Yang could only vaguely recall what happened next. As she held Ruby, everything changed. Her body finally gave in after days of stress – if she hadn't had to support Ruby, she herself would have collapsed. She smiled, and with was so effortless, so thoughtless, she almost cried.

It's over.

Ruby was in an even worse – or rather, better state, leaning heavily on Yang. She started to speak, but her words were jumbling together and her voice was too quiet. Yang couldn't make any sense of what she was saying, but she wasn't alarmed. She just thought it was funny, and laughed about it.

"Meuanieei," Ruby groaned, palming her in the forehead like a baby.

"Yep. That's what I am," Yang patted her in the head. "You just settle down, Ruby. Take a nap."

"Nuu…"

Uncle Qrow approached them, looking down resentfully at his shirt, which had been thoroughly ruined during the skirmish. He put his pistol away and looked at Ruby. "Hey, twerp," he said dryly. "You sure have a knack for getting in trouble. Lucky you have me to save you," he gestured vaguely at Yang. "And her, I guess. But she's also trouble."

"Hey!" Yang exclaimed, a little offended. Just a little. She kinda saw his point.

Ruby reached out and pressed the tip of his nose between two of her fingers. "Uncwow!"

Qrow looked down at her fingers, going cross-eyed. "Kid, you are really messed up," he sounded exasperated, but Yang knew he was just as happy as she was. He was just too cool to show it, or so he thought.

Clearly, Ruby needed rest, and so did Yang. The Quinjet seemed too small, however, and after everything they had been through, they deserved something more, so they walked back into town and found an inn.

Walking inside, they saw a young woman standing behind a counter. She looked grumpy, probably having been woken up by the chaos outside, but as soon as she saw them come in, her demeanor changed. A quiet gasp escaped her lips, and she bent her knees, as if she hoped she could hide from sight behind the counter.

"Hey," Qrow leaned on the counter. "Need a room. Now."

"Y-yes, sir," the woman grabbed a notebook and started rummaging through it, but she was going too fast to be reading properly. "W-we have rooms. L-lots of rooms. How many beds?"

Qrow looked around and made a show of counting how many they were: him, Yang, Ruby. "Three beds."

"O-okay!" she went blank and didn't speak for a moment. "We… don't have rooms with three beds. Only… only two beds…," she flinched, as if she expected him to attack her.

"Hmm. That's too bad," Qrow's eyes narrowed as he stared at her. "I'll get the girls a room, then, and you and me can share-"

Yang kicked him in the shin. "One room with two beds is fine. I'll share with my sister," she said. "…Pervert," she added under her breath, glaring at her uncle.

"Pruverv," Ruby mumbled in plain agreement.

They chose their room, and Yang dropped Ruby unceremoniously on one of the beds. Ruby curled up and fell asleep at once. Yang looked at Qrow, and he smiled at her.

With a heavy sigh, Yang laid down beside Ruby and followed her example.

Yang woke up much later, feeling utterly refreshed. She sat up and stretched her arms above her head, then looked around. Ruby was gone, but she could hear a shower running in the adjacent bathroom. Qrow was sitting on a chair in the corner of the room, eating a bag of chips.

"Hi," she said. Her stomach growled. "Can I have some?"

Qrow took a handful of chips and tossed it at her. Some of them peppered her straight in the face, but most just landed across the bed and on her lap. "Sure," he took another handful and, without missing a beat, stuffed all the chips in his mouth and munched on them very loudly.

"Thanks, Qrow!" Yang exclaimed cheerfully and started picking up the stray chips, forming a little pile. "More, please!"

Qrow threw two more handfuls at her, giving her enough chips to make a respectable reservoir for herself. She did it happily, too, remembering that this was just the kind of dumb stuff they would do together whenever he visited home. For the last week, she had been too worried about Ruby to enjoy that aspect of their relationship. She didn't regret that, but it was a sad thought.

A few minutes later, Ruby came out of the bathroom with a towel around her head and a fresh set of clothes on. "Heya!" she shouted eagerly, then looked at the bed and Yang's chip mount, which was now reaching her chin. "What."

"It's a pile of chips!" Yang explained.

"I know!" Ruby said. "Are you going to eat it, though?"

Yang frowned. She had forgotten about that part. "Huh," she took a few chips from the top and ate them. As she munched, she gestured at Ruby, giving her permission to join.

Ruby ate with a ravenous appetite, eliminating the pile of chips in a fraction of the time it had taken Yang to build it. Qrow looked at her in shocked amusement at first, then realization dawned on his face. He handed her the bag of chips, which was still half-full, and Ruby took it without hesitation, only pausing to thank him.

"So," Ruby said between one chip and the next. "What's up?"

"What's up?" Yang repeated. Of all the ways to start a conversation, Ruby had chosen this one. Then again, Yang couldn't think of anything better. They were in a very unusual situation, after all. "Uh…"

"I mean," Ruby lowered the bag and looked from Yang to Qrow and back to Yang. "I'm just really confused. Why are you here, Yang? And you, uncle Qrow?"

"He works for Beacon, apparently," Yang said. If they were having this talk already, she preferred pointing the spotlight at their uncle first.

"I don't work for Beacon, you brat! How many times do I have to tell you?" Qrow glowered at her. "I work with Beacon."

"Oh," Ruby blinked. "Okay, then," she did a double take. "Wait, does everyone in our family work or used to work for Beacon?"

"With Beacon," Qrow corrected. "And, yes, pretty much. We're all a bunch of cops, spies and monster hunters."

"Monster hunters?!" Ruby jumped to her feet. "You fight Grimm too, uncle Qrow?"

"Most of the time," he said, crossing his arms smugly. "Yes, if you would ask Director Ozpin, he would say I am one of his best Grimm-slaying agents."

"Because you work for him," Yang said.

Qrow faltered. "No! That's not what I said," he didn't sound half as convincing this time. "Anyway! When you went missing and they couldn't find you for a whole week, Ozpin told me. I dropped what I was doing and took over the case immediately, of course," he paused. "I'm good at finding things. It's my specialty."

"Is it really, though?" Yang asked suspiciously. "Or are you just boasting again?"

"I don't boast," Qrow said matter-of-factly. "I remind people of what I'm good at. It's not my fault I'm so good at so many things," he grinned. "You wish you were so lucky, eh?"

Yang opened her mouth to fire back at him, but then Ruby turned to look at her, and she shrank where she sat. Ruby didn't look upset or anything like that, and Yang doubted she felt that way, but that wasn't the point. Ruby was forgiving to a fault. That didn't change the fact that Yang had lied to her.

"What about you, Yang?" Ruby asked. "You don't work for Beacon too, do you?"

"No…" Yang muttered. "Qrow recruited me."

"Why, though?"

Yang looked away. The right words weren't coming to her fast enough, or at all.

"I figured whatever had happened to you, something or someone big had to be behind it," Qrow piped in helpfully. "Now, I'm good, but I don't think I'm that good. It was safer to have someone strong helping me," he paused. "And, to her credit, Yang is decently clever too, so I didn't have to herd her around like a brainless minion either."

"Strong?" Ruby smiled brilliantly. "So I didn't imagine it! Yang, you have superpowers too! You have an Aura and a Semblance and everything! Right?"

"Uh, yeah, I do," Yang said mutely.

"Oooh, that's so cool! We're, like, superpowered sisters! We need a team name!" Ruby spread her hands apart theatrically. "Super Sisters! Alright, basic, I know, but we can work on that!" she jumped on the bed and crawled to Yang's side. "What can you do? Do you have laser eyes? Can you fly?"

"I am super tough, and I grow stronger the more I'm hit," Yang explained. "Also, I can shoot fire, I think. That's still a bit of a mystery to me."

"That's. So. Awesome!" Ruby squealed. "We have to have a Super Sisters adventure soon. And we're going on a Grimm-slaying trip together, uncle Qrow!"

Qrow shrugged. He knew there was no point in trying to refute that idea. Ruby would pester him day and night until he gave in. There was no denying her.

Yang sighed, feeling both relieved and guilty. Ruby was satisfied with what she had heard, but she hadn't heard everything. She didn't know Yang had had powers years before her. Yang opened her mouth to say that, figuring it was better to get everything out now than wait and risk hurting Ruby's feelings, but Qrow started speaking before her.

"Okay. Now that you're in the know, Ruby, I want to hear what happened to you," he said, his tone going from that of the cool uncle they had known all their lives to that of a Beacon agent – an authority figure. Yang had been growing used to it over the week, but Ruby was caught completely off-guard.

"O-okay," Ruby gulped. "I, uh… I guess it started two weeks ago… I was on a mission…"

And so Ruby told them about that night, when she had been interrupted by a stranger who turned out to not be a good person at all, and how the Grimm had attacked her and ignored him before he overpowered her. She told them how she had been taken to mountain Glenn and held prisoner there, and how she slowly figured out her captors were a bunch of crazy Grimm worshipers.

Yang could barely stay still in the bed. Ruby spoke only vaguely about the days she spent imprisoned, but Yang could detect the fear in her voice, and she didn't need to know all the details. Yang could very surely guess how horrible it had been, and her world was turning red. She wished she had one of these cultists to hit right now, and that they would hit her so she could hit back even harder.

Ruby finished her tale with her escape, and she sounded a bit more cheerful then. That was a good memory, it seemed.

"And then I called Yang. They chased and found me. And that's it."

Qrow crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, looking thoughtful. "Well I'll be damned. Grimm worshipers," he shook his head. "I've come across a few nutjobs of that kind over the years, but not more than a handful, and they were always isolated cases. And, from what I've seen and what you've told me, Ruby, it sounds like these guys might actually have a sensible concept of what the Grimm are."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Ruby asked, perking up.

"People like you and your sister can understand Grimm just fine. They're still unsettling and you'd rather not be anywhere near them, of course, but you know what they are. They're just animals, at the end of the day," Qrow explained. "But for the average person, it's different. The human mind isn't accustomed to the Grimm."

"You're saying the Grimm are magic, then? Like, if one attacked my math teacher, he would see something else entirely? Or nothing at all?" Yang questioned, her forehead wrinkled with confusion.

"No, I'm not talking about magic. I'm talking about something completely natural – it could conceivably happen with any traumatic experience, not just Grimm. I'm talking about fear. Terror," Qrow said. "Terror enough that your mind can't process what you're actually seeing, so it tries to make sense in the weirdest and most damaging ways. Like substituting Grimm with demons," he paused. "Or… you can just go into a coma."

The room was quiet. Yang was feeling very twitchy all of sudden, as if the walls and ceiling were growing closer to her. She kept her eyes sharply away from the window and the darkness outside. She looked to Ruby, and to her surprise, realized she was having the exact opposite reaction. There was a spark in her eyes, and she was sitting straighter on her end of the bed.

Yang could only think that Ruby really had been born for this. The thought both comforted and worried her.

"Alright," Ruby said. "That kind of explains how Beacon have kept the Grimm a secret for so long."

"Don't mention that to Goodwitch. It might sound convenient, but it's just the opposite," Qrow said. "People don't go comatose for no reason. There must always be explanations – and, most of the time, we can't give those explanations. And when people wake up from that…"

"We get a mountain full of lunatics?" Yang guessed.

Qrow nodded. "I imagine that's how it happened. It was bound to happen sometime, a bunch of people with past experiences with Grimm meeting and realizing that maybe, just maybe, they weren't as crazy as they thought. And then someone else comes along, a smarter, more devious someone, and injects some reason and higher purpose into the mix…"

"The Shepherd. He's not cool," Ruby muttered. "You think he's manipulating the others?"

"No, he probably believes his nonsense too. Only he knows how to rein the craziness in and how to work people," Qrow said. "And he seems to have figured out how to get Grimm to come over to our world. Of course, the rituals and the other details are all crap, but…"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Ruby squealed. "He can actually summon Grimm, then? Bring about apocalypse and all that?"

"Well, sacrifices are very nasty. Imagine doing those over and over and over… that's some negative energy," Qrow paused. "Enough to bring over something huge…"

He stood up suddenly and fished his phone out of his pocket, then headed to the door. Yang made to follow him, but he turned and looked at her, and that was all it took to stop her. Qrow nodded and left, closing the door behind him.

There was a moment of silence, broken only when Ruby picked her bag of chips up and broke one between her teeth. "Well that was weird," she said. "Why do you think he left like that?"

"I don't know, but he looked serious," Yang sat down on the bed again. "Like, this is life or death serious."

"Maybe he's calling Beacon? Director Ozpin?" Ruby suggested, and suddenly her eyes widened. "Oh my God! Does Miss – sorry, does Commander Goodwitch know I'm okay? She must be super worried!"

Yang grinned. She had only met Glynda Goodwitch twice, and she didn't seem like the warmest of persons. Yang doubted she would be upset at receiving the news a little late. But she had urged Yang to find Ruby, so she clearly cared.

"I think your phone is back at the plane. Your pickaxe-thing too," Yang said.

"It's a scythe!" Ruby corrected, getting a little flustered. "And did you just say plane?"

"Technically, it's a Quinjet."

"A what?"

"You can just borrow mine, okay?" Yang tossed her phone to Ruby. "You can also call Dad while you're at it. He's gonna be very confused, I bet."

Ruby stared at her confusedly for a moment, then released a quiet note of realization. "Oh. He doesn't know about you…" she frowned. "Maybe I should call him later, then, with my own phone…"

"Hey, I don't mind," Yang said, although she did mind a bit. Coming out to Ruby had been nerve-wracking enough… "Whatever you wanna do."

Ruby got off the bed and just stood there for a while, looking indecisive. Finally, she left the room, already typing out a number in the cellphone.

Now that everything was considerably calmer, Yang realized the last week hadn't been completely bad. Of course, she would never want to relive it or anything similar, both for herself and for her family, but… it had taken her mind off some bothersome things. Thoughts that had been substituted by worrying about her lost sister and wondering exactly what was up with her weird uncle.

Ruby was here. Ruby was okay. Life went on. What now?

She could get back on the road and finish her trip, but that seemed in bad taste, and she wasn't feeling up to it anyway. Yang had had enough excitement for one summer. That, and she really wanted to go back home to her dad. She missed him more than she was willing to admit.

But that wasn't the point. Today, tomorrow, next week, that was easy. One moment after another, just like it had always been. The bigger picture, which she had always been happy to ignore, was knocking on her door now, and she had to answer it.

She really didn't want to, though. And so, like several times before, Yang put it off – just one last time. She deserved that, surely, after everything that had happened. She couldn't be blamed if she wanted to relax for a while…

After almost an hour had passed and neither Ruby nor Qrow had returned, Yang couldn't take it anymore. She went to the bathroom, took a quick shower, then left the room and the inn, hair still wet. Normally, she wouldn't risk doing anything that could damage it, but she couldn't stand to be alone any longer.

She found Ruby on the sidewalk. Much to Yang's surprise, she wasn't on the phone or anything. Ruby was simply pacing around, hands behind her back, eyes fixed on her feet. Yang couldn't tell how she was really feeling, but a quiet Ruby was never a well Ruby. Wordlessly, Yang approached her and wrapped her arms around her sister.

Ruby gave a little start. "Y-Yang!" she squeaked, turning her head to look at Yang's face. "You scared me!"

"Sorry," Yang backed off, thinking maybe sneaking up on Ruby hadn't been the most sensitive thing to do. "You just… are you okay?"

Ruby tilted her head a little, looking at Yang as if she didn't understand the question. "Uh, yes? Why?"

Yang crossed her arms. "Don't play dumb with me, Ruby."

But Ruby's expression didn't change, not even slightly. After a while, she made a perplexed noise with her mouth, then took Yang's phone from her pocket and offered it back.

"Weirdo," she said, smiling teasingly. "Weirdo Woman. That's your superhero name. I've decided it, and you can't change it."

Yang was too taken aback to object. Was Ruby really not shaken at all by what she had gone through, or had Beacon given her some top notch acting classes as part of her training? It made Yang unsettled.

Why was she unsettled? Ruby was okay. Maybe it was a little weird, but that should make Yang happy! Heck, why was she even surprised? Ruby had always been tough. She hadn't needed any persuasion to go fighting crime days after learning she had superpowers. Just the contrary, in fact…

"Yo, Weirdo Woman," Ruby poked her in the nose. "You're staring, and staring's not polite. Didn't Dad teach you?"

Yang blinked. "Excuse me, poking is not polite. And I'm not Weirdo Woman. I'm not using a codename, or a costume, for that matter," she swept her hair around dramatically. "It would be useless. I'm too pretty to not be recognized."

"Oh, okay. And I'm not pretty?" Ruby asked accusingly.

"I didn't make you use that costume," Yang said, evading the question. She was pretty sure half of Signal was aware of who 'Red Bolt' really was, but she was going to let Ruby believe what she wanted for as long as possible. It would make the moment the ruse fell all the more glorious.

Ruby didn't seem to like that answer very much, but that was the note at which she let the conversation go.

"Did you talk to Dad?" Yang asked.

"Yep," Ruby answered quickly. "He was happy, obviously. I almost went deaf. He asked why I was using your phone, but I didn't say much. I hung up when he started to talk about his latest starfish clock purchase."

"Another?"

"Apparently," Ruby shrugged. "Our family is weird, Yang. Speaking, where's uncle Qrow?"

As if summoned by her voice, Qrow appeared beside them. "Hello."

Yang and Ruby jumped away together, the latter assuming a fighting stance that couldn't belong to any real martial arts school. Qrow was oddly unamused.

"Where were you, you creep?" Yang asked, heart still racing a bit. "You weren't waiting for someone to mention you, right?"

"You think I have that kind of time?" Qrow scoffed. "No. Maybe another time, but not tonight. I was just busy talking with the Director of Beacon. They have to know everything to mount their assault on the bastards who kidnapped Ruby."

"We're doing something about them! Sweet!" Ruby yelled. "When's it happening?"

"That's classified information."

Ruby's jaw dropped, and then she looked hurt as Qrow refused to say anything else. It didn't take long for Yang to realize what was happening.

"Oh, not this again," she said. "You're not keeping Ruby out of this. She has a right to be involved. And you're not keeping me out either."

"But I am. You're not even Beacon personnel," Qrow said dismissively. "And she's just a rookie, a damn good one, but still a rookie."

Ruby lowered her head obediently. Not only was Qrow her uncle, but she had also learned to respect a superior officer's orders. She wasn't going to give obeying a second thought.

Yang, however, didn't have to respect any Beacon officer's authority. As for him being her uncle… That didn't help him.

Yang took a step forward, prepared to lash out at him, but to her surprise, Qrow didn't give her the opportunity. He spoke instead, and using the heated tone of voice she had meant to use, with the sincerity brought by hurt she was feeling.

"I don't want to hear it, Yang. You think you're in the right, and maybe you are, but that's not what's in question right now! Ruby is safe. You found her. You two are going back home, and you're going to forget about all this. End of story. And if you won't listen to me, I will drop you on your asses and drag you back to Patch."

He stepped right up to Yang and stared her down.

"Is that what you wanted?"

Yang tried to match his gaze, but she couldn't. Soon, her eyes dropped to the pavement between them. Qrow backed away and turned, looking over his shoulder.

"I brought the Quinjet closer to town. Follow me."

He started walking. Yang watched him go, not knowing what to do.

And then Ruby burst back to life beside her. "What the heck is going on?!" she yelled.

Qrow turned around and looked at her, seemingly caught off-guard. Ruby's outburst shook Yang out of her stupor.

"Qrow, uh…" she tried to explain. "He… doesn't want…"

"I got that! I'm not stupid!" Ruby exclaimed in frustration. She set her eyes on Qrow. "Explain."

He opened his mouth, then closed it. Yang couldn't blame him. If Ruby had been looking at her that way, she wouldn't be able to speak either.

"Look. Maybe Director Ozpin or Commander Goodwitch gave the order, but I really doubt that. They both know I'm capable. So it's you who's trying to stop us," Ruby said. "I just survived two weeks with those jerks, and I've been killing Grimm all summer. And Yang's… Yang! She's awesome!" she paused. "So what are you afraid of?"

What remained of Qrow's resolve withered away at once. He walked back to Yang and Ruby, face twisted into a grimace. Ruby had struck a nerve, it seemed.

"You two aren't the only people in this family with a Semblance," he said. He looked at Ruby, "Your mother had one. You already knew that," he looked at Yang intensely, as if holding something back, then looked away. "I have one too."

"I figured," Ruby said quietly. "You kinda got shot all over before… I wanted to say something, but I didn't, 'cause, you know… awkward…"

"Few people know. Your father. The Director. And I imagine some select Beacon elite. That's because my Semblance isn't as flashy as yours," Qrow swept his hair back from his forehead. "I bring bad luck."

Yang and Ruby looked at each other, and recognizing their mutual confusion, realized they hadn't heard wrong.

"Excuse me, bad luck?" Yang repeated. "That's not a thing."

"Sure. Believe whatever you want. But you've seen it with your own eyes. The only reason you haven't seen worse is because I've been suppressing it while you're near – and believe me, that's been rather unpleasant," Qrow said through gritted teeth. "Whoever's near me can count on misfortune coming their way. Doesn't matter whether they're friend or foe, everyone gets their share. Some get it worse, some don't even notice it. But no one escapes."

"But… but…" Ruby was trying to find something to say, but she was as much at a loss as Yang.

Qrow grinned bitterly. "That's why I prefer not hanging around you two. I've learned my lesson about being near people I care about," he paused, then added under his breath, "…several times over."

Yang shifted her weight between her feet. Suddenly, it made a lot sense why Qrow visited so rarely, and always for such short times. And her dad had always been rather prickly towards Qrow, but she had assumed that was about some history between them she didn't know of, or some silly adult men thing. If she had children, she wouldn't want them to have constant bad luck…

And there she was, believing him. Yang pulled back from her thoughts and looked Qrow in the eyes.

"You don't want us near you while we're fighting," she said. "Fine. You hang back, then, while me and Ruby take care of the bad guys. Deal?"

Qrow rolled his eyes, regaining some of his usual attitude. "Right. And then you can take over my job while I retire to some deserted island on the Vacuan ocean. No."

"Okay," Ruby piped in. "Yang, here's the plan: we drop uncle Qrow on his ass and lock him inside a wardrobe, then we take care of the cultists. Deal?"

"Language!" Yang crossed her arms. "…But, yes, deal."

They turned towards Qrow at the same time, and he backed away, looking genuinely scared.

"Where's the bad luck now, uncle?" Yang grinned. "Ooh, right, you can't use that on your nieces… that's the whole point…"

"Relax, uncle Qrow, we'll go easy on you!" Ruby said. "I will, at least."

"You're going to regret this one day, you pests," Qrow threw his arms up in surrender. "Fine! You win! You can come along, if you want it so much! Hope a rock drops on both of your heads."

He turned and walked away in a hurry, as if still expecting to be attacked. Yang and Ruby high-fived, then ran after him.

"I thought Beacon was planning an assault?" Ruby asked. "Shouldn't we wait for reinforcements?"

"I was the assault, you idiot," Qrow said. "Now we are the assault. Congratulations!" he took his flask from his belt and uncorked it pitifully. "God, I wish this wasn't empty."

He picked up speed, leaving them far behind. Ruby looked at Yang, full of doubt.

"I think we made him really, really mad," she whispered. "I feel bad."

"Well," Yang said. "He can't hide forever."

She stopped. Ruby went on a few more steps ahead of her, then turned to look back at her confusedly.

"Nothing," Yang answered the question before it came. "I'm just very right."

And she marched on, curling her hands into fists.

TL;DR: don't try the lottery if Qrow's in your life.

I want to clarify the stuff about Grimm that Qrow talked about this chapter. To be more precise, the thing about regular people not being able to 'understand' Grimm. I had Yang comparing it to magic and Qrow dismissing her very much on purpose. This isn't like the Mist in the Percy Jackson series or similar stuff. And it isn't a super strict rule either. Sometimes regular people will understand Grimm, and people with Semblances/Aura won't.

Also, there's no indication in canon that Qrow can in any way suppress his Semblance. I'm infringing on that. But, as proven by the accidents he and Yang had along the week, he can't do it very well - and the longer he tries, the harder it gets. He shouldn't be doing it, not even for short bursts. You really can't try the lottery with him.

Anyways. That's enough Word of God exposition from me (and this story almost saved itself from the regular ungodly amounts of it too...). Next chapter's the last, so prepare yourselves. Things are about to get... Yangtastic.

-Zeroan