Time for the next chapter! Just so that everyone is aware, after this chapter has been published, I'm going to be dialling back the number of chapters I put out, all so I can focus more on my schooling. So, yeah… that's about all I have to say regarding that.

So, with that said, let's jump into my response to reviews/comments!

[Response to Reviews/Comments!]

(Qoutev) TACO SENSEI: Honestly, at this point, there are going to be a lot of people out there who underestimate Jolyne. Like… it'll be a downright offensive amount of people who will be underestimating her. So expect that a lot more often than not.

(Ao3) Kortegardo3: Believe me, Ruby and Yang have it the easiest out of the canon characters of RWBY. We'll get to see what they're up to soon.

(Guest) Reader 451: Poor Weiss. Poor Weiss, indeed….

Kolt999: Jaune is a loveable idiot and the comparison to Hercule Satan is pretty damn near spot on. I haven't seen much in regards to Dragon Ball or DBZ, or anything to do with Dragon Ball besides the odd short here and there on Youtube, but yeah… considering what happens to the poor man, comparing him to Jaune is like slapping that man in front of a mirror and saying "look, it's you but from another universe!"

That aside, one of the things that I like about Raven is her hard-headedness. But that's all I can really say in terms of praise. Otherwise, she's as smart as a bag of potatoes. I mean, yeah I know she had her reasons for cutting ties with Oz, but it's like you said, sometimes doing stupid shit results in stupid prizes. She'll learn in this chapter that her cutting ties with Ozpin was a mistake. I'mma feel bad for Qrow once this whole thing is done tbh.

And, well, as for how Jacque is doing… well, we'll see just how much that piece of shit is doing far later into the story.

As for Weiss, I mean, the whole reason for me even introducing that bit was to show that The White Fang is far more extreme in their actions—like, stupid levels of extreme—and because of that some characters suffered greatly for it, Weiss being one of them. However, that doesn't mean that I'd completely shatter Weiss's character. She's still, at the end of the day, fundamentally Weiss. She's just lived a different life, lives by different values and principals, and isn't riding off the back of her family name as a Schnee, in fact, something else happens that may or may not shock you and the other readers. I'll save that for later, though.

As for Blake and Adam's whole Fiancee stuff, I added that in to make Adam's whole obsession thing seem more reasonable. It's because in this universe Adam truly, honestly loves Blake, and we'll get to that later in to the story. I can't say much else here otherwise we'd be going too far into spoiler territory, so I'm going to end it off here.

As always, I hope you have a wonderful day Kolt!

Now, with that said, let's get on with the chapter.

xxXXxxXXxx

[Jolyne Brooks]

There were very few times in Jolyne's life, both in the past as Jack and in the present as Jolyne when she had been this furious. She could only think of one time in the past that she was this mad, and it was for a much pettier reason—that and she had been younger at the time, so it wasn't comparable to what was going on right now.

That aside, the point still stood. Back then she had been pretty pissed about something, and that something was when some kid stole her lunch money and rubbed it in her face. Although she and the kid became friends once she realized that he was in the same DND party as she had been playing with over summer break that year.

She didn't have many memories of him after her death. Although, one thing Jolyne did distinctly remember was that he had this strange Elf Hentai addiction that he'd always complain about. Like, it was something that he just couldn't get over, no matter how hard he tried. Jolyne remembered laughing at him for it back then, after which he ominously warned her that she too would succumb to the stranglehold that was porn.

She obviously didn't buy into it, passing it off as nothing more than a butthurt friend of hers coping, seething, and malding over being laughed at. Then, a month later, her past self found her way into the world of Pornography, and suddenly she found out what it was he was talking about. No matter how many times she had tried to step away from that type of vice, she just couldn't look away, nor could she stop using it to vent her frustrations.

Granted, that was when she was Jack, and that was when she wasn't so apprehensive toward the whole idea of masturbation and sex—a part of Jolyne believed that it had to do with the fact that she was a girl now, but that was just a theory on her end—but her point still stood.

Needless to say, it was as if karma had swept in, whispered to her about every time she mocked him about his porn addiction, and slapped her in the face with a wet sock and said "Now it's your turn." As a result, she never mocked him for it again.

Aside from that, though, and aside from his poor treatment of women and any other race that wasn't human within the realms of DND which admittedly made Jolyne, or Jack in this instance, be a little off put by him, he was a pretty good guy. Fun to be around, a fellow anime fan, and even had plenty of interests that they shared when she was Jack.

When she, or Jack, asked why he became, for the lack of a better word, a piece of shit to others when he played DND, the boy replied that "it was just a game, and that even if they were role-playing as the good guys, or the bad guys, it didn't matter in the end because they were all fake. They weren't people, they were characters. And that he would never, ever, ever do anything like the things he does to the people within the game realm to those outside of that realm, because it disgusted him to his core. He was just a very good actor."

And Jolyne, or Jack, believed him wholeheartedly. At the end of the day, the guy was right. Those things they made up were just characters. And with the confirmation that he wasn't a piece of shit outside of the game—which he proved by having her- no, Jack over to his place—he could safely say that he was one of Jack's bestest of friends.

Too bad that friendship wasn't meant to last, as the final time she'd see him was after they had a debate about which class was better in DND, a Wizard or a Barbarian. She obviously picked the Wizard class—it was her go-too, after all—he chose Barbarian, they agreed to disagree, and life carried on. After that… tragedy struck.

The boy got killed in the crossfire of a gang war when he and a few of his out-of-school pals from downtown Michigan were walking home from a party, and a gang war happened to be occurring at the time. He was shot several times in the back and in the face, all because he looked a little similar to some guy the shooter had beef with.

If she remembered correctly, the boy's name was Jamol Richardson. Born 1989, died 2003. A brother, a son, and a friend. Jolyne remembered that she, or in this case Jack, was devastated that a friend had passed and in such a horrible way too.

She wondered what Jamol was up to now. Was he in heaven? A part of her wondered if he got reincarnated as a Gamer, just like she had when she died six months later…. Granted she only got reincarnated—supposedly—a decade after she died as Jack, so did that mean that if Jamol was reincarnated as a Gamer, he had a head start?

Honestly, Jolyne didn't know—and how could she know? It was all just speculation. But if Jamol had been reincarnated, perhaps she'd meet him again. Maybe he'd remember her? Maybe he had forgotten her after all this time. Or maybe he just wouldn't recognize her, because Jack and Jolyne looked absolutely nothing alike.

Moving swiftly on, as for an example in her new life as Jolyne Brooks at being furious, well… Kotoko's death solidified her quest to make sure that bastard Izuru Kamakura paid with every ounce of blood in his body. And he did. Boy did he ever. But, unlike back then, her anger was silent and explosive. It wasn't an "in your face" kind of anger.

Not this time. Unlike the last time, when Kotoko was already dead, and there was nothing she could've done to save her, this time had a completely different scenario revolving around it. Rantaro and Monaca were still alive. That meant that she had a chance to free them. And because they were still alive, and because she wasn't solely focused on vengeance, her anger wasn't just silent and explosive.

No. Because if it was only that, then it wouldn't provide her with the necessary reaction.

This was the scary "fuck around and find out" kind of anger. The kind that was only reserved for the most pressing of issues, and that the only response to said issue was violence. She hated feeling that kind of anger, even if the anger was justified, but alas, here she was, all because some Bandit Leader thought they had the balls to fuck with her family and her friends.

Rantaro and Monaca were both kidnapped, and both were going to be executed if she didn't show up to where The Branwen Tribe had been located before three days passed—which wasn't an issue. If she was going to be honest with herself, Jolyne had no real vested interest in starting a fight between the supposed leader of the Branwen Tribe, and herself—a fight that would probably end in her victory, but she digressed.

All she was going to do was rescue Rantaro and Monaca, get the fuck out of there, and return to Styx. That was what she wanted to do. But on the off chance that The Branwen Tribe Leader pulled up and was looking for a fight, or did something sketchy to rig this whole shit against her to lure her into a trap, then she'd fight them, and she preferred the former over the latter.

For the last six hours, Jolyne had been running at top speed, only having stopped periodically to recharge her Stamina, but if she hadn't had to have done that, she would've only had to run for four hours. Supposedly, according to one of those Stonewall Twins, the ones that came from the south had been on the march for a week. That meant that distance between Styx and this base was either a week away, or two weeks away depending on how fast the person was.

But that was accounting for a normal person. Jolyne was far from normal because, in the distance, she could see what appeared to be a wooden wall made of logs with pointed heads. If she were a betting woman, that was The Branwen Tribe's base of operations. Upon seeing the walls, Jolyne slowed down just a few feet in front of the wall. Surprisingly, there was no door.

Something strange was going on here, and Jolyne wasn't exactly sure what it was. "Did they come from the north or did they come from the south? Which one was it? Seriously, this is making no sense!" Jolyne thought, knitting her eyebrows together in frustration. "Unless… they started from the north, parted their group into two, and went their separate ways. One headed south, the other headed north, which therefore turned their massive army into a pincer maneuver to catch any escapees from fleeing the onslaught. It would be brilliant if it wasn't so fucking barbaric. This is the type of mind that should be used by a General for attacking enemy armies, not towns of civilians!"

Jolyne shook her head. Regardless of what this whole thing was, Jolyne didn't care. She was now facing down what appeared to be a rear-sided wall, seeing as there was no entrance, which only further added to the confusion.

It was only then that Jolyne saw the hinges on the side of the wall connected to some thick black rope, and that a part of the wall had been pushed out some, that she realized that it wasn't just a wall, but actually something else. "OH! It's a drawbridge-type entrance. I see… but why? There's no—you know what? Maybe they just thought it looked cool." As Jolyne thought that, she transformed her right arm into Magma, sneered, reared her arm back, and punched with all her might against the side of the wall, not only setting the wall on fire but blasting the wall out of the ground with enough force to cause a massive gust of winds.

The punch itself blew off several heads of leaves from the group of trees near her, and the chunk of wall that she hit went flying in the opposite direction, crashing through several primitive-style homes and tents, and the people inside the walls of this place—all of whom were wearing the same outfits as the bandits, confirming to her that this was the Branwen Tribe—saw her and looked at her with wide, angry eyes.

As soon as she was spotted, she was bum-rushed by at least 30 people with long swords, and clubs, some even had guns! Not that it mattered, as she summoned Whitesnake. The moment she summoned her Stand, it flung about 1,000 punches a second, turning anyone it came into contact with into meat chunks, and to make matters even more disrespectful, the Stand mixed in swiping motions and stealing DISCS left and right.

[046/100]

"Good." As Jolyne thought that, she heard speeding footsteps running up behind her, and in response to that, she brought out her Grim Reapers Scythe. She parried what appeared to be a bright blue sword, and using the momentum that she gathered from drawing her weapon out, Jolyne hooked the sword out of the person's hands using her scythe's blade, sending it flying a few feet away from the starting point of the battle, just about enough distance where the user of the weapon would have to get through Jolyne to get it. When the blade went flying, she narrowly avoided a punch crackling with electricity to the side of the head by ducking her head out of the way.

"Electricity Magic? Interesting…" Jolyne thought, as afterward, the figure who had attacked her of which she had yet to get a proper visual on round-house kicked her scythe out of her hand, as then another fist which was once again crackling with electricity, slammed into her gut, and unlike any of the people she had fought since coming here, the blow landed instead of phased through her like a normal punch, causing Jolyne to skid back a bit, the blow having done 6,892 damage to her.

That shocked her. Not only because the person was able to land a hit signifying that this was a Boss Enemy, but because of what that meant. Had she not been a Dragon Faunus, which made her 50% resistant to physical attacks, that punch by itself would've done 13,784 damage to her, and that was already including her defensive stats and endurance, meaning this figure could've two-shot her had she not gotten lucky.

Finally, once things had calmed down ever-so-slightly, and the fighting had stopped, allowing for those who were fighting to catch a break, Jolyne was able to see who the person was in front of her.

First things first, they were a woman. Second things second, they had long black hair, and they were wearing a white and red mask that almost—almost resembled the boney mask face of Tyrone weirdly enough. She had pale white skin, and what appeared to be beaded necklaces around her neck—duh. She also wore a v-neck black and red wrap-style top, a black pleated skirt, black knee-high leggings, black boots with red splatter designs, and red armoured gauntlets with fingerless gloves, a waist guard to protect her waist, and on her hip was a sheath that seemed to have a revolving barrel of sorts. It was odd, and she'd have to see what the reason for that was later.

"Hmph, not bad," her attacker, who at this point Jolyne was assuming to be The Leader of The Branwen Tribe, said standing firm and tall—proud almost, which made Jolyne a tad bit annoyed. the Dragon Faunus narrowed her eyes, her expression turning into a grimace.

"You have taken my people, give them back," Jolyne spat as The Leader of The Branwen Tribe scoffed.

"Cutting straight to the chase, it seems. That means you mean business. Good. That also means I can deal with you right here, and right now," the woman replied as she… transformed into a bird, flying overtop of Jolyne, before dive-bombing over to her sword, turning back into a person, and pointing her blade at Jolyne. "Come at me."

Jolyne immediately activated CHECK, and when she did, she sighed. Not because of what she saw, although they were weaker than Daisuke which kind of made her a little disappointed—no, her sighing was in response to what came up after CHECK finished doing its scan thing.

[Name: Raven Branwen: Spring Maiden and Leader of The Branwen Tribe]

[Level: 480 (BOSS)]

HP: 300,000/300,000

Stamina: 225,000/225,000

Mana: 6,500 (500 of which is delegated to Bird Transformation)

Aura: 100%

Faction: Branwen Tribe

Description: Former Huntsman turned full-time Bandit, Raven Branwen is cold and cunning, along with being hardheaded to a fault. While she likes to think of herself as the strongest of strong, when push comes to shove, Raven will show her true cowardice, and attempt to flee from a battle she deems unwinnable.

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[Bonus Quest: Defeat Raven Branwen!]

[Raven has challenged you to a fight! However, this is not a death match. It's time to test your strength! Fight Raven Brawnwen with all you have, but don't kill her!]

Rewards: 120,000 EXP, 4,500 Lien, 1 Spell Token

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[At the Request of Daimen: Now Playing Operation Pyrite]

Jolyne frowned as Raven charged her. Jumping back, Jolyne picked up her scythe as Whitesnake knocked away Raven's strike. The woman kicked the Stand, knocking it down to the ground, before stabbing it through the head using the light blue blade that she was using. The blade erupted into a bright white light, which made Jolyne fly backward and fly through a tent, the attack dealing 3,000 Damage.

Cursing under her breath, Jolyne cut the tip of her finger with her scythe and activated Bleeding, who me? Her health and stamina were fully healed, as Cellular Regeneration repaired the wound. Standing up from being blown into a tent, Jolyne barely avoided a sword to the face as Raven stabbed her blade into the wall beside Jolyne's head.

It was then that Jolyne decided to try something new. She was made of Magma because of her Magu-Magu No Mi, and Magma was technically a liquid. So, with that in mind, Jolyne transformed herself and her clothes into a puddle of magma, making Raven jump back in confusion all the way back to where the assault began.

For the record, Jolyne would like to admit that it felt extremely weird having completely transformed into a puddle of Magma, but that wasn't the intended effect. The intended effect was to gain a new form of travel, and as she moved forward, she found out that she moved far faster than she had expected to. Even at her max running speed, this was faster. If it wasn't for the other things he did while in this form, she'd use it to go anywhere, that being that she tore away and burned the ground around her as she travelled.

Ignoring that, she closed the distance between herself and Raven in a split second, shocking the masked woman as she braced herself for impact. But the impact didn't come, instead, what happened next changed the tide of the battle in its entirety.

The moment she closed the distance between herself and Raven, Jolyne popped out of the lava pool she turned into, and reared back her now magmatic arm as it began to grow into a massive bulge of magma half the size of her body, all the while red smoke poured off of her arm, causing the area around Jolyne and Raven to skyrocket in temperature from a cool, mild 30 degrees Celsius to 75 degrees Celsius. "GREAT ERUPTION!" Jolyne roared as the massive blob of liquified rock hit Raven point blank in the face, as her Aura shot up to protect her. At the same time, her Aura Meter appeared….

…And it went from 100% to 0% in a fraction of a second

As a result of not only shattering Raven's Aura, but the point-blank Great Eruption crushed Raven, and as a result, she had become immediately fatigued due to her Aura being shattered in one go. But that wasn't even the worst of it. What was worse was the outcome of the attack on the surrounding area.

When the Great Eruption landed, a massive crater was left in its wake, spanning from the make-shift entrance to about the third house up ahead, which was a total span of 200 meters wide, and about 10 feet deep. Parts of the ground were smouldering, the fire caused by the entrance to the camp spread to most of the housing, and luckily the surrounding forests weren't touched and hopefully stayed that way.

Deactivating her Devil Fruit as the smoke cleared, Jolyne looked down at her feet at Raven, who was breathing heavily, staring up at her with crimson red eyes through a broken mask. Her clothes were semi-burned, but nothing was revealed, which was good. The woman's eyes were wide, not that Jolyne cared all too much. "Give me back Rantaro Amami and Monaca Towa, never, ever come near Styx ever again, and I'll let you and what remains of your pathetic tribe live. This is your only warning."

As Jolyne said that, Raven started to sit up. Jolyne noticed the sword in her hand just as Raven thrusted the cyan-blue blade forward. Jolyne wasted no time by grabbing Raven's wrist, halting the thrust as Whitesnake appeared behind Jolyne, grabbed the blade, and snapped it in half, leaving the broken metal slab to hit the ground, as Whitesnake glared daggers at the woman.

"You… have no Aura… yet you have… two Semblances? How… a person can only have… one Semblance…" Raven muttered as Jolyne raised an eyebrow. Was that what this universe referred to magic as? Semblances?

"Semblances? I mean, if that's what you call magic, then yeah, I have more than one of those. In fact, I got at least a dozen, not that it matters," Jolyne spat as Raven's eyes widened. "Now, give me back my—"

Before Jolyne could finish, Raven's right arm sparked with electricity. Before Jolyne could move so much as even a muscle, Raven socked Jolyne across the face, sending her flying to the right. The punch did the same amount of damage as the last one, and had she not fully healed herself back in the house, she would've only had enough health to barely tank another hit from Raven.

Just as Jolyne sat up, and just as she was about to lunge at Raven now that her defences were down, in the strangest of twists, Raven created a red portal, ran through it, then left with the portal closing behind her, signifying that the fight was over, which was ratified by her completing the bonus quest.

[QUEST: Defeat Raven Branwen – COMPLETE! (End: Operation Pyrite)]

REWARDS DISTRIBUTED!

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CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'VE LEVELLED UP TO FROM LEVEL 292 – 295!

Jolyne stared where the portal had been created and subsequently disappeared with an unamused expression. The fight, or whatever that little spat had been, was a short one. However, it also proved to her that defeating Boss Enemies was going to be extremely hard to do in this world if Raven was considered one of the first ones. That meant she was going to have to train. Raven was 185 levels higher than her. One attack of hers could do a quarter of her health bar in a single strike.

Once she got access to the PTD again, she'd—

[The PTD has been moved into your Hotel Room, courtesy of Daimen. PS. You're welcome!]

[Branwen Tribe Basecamp can now be accessed by Huginn!]

"Well, that was easy…." Jolyne thought as she looked behind her. When she did, she was greeted by 300 or so Bandits that had gathered around the rear side of the crater she had created. The Dragon Faunus's eyes narrowed as she stared at them, causing them to flinch in apprehension. "You guys gonna try and attack me, or what?" Jolyne questioned as one of the bandits spoke up.

"You think we're all that suicidal?" A voice called out as Jolyne raised an eyebrow. That was when Jolyne recognized the voice, as strange as it was to recognize them. Standing at the front of the practical horde of Bandits was Clay. The Bandit she interrogated about why they had been sent to attack Styx.

"On a less rhetorical note, we've just seen you beat the shit out of Raven, and… well, her whole rule was that if someone stronger showed up that we'd have to follow and listen to them, regardless of our prior loyalties. You're obviously stronger, so… what're your orders, Boss."

Jolyne blinked, as shock and confusion took over her expression. That… was not what she had been expecting, even in the slightest. But, she'd take it. More hands for the repair effort of Styx was better than civilians breaking their backs. These people seemed physically built for manual labour, and that was for the best.

However, priorities were priorities, and she needed to find Rantaro and Monaca. "Tell me where your two prisoners are that were supposed to be executed, and then if you have more, release them and have them come with us back to Styx. Am I understood?"

"YES MA'AM!" Her new personal horde of Bandits declared as Clay smirked. The other 299 Bandits ran off to go free whatever other prisoners they had, Clay staying behind, gesturing Jolyne to follow him. The Dragon Faunus followed after the teenager, but not after grabbing her Scythe.

With her weapon in hand, she followed Clay and was led to what appeared to be makeshift gallows, and next to it was a small cage, of which Monaca and Rantaro were sitting, both having watched what had happened with wide eyes, and both of whom were half naked—and yes, Jolyne was trying to actively avoid staring at Rantaro and his rather chiselled physique, because for a boy who supposedly didn't work out, he was pretty muscular.

"Jesus Christ, Jolyne-san… that was, pardon my French, fucking wicked!" Rantaro commented as the dual-haired teen smirked.

"Comes in the job description," Jolyne began before turning her attention to Clay, narrowing her singular eye. "Now, tell me why they're almost completely nude, save for underwear?" As Jolyne said that, Clay clenched his jaw.

"Not my idea. We had to check them for weapons and… well, we had to do a body search. It was Raven's idea to leave them like that. So don't look at me. I would go to grab their clothes, but they've already been burned, so…." Clay replied as Jolyne shook her head. Opening her inventory, she pulled out her Yin and Yang Cloak from her pocket, grabbed the roof of the cage, and ripped it off with one clean pull. Then, with her weapon, she cut the cuffs off of their necks, ankles, and wrists as she stomped down on the wall of the cage in front of her, giving them an entrance.

Afterward, when the two came out of the remains of the cage, Rantaro groaned as he stretched after what Jolyne assumed to be hours in a hunched position, Jolyne handed Monaca her cloak to wear, which she quickly took without any further comment. As for Rantaro, Jolyne had her old school uniform from Hope's Peak Academy.

"Sorry it isn't a male uniform, but it should be better than being in your underwear," Jolyne commented as Rantaro smirked.

"Who cares about that? Clothes are clothes, I'll wear just about anything," Rantaro replied, taking the outfit and putting it on without any hesitation. Jolyne had to admit, he looked pretty good in a skirt, and with the way Rantaro was smiling, he'd probably say the same too. The only thing that was a little off-putting was his slightly hairy knees and upper thighs.

When Monaca saw him, she raised an eyebrow, shook her head, then began to walk in the direction of the hole. That was, however, until Jolyne grabbed her by the wrist, stopping her in her tracks. "Hold on little miss. We aren't leaving quite yet," Jolyne said as Monaca frowned.

"It's getting dark out. There is fire everywhere. Monaca is cold. Monaca wants to go back to the inn…." Monaca replied as Jolyne shook her head.

"We have to wait for everyone else." As Jolyne said, a group of 50 civilians wearing dirty rags and 299 bandits walked into the main area, the civilians huddling together and trying their best to stay far away from the Bandits. When they saw Jolyne, a few of them tensed, while a couple of them narrowed their eyes at her. Ignoring the angry glares, which was kind of strange considering she just saved them, she hummed to herself. "Alright, that looks like everyone. So…."

Monaca and Rantaro looked at the group of people with shocked expressions, and just before they could ask what was going on, Jolyne raised her arm as Huginn flew out of his tattoo form. A few of the people and Bandits stared up in disbelief at the bird, all the while it flew in a circle above them as if it were scoping out the number of people in the area.

"Alright, Huginn! Do you think you can transport all of us back to Styx?" Jolyne asked as the crow cawed loudly in approval. Instinctively, Jolyne knew what the bird was saying, that being 'Yeah, but this is pushing it.' The dual-haired witch had to admit that it was kinda strange, but then again, considering Huginn was technically "hers", being able to understand what it was saying kinda made sense. "Great. You know what to do then!"

And thus, in the blink of an eye and a swarm of what appeared to be an infinite amount of crows, Jolyne and everyone else near her were transported away back to the settlement of Styx, just as the night drew near, although she had been completely unaware of two other strangers, who had conveniently entered the area of teleportation just as it had begun….

[Qrow]

It wasn't very common that Qrow ever decided to go sober for a day. That only happened when he felt extremely shitty—which you'd think would be replaced by him drowning out his sorrows with oodles and oodles of cheap booze. But no, not this time.

Not in front of Ruby.

He made it a rule to never drink in front of Ruby, and he would stick by it till the day he died. She had seen him drunk on numerous occasions, and while he was pretty calm when he was drunk—in fact, there was barely a difference—the last thing he wanted was for her to pick up the habit. Hell, he started drinking when he was around her age, and considering all the stuff that's been happening recently… well, it was kind of surprising she hadn't fallen into that pit trap.

That just went to show how much of Summer she replicated. Ruby was her daughter after all, so it made sense that she had similar traits. Of course, she also looked like a copy and paste of Summer from when she was younger, so it was a given that she'd emulate her mother in various ways, despite not knowing the woman.

Which brought him to where he was right now. Currently, Qrow was at the Xiao-Long/Rose household, located on the island of Patch. He practically lived there, even having his very own guest room. The keyword in that sentence having been: guest. That was because he still had a place of his own. It was just that his metaphorical and literal wings were tired, seeing as he had been flying all day. The last thing he wanted to do was fly all the way from Patch back to Vale so that he could sleep on a shitty mattress.

That, however, was beside the point. And while he was tired and desperately needed a rest, he was holding off from it, simply because he was currently sitting on the couch, with his wonderful, and favourite, niece just below his feet watching a silly cartoon he remembered watching when he was a kid called Power Hunters. It was cheesy. It was corny. But at the very least it was good fun to watch, and Ruby was totally into it mostly because of the big fuck-off canons they used.

Speaking of Ruby, as he had compared the two earlier, she looked a lot like Summer had when they were all teenagers. Small in stature, so somewhere around five feet, chin-length black hair with natural red tips, Silver Eyes, paler-than-pale skin, and an overall bubbly personality. She was currently wearing pyjamas, seeing as it was starting to get around that time to sleep. Her pyjamas consisted of a black sleeveless tank top with a heart graphic design that vaguely appeared to be mimicking a cartoonish Ursa Major's face, a black sleep mask with red eye-like triangles, and a pair of white pyjama pants with rose motifs.

From what Qrow was aware, they were hand-me-downs from when Summer was around her age. The Xiao-Long/Rose household wasn't exactly the richest of families, but they got by. Patch was an easy place to live, and with Grimm barely ever showing up on Patch because of just how peaceful it was, it meant that people could live here without having to worry much about dying.

Oh, don't get him wrong, he had seen the occasional Ursa and even a rare Alpha Beowulf, but they were so far out of the way, and seemed so discontent with doing anything, that he left them alone. Better to leave them to do their thing than to poke a sleeping bear.

Just because he was a Hunter, and one of the top ones at that, didn't mean it was "kill on sight." While Grimm were dangerous, and while he knew their true nature, they were still Animals, and unless they were on the hunt, they wouldn't bother you if you didn't bother them.

That, and the Grimm on Patch were more passive because there was so little fear on the island. Anywhere else, and it'd be "kill on sight."

"Sooooo…. Uncle Qrow!" Ruby's voice cut through his thoughts like a hot knife to butter, causing him to split his attention between the show and Ruby.

"Yes, Ruby?" Qrow asked as Ruby smiled.

"Can I have some coo—"

"Taiyang already said no, so the answer is no," Qrow cut her off immediately, making Ruby pout.

"Come on! You're no fun! Just one!" Ruby pleaded as Qrow raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"One cookie to you means about half a dozen. I swear to the brother gods, one of these days you're going to get diabetes from eating all that junk food," Qrow remarked dryly, which made Ruby puff out her cheeks in a cartoonishly annoyed fashion, huffing, and then turning back to watch her show. Qrow shook his head in mild disbelief.

Ruby might've been 15 years old, but she acted more like she was 6, or 7. It made Qrow think that maybe Ruby might have ADHD or something along those lines. This was probably one of the only times that she would sit still for even a micro-second longer than it took to get something done. It was either this, or she was working on her Crescent Rose.

Her sister, on the other hand…. How did one describe Yang Xiao-Long? Bombastic? In your face? Pun obsessed? Overprotective to a comical degree? Adventurous? Would break someone's back if they looked at Ruby the wrong way? Or all of the above?

Probably the last one.

In a way, she was a lot like her mother. Raven, for as much as Qrow had grown distant, had the instincts of a protector but had the outward mindset and mental fortitude of a true bandit. Yang on the other hand did have that former part and was more or less a protector than a fighter—although fighting was one of the things she did a lot of.

And just like her mother, she was stupidly hard-headed. To the point where it was damn near impossible to get her to listen to basic common sense. He had tried so many times to tell Yang to stop her impossible hunt for Raven because Raven didn't want to be found. But Yang never stopped. Honestly, it was kind of annoying seeing just how far she was willing to go.

And currently, Yang was on the opposite couch, scrolling through one of those stupid social media apps—Moritter if he had cared to pay attention to it—chuckling to herself every now and again. That place was a toxic cesspit of idiots. Part of him wondered why that app was still up in the first place. It caused so much grief and anger that he swore it had to be made by one of Salem's agents.

But that was just a theory.

Then, out of nowhere, just as the show had gotten pretty good, a red portal appeared just in front of the television, blocking the screen from anyone's view. Yang jumped up immediately and got into a sprawling stance, Ruby jumped up in confusion, and Qrow stood up faster than any of them to get in front of them. He recognized that portal as being one of Raven's portals, provided by Kindred Link.

He knew that Raven was on the other side of that portal and that this was either an invitation or, she was planning something. Qrow had no idea why she was opening a portal here considering she had purposely cut ties to him and Taiyang, which could only mean one thing.

Something had happened… something bad. And Raven wasn't given a choice in the matter.

In a heap, Raven Branwen tumbled out of the portal, closing it with haste, her mask cracked and her clothes singed and dripping in what appeared to be a reddish-brown burning hot liquid. Concern filled Qrow's expression, his caution being replaced by a brotherly instinct to make sure his older sister was alright. "Raven…? Are you—"

Raven interrupted him by standing up, albeit weakly, and glaring at Qrow. And then, she said something that was so out of character, that maybe, just maybe he would decide to partake in cheap booze tonight after all. "Take me to Ozpin. We need to have a chat. Now."

-To Be Continued in – Confusion, and Disillusion – Part 1