notice the difference. Peri was barely conscious, probably about to fall out. What the hell had happened to her?

"Friend of yours?" Em asked softly, as she helped Yang put Peri in the back seat of the taxi.

"...Kind of." Yand admitted. "We don't really hang out much, but we're classmates. We're in a study group together. She's helped me out with assignments from time to time."

"...I see." Em noted. "Does it hurt? Seeing people you know like this?"

"...Less than it should." Yang admitted, under her breath. "I... I'm angry. I want to hurt people for this. And I want to get my sister away from here. But I should be sadder than I am, probably."

Noticing the melancholic note to her self reflection, Yang shook her head.

"Something to consider later. I need to save my sister."

Perwinkle moaned in the back seat of the taxi, trying to spit out words, but she couldn't quiet manage it. The pain had become too much for her, apparently.

Turning away, Yang walked away from the taxi, and called out to the driver.

"Get them somewhere safe." Yang demanded, her tone rough. "Find someone who can look after them better, got it?"

"I-"

The driver looked towards the bloody body in the back of the taxi, and gulped.

"I'll... Okay."

They nodded for a moment, distracted, but it was good enough for Yang. Rushing over to Ren, Yang took a moment to look him over, and tried to find somewhere to pick him up without touching any of his wounds.

"Are you okay?" She asked, as she hooked one of Ren's arms around her shoulder.

"...Nora..." Ren muttered to himself, as he kept his gaze on the building.

Yang's heart sank. Nora. Damn it, Yang knew Ren and Nora were close. If Ren was as bloodied and beaten as this, where the hell was Nora?

"What happened?" Yang asked, a hint of desperation in her voice. Nora had to be fine, right? "Is she okay?"

"...Fighting..." Ren wheezed out. "Lured... away..."

"Something lured her away?"

Ren shook his head at Yang's attempt to get further clarity, and it didn't take a genius to get what he meant.

"She was luring something away, then?" Yang asked. Ren nodded, and looked towards the building.

So that's how it was. The fight started out here, someone attacks Ren, Nora and Peri, and Nora makes herself into a distraction once she sees how badly hurt the other two were.

Considering the state of the building, if there was a fight still going on, it'd definitely be in there. So Nora was inside somewhere, maybe fighting, maybe in a similar state to Ren. If not worse.

Not to mention whoever else was in there. Yang didn't know everyone who was there at that time, but at the very least, Ruby was in there, with her friend Penny. People who could be in danger right now, or worse.

Feeling her arm shaking in anger, Yang looked towards Em, and gestured her over.

"Hey." Yang asked. "Help Ren into the taxi."

"What about you?" Em asked, as she slipped under Yang and took Ren's weight.

"I'm going to find my sister." Yang decided.

She couldn't afford to get angry, to get too ambitious here. Ruby was in danger. Save her. Figure things out from there. That was all there was to it.

Slipping away from Ren and Em, Yang set off into a run, rushing through the hole in the mansion where the entryway had been. She vaguely heard a cry from behind her, but she pushed it out of her mind.

She was feeling it now, that usual response. Anger, an immense focus on a goal, a drive to do better. She had to be better than that, she knew. She couldn't afford to let that focus turn into obsession, and hurt people like she had back in Vale, when she had to be knocked out for her own safety.

But right now?

With the mental image of Peri and Ren being unable to move on their own power? The idea that whoever was responsible could be inside the building right now, giving Nora a similar treatment? The thought that Ruby was nearby, and certainly heroic enough to try and stop an attacker even at the risk to her own life?

The idea that Ruby could be the next mangled body she comes across?

Fuck worrying about obsession now, of all times. Even if what happened so far hadn't, this was the kind of situation where it didn't matter how obsessed she came across as.

She had tried to tone down the pursuit of strength to make sure Ruby stayed happy, but that was during peaceful days. This wasn't peace, by a long shot.

An orphanage in a spare Schnee manor burns to the ground, with a White Fang member being at the centre of it. A stranger goes on a rampage on a highway, destroying several cars and killing without any rhyme or reason. Something attacked the prime Schnee estate, blasted their way through the gate and front door, nearly killed Ren and Peri and was in the process of keeping that streak up with Nora.

This wasn't peace. This wasn't even random crime and aggression. This was calculated. This was organised. Someone had it in for the Schnee Dust Corporation, or maybe even the Schnee family itself. Bad enough to burn down an orphanage for it.

What was the plan, for these people? The orphanage fire was keeping Two occupied, the highway blaze was a noteworthy distraction, and apparently there had been something that had taken out a military base. Was it the people who had taken down Peri and Ren, like that?

And then there was whatever that roar was. The roar which echoed out every few minutes, which kept echoing in Yang's head. That was definitely something.

There was too much happening here. Someone had a goal in mind, and had enough friends to serve as distractions. It couldn't have been to kill a Schnee, Weiss was still out with One and Winter wasn't suffering from the brunt of the attack.

Was it the Intoners, then? Three?

No matter. Yang didn't need to know the whys of anything. She just needed to save Ruby, and if she came across any more attacks, she'd make them pay.

Her Aura flared as her eyes burned red, the heat licking at the back of her neck, burning hotter and more and more unbearable.

Then the woman in red moved her other hand, and the fires stopped as she stabbed Taiyang in the stomach.

Yang's breath hitched, and she suddenly collapsed, huddling her knees as she started taking deep breaths, before the breath caught in her throat, and Yang saw her father tear up slightly as she tried to reassure him. Slowly, gently, he shook his head.

She screamed, as her fist shot sideways, striking into the wall. Already weakened from whatever had left it so charred, it crumbled under the force of her blow.

...Was that how it was, then? She was going to end up that fucked up by the end of things? Even now, even with Ruby's life possibly on the line, she couldn't even use her Aura without the heat breaking her?

Fine. Fuck it. No more fire Aura then. Ruby needed her, and if it was getting in her way, then she didn't need it that badly. If she found any attackers, she'd just have to punch the shit out of them.

Taking a moment to observe the building around her, Yang took a moment to try and determine where, exactly, she was. She had been running in without paying much attention for a bit, and...

Well, she barely knew her way around the old area, let alone this new one. But if she was the architect of extremely expensive mansions that had everything under the sun included in them, where would she put the weapons rooms?

...Fuck. She didn't know. Ruby's life was theoretically on the line, and she didn't know how to find her.

But it was fine. She could go from here. She could figure out something.

She didn't know her way around, but maybe someone else did. There was an attacker tearing through the building like paper, from the looks of things, but there was an alarm blaring. She hadn't paid it much mind, but it was there. So there should be servants who were hiding, here and there. And where could she start looking for one in that case?

...The top floor, maybe. Or wherever Five had been kept earlier. It had robot guards from what Yang could remember of it, and would be where the most secure locations were, so anyone in that general area would have time to hide there somewhere. Considering that the attacker had entered through the first floor, Yang could expect that someone managed to find a panic room up there, and there would be someone up there who would know the way.

Or maybe Yang didn't need to find Ruby. It'd be just as effective if Yang just beat the shit out of the attacker, or attackers, before Ruby could be hurt, wouldn't it?

She could probably find the source of the fight. She couldn't hear it over the alarm, so it had to be distant, if there was even a fight going on right now. But Yang could see the damage in the building. Holes in walls, charred segments of steel here and there, dented iron in the walls and floors. There had definitely been some fighting in here, and if Yang could figure out where it went after one or bother combatants jumped through some walls, then maybe Yang could find the fight.

And even if she didn't find the fight, then she might, at the very least, find Nora. Maybe Yang was panicking over something that wasn't too bad, as much as she doubted that. Maybe, just maybe, Nora would be fine. Or maybe she was dying, and Yang finding and aiding her would be all that saved her. Or maybe she was dead and Yang was just going to make herself even angrier and even more concerned about Ruby.

Damn it, she had to do something.

After a moment, she decided.

[X] To the top floor. Where everything is at its most secure and if anyone knows where Ruby is, they' be able to help Yang find her.
[X] Follow the destruction. If she found the fight, she could end it. If she found a body, she could tend to it. It might be her best bet.
[X] She didn't have time, she needed to find her sister. Forget plans, just run through the mansion until she found any clue of where Ruby is.