First things first, Yang here in this chapter, and a few more others, will be wearing an outfit that has never been seen in the show before. So in the very likely off-chance that I'll fail spectacularly in describing the outfit please type in the URL below, remember to not include the open and closing parenthesis', in your URL bar and you'll immediately see for yourselves what the outfit really looks like. And just foreword, there's a reason why she's wearing something like that. You'll find out soon enough.

( .ph/pin/572942383826413404/)

Now, continue.

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Book 1: Silver and Steel

Chapter 1: Big Brother

Page #3

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In the mid-morning hours, the sun bears down unto the City of Vale. The crowned jewel and capital of the Kingdom. It had what you'd expect a city would have. Skyscrapers reaching towards the heavens, well-constructed road work, swarms of people moving from one place to another, numerous malls, shops, clubs, restaurants, almost everything that you could think of, it was here in Vale. And like most thriving Cities, the city of Vale also had multiple landing ports for Bull-Heads and other flight transport vessels.

In one of these landing ports, an Air-Bus that had traveled all the way from Patch safely docked onto the asphalt ground. A few seconds after, it's exit doors opened and a wide enough rampway lowered for the passengers to walk down on. Not long after, the said passengers began filing their way out of the Air-Bus and began making their way down on the ramp. This kept on going for a few minutes, the number of people making their way down getting smaller and smaller until everyone had safely un-boarded the flying vessel.

Or at least, everyone excluding Yang Xiao Long and her younger sister, Ruby Rose.

And speaking of, the busty blonde was wearing a different outfit on this day. An outfit that, in all absolute honesty, was borderline skimpy.

No longer did she don on her usual get-up. Instead, her attire now consisted that of a pair of bright red flared heels. An ink-black one-legged leather bodysuit that showed off way too much of the young woman's cleavage and it also apparently had a small metal chain that worked as its belt and also had miniature black chains that served as its shoulder straps which were connected to the thick gray leather choker necklace she wore. A dark leather corset that spanned over her suit and her entire torso. An un-buttoned white-colored short-sleeved crop top polo over her bodysuit that had her personal insignia, a burning heart, engraved at the polo's left side. And last but definitely not the least, Black leather fingerless gloves that had metal knuckle reinforcements.

All in all, despite it being somewhat a little too radical, Yang's chosen attire fit her to a T. So much so that as she fully stepped out of the exit and stood tall on the ramp, she earned more than a handful of prolonged gazes from the populace within the range of her vicinity. Some of them were envious, some disgusted, while some were...well, to put it crassly, understandably aroused. But best we don't go into full detail in that regard.

"Hey Rubes, " With her hands on her cocked hips, Yang Xiao Long called out to the younger sister who she knew was still inside the Air-Bus. ", don't mean to be a stickler for the time but let's get a move on. If we hurry I can still drop you off at your weapon's shop and still make it for my meet-up." Without turning away, she heard the familiar whooshing of Ruby's Semblance behind her.

"Alright alright, I'm here." Ruby Rose said to Yang as she appeared out of the rose petal whirlwind of her Semblance and stood beside her.

"Finally," Yang said to Ruby with a grin as she looked down on her. "What took you so long? Did you fall down the toilet or something, Rubes?" The busty blonde laughed as she hooked an arm around Ruby before walking down the ramp with her little sister in tow.

"Oh, ha-ha-ha Yang, very funny. " Ruby groaned. "I only took so long because I was busy apologizing to Captain Philipps for the mess that YOU left in the corridors." She reprimanded her older sister with narrowed eyes. "Seriously, I know they were pervs but why the heck would you knock them out and then leave them literally hanging on the walls? And buck naked to boot!" The younger sibling demanded with an exasperated look.

"First of all, watch your language young lady." Yang started off with a warning finger. "Second, those basta-" A pause. "-those ruffians totally deserved what they got to them." She corrected. "No one gang's up on me with nefarious ideas in their heads and think they'll get away with it scratch-free." With her free hand, she flicked back her blonde mane-like hair with a flourish.

"Okay-yeah, I totally support you teaching them a lesson but couldn't you...you know, toned it down a notch? Just by a little bit?" Ruby's look of exasperation slowly turned into a wincing one as she recalled the sight of eight unclothed unconscious young men hanging off one of the corridor walls of the Air-Bus. "I mean, what if Gerald hears about this?"

Yang stopped walking just short of stepping off from the vessel's lowered metal ramp, which due to her arm being wrapped around Ruby's shoulders had the young Rose stopping too, before letting out an explosive sigh. She said nothing and, knowing her sister well enough, Ruby decided to wait for her to speak back up first.

"I don't wanna talk about him, Rubes. Not right now." The blonde finally spoke up after a pause that lasted a good few seconds. And Ruby didn't fail to notice how her sister's hand gripped at her shoulder. She knew this wasn't intentional on her sister's part but the fact that she still did it worried her. For more reasons than one. "And besides, " She continued as she, and in extension Ruby, began walking forward and fully off the ramp. ", if he were here he'd have done way worse than me. So if anything, those schmucks got off easy."

"Okay yeah, he's definitely gonna be pissed when he hears about this." The young Rose agreed with a nod as she and Yang continued walking out of the Landing Port and into the City grounds. "But what I mean, is THIS." She gestured to the blonde's clothes.

"Oh please, " Yang scoffed with a roll of her eyes. ", I can dress however I want. If he's got a problem with it then that's all on him. Not my fault he can't understand shit." The young Xiao Long continued. And the young Rose didn't even bother calling out her sister's earlier statement on uttering profanity. She didn't have to. And she honestly didn't want to.

This was one of those times that Ruby had dubbed as the "Hot-Iron times". Her older siblings, Gerald and Yang, would always end up "fighting" like this whenever the former of the two would succumb to something while on a hunt and leave Yang worrying. And as the young Rose had come to learn through the years, Yang reacted to worry poorly. Very poorly.

But she understood why. Rusty as she may be in the form of socializing with other people, the 15-year-old was by no means naive when it came to understanding the WHY of Yang's anger. She hated worrying. She hated it because she said it'd always remind her of THAT day. Ruby was too young at that time to fully understand what THAT day meant but now, with her older and garnishing more and more knowledge in life, she did. Or at least, she believed she did.

"Yang, " The young Rose started with a sigh as the two of them stopped on the sidewalk with Yang hailing a Cab. ", you know I get it. I really do. But come on, don't you think you're going too far this time?" As the Cab Yang had hailed stopped in front of them, Ruby once again gestured to her sister's clothes.

The older of the two let out what could only be described as a grumble fused with a sigh before she let go of her younger sister and opened the Cab's door for her. "Just get it in, Rubes. Please." She said to Ruby, and the younger girl just nodded before stepping inside. "Fuck damn it, Gerald." The busty blonde looked up to the sky with a glare as she cursed in a whisper. "This is all on you." She finished with a click of her tongue before stepping inside.

"Where to, ladies?" The Cab driver asked them as Yang closed the door and made herself comfortable on her seat.

"Uh, The Stark's, please," Ruby answered.

"Ah, the Weapon's Shop?" The Cab driver clarified as he began driving off.

"Yep, that one." The young Rose nodded with a smile.

"Alright then, " The Cab driver chirped in a happy tone as he activated the taximeter. ", Stark's here we come." In an upbeat manner, the Cab driver began humming to himself as the Cab made its way through the City streets.

Ruby leaned back on the cushioned seat and looked outside the Cab's window. The City atmosphere greeted her wherever direction she pointed her eyes. And she just kept on gazing out the window for a solid long while until she saw a family happily sitting on a bench quickly pass her field of vision as the Cab they were on zoomed past them. This got her to breathe out a sigh before looking to her sister. And unexpectedly, she saw that her sister had been doing the same thing as her. With one of her legs over the other and arms crossed over her chest, the blonde young woman simply gazed at the window on her side.

"Yang, " The young Rose broke the silence that had grown between them. A kind of silence that had made the Cab driver stop humming not a long while ago. ", it's still pretty far from Stark's. So how's about we talk about it?"

"Ruby..." The elder sister groaned, still looking out the window.

"Come on Yang, let's just talk. It's always better off when we talk it out, right?" The younger sibling was, of course, talking about the other "Hot-Iron" instances that had happened in the past and that every time all three of them just talked it out, things got quickly back to normal. Granted, Gerald wasn't here. But that didn't mean she wasn't going to try. "Please?" Ruby pleaded with her hands put together.

Yang looked to her younger sister with a frown on her face. But that frown quickly vanished as soon as she got a good look at Ruby's pleading look. And with the young Rose putting her hands together like that only pulled at the busty blonde's heartstrings all the more.

"Hey come on now, don't do that." Temperamental as she was and as frustrated as she was with her brother, Yang seeing Ruby pleading like that was too much for her to handle. "Come here, " The blonde said as she scooched closer to Ruby, wrapped her arm around her in a half-hug, and brought the young Rose's head to her chest with a tired sigh. ", sorry about this Rube's. I didnt mean to make you feel bad." She continued with a kiss to Ruby's head.

"I get it, Yang. I really do. And you know I do." Hugging back her sister by the waist, Ruby spoke softly. "I get worried about him too. But he always promises to come back to us, and he always has, hasn't he?"

"I know that, Rubes." With a deep sigh, the older sibling nodded in agreement. Yes, Gerald had indeed promised her his return when he had left for his Hunt three days prior. As he did the Hunt before that and the one before and so on and so forth all the way back to the first time he had left for his first hunt. "I just..." Only thing was, with every Hunt, Yang noticed that it took him longer and longer to come back to them. With his latest one lasting almost an entire day with no communication whatsoever. "...I just wish that he'd stop already."

Ruby wanted to disagree. From what she had heard from the other Hunters at the Tavern, her older brother had done so much good in the world. He had saved so many, protected so many, and had even become a legend to many. And she was so proud and happy to have someone like that as her brother. But she also knew where she was coming from with this. So instead of coming up with a defense that'd more than probably bring back her sister's anger at a full swing again, Ruby decided to just stay quiet for now and enjoy their hugging session.

Although, there was one thing that was still bothering her.

"Hey, Yang?" The young Rose called for her sister's attention. And said sister gave it quickly enough. The younger of the two looked up and locked her silver eyes onto Yang's lilac ones. "Why exactly are you clothed like this?"

"Oh...this.." Ruby saw her sister quickly avert her eyes with an awkward cough to the side. "Well," The busty blonde continued after a short pause. ", you..don't have to worry about it, Rubes. I'll be okay. Promise."

"Hmm, alright." The young Rose grumbled softly before comfortably placing her head back on one of Yang's considerable breasts. She didn't like the vagueness at play, but she trusted Yang. "Just don't do anything too reckless, you hear me? Gerald's not the only one that makes people worry a lot."

Instead of answering, Yang just huffed with a nod as she comforted her little sister's head with gentle rubs. The two of them knew that this wasn't really the end of it and that there was still a lot left to talk about. But even without vocalizing it, the two of them subconsciously decided to just enjoy the comfortable silence that ensued. There was going to be a time when they'd set things straight and back to normal. However, that time was not now.

"Uhm..." The Cab Driver, who had been silent for almost the entire trip, spoke up. "...Ma'am, I hope you and your daughter don't mind..a-and I know this completely out of the blue, " Both Yang and Ruby looked to each other with raised brows but remained silent. Surprised as they were with his sudden interest in talking to them, and with also how he had addressed them as a mother-daughter pair, the two sisters remained quiet to hear the Cab driver out. ", but uh, can I...can I offer my two cents of advice for you?"

"...Sure." Hesitating for only a few seconds, Yang answered.

"Okay, " The Cab driver sat a little straighter on his seat. ", I know this is really weird and all but it seems pretty obvious, well it is for me, that..uh, that you and your daughter are going through some stuff." The driver explained without looking away from his driving. "Pretty heavy stuff, if I might add. And like your daughter said, it's always best to talk things out. So that you'd..you know, feel a lot better afterward. And that's what I want to help you two with. To..help, talk this out."

Ruby broke out of Yang's hug and sat back up straight before looking to her sister. And Yang met her gaze with an arched brow and a confused look.

"Well..uhm, thanks for the offer, Mr..." The young Rose waited for the man behind the steering wheel to finish for her.

"Oh! Sorry for the late introduction." The Driver apologized with a chuckle and nod to the rearview mirror. "My name is Dopinder Sioni. Nice to meet you."

"Well nice to meet you too, Mr. Dopinder sir," Ruby answered back with a smile. "We really appreciate your concern, Sir, but-"

"It's honestly none of your business." Yang interrupted with arms crossed and the makings of a glare.

"Yang!" Ruby amended as she sent a little slap to Yang's bicep. "That's mean."

The busty blonde just threw her hands up weakly with a "What?" look on her face. For her, she wasn't being mean. True she could have at the very least worded that better, but, she believed that her response was warranted in this situation. After all, this was something of a matter between family. A personal thing. And something that definitely shouldn't be disclosed to the public so freely. So it would stand to reason that when someone, a total stranger at that, would suddenly meddle with your personal affairs straight out of the left-field you'd naturally be defensive. Also, Yang being an overprotective Mother-Hen, a characteristic forged from their unfortunate upbringing, played a huge role as to why she had responded the way she had.

"Ah, no it's okay. I understand." Dopinder assured both of them as he flashed a quick smile to the rearview mirror. "I'm sorry if I've stepped on something sensitive, Ma'am. It's just that..." Dopinder paused with a sigh. And his two passengers remained quiet to let him finish. One was out of respect and the other to wait and see where the Driver was going with this. "...I've been here in Vale for...a while, a long while now." He continued with another sigh. "And in my time here, I've learned a lot. And not just about technical things, but about people too."

"See the thing is, " Dopinder continued. ", I pick up people from dawn until dusk and I drive them to wherever they want to go. Some just take no more than a few minutes while some literally take me hours. And in those times, short or long as they may be, I like to talk to them. You know, for some conversation to help pass the time. The City's views are awesome but it can get boring after a while." A short chuckle from the man. "And I've been doing this for so long. So much that I've started to...notice stuff, about people. From the way they hail my Cab, the way they open the doors, the way they sit down on their seats, and just...just the way they behave the whole trip. And from those..what's the word?" Dopinder thought for a moment with pursed lips. "Uh...oh! Physical cues, yeah that's the one."

Behavioral Cues. Both Ruby and Yang corrected in their heads as the Cab continued to make its way through the City and towards their still quite faraway destination.

"And yeah, I know that it really isn't my place." Continued Dopinder. "But I also know that you guys are going through some rough times right now. And..." A short pause. "...how can I, knowing that, do nothing to help you? Maybe it won't be good advice, maybe you'll even forget about it the moment you step off my Cab, but I'd rather give it all the same. Like..you know, like what heroes do. Helping people out, one small deed at a time."

The two sisters had varying reactions to this.

Ruby, with awe in her silver eyes, giddily squealed into her tightly sealed mouth as she strained to keep herself from clapping. She wanted to do it, badly, but she also had the decency, and the experience, to not fan-girl over every heroicness she'd see. No matter how cool it was.

As for Yang though, her reaction was understandably different from that of her sister's. She had long been jaded with the term "heroes" but that didn't mean she couldn't understand it still. Yes, she was surprised, and a little skeptical, but never the less appreciated Dopinder's desire to "help" them.

"All right then," The elder sibling resigned. ", let's hear this advice you've got for me and my little-" She stopped herself. She was gonna hear Dopinder out, but that didn't mean she was going to start opening-up to him any time soon. "-my little girl."

Ruby shot a confused look at her sister and soundlessly mouthed "What?". In response to this, Yang winked at her younger sister and soundlessly shushed her by putting a finger to her mouth. The young Rose quickly caught on as to what her sister was planning and nodded before leaning back and away from the finger Yang had used to shush her mouth.

"All right but, just putting it out there, I'm not a professional therapist or anything-"

Well, no shit captain obvious. You're a Cab Driver for fuck's sake. Yang cursed in her mind.

"-and this is just some friendly advice from a seasoned Cab Driver." Dopinder continued with a friendly smile that could be seen from the rearview mirror. Blissfully oblivious to the inner machinations of Yang's thoughts on him.

"All right, here goes." He started off with a clear of his throat. "You don't have to correct me if I'm wrong, you have the right to keep the truth to yourselves." Another clear of his throat. "Now. From what I've picked up from your earlier talk with your daughter, it sounds like there's something troubling that's happening in your family. And, I speculate that it revolves around your Husband."

Close. But just a little far off from the whole truth. With the very limited amounts of information that Dopinder had, it was bound to happen that he'd get a number of things wrong at the first go. And added to that, Yang's little lie of her being a mother and Ruby being her daughter only further swayed the truth farther from the Cab Driver.

"And from what I can tell from your wording earlier, " Dopinder continued as the Cab slowed to a stop in the traffic brought by another red traffic light. ", you're husband sounds likes he's involved in the kind of work that brings him away from the two of you. And it sounds like it's been that way for a while. How long of a while? I'm..not really sure. But I am sure that it's been quite a bit since you sounded so tired when you said you wanted him to stop already."

The traffic light, what seemed like the tenth one they've come across since their departure, turned green and the vehicles at the very front of the traffic sped away and got things moving again.

"And I also think that this isn't the first time you and your husband have...uh..argued over this matter." He continued, expertly maneuvering and speeding past multiple vehicles. "And now, you and you're daughter are here in Vale, to blow off some steam and relieve the tension."

Whoa. Ruby thought. That's so cool. He got a lot of details all wrong but he's got the idea right. This kinda reminds me of...GASP! Literally, the young Rose mentally exclaimed that last part in a gasping tone. Oh my gosh! Volume 14 of X-Ray and Vav. When Vav went through a depressive state, he got helped out by a wise old sage that was also a Cab Driver! OH. MY. GOOOOOSHH!

Meanwhile. As Ruby was locked yet again in another fierce battle of keeping her squeal of excitement and inner fangirl buried deep down, Yang too had her own thoughts on the matter.

Well, shit. Color me surprised. He actually got most of it right. Without her face betraying anything, Yang shifted in her seat as she stared directly at the rearview mirror to get a good look at Dopinder. The man that was their driver had brownish skin and black shaggy hair. And from what little of his body Yang could see, Dopinder was wearing a long-sleeved black striped white polo shirt. He really doesn't look like it, but he's got one helluva sense of reasoning.

"Now I don't know how much of what I just said was true but I'm just gonna go out on a whim and say all of it was." With their Cab now moving up and across a long elevated highway, Dopinder continued with his talk. A talk that was turning more and more therapy-esque by the minute. "Ma'am," Without so much as looking away from his driving, Dopinder addressed Yang. ", I mean no offense by this. And if I'm wrong, then...well, I'm wrong. But I'll still say my piece and give you this advice."

"Sure, go ahead." The busty blonde flippantly said with a "go on" gesture of jer hands as she gazed out of the Cab's window.

Surprised, and honestly impressed, as Yang was with how well Dopinder had deciphered their family dilemma from a few exchanged words between her and Ruby, she believed that whatever this "helpful advice" that he had been hyping up this whole time would only tackle on something far away from the blonde's actual fear. Like seriously, he even concluded that she's a mother and Ruby her child. Let's say if this were to be compared to a game of darts, just how close could Dopinder hit the bullseye of Yang's actual fear?

"He's not going to leave you and your daughter, Ma'am. So I suggest that you stop worrying about that already. The sooner you do, the sooner you'll start to feel better."

Dead center of the dartboard, apparently.

This answer got Ruby to snap out of her daydreaming and tense up on her seat. She was once again surprised by how close Dopinder was reading their problem, but she had bigger worries to think about. The young Rose slowly turned to her sister, and the sight that greeted her was that of Yang glaring a hole into the back of the driver's seat.

Uh-Oh. That's not good. Ruby thought to herself as she bit her lower lip worriedly. I think I should tell Mr. Dopinder to stop now. If not, things could get ugly.

"What makes you think that's what I'm really afraid of?" Yang asked leaning forward on her seat and invertedly silencing Ruby before she could even speak up herself. "Tell me, oh wise Cab Driver, " The blonde continued in an almost condescending tone, her glare not diminishing at all. ", out of everything else, what makes you so sure that my problem is with my..." Yang paused and cleared her throat. "...husband never coming back to me, huh? Why are you so sure that that's the case?"

Yang looked to the driver's seat, awaiting her answer unblinkingly while her little sister busied herself with glancing quickly from her to the driver's seat and Vise Versa. The young Rose was worried about the off chance of this blowing out of proportions, but at the same time, she couldn't help but feel eager to see this through. Dopinder had already succeeded in finding out the main cause of their little family struggle, maybe he'd actually be able to help simmer down Yang's anger some more. And the younger girl would freely admit that she saw that prospect as an absolute win.

"W-w-well..." Dopinder stammered out before swallowing a lump in his throat. "...the fact that you're looking at me like your ready to beat me up is kinda telling, i-if I'm being honest." He chuckled nervously before gulping again.

Fuck. Yang cursed as she realized her mistake. Had she played it cool and simply waved off Dopinder's statement on her "Husband" leaving her, then he would've never known for sure. Damn shit, he got me on that one. She followed up with another curse as she clicked her tongue, loudly at that, and averted her gaze elsewhere before leaning back into her seat.

But of course, asking Yang Xiao Long not to worry about her brother's safety is essentially the equivalent of asking the ocean to stop being in the liquid phase. With knowledge on Gerald's line of work mixed in with her childhood trauma, to stop worrying for her family's well being is next to near impossible.

"I'm not doing this to be a pest, Ma'am." Despite his palms already starting to sweat and arms slightly shaking, Dopinder, a normal Human being that would literally be obliterated with a slap from Yang, continued. "But I meant what I said; You should stop worrying about him all the time. Worrying leads to stress, stress leads to problems, and problems lead to many things. Thing's like..." Weakly he showed a nervous smile to the rearview mirror. "...things like an unsanctioned therapy session on a Cab." He chuckled at his own joke. And surprisingly, Ruby did too.

"All-right, all-right, " Grumbled the blonde with a roll of her eyes. ", you got it right, whoop-dee-fucking-doo. But guess what?" She sharply turned away from the passing views of the window and towards the driver's seat. "You're not the first, and I'm sure as hell you're not gonna be the last, that's told me that crap advice."

"Yang, " Ruby softly placed a hand on her sister's shoulder. ", calm down. Let's hear him out. Please."

The blonde huffed and nodded before gently squeezing her little sister's hand.

Phew, that was a close one. The young Rose thought as she nervously rubbed her knee with her free hand. All right, this was interesting at first but now it's getting pretty close to dangerous. So I think I should-"

"Be that as it may, Ma'am" Dopinder cut off Ruby's internal monologue and quickly caught both sisters' attention. "It's still sound advice. It's why people keep telling you this over and over again in the first place. Because other than wait for him to return to you, what else can you do?" He cleared his throat. "And there's nothing wrong with worrying for the love of your life's return. It's normal. It's concrete proof of how much you really love each other. And the fact that you, Ma'am, worry this much for him, says nothing less of the genuine love you have with your husband.

Silently, both siblings listened intently to Dopinder. Ruby, reasoning that Yang had calmed down and wouldn't likely be punching their driver anytime soon, retracted the hand she had placed on her sister's shoulder and intertwined it with her other one. As for Yang, the blonde was, for some reason, choosing to gaze outside the window and making sure that the look on her face wouldn't be seen by either Dopinder or Ruby.

"As a matter of fact, you're exactly in the same spot my mother used to be, Ma'am. You see, my father used to be a Cab driver too. And before, Vale wasn't exactly as safe as it is today. Well, not that today's day and age is anything less than dangerous, " Proof of that being the ever-looming threat of Roman Torchwick, the growing dark forces of Grimm and the White Fang included. And of course, there are also those unseen forces out there in the shadows. Still waiting to be known. ", but dangerous all the same. And every day he would leave for work, my mother-bless her soul-, would at first worry herself sick whenever father left her sight. So much, that she would pace around our house a lot. But then one day, my mother and father had a talk about something. We were kind of too far to hear what they were saying and we were kids, so whatever bits we could hear it kinda flew over our heads." He let out a short laugh at this.

"And since that talk of theirs, my mother stopped with her pacing and started to waiting at our front porch. She'd sit there as my father drove off for work, and she'd sit there until he drove back home. She'd still find time to take care of my siblings and I of course, " He quickly added with a smile directed at the rearview mirror for his two passengers. ", but whenever she had free time, she would go back and sit on her favorite rocking chair at our front porch. And she'd wait." He let out a nostalgic chuckle at the memory of it. "I remember feeling bad for her, at first. But that all changed when she told me what she and my father had talked about."

"What did she say?" Without thinking, the young Rose eagerly asked as she leaned forward on her seat with her intertwined hands shaking in excitement.

"She said, " With a small chuckle at the young girl's eagerness, Dopinder continued. ", and I quote; My son, I used to fear for your father's safety a lot. And do not mistake me, I still do. But now, I do not fear as much as I did then." He cleared his throat. "And when I asked her why she told me it was because of what my father told her."

"Ooooh, what did he say?" Ruby once again eagerly urged with a smile that was growing more and more.

"I don't want to recount the exact wording my father had used because I'll just end up making it awkward." He chuckled. "But the gist of it is, he told my mother not to worry about his return. Because no matter how long the drive would take, no matter how far it would take him, no matter how many obstacles barring his path there would be, he would always drive back home to her. And if the Brother's themselves were to stand in his way, he'd run them over." He finished with a laugh.

"Whoa..." The young Rose couldn't help but be in awe. Not only by the fact that Dopinder's father sounded like he could exist in a romance novel but also because of how close his father's promise was to Gerald's own for Yang and her. "...your father sounds like a romantic," She followed up with a radiating smile.

"Oh, he was." Dopinder wasted no time in acknowledging it. And he did so with a smile nothing short of proud. "And he was that and more, even until the end."

Ruby could tell what he meant by that. The wording alone was telling enough, but with how his voice turned for the somber, it was all too clear. That's why she chose to wordlessly nod instead. And while she couldn't say the same for her sister, she was mostly sure that this was also why she chose to stay quiet.

"At least answer me this once, Ma'am." With a sniff of his slowly becoming stuffy nose, Dopinder picked up their talk after a moment's silence. ", do you love him?"

Ruby quickly looked towards her sister for her answer. And she had a good thought as to what it would be. After all, she was a first-hand witness as to how seriously Yang and Gerald upheld family.

"Yeah." The older sister answered. Finally looking away from the passing views of the city the window provided and towards the driver's seat. "I do."

"And how much do you think he loves you and your daughter?"

"Enough to kill every single Grimm in his way." Answered the busty blonde with no hesitation whatsoever.

Heck yeah! The young Rose cheered in her mind as she nodded to herself with a grin. Gerald's been getting tough work these past few months, but he's still kept his promise. And that's even made more impressive with the stories the other Hunters of the Tavern had told her about her brother. No matter how many or how powerful the enemy was, Gerald slew them all and made it home lickety-split.