Yang comes to a realization.
Everything was burning. Smoke covered the air as the small village burned to the ground. Tendrils of it curled around Yang, quickly whisked away as she dodged left, narrowly missing the Ursa's claws.
They were called in to help the village when it had been suddenly been swarmed by a wave of grimm. Tensions had been high due to some property dispute, and hordes of Beowolves, Ursa, and Nevermore's had set upon them.
It was almost funny, ironically, that the whole thing had started with a property issue, and now there were no homes left. If she wasn't stuck fighting off the grimm, she might have laughed.
Team RWBY and JNPR, along with an assortment of lower grade teams, were helping to clear away the edges of the town, which were mostly scarce, save for a few grimm. The professor's and more experienced teams had taken the center, which was where all the real action was happening.
The Ursa in front of her was trying its hardest to sway her opinion though, coming in closer than she was comfortable with. But she simply grinned when its jaws missed her, its head and neck perfectly exposed for her brutal, but lighting fast, punch.
She scanned the area, her arms relaxing when she saw that there weren't any grimm near her. A child's wail cut through the choked air, and Yang spun, searching for it desperately.
She paused when she saw Ruby though, bent down and wiping the child's tears, her scythe lying discarded on the ground beside her. Nostalgia flooded her vision, the sight of Ruby and the little girl overrun for a moment by a similar scene. Instead of Ruby being the protector, it was Yang, wiping the same cheeks that now shone with confidence and maturity.
Yang was lost in the sight, her mind, for some reason, choosing now as the ideal time to have a massive epiphany, the realization of just how far Ruby had come.
Gone was the swaddle of blankets and giggles, the shy yet talkative toddler, the grief-stricken tears, the newly silent child, the unsure and distant adolescent, the prodigious but hesitant girl that had skipped two grades and entered Beacon with her. All those were gone, lost to time as they swirled together in a near perfect mixture, a concoction that gave off a light that could rival the sun, and infinitely more precious than the purest gold.
A streak of black and white flashed to her side, the familiar shot of a pistol echoing in Yang's ears.
"Don't get distracted." Yang turned to see her rescuer, who was staring at her with eyebrows raised as the carcass of the Beowolf that had lunged for became nothing more than specks in the wind. Blake's flat, quiet voice carried over the cacophony of their surroundings. "What were you even staring at anyways?"
Yang stole another glance back to Ruby, who had wrapped the little girl up in her arms before speeding off to safety. With a soft smile, Yang shifted back to an expectant Blake.
"I don't think I could tell you if I tried."
If anyone caught the massively obvious reference to "Gold" I shoved in here, then good for you. I just couldn't help myself. One thing the show does perfectly every volume is the soundtrack. I literally almost cried when I first heard it.