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Uncertain Path

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Change can divide the closest of friends

And bring together the bitterest of enemies.

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It was the middle of the night, when a pair of sisters shared their flashlight underneath the bedcovers. The younger constantly made excited noises, while the older read the storybook. Try as they might to keep quiet, their mother had long known they stayed awake past their bedtime.

To be fair, the two could have been near silent and the woman would still know.

Summer Rose listened to their small voices hush when she stopped outside their room. An affectionate smile drew her lips as she laid a hand on the door. Her fingers traced the wood grain. She was tempted to enter—to join her daughters in reading stories into the night and to the early morning.

Sense of duty stayed her hand.

And only barely.

Summer leaned her head against the door and muttered a few words of silent prayer.

"I love you both."

The woman steeled herself, and her grip tightened around her cloak's collar.

As she left, the Huntress pulled her hood over, always moving towards her next destination. Whether it was to fight for those who couldn't fight for themselves, or finding her ever elusive partner, she was needed elsewhere than here.

Tai will look after them, Summer thought solemnly, stepping out into the snow.

Her path took her away from home and away from the ones she loved. But it was the path she chose to walk nonetheless. For the purpose of a greater good—and also to bring back one more whom she held dear—Summer strode into the harsh blizzard alone.

…

Yang and Ruby strained their ears to listen for their mother's footsteps. When they were sure she was gone, Ruby tugged impatiently on Yang's sleeve.

The older turned the flashlight back on and illuminated the storybook's pages once more.

"Alright…Where was I again?" Yang yawned, trying to remember.

"It's the end, Yang! The end!"

"Okay, okay. Shh…"

Ruby covered her mouth with both hands. Yang couldn't help, but pause at how cute her little sister was. After ruffling her hair, Yang continued.

"So, the young warrior was defeated in battle. And because of her injuries, her friends left her behind. That was when the enemy found her and nursed her back to health," she summarized the story so far.

Ruby nodded silently, hands still covering her mouth.

"The warrior felt bad about being abandoned by her friends and ended up making new friends with the enemies she once fought. Then, when she finally met up with her old friends in the middle of battle…"

Ruby hung on every word as Yang read out the story's ending. The older sibling closed the book when finished. A moment of silence fell to reflect the somber ending to the tale.

Yang stared at the title cover with mixed feelings. The Young Warrior and Her Friends, it read.

"I forgot this one ended like that. It's pretty sad," Yang murmured.

Ruby nodded and curled up to her, burying her face in her side.

Maybe I should stop reading the stories with sad endings, Yang thought.

To cheer her sister up, she dashed out the covers to the large book shelf in the room. With flashlight in hand and standing on her tippy toes, Yang scanned the rows trying to find a different tale to lighten Ruby's mood.

Not being able to decide on one, she whispered back,

"Which one do you wanna hear next?"

"The Profane Princess!" Ruby piped up.

"Huh…? Isn't that one sad, too?"

Ruby tilted her head at the question.

"I just thought you wouldn't want to hear another sad one," Yang guessed.

"Hm? Nope."

"'Nope'? Even though, you cry every time?"

"I don't cry every time!"

"You don't have to force yourself."

Ruby pursed her lips.

"I know, but…" she fidgeted. "Mom said, the sad stories are just as important as the happy ones. Also, I like both kind."

"Yeah, you and mom like all the same books. Me and dad like the happy adventure ones more."

Yang picked the book titled: The Profane Princess off the shelf, and leapt back into bed. As soon as she landed, she realized how sleepy she was. It was only the first page, but her eyelids were already drooping shut.

"I don't think I can read anymore, Ruby…"

"Whaaaattt? But, Yaaaannnnggg!"

Ruby pounced on her, trying to shake her to stay awake. She took the flashlight and started shining it on and off in Yang's eyes. Even with this level of harassment, Yang's urge to sleep was winning out.

Before descending into restful slumber, she had one final thought.

I wish "The Young Warrior and Her Friends" had a different ending…

…

…

As soon as her consciousness faded, it reeled back with a violent rising to the surface. Yang felt Ruby on top of her again, still nudging. Light flashing on and off, making her more irritable.

She was now thoroughly annoyed.

"Cut it out, Ruby!"

Her right hand swung to stop her, but something was wrong.

Yang felt only emptiness when she reached out, and a cold reminder set in the pit of her stomach. Her throat tightened and a short *hicc* escaped her throat.

Ruby reached down and brushed Yang's tears away. When the girl calmed and began seeing more clearly, her heart stopped.

Sitting on top of Yang wasn't Ruby, but Neo. The small girl with half pink, half brown hair grinned mischievously. She then bent down to lick Yang's remaining tears.

"You—!"

Yang tried to punch with her good arm, but was held down with ease.

"Oh, finally awake, blondie?"

In the confusion, Yang only now noticed Mercury sitting at her bedside. His boots, crossed and resting next to her head. He had been opening and closing the window curtain to flash sunlight on her face.

Yang's anger flared. Her irises went visibly red. She wanted with everything to fight the two right now, but Neo kept her pinned. She could only growl the first thing that came to mind.

"What are you doing here?! Where's my dad?!"

"—Your dad's fine," a young girl's voice answered her from the other end of the room. "Concussed maybe, but he'll live. That is, if you cooperate."

Yang noticed the familiar looking girl with green hair leaning against the wall.

Her anger grew three-fold.

"Oh, come on, Yang. Don't look at me like that. It's been a while, and weren't we such good friends during the Vytal Festival? Well. Before you shot Merc's leg, that is," Emerald chuckled.

"…Ruby told me. It wasn't real."

"Hey! It was real to me!" Mercury complained. "Do you know how long it took me to retune it after you put a bullet through?"

"It took you two hours…" Emerald frowned.

"AND I had to show it to Masa," he shuddered.

Emerald rolled her eyes and approached the foot of the bed.

"Anyway! Yang! Babe! We need your help with a teensy something."

"What do you want?"

"First, we want to know if you have any way of contacting Ruby."

"I don't."

"Told you," Mercury said. "Little Red ditched her now that she's a cripple."

"Shut up. Don't mind him."

"…"

"Next question. Do you have any way of contacting Raven?"

"…Who?"

Mercury adjusted his feet and crossed them again. When he did so, the audible sound of a gun cocking could be heard.

"You don't have to lie. Not to us," Emerald said in a sarcastic, consoling tone. "We know Raven's your mom. She saved you from Neo and the resemblance between you two is, well…" she smirked. "We're not stupid. Best if you don't treat us like it."

"…I don't have any way of contacting her."

"Hmm. Sounds at least half true. What do you guys think?"

Neo nodded her agreement.

"Raven's probably keeping tabs on," Mercury added his input. "Doesn't look like it works the other way around. Still, if we leave some dead bodies and a house burned down, it should send the message—and Raven'll come running."

"What's the point in pissing her off, idiot? You think she'll answer our questions about Cinder if we deep-six her daughter? Not to mention we might not even live after she's done with us."

"We can take her."

The two noticed Neo shake her head vigorously with a rare expression of fear.

"What do you want with my mom?" Yang interrupted. "What about Cinder?"

"We need Raven to tell us how to reverse whatever Ruby did to her. And you're going to help," Emerald explained.

"Fat chance."

"We'll kill you."

"I don't care."

Emerald paused at Yang's cold and immediate response.

"…We'll kill your dad."

Yang fell silent for a moment.

"No, you won't."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because he's not here." Yang eyed the clock in the room. "He's usually out at this time. You lied about hurting him."

Emerald gave a long-drawn sigh.

"This is going to be more annoying than I thought. You two—" she pointed to Mercury and Neo. "Give us the room, will ya? Me and Yang need to have a little heart to heart."

Mercury offset his brow to show his skepticism. Eventually, he shrugged, stood, and walked out the room. In contrast, Neo puffed her cheeks and bounced obstinately on Yang's torso.

"Neo. Pleeeaase. I promise you can have Yang all you want after we're done talking."

Neo threw her a narrow scowl before shuffling off. She poked Emerald's chest with a bossy finger, communicating her intentions.

"She'll still be in one piece. Thief's honor."

Neo pouted once more, as if to say, Fine, and left the room. As soon as she was gone, Emerald and Yang exhaled a sigh of relief.

"Now that the distractions have left, let's have a nice honest chat. Just you and me."

Yang sat up. "Nice and honest? You've been lying to us since the day we met."

"And now I don't have to! Thank god, cause that whole, 'let's be friends and compete together to the best of our hearts' cover was giving me ulcers. Seriously, just how can you guys be so happy all the time?" Emerald paused. "At least back then, anyway," she ended with a scoff.

"So, this is the real you?"

"Disappointed?"

"Not really."

"Good. Wish I could say the same."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Let me be clear about one thing, Yang. I hate you. And your little friends. And your school, your teachers, the Kingdom. Actually, most everybody in general—"

"Your point?"

"But as disgustingly happy-go-lucky as you were, you're so much harder to stomach now. My eyes feel like they're vomiting pity."

"…"

"Hey. Nice and honest conversation, remember? I might be skimping on the nice part."

"I hope Neo stabs you."

"Now, now, Yang. Let's not say things we don't mean." Emerald straddled into the chair Mercury was sitting in, and crossed her arms on the back rest. "We need Raven to tell us how to save Cinder. To do that, we need you as leverage. So we can drag you to her caged, muzzled, and shock-collared, OR walk you out with just a leash. Your choice."

"You think I'd go with you willingly?"

"Honestly? I think you should be begging us. Especially if it means meeting Raven."

Yang only stared silently at Emerald.

"Come on, like it's not obvious! Of course, you want to meet the mom you've never known. She's your mom!"

"I don't," Yang looked away.

"Lies."

"I had a mom, and it wasn't her."

"Ah, yeah." Emerald snatched up a picture frame sitting on the window sill. It was an old photo of Summer holding an infant Yang and Ruby in each arm. "The fairy stepmother. Maybe if she was still around, you could fight off the urge. But she's not around, is she?"

"…"

"We were spying on all of you, remember? We did our research."

"…She doesn't want to see me."

"Don't be stupid, Yang. Of course, Raven wants to see you. She'd probably welcome you with open arms if you legitimately wanted to join the dark side."

Yang looked down at her hand and grasped her bed covers.

"So you think if you deliver me, she'll repay you by saving Cinder."

"Something along those lines."

"How do you know she can?"

"Raven knows a lot of things. Even if she doesn't, she knows someone who does. Worst comes to worst, we do things the hard way and hunt Ruby down. Make her reverse whatever she did. Qrow's with her, but we can work around that."

Emerald paused and put a finger to her chin in fake thought.

"Huh. I wonder what would happen if Neo met your little sister again. Wouldn't be pretty, I bet. She is the one responsible for what happened to Torchwick."

"All this for your boss who might not even be alive?"

Emerald immediately smashed Yang's picture frame on the floor.

"She's alive!" Emerald yelled. "Cinder's still alive…!"

Yang was struck silent by the girl's sudden outburst, while the other took a few breaths to compose herself before continuing.

"She's alive. And Mercury and I are going to bring her back. Doesn't matter what we have to do or what enemies we have to make…" She glanced at Yang. "…Or what allies we have to make. We're getting Cinder back."

"What…is she to you?"

"—Everything," Mercury answered, standing in the open doorway. He came when he heard the sudden commotion. Neo wandered in beside him.

After looking into the eyes of Emerald and Mercury, for the first time since they began talking, Yang didn't question their motives. No one could fake the way they were behaving now. She couldn't believe it at first, that they were willing to do so much for another person's sake.

When Yang learned what they did at Beacon, it was easy to paint them as pure evil. Ruthless cowards, who hurt others for selfish reasons. She may have even considered them nothing better than the Grimm.

But they were people. People who cared dearly for someone and did things on their behalf. Horrible things, yes. But the difference wasn't as clear as she would have liked. What would she do, who would she hurt, if it was for the ones she loved?

And then, came a more depressing thought.

Compared to Cinder, who had people display such unflinching loyalty, what did it say about Yang's former teammates? Her so-called friends who were nowhere to be seen. Not a whisper, not a word of goodbye or personal apology when they left. None here to help her in her time of need.

"I know what it's like, Yang," Emerald moved to sit beside her. "More than the heiress, more than your pet cat, or your fake sister—we understand you. You'll never hear me repeat this, by the way."

Emerald took a deep breath.

"I've been where you are. Angry, lost...looking for something I wasn't sure existed. And just like you will, I found what I was searching for," she grasped Yang's chin. "I found it in Cinder."

"…"

"It all feels so hopeless and stupid until you find that one person. That one place in your life where you truly belong."

"I already have a place I belong."

"Where? Here? This?" Emerald gestured to the room in disbelief. "Your friends? I wonder if you ever fit with them in the first place! I can only imagine how much it eats you to feel like you don't belong in your own home, with your own family."

"…"

"How long are you going to keep your life on hold? You've wanted to be out there since you were little. You wanted to meet Raven. Ask her questions. Life, identity stuff. Whatever!"

Emerald noticed the picture frame of Team RWBY on the nightstand, which was turned away.

"You think you can do it being the goody-goody with your team of girl scouts—who, by the way, are WHERE, might I ask? Let's set aside the fact they weren't willing to carry your extra baggage. You think Raven would even talk to you if you showed up with Ruby and your friends?"

"…"

"You know I'm right, Yang," Emerald pushed. "Come with us, and we'll get you where you need to go. You'll find the answers you've been looking for your whole life. Something you can't get the way you are now."

Yang fell silent. Her head lilted forward with her bangs hiding her expression. Shallow breaths could be heard as her shoulders heaved.

"We'll make you whole—in more ways than the obvious." Emerald stroked Yang's missing arm.

She flinched away.

"…There's no way I'm helping you."

Neo and Mercury prepared to take her by force.

"Not unless you tell me everything. And I mean everything," Yang went on. "What you know about my mom, your plans, how you set up what happened at Beacon, what you did to me—everything. And also…about Cinder."

An image suddenly surfaced of a powerful, noble girl with scarlet hair. A strong and fearless figure. Someone who symbolized everything that was good.

"And Pyrrha…Why you did that to Pyrrha. Don't think I'm looking past that. Not ever."

Emerald and Mercury shared a brief glance, as if exchanging thoughts. Then, turned back to her.

"Fair enough," Emerald scoffed. "We'll give you your answers. Probably'd learn all this if we traveled together anyway. So, sure. Why not?"

As Emerald and Mercury iterated their side of the story, explaining things about Cinder and how things came to be, Yang sat in silence and listened. Nowhere in their words were there hints of lies. And it all flowed out so easily and naturally, it could only be the truth.

It was strange.

Yang thought she would be angrier after hearing everything. Or at least have some kind of outburst on the revelations.

Instead, she simply listened, took it all in with an even mindset.

In the depths of her conscience, something stirred. A calling she buried for so long. It wasn't entwined with an emotion per say, but more an instinctual need, like thirst or hunger. Her soul beckoned her to move—to walk the road taking shape before her.

As Yang stared to Emerald, Mercury, and Neo, she knew the individuals she once regarded as enemies, would be the ones she would now travel with down this long, uncertain path…

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X

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(Some weeks later, on the outer fringes of Vale.)

Standing along the ridge of a mountain, four figures looked to the approaching train in the distance.

"Is that it, princess?" Coco Adel asked, handing her binoculars to the one beside her.

"Stop calling me princess!" Weiss Schnee yelled, as she snatched the binoculars and held it to her eyes. "…The Schnee crest is painted all wrong on the sides," she confirmed. "It's them."

"Sounds good, moneybags. Looks like we're a go."

"'Moneybags'?! And who made you team leader?!"

"Look, you hired me for this gig with half my fee paid and half on the job done. Since I need to actually keep you alive, and to avoid any amateur screw ups, I'm in charge." Coco stood and motioned to her partner. "Go do a scout. Keep radio contact."

"Roger," Velvet Scarlatina saluted, then leapt off the side of the mountain. She began dashing like a speeding hare below until her figure disappeared among the trees.

As soon as the girl was gone, Weiss clasped Coco on the shoulder.

"We need to have a discussion after this."

Coco tilted her sunglasses down for a moment. She then, lifted Weiss' hand off slowly, but threateningly.

"If you think that's a good idea."

The two shared an intense glare for a while, before Coco moved to the edge of the ridge. Her briefcase unfolded into its Gatling Gun setting, as she prepared the ambush.

Weiss frowned at her former upperclassmen, now hired soldier, with a mixture of anger and sadness. She shook her head and moved beside the last member of their team still staring at the train. Not once did her teammate pay attention to Weiss and Coco's argument.

"What's wrong, Blake? You seem…lost in thought," she checked.

"Hm? Nothing, just…" Blake continued to look ahead with uncertainty.

"Yeeees?"

"Thinking. About a lot of things."

"Brooding. Again. And keeping to yourself."

Blake reluctantly turned to Weiss.

"Raiding a train. I have bad memories of trains. So much has changed, yet—" she sighed. "—some things haven't, I guess."

"…It's a smuggler's train, if that helps."

"Not really?"

"It was worth a try," Weiss shrugged.

Blake stared out into the scenery again.

"I wonder what Yang and Ruby are doing right now."

Weiss held Blake's hand and spoke close to her.

"Anything far from all this, I hope."