"Yang?" her wife's arms snaked their way around her waist.

"Hmm?" Yang hummed, turning her head slightly to kiss Blake on the cheek.

"Don't you think you have enough pancakes?"

Yang laughed, setting yet another pancake on top of a large pile. To most people it would be a lot, to them it would barely be enough. Between her and their oldest daughter, Rey, the couple put down a couple dozen pancakes. Blake and their youngest, Sky, didn't eat nearly as much as the two of them but Yang always made extra just in case.

"You can never have too many pancakes," Yang said, "Right Rey?"

Their oldest, who was in the living room, playing with her younger sister, looked up at her moms with a cockeyed smile on her face. She looked so much like Yang when she was younger, save for her ember eyes and the blonde cat ears that poked out from under her long hair. Yang smiled to herself, she had never thought she would be here, married to the woman she had fallen in love with so long ago, with two amazing kids, living a peaceful life with no war, no loss. They had all deserved their happy ending, and Yang couldn't have been more grateful to what the fates had given her.

"Right!" her daughter's ecstatic response pulled her back into the moment.

"The child has spoken."

Blake chucked into Yang's ear, a sweet sound that Yang thought she would never get used to hearing. Fifteen years together and Blake still found herself falling more and more in love with Yang. Despite her initial reservations, stemming from a deep trauma, Yang was an amazing mother and wife. The mistakes she had made while raising her sister were all but a distant memory. Every day she tried to do better, she tried to teach their girls that being perfect wasn't everything, that it was okay to fail. Blake was proud of how Yang had changed over the years, grown more into herself, allowed herself to be forgiven for the mistakes she had made as a literal child.

"Alright you two, go wash your hands," Blake said, removing herself from Yang, much to her wife's disappointment.

They waited for Rey to help her little sister towards the bathroom and out of earshot before Yang had Blake pinned to the counter. Her wife looked down at her with a devilish grin. Blake smiled, shaking her head. She knew exactly what Yang was thinking and the answer, as it had been for two years, was still no. She loved Yang, she loved every part of her, including her brash nature. Yang was persistent and her constant attempts to wear Blake down were starting to work.

"I was thinking-" Yang was interrupted by an explosion that shook the room. She immediately pulled herself away from Blake, suddenly very alert. "What the hell was that?"

"Mom!"

Blake and Yang exchanged glances as they heard their youngest start to cry. They ran back together, breakfast all but forgotten. Blake scooped their five years old up in her arms gently speaking to her. Rey ran to Yang throwing her arms around her mom and hugging her tightly. Yang wrapped her arm protectively around her daughter, attempting to comfort her. Her gaze was still on the window, looking out past their yard, to the billowing smoke that was now rising from the center of the city. Next to her Blake was running Sky's back, gently shushing her, assuring she was safe.

They should have been safe, out of all the Kingdoms Vale was always considered the safest after they had rebuilt it at the end of the war. It's why Blake and Yang had moved back, it was why they had decided to start a family there. In fifteen years nothing had happened there besides the random mischief of teenagers who didn't understand what the older generations had gone through to give them that freedom, that safety.

"I'm scared mom," Rey said.

"I know, it'll be okay, we won't let anything happen," she glanced at Blake. "You stay with them, I'm going to go check it out."

"Yang-" Blake started to protest but her wife held up her hand.

"It's alright."

Blake shook her head, this wasn't how they did things. The two of them were a team if one of them went they both went. Of course she knew that was impossible, they couldn't take the girls with them and the last thing Blake wanted to do was leave the kids on their own. Even if the danger was minor leaving the girls was dangerous, they were eight and five, they couldn't defend themselves. Yang's hands on her face pulled her from her thoughts. She looked into the lilac eyes staring her down, finding comfort there. Yang smiled, placing a kiss on the top of Blake's head, right between her ears. "Don't worry I'll take a look and be right back."

Before Blake could argue more Yang was making her way out the front door, shutting it firmly behind her. Rey moved to her side, hugging her with a ferocity that she had only seen from Yang. She hugged her daughter back with her free arm. Yang and her would protect their family no matter what, which is what she would do. Her wife would stay true to her word and be back as soon as she figured out what was happening.

"Come on we'll wait for you mom in our room okay?"

She led Rey, while still carrying Sky, back to her and Yang's bedroom. Whatever was going on outside was bad, a lot worse than she had initially thought, she could hear screaming and multiple small explosions in the distance. Her instincts started to take over. They needed to get the girls out of there. Without knowing what was happening and where it was safe to go running would be a risk. One Blake wasn't willing to take. She was aware there was a good chance they would have to hunker down and fight if necessary. She set Sky down on the bed, her arms were hurting and she needed to think. Without hesitation Rey hopped up onto the bed and hugged her little sister.

Blake started to pace, trying to hide her anxiety from her kids. Whatever the attack was it couldn't have been Grimm. Vale was safe and Grimm numbers were dwindling. It was something else, it had to be. Demonstrators who were angry at SDC? Perhaps but why wouldn't they attack Atlas? Vale sold dust but only contained one small dust mine, hitting Atlas would be the smarter decision. Remnants of the war? Some of Salem's sympathizers finally rearing their ugly heads again? Probably not, it had been years since the end of the war, there were no remnants left. Salem was gone, Cinder was dead as were most of Salem's cohorts. What else did that leave? Did someone just get bored and decide to attack Vale? She glanced out the window as another explosion shook the room. Yang…

XXXXX

Yang skidded to a stop right as she rounded a corner. She had sprinted down town her mind a hundred places at once. She needed to protect her family, needed to get back to her family, and needed to find out what was happening. It was too much too fast, she wasn't a huntress any more. She was a mechanic, a teacher, not a huntress, not since her daughters were born. An explosion to her left nearly knocked her off her feet. This wasn't random, it had to have been planned. Whoever was doing this was trying to get people to scatter, causing as much chaos as possible. But who was doing it? The only people Yang had seen were residents of Vale and a couple of huntsmen making their way into the fray.

"Xiao-Long what are you doing here?"

Yang looked up seeing her old professor coming towards her. Glynda Goodwitch was starting to show her age, with her hair graying, and her face starting to show wrinkles but she was still very much a fighter. Back in her days at Beacon Yang had actually been afraid of her, now she had come to like the professor. Back then Goodwitch had been trying to prepare them for what she knew would come. They hadn't headed her lessons until it was too late, yet they still pulled through, they had won and stopped Salem, hopefully for good.

"Trying to find out what's going on," Yang replied. "I've got two scared kids at home."

"Which is why you need to get out of here," she warned. "It's dangerous, go home, get Blake and your kids and get out of here."

"What about you? Are you evacuating the city?"

"Yang, go now before more of them arrive."

"More of who?"

Glynda was gone, and so was any information that she could have given her. She cursed to herself, glancing behind her. The warning she had been given was enough, her and her family were in danger otherwise Glynda wouldn't have said anything to her. It was coordinated, planned, designed to cause as much chaos as possible to throw them all off. They weren't prepared for an attack, they had thought they were safe after the end of the war. Salem had failed, the White Fang had been dismantled. Was it a new group that had decided that fifteen years of peace was fifteen years to many? It didn't matter, she needed to get back to her family.

Yang started back the way she came, sprinting as quickly as she could, her lungs burning. Get home, find a safe way out. She should call Weiss, her former teammate would be able to help. Hell maybe she could even tell them what was going on. She rounded the corner, her mind still going at a mile a minute, trying to figure out a plan, and ran straight into a masked figure.

"You."

Was all Yang registered before the woman attacked her. Yang blocked the first blow from the woman's daggers with her prosthetic. She thrust her arm forward, expecting the shotgun blow from her weapon only for nothing to happen. Cursing Yang backed up as the woman attacked her again. Ember Celica had been part of her for some long; she had a tendency to forget she wasn't wearing it. The woman was fast, so fast Yang could barely keep up with her. Yang tripped, the woman grabbed her prosthetic arm, poised to stab Yang as soon as she pulled the retired huntress forward. Yang thought on her feet, she disconnected her prosthetic allowing her inertia to carry her back into a backflip. Yang's foot connected with the woman's chin causing her to stumble back in pain. Yang grabbed her arm out of the air, slamming it home into the connection point. Ember Celica activated, the shotgun blast hitting the woman square in the chest. As she fell back Yang rushed forward, jumping at the last second she activated her semblance and slammed her fist into the woman's face sending her flying into the wall.

With no time to wait to see if the woman rose again Yang took off, she needed to get back to her girls and Blake before more of them came. Glynda was right, things were about to get very dangerous and whatever this was was so much bigger than they thought.

XXXXX

The front door slamming caused Blake to jump, Yang had been gone for so long she was starting to think her wife wasn't coming back. She moved in front of her kids, shielding them from the intruder. She moved towards the door, as the intruder made their way towards them. Her ears flicked following the noise until the individual was right outside the threshold. She threw her punch, narrowly avoiding hitting Yang in the face as her wife stepped out of the way. The momentum sent Blake stumbling forward, almost falling, but Yang caught her before she did. She was about to apologize, feeling foolish for mistaking Yang for intruder, when she caught sight of her wife's face. There was blood on her cheek from a small scratch she had sustained, but that wasn't what caught Blake's attention. It was the look in her eyes that made Blake's heart sink. Something was genuinely wrong, Yang was scared, it showed not just in her eyes but in her trembling hands.

Years of fighting together meant no exchange of words was necessary. Blake righted herself and went over to the closet. It had been years since they had fought, but their weapons were never far and both of them had done their best to keep in combat ready shape even if they weren't as good as they had been when they were younger. Yang went over to the girls, kneeling in front of them. She was shaking, but she gripped her knees to hide it. They didn't need to know what was going on.

"I know you're both scared but I need you to be brave," she said. "Your mom and I need to make sure it's safe, the two of you are going to stay here and hide until we come back. Rey I'm putting you in charge, okay?"

Rey nodded slowly, not completely understanding what was happening. Yang pulled them towards her, hugging them tightly. It took all she had to keep from crying. The last thing she wanted to do was leave her girls alone but they needed to make sure it was safe to leave. They would clear a path to the shipyard then come back and get the girls, hopefully it would stay clear long enough that they could escape.

The situation was bad but it was still unknown. She backed up ushering both the girls into the bathroom. The safest place for them right now was the master bathroom. It was the room furthest from the front door and it had no windows. No one would see them there and if they got suspicious and looked around the perimeter they wouldn't see anything besides an empty house. Should anything happen the girls would be able to escape the bedroom window, that was high enough off the ground someone couldn't see the bathroom unless they opened it, but not so high that Rey and Sky couldn't escape out of it.

Sky latched herself onto Yang's leg, refusing to let go the second they entered the bathroom. Yang sighed, reaching down to ruffle her youngests black hair. Her daughter looked up at her with tears in her lilac eyes. It broke her heart but she had to be strong for them.

"It's okay, we'll be back soon," Yang took her other gauntlet from Blake. "Go to your sister."

"You promise you'll be back?" Rey asked, hugging Sky.

"I promi-" the words died in her throat.

Promise… Summer had promised her and Ruby the same thing when they were almost the same age as her two kids. Summer had never come home and she had been left to raise Ruby when their father had shut down.

Blake's hand on her arm brought her back to the present. She wasn't about to do to her girls that had happened to her. They would come back and protect their kids.

"We promise," Blake said for her. "Stay in here, don't come out for anyone but us."

"Okay," Rey agreed.

They both hugged the girls one last time, neither of them said it but both were scared that they would be leaving the girls for good. One of them should stay, keep an eye on them while the other cleared a path. But Yang had tried, her scroll wasn't getting a signal, they couldn't reach anyone outside of Vale.

Blake squeezed Yang's shoulder, urging her to follow behind her. She hesitated momentarily, unable to tear away from her two trembling kids. After a moment her strength found her and she followed Blake out of the bathroom. They remained silent until they were out of the house and on their way to the airfield.

"I was around the same age when Summer left and never came home," Yang said, breaking the silence.

"I know," Blake said. "We'll be back alright? We won't leave them."

"Then let's hurry up and find a way out of here."

"Right behind you."

They took off towards the airfield, where smoke had started to rise. Blake took the lead knowing Yang, though determined, was scared and needed her wife to be an anchor. Neither of them had wanted to leave the girls, but with the network down and Blake not knowing anything of what was going on it was safe to leave them at home then to bring them with them and risk running into a fight. This was the most logical option, even though it was the one she hated most.

XXXXX

Atlas was cold, something Ruby had never gotten used too. The fact that she had even agreed to live in Atlas was a testament to how much she loved Weiss. She did still wish they lived in Vale, where it was warm and not covered in snow. It would have also been nice to be closer to the other two members of team RWBY. Not to mention Dorin was there eighty percent of the time usually on business for Weiss, or visiting Yang. They should be closer to family, where it was warm. Not where it was so cold Ruby could see her breath even while she was inside.

"Ruby!" Weiss called from somewhere in the mansion.

Three years they had lived there and Ruby still got lost. It was massive, two big for the three of them and Clive to live. A dozen families could live there and still never run into one another. Ruby hated it with every fiber of her being, wishing so much to go back to the early days at Beacon where the four members of team RWBY had been crammed into a small bedroom.

"Where are you?"

"Same place as always you dolt."

"That doesn't help me…"

She slowly made her way up the main stairs trying to decide if Weiss' voice had come from the left or the right. There were many rooms and offices that the heiress liked to hide in. Ruby had begged for her to put a sign on the door, but Weiss had shot that down very quickly. Ruby chose to go to the left, peeking into several rooms before realizing she had gone the wrong way. She groaned and started back, her feet dragging as she went. She'd never lived anywhere this large and she hated it. Grumbling to herself she didn't notice her wife coming down the hall directly towards her until she nearly collided with her.

"Where have you been?" Weiss nearly shouted.

"Looking for you!"

"I was in my office," Weiss said. "Ruby, we've been here for three years. How can you still get lost?"

"Because you could fit a hundred of my dad's house in here," Ruby said, exacerbated. "How do you not get lost?"

"I lived here all my life," Weiss said. "Doesn't matter."

Weiss' annoyed look disappeared, morphing into a more serious look that Ruby knew all too well. Something had happened, this was the look Weiss got whenever something bad had happened. Fera creeped up on her; had something happened to Yang? Blake? The kids?

"What happened?"

"Vale was attacked." Weiss handed Ruby her scroll, showing her images of Vale on fire.

Ruby's heart sank, innocent people were in harm's way. Worse, her sister and her family were there. She hadn't felt like this since the war, the feeling of dread that would overwhelm her every time they came face to face with Salem's army. They had won, they were supposed to be able to live long happy lives without the threat of total extinction. Why would someone want to ruin that?

"Have you tried calling?" Ruby needed something to reassure her.

"Multiple times, no answer," she said. "At first I thought communication might be out in Vale, but if that was the case then we wouldn't be getting live feed from the Kingdom."

"We need to go-" Ruby was cut off, having the wind knocked out of her by their daughter slamming into her.

Summer Schnee Rose, their six year old daughter, was a spitting image of Ruby with a bit more white in her hair, something she had inherited from Weiss. The girl had also inherited the Schnee semblance and was still learning to use it. They had been surprised that she had started using glyphs so young but the Schnee's were early bloomers and their daughter was no exception. Ruby thanked the Gods that Summer didn't have her semblance, or anything similar. A child able to use glyphs was much easier to handle then a child who could move with inhuman speed.

Ruby hugged her daughter, knowing that the young girl was just excited to get started with the day. She was a lot like Ruby when she was younger, full of life and wonder, wanting to know how everything worked and thinking everything was absolutely mesmerizing. But now wasn't the time for Ruby to get distracted by keeping her daughter entertained with stories or showing her the inner workings of weapons. Her attention stayed on her wife.

"Dorin is in Vale on business for me," Weiss said. "I'll try to contact him. And before you run off I'm already sending an airship to pick them up once we find them."

Ruby couldn't help but roll her eyes. She loved Dorin but his loyalties switched often. Technically he worked for SDC and Weiss, but whenever Winter needed someone to help with a Grimm problem she always took him. He always went with no argument, maintaining that he still owed the Atlesian military for his prosthetics.

"Unless Winter snatched him again," Ruby mumbled.

"He works for me, Ruby," Weiss reminded her.

"Except for when your sister wants him."

"He's in Vale Ruby, knowing him and how close he is with your sister he'd drop anything Winter had him working on to find them."

Ruby allowed herself to relax a little. Weiss was right, Dorin was in the area and he was a trusted friend and client of Yang's. Her rushing to Vale would do them no good, in fact it would only slow things down. Even if she did leave right then she would probably arrive too late. At least Weiss had already sent an airship to the neighboring Kingdom. Dorin would be able to find them much quicker, at least she hoped that was what would happen.

"Give him a call," Ruby said, trying to ignore the tugging on her cloak. "I'll go get the munchkin breakfast."

Weiss nodded, waiting for her wife and daughter to vacate the area before dialing Dorin's scroll. She didn't want to expose Summer to whatever was happening, she was far too young to understand. Weiss herself wasn't much of a fighter any more. When she had taken over SDC everything else had taken a back seat. Ruby was the only one of the four of them that was still an active huntress and even then her missions had dwindled since Summer was born.

She dialed Dorin, half expecting him not to answer. Her scroll rang four times then went through. Dorin looked at her through the screen, his short hair drenched in sweat. She could tell he had been running, probably fighting. He was usually very put together, something he had picked up from his years in the Atlesian military. Now his top was disheveled, untucked and torn.

"Now isn't a good time boss," he said, "things are going to shit."

"I understand but this is an emergency," she said, trying to ignore the screaming she heard from behind him. "We can't get a hold of Blake and Yang. Ruby's worried."

She was worried too but he didn't need to know that. Dorin ducked as another explosion went off behind him, followed by shouting and more screaming. "Fuck, alright, I'll go check it out." The call ended abruptly leaving Weiss standing there in silence. He was their best hope and until they heard from him there was nothing else they could do.

Resigning herself to the sidelines, she went to find her wife and daughter. She would never tell Ruby but she was scared for her sister-in-law and her wife. Years they had been living in peace, enjoying what they had earned after the war, raising their families. It made her sick; it could all be torn away so easily. She closed her eyes, it was going to be a long day, some breakfast would do her some good.