Sun groaned as two masked faunus lifted him off the ground. His legs refused to work or hold any of his weight. He and Dorin had run into trouble shortly after the airship had taken off with the Belladonna-Xiao Long family. At first it had just been a few henchmen, they had been easily dispatched of, then more and more started coming. They had held their own for awhile but then he showed up, the man with the crimson eyes. Sun hadn't even noticed Dorin freeze until he saw two blades against the man's neck, digging painfully into the skin. They hadn't had a choice, Dorin ordered him to yield, and he did, but only so the crimson eyed man would spare his friend. From there it had been hell, they had beaten Sun into unconsciousness, when he awoke he was in a cell, his hands painfully restrained behind his back. He had been the lucky one, Dorin had been across from him in another cell. The former huntsman had been beaten until his aura broke, he laid bloody and unmoving on the cell floor for hours.
He had started moving again late into the afternoon, he wasn't bound like Sun, but the faunus quickly realized the prosthetics Dorin relied on heavily were not responding properly to him. After it had grown dark the masked men had dragged Dorin from his cell, all Sun could hear was pained shouts coming from somewhere in the building and when Dorin was brought back they had dropped him on the cell floor. Sun wished he knew what the men wanted, what their crimson eyed leader wanted, but they paid him little attention. Now he was being dragged along with his friend through the halls. He felt it in his gut, something was happening and he was sure it wasn't good.
Sun heard the man with crimson eyes before he saw him. His voice, deep and commanding, leaving no room to question his intentions. "It is time we make our oppressors bleed. One by one their kingdoms will fall, they will tremble at our feet and beg for mercy!" Sun would have rolled his eyes if he hadn't been so afraid. They'd heard that song and dance before from Adam Taurus when he led the White Fang, he had been delusional and he had failed. But something about this man, something about him, made Sun truly believe he could do it.
The masked faunus brought them into a large room filled with even more men, in the middle, addressing the CCT was their leader, unmasked, unafraid. He turned to them, a devilish grin breaking across his face. He nodded to the faunus holding them. Dorin was dropped to the ground but Sun remained restrained. His instincts kicked in, he began to struggle against his restraints. He had no plan except for break free, escape, run. He felt the cold steel of a blade against his throat, stilling him instantly.
"You don't want to struggle," he said, low enough only Sun could hear. "You will comply, understood?"
Sun had no control, all the fight left him, his body going limp against his will. The faunus leader smiled again, turning his attention back to continue his address to Remnant.
"This man here claims to be a champion for our people, he claims to value our lives above others," the man dug the tip of his sword into Dorin's back, drawing blood and a pained cry from the huntsman. "But this man lies. He doesn't care, none of his kind care. He works for the Schnee Dust Company operating a mine enslaving our people!"
Dorin's face twisted in pain as he pushed up against the blade, forcing himself to his knees. He had fought for those people the SDC had employed, he ensured they were paid well, that their working conditions were safe. He never asked them to do anything he wouldn't do himself. He glared up at the faunus leader and was immediately knocked down as a boot connected against his abdomen. He collapsed like a, gasping for air.
"Let this be a warning to all of you humans, you will pay for what you have done, and anyone who stands in my way will end up like him."
Dorin had never learned how to stay down. Sun wanted to shout to him to stop, to surrender so maybe they had the chance of surviving, but he couldn't. He was frozen, the crimson eyed man's orders still ringing through his ears. He watched Dorin crawl forward, reaching out to grasp the leaders ankle.
"I will make you pay for this," he said through clenched teeth.
He had wanted to use his semblance, to pull the faunus leader in, make him afraid. Dorin wanted his anger, needed it to fuel him, to give him the strength to fight back. But he never made it. The man stomped on his arm, stopping him abruptly, he opened his mouth to scream only to be met with a boot to his head, sending him into darkness.
Sun watched in horror as his friend collapsed, blood dripping from his lips. They weren't going to survive. Team RWBY would never get to them in time. For the first time since the war Sun started to lose hope.
XXXXX
Team RWBY stood watching in horror as Dorin was beaten by the Faunus leader. Their friend collapsed and suddenly the feed went dead. Yang could barely keep herself up right, she had seen plenty of horrible things during the war, things that had stuck with her for years. This was nothing compared to those things but she felt afraid. All the sacrifices they had made to stop Salem and to stop the White Fang, all for them to come back again. She forced herself to look at her teammates. Weiss had covered her mouth with her hands, guilt written all over her face. Ruby had looked away, gripping her arm so tight her knuckles were turning white. Then her eyes found Blake. The Faunus, who had always been so put together, was shaking remnants of shed tears on her cheek. Yang clenched her fists, they were better than this.
"Who is he?"
Weiss and Ruby looked at her, their horror morphing to confusion when they realized Yang was talking to Blake. They all looked at their teammate, waiting for her to respond. Blake reached out to Yang, needing something to anchor her to that room. Cold metal fingers slipped in between hers. She needed to be brave and not just for her teammates but for her family and her friends. She needed them to know the truth about that man she thought dead.
"His name is Harkin Raynor," Blake said after a long silence. "That bastard, I thought he was dead."
"How do you know him?" Weiss came over to them.
Blake opened her scroll, quickly navigating through the device until she found the file she wanted. She sent it to the large screen, filling it with information spanning years in the White Fang. They all looked up at the man they now knew as Harkin. His record was extensive, assault, theft, even murder.
Yang didn't bother to read all of it. Her anger rose the longer she looked at the man. He was another Adam. Another ghost from the past that wouldn't stay there. Why was peace too much to ask for? Why couldn't the past stay in the past? After everything they had done to unite the people of Remnant, only to be threatened by someone who just couldn't let go.
"He and I were both in the White Fang under Adam," his name felt wrong in her mouth, leaving a bad taste behind as it left her lips. She pushed it aside knowing her team needed the information. "Adam always saw him as extremely valuable. Harkin was ruthless, he thrived in violence."
"How dangerous are we talking?" Yang managed to tear her eyes from the screen long enough to look at her wife.
"Extremely," Blake said. "He rivaled Adam in his ambition and bloodlust."
"How have we never heard about him?" Weiss' voice grew louder as she became more frustrated. "Why did you never mention him?"
"Because I thought he was dead," Blake immediately shut Weiss down. "He was a weapon to Adam, a means to an end. He must have gone underground after the war because all reports pointed to him being dead."
Yang pushed herself off the table, placing herself between Weiss and Blake. Tensions between them were high. She understood Weiss was angry but she was going after the wrong person. They needed to get to Sun and Dorin, not argue about ghosts that should have been dead.
"What can you tell us about him? His semblance? Why did he choose now to resurface?"
Blake took a deep breath doing her best to calm herself. They needed to know about him if they ever hoped to stand a chance against him. She had never been afraid of him the way she had been afraid of Adam, but she had barely ever spoken to Harkin. That wasn't to say she hadn't crossed his path during their time in the White Fang. He had scared her then, the short encounter they had, at one time she assumed her fear stemmed from Adam but thinking back she wasn't too sure.
"It's his semblance that makes him dangerous," she said, "I'm sure you saw it with Sun. How he just stopped fighting when Harkin spoke to him? When he speaks to you, it's almost impossible to control yourself. You want to do what he says. It had its limits of course but…I don't know what they are."
Yang nodded as she started to pace the room. Depending on how strong his puppeteering was could determine whether they stood a chance or not. Of course to find out how extensive of a reach his semblance was they would have to face him. If they were lucky, or unlucky depending on how you viewed it, they would know in a few hours just how dangerous he was.
"He's used it on you before hasn't he?" It was Ruby who asked, seeing Blake's discomfort.
"Once, when I stepped out of line with Adam," she admitted, closing her eyes. "It isn't something I want to experience again."
Yang stopped her pacing, moving over to squeeze Blake's shoulder in reassurance. Knowing that Blake had suffered at the hands of not just one monster, but two hurt. But there was something she could do about it. They all could. Seeing Dorin bloody and broken had been enough to cement their resolve. Harkin was dangerous, they were aware of that.
"What's the plan?" Ruby took a seat next to Blake, giving her sister-in-law a reassuring smile. "Do we even know they're still in Vale?"
"I wouldn't see why they would leave that quickly, it isn't like the military is going to move in until they know what's going on," Weiss said. "We can be there by late afternoon depending on when we can get our parents here."
"That's all well and good but how are we going to find them? Walk around until we stumble upon their secret lair?" Blake challenged, Vale was large and no matter how bold Harkin might have been he wouldn't risk being somewhere easy to find. "We'll end up like the boys if we aren't careful."
"Do you have a better idea?"
Ruby and Yang exchanged glances. The sisters didn't have much more of a plan but Ruby could see that Yang was thinking up something. She waited until Blake and Weiss finished glaring at one another before clearing her throat to gain their attention. There was one person in Vale Yang knew she could lean on for information. She hadn't spoken to him since she was still in the academy but she knew he had never left. He was a creature of habit. He was also afraid of her, which she would use to get what they needed.
"We won't have to do that," Yang said after a moment. "I know how we can find her."
Blake tipped her head back to look at Yang. She knew Yang had friends and connections that they didn't. Hell they all had people like that, but Yang's were always a little shady. Blake couldn't figure out where she met some of the people she knew, probably in bars, but she also never asked. It wasn't like Yang was going out of her way to hang out with these people.
"What?" The way Blake was looking at her made her realize her teammates were questioning her.
"Who would you possibly know who could help us?"
"Junior."
"The bar owner you beat up looking for Blake?" Ruby cocked her head, even she hadn't expected Yang to think of the idiotic bar owner.
Weiss looked between Ruby and Yang. She knew when Ruby was talking about Yang had been desperate to find their teammate back then. Weiss had thought her running away was her proving she was just like the White Fang. She never realized Yang had actually assaulted someone looking for the faunus.
"That is an oddly specific thing to remember," Blake said, she had never heard Yang talk about that time. It was still very raw for the two of them. "When did that happen?"
"Vytal festival," Yang shrugged. "Regardless of what I did to him then, Junior is a gun for hire. Torchwick hired him back then to help with the Fall. I bet this guy Harkin did too."
"Then that's where we start," Weiss said. "I can have my pilots in the air shortly, one to Patch one to Menagerie."
"I would keep SDC airships out of Menagerie, send it to the coast, my parents will meet your pilot after they get off the island," Blake suggested. No matter how much the SDC had changed since Weiss rebuilt it faunus still didn't trust them.
Weiss nodded, quickly pulling out her scroll to call her pilots. Yang watched as her conversation went from calm to arguing within seconds. She rolled her eyes, Weiss was never good at just asking, she liked to argue. Blake and Ruby both took the chance to call Tai, Ghira and Kali. Yang stayed with Blake, knowing they would ask about her, so would her dad but she knew Ruby would be able to handle him herself.
It would be hours before any of them arrived, which they would need to prepare and say goodbye to the girls. They didn't get into details with their parents, only telling them what they needed to know. All of them agreed to come to Atlas without much convincing. They were worried too, it was most obvious with Tai. A war was starting to brew and once again it was team RWBY in the middle of it. No one liked it, but no one argued either. There wasn't anything they could do, Atlas military wanted to stay out of it. Huntsman and Huntresses were probably staying out of it.
Ten minutes later the four were sitting around the table in silence, their phone calls wrapped up.
"We should go prepare," Yang said, breaking the silence. "I want to be underway as soon as our parents arrive."
"What if we're too late?" Weiss voiced her concern. The situation was already bad, they could leave the kids with Klein and when the others arrived they'd already be gone.
"We won't be," Yang said. "Dorin has been through worse, he'll make it through and he'll make sure Sun does too."
They all looked at her, they had all been through a lot, but the way she spoke about Dorin she knew something they didn't. Which was true, she did. Dorin had never told anyone how he came to have his extensive prosthesis. He had told Yang during the war when she was about to give up, when he had lost Belko. What he had survived had been bad, but she knew he could survive whatever Harkin did to him. And if he didn't he would give him hell before he died.
"Alright, enough standing around," Ruby said. "Let's go prepare."
XXXXX
Yang and Blake spent an hour checking over their weapons and gathering supplies. There wasn't much else they could do while they waited to leave. Yang's anxiety had dulled to an annoying buzzing in the back of her head. Blake had convinced her to spend time with the girls, they wouldn't be seeing them for a while if everything went to plan. Klein had been great at distracting them with a board game while they had watched Dorin be beaten. As soon as they walked into the room they were dragging into playing.
Ruby and Weiss didn't join them for a while. Crimson Rose needed some adjustments from being in storage for so long. Weiss was busy ensuring they would have enough dust for the upcoming rescue, plus extra in case things went south. She was planning for the eventuality that everything would go wrong, because if she didn't and it did, they wouldn't have enough supplies.
The duo remained silent as they focused on their tasks. They had been here before, silent, in their own thoughts gathering weapons, supplies waiting for the unknown of battle. It caused a pit in Ruby's stomach. She had saved the world. She had brought peace to Remnant and for what?
"They're going to be okay Weiss," she said.
"Dorin did not look 'okay' to me Ruby," Weiss snapped at her. "He looked hurt- broken…do you expect me to be okay with that?"
"Of course not." She was surprised at her wife's coldness towards her. "None of us should be okay with it. I'm just saying that he'll be okay when we find him."
Weiss turned to face her, she was frustrated, angry. Yang's earlier insistence on returning to Vale with no plan, the one she refused, ate at her now. She should have taken Ruby and gone, the two of them could have handled it. If they had Dorin and Sun would be safe now.
"What did Yang mean he's been through worse?" It had stuck out to her and she knew Ruby had thought so too. "Did she mean when he lost Belko? Or his prosthesis? Even my sister won't tell me what happened to Dorin before he joined the military."
"I don't know," Ruby admitted with a shrug. "Dorin doesn't really talk to anyone like he talks to her. But if my sister thinks he's going to be okay then he's going to be okay."
Weiss fell silent, it shouldn't have been this way. But it was and she couldn't do anything about it other than move forward. She slipped Myrtenaster into its place on her hip. She was no longer a huntress, no longer a fighter. The last fifteen years she had been rebuilding the SDC from the ground up, becoming a wife, a mother. While Ruby stayed in the business of taking out monsters, not wanting to do anything else. Weiss had given it up, hung up her weapon, never intending to pick it up again. At least not until Summer was old enough to train herself. Now Myrtenaster felt heavy on her hip, like it didn't belong to her any longer.
"You don't have to do this, you know," Ruby reminded her. "You can stay here with dad and the girls."
"Ruby I'm not abandoning Dorin, not after all he's done for us and the SDC."
She didn't want to fight any more, but her family and team were being threatened. She was capable of pushing her feelings aside for them, to protect them. She looked at Ruby. She looked right with Crimson Rose sitting on her lower back below her cloak. Weiss envied her, Ruby had kept her fire even after the darkest time in their lives.
Weiss had lost her fire when she had started to rebuild SDC. The weight of what her father had left behind, it had nearly destroyed her. They were supposed to be happy, supposed to be free. Instead they had found themselves back in the fray.
"Hey guys," Weiss hadn't even noticed Yang poking her head in. "Dad just landed."
"We'll be right out," Weiss said, her eyes never leaving Ruby. "Thank you…"
XXXXX
"We rode in an airship which was scary cause it shook a lot!"
Yang smiled at her oldest as she relayed yesterday's events to Tai. It was interesting to her how different things seemed from the eyes of a child. Nevermind the fact that said child had been asleep the entire flight to Atlas. Kids and their stories, always making events sound cooler than they were. Rey must have gotten it from her, she liked to embellish things to impress Blake all the time. Her wife rarely believed her but the smile and ear twitches she received were always enough to satisfy her.
"Hey kiddo," Tai greeted her. "You look good, I was worried."
"We're alright," Yang assured him, knowing he was worried. "Ruby tell you what's going on?"
"Not in so many words," he said. "I don't like the idea of you four putting yourselves in danger again."
Yang knew why he was worried. He didn't have to say it. Summer had left on a mission and never came back. A mission she had lied about, a mission she had gone on with Raven. Their dad would never say it to them but they knew, they knew he always worried the same would happen to them, in a way they were doing exactly what Summer had done. They were leaving to face an evil they shouldn't have too. The difference was they wouldn't fail. Yang would be damned if she left her girls the way her mothers had left her.
"I know dad," Yang sighed. "But no one else wants to get involved right now, otherwise we wouldn't be going."
"I heard from your uncle, they're worried what might happen if they move against faunus, even if they are terrorists."
"The faunus aren't terrorists, the White Fang are."
"Right, sorry, that's what I meant."
Blake chose that minute to join them. She had taken a call from her parents, basically letting her know they would be landing soon. She looked exhausted, the morning having taken a lot out of her. Still she greeted Tai with a smile and a quick hug.
"Could I steal Yang for a minute?" She was already starting to pull Yang away when Tai nodded.
Yang fell into step with Blake as they headed away from everyone else. Ruby shot her a look as they passed but Yang could only shrug. She had no idea what was going on either. Blake led them back to their room, quickly shoving her in and shutting the door behind them. Yang knew whatever Blake was going to tell her was bad. Her wife's ears were pinned back, flat against her head.
She took a deep breath, throwing on the cheesiest smile she could muster. She could lighten any situation, that's what she was good at.
"I'm all for scarring Weiss but it works better when there's an actual risk of her walking in."
She expected a chuckle or a small grin. Hell even just a twitch from Blake's ears. Instead she got nothing. She swallowed hard, the knot in her stomach growing.
"My dad just sent me this," she said, handing Yang her scroll. "He'd never say this unless it was serious."
Yang read over the message once, twice and a third time to make sure she was reading it correctly. Ghira was a very intimidating man, he had to be, being Chieftain of Menagerie. But even then he wasn't a violent man. It was something Yang always respected about him, he always found a way to work things out without violence.
"He's really asking us to do this?" No wonder Blake wasn't happy. This wasn't them, this wasn't something they would ever do.
"I don't like it either," Blake said. "We have enough blood on our hands."
"We won't unless Harkin gives us no other choice." Yang decided she won't kill someone in cold blood. "Just don't tell Ruby or Weiss."
"Yang."
"Blake, it's okay," Yang said. "It's a last resort."
Blake shook her head. Their teammates wouldn't agree with what her father was asking of them, she knew that. The problem was one of them would have to do it. Killing Adam had been a relief, freeing her from him after years of torment. That had been the first time she had killed someone. It had also weighed heavily on her for years. She had her freedom but it had come at a cost.
"Would it be you?"
"No." Yang ran her hand through her hair. She knew exactly who would kill Harkin without hesitation.
Blake understood. They had their plan. They just needed to rescue Dorin and Sun first. Once they had the boys safe they would decide what to do next.
XXXXX
Kali squeezed Yang so hard that she felt her back crack multiple times. Since Kali had first learned Yang was dating Blake the older faunus had treated Yang like a daughter. She had done the best she could to fill the hole Yang's mothers had left. The first time Yang had cried having not had a motherly hug since she was eight. Now she managed to keep it together, but just barely. Ghira hugged her too, not as tightly, after seeing Yang struggle to breathe. He had taken an instant liking to her when they first met. Yang always enjoyed being around him, he looked scary but was really just a big softy.
"Thanks for getting here so fast dad," Blake said as she hugged him. "I'm sorry we had to pull you away."
"Of course," he said. "Menagerie will be alright without us for a bit."
There wasn't much else to say. They had been filled in by Blake. Ghira had told them what needed to be done. He remembered Harkin from years ago, and had admitted he had been more concerned about him then he had been about Adam at first. He had been worried Blake would fall victim to him too, but she hadn't, she had escaped and found her way to Beacon, to Yang. Still there wasn't much else that they could do. They could tell them to be careful but there was no point. They knew the risks. They all knew the four of them would do everything in their power to return home. That was what they had said, that they would come home. It was what they had convinced themselves of.
"We should get moving," Ruby said, her voice low in case she broke.
"Right…right."
They went to their kids needing to say one last goodbye, not knowing when they would see them again. Summer and Sky were just excited their grandparents were there, not completely understanding what was happening. Rey on the other hand knew. She was smart, she could tell something wasn't right, why else would her uncles stay behind? Why would her parents be leaving now? Why would her grandparents be here if something wasn't wrong?
Yang hugged Sky and Rey tightly, afraid to speak, worried she might break right in front of them. Blake was with her, hugging them too. Telling them they loved them, telling them they'd be back soon. Blake was so much stronger than her. She could have never done this without her.
Rey clung to Yang, trying to get her to stay. Yang wanted too. Gods did she want too. But she couldn't - they couldn't. She fought the tears that threatened to spill as she tried pulling away from her daughter. She had to be strong. She couldn't show her kids that she was scared, that she didn't actually know if they would come back.
Ruby and Weiss were in the same situation. Summer may not have understood what was going on but she clung to them, asking them to stay. They kept telling her that grandpa would be with her, that Klein would watch after her, that her cousins would give her company. But she wanted her moms. Not anyone else.
Tai took over for them, taking his sobbing grandchild in his arms and doing the best to distract her while Weiss and Ruby made a hasty exit. Kali and Ghira did the same for Blake and Yang. Rey hugged Ghira's leg, burying her face in his coat as she sniffled her tears back. Yang felt her heart break seeing them in pain.
It took the four all they had to walk out to the airship with all their gear. The air around them was heavy, covered in a blanket of suffocating silence. They stepped into the airship keeping their backs to the mansion. They couldn't look back. They refused to look back even with tears stinging their eyes. They stared ahead, refusing to look back at what they were leaving behind.