Chapter 16

Taiyang hummed to himself, he tuned out the TV to focus on lunch. He was happy having his daughter home, safe and sound. After everything that had happened, he couldn't bear to lose her.

He didn't know what he would do if he did.

Zwei slept peacefully on the couch, perfectly content with life. Birds chirped outside, celebrating the life they had. He wished Ruby would enjoy what she had, but he knew she was obsessed with revenge, at chasing down Cinder Fall.

It would pit her against Salem however, he couldn't bear that. Summer would have never accepted throwing Ruby at Salem.

I wonder what she would have said, how she would have reacted to Yang's… Tai sighed. It wouldn't help for him to dwell. He had a living girl to take care of and he wasn't a stranger to loss.

He placed the lunch on a tray and walked down the wooden halls to Ruby's room, he knocked politely before entering. "Ruby~ I have lunch~" He sing-songed. He paused for a moment to look around the room.

The tray crashed to the floor as he panicked. She wasn't there. She was gone. She… she! She left a note! He darted to her bed and grabbed the paper.

Dad

Sorry that it went this way, but you wouldn't have let me leave. I know you want to protect me, but I don't want to spend the rest of my life doing something mundane. I have wanted to be a Huntress for my entire life. I want to be a hero and save lives. That hasn't changed. I need want to protect people.

Cinder Fall is a threat to everyone and I can defeat her, I almost did at Beacon. But you don't have to worry, I have my friends and I'll find Uncle Qrow. We'll defeat her together. And when we're done I'll come home.

Thank you for everything you've ever done for me Dad, I'll always love you.

Love,

Ruby

Tai felt like he was about to collapse, his world swayed for a moment before he regained his balance and rushed outside with tears in his eyes. Snow had started to fall, obscuring the grass and path. He couldn't see any tracks.

She'd run away.

He'd lost her.

He collapsed and let out a wail. "Why!? Brothers, why must you punish me!? Abandoned by a woman I loved! Then you took the other! Now you've taken a daughter and sent the other to her death!" He screamed into the empty world around him.

He heard a whine as Zwei came to check on him. Tai stroked the corgi and knew what he had to do.

"Hey Zwei, want to go hunting down my errant daughter?"

"Woof!"

"Then let's go."

He'd find her and stop this madness. He couldn't lose her.

She was all he had left.

Bartholomew Oobleck let out a quiet grunt as he pulled a book off of its high shelf. He looked down at his leg, still clasped in its metal brace. It was… irritating. It kept him from using his Semblance, as it was hard to move quickly when you were hobbling around.

Bart sighed and rubbed the book, wiping off the dust. A book on the history of the Huntsman Academy's stared back at him. He put it back and continued down the shelves. He felt so very slow.

He wasn't sure if it was his lingering injury, or the weight of recent events but he felt sluggish and slow, like he had weights attached to him. For one so used to speeding everywhere it was a startling change.

Outside he could hear another class in session. Students of all ages were taking classes together, even teaching each other. Most had transferred to the other schools but those who remained were working hard to keep up their learning in addition to retaking the school.

Despite their aid, however, Bart doubted they would retake Beacon any time soon. With Atlas having retreated from Vale due to hate from the populace they were severely lacking in the manpower and resources needed to accomplish their task in a timely manner.

Bart had never heard of the Grimm fortifying a location like this but that is what they did. An army of the creature's had appeared, all coming to the statue of the Wyvern. It was almost as if they were paying respects to a fallen hero.

Of course, that's highly unlikely. The Grimm do not act like Humans. Why would they have any care for another of their kind having been slain? Then again, this isn't a normal situation. The Wyvern has turned to stone, perhaps this has changed their behaviour? We know far too little. Perhaps we need to capture a Grimm? It won't last long but I may be able to learn something. Perhaps I'll ask Peter for assistance. Or I could request the aid of those former criminals? They were tasked with assisting us teachers in return for their freedom.

While his body was slow his mind was not. It worked at a rate his body never had, he thought of numerous possibilities. His thoughts were interrupted by a door opening and closing.

"Oh yes, I apologize Glynda! I'm still searching for any references to the creature or its current situation!" He blurted out before turning. He let out a breath and walked over to meet his old friend. "Tai! I'm sorry! I've been on edge and-"

"It's alright Bart." The man smiled and Bart realised something had changed. The younger man wore a thick brown jacket now and was holding a backpack. He looks prepared for travel. "I just had a couple questions."

"Of course!"

"Do you have an idea of where my daughter might have gone?"

"Well many cultures have different ideas of what happens to the dead. Many feature afterlives or reincarnation-"

Tai held up a hand, stopping the Doctor in his fast-paced explanation. "I meant Ruby. She's run away." Taiyang sounded tired.

"Ah. I see."

"She left a note saying she would be hunting down the person responsible for all of this and left. She mentioned bringing her friends with her. Have you seen or heard anything?"

"Well, I do remember team JNPR acquiring some maps. They specifically requested maps of Mistral and Vale, especially the eastern coast. If I had to guess I would say they were travelling to Mistral."

"Thank you, Bart. I need to find her before she does something foolish."

"It's no trouble. I'll provide you copies. It may help." Bart rushed as fast as he could, compiled the maps together and handed them back to the tanned man. "Good luck."

"Thanks. I'll need it." Tai gave him a nod and left. Bart had to blink and clean his glasses. I was certain I just saw a dog wave at me from within that bag…

It had to have been a stress-induced hallucination. Of course.

I need more coffee.

Pyrrha watched the crackling fire before her. The others were gathering wood and foraging for food. She felt a little useless. Ren and Nora seemed to be experts, since they had spent years on the road. Ruby and Jaune both had some experience thanks to the occasional camping trip when they were younger.

Her though? She'd spent so much time in tournaments that she didn't even know the basics. They'd been camping every night for the past week and each time she felt more useless than the last. It was perhaps the first time she had felt like she had nothing to offer.

Instead, all she did was sit there, watch the fire and look down at the broken blade in her hands. They'd retrieved her weapons but no one in the city had the time to fix Milõ leaving the weapon shattered. She had her shield and a generic short sword Goodwitch had given her, but it didn't feel right.

Cinder had torn her weapon apart. She'd lost a part of herself that day. We don't even have the metal to repair it, unless we use Weiss or Blake's weapons but I think Ruby has a plan for those. Of course, the metals were all different anyway so it wouldn't be the same.

She'd make do for now.

The group of friends all sat down together and ate some warmed up canned food. It wasn't luxurious but they were together and Pyrrha was happy to be alive. Happy that they were all alive. To feel them around her. To not have burdened Ruby with a power she didn't ask for. She hadn't told Ruby about that yet. She wasn't sure how to bring it up.

She wasn't sure that she would.

'Oh hey, when I was trying to kill myself I thought of you so that you would gain the magical powers that would make you a target for the rest of your life!'

Because that would go over so well! Instead, Pyrrha kept it to herself. Ruby didn't need to know. Maybe she had figured it out. Either way, it didn't matter. Ruby had saved her life, and Pyrrha wouldn't throw it away again. Nor would she leave Ruby to fight a madman.

Not when it came at the cost of Penny's life.

She didn't know how to feel about that. She'd made the decision to go after Cinder. The others had followed but it had been her choice that started it all. I'm not made to make choices like that. Maybe that's why Ozpin didn't make me the leader. It would have made sense given my fame and skill, but he chose Jaune and Ruby to lead. I'll trust them to make the hard choices from now on.

If only to avoid another Penny.

Later they set their sleeping bags down and prepared for sleep, they set one person up to watch while the others rested. Apparently Doctor Oobleck had recommended it during Ruby's mission to Mountain Glenn.

Pyrrha went to sleep wondering what she would do and how she could train her newfound powers. A part of her wondered how she would react to seeing Cinder Fall again, but with her friends, she was sure she would make it through.

Jaune drew out their map with a yawn. They'd been travelling for hours but he had to make sure they hadn't strayed from their path. "Alright, so it should be another week or two until we get to the coast. It shouldn't be hard to get a boat to Mistral from there."

"Without the CCT we might be delayed." Ren said.

"So we wait for a boat. We'll get over there either way." Ruby replied.

"Ooh, when we get to Mistral we should celebrate with whole new outfits!" Nora declared, throwing her arms into the air.

"Is it wise to spend our limited funds on that?" Ren asked.

"Well, we could use some upgrades." Jaune said, putting the map away. "I know I need to add some armour." He patted his stomach, where he knew lay a great scar. "No way am I letting that happen again."

"We would need materials…" Ren tried.

"We can try a bank." Pyrrha offered. "I should be able to request some from my accounts. It shouldn't take too long."

"We already used plenty of your funds to prepare for this mission though." Jaune said.

"I'm happy to use it all! I won plenty from the tournaments. It was just going to sit there otherwise."

"We need to keep moving." Ruby moved to the front of the group. "We'll stop for Lien and any other supplies we can grab quickly, but then we move on. We can pick up new clothes and upgrades on our way through Mistral."

"We could get it all at once though…" Jaune trailed off when Ruby looked back.

"If we stick around a place too long then my dad could catch up. He's definitely coming to take me back. He won't let us fight. It doesn't matter that this is our choice. He wants to keep us safe but that safety means we can't do anything! I won't let him catch us." Ruby turned to the front and kept marching.

"Yeah… we all made the choice to take Cinder down. I won't let anyone stop us!" Jaune smiled and marched to the front with Ruby.

Ren nodded as he passed and Nora grinned. They were on board. He looked back at Pyrrha who smiled and nodded.

They were all in on this. Nobody would stop them. They were going to be heroes. They were going to face down and defeat the villain. They were going to save thousands of lives.

Jaune was a little nervous, but he wouldn't drag them down like he had on the tower.

He wouldn't be the weak link anymore.

A/N: And so we move on from Vale and towards the Mistral Arc of the series, but this time it's Tai in pursuit instead of Yang. I remember some confusion about why Tai didn't go as well back when V4 ended, but I always thought it was because he was putting his faith in her which was something she needed. Her confidence had been shot after losing an arm so having her dad essentially saying he trusted her to find and protect her younger sister? I think it would have been pretty inspiring tbh. But here Tai doesn't have another daughter to worry about, so he gives chase right away. But can he catch up to them?

I thought about doing the second scene from Tai's perspective, but I think Oobleck's reaction to Zwei is a little funnier and I felt I should make up for a lack of him in earlier chapters. He's doing well enough but his injury lingers, keeping him from using his Semblance. Of course, he can rely on some former criminals who have some community service. Ruby didn't really care about that part, which is why it comes up here instead. She got them free and their promise to take Beacon back and was satisfied.

Well, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time! My copy of Before the Dawn finally arrived so I need to binge read that.