Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. The wonderful characters and settings of the RWBY universe belong to Monty Oum and RoosterTeeth.
Chasing Shadows
Chapter 5: Convergence.
Blake Belladonna ran.
She ran faster than she ever had before.
Her breathing was heavy. Her long black fringe clung to her forehead; the perspiration from hours of running was stronger than any glue she had ever used. Her legs were like lead but somehow they carried on, moving at a pace she hadn't thought possible for anyone other than Ruby.
They knew. Her whole body knew. It should have given out hours ago, but like her heart and mind it refused. She had not rested once, how could she? From the crapped hiding place between boxes of supplies on the ship she had stowed aboard to the densely packed and snow covered forests of Patch there was simply no time to stop.
She had to know.
She had to know now.
So she ran.
Taiyang Xiao Long had tried his best in life. He'd tried to do right by his kids. He tried to be there for them, to hold them when they cried and make sure they smiled at the end of the day.
He realised now his efforts had not been enough. She was right. He was right too… in a way. He had tried to be a good father, to make sure his kids were the best people he could help them be.
Only now did he realise he'd tried to late for one of them.
He had never known Yang felt that way. He doubted she knew it herself. They both had a protective streak when it came to Ruby and they both knew it. Yang would never blame her sister, she simply wouldn't. Thinking about it, he should've seen the signs sooner.
She had just been so happy. Yang had always smiled; it was just the way things worked. Like the snow in winter or the leaves in fall, as far as he was aware Yang smiling simply was not optional, it just happened. She was, almost literally, a ray of sunshine.
He realised now that he had missed the moment her smiles stopped being true and started being the mask. He had been too caught up in himself to notice.
Yang was happy when she had a purpose. She needed something she could invest her very heart and soul into, and, until a week ago that had been Ruby. He had never seen her annoyed at the younger girl, not when she was woken by her at three in the morning to tell her about her nightmares. Not when she harassed the older girl for hours to reach up to the top shelf to get the cookie jar. Yang had never truly been angry at Ruby, she cared too much.
She had lost that now.
Yang had nothing. No purpose, no cause. Ruby didn't need her anymore and her father wasn't the attachment she needed these days. He never had been. He had hoped her partner, the girl she mentioned so much in her letters might be a new cause for his fiery girl. He had been wrong about that too.
Suddenly he was torn from his thoughts as the house shook on its foundations. The photos and other random items that adorned the many shelves fell to the floor. In a cruel twist of irony he felt a piece of glass pierce into his foot, a piece that had shatter right from the frame that contained a picture of the three of them.
The glass had cracked between Yang and himself. Ruby was suitably unharmed.
The whole house illuminated in a fiery flash of hot orange light. Despite it being the middle of winter and light layer of sweat instantly appeared on Taiyang's fair skin.
What could have caused such an explosion?
There was only one person he thought of, but it wasn't possible. It shouldn't have been possible. That amount of power simply didn't exist in your average huntsmen, not even in your exceptional ones. It reminded Tai of the time he had seen Ozpin use his semblance. Just that one time, all those years ago.
It can't her been her.
Was Raven right, all those years ago?
Taiyang didn't care how or why right now. He knew that blast had to have come from Yang.
He ran.
Raven had been watching her daughter as best she could this past week. It had been a big decision to finally contact her, but a necessary one. The world was bigger than her petty reasons for not doing it. Her inadequate feelings would have to be pushed aside.
Ozpin had his hero. He had his power now in Ruby. Salem had her power now too; she had collected the power of another maiden. Only summer and spring now remained, and even Ozpin didn't know where they were. If Raven was to be a contender in this, if she were to truly save the world rather than play the misguided game the others played she would need her own power, far beyond that she currently possessed.
Yang was that power.
Remnant was full of legends and tales, Qrow had said it himself, even Ozpin had admitted more than one was true.
They never believed the same tales as Raven however. Even for Ozpin, a man as old as he was the tale Raven believed was too much. Qrow had forgotten the Branwen roots, as had their father. It was pure fantasy they said.
In a world with maidens of the seasons and silver eyes gods, they said she couldn't exist. No one could have that power. There was no such thing as what she was suggesting Yang to be. Qrow still denied it, even after Beacon had been torn apart.
What she was looking at wasn't fantasy.
What Raven was looking at was proof. It was there, right before her eyes. She had been right.
Yang had the fire. She would be able to summon them in her imagine. She could burn down kingdoms if she wanted. She was truly a force of nature.
Raven smiled.
She smiled as her daughter burned. Even as she watched the flames instinctively burn away the Grimm she couldn't help her hand drifting closer to her blade. This was her daughter; even as the flames brought her happiness watching a Beowolf clamp its jaws on her remaining arm was not a sight she enjoyed.
She was about to intervene when Yang stopped in the middle of the forest. Her blood mixed with the dead Grimm's and for the first time in years she felt fear.
Had she been wrong?
Yang looked defeated, Raven doubted she could stand even if she wanted too.
She had to do something.
She summoned the power in her, feeling the still strange tingle as her body shrunk several sizes. She still watched in mild amusement as her tanned skin, rough from years of exposure was replaced by sleek black feathers that ruffled in the winter's breeze. It took less time than it did for her to blink before a literal Raven stood where her human body had once been. A single, powerful flap of her slender wings set her in motion, flying as fast as she could towards her injured child. She had been so sure she was right. So certain. She had believed it in her bones, from the day she was born Raven could have sworn she had felt it.
She hadn't been mistaken.
Raven had learnt to channel her aura in her bird form; she'd just never needed it before. It was times like this she was thankful for her near paranoid view of the world. Caution would do nothing but save her life as she always said. Still, the hit knocked her aura out completely.
She was thrown through the air like a ragdoll. Tossed aside by the ever-expanding dome of flames as if she was little more than a fly to be swatted. She, Raven Branwen, feared by the forces of good and bad alike, had been thrown aside so carelessly by the power of her daughter. The power that supposedly didn't exist.
She was almost proud.
Blake had no idea where she was going.
The ship she had stowed away on was sailing back to the mainland in the distance behind her. It would be dark soon and the captain wanted to return home for the night. He had been so eager to unload his cargo that he smiled and waved at the black haired faunus as she walked past. It never once registered to him that the only place she could have come from was his boat.
The small column of smoke was still in the sky, albeit a pale comparison of the mighty spire it had been when she set off on the ship. If you hadn't seen the light earlier it could easily have been mistook for a simply chimney outlet.
Blake set off again, towards the smoke.
Even if there was nothing left to save, she had to see.
She glanced at her right wrist, where a comforting yellow gauntlet sat, neatly compressed in its everyday form.
She ran.
For the first time in her life, Blake Belladonna ran towards something. She allowed herself a small smile, only Yang Xiao Long could make her go against everything she was. She had always made Blake better than she was.
She ran faster.
Taiyang ran outside the house as fast as his feet would carry him. He moved towards where the light had come from. He had to get to her before anything… before anyone else. His poorly covered feet protested as the plodded heavily through the snow.
He looked up just in time.
A tree, ripped from its roots was flying through the air towards him. I wasn't alone either. He rolled across the ground, bemoaning his lack of weapon as he was forced to dodge what seemed like half a forest trying to crush him. His aura flared as hundreds of pebbles and small twigs battered into him, but he was only concerned about avoiding the massive trunks.
He jumped between the falling logs, using the last as a springboard to the next. He had never been the most athletic huntsman; Summer was always the one capable of what he still swore were almost impossible gymnastics.
Finally the debris stopped raining down on him. Taiyang stopped to breath as he surveyed the area around him. Patch's forests had always been dense and difficult to navigate for anyone unaccustomed to the area, the snow made it difficult even for Taiyang and his daughters to go off the beaten track. The only one who dared was Ruby, when she would take an entire day to complete the journey to her mother's grave. It was a journey that would have taken two hours at most in the warmer months.
Now the paths had not been blocked but almost eradicated. Yang hadn't been gone more than half an hour at this point. It would take a few hours to navigate and clear the path to her.
He grabbed a trunk and threw it to the side.
He had work to do.
Blake had made it, finally.
She had spent ages trying to get through the densely packed forests of Patch. She had shed a tear when she saw the devastation that occurred here. Tree's were burnt and scattered across the snowy landscape. Ripped up at their very roots, this had to be the work of noting less than a force of nature.
Even he couldn't have done this, not alone.
An explosion this size would need dust, and a lot of it. Not as much as Torchwick and the White Fang had on the train, but it wasn't a far off amount.
Did he hate her that much?
Enough to drag the entire resources of the White Fang into his vengeance?
If she was being honest, she already knew the answer.
The trees and other obstacles hadn't slowed her down considerably. She was a gymnast of exception skill, and those obstacles she could not navigate herself were easily rounded with Gambol Shrouds long, grappling like reach to help her. Once or twice she'd even blasted an obstacle away with her yellow gauntlet, if only to hear the familiar sound and smile at the memory of the girl it truly belonged to. Finally, she came to a clearing. For as far as the eye could see there was nothing but scorched earth.
Even so, Blake couldn't miss her.
Her eyes found her whether she liked it or not. They always had.
She began to approach, slow and cautious. Yang seemed fine, the smell of blood in the air was long since stale, and had only the slightest hints of her partner in it. Her clothes were burn at the edges but all these wounds were superficial.
Yang was alive.
She knew it.
She was about to step forward, her mind full of words that she hoped would make sense once her tongue clicked into gear. She would get the girl home; she would stay this time, if only to make sure she was truly safe.
A blackbird entered her vision, flying straight towards the unconscious blonde. She watched, shocked as the bird turned into a human as it the ground. Her hair was as black as Bake's own, but was as wild and free as Yang's.
Who was this woman? Blake began to run; she wouldn't let her touch Yang. She was an unknown; Gambol Shroud was already being unsheathed.
"I've got you Yang" a voice carried on the wind. The woman had knelt down to hold the blonde. The way she stroked the ash filled hair, it was all too much. Only Blake had ever been allowed near her hair, she was the only one to be allowed to touch her.
Was this jealousy?
"Yang!" a new voice called into the wind. Nearby a man came into view and this time Blake needed no introductions. She'd heard his description a thousand times and seen the pictures a hundred more. This was Taiyang Xiao Long.
"Get away from her" he screamed at the woman, already in full charge to meet her head on. He stopped dead in his tracks when the woman looked up at him again. Blake was confused for a second.
"Raven?"
Oh. Oh.
That was Raven?
She wasn't needed here. Yang was safe, that much she knew. That was all she truly needed to see.
She slunk back into the shadows.
A/N: Did you want a happy reunion? So did I. Unfortunately this won't be easy on either girl.
As always, this chapter is unbeta'd. Be a star and leave a review would you? It's what fuels the words to know people are enjoying the story.