Reclaiming in Black

by Vorlonos

Remnant's Reclaimer with my OC thrown into the mix.

8. Drama, and Memories

Reclaiming in Black

Chapter 8: Drama, and Memories

---

It has been a few days since Ozpin hired Qrow, Ruby, and Tai-Yang. Each had been extremely busy. Between strategic meetings for the assaults on Cinder's power base, writing lesson plans and gearing up to take on their new positions not much time had been spent socializing. Teaching was a full-time job, never mind planning a war in what spare time they had.

It was similarly busy for team RWBY. As much as they might have wanted to speak to Rose, or in the case of the two siblings, their father and Qrow, they couldn't. Beacon was the most highly lauded combat school in the entire world. It was also without a doubt one of, if not the most intensive. They were beset by copious amounts of difficult, grueling work, physical or otherwise.

So the days blurred past, in between the shuffling of papers and whispers that planned a better future. Not much of note had occurred if you were to take a cursory look. But if you were to search deeper…

Well, Yang had certainly not been idle.

A lot of people thought that Yang was constantly explosive, a high-intensity personality that closely mimicked the flames of her semblance. What people often forget is that fire is a complicated, almost organic thing. It was free and wild. And while yes, this might lend shallow credence to their theory really, what it really does is disprove it.

Fire comes in many forms and often acts in many strange ways. Different fuels produced different flames, much like Yang's determination would rise to differing challenges. It can become altered according to its environment. Yang would often improvise and adapt, a skill she was proud of.

Most of all, however, fire comes in many levels of intensity. When people think of flames, they often think destruction and recklessness. Whilst Yang did have a predisposition to both those things, it was by no means her entire personality. She was also regularly thought of a sense of warmth and dependability, a soothing balm to her friends and family. She could burn, but she could just as easily heal, as was in her nature.

What most people don't know, or expect, is Yang's approach to romance. They assume with her cocky confidence and flirtatious attitude her approach would be rather bold. Undoubtedly, this was a part of it but by no means the whole. She wasn't all flash and scorching intensity.

No, when it came to honest romance, expressing true feelings, Yang burned slow. She didn't try for the sweep you off your feet passion that so many trashy novels espoused. Ardour that burns that hot often burns itself out just as quickly. And if she had genuine feelings for someone, she wasn't going to risk something like that. Instead, it was something altogether more intense.

It is light touches, lingering looks and secret smiles. It's simple words with hints of promise. It is genuine encouragement, camaraderie and caring. A slow building heat built by her very presence, till thoughts of her filled your mind and the meager physical contact you do share, is no longer enough.

It is slow, genuine, and all-consuming; a series of sparks fanned into a forest fire. Every show of affection was another gust of wind or a tree felled by her encroaching advance. She burns slow, so that simple warmth became a fire in your heart without you even realizing.

And that is how Yang romances.

Yang is having a good week. Ever since her talk with Rose, she has been stuck on her feelings toward Weiss. She is not completely above admitting that initially, it seemed rather physical. Weiss is a beautiful woman and Yang doesn't feel guilty about being attracted to her.

What surprised her was there was more to her feelings. There had been moments where she had seen there was more to Weiss than was visible at first, second or even third glance. The girl appeared honestly imperturbable and implacable, wearing an icy mask of indifference and downright hostility. But there is more. She got her first glimpse when she saved her sister during initiation, her small speech afterward marking the real beginning of her partnership with Ruby.

The second came not long after. Weiss had been obviously unhappy when Ruby was named team leader. The entire first day had been something of a disaster, what with Mt. Schnee ready to erupt at a moment's notice. And erupt she did. Her furious outburst toward Ruby had been extremely harsh but Yang had restrained herself and not said a word, mostly because Weiss was right. Ruby would need to overcome her flaws and set an example if she was to be an effective leader.

That wasn't to say she had ignored Weiss' own flaws, her jealousy and arrogance had really needled Yang. She had been preparing a tongue lashing of her own when Weiss had come into the dorm so late that night. But when Weiss had approached Ruby offering a genuine apology, encouragements, and coffee? Yang bore silent witness to the rather cute bonding moment between her sister and the heiress, being just as surprised as Ruby when the icy girl had admitted to always wanting bunk-beds as a child.

After that there had been more, shimmering beneath the facade. Providing her notes for Blake when the quiet girl had fallen ill after she had some bad salmon, helping Yang bandage some cuts after a particularly intense sparring match with Ren and sometimes even tutoring the entire team on the usage of dust in magic! As much as the girl could be absolutely frigid, she held a tentative level of caring toward her teammates. Yang suspects that her shyness and inexperience had a lot to do with her inability to relay her positive feelings toward her new friends.

It was moments like these that really stuck with Yang, and she really liked what she saw beneath the surface of the white-haired heiress. This was probably why she quickly found herself floundering under her rapidly growing feelings for the girl. Her intentions of showing interest and affection in order to plant the seeds of romance in Weiss' mind had... sort of backfired.

At first, Weiss had been skittish when it came to the smallest of touches, as she was wont to do. And her replies to Yang's attempt to endear herself to the Schnee had been less than encouraging. Yang thought she was acting perfectly fine, she had always been one to show affection physically and had been doing so to Weiss (albeit in smaller doses) since they ended up on the same team. And it seemed to be working.

The last few days Yang had taken to touching Weiss more, in small gestures mostly. And Weiss was reacting positively. She didn't freeze when she lay a hand at the crook of her elbow to get her attention, nor when Yang would 'accidentally' brush hands or something equally innocuous. Yes, she sometimes barely acknowledged Yang when she was in contact with her, but not once did she rebuff or berate her.

Something she discovered was that Weiss was literally cold, something about bad circulation or some such.

Yang exploited this viciously. Through subtle uses of her semblance fire, she made her touches very, very warm. Seeing Weiss lean subconsciously lean into her warmth more than once was gratifying, but watching her drag slender fingers across areas where Yang had purposely left lingering warmth hours later? That was electrifying.

Last night she had even hugged the girl, and Weiss hugged back. According to Ruby, who bore witness in stunned silence, Weiss was not one to hug back. But she had, after only momentary pause. Yang's rather flimsy reason that Weiss seemed a little tired and cold had been mostly an excuse, but apparently also true. Weiss had leaned into the moment of quiet support meant to defrost her own icy demeanor but had inadvertently melted Yang's heart a little, cheesy as it sounded.

It was heartening for Yang to see such progress so very quickly. Weiss was by no means going to win any awards for most caring personality, but her attitude toward the team was becoming much more positive. She had honestly not expected for her to change, to display her softer nature so easily. It brought back things that Rose had mentioned, things about Weiss leading a sheltered life.

Weiss was more lonely than she would like to admit, but Yang would change that if she could.

In light of all this, all these wonderful things she was doing for her teammate (and not all for selfish reasons) Yang thought she could get away with one little favor, right?

She was just borrowing a towel, after all.

"You blonde oaf! What possessed you to take my towel? You were provided your own on the day we arrived, just as I was!" Weiss barks, pummelling a dainty fist against the bathroom door.

"Yeah, but mine's in the wash!" Yang hollers from behind the locked portal.

"You should have thought of that earlier!"

"It slipped my mind. I had hand-to-hand and I just really needed to get clean, Weiss."

"Yes, but why did you take my towel?!"

"What's the big deal?"

"It's unsanitary!" Weiss hisses, slapping her palm against the door.

"I don't know how you use towels, but I use them after I've taken my shower." Yang snarks lightly. Weiss glares at the door, willing it and the occupant within to burn to ash.

Unfortunately for her, this doesn't happen.

"Why don't you just use your semblance to dry yourself, Xiao Long?"

"Ah, Xiao Long again, am I?" Yang remarks with a laugh from inside the bathroom. When there isn't a response she decides to answer the question. "Because I just conditioned my hair, and I don't want to dry it out."

"Your semblance dries out your hair?" Weiss questions curiously, surprised at that little tidbit.

"Well yeah, it's just hair, heat will dry it out. Why do you think I go so crazy when it gets damaged? I have to work really, really hard to keep it in good shape. I've always had long hair, and I didn't want to give it up, so I put a lot of effort in to keep it healthy." Yang explains.

"Oh." Weiss exclaims, surprised at the fairly reasonable rationalization of Yang's berserk fury when her hair is harmed. It's still rather excessive, but now that Weiss can see why should act the way she does, it is more understandable. She pauses in her thoughts, then shakes her head. She had been sidetracked. "We were talking about my towel."

Suddenly, the door swings open and Yang is standing there, with Weiss' towel firmly wrapped around her. "Yeah, I gue-WOAH!" Yang begins before Weiss takes her by surprise.

What Weiss had intended to do was snatch the towel as she turned to walk off, leaving Yang naked but in the bathroom. Perfectly acceptable. What had happened is that she underestimated just how firmly said towel was wrapped around the buxom blonde. With a yell, Yang toppled over, falling atop Weiss. They manage to land well enough to avoid injury, with Yang on top of Weiss who lay on her back. The same Weiss who was now holding the traitorous towel in her hand.

Yang was straddling Weiss' hips, and she could feel the familiar heady warmth of the brawler more intimately than she had ever before."My god, you're," Weiss starts before her eyes widen, taking in Yang's naked form. Her hair, still damp from the shower, sits in stunning ringlets that cascaded over her upper body, a darkened gold due to lingering moisture. Her heavily muscled arms, a testament to her monstrous strength, travel upwards in equally impressive shoulders. Those shoulders travel down into a surprisingly delicate looking collarbone, which leads down..."Gorgeous." Weiss breathes, eyes raking over Yang's body.

Yang herself sits in stunned silence, watching as a heavy blush springs up on Weiss' features. She was preparing herself to stand and for one hell of a tirade, which was why when Weiss uttered a husky compliment she felt unable to move, a distinct shiver traveling down her spine. The shivers increased as Weiss blatantly checked her out, hungry eyes taking in every detail. Yang felt her embarrassment skyrocket; she was confident with her body, but even she finds suddenly being naked in front of her crush a little overwhelming.

"My, my, dinner and show!" Blake says amusedly, nonchalantly taking a sip of her smoothie at the open doorway. Yang takes all of half a second noticing her before she jumps back into the bathroom with a yelp, slamming the door shut.

Weiss remains, lying stunned on the floor. Slowly, however, she becomes aware of just how embarrassed she is to have been caught in such a compromising a position. "I-it wasn't what it looked like!" She stammers to Blake, who hums noncommittally.

"They always say that." She remarks.

"No! It really- we weren't doing anything untoward!"

"I agree. It seemed perfectly normal to me." Blake says lightly.

Weiss groans, burying her face into her towel. Her towel, which now smells like sandalwood and charred birch.

"Hey Weiss, can I um, can I have the towel back?" Yang calls out sheepishly.

Blake lifts an eyebrow at Weiss when the heiress meets her eyes, glancing downward at the towel which she had pressed to her face and body.

The cat Faunus didn't before know that it was possible for a human to go such a spectacular shade of red.

Rose was having a very amusing breakfast. First, Zwei had taken up guard next to Velvet, becoming her unofficial protector. It was very cute, as she had obviously grown very fond of the eccentric little hound and spoiled him mercilessly. Indeed, when he had chased off no less than three different bullies she rewarded him with his very own portion of bacon.

Zwei looked positively rapturous.

Second, team JNPR had ostensibly got into some mild trouble, as they were busy cooking breakfast in the kitchens with some of the staff. Everyone except Nora at least, who they had the good sense to sideline to cleaning the hall. Both Ren and Jaune were putting on a great showing, the male duo combining efforts to do some impressively theatrical pancake cooking. There were flips, there was fire and there was more than a little laughter.

Pyrrha on the other hand, looked like the apocalypse had come early and paid her a personal visit. Unlike Jaune and Ren who wore a simple apron and chef's hat, she wore what looked to be half the contents of the kitchen. Covered head to toe in flower and splotches of various other foodstuffs, her hair was also coming undone. All in all, she didn't seem to be having the easiest time. The contrast between her and her blonde crush was rather funny.

Jaune had at first not shown near the level of skill as his red-haired partner, and in fact never really would, despite his eventual immense skill. She was just as talented and had worked at it for longer, so that was just common sense. He might not have never have been her match with a sword, but in the kitchen, the invincible girl was outmatched. The Arc scion had a surprisingly gargantuan list of non-combat related skills, ranging from zoology to pop-and-lock dancing, but by far his most impressive was his abilities in a kitchen. He was a truly talented chef, whereas Pyrrha seemed to panic if he got three feet within a whisk.

Ren outclassed her in that area through simply being completely unflappable, courtesy of his life-long friendship with Nora. Not that his cooking skills were much better, but by simply following Jaune's flow he had found everything coming easily to him.

And Rose watched, chuckling happily at the antics of her old friends.

However, the third reason for her amusing breakfast would have to be her sister and her old partner. They hadn't been able to so much as look at one another before blushing slightly and turning away. Blake also seemed very amused by the byplay, her amber eyes glinting with mirth and a mischievous, knowing quirk to her lips. Ruby looks utterly confused. Rose really couldn't blame her, as she was just fifteen but honestly, it was obvious that something was going on.

"So what happened?" Rose asks bluntly, giving both Weiss and Yang a grin.

"Nothing." Weiss says stiffly, the blush resurfacing as she turns mechanically back to her breakfast. Yang takes a preposterously long draft of coffee, so Rose turns to Blake.

"Do you know?"

"Yes." Blake says, a little smugly, taking a sip of her green tea. Ruby looks askance at her, chewing her Pumpkin Pete's at Mach-speed before swallowing in a gulp.

"Do we want to know?" Obsidian asks. Blake turns to me with an almost imperceptible smile.

"What do you suppose, think she should hear the story?"

Both Weiss and Yang look horrorstruck at the thought, so Rose nods fervently. "Absolutely."

"I walked in on Weiss and Yang last night." Blake says plainly and Rose goggles at her, but Ruby looks confused. At her look Blake sighs, stifling a smirk, deciding she may as well go for broke. "Weiss and Yang were on the floor. Yang was sitting on top of Weiss."

"Well that is a little weird but..." Ruby says looking unimpressed, sipping at her glass of milk.

"Yang was naked."

Ruby's spit-take is glorious. Like a gross, lactose infused fountain. Rose can't believe her mouth is capable of shooting milk at such pressure. Even Blake looks slightly impressed. "N-naked?!" Ruby sputters, spinning in her seat to look at the two now heavily blushing girls. "Why were you naked?"

Obsidian freezes, looking up between Blake, Weiss, and Yang. His face red, then he seems to shift in his chair, and it dissipates.

Rose notices just how silent the surrounding tables had become. Eavesdropping at it's finest. Undoubtedly the ever inspiring Beacon gossip vine would have this story going around campus in minutes.

"It was an accident!" Yang says placatingly to her little sister.

"How do you get on top of a girl, naked, by accident?" Ruby says disbelievingly.

"I just wanted my towel back." Weiss barks by way of explanation.

"So you took off the only thing my sister was wearing?" Rose says with a smirk.

"No! Well, yes, but I didn't mean for her to fall on top of me." Weiss says, rubbing her temples lightly.

"I just sort of fell over." Yang says, tipping her hand from upright to flat indicatively.

"They weren't exactly in a rush to separate. I watched them for at least half a minute." Blake says with a now visible teasing smirk. Rose turns to her with a brow raised.

"You were watching two of your teammates in a possible sexual situation for that long?" Rose says with a chuckle. Blake blushes slightly, coughing into her fist. Obsidian, now just laughing silently to her left.

"I didn't take you for a voyeur, Blake." Weiss says icily, glaring at her raven-haired teammate.

"Are you saying that something was actually happening?" Rose interjects with a smirk.

"NO! For the last time, I wasn't having sex with your sister!"

"What's this I hear about you having sex with my daughter?!" Tai-Yang rumbles ominously, striding up to the table. Weiss actually balks a bit at his presence and Yang slams her head down onto the table.

"It wasn't me!" Ruby squeaks when her father turns his gaze on her. Tai-Yang visibly relaxes at this, going back to his usual slightly goofy demeanor.

"That's good, we wouldn't want you to get involved with this sort of thing, now would we?" He asks with a smile showing far too many teeth.

"Of course, sir." Weiss says instantly, back going straight. Blake nods seriously, hiding her nervousness behind her mug. Obsidian once again straight-faced, as he nods, with an evil smirk on his face. Yang remains face-desked, unwilling to deal with her father this early in the morning.

"It's too late for me, I'm afraid." Rose says dramatically, putting a hand to her brow. "I've already been... corrupted!" She wails despairingly.

Tai-Yang's face scrunches in distaste, looking as if he were sucking on something distinctly sour. "I've noticed."

Yang lifts her head from the table at this. "Noticed? Noticed how?" She asks curiously.

A proverbial light bulb appears above Rose's head and she grins, diving for her scroll. With a few quick taps, she brings up the photo Ozpin had sent of her father hoisting her discarded clothes in Glynda's office, with a laughing Qrow in the background. She slides it across the table to Yang, who snatches it up deftly. A few seconds pass and various things flicker across Yang's features. Confusion, then shock, then suspicion and then finally, humor.

"Is that Goodwitch's office, by any chance?" Yang says with a shit-eating grin.

"Yup. I got that the morning that Dad arrived at Beacon."

"Pffft." Yang snorts loudly, doubling over as her body is racked with laughter. The scroll, lying forgotten in her sudden fit of hilarity was then picked up by her disguised Faunus partner. Blake's eyes go wide as she looks at the picture before a small throaty laugh slips past her lips as well. She ignores the other feeling the picture elicits, the uncomfortable twisting in her stomach. Obsidian sits, shock premiering his face, going between humor and horror.

"Oh lemme see lemme see!" Ruby says, practically bouncing in her seat, trying to sneak a peek at the scroll. Blake tosses it to her lazily, and Ruby grabs it. After a few moments of inspection, she looks slowly up, meeting Rose's amused gaze and blushing furiously.

"Please don't tell me that's what I think it is." Ruby says weakly.

"Ok." Rose says, shrugging and smirking lightly.

Ruby looks between the scroll, to Rose, then back to the scroll, Rose again and then finally the scroll. "...It's exactly what it looks like, isn't it?"

"Oh yes." Rose says with a laugh. Ruby follows in her sister's footsteps and promptly face-desks, groaning lowly. Meanwhile, Weiss had apparently decided to sate her own curiosity and taken up the scroll.

"I've seen people eat at that desk." Weiss mutters with a disgusted face.

"Don't worry, I did some of that too." Rose says with a lecherous grin. Yang, who had been making her recovery, devolves once more into helpless laughter at Weiss' indignant shriek. Ruby groans louder, seemingly doing her best to meld her skull with the table and flipping up her hoodie to hide her embarrassment from the world. Blake has a small trail of blood leak from her nose, which she quickly dashes away with a napkin.

Obsidian, was burying his face in his hands, groaning, "Rose, some of us don't need to know this!"

"Enough, enough. I give." Tai-Yang says, waving his hands in front of his face. "I just need you to finish up so we can go." He says to Rose, who nods and starts finishing the last of her meal.

"Go?" Ruby asks from her hoody induced isolation, before sitting up and flipping it back down. "Where are you guys going?"

"We need to grab some gear for a mission." Rose says before she finishes her coffee.

"I was wondering if you were busy tonight, actually." Ruby asks.

"Ah, sorry Ru. We leave tonight and should be back around sunset tomorrow." Tai-Yang says, placing Ruby in a warm sidelong hug.

"Ah, okay! Well, we can still do something then, it is the weekend tomorrow after all." Ruby says with a smile.

"Sounds good, little Rose." Her adult counterpart says, standing up quickly. "Ready, dad."

Tai-Yang squeezes Ruby one last time before standing and facing Rose. "Alright, Qrow should be at the docks already."

"Good luck on your mission!" Yang says, wiping the last of her laughter from her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Godspeed." Weiss says with a nod.

"Good luck." Blake says softly.

"See you guys tomorrow!" Ruby says with a beaming smile.

Obsidian, waved silently.

"Ah thanks, ladies, but I don't need luck when I have dad!" Rose says with a smile, and Tai-Yang puffs up proudly. "After all, I hear he makes excellent bait."

Tai-Yang deflates, looking at Rose with a pout. "My daughter, why must you wound me so?"

"Don't worry dad, you're the prettiest bait I've ever seen." She says, patting him softly on the cheek. Tai-Yang snorts and rolls his eyes with a smile at his daughter.

"I'll just take that as a compliment."

Rose smiles innocently at him before her expression grows excited. "Come on pops, let's go kick some ass."

"Wait!" Yang calls before they walk away. "What's your mission?" She asks.

Rose gives her a feral smile.

"It's time we took the fight to the enemy."

---

The wind whipped through the side of the open hovercraft as it soared silently through the night air. Rose sits in silence, hair dancing lazily as if caught in a mild zephyr. As she is sitting, she runs through a series of meditational exercises crafted for the sole purpose of focusing her mind. She would check on Crescent Rose if she could, but the possibility of it falling out of the drop-ship was far too high for her liking. She'd never let that happen again, once was more than enough.

Glynda is in a similar state, undertaking her own pre-mission warm up. She flows her Aura through her body and her weapon, allowing it to pool up and then release. She feels the call of the Dust woven into her crop and her clothes to her Aura, a distinct resonance she has built over the years. Her body tingles with the otherworldly awareness that comes naturally to Dust adepts and Aura masters. Almost subconsciously she reaches out to the world around her, feeling it in a way that cannot accurately be described. How do you explain sight to a blind woman? Or sound to the deaf? She may as well attempt to count the stars in the sky... Wait, how in the world did her thoughts start running on such meaningless tangents? She really was getting more dramatic in her advancing age. With a small mental self-rebuke, she returns to her exercises, muttering a slew of uncomplimentary things about Ozpin being a bad influence on her.

Tai-Yang hums under his breath, singing along with the classic rock thrumming through his headphones. He builds his awareness, of the feel of his body, the world around him, and his own tempo using his music. He always felt more connected, more perceptive, when he had something that quieted his inner thoughts and nothing served that purpose better than song. He can feel it, in the still quality of the air, the loose preparedness of his muscles, and the steady beat of his heart. Tai-Yang is ready, so he sits and he waits.

Qrow is perhaps the most charged. Being the only trusted pilot amongst the team, he had gone through his prep time before take off but that had been hours ago. Whilst he found flying his ship relaxing, maybe even cathartic, it was not inclined to leave him in the shatter-sharp state of awareness he would prefer for a mission. But he wasn't about to complain. He'd done far worse in much drier conditions; he could grumble about his lack of meditation time to Rose later. Perhaps they could hire a pilot? Not that he was going to let anyone lay a hand on the Corvus. Hmm, he'd have to think on it.

"Rose, I'm in position." Qrow's voice sounds statically over her earpiece radio. Her eyes flicker from her hiding place, some bushes about one hundred meters away from the entrance of the White Fang storage compound. Hidden deep in the forest of Thousand Homes, no one would even dream of using such a hostile environment as a base. No one except Cinder, of course.

Thousand Homes is one of the most Dust rich sites in all of Remnant. Unbelievably massive veins of the precious resource lay just below the surface, a few even being of the much sought after self-revitalizing deposits. Dust, contrary to what some conspiracy theorists would have everyone believe, is not a limited resource. There are a few places in Remnant where the natural energies intersect, collecting it self-replenishing deposits of the essential energy propellant. Indeed, the Schnee Dust Corporation has made spectacular use of their vaunted regenerating mines, leading to many of their modern achievements.

To find and claim such a mine often leads to instant fame and riches. But only if the mine is claimed successfully. Unfortunately, finding a new vein in non-hostile territory was exceedingly rare, and chances that it was regenerating even if you found one are slim to none. In the past, settlers and adventurers alike have taken to making their way out into their world to stake their claim on the new territory. New territory like Thousand Homes.

Except Thousand Homes isn't new. Beneath the soft glow of the dark blue fir trees lay earth soaked with the blood of hundreds of thousands and the shattered remains of more settlements than one could hope to remember. Thousand Homes has had many names throughout the ages, each different but each with the same end. Ruin and slaughter. Word would spread of the destruction of a new settlement, a tragedy but a terrible fact of life for those who dwelled in Remnant. However, in time, memories would fade and Thousand Homes would once again be claimed under a new name.

And the cycle would repeat. Eventually, Hunters who had taken it upon themselves to solve the mystery of inexplicably vanishing settlements uncovered the dark story. So it was that Thousand Homes was given its final name, a stark reminder of the suffering of humanity under the Grimm threat. That despite the beauty of the rolling blue hills and the immense wealth contained within the land here rested an ancient and terrible malice.

Drakes.

Widely regarded as some of the most horrifyingly dangerous Grimm on Remnant, they were native only to Thousand Homes (luckily). Fiercely territorial and aggressive, even for Grimm, they actually avoided human contact except to slaughter any who would dare encroach upon their territory. They were, essentially, dragons. Even the youngest Drake was easily the size of a Deathstalker and twice as deadly. Even though they only number in the double digits, the Drakes of Thousand Homes have never been conquered.

And for good reason.

For a Grimm to be named is a terrible thing. Only those Grimm with recognizable and unique features were ever named, the type of features that come with vast age and countless battles. Only the direst of threats to humanity, the most monstrous of the dark horde were ever named. Happily, precious few of the legendary beasts remained. And even fewer of them had known locations.

Izhar was one of the few. With bladed claws sharpened on the bones of the greatest warriors, tooth, and tongue bathed in the blood of the innocent, with wings of an ebony so dark they leech the very light from the sky and eyes of sickly green fire, Izhar was the stuff of nightmares. The elder Drake, capable of the wholesale slaughter of entire armies. Magnificent in all its dread glory. Especially after his facelift by Abyssal, and his pension for making things breath fire, turning it into a nasty napalm dispenser.

And Rose is undertaking a black-op in its backyard. She signals her uncle to move forward, to begin their infiltration of the base. The plan was to get in, steal the Dust, move it to the Corvus and flee. At least that was the optimistic plan. The more likely plan was for Qrow and Rose to get as much Dust as they can to the ship before they are inevitably discovered (moving a tonne of Dust is noticeable) than they were going to call in backup.

That is where Glynda and Tai-Yang came in. They would take care of the Fang as quickly as they could, and once they were done they'd help load the Dust. Hopefully, enough Dust will have been stolen using this method before backup arrived for the White Fang.

It wasn't a complicated plan, but efficient in its simplicity. Unfortunately, Rose knew that no plan ever survives first contact with the enemy.

The White Fang guard holds his rifle over his shoulder lazily, with his back propped up by the wall. His uniform is too tight, he's cold, and he's tired. He doesn't even really understand why he is on guard duty in the first place. He knows he's a decent enough fighter, but what could he possibly do if he saw a Grimm? Run inside and tell everyone about it is all he could do, really. And if he saw even one Drake scale he was out of here faster than you can say 'I don't get paid enough for this shit'. A flicker in his peripheral vision causes him to come to attention.

He doesn't even have time to register the pain when the hand embedded in his chest clenches into a fist and pulps his heart. With a bloody wrench, Rose yanks her arm out of the now dead man's chest. He falls to the ground in a heap, like a puppet with its strings cut. Next to her Qrow flicks his scythe clean of blood. A decapitated body lay at his feet.

"Why'd I even bother to teach you how to use a scythe if you can do that." Qrow mutters, plugging his scroll into the White Fang guard he killed.

Rose shrugs lightly, flicking her hand free of blood and the lingering scraps of flesh. "It's quiet." She explains.

"The scythe is quiet."

"Your scythe is quiet, Uncle Qrow." Rose says with amusement. "With your semblance, your everything is quiet."

"Point." He concedes. "But how is killing people with your hand quiet or easy?" He asks with a raised brow.

Rose grins, lifting her hand and splaying her fingers. The glove she wears is a specialty piece she picked up in Vale. Colored a crimson red, with metal tipped fingers for claws and a cutting edge for the blade of her hand, it makes a moderately deadly concealed weapon. For most people that is.

Slashing her hand through the air with her semblance, she showcases her ability to Qrow. He doesn't even catch her arm in movement, just the flutter of petals and the change in position.

"So you use it in conjunction with your semblance?" Qrow questions, tapping a few buttons on his scroll.

"Yup."

"Why not just use a normal weapon and swing it the same way?"

Rose shakes her head lightly at him. "Swinging something bladed or heavy at that speed is a recipe for disaster. Luckily, I know my arm isn't liable to fly off at the elbow and brain my favorite Uncle. So I got a bladed glove to use."

"I appreciate the thought." He mumbles, fiddling with his scroll once more. "Your saying swinging something with your semblance makes it too clumsy?" Qrow clarifies.

"More or less. I can swing Crescent Rose at the same time I run with my semblance but trying to swing her with my semblance is too hard. I can't correct my blow or my balance at that speed, and it's really hard to keep a good grip on things. It's completely impractical to try and swing a weapon that way."

"But it makes a good assassination tool." Qrow says. "All you need is one swift, decisive strike, after all."

"Basically. It was either this or I grab a knife. I can't throw the sound of my scythe, like you can, so it's a little too loud for any sort of infiltration mission.'

"Good idea." Qrow says airily, then he grins as his scroll flashes. "Annnd done. I have an accurate layout of the complex."

"Goody." Rose says, rubbing her hands together and squatting down next to her uncle to look at the small display screen. After a few moments of observation, she finds what she is looking for. "Here, on the floor below us," She points at a largish room at the end of a passage. "I'm willing to bet that's an operations office."

"And the huge space on our level is probably where they're keeping the Dust." Qrow mutters. "What do you want to do? We haven't got a plan for an information raid."

Rose hums, tilting her head side to side. "It could be invaluable. Taking the Dust is only a delaying tactic, we don't actually need it - but I could find something important in the office."

"Go. I can take care of the Dust for now." Qrow says, standing up and unsheathing his scythe once more.

"See you in a few." Rose says, standing and striding silently into the White Fang compound. It's completely dark, devoid of any real light source. A common tactic for the White Fang, considering they were made up almost exclusively of Faunus, a race with night vision as a primary trait. She'd learned to manage, however. She would never have the same level of sight that Faunus could boast, but she wasn't blind in the dark.

She slips silently down the hall, breathing lightly of the cool damp air common to most underground complexes. The uniform concrete walls blend into monotony as she glides in between the shadows. Often when a passage breaks off she hears people, a few mess rooms and some sleeping quarters. She studiously avoids going close to those. Spotting a small alcove she darts inside, pulling out her scroll and checking her map.

A set of stairs not far from her would lead her down to the second level. From there it was two rights, a left and then the office at the end of the hall. Standing silently she makes her way to the stairs, pausing and hiding behind a wall when she spots a man and a woman playing cards just outside staircase. The sound of faint laughter carries in the still air.

Spinning out of her hiding place Rose blurs forward using her semblance. Her arm crashes through the Aura of the woman first, spearing through her back, but her momentum is not spent and her blow continues onward. The bladed glove meets its target in the man's sternum. Rose hovers above the two forms pinned onto the floor by her arm. The woman is gasping, lying atop the man and scrabbling futilely in an attempt to right herself. The man coughs, his brown eyes dimming with pain, shock, and rapid blood loss.

Rose frees herself, scanning the halls around her for any signs of alert or movement. She hears the panicked breathing of the woman and turns in time to see blood bubble up from the mortally wounded fox Faunus' lips. She continues to claw, arms shaking trying to move. The man, apparently a wolf Faunus, turns to her slowly lifting his own weak limb and placing a hand on the woman's face. He brings his lips to hers in a slow kiss, murmuring something inaudible to the woman against her mouth. The fox Faunus seems to calm, returning the sweet kiss despite the blood gathering on her lips.

Rose isn't sure how much time passes before both forms stop moving, their last breaths splaying across the face of their partner as they still in one another's arms. Stifling the vicious wrench of guilt building within, she leaves with one last glance at the lives she had destroyed. Hands intertwined, they don't so much look dead as two lovers resting. The pool of blood building tells a different story.

Rose bounds down the stairs, taking four at a time with nary a sound. She presses herself against the door leading out to the level of the office. Opening it slowly her eyes flicker with incredible speed around her environment, but she doesn't spot any movement at all.

The passages are empty, even as she moves along walls in order to minimize any chance of her being spotted. She bypasses the open doorway of a nearby room, leaving her looking down the passage to the office.

Three male Faunus stand conversing outside the office door. The shortest of the three had his back to Ruby, facing his two taller counterparts. With a deep breath, she readies herself, gathering her Aura in preparation of her semblance. In a burst she moves forward, covering the distance between her and the shortest guard in mere moments, far too quickly for the guards to follow effectively. Her fingers jar slightly as she slices through his Aura, severing his spine at the base of his neck with a swipe of her hand. The second guard was in process of reaching for his sword when Rose delivered a jumping, diagonal slash from hip to neck. Her jump carries her to the roof overhead and she lands against it in a crouch.

"WHAT T-" The last member begins to shout before he is silenced by Rose. Her jump from above roof sends her barreling into the last guard, skidding across the floor with her hand in his abdomen, clenching his spine. With a vicious twist akin to snapping a wet reed, she breaks him, leaving him paralyzed or dead on the floor.

Rose's face is pinched with disgust as she wipes the worst of the gore on the guard's pant leg. Standing smoothly she turns and walks into the office, drawing Crescent Rose just to be safe. If there was anyone in there they would have definitely heard her scuffle with the guards. With a quick twist of the doorknob, Rose opens the door and takes the plunge.

Qrow is growing increasingly anxious. The route to the Dust had been guarded heavily, but not anything beyond his abilities. With his semblance's power of sound relocation, and his own not so inconsiderable talents of stealth he had the situation well in hand. More often than not, the guards were cut down without even a hint of his presence.

He'd then proceeded to take the most valuable Dust crystals and place them in traveling cases, as well as loading barrels of powdered Dust onto shipping pallets. It was smooth sailing and he was glad for it. At this rate, it was getting more and more likely that the mission would be completely stealthy.

That is, of course, before he heard gunfire. He'd tensed briefly, hoping that Rose would be able to handle the guards that had found her. But oddly enough, he didn't hear any answering gunfire. Which was strange, Rose would undoubtedly use Crescent Rose if she had been discovered - throwing stealth to the wind.

But then he heard the screams. He was a veteran hunter, he'd seen the best humanity had to offer face the absolute worst that the Grimm could spawn. He knew those types of screams. He'd heard them far too many times before. Those particular hopeless cries were of people facing a beast that they could not hope to defeat, a primal mix of terror and agony.

For a few moments, Qrow entertains the thought that it was Rose eliciting those screams. It disturbed him that after seeing the haunting rage simmering below the veil of her silver eye that he believed she was perfectly capable of doing so. She was definitely a monster in her own way.

He is both incredibly relieved and utterly dismayed when he is proven wrong. To his far left the concrete wall explodes outwards in a dusty shower of debris, among said debris a pulped fleshy mass of what could only have once been a member of the White Fang skidded wetly across the floor. The few remaining screams were louder as a group of terrified Faunus fled into the storage hanger.

The last, tall female deer Faunus, scrabbles over the debris and into the hanger. Or at least, she tries. A guttural roar behind has her shrieking in terror, then pain, as an immense talon pierces her chest. Grasping at it futilely, she yells in fear and pain as she lifted off the floor. Qrow groans in dismay as the dust settles and he sees the beast behind her.

A huge pitch black scaled body is covered in segmented bone armor. Along its spine runs a series of sharps spikes, leading into a long banded tail with a barbed end. Two broad wings sit folded atop it's back, and four legs connect to a long, lithe body. An alligator-like head with dark red eyes regards the prey it has lifted on one of its claws. Opening its mouth a deluge of dark blue liquid spews forth all over the weakly struggling deer Faunus. With a horrifying cry, she shrieks in utter desolation as her skin and flesh sloughs away under the acidic assault. With a disturbingly pleased sounding rumble, the now dead woman is flung into the air and snapped up in a reptilian fashion by the Grimm, her entire body fitting with its fanged maw, before sliding down its sinuous throat with a few bobs of its head.

"Oh fuck." Qrow says plainly, dropping a hand to his headset radio. "Drake, I need back up." He calls out.

"Damn. We're coming." Tai-Yang says affirmatively on the other end. "Try and stay alive, you useless tit."

"Fuck you too, Tai." Qrow says with a chuckle, eying the beast warily.

"How many?" Glynda's calm voice interjects.

As the dark beast strides slowly in the room, its malevolent gaze pierces the shuddering forms of the White Fang - who all seem to be completely oblivious to Qrow's presence - and Qrow himself. With an odd, barking holler it calls into the night. A few moments later and an answering call can be heard in the distance.

"At least two." Qrow says with a grimace, unsheathing his weapon and readying himself for combat. "Rose," He calls out specifically. "We have a Drake problem."

Rose stands, pulling her hand up to her headset. Her teeth still ache from the jarring sensation, and her ears hurt from the sudden changes in pressure. The huge thudding she had heard having grown closer and more insistent. Now as she looks up, almost losing her balance as a gigantic black form lands silhouetted and visible by moonlight, Rose feels fear burn hotly in her stomach. She clutches the precious file of information tighter to her side, in a vain attempt to shield it from harm.

"Uncle," She says softly, staring into the hateful emerald blaze of the Grimm's eyes. "you have no idea."

When the beast growls loudly she feels the reverberations rattling her very bones, flaring its wings and barring a gigantic maw of sickly gleaming teeth.

Izhar had joined its brethren in the hunt, and Rose held no illusions as to who was the prey.

---

"Uncle, you have no idea." Rose says quietly over the radio, an unnerving level of panic in her voice. Disregarding the fact that one very large and dangerous Grimm was stalking into the large holding area he was in, Qrow found himself focusing on Rose.

"What do you mean-" Qrow begins, only to be halted mid-sentence. A roar echoes in with an odd duality, sounding in the distance and blaring in his ear from the radio at the same time. Rose's harsh cry of 'Well fuck!' comes right after the weighty silence returns, as more than a few ears ring in disjointed memory of the all-encompassing bestial howl. Qrow stares in horror in the direction of the harsh call that had rattled his teeth, even from such an immense distance. It had been loud, so very loud.

And so unbelievably angry.

"What in the name of dust was that?" Tai-Yang calls over the radio, the rhythmic thumping of his boots indicating his rush to join his comrades.

"I truly hope that I am mistaken, but Rose," Glynda starts before a thunderous crashing sound was elicited from the team radio again.

"No. If you were - shit! - thinking that Izhar - ah tits! - decided to pay a visit, you're – fucking fuck! - totally right." Rose says, swearing audibly in the broken pauses of her sentence, often accompanied by what seemed to be the noises of some serious destruction.

"By Oum's sodding balls, are you serious?" Tai-Yang voice bellows, crackling because of the volume of sound he was directing toward his radio.

Another horrific roar tears into the otherwise silent night sky, as if in answer to blonde haired warrior's question.

"Run girl, run." Qrow barks into his radio, ignoring the startled exclamations of the White Fang around him. It seems in their terrified state they hadn't picked up on his presence until now.

"And here I was, taking a detour to look at some rather spiffy doilies." Rose snarks over the radio, punctuated by the sound of splashing a liquid, followed by sizzling, and some frantic cursing. "Oh no, the doilies!"

"If you don't learn when to shut up, I bet some doilies would look really nice at your funeral." Qrow retorts, eying the panic-stricken people around him at the same time. A few seem to vacillate in fear, unable to choose which target to point their weapon at; the gigantic acid breathing dragon or the ominous black-clad man with the wicked looking scythe.

The Drake that had padded languidly into the Dust hold stared at the occupants, malevolent eyes marking each target it can find. A man with boar tusks breaks down, falling to his knees with his sword clattering to the ground next to him, sobbing in hopeless despair at the sight. Not far from him a woman with hawk-like eyes starts toward him, hand outstretched.

Within moments the gleaming white bones of what remained of her right arm are exposed to the cool night air, the stream of acid that engulfed the kneeling boar Faunus striking her due to her close proximity. The man himself lay utterly silent, dying within instants of being hit by the deluge of blue liquid. Qrow tears his eyes away from the rapidly liquidizing blob of terrorist, simultaneously ignoring the hawk-woman's agonized screams as well.

He counts seventeen remaining White Fang, one visible Drake with another probably in tow. And it's a good thing he is looking because an androgynous raccoon Faunus opens fire on him inexplicably, their rifle barking its deadly report. Why they had decided to try and shoot him, a man who could kill them and not the giant fucking Grimm who would kill them, he honestly doesn't know.

And considering that he'd just opened them up like a fresh tin of paint, taking the raccoon person's head clean off their body, he probably wasn't going to find out. The absolute chaos that erupts after his very brief impromptu duel also doesn't help, but it also doesn't stop Qrow from jumping into the fray. There was one upside to this mess, after all.

The White Fang made for excellent cannon fodder.

'Izhar', Rose thought as she scrambled down the hallway. 'is a right bastard.'

Ignoring the fact that it was three times the size of the giant Nevermore, not including the vastly more muscular body. Or that said body was covered in scales at least an inch thick, hard as steel. Or that despite its size, it was deceptively swift and absolutely hideously strong, crushing concrete with almost casual swipes of its dread claws. It wasn't even the fact the acid it could spew by the gallon on a whim hit with unerring accuracy, and with such potency that the solid stone walls quite literally barely slowed down the liquid.

No, it was a bastard because Rose was quite sure it was toying with her. Like an adult humoring a petulant child. She was fully aware that Grimm grew more intelligent with age; she'd seen the dreadful results said time earned cunning could wreak on hunters and civilians alike. She was also aware that Izhar was more than ancient. The very same Grimm had fallen into legend more than once, and if something so terrible could live long enough for people to forget it and rediscover, then to fall into myth on more than one occasion? Yes, Izhar could very well be one of, if not the oldest being on the planet.

She sees what could only be smug amusement in those awful emerald eyes. It hadn't even flinched when she'd set about its hide with Crescent Rose, shrugging off the incredibly sharp blade with the barest of notice. And she would swear on her mother's grave it had laughed at her when she took a moment to blast it with a flurry of ice spells.

"Man, fuck you Izhar." Rose grumbles. "I should have stayed on the floor below."

Unfortunately, her complaining is cut off when the draconic Grimm demolishes the small room she had taken brief refuge in with a swipe of it's weaponized tail. Rose wastes no time in rolling into the now empty hallway, leading straight to the exit of the compound, or straight to uncle Qrow.

On one hand, she could try and make a break for it... but then what? She'd reach the Corvus before her team, sans Dust and one ridiculously powerful Grimm on her tail. Not to mention that she couldn't fly worth a damn. And even if she could manage to get it off the ground and point the old bird in the right direction, she wasn't confident in her ability to outmaneuver a millennia-old flying monster. On the other hand, she was loathed to endanger both her father, uncle and her favorite teacher ever (if only Glynda had been equally receptive to any advances Rose might have made when she was younger, her education would have been much more interesting).

The choice was taken away from her when an incredible gust of wind, courtesy of the bastard and it's stupid cunty wings, sends her barreling down the hallway. Even her Aura not allowing her to escape unscathed as her shoulder popped and dislocated as she is flung bodily down the passage.

Rose is sent ungracefully smashing through the doors, then rolling across the floor, into the holding room filled with the familiar sounds of screaming and gunfire. The legendary Grimm smashing through the hallway behind her makes it's laughing sound once more.

"Seriously, fuck Izhar." Rose spits out as she ends up rolling to the feet of her uncle, looking up from her position on the floor into his surprised eyes. Qrow takes a moment to stare, then snorts in what Rose guesses could only be amused agreement.

"Fuck Izhar." He agrees, tossing an explosive down the hallway she had just come from, the explosion caving in the massive hallway.

Tai-Yang is many things. He is a warrior, a philosopher, a (bad)poet, and an (awesome)dad. He is also simultaneously a protector and destroyer. A scholar and a brute. A comedian and an interrogator. He's also a remarkably talented sous-chef - he wasn't really suited for leadership, even in the kitchen.

And he'd swear on his life that he isn't a pervert. He appreciates the female form, definitely, but he has far too much respect for the fairer sex to regard them as something to merely ogle at...

But by dust, the things that Glynda's chest does as she runs. Never before had he held such an immense appreciation for physics. He'd heard the term 'poetry in motion', but not once had he actually applied to anything. It was certainly an apt description, watching the glorious work of gravity unfold before his very eyes.

And it was at this point he realizes that he was busy leering at his daughter's bed-mate - who also happened to be a lifelong friend. He was torn between jealousy and disgust, jealousy aimed at Rose because damn Glynda is fine, and disgust at himself because being jealous of his daughter's sex life is all kinds of wrong. Especially if involves Glynda.

He resolves to never, ever bring this up with Ru. Their father-daughter relationship was already beyond strange, what with her having come from the goddamned future, looking like a clone of his late wife. He's pretty sure they'd already claimed the top spot for weirdest family, he didn't need to climb any higher up mount dysfunctional.

He's also pretty sure Glynda would freeze, then consequently shatter, his testicles if she ever found him peeping at her. The price he paid for being a childhood friend was that she was much more inclined to actually injure him than if a stranger did the same thing. He found he didn't really appreciate the reaction, an inverse of what was usually expected. But alas, such was life with Big-G, she was a dear friend, testicle shattering and all not withheld.

"If you don't stop staring at my chest, I will remove your eyes from your head." Glynda says stoically, her ice-cold gaze locking onto Tai's rapidly paling features.

"Oh look, a Drake!" He exclaims in equal parts relief and wariness. Glynda gives him a singularly unimpressed look before she moves her attention toward the large Grimm. The Drake is preoccupied, batting around a few half-dead Faunus with contemptuous ease. No doubt it was delighting in their suffering.

Tai-Yang unsheathes Malwr in his no doubt brief respite from Glynda's wrath. His weapon, a gigantic doubled sided war hammer, crackled with restrained power as soon as his finger found the trigger. Malwr was at first glance a simple weapon, but in reality was far from it. In the past Atlas had attempted to create a reusable kinetic grenade, what they had gotten instead was a bomb the size of a small engine that didn't stop exploding until it and everything around said bomb was destroyed. No one could get close to one once it had been set off so they couldn't manually deactivate damaging cycle, causing it to release its explosive power repeatedly until it reached oblivion.

So, naturally, Tai-Yang had stuck one in his hammer. Tai-Yang has a rather unique semblance; the ability to create small force fields that stops specific types of energy. He is perfectly capable of creating a barrier able to stop just about anything, his limit being it could only stop one type of 'thing' at a time. He couldn't stop both fire and a sword for example, as one was thermal energy and the other kinetic. But he can do one at a time, and he uses the kinetic containment ability very often, specifically. Anyone else would take a total of one swing with Malwr before the weapon was blasted out of their hands (or their hands were taken off by the blast). Tai-Yang could contain the explosive power, however, allowing him to release the trigger, and thus ending the explosive cycle. This also had the added bonus on of concentrating the payload of force within a small area around the head of his hammer, greatly amplifying the damage caused by a simple swing. Coupled with Tai-Yang's naturally monstrous strength he could crumple steel like a paper lunch bag.

A volley of ice spears arc overhead as Glynda unleashes her Dust magic, smashing against the durable scales of the Drake in front of them. Most shatter against the protective hide, but a few puncture through membranous wings, and two or three of the spears sink into more vulnerable areas of flesh. With a furious roar, the dragon-like Grimm swings round to look at the beings that dare harm it. With an odd, gurgling growl a spurt of blue acid soars toward the two hunters.

With a flick of her wrist, Glynda collects the liquid in a ball before with another flick she causes it to evaporate. With a twirl of her crop, she collects the gaseous vapor and pools it beneath the now confused-looking Grimm. A snap of her fingers later, she ignites the gases.

The explosion is large, blasting the now thoroughly dead Faunus into the walls near the Drake. The Grimm itself howls in pain, many of areas of unprotected flesh screaming in protest at the deep burns caused by the explosion. It stumbles upright once more, now fully intent on ending the two morsels that had injured it so viciously.

Just in time to receive a leaping underswing to the jaw from Tai-Yang. Malwr thunders, waves of bright blue energy bursting and crackling erratically within the field Tai-Yang creates. The blow itself is critical, the unbelievable power contained within shattering the jaw and causing the head to swing upwards, and then backward. With a mighty crack, the neck of the Drake is broken, laid unnaturally flat across its own back, head resting on its own lower spine. The beast falls over, thudding into the dust with a rapid series of twitches all over, innumerable misfires occurring among the many nerves of the downed beast. It isn't dead yet, but neither Glynda or Tai-Yang deign to put it out of its misery, with Tai casually walking by and hopping into the portal its brethren had smashed into the side of the complex...

"Honey, I'm ho-ooooh god! Ack!"

Just in time to receive an explosive full body coating of Grimm blood. Tai-Yang sputters and coughs, spitting out a disgusting amount (e.g any amount) of Grimm ichor out of his mouth. With a swipe of his hand, he manages to clear the worst of the offensive gore from his face, scowling at his surroundings. Everywhere he looks, every single wall, corpse, and crate is covered in a grimy film of black sludge.

Except Rose, Qrow, and the five White Fang cowering behind them, huddled in the far corner of the room. Rose takes one short look at her father, and his rather displeased facial expression before pointing at the uncle to her right.

"He did it."

"What?" Qrow barks, snapping his head to look at Rose before turning to look at the pissed Tai covered in Grimm-goop. "Oh no. This was all Ru."

"I did nothing, it was all my big bad uncle Qrow." Rose says with a perfectly blameless expression.

"Oh yes, because you are the very picture of innocence." Glynda says dryly.

"Well, you would know." Rose says with a sly grin.

"Can we please not talk about my daughter's innocence?" Tai-Yang mutters, scowl deeper than ever. "What exactly happened?" He says, gesturing expansively to the blood dripping from every available surface nearby, Tai-Yang included.

"Well, I was looking around and I just thought 'grey is so last year'. I mean, this is a secret base, right?" She looks to the Faunus huddled in the corner for affirmation, who all look frightened into catatonia and thus unable to respond. Not that this stops Rose. "Right. And I thought black was a way better color for an evil lair, you know?"

"No." Her three companions echo in synchronicity, each sounding equally incredulous.

Rose relents with a long-suffering sigh. "Ah, the woes of an interior decorator."

"What she means to say," Qrow says, shooting Rose a dry look. "is she stabbed a White Fang with a burn crystal and threw him at the Drake."

Tai-Yang turns a horrified gaze at Rose, who lifts her hands in supplication. "In my defense, he did try and stab me first." Tai-Yang sighs, looking far less aggrieved by his daughter's actions, but still puzzled by the result.

"Drake eat 'Fang, so Drake eat crystal. Dust no like Grimm, Dust go boom, Drake go boom." Qrow says as if speaking to a caveman. Tai-Yang promptly flips him the bird.

"Now for my question." Glynda interrupts before the bickering can really start. "What happened to Izhar?"

At that moment the corner of the building where the remaining White Fang were huddling came crashing down. The 'Fang themselves were turned to paste as Izhar absently finds them underfoot. As the dust settles, the four hunters stare at the imposing bulk of the draconic beast, it's flared wings blocking any view of the outside sky. With a low, ominous rumble the legendary Grimm levels a hungry look at the hunter team in its territory, standing not fifty feet away. Soon a tense, pin-drop silence forms as the two parties stare at one another, broken only by Tai-Yang speaking in a contemplative voice.

"I thought it would be taller."

---

Crescent Rose is warm in her hands, the friction from the constant movements against her sweaty gloves heating the usually cool metal. Her fingers ache from the constant pulling of the weighty trigger. Her damaged shoulder aches dully, and her arms burn with a dull roar, protesting the heavy strain on her body caused by her ferocious assault.

Not that she feels she is accomplishing much. Darting between swipes of the Izhar's claws she flips and lashes out with a corkscrewing flurry of blows, a masterful show of her prodigal skill with the scythe. Crescent Rose's wicked diamond edged blade sings as it cuts through the air, a dread song that had promised death to so many before.

With a rending screech the blade is deflected as Izhar's near-impenetrable scales hold firm against her wrath once more, the long tear left behind a testament to another failed blow. Once again, she retreats, taking time to recuperate and look for another opening in hopes that she would be able to land a decisive strike against her mighty adversary.

Qrow takes up her slack, bobbing and weaving in tune with his partner, Tai. They move so fluidly it as if they dance together, shifting with the deadly beat of battle in an awe-inspiring display of attunement, borne of years of trust and practice. Tai-Yang holds firm, a bulwark of strength, thwarting Izhar's attacks with the thunderous blows of his own hammer - his semblance shielding what he cannot. Qrow glides in between, a shrouded wraith on the field, capitalizing on any opportunities his best friend can provide. His serrated scythe, Orcus, shrouded in his dark Aura lashes out leaving wicked furrows against Izhar's hide.

Glynda supports them both, throwing up runic shields to protect them from the acid that Izhar spews forth intermittently. She unleashes a veritable maelstrom of elemental and magical abilities, her inner fury belied only by the tell-tale glint in her steely features. Her eyes glow a misty blue, vibrant with arcane power as the cacophonous combination of Dust and Aura surges through her veins. Plates of metal are torn with horrendous screeches from the building behind them as they are warped and twisted to form into spiraling spears. Her breath mists and coalesces forming gleaming blades of ice that hum like vibrating glass as they hew through the air. With a series of sharp swings, multicolored bolts of crackling energy spin and flicker in erratic clusters, slipping between the gaps of Izhar's guard. She summons more mystical ability in one battle than Rose could hope to conjure in a hundred.

It's a spectacular display of martial, magical and hunting discipline. And it's not nearly enough. Izhar remains almost completely unharmed, marred by a few superficial wounds that it could no doubt hardly feel dotting the form of the massive Grimm. Rose feels her earlier frustrations, her anger at Izhar for toying with her bleed into something new.

Terror.

Izhar was old. It was old, cunning and unbelievably strong. But it wasn't beating them through use of overwhelming power, as a lesser Grimm was wont to do. No, Izhar was far more fearsome in that it understood it's own body. It had an understanding, a practiced ability to utilize its own natural weaponry that could rival the greatest of martial artists.

Yes, Izhar was indeed ancient, and it was skilled. It had survived through millennia and an untold number of battles in that time. No doubt it had learned as the innumerable years slipped by, until it understood that whilst it's own natural abilities were fearsome when augmented with proper timing, balance, and precision they served as far more effective killing tools. Izhar danced just as well as the hunters in their battle, parrying and dodging with all the skill of a swordsman. It harried and defended in equal measure, displaying a tactical prowess that left Rose dry-mouthed.

They were completely and utterly outmatched. Izhar was a master on the field of battle, easily the equal of the four warriors before it, and naturally far more powerful than they could hope to be. And it understands this, exuding an air of superiority and disdain that was near palpable.

It seemed almost disappointed as if expecting a greater challenge. Rose feels as if ice replaces the blood that pumps in her veins when she considers that. If four of the greatest hunters on Remnant outfitted with some of the deadliest weapons and most powerful magic proved nothing more than disappointing? She feared that anything short of an army of elite hunters could hold even a hope of killing the legendary Grimm.

And indeed the group was faring poorly. Rose herself was covered in a multitude of bruises, coupled with a ragged, bone-deep gash on her right shin. Tai-Yang was still filthy from head to toe, having been drenched in Drake blood not an hour ago. But the brighter splashes of his own crimson lifeblood showed, plainly visible in small patches before it became mixed, turning murky as it is tainted by the Grimm's ichor. Qrow was suffering, he had been constantly attacking for a long while now - he was more suited to shorter, more decisive engagements and it showed. His breathing was labored and he was sweating heavily. Izhar was wearing him down. And Glynda looked near exhaustion, no doubt all the casting had drained even her mighty reserves of Aura.

"This really isn't working." Tai-Yang says, huffing slightly, cheeks flush with exertion as the two parties circle one another slowly.

"What can we do?" Glynda mutters, flicking her hand outwards a few times to try and restore some feeling - the constant channeling of Aura and Dust had numbed it over half an hour ago.

Rose sighs, popping her neck lightly as she regards her foe and the clearing around them. The massive storage hold for the Dust was behind the group, having all decided that battling a legendary Grimm inside a room of what constituted as high-explosives was a terrible idea. The landscape around them is pitted and marred by fruits of their battle. Great tears and gouges rend the earth, with craters formed courtesy of Tai-Yang or Izhar. More than a few fires, as well a few towering forms of ice are littered around, Glynda's work. More than a few towering blue firs native to Thousand Homes are utterly destroyed or lay uprooted, torn from the earth in the clashes in the titanic battle between Grimm and Hunter.

Countless brass shells litter the forest floor, a collection of sniper rifle rounds of numerous descriptions lay scattered around the clearing, glinting subtly in the moonlight. A few of Qrow's oscillating red-leather handled throwing knives sit buried hilt deep in various surfaces - including the earth, a tree, a boulder, and perhaps most impressively a face-plate of Izhar's armor. Rose feels oddly proud when she notices the thin trail of blood leaking from that particular knife.

"I have no idea." Rose admits. "And I don't know how long my shoulder is going to hold, I think I damaged something when I popped it back in." She says with a grimace, rolling her twanging shoulder.

"Damn." Qrow mumbles, spitting out a small globule of blood. His dark, hawkish eyes flickering around the clearing, taking in every detail he can. Izhar watches placidly, barely move sans the tail swaying languorously to and fro. The dark beast seems oddly amused by their perseverance, at the very least.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end as Izhar jerks his head upwards, a large blob of acid careening in a high arc through the air.

"What the he-" Rose says with a furrowed brow, looking at the very off-target shot by the Grimm that had proven to be unerringly accurate up until this point. Suddenly Izhar swings upwards, standing on two feet. With a powerful flap of its monstrous wings a veritable blast of wind buffets the hunters. "COVER!" Rose screams with wide eyes, watching as the wind hits the blob of acid. The deadly deluge of liquid scatters on the wind, forming a wide wall of heavy droplets.

Rose bolts for the cover of a tree rooted from the earth earlier by an errant swing of Izhar's tail. She can hear the spattering of liquid, hoping fervently that thick wood would hold against the potent fluid. She breathes a sigh of relief when the acid slows just in time, dripping ominously through holes in the wood mere inches from her face. Glynda wastes no time in summoning a protective circle, a shimmering, spinning purple runic matrix shielding her neatly from the corrosive rain. She turns on her heel and watches with a wrench of apprehension, worry filling her eyes as Tai-Yang and Qrow stand in the middle of the clearing, too far to reach cover in time. With a loud curse, Tai-Yang spins round, calling up as big a protective bubble as he can as he shields Qrow with his body. The dull gold of his Aura shimmers under the light of the night sky as it is called to the physical plane.

With a sizzling hiss, a few droplets strike Tai and Qrow before the shield flickers into full existence, stopping the majority blast of deadly acid from striking them full on. Tai-Yang grunts in pain, a few small droplets undoubtedly marking his back and one larger, more painful burn on his lower body.

"Fuck!" Qrow curses, wiping his hand furiously against the side of his eye. He clenches his teeth in pain as the skin on the back of his hand bubbles and burns, doing his best to ignore the same agony on the right side of his face stretching from the corner of his eye to the side of his jaw. Tai-Yang winces in sympathy at the sight of the long furrow of scorched flesh on the side of his partner's face.

"We can't keep this up!" Tai-Yang shouts, noting his rapidly dwindling Aura and growing physical exhaustion. A roar breaks them from their recovery, from the brief respite they had thought earned as they sheltered from the deadly rain. Izhar charges forward and crossing the distance between itself, Qrow and Tai in a few bounding leaps. Like a cat trying to catch a mouse, it lands on the spot previously occupied by the two male hunters on its forepaws - both having rolled in opposite directions to avoid being flattened.

Revolving quickly to his right, Izhar sweeps his tail in a long arc, swatting Qrow toward Glynda. The resident witch of Beacon intercepts, catching Qrow mid-air in lieu of the unforgiving earth. Groggily, she helps Qrow gets to his feet, as he sways on the spot dangerously. The blow had obviously both drained his Aura and left him heavily disoriented - he wouldn't be much use for a while.

"I have a plan!" Glynda calls. "How long do you think you two can stall it?"

Tai-Yang glances to his side at his daughter, as she stood up and joined him a few moments ago. Rose grimaces, running a slightly shaking hand through her grimy hair. "A few minutes? If we're lucky we might last half an hour."

Rose feels a tapping on her shoulder, turning to be confronted by the cheerful visage of her father. "Look at this face," Tai-Yang says with a beaming grin, pointing at his own mug. "and tell me I am not lucky."

Rose snorts a small laugh and Glynda sighs, before looking once more at Rose. "Do you trust me?" She asks and Rose barely has to pause in order to reply.

"Of course." Rose says without missing a beat. Glynda Goodwitch was a good person, a fantastic huntress, a wonderful teacher, and an astounding lay. Truly, the poster child of what a teacher at Beacon should be. At least in Rose's estimation. Glynda nods, immediately wrapping an arm around the still dazed Qrow and dashing toward storage hanger, leaving Tai-Yang and Rose alone to face the dragon-like monster before them.

"This is going to fucking suck." Tai-Yang says bluntly, lifting Malwr with a resigned sigh as Izhar stalks forward, body laid low in a classic display of animalistic hunting ability.

"Izhar is a bastard." His daughter agrees, turning and giving a humorless smile. "Want to see one the tricks your dearest daughter learnt in the war, dad?"

Tai-Yang gives her a searching look. "Why not?" He asks with false cheer.

"Why not." Rose echoes, hefting Crescent Rose and dipping into a low sprinters position. With a flare of her Aura she blurs forward at impossible speeds, forming a semi-visible tunnel of wind and rose petals in her wake. Izhar doesn't even have time to react before she is already attacking, leaving a trailing furrow across its armored side, a spray of sparks and flower petals being the only evidence of her presence. A low growl builds in Izhar's throat, but Rose is already on the opposite side, her long blade landing a pulling strike at the back leg of her draconic foe.

Tai-Yang lets loose a low whistle at the sight. Izhar's gigantic bulk lit intermittently by a bright flash of sparks, sitting in swirling tornado of petals - the wavering form of his daughter misting into appearance only briefly before disappearing once more. He'd been impressed by his daughter before, she was a powerful huntress, and she seemed to be nearly on his level, despite being sixteen years his junior. Now, as he watches his little Ru battle a legendary monster one on one, scoring innumerable weakening blows against it, he realizes she is far above his level. For all her youth, she had experience, and he wasn't going to deny that her semblance - which he had thought was quite valuable before - was a little terrifying.

Then just as suddenly as the one-sided battle had begun it ended, Rose suddenly appearing next to him, panting heavily, and propped up against her large weapon. Izhar stumbles, shaking its head in an obvious attempt to overcome the effects of Rose's barrage.

"Some trick." Tai-Yang says with a hint of pride. Rose grins weakly at him, obviously exhausted by her attempt to disorient and damage their enemy.

"I've messed up its armor something fierce." She huffs a glint of accomplishment in her eye.

"Where?" Tai-Yang asks promptly, instantly searching for any sign of weakness on Izhar.

"The base of the right wing, the crest of the left eye, the lower part of the left hind-leg, and a pretty nasty crack on the central chest. I just made that one worse, to be honest."

"Well whatever Glynda's doing, I can feel it." Tai-Yang admits, shooting a cursory look to the lightly glowing building behind them. Rose gives him a curious glance and he shrugs - had he never mentioned that he was a fairly adept Aura sensor? He probably should give her a complete debrief on his skills at some point. No doubt the official version was missing some of the really juicy stuff. "She didn't have that much Aura left, so I don't think she can build it much higher than she already has. Whatever she's going to do, it's going to happen in the next few minutes."

"Right-o." Rose says with a small smirk. "Keen to play defense?" She asks, indicating the mostly recovered gigantic Grimm not far from them. Izhar glares at the two balefully, demonic green eyes lingering on Rose for a long moment. No doubt it's holding a serious grudge, she'd damaged it more in one battle than it had been hurt in living memory.

"Don't have much of a choice." Tai-Yang admits - he wasn't really fast enough to get close to Izhar without an almost certified chance he'd be used as chew-toy.

"Well, let's do our best to not get eaten!" Rose's voice is practically oozing prep.

"Ah, the motto of a true Hunter." Tai-Yang retorts with a wry grin.

What follows is a painful lesson in why two Hunter's, no matter how skilled, should not take on legendary Grimm. Without her semblance the gap between the abilities of Izhar and Rose is plainly visible, as she doesn't manage to land a single proper strike against the Drake, even with her father's assistance. Neither Tai-Yang nor Rose manages to avoid injury, accumulating bruises, cuts, and scrapes at a shocking pace, even with their Aura deflecting the worst of the damage.

Eventually both Rose and Tai-Yang stick only to defense, deflecting and parrying the swipes and crushing maneuvers of Izhar. The Drake itself is attacking with a determined, single-minded devotion, it's blazing green eyes alight with the hunger for vengeance. The father-daughter duo are fully aware that they won't win the fight this way, and now are merely doing their best to stay alive and mostly intact.

Tai-Yang feels his stomach drop to his feet when, unable to bring up Malwr fast enough to intercept, a backhanded swat smacks right into Rose. The red and black clad woman is sent bouncing, a series of snaps joining her pained cry as she skids along the unforgiving earth. Eventually, her damaging flight is ended when her back connects with a large fir. Tai-Yang dearly hopes the cracking sounds were those of the blue tree's.

"Ru!" He yells in a panic as Izhar spins round, no doubt intending to finish her off if she isn't dead already.

Rose herself is in serious pain, maybe not the worst she has ever felt, but far from pleasant. Her right leg lay crookedly at her side, no doubt broken. She can feel the sharp pains coming from the ribs on her right as well, indicating a break, but the reassuring lack of trouble breathing means that at the very least they haven't punctured her lungs. Her dislocated shoulder and arm are also useless to her, laying utterly limp. At least she'd managed to hold onto Crescent Rose.

She looks up, vision swimming slightly, right into the deathly gaze of Izhar. She can see her father vaguely, running toward her from quite a distance but no doubt Izhar with it's loping run would reach her first. With a snarl, she props Crescent Rose one-handed, the butt of the sniper resting against the base of the tree. She lets off an echoing shot, the powerful recoil of the immense gun digging into the earth, and the act of supporting it causing Rose's injured ribs to flare with pain.

She ignores it. As Izhar approaches, she fires round after round. The highly penetrative, Aura coated shots collide, but in the end they bounce off the plates of the Grimm, leaving small to no amount of damage. The beast itself has a victorious look in its eyes. Rose decides that she doesn't particularly care for it.

Cocking the gun manually, she utilizes the entire burn Dust crystal she has in Crescent Rose to empower her next shot. With a cracking boom the gun fires, pushing backward with so much force Rose yelps in pain. The bright red round smacks Izhar in the face with explosive force. The great Drake had obviously not expected the shot to differ from the others, confident in its ability to shrug off the damage - so it no doubt came as a surprise when the sniper round tore through the damaged crest on its left eye. The remains of the shell - fuelled with the explosive power - shreds one of Izhar's signature green eyes, and Rose grins with bloodied teeth at the sight.

Tai-Yang watches with dread as the Grimm approaches his daughter, who is thankfully still alive. He runs with growing horror as he realizes he won't reach her in time, and that she herself is in no shape to escape. He watches as she futilely opens fire at Izhar as it stalks toward her, readying itself to finish the life of its prey. Surprise and pride grow in equal measure when Rose manages to burn out of the bastard's eyes with a burn Dust imbued shot. The beast is seriously enraged by the loss, turning to her and opening it's vicious maw, no doubt planning to burn her to death with a spray of acid.

Tai-Yang sprints forward in a pointless endeavor to stop Izhar, knowing that he is too far and he won't be able to make it, doomed to watch Ru die in agony. Or he would have, had Glynda's Aura not flared in the distinctive way it does once she had begun weaving a large scale spell. Izhar seemingly has a similar ability to Tai's, because it instantly swings its head to gaze at the source of possible danger.

Glynda stands tall, arms outstretched above her, shaking with effort. Floating over her head are thousands of Dust crystals, more than Tai had ever seen at once in his life, a veritable river of Nature's Wrath. The storm of crystals gleam and sparkle in the moonlight, their incredible beauty belying the potent essence of destruction contained within. She flings her arms down and forward in powerful heaving motion, and the salvo of crystal's surges forth.

Izhar had lived a long time, and obviously recognized the dangerous situation it was in. It had been faced with users of Nature's Wrath before... but even for it, such an immense amount was perilous. It tenses, ready to move out of the way of the rain of crystals until a mighty swing boomed into its left hind leg.

Tai-Yang laughs victoriously as his swing connects with a ringing, meaty thump against the scales of Izhar. He hadn't gotten one proper hit in until now when Izhar was distracted. Unlike his daughter and his friends, his weapon was able to deliver serious damage to Izhar. The scales dent and tear massively, pulverizing the flesh below in spurt of blood. Izhar stumbles, having been hobbled by the vicious strike. It swings its head backward to give Tai-Yang a gimlet eye. Tai-Yang reciprocates by giving said dragon the finger.

"Fuck you, Izhar!" He barks, leaping away as Glynda's crystals approach. Izhar, not without his tricks, covers his exposed flank from the approaching barrage with his wing, intending to deflect the explosive energy propellants.

Glynda has a different idea in mind. Gathering and throwing the crystals had been difficult, yes, but not the reason why she gathered so much Aura in preparation. Flexing her fingers of her right hand and lifting said hand to aim at the mass of crystals, she palms a lightning crystal in her left. The gigantic runic circle that appears within the swirling mass of Dust approaching Izhar crackles with power and Glynda takes a moment to focus.

With a yell she runs her Aura through the lightning crystal, conjuring a powerful and relatively simple spell. A bolt of lightning arcs out of her hand, forking wildly and striking the runic circle she had summoned within the airborne Dust crystals.

Everything seems to pause for a moment as the lightning disappears within the runic matrix. Then with an airy whooshing sound, the crystals themselves are sucked into the spinning shapes, disappearing completely. Mere moments pass, but every single person in the clearing feels the oppressive, awe-inspiring spike of power coming from the spell matrix. Then it fires.

An impossibly huge bolt of lightning surges out of the center of the matrix. The bolt glows neon-blue, with white arcane fire flickering within. The magical attack booms through the air, a few stray arcs lifting the earth in fountain-like explosions. The lightning-fire strikes Izhar's right wing, and the beast roars in pain. The previous damage Rose inflicted on the base of the wing worsens as the energy rips through the massive black-scaled appendage. The force of the spell lifts the wing upwards, and eventually, it becomes too much.

With a sickening crack and a meaty tear, Izhar the Ravager's wing is torn clean from its body.

Izhar is almost delirious with rage and pain. Not for thousands of years had it been so angry or so hurt. Never in its life had it actually been mutilated in the way these prey had inflicted upon it. Izhar had been lord of the hills, and emperor of the skies.

No longer. No longer would it be able to take flight. It watches, roaring in apocalyptic fury and pain as it's severed wing twitches, bleeding on the ground. A red haze descends upon its mind, turning it to unthinking malice the likes of which it had not felt since it was young. Its mind is filled with nothing but thoughts of destruction and consuming every living being within sight.

Tai-Yang notices, he sees the moment that spark of intelligence flees in the face of the rage the beast is feeling. Even for all it's ancient cunning, Izhar remains a Grimm, susceptible and liable to fall into a blood rage, making it little better than an animal. And as Tai-Yang gazes into the eye filled with such immense, bestial hatred, an idea forms. A crazy, stupid, wonderful idea.

"Your muzzer was a 'amster, and your father smelt of el-" Izhar doesn't wait for Tai to finish, opening it's vicious jaws to cover him in acid, no doubt. Except, if Izhar had been thinking, had it been using the mind it had fought to gain, it would have remembered something important. Tai-Yang could protect himself from the acid.

Rose cries out in horror as she watches a wave of blue acid fall upon her father, making the same mistake as Izhar with her pain clouded mind.

Then elation fills her when Malwr flies out from a dome-shaped bubble forming within the acid, remembering the shield her father could erect. Malwr flies true, soaring straight into the open mouth of Izhar. In its mindless rage, Izhar doesn't even pause to swallow the sudden blockage of its throat, fully intending on bathing the prey with so much liquid fire that it would not survive, shield or not.

Tai-Yang roars in triumph when Izhar swallows reflexively, the last of the acid attack splashing to either side of him. Izhar returns to look at him, immeasurable hatred within its gaze. But then it happens. With a muted thud, a strange bulge forms in Izhar's chest.

Izhar screeches in pain, chunks of flesh and blood spewing from its mouth as it falls to its side, scrabbling with massive claws at its chest in a futile effort to relieve the pain. Seconds afterward, the beast's thrashing increases as its chest bulges strangely again, the bone armor cracking ominously, with more flesh and blood gushing from Izhar's mouth. Then suddenly it releases an echoing, tortured howl before it's chest explodes outwards.

A massive deluge of blood, bone chunks and a collection of disgusting Grimm innards spew across the clearing floor. What looks to be a massive heart - easily the size of a car - barrels out of the new cavity, still pumping gallons of foul Grimm ichor as it rolls across the ground. More and more internal parts spill wetly across the ground as the beast thrashing grows weaker.

Then another explosion occurs, even messier than before. It's a literal geyser of blood and gore, hunks of flesh and bone shooting toward the sky. The cavity widens and what seems to be the entire mess of innards contained within the Drake fly outward. Amidst this specular show, a low keening comes forth from Izhar.

Then silence. Utter and complete silence as the beast stops moving. It's gigantic form lay completely still, steaming organs littering the ground around it, a river of black blood pooling around it.

Izhar was dead.

"That was... the grossest thing... I've ever seen." Rose mutters, having watched events unfold with wide eyes and the last of her failing energy. Darkness creeps in on her, as her father turns around and calls something indistinguishable before running toward her.

"File... sis...mom..." Rose says as her eyes fall shut.

Then Izhar explodes again, and she loses consciousness.

---

When Rose woke, she could immediately feel the collection of dull pains in her body. She remains lying in bed, taking stock of how she feels and how she managed to get like this. Her eyes fly opening when she remembers that she'd been injured fighting Izhar. The same Izhar she saw die.

If there's anything she's sure of it, it's the fact that Izhar is dead. Holy shit, was that thing dead.

She was pretty sure it died the first time it exploded.

"She's awake!" A familiar voice calls, and she's immensely relieved to see the form of her Uncle not far from her. A flew clacks sound as the familiar rhythm of Glynda's footsteps approaches.

"Rose! How are you feeling?" The stern woman asks, a hint of the caring nature she so often hides coming through. Rose gives them both an easy smile.

"Like shit!" She says happily. "But that means I'm alive." Qrow snorts at that, giving her a thumbs up and a shake of his head, apparently torn between amusement and bemusement. Glynda huffs a little, pushing her glasses up her nose. "How long was I out?" Rose asks before Glynda begins to berate her.

"Only about six hours." Qrow says with a grin. "Your head wound was pretty mild, just a minor concussion."

"Also, a broken leg, four snapped ribs, a compound fracture in one of your arms, a dislocated shoulder, three broken toes and fractures in both your wrists." Glynda lists with thin lips.

"Ah, so nothing too serious then?" Rose says with a smile. Both Qrow and Glynda give her disbelieving looks. Rose rolls her eyes before pointing at herself. "War-veteran." She says dryly. "If it's still attached and it works, it's nothing serious."

"Fair enough." Qrow says before standing up straight, an unreadable expression on his face. "Now, Rose, you weren't the only injured member of the team." He says slowly.

Something flashes in Glynda's eyes before she turns back and gives Rose an equally solemn look. "Your father..." She begins and Rose feels panic rise in her chest.

"Dad? Is he ok? What happened?" She asks quickly.

Qrow purses his lips, and Rose notices the covering of gauze on the side of his face. "It's better if you see for yourself."

"No it isn't!" Her father's voice yells near her, and she snaps her head to look at the source. Next to her bed is a simple medical partition, provided to allow some privacy in the medical wards common around Remnant. And Rose is pretty familiar with this one, the large Beacon symbol also being a dead giveaway of her location.

"Let me see." She says firmly, doing her best to lace a tone of command in her voice. Qrow nods, before slowly moving to the partition.

"You really don't need to see." Tai-Yang's panicky voice calls out from the other side. "Really, I'm fine!"

"Dad, shut up." She says sternly, now looking into the pleading face of her father. He groans, burying his head in his pillow. Her father is lying face down on the bed, above the covers with a variety of bandages covering his body. The most prominent bundle of which covers his lower back down to his thighs.

"Are you sure you want to see this?" Qrow says, his voice catching oddly halfway through his sentence. Rose looks at him askance, before steeling herself and nodding her head, prepared for the worst. She frowns, mouth parting a little as if to say 'what?' when Qrow reaches for a particular set of bandages.

"Your father sacrificed his body for the sake of the mission." Qrow says solemnly but with a certain twinkling in his eyes. Her father swears lowly, muffled only by his pillow.

"He bears the markings of a great hero." Glynda chimes in, voice perfectly bland. Tai-Yang's curses increase sharply in volume.

Rose gapes. Right in front of her are a series of burn marks, courtesy of Izhar's acid. The trail downward and Rose feels disbelief build in her chest as she looks at the wound left on her father.

Right in front of her eyes, perfectly defined and bright pink is an immaculately shaped love heart. A love heart sitting on her father's left buttock.

Izhar had branded a love heart onto her dad's ass.

When the doctors came by a few minutes later, lecturing her for her re-breaking her ribs she accepted their words with a nod and huge smile. She told them all it was completely and utterly worth it.

She hadn't laughed that hard in years.