A/N: Be warned, there's some serious racism in this chapter, and it even made me feel gross and upset while writing it. The saddest thing is that there are actually people like Slater who exist in the world. :( But on the flipside, there are also people like Ruby, Yang, and the villagers who can see beyond the surface. :)
EDITED 1/4/2020
Word Count: 11,522
Chapter 6 — A Dragon's Fury
Jerl Slater was cleaning a heavy cleaver when the door to his shop suddenly slammed open. A sweltering, torrid, oppressive wave of heat rushed in and chased out the autumn chill. Sweat poured from his body, and his eyes began to burn from the dry, hot air.
However, despite the incredible heat, Slater's blood still ran cold when he heard a certain voice call out in a deceptively playful manner. "Oh, Slaaater, I'm here for a chat. A certain someone's been a naughty boy." A familiar, golden-haired young woman stepped into the butcher's shop. Her usually lilac eyes were crimson. That was not a good sign.
Slater swallowed nervously, vividly remembering the last time he'd had the misfortune of seeing those eyes. He'd been laid up for over a month—his body in so much pain that he could barely manage getting out of bed just to find food. The blood rushed from his face making him feel weak and shaky. His hands were trembling badly enough that he had to put the cleaver down lest he accidentally hurt himself with it. He tried to speak, but for some reason the words seemed stuck. He licked his dry lips with an equally dry tongue before trying again. His voice came out in a weak squeak before evening out, though it still sounded a bit higher than usual. "Yang."
"Oh, no you don't. You've lost any privilege to call me by name. And I'm sure you know why, don't you?" The woman crossed her arms and waited for an answer.
Slater scowled in an attempt to cover his trepidation. "Listen girl, I don't know what you think I've done, but you can't just go around accusing people of—" Another wave of heat slammed into him, and he unwittingly took a step back.
"Yesterday, a group of soldiers came through town," the woman said, her voice hard. "Mostly Schnee Guards though there may have been a few men in Provincial Guard uniforms. They had just been set upon by so-called bandits and wanted information. Ring any bells?"
He snorted uneasily while inwardly wondering how in the Dust she had found out so fast. "That's why you're here? Yeah, I talked to them. Those men talked to everyone." He tried to remind himself that she had no proof as he attempted relax his tightly wound fists to no avail. Every muscle in his body was stretched tight, like his fight-or-flight response was poised and ready to tip in either direction, and it was utterly ridiculous. This girl was nearly ten years his junior. So why did he have this overwhelming feeling of dread growing in the pit of his stomach?
"What did you tell them?"
"Nothing that concerns you."
"Wrong answer."
Suddenly, Slater found himself slammed into the wall that separated the shop from the living quarters in the back. Yang wrapped her hand in the front of his shirt and lifted him almost entirely off the ground. He scrabbled at her hand, trying to get her to let go, but it was as if her fist and arm were made of stone. "Let go of me, you crazy woman! This is assault!"
She repeated again, "What did you tell them?"
"Nothing! Just that if there were bandits, they'd be hiding out in the mountains!" A fist smashed into the wall next to Slater's head with a loud crack. He went wide-eyed when he realized the woman had punched a hole straight through the wall. Sure, the walls were only made of wood, but even he doubted he could punch through a wall without breaking his fist. Another cold shiver ran through him as he slowly began to realize he might not walk away from this alive.
"Don't lie to me," the woman with burning crimson eyes snarled. "You told them that there was a 'rogue' Faunus living up there—that the Faunus was probably working with the bandits—didn't you?"
When Slater didn't answer right away, Yang drew her fist back again and this time, he could tell it was aimed right for his face. He panicked. "Alright, alright already! Yes! I told them there was a Faunus up there! What's wrong with that? It's true, isn't it? That hooded freak you call your sister isn't even human. She's nothing but an animal. She shouldn't even be here living amongst us humans."
A fist buried itself deep in his gut before he was thrown unceremoniously into the center of the room. When he hit the stone floor, all he could do was lay there writhing in pain and trying not to throw up. The sound of other footsteps forced him to look up. He paled. Several of the villagers streamed in, all looking grave or upset.
"There you have it," Yang's furious voice rang out from somewhere behind him. "This pile of dirt tried to get my sister arrested."
Slater coughed as he struggled to his knees. "Lies," he rasped. "All lies. She threatened me into answering."
The portly man who ran the local tavern, Renet Keeper, crossed his arms and glanced at Yang once before looking back at Slater. "While I don't condone how she got her answer, Yang isn't a liar. She's headstrong and has a temper, but I know she wouldn't do something like this without reason."
"It's easy enough to check," said the oldest member of the group, a grey-haired old lady whose name Slater couldn't quite remember. He knew she was a village Elder, but that was about it. "We can send a runner to the Riders' Keep and ask one of them to check with the soldiers who came by yesterday. They won't talk to us village folk, but soldiers love to gossip amongst themselves. Helps that Qrow Branwen is in town. He'd find out for sure."
Who in Dust's name was Qrow Branwen? Then Slater remembered hearing from someone a while ago that Yang had an uncle or something in the Riders. They had him. Even if he continued to profess his innocence, the moment they got an answer from the Riders, everything would come crumbling down.
Suddenly, he was angry. Why should he have to go through all this trouble just because he did the right thing and reported an unregistered Faunus? He was sure there were others who probably wanted to do the same thing. The only difference was he was the only one with the guts to do it.
"What's it to you anyway?" he demanded. "Why're you all here in my shop? This ain't none of your business." Slater wobbled to his feet with one hand resting against his bruised stomach.
"Are you daft, man? Discord between villagers will always be village business," Vera Weaver, the village's tart-tongued seamstress retorted. "If there's bad blood in the village, it'll attract the Grimm. Just because we're outside a Riders' Keep doesn't mean we get to be stupid. Problems need to be solved before they fester into something worse, and we have a Grimm invasion on our hands." The others murmured in agreement. "So talk. What's going on here? Why'd you tell them soldiers about little Ruby?"
Slater glared at her, feeling stubborn. "It ain't none of your business," he said again, "so unless you've got work for me, get out of my shop."
An angry rumble rippled the air behind him, and a heavy hand gripped his thin shoulder painfully. He yelped as he was spun around and lifted off the ground once more. As he felt his skin tighten and dry, he realized for the first time that all the heat in the room was emanating off the furious woman in front of him. Being this close to her was like standing way too close to a fire. He gulped in spite of himself. What was wrong with this woman? Her color-changing eyes were freaky enough, but being able to generate heat like this? It wasn't normal.
"That's where you're wrong. What happens here is everyone's business," Yang all but growled. "Let me fill you in on local matters. See, the local Riders are actually understaffed. They've only got about five teams of six Riders—that's only thirty men total. That's small considering even the smallest keeps usually house at least fifty members, but Patch is off the beaten trail so it doesn't warrant as much protection as the more frequently traveled roadways. Those thirty men have about sixty miles to patrol in either direction, north to south, and if they ever needed reinforcements, the closest Rider keep is about a hundred miles away. By the time a messenger pigeon gets there and they send help, Patch could already be entirely wiped off the face of Remnant. If anything really bad happens, this place is on its own."
Yang finally dropped Slater, who scurried backwards to get away from her. "Something else to know: the Riders here aren't the best in the bunch. Sure, they're good people who mean well and they've got some decent weapon skills, but weapon skills alone mean nothing against the Grimm. Have you ever faced a Grimm head on? No? Well, let me tell you, they're tough. You could swing a battle axe into a Grimm and still barely break through its thick, black hide. And if you're unlucky, you could hit one of their bony white plates and do no damage at all. The only surefire way to do damage is to channel your Aura to strengthen your blow.
"Oh, but wait, aren't Aura warriors outside of Grimm Huntsmen and Huntresses rare?" Yang asked satirically. "Why yes—yes, they are. Great job for noticing that."
Slater managed to rustle up enough bravado to growl, "What's your point?" He couldn't quite meet those angry crimson eyes though.
All hints of joking vanished from Yang's voice. "My point, you idiot, is that the local Riders' Keep only has four Riders who can use their Aura at all, meaning they can put up a defensive Aura in a pinch but not much else. They don't have enough Aura to be able to use it offensively, meaning even if they can survive a Grimm attack, they don't really have the means to drive it away or kill it unless they get really, really lucky. My uncle's the only one who there who can be considered a true Aura warrior; in fact, he used to be a registered Huntsman. He only quit so he could stay nearby to watch over me and my sister when our parents died.
"So how is it, do you think, that a single ex-Huntsman can cover the entire area of Patch while also constantly being forced to patrol about sixty miles of road regularly?" When Slater didn't answer, Yang did for him. "The answer? He can't. So how is it that Patch hasn't had any major Grimm attacks in the past several years?"
Slater shrugged uncomfortably, not liking where this conversation was going. "How am I supposed to know?"
Yang just shook her head and stalked away, rapidly clenching and unclenching her fists as she muttered under her breath.
The old, grey-haired woman answered, "Yang and Ruby's parents were Huntsmen as well, and when they passed away, their children eventually took up their mantle to protect us from any Grimm that wandered too close to the village. The village tax that you pay into every month? A small part of that goes to the girls whenever they slay any Grimm near the village. It's nowhere near the amount they'd get if they were fully licensed Grimm Huntresses, but still they go out and fight for us."
Yang stopped in front of Slater and shoved a finger in his face. "That's right. The reason you're safe—the reason any of the people here are safe—is because my little sister is amazing. Even though it was a bunch of human monsters who hurt her, stole her voice, and made her scared to walk around in public without her cloak, she decided to use the skills she learned to protect herself to protect everyone. And you tried to get her arrested!" She turned to everyone else in the room. "He told them that there was a rogue Faunus living up in the mountains, and the next morning, twenty armed men were at our doorstep."
Yale Turner, a thick-set, heavily muscled man around Slater's own age, turned to Slater in disbelief and anger. "Are you mad? Why would you go and do a thing like that? What'd Ruby ever do to you?"
"I was doing my duty as an Atlas citizen!" Slater burst out, fuming. "That girl's a freak, always hiding under that ugly hood. I knew something was wrong with her, but no one would tell me what. Well, I found out on my own—she ain't human. I didn't know about all the Grimm hunting business, but it doesn't change the fact that she's not supposed to be here. I checked. She was supposed to go to them reservations over a year ago."
"How?" came a voice so cold, so utterly emotionless that Slater paled.
He shot a nervous glance at the crimson-eyed woman in front of him. "H-how what?" He couldn't quite mask the shaking in his voice.
"How. Did. You. Find. Out?" Each word was like a drop of ice, sending chills up his spine.
"Must've heard it from someone," he mumbled. A foot smashed into his shin and he screamed.
"Don't lie. You just said no one told you she was a Faunus. Did you force her hood off? Did you put your filthy hands on my little sister?!"
Yang must have seen the answer in his expression because the next moment, she hauled him up and slammed her fist into his face. Slater screamed again as his nose crunched and blood came pouring out. As soon as she dropped him, he scooted backwards, desperately trying to get away from her.
Tears poured from his eyes as he clutched his face. He coughed and tasted blood in his mouth. "What the hell's wrong with you, you crazy woman?! Are you all just going to stand there and let her assault me?"
Turner cracked his knuckles. "I dunno. I kinda want to give you a few ouchies myself. Little Ruby's the one that saved my family from starving a couple years back. A late spring frost wiped out our fields, and we had to use up all our savings to buy new seed. The same thing happened to the Plowmans, the Gardners, and the Boroughs. After we bought our new seed, we didn't even have enough lien to pay for food. We were starving ourselves trying to make what little we had left stretch so we could at least feed the little ones. When Yang and Ruby came back from one of their trips out of Patch and heard about what happened, they showed up later that night to each of our families with a rabbit, duck, or string of fish for us. And they kept coming back, keeping us from starving until the first harvest was in. A small basket of berries, wild onions or carrots, a small sack of oats or potatoes." He glanced at Yang. "Firewood, and it was all free of charge. Neither of them asked for a single lien back."
"Those two girls shamed us all," Keeper said softly. "We're a community and we ought to be helping each other, but early spring is tough on everyone when we're all trying to make things stretch until the first harvest comes in, so we pretended not to notice how badly our neighbors were suffering."
Turner straightened. "Didn't mean to go pointing fingers. You all started pitching in where you could soon enough."
"But it shouldn't have taken the sacrifices of two young girls who have it harder than all of us to force us to take action," the grey-haired woman said.
Turner crossed his arms as he glared at Slater. "Ruby's been through more than a girl her age should've. She shouldn't have to deal with you, too. If I ever see you anywhere near her again, I'll give you a beating you won't forget, and that's before I report you to Yang."
Slater couldn't believe it. The girl was a Faunus, yet everyone was taking her side. He was the human here, so why was he the one having to weather their looks of disgust? He was one of them!
"You all can't be serious," he said, wincing through his broken nose. "She's an illegal Faunus. An animal!" Why didn't they get it? Why was he the one getting manhandled and berated when she was the one breaking the law? Sure, maybe she did some good things, but a thief was a thief even if they one day stole medicine to save someone who couldn't afford it.
They were all mad. Insane. Fools. Or maybe they were just getting tricked by that Faunus girl, like a hound that seemed friendly enough but when you went to pet it, it tried to bite off your arm. That must be it. They couldn't really be on that animal's side; they were human like him. Yes, that had to be it. They were all being duped, and he was the only one who could see the truth. Everyone knew the Faunus couldn't be trusted after all.
Yang couldn't take it anymore. It was clear the man felt no remorse, no guilt for anything he'd done. If shaming him wasn't going to work, then Yang had no problem resorting to threats. Anything to keep her little sister safe. She took a single step in Slater's direction and felt a dark sense of glee to see him flinch and cower.
Lily Miller, one of the village Elders and the one person in Patch that Yang went to for advice when Uncle Qrow wasn't around, cautioned, "Yang. Calm down. You do any more damage to that man, and we'll be forced to step in. If you want justice, you're going to have to take a step back and let us deal with this."
"Maybe I don't care about justice anymore," Yang growled as she turned her crimson eyes onto the old woman.
"You do or else you wouldn't have called us all here. Let us do what we came here for. You got your revenge, one hit for spreading falsehoods about your sister and one for approaching her—"
"—scaring her," Yang interrupted.
"Scaring her," Elder Lily agreed as she moved closer to Yang, "and approaching her without her consent. Let the rest go."
Elder Lily took the young woman's arm and attempted to draw her away from Slater. Yang resisted for a brief moment before she gave an angry huff and let herself be moved to the far side of the room. The other villagers shifted so that they formed a human wall between the two opposing parties. They all knew they'd never actually be able to stop Yang if she really wanted to go after Slater again, but they hoped that she wasn't so angry that she'd be willing to hurt others just to get to her target.
"Jerl Slater," Elder Lily said, "do you have anything to say for yourself?"
Slater straightened as best he could from his position on the floor, not wanting to risk getting up in case it set Yang off again. "You all haven't traveled as far as I have. You haven't heard the things I've heard or seen the things I've seen. Town criers don't come out to small villages like Patch; they only stick to the bigger towns on the main roads. Eleven human towns were attacked by those animals that make up the White Fang in the past year, and government officials were murdered in their beds. Innocent humans were killed left and right, and whole families had their entire livelihoods stolen away. Storehouses were raided, livestock were stolen, houses were sacked. I've heard the whispers. Everyone's saying that the Faunus living in those towns were passing information to the White Fang, telling them how to slip in unnoticed and where all the government officials lived and worked.
"And then when the Atlas Council set up those Faunus reservations to protect those thankless animals against people who wanted revenge—even giving them free homes and jobs to boot—the White Fang only stepped up their attacks. They say that they want equality, but all they really want is to get rid of all humans." Slater glared at everyone in the room. "Mark my words, protecting that Faunus freak is a mistake. When it comes down to them or us, she'll side with them no matter how well you've treated her. She's not one of us—not human. Send her to the reservations and you won't have to worry about getting stabbed in the back. It's not like she has the right to complain about it even if she could; she'll be getting a free ride."
Despite his impassioned speech, Slater flinched when Yang took a furious step towards him.
"Why you stupid…" Yang was so angry she couldn't even get the words out. Was that how the Atlas Council was spinning it? That they were protecting the Faunus by setting up the reservations? That the Faunus were being given free homes and jobs? Did people not know that the Faunus were being drafted to work in the Dust mines and that hundreds of them were dying every year? And what about the armed soldiers that constantly patrolled the reservations to ensure none of the Faunus could escape once they had been brought there?
"Yang, outside. Now." Elder Lily reached out a hand as if to guide Yang again like before but pulled her hand back quickly as though she'd been burned.
That was when Yang knew she really had to calm down before she burned the entire place down. With a guttural growl, Yang stomped outside and around the side of the building where she knew the well was. Over and over she drew up buckets of cool, almost borderline cold well water and dumped them over her head until the water stopped evaporating on contact.
Elder Lily had followed her out and quietly stood nearby until the younger woman had finished her impromptu bath. Then she said softly, "Talk to me, child. Get it off your chest."
Yang struggled to find the words. "That piece of trash threatened my little sister. If she had been home alone, she could have gotten arrested and taken away, and I would've never known until it was too late. I can't let him get away with it. My duty is to keep my sister safe and right now, that piece of trash is making her unsafe. She goes out once, sometimes even twice a month to hunt Grimm to protect this village, but she's not even safe here! I swore—swore to her that I'd never let anyone hurt her anymore, and that's a promise I will keep, no matter what it takes." When Yang finally lifted her crimson gaze, she was almost shocked out of her anger to see the remorse in the old woman's eyes.
"I'm so sorry none of us noticed this happening," Elder Lily said. "You're right. After all the two of you have done for the village, we should have noticed what was going on sooner."
Yang blinked, her eyes flickering back to lilac for a moment, and then ducked her head with a heavy sigh. She rolled her head back, closing her eyes as she rubbed the back of her neck. "No, it's not your fault or anyone else's fault. If anything, it's my fault. I'm the one who pissed him off badly enough to go looking for revenge in any way he could."
Yang clenched her fist. Maybe if she had just controlled her temper instead of throwing the first punch when Slater grabbed her arm after not taking no for an answer, he wouldn't have felt the need to soothe his worthless pride by going after her baby sister. Then she shook her head to rid herself of the thought. No, that wasn't right. Slater was scum—plain and simple. Yang knew his type. Sooner or later, he would've gotten tired of getting brushed off and escalated things. Blaming herself wasn't useful here. If she had time to blame herself, then she had time to make sure this never happened again.
Her path now clear, Yang drew in a slow breath and let it out. When she opened her eyes again, they stayed lilac. She met the old woman's eyes. "It's not right for me to blame the village—not when I already decided a long time ago that Ruby is mine to protect and mine alone. She's too important for me to entrust to anyone else ever again."
The unspoken message in Yang's words caused Elder Lily to close her own eyes in pain. The village had let Yang down once before; they had broken faith with her so now, she trusted no one but herself.
Watching the sadness and pain in the older woman caused Yang to exhale again. "For what it's worth," she said, looking away, "Patch is a good place, and it's filled with mostly good people. People so good that none of you see the bad in outsiders and newcomers because it's just not in your nature. You welcome everyone because you have no reason to suspect anyone is anything other than what they appear to be, because the people that live here are like that. In a perfect world, it'd be a great thing. Unfortunately, the world isn't perfect and you get people like Slater."
Elder Lily gazed measuringly at Yang for so long that she started to squirm. Finally, the old woman said, "You know, there's so much of Summer in both you and Ruby. She would've been so proud of seeing the women you've become." She waited a beat before adding, "And Taiyang would've been proud as well."
Yang stiffened at that last one. Her jaw tightened, but she said nothing. Feeling uncomfortable, she changed the subject, "So if I walk back into the butcher's shop, are you going to stop me?"
Yang's eyes flickered back to red as she remembered the subject of her ire. This time though, she held her anger back to a simmer instead of letting it reach a furious boil. Right now wasn't the moment for reckless rage. People always said that revenge was a dish best served cold after all. She had already accomplished her main goal. The man's life in Patch would be ruined after this if they even let him stay. No one would trust someone who might turn on them without warning. She just needed to put the last few nails in the coffin to make sure this event stayed good and dead.
"Can you promise me you won't take matters in your own hands again?"
Yang's reply was blunt. "Not if he says or does something stupid. He can insult me all he likes, but if he says anything else against Ruby, I can't be held responsible for what I do. Same goes for if he tries to physically attack me."
The older woman sighed. "I can't possibly stop you. Just let me warn him first. Wait here until I call you in." She walked back into the shop and after a few moments, waved Yang in.
Yang entered the shop to see Slater standing with a rag pressed just under his broken nose to catch the blood. The man stiffened as soon as he saw Yang in the doorway. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but when Yang turned her crimson glare on him, his words seemed to die in his throat and he swallowed nervously.
Yang spoke to Slater, her voice hard. "I expect you'll be called in for a village meeting someday soon so the villagers can hear your crimes and vote on your punishment. I don't care what they decide. Regardless of what happens, even if the villagers decide you deserve a second chance and can stay in Patch, you're not welcome anywhere near our cabin, and you can find somewhere else to get firewood. You won't be getting a single sliver of kindling from me ever again. Furthermore, if anything unexpected ever happens again, if any more soldiers conveniently show up on our doorstep, if one shutter at our cabin is broken, if one fence has collapsed, if anything on our property is ever out of place when we get back at the end of the day, I'm blaming it on you. You've been warned, and everyone here knows you've been warned. Don't you dare try to test me."
The piece of trash had the nerve to stutter, "T-that's not fair!"
Yang lost it. "Not fair? Not fair? I'll tell you what's not fair. Not fair is my little sister going out and risking her life to kill monsters all to protect a little piece of utter human waste like you! You think hunting Grimm is easy? It's scary. Dangerous. Every single time we go out there, we run the risk of never coming back. And we don't come out unscathed all the time, you know. It hurts to be bashed into a tree by an Ursa's paw or slashed by a Beowolf. But she goes out anyway even though she knows you don't think of her like a person."
She stomped towards the man, backing him up against the wall. When Renet Keeper made a move as if to stop her, she snapped, "I'm not going to touch him."
She turned her attention back to her target, dropping her voice so only he could hear her. "You listen, and you listen good. If I hear even a hint of you doing anything to put me or my little sister in danger again, if you ever breathe a word to anyone about her being here and someone comes looking for her, I'm going to know it was you, and I'm gonna go after you." She leaned down closer, her words barely above a whisper. "They still haven't found the bodies of the last group of humans who dared to hurt my sister. I can easily make sure yours disappears just like theirs. And just so you know I'm not joking…"
Yang wandered over to the man's butchering station and picked up the heavy cleaver that was laying on the counter. She twirled it slowly in her hand, making sure Slater saw it as she walked back until she was standing before him again. "I've already had to teach this lesson once to a handful of idiots, but I'll do it again. There's a reason people treat Aura warriors with respect, and not only because they have the strength to exterminate Grimm." Yang drew on her Semblance, knowing that her hair was now glowing, concentrating it on the cleaver in her hand until its wooden handle suddenly erupted in flames.
Everyone in the room stared at Yang, who was now holding the burning brand in her bare hand. She let them watch for a moment longer before she turned the heat and fire of her soul onto the blade. The metal turned from a dull red, to a hot orange, to an eye-smarting yellowish white as it started to melt and deform in her hand. She let the molten metal drip through her fingers onto the floor, barely inches away from Slater's worn, somewhat holey leather shoes. The man freaked out, slamming his back into the wall to avoid the droplets, and she wrinkled her nose as she noticed that he had lost control of his bowels. As the last few pieces of ash and molten metal fell from her fingers to hiss against the cooler stone floor, she said again, "You've been warned. Mess with me or my little sister again, and I won't be responsible for what I do to you when I find you. And I will find you."
Yang brushed off her hands, walked past the other villagers, and left the butcher's shop, not caring at all that she was still channeling her Semblance. It was a waste of energy, but she needed to burn off her anger somehow, and if she wasn't allowed to give Slater a few more smacks, letting her Semblance run wild was the next best thing. She'd be tired later, but even tired she was more than a match for anything that might try to harm her in and around the village. She wasn't worried. At the very least, it'd be good training.
When she first discovered her Semblance, she barely managed to hold onto her fire for more than ten seconds at most and only once every several days. Not very useful in a fight against a pack of Grimm, especially if said Grimm were the type to call for reinforcements. Some people thought it was strength that won a fight against the Grimm, but in reality, it was endurance. After countless hours of training, Yang could now call upon her Semblance more than once a day if need be, and she could hold onto it for quite a while depending on whether she was expending energy or not. She could maintain it longer still if she wasn't taking damage. If she was taking a beating, the other side of her Semblance would take over. Yang was a flame and as with any flame, give it fuel and it would strengthen and grow from an ember to a wildfire that even she couldn't hold back without hurting herself. Her Semblance would absorb every bit of energy from every hit and impact, and let her blast it back at her enemies exponentially. Too bad she couldn't use some of her energy to send Slater flying. If any human deserved a taste of her Semblance, it was him.
A familiar voice interrupted her thoughts. "Yang, wait."
Yang let out a heavy sigh before turning around to see Elder Lily following after her as fast as her old bones could manage. Yang waited for her, her arms crossed.
"Walk with me, child, just for a moment. Please," the older lady said when she pulled up even with Yang.
Yang remained silent for a long moment before finally muttering, "I need to visit the Riders' Keep after this. Your place is on the way, so I'll walk you home." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, imagining the worst of her anger flowing out of her on the currents of her exhalation. There was still too much frustrated anger in her for her hair and eyes to dim much, but at the very least, the air around her cooled a little. Not too much though. Yang knew that the heat she radiated would be good for the old woman's joints, especially on such a cool autumn's day. When she was certain she was under control, she politely held out an elbow to the old lady who took it gratefully.
They walked in silence for a few moments before the Elder ventured, "You said the soldiers came for Ruby. Is she…?"
Yang's voice softened in spite of herself. "She's fine. Same as ever. I made sure she stayed out of sight so even if the soldiers come back, they have no proof that she was even there unless someone else in Patch says something."
"I'll quietly spread the word, let people know not to talk if someone comes around asking," the other woman promised.
Eventually, the two of them reached the cottage near the mill. Elder Lily no longer ran the mill; she passed it on to her two sons after her husband passed away, but she still lived in the cottage. Her sons had expanded the place to fit their families. From what Yang heard, it was a tight squeeze but they managed somehow. It helped that Lily Miller was a natural peacekeeper, if somewhat strict. It was why she was one of the few women who had been chosen as an Elder. The Elders were a council of older folk elected by the villagers, who oversaw village disputes and organized festivals and other gatherings. They also managed trade agreements and were the main point of contact if someone needed to report a Grimm sighting in the area.
Yang escorted the Elder up to the gate, opened it for her, and even closed it after the older lady was safely on the other side.
"I can't entice you to stay for a cup of tea at least?"
Yang shook her head. "Too many things to do today."
The old lady pursed her lips. "Well, wait here for at least a few minutes. I've a jar of strawberry preserves and a loaf of fresh bread to go with it. You can share them with Ruby."
Yang leaned against the fence to wait. "You spoil her."
"She deserves to be spoiled. And you. I'm sure there's a small keg of ale that I can scrounge up. Be back in a jiffy." The older lady disappeared into the cottage and was back before Yang even had time to stretch.
Yang accepted the offerings with a quiet word of thanks. She had long given up refusing gifts from this particular Elder. Even now if anyone wanted to give something to the sisters, they tended to leave whatever it was with Elder Lily, knowing the old lady would find some way to talk Yang into accepting it.
"Elder…" Yang began but was promptly interrupted.
"None of that, child. I may have been acting as an Elder earlier, but right now, I'm just Lily Miller."
"...Grandma Lily," Yang corrected herself after a moment. They weren't actually related, but Lily Miller had babysat Yang often enough as a child to earn a place in the family.
"Yes, child?"
Yang shook her head inwardly at the almost smug look on the older lady's face. She dropped her voice for the next bit. "I should warn you that with soldiers hanging around, I think me and Ruby should make ourselves scarce for a while. We found a job. Don't know if we'll take it yet but it's there, and if we take it, we might be gone a while. I just wanted you to know. If I don't show up in the village again in a few days, you'll know we've left."
Lily frowned worriedly. "I'll let the other villagers know after the ruckus has settled down a bit." She eyed Yang searchingly before she asked softly, "Will you be coming back to Patch?"
Yang froze.
Lily scoffed at her reaction. "Child, I've known you since you were in diapers. You've never been this formal with me when telling me about a job. It doesn't take a genius to know something's amiss."
Yang muttered something to herself before she blew out her breath and answered. "I don't know. I just…" She didn't know how to put this. She had never been great with words, not serious words anyways. Everyday stuff she could handle, but emotional stuff was harder for her to say aloud. Unless she was talking with Ruby, of course. Ruby was special. Still, Yang did her best to try to organize what she wanted to say and when she finally thought she was ready, she straightened to face the older woman.
"I never thanked you. Uncle Qrow told me that you were the one who offered to take me and Ruby in when our parents passed away. We never took you up on the offer, but even then you came up to check on us all the time after that. And then that time when Ruby got sick—"
Yang stopped, trying to get her thoughts in order. She had been so scared that day. Uncle Qrow wasn't around so Yang had wrapped her little sister in a blanket, strapped her to her back with another one so that she wouldn't fall, and had piggybacked the feverish child all the way down the mountain to get help. Lily Miller had been the first one to notice Yang carrying Ruby and had rushed them to the old man who served as the village healer. She had even spent a few days at their cabin, helping Yang tend to Ruby until the girl's fever finally broke.
Apparently the older woman was remembering that day as well. "Is she still...?"
"Uncle Qrow finally found some medicine that seems to help. She still gets her fevers every now and then, but they're manageable now. She's fine."
"Thank Dust for that."
Yang just nodded. "Thank you. For everything. I just wanted to tell you...make sure you knew. We're thankful, both of us. Just in case."
Just in case we never come back.
Yang could see the comprehension in the other woman's eyes as clear as day. Thank Dust that the other woman wasn't much for long, drawn-out sappy conversations either.
"Safe travels, Yang. And tell Ruby that I'll miss you both."
"Yes, ma'am." Nothing more needed to be said between the two of them so Yang took her leave as she always did with the best smile she could manage considering she was still in a mood and a wave.
When Qrow Branwen came out of the Riders' Keep and laid his eyes on his golden-haired niece, he knew a firestorm had been brewing. The only question was, how much damage would be done before it finally burned itself out. His oldest niece was shimmering like a heat wave. Little sparks of light drifted from her radiant mane of hair like embers dancing off an open flame. He could feel the heat radiating off of her even from across the courtyard. Still, he thought as he eyed the girl, seems like she's been angry a while so she's starting to cool down some. If she were still really angry, there wouldn't even be a drop of moisture in the surrounding air. Offhandedly, he wondered who the idiot was that pissed her off so badly. And then he wondered if they were still alive. Regardless, he didn't envy them in the least.
"Hey, Firecracker," Qrow said in his usual gravelly voice as he sauntered across the yard. He kept his voice soft and light, knowing that it was the best way to deal with Yang when she was in a temper.
Yang glared up at him once, her crimson eyes so much like his when she was like this. So much like her mother's. No, not her mother. The vessel that had given birth to her—not a mother. A mother would have stayed with her family, a family that needed her. Qrow could have almost forgiven her if she had at least taken Yang with her when she disappeared, but then again, Qrow wasn't sure if Yang's father, Taiyang Xiao Long, would have survived losing both his child and the mother of his child. He sure as hell didn't survive losing Summer. Qrow had told Yang and Ruby back then that their father had died in an accident, but he had his doubts. And if he had his doubts, there's no telling what a smart girl like Yang would have thought.
Yang was better than all of them combined. Where they all allowed themselves to get crushed by grief when they found out that one of their best friends and teammate (and for Tai, his wife) was never coming back from what should have been a routine Grimm hunt, nine-year-old Yang had stepped up to make sure her barely three-year-old baby sister had someone to take care of her even though she, too, had just lost a mother.
That time remained one of Qrow's greatest regrets. Once he had found out about Summer, he couldn't bring himself to stay in a place that had so many memories of the three of them, Tai, Summer and himself, doing their best to raise first Yang, and then Ruby. He couldn't stay because it was the first place he'd ever truly felt at home and without Summer, it felt as though someone had doused the hearth, leaving not even the memory of light and warmth. All he felt was cold grief and sadness. So he left. He ran off to take his pain out on monsters—to forget about being Qrow Branwen for a while and just live as a sword on the field of battle. A sword didn't need to worry about loss or grief. All it needed to do was stay sharp and cut through all that stood in its path. During the time he was forced to spend outside of battle, he always had his trusty canteen filled with whatever form of alcohol he could find to keep him company.
Leaving had been the worst mistake of his life. By the time he managed to pull himself together and drunkenly managed to make his way back to the cabin in Patch, he found his two nieces home alone and by the looks of it, they had been home alone for quite a while. Tai apparently had enough frame of mind to leave the girls some food before he left to who knew where, but they were on the verge of running out by the time Qrow came back. What if Qrow had never decided to come back? The thought still filled him with nightmares on occasion.
But Qrow couldn't stay, not with the Semblance that was both a blessing and a curse. He was a harbinger of bad luck—great for his enemies, not so good for his allies. Where his enemies might trip or stumble in a bout of bad luck during a fight, giving him an opening to strike, his friends might accidentally knock a candle over into a pile of kindling, setting a room partially on fire. True, Summer and Taiyang had just laughed it off, but what if little Yang or Ruby had been in the room? What if they'd gotten hurt? That wasn't something he was prepared to just laugh off. They were the closest thing to a family he'd ever have, and he was damned-well going to protect them.
So he had put aside his sudden urge to walk back out the cabin door to hunt down the man he considered his brother and give him the beating of his life before dragging him back to his two young daughters, and looked around for them. He hated what he saw before he found the two girls. The place looked like it had been abandoned for a while. A fine layer of dust covered everything that was out of reach for a nine-year-old girl. Dirty clothes had piled up in the laundry basket. The hearth looked like it hadn't been cleaned out in weeks. The woodpile was down to a handful of split logs. Thank goodness it wasn't winter or else the girls would have frozen to death. Eventually, he'd found the two girls curled up together under Summer's favorite white cloak in the loft where the family usually slept together. Little Yang had toddler Ruby wrapped in her arms, and the sight nearabout broke Qrow's heart.
He stayed as long as he dared, splitting wood, washing the girls' clothes, cleaning out the hearth, and dusting off the furniture. He even spent time with Yang, teaching her how to wash clothes, setting up a shorter clothesline for her so she could hang the wash safely, and showing her how to make simple foods like oatmeal and soup, among other things. He hated doing it—hated taking even more of Yang's childhood away from her by teaching her all the stupid responsible things Tai should have been doing for them—but until he managed to hunt Tai down or get someone else to help him care for the girls, they had to fend for themselves a little longer.
Unfortunately, Tai never pulled himself back together and at some point, Yang gave up on him entirely. Qrow could only watch it happen as he spent most of his time on hunts to bring back food and money, a fraction of it visiting with his nieces and making sure they were alright, and the rest of it trying to shake Tai out of his depression. When Qrow gave up on the man as well, he suggested to Yang that she and Ruby move down into Patch and had even talked to a few of the childless families to see if they would be willing to take the girls in. It had all been for naught, however, because Yang stubbornly refused to go, and when he suggested having someone only take Ruby in so that Yang would have less to worry about, both girls had caused such a fuss that he never brought it up again. If they hadn't been managing so well, he would have pushed the issue but in all honesty, the girls were doing just fine once he organized for couple of the other Riders to drop in from time to time to make sure the girls had whatever they might need.
Now look at them, earning a living through their own skills and even making time to go Grimm hunting with their uncle on occasion. Qrow got the shivers fighting alongside them. It was like his old team was with him again. Yang turned out to have her father's gift of martial arts and now could even give Qrow a run for his money if he didn't have his sword. He'd taught her the basics and what street fighting he knew, and the girl positively ran with it. She practiced, trained, and tested herself against anyone who was willing to take her on, and it showed. And of course, she was the spitting image of his sister, Raven. She might have had Tai's hair color, but everything else right down to her often explosive temper was all Raven. The rest of her personality though, the loving and nurturing side she only showed around Ruby was clearly Summer's gift to her adoptive daughter.
Then there was Ruby. Ruby was Summer, through and through, all warm, loving, and before that had happened, bright and cheerful. Even after those monsters had done what they did to her, she never lost that bright spark in her; it had been muted and dull for a time, but never lost. As soon as she managed to gain the courage to step out of the cabin again, Qrow taught her how to fight with swords and knives. She took to it like a duck to water, awkward and nervous at first, but soon swimming like she'd been doing it all her life. Summer had been passable with a blade, but she never had the same level of expertise her daughter gained. Summer's real talent had been with her bow, the same one Ruby used now, and Qrow would hazard a guess that Ruby had surpassed her mother in that as well.
Qrow gave himself a shake to break away from his trip down memory lane and leaned against the waist-high stone wall that surrounded the courtyard. Yang remained seated where she was, less than two steps away on the same wall, clenching and unclenching her fists as she worked through whatever had made her lose her temper.
Qrow sat quietly for a while, waiting to see if Yang was willing to speak up about whatever was bothering her, but apparently she was too incensed to even focus her thoughts. Finally he asked her offhand, "So, who do I need to kill?" Yang snorted at that in spite of herself. Good. That meant she was cooling down, however slowly.
After another long moment, the story came out, and not for the first time did he wish that he had a bottle of whiskey or something similar to down as he listened. Unfortunately, he'd given up alcohol the moment he and Yang had discovered the smell of alcohol could trigger Ruby's flashbacks. One of the monsters that assaulted her must have been drinking before he decided to go out and terrorize a ten-year-old girl. Ruby was doing better now—well enough that Yang could partake at home once in a while and Ruby would be fine—but Qrow didn't want to risk it. It had hurt knowing that the stink of alcohol on his breath and clothes had caused his niece to suffer and that the only thing he could do for her at that moment was take himself far away so Yang could attempt to calm her and bring her back. After that, he sold whatever alcohol he had in his possession, bought new clothes with the money, burned his old ones, and went Grimm hunting until he was certain every trace of of the stuff was gone from his system. The withdrawal symptoms had hurt—gods, they had hurt—but it had been worth it to be able to hug and accept hugs from Ruby again without forcing her to relive memories best left forgotten.
Quietly, Qrow listened as Yang recounted how soldiers had appeared on the girls' doorstep that morning looking for a "rogue" Faunus and how she had confronted the man responsible with a handful of villagers at her back. Privately, he was impressed. A younger Yang would have punched first and asked never if she thought she was in the right. Now, however, she was thinking. By dragging the villagers into the problem, she forced the man's deeds into the open, and no village would want to keep someone who would turn on them like that. He'd seen villages exile whole families for far less. It was pretty much a universal rule outside the walled cities: adapt and make nice with your neighbors or get kicked out. No village wanted to risk a Grimm attack. It was the perfect way to get rid of the man because the villagers of Patch would have to be utter fools to let him stay.
To add insult to injury, the man would probably be in for a rough time after he was kicked out of Patch. The people in rural villages might be simple, but they weren't stupid. Sure, they were friendly enough to travelers thanks to age-old unspoken hospitality laws. When the world was crawling with monsters that specifically targeted people, people learned real quick to be kind and helpful to travelers, mostly because one never knew when they might need the same assistance sometime down the line. In other words, people took the whole "what comes around, goes around" thing seriously. However, people were a lot more wary when it came to travelers who were looking for a new place to settle down. No town or village would want to risk letting someone who may have caused discord in his previous village stay, so those types of people ended up wandering a long time, often turning to banditry or thieving to survive.
That was when Qrow heard how the man probably discovered that Ruby was a Faunus, and suddenly he was seeing red. "You say this lowlife is still in town?" he growled.
"Yeah. Unless he decides to leave before the village meeting. I don't think he will though. He's just so...stupid. It was like nothing anyone said was getting through to him. I even flat out told him that Ruby was basically acting as a fully fledged Huntress, slaying Grimm to protect people, probably saving his pathetic life more than once, and all the while his brain was literally unable to process anything past the fact she's a Faunus. Like nothing she could ever do could make up for the fact that she wasn't born human."
Yang was clearly working herself up again. Sadly, Qrow had seen that kind of thinking plenty in his travels. Irrational, blind disgust or outright hatred towards the Faunus was more common than not in Atlas. It hadn't always been this bad. Twenty plus years ago, Atlas was pleasant enough that Summer felt comfortable settling in Patch and while she loved wearing that hooded white cloak of hers, she never felt unsafe without it. She would have been horrified to know that it was the exact opposite for her youngest daughter.
Qrow gave a heavy sigh. "Don't know what to tell you, Firecracker, except try not to let it get to you. There are always going to be people like that. You'd die long before you managed to talk sense into them, because their prejudice isn't always set in logic or reasoning."
"Then what's it set in?"
"A false sense of superiority. Some people can't live without putting themselves on a pedestal or comparing themselves to others. They want to feel superior—to be able to show to the world that they're better than someone else. So they take one small difference and make a mountain out of an anthill. Skin color, eye shape, rich or poor, human or Faunus, athletic or intellectual—if there's any kind of notable difference, there's someone who takes pride in that difference and uses it as a way to lord themselves over others. It's just the way of the world."
"Well, it's stupid and pointless."
"Right you are, but that's life." Qrow gave his niece a few moments to digest that before he said offhandedly, "So, this lowlife...he's the butcher you said?" That won him half a smile.
"Don't worry. I already scared him pretty good. I really wanted to rip him to pieces, but then Ruby and I wouldn't be able to stay here so instead, I just made him bleed a little. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but I did it. He even pissed the floor when I started setting things on fire."
"Good," came the calm reply, "but that doesn't mean I can't go and make him regret the day he was born a second time. Favorite uncle privilege and all that."
Yang snorted. "You're our only uncle."
This time it was Qrow's turn to snort. "You tell that to the other guys in the keep. Everytime I come back someone's asking me why you two haven't been by to visit, or heavens forbid, if I'm going for a visit could I bring this huge basket of stuff that's bigger than a horse to you two. It's like I'm a pack mule or something."
Yang's eyes faded back to lilac and her hair finally dimmed to its normal hues. "Awww…they like us."
"They like you too much. Seriously, if they don't cut it out, I'm gonna lose my top spot." Yang grinned and Qrow cracked one right back at her. "Now there's the smile I like to see."
Yang's expression dimmed ever so slightly, and she gave a gusty sigh as she stared out at seemingly nothing. "I'm just tired, you know? Why can't they all just leave Ruby alone? Hasn't she suffered enough? But everytime I turn around, I find someone else harassing her behind my back. I'm so sick of it."
Qrow didn't have an answer to that. "You're doing fine, Firecracker," he said at last, "You can't protect her from everything, and neither can I. But what you can do, you're doing already. You give her a safe place to return to whenever things get tough. You're there for her every day. You love her, and she knows it."
"Sometimes it just doesn't seem like enough."
"Trust me; it's enough. Sometimes it's the simple things that make all the difference."
"Is that what it was like for you?" The question caught Qrow off guard.
"Yeah," he said softly. "Tai and Summer knew I couldn't stay too long in one place so when I did happen to drop by, they pulled out all the stops and treated me like family. They even made me change your diapers."
"Hey!" Yang punched him on the shoulder, and he just chuckled at her red face.
Qrow wouldn't say it aloud. He'd been sappy enough already, but the thing he thanked his two friends the most for was leaving him with Yang and Ruby. They were the daughters he'd never have, and they gave him something to live for. To fight for.
"So," he asked, now that his niece was calmer, "not that I don't mind the visit, but what brings you all the way out here?"
Yang immediately jumped up from the wall and paced a bit. Huh. She must be unsure about something. Usually only Ruby made her show her insecurity. Qrow had lost track of how many times Yang had come to him with questions about whether she was raising Ruby properly—just like today, come to think of it. She was always worried that she wasn't doing enough where her sister was concerned.
Finally, Yang stopped and turned to face him. "A job came up, and I'm thinking about taking it, me and Ruby. It would give us a good excuse to clear out for a while in case the Schnee Guards come back looking for revenge."
"That's a good plan," he answered noncommittally though he could tell she wasn't quite done.
"Yeah, but the thing is, it's going to be a long one. We'd be going further than we've ever been. We probably won't be back for a long while."
That was a bit concerning. He frowned. "How far is 'further'?"
She hesitated. "Possibly as far as Vytal."
"The province or the capital?"
"Either. It depends on our employer."
Qrow let out a long breath. "That's pretty far, especially with winter on its way. And you're travelling by foot? It'll be snowing before you even get there."
"I know."
"Talk to me, Firecracker. What's on your mind?"
She blew out a breath. "I don't know—just, I don't want to be here anymore. I'm tired of this place. Nothing good has ever happened here."
Qrow could see why she felt that way. She'd been tested just as sorely as Ruby though she'd never admit it. She'd lost a lot here. Her birth mother. Her adoptive mother. Her father. Her childhood because she had to step up at take care of Ruby. Then Ruby had almost been taken away from her. It had been nothing short of a miracle that the younger girl survived, not only her injuries but the unlocking of her Aura as well.
"And you've always told us how life is easier for the Faunus outside of Atlas," Yang continued, heedless of her uncle's thoughts. "Ruby shouldn't have to hide away all the time like she does now. If there's a safer place somewhere out there where she can learn to relax and be herself, I want to take her there."
"There's always going to be racism, even outside of Atlas. You know that, right?"
"Of course, but it'll still be better than staying here. Ruby's going to be sixteen pretty soon. The provincial official who came to try to take her to the reservations last time took pity on her because she was still fourteen and let her stay, but I'm not naive enough to believe that the next person who comes around will be as lenient. People talk, and Ruby being a Faunus is pretty much an open secret in these parts. One day someone's going to let slip that she's still living here, and then we'll have to deal with people coming to pick her up or arrest her all over again. Now's as good a time as any to get out while we still can."
The girl wasn't wrong. Honestly, lately Qrow had been thinking along the same lines himself, moving the girls out of Atlas to one of the other provinces. With human-Faunus relations deteriorating so badly in Atlas, Ruby just wasn't safe here anymore. He just hadn't been sure how to bring it up. Yang would've understood the need to move, especially if Ruby's safety was involved. Ruby, however, was an entirely different story.
Ruby loved Patch, and Qrow had to admit the place suited her. He had followed her on one of her hunting trips once—staying out of sight, of course—and had been shocked at the change in her. Whenever she was around people or near civilization, she was this shy, awkward little thing, clearly nervous and always hiding behind Yang. In the forest, however, she was anything but insecure. There was a confident sense of grace to her as she moved through the trees, an arrow-straight focus that he only saw glimpses of when they went Grimm hunting together. And the girl could run. Holy Dust, could she run. Even with his unique abilities, Qrow was hard pressed to keep up with the little wolf, and she wasn't even using her speed Semblance unless she had to. She moved like the wind, effortless and agile as she darted through the trees and over obstacles as though they weren't there. It made him realize just how much she was always holding back when she was around humans. Or maybe, how much we're always holding her back. Sometimes he wondered if one day she would just run off into the woods and never return to civilization. If not for him and Yang, would she? She certainly had the skills for it. He should know; he was the one who taught them to her.
The other problem with moving the girls was that he wouldn't be able to go with them, at least not right away. He had a job to do, and he had to stay here to do it. Again, Yang would probably be fine with it, especially after he made sure she knew he'd come after them eventually, but Ruby...the girl didn't deal well with change of any kind. Even the littlest things could throw her off though she did her best to try and hide it from him and Yang. If they were lucky, she'd just have trouble sleeping for a few nights. If they were unlucky, she'd have trouble eating and start skipping meals on top of not sleeping.
Qrow must have been silent too long because at some point, Yang had turned to look at him and was clearly trying to read his expression.
He tried to think of what to say and finally decided to settle on the only thing that mattered. "Gonna be a lot quieter around here without you two rabble-rousers." Sappy and not at all his style, but somehow he had the feeling it would be a long time before he got to see either of his nieces again. It didn't sit right with him not to let them know he cared.
Yang's eyes widened in surprise. "You're not going to stop us?"
"Nope. You're old enough to make your own decisions, and it'd be good for you to see more of the world. I might've been worried if you were heading out alone but since you're not, I know you'll be fine. Ruby'll be there to keep you out of trouble, and I know you'll be there to guard her back. You've got a good head on your shoulders, too, and I'm proud of ya. Of both of ya. You've come a long way, and Dust knows you'll go far."
"Aww, Uncle Qrow…" Whoops. Didn't mean to make her all teary-eyed.
Slightly abashed, he wrapped a hand over her shoulder and squeezed comfortingly. He wasn't the hugging type, and Yang liked to give hugs more than receive them.
Something seemed to occur to the girl. "You wanna come with us?"
"Can't. I got work here to be done, but if you're not back by the time I'm finished, I'm coming after you. Pretty sure I'll have to bail you girls out at some point. You're like moths to a flame when it comes to trouble after all."
Yang snorted at that. "Alright. I'll make sure to cause plenty of havoc once we're out of Atlas so you know where to find us."
"Wouldn't expect anything less, Firecracker. Just go easy on the property damage. I ain't rich, you know."
"I'll think about it," his niece said with a wide grin.
He couldn't help but chuckle back at her. Yeah, he was going to miss them, alright. He wasn't really the praying sort of guy but, Tai? Summer? If you two are out there somewhere, watch out for your girls, will ya? Especially you, Tai. We both know you screwed up so here's your chance to fix things. Just look out for them and keep them out of trouble until I can get there. That ain't too much to ask, right?
He didn't know if the two of them could hear him wherever they were, but he hoped so. At the very least, he'd sleep better knowing someone was watching out for the girls. His girls. The sudden thought made him feel a little misty himself.
Look out for them, old friends, he asked again before starting to make his own plans to help the girls prepare for their journey.
A/N: I wanted to say that while both Yang and Qrow seem to vilify Taiyang, you have to remember they both feel a lot of anger and disappointment towards him—Yang because he was supposed to be someone she could rely on yet ends up being yet another person who leaves her; and Qrow because one, he expected more from his teammate/old friend and two, because Tai had something that Qrow feels he could never have (a real family) yet he throws it all away. However, by no means do Yang and Qrow's treatment of Tai's grief and depression reflect my own opinions on the subject (which you can get a glimpse of by rereading my ramblings at the end of chapter 4 of this story if you like). While I do plan to write this story on the positive end of the sliding scale of idealism vs. cynicism, I also want to be realistic. Sometimes bad things happen to good people, and the rest of us are left to salvage what we can from the pieces. In light of that thought, I think Yang and Qrow definitely rose to the occasion and did amazingly well considering their situation, don't you?