Archer was warm. Far warmer than Yang ever thought that someone of his profession would be considering his circumstances working in Vale's Underground. The life that he must have had led should have had been far different from her own to the point that she was deathly curious to learn of it; if only to get that much closer to her newfound enigmatic one-time partner. She said 'one-time,' but if she had her way, she had the urge and imagination to drag him around with her on adventures. You know, kind of like the old cartoons and stories that she used to either read or watch. However, asking about a person's past was the difficult part.
She had her fair share of thoughts and secrets that she wouldn't want to share with others either in her own insecurity. Everybody does until they find someone significant enough to open up to and confide with. People could be strong on the surface, but more often, not all the way through.
A body of steel, but a heart of glass.
Archer must have been like that.
He had many secrets. The fact that he was running fast enough to catch up to a train while carrying her was not lost on her, nor was the fact that she'd seen him use another Semblance entirely mere hours earlier.
Sure, he kept trying to push her away but, in the end, he still went out of his way both to take care of her, and rebuke her for her recklessness as if he himself had once done something similar. It was hard to describe, but children were sensitive to the intentions of others towards them; not that she was a child anymore, but more because she was always in tune with her inner self. She hadn't been certain at first, but she could now clearly feel that Archer had no ill-intentions in his actions. He was accompanying her only because he was genuinely concerned about her well being and knowing this was making her heart do funny things. Really funny things to the point that she was increasingly gladdened that Ruby or her friends couldn't see her right now. Honestly, she just hoped that Archer wouldn't notice the blush forming over her cheeks or the redness of her ears as he carried her towards the speeding train. To prevent that from happening, she was doing her best impression of a kangaroo cub trying to bury itself in its mother's pouch. By pouch, she meant Archer's shoulder, and by burying, she meant her face with the excuse of the fierce wind blowing around her being too cold.
"Are you alright Yang?"
"Fine. Why wouldn't I be?" Her voice came out muffled, almost distressed in its odd pitch as if she was out of breath. She quickly realized this point and felt her lips quiver in indignation. Of all times that her mouth could betray her, it had to be now. Not cool Yang. Not cool. Play it off. Just play it off and pretend that he didn't notice. Her arms around his neck, she pressed her face harder over his shoulder in mortification.
Soon she felt one of Archer's hands shift over her back to draw soothing circles as if to comfort her. Butterflies formed in her stomach as if a circus troupe had just come to town and took her for a ride. Heart don't do this to me now!
"If you were scared of heights, you should have had just said so."
Heights? Since when was she afraid of heights? Deny it! Hurry and deny it!
"Y-Yeah." Curse you body! Curse you, traitorous mouth!
Her muscles were tense and she really couldn't do anything about it. Unfortunately, it only solidified Archer's assumption of her apparent fear. Still, the way that he carefully held her, not too close, and not too far, revealed what kind of character he had behind the indifferent mask. The fact that he stopped leaping in large strides and shifted into running over the ground was not unnoticed by her. His consideration for her well being did loads to pacify her.
"Hey, are we there yet?" She didn't know how much longer she could endure before her entire face went red. It was the first time that she'd ever been held by a boy, and it was doing things to her. Odd things. The fact that a part of her didn't want to let go or was feeling happy confused her greatly.
"We're here," Archer's voice replied flatly.
She glanced down only to see the solid metal of the train's roof. She hadn't even felt it when Archer had landed which reflected his thoughtfulness on her behalf.
Not wasting a second, she jumped out of his arms and was hell-bent on not facing him until the redness left her cheeks. Until such a time, he could talk to her back.
The train was still speeding down the rails while passing a stretch of flat ground overlooking a distant grass plain. The fact that humanity had been driven to live within the walls of only four, well, five Kingdoms now, meant that nature was abundant everywhere else. The grass was almost as long as she was tall, and the rising conifers in the distance were massive.
Generally, she wouldn't care so much about the scenery, but it helped suppress the heat of her face such that she composed herself quicker. Just to make sure that Archer wouldn't get the wrong idea though, inspiration struck her. She took her hands and slapped herself on the cheeks in a self-motivating gesture.
She turned around. "Let's go!" Now it should be impossible for Archer to tell whether the redness of her face was natural or not, albeit perhaps she slapped herself a little too hard? Her cheeks felt somewhat numb and she began rubbing them with a hint of self regret.
Careful not to lose her balance, she began moving towards the back of the train where the cargo and shipments were generally held away from the passengers.
A finger suddenly flicked her on the forehead.
"Uhm, no," Archer stopped her as she winced. "You're going that way," he pointed towards the front of the train.
She turned her head to follow the direction of Archer's finger and blanked. "B-But a team's supposed to stick together. That's how it works in the books and movies," she grumbled irritably while recoiling back from Archer's devious strike.
"Then what about a sidekick?"
"Sidekick, me?" She pointed at herself. Oh, he did not just say that.
Perhaps sensing her rising outburst, Archer placed a palm over her shoulder and leveled his gaze with her own. "Can you do this for me?" he asked in a deep voice. It was almost cheating how earnest he sounded. "I'm not trying to send you away because its too dangerous for you to be near an explosive, but because it's important to warn the innocents in this train of the danger in order to move them to safety. Understand what I'm getting at here? Most people aren't trained to be Huntsman or Huntresses who can actively use their Aura."
It was reasonable.
"Listen Yang, I actually have a mission for you."
He did? Her shoulders naturally perked up along with her ears. He had her attention.
"Not only do I need you to get the passengers to safety, but after moving them up and out of the cart connected to the cargo, I need you to disconnect the train link connecting the train carts together just in case." Archer looked straight at her to make sure that she understood his words, but she already got the gist of it.
"Leave it to me, nothing will go wrong," she patted herself on the chest just above her breast.
"Good, then get going."
One moment Archer was in front of her, and in the next he was gone, hopping across the roof of the train carts in the direction of cargo. For a second, she felt like she'd just fallen for a fancy method of ditching her, but that couldn't be it.
She shook her head to clear her suspicions and focused on the matter at hand. From where she was standing, she could see a ladder which she could climb down in order to get access to the passenger cabins below. She didn't hesitate to begin moving towards it, using her hands to block the winds that batted against her eyes.
As a Huntress in training and a skilled student of Signal Academy, making her way towards the entrance of the train cabin had not been difficult in the slightest. Reaching the cabin door, she fiddled with the latch for a moment in confusion before noticing the word 'push' rather than 'pull' on a sign over top the door.
Yup. She was a genius. A bloody genius. Thank god she was alone right now.
Pushing the door open, she was greeted by a layer of warm air and bright fluorescent light. There was a hallway in front of her with a red carpet, and on either side of the hallway were booths in which the passengers of the Schnee Dust Company's high-class executives were seated. Further down were the civilian seats which sported standard cushioning for comfort.
She walked inside and closed the door behind her while going over the plan in her head again. While Archer took a look at the situation at the back, it was her duty to get the people to retreat further up front and then disconnect the train links.
Now how to go about doing that? She needed their attention first and foremost.
"Listen up, you all!" She yelled before coming up blank. She wasn't exactly a Huntress right now and she didn't want to get in trouble for impersonation.
After her initial yell came an awkward silence. One or two people from the civilian seats glanced at her direction to see if there was anything wrong.
She quickly shook her head and improvised. "Mercenary 'Blond Kickass' demands your attention!" She yelled with renewed vigour. She had a great pair of lungs and she was intent on making full use of them. "Everyone, move to the front of the train!"
Many people now peaked their heads from out of the train booths to stair down the hall at her, but did nothing else but grin in amusement. The section of the train that she was standing at was reserved for people of high status, and therefore many assumed that she was just a snobbish rich girl.
From the nearest booth, an older lady wearing a pristine white dress with the emblem of the Schnee Dust Company waved her hand towards the nearest service body.
"Operator, someone left their daughter unattended at section three. We think she needs help!"
No. No she did not need help.
Glaring at the woman, Yang felt like she really wasn't being taken seriously. More so when a train attendant made his way towards her with a smile generally directed at toddlers. Frankly, it was infuriating.
In her anger, she blurted out a vital piece of information. "Damn it there's a bomb on the train alright!"
"What?" the train attendant visibly stiffened, and Yang knew that she really couldn't go back on her words now.
"No one panic, but there's a bomb on the train," she repeated stronger.
The train attendant and the other passengers were skeptical. The train attendant even went as far as to place a palm over Yang's forehead. "It must be a fever. She's delirious."
Yang had enough with trying to convince people. She knew of a better way from school that always worked anyway. Uncle Qrow had taught her a fundamental truth that could solve almost anything in the short term.
"Young lady, have you not been taught how to behave in public places yet?" The attendant said exasperatedly. "C'mon go along, shoo. You're disturbing the other guests."
Ember Celica transformed into a gun over her arm. At first glance, it looked nothing like a firearm and was mistaken as a toy by the people around her. That impression quickly changed.
She shot the floor with a warning shot, piercing through the wooden interior and reducing it into splinters. "Hurry and go before I shoot you, yes?" She was smiling sweetly even while blatantly threatening the people in front of her. If one couldn't solve something fast with force, then they simply weren't using enough of it.
"Run! It's a lunatic!"
Bitch, who you calling a lunatic? Her brow twitched as she watched the passengers clamber over each other to run into the next passenger cart up ahead.
Suddenly, she heard a flash and saw the train attendant capture her image on his scroll before sprinting off.
Fuck. Looking down at herself, she still had Ember Celica leveled down in the direction of the fleeing passengers. She looked entirely like a terrorist right now. She stood frozen dumbly in disbelief and growing horror.
Papa was going to kill her if her face ends up on the news. Not the belt. Anything but the belt, god forbid the slipper. Suddenly she was envious of the mask that Archer had been wearing.
Ok. This probably hadn't been her best idea, but at least it worked. If she explained the situation to her papa then maybe she could get out of punishment. Better yet, what if she just blamed Qrow for his influence? She was a daddy's girl so she might just be able to pull it off.
She inwardly saluted to her uncle. She would never forget his sacrifice.
Moving on, she soon composed herself. She had a job to do.
Moving fast, she ran up ahead and opened the exit door of the current train cabin that she was inside. Once outside, she positioned herself a little over the safety rails to get a clear shot at the train connector below.
Alrighty, here goes nothing.
She fired Ember Celica and directly broke the metal link connecting the train carts together.
The front end of the train with the other passengers soon began to grow more and more distant as the back end of the train left behind began to slow down to a crawl.
"It was a lie; she's stealing the Schnee Dust shipment!"
SHUT UP!
The urge to beat someone up nearly overwhelmed her when she noticed yet another flash of light from someone's scroll illuminate her from the distant train. She was definitely being filmed right now.
She wasn't a terrorist. She was innocent! She swore!
She stood up and began running, feeling utterly wronged. Hopefully no one had a good look at her face.
On the other hand, she'd completed her task. This meant to say that she was free to do what she wanted. She could think about repercussions later.
Her hands balled into fists as she urged herself to move faster.
I'm coming Archer.
"You ditched her. You literally ditched her."
Summer's voice entered Shirou's ears and for the most part, he remained largely unaffected while Summer floated absently behind him. She'd grown used to her spirit body over the years and didn't care for any obstacles in front of her when she'd simply just phase through them as a literal ghost.
"There was no need to send Yang to the passenger carts when you could have had just cut the train link from where you were and severed the cargo." Summer sat with her legs crossed, resting her face on the back of her hand supported by her bent elbow.
"Are you complaining?" He looked back towards Summer in exasperation. She was the one who continued pestering him to put Yang in as little danger as possible.
"No. Good job. I know how difficult Yang can be at times." Summer grudgingly agreed.
He simply nodded and continued on his way. Now that Yang wasn't around, he was freely moving through the train in spiritual form. No amount of security or locked doors could truly impede him.
Soon enough, he found the cargo room and directly phased inside.
His feet echoed as he materialized within the cargo's hull and began moving. All kinds of crates of various sizes lined the room from top to bottom. It resembled a packed warehouse if anything which made it far simpler for him to navigate. The labels used for organization purposes were apparent enough.
"You're not showing a hint of caution, are you?" Summer was talking idly to him from the side.
The most prominent features of the room were the security. High-tech laser tracking turrets and machines were densely packed into the small space. Even more distinct was the large quadra-pedaled defence robot that oversaw the entire place.
"James has been working hard, I see." Summer murmured to herself. "Best be careful Shirou. Even for someone like you, you won't be able to avoid an injury if you face it lightly."
He hummed in response.
He directly stepped forward and dematerialized.
Summer's brow twitched as she watched him move to deactivate the security with unnatural familiarity. Bypassing the big guard robot, he found his way into a hidden control panel and began shutting the systems down one by one. In the case of the large security drones and the big robot with heat sensing monitors, he had to manually access their AI function stored in their circuitry. It was almost as if he himself had taken part in the security's production. His efficiency was jaw dropping mostly because he could be considered a veteran when it came to appliances. He had not been known as the Brownie of Homurahara Academy for nothing.
"You're a cheat." He smirked at Summer's indignance as she floated over him. "James would probably cry if he found out that all of his hard work was worth nothing. Does it make me a bad person to want to see such a scene?"
He acted like he didn't hear her. He suddenly felt bad for James. If even someone with Summer's positive outlook would want to see the man cry, then he could only speculate how many others were of the same opinion.
Regardless, he'd already grown used to the idle banter that he'd have with Summer. Presently, he really was the only person that she could interact with, so he couldn't be hard on her. He'd seen her melancholy and longing whenever she looked at her family. Worse, it was hard for him to get mad at her when the only enjoyment that she had was reading aloud to Ruby and Yang in the middle of the night despite her two daughters no longer being able to hear her.
With the security disabled, he no longer had to remain in spiritual form and directly astralized in order to better interact with the environment around him.
The details that Charlotte and Jed had briefed him on regarding the description of the cargo that they had loaded was fresh on his mind. The Schnee Dust Company already transported a significant amount of Dust on them in the first place. In which case, the Dust that Charlotte, Jed, and the other Faunus had loaded was miniscule in comparison. However, the quantity didn't matter as much as the quality of the explosion.
He walked up to the Dust crates and began a structural analysis. His magic burst forth from his finger tips and travelled directly through the structure of the of the crates before him.
As expected, he could detail several wires leading to a timed bomb. The bomb itself was small, but the heat it would produce would be enough to set off the rest of the Dust present in the train. Considering the fact that the train was headed for an important Schnee facility, there would have had been even more Dust there.
The explosion would have had been astronomical. In another timeline, this would be the same day that the second daughter of the Schnee family would lose several aunts and uncles to the terrorist activity of the White Fang.
This wouldn't happen.
He directly disarmed the bomb, rendering the Dust crates harmless.
The task was completed, leaving him to wonder just what kind of woman could think of something so harmful to others. Jed and Charlotte had spoken of a woman with a lethal ability. He'd have to look into that on his own sometime. As much as he was Ruby's Servant, he was also still an Ally of Justice. He couldn't remain idle now that he was made aware of a conspiracy.
Now then, it was about time.
He glanced left, then right, making sure that Yang wasn't nearby, but he really couldn't be certain. There were too many crates and cargo in the way that he wouldn't be able to tell unless he could see through them all.
At very least, it seemed as if she wasn't here, making it as good of a time as any.
He sucked in a breath and exuded a suffocating pressure. He was what was known as a Heroic Spirit. Even the lowest of Heroic Spirits with E-Rank ratings were ten-times more capable than an average individual.
Something within his peripherals shifted.
He had sensed this particular presence since the beginning when he had first been summoned and rescued both Ruby and Yang from Grimm. Since then, it only ever showed up in his senses when it came to Yang.
He wasn't certain of this individual's goals, so now was the best time to make sure.
"Come out," his tone brooked no room for argument. Better yet, he was already staring in a certain direction as if he 'knew' where the individual was hiding.
To his surprise, what awaited him was not a person, but a black bird. A corvid to be precise.
He reigned in his aura and significantly reduced the pressure that he was outputting. He didn't call the bird out for a fight, only for answers. Moreover, he was confused right now as he didn't know how he would ever converse with a bird.
From behind him, he noticed Summer stiffen in disbelief, though he didn't show it on his face.
The bird opened its mouth, and rather than a caw, a low, yet feminine voice echoed outwards. "What are you?"
Right in front of his eyes, the corvid shifted shape to take on the form of a young woman with raven black hair and a shallow cut dress of similar colour. Her eyes were the same shade of red as Qrow's. Even their complexions were identical.
It was a familiar face even for him. It was the same one that Yang had shown him in a picture.
"Raven." Summer spoke the name clearly.
He stared back at Raven and felt at a loss for words. In truth, he knew next to nothing of this woman other than the fact that she'd abandoned her daughter. That alone reduced his neutral impression of Raven into a negative one.
"Does it matter?" He walked forward, and Raven took a pensive step back. From the looks of it, he must have made her weary from his initial release of power. To Raven it must have felt both unnatural and mysterious. Fear and apprehension stem from the unknown after all.
As his gaze towards Raven hardened, he suddenly felt a hand press itself over his shoulder.
"That's my friend." Summer insisted. "There are things that I want to say and ask of her. The Raven I knew had her faults, but she also had her good points. Why else would she still tail after Yang despite all her excuses?"
He sighed.
Go ahead.
He'd repeat after her.
"Come out."
"What are you?"
"Does it matter?"
Who was Archer talking to? Did he perhaps already notice her approach? Yang was startled at the sudden conversation she was hearing. After completing her task, she had directly run back towards the back of the train as fast as she could. It only helped that the power was out or something? Regardless, the security had been completely disabled, allowing her to move unhindered.
She was currently too far away to get a clear view of the situation, so she slowly inched her way forward to peer out from the corner of an industrial storage box.
Her breath hitched in her throat at that very instant.
Mother.
The woman that she had desperately been looking for suddenly appeared right in front of her eyes and was confronting Archer. She muffled the gasp that nearly escaped her mouth and hurriedly made herself small. She had the urge to call out, but the expression her mother was making was different from the gentle one she'd use to make while cradling her as a toddler. The only things that she really knew about her mom were the stories that her dead spoke about her.
Yang listened to the proceedings in trepidation.
"Raven Branwen," Shirou began to say the words that Summer was mouthing to him.
"You know of me?" Raven's weariness regarding Shirou stepped up by another level.
"I did my research the very moment that an innocent girl recklessly entered Vale's Underground in search of her Mother." Shirou looked far from pleased. He was mad at yang's behalf. "So, you tell me, what kind of mother are you to allow your daughter into somewhere so dangerous?"
"That's none of your concern." Raven grew defensive, narrowing her eyes and ignoring the pressure that she had felt from Shirou moments earlier. "You don't understand what it is that this world is facing. I don't have time to 'play' mother nor concern myself with the world's safety like an old acquaintance of mine did and ended up losing her life for."
Yang didn't want to believe what she was hearing coming out of her mother's lips. Her hands nearly moved to cover her ears, but she couldn't do it. There were many questions regarding her mother that she'd been curious about, but she was starting to wonder whether it would have had been better to remain ignorant.
"You say that you don't care for Yang at all, so then why are you here? No," Shirou shook his head. "Why were you always there?"
Yang's ears perked up.
What Shirou said was true. Raven had always been there for Yang in the form of a corvid. In fact, she'd probably alerted Qrow of Ruby and Yang's location when Shirou had first been summoned. The only reason Raven had tailed Shirou in the first place was also out of concern for Yang, not that she'd ever admit something like that.
"I don't have to justify myself to you," Raven's tone was more subdued.
"You still love her, don't you?"
Yang placed a hand over her chest. She could hear her heart beating furiously within her with equal parts hope and pessimism.
"No, I abandoned that child. Only the strong can live freely in this world. Not the ignorant nor the fool hardy. Tai and Qrow just couldn't see that."
It hurt. It was starting to hurt so much.
Yang pulled in her thighs to her chest, and quietly hugged her knees. Any disillusions that she had about her mother not abandoning her were thoroughly shattered in that one sentence. Damn it, she felt her eyes starting to water, a lump forming in her throat that she couldn't swallow down. She sniffled inaudibly.
"It sounds more like you've just lost hope and are trying to justify yourself," Shirou's expression became cold.
"As if you truly know anything about me." Raven was glaring. A part of her was actually starting to feel uncomfortable.
"I know that you're scared of Salem." The response was so abrupt that Raven became genuinely shocked. Shirou had no idea what meaning the name, Salem, had for Raven, but Summer had been infuriated at Raven's callous words and returned a jab which he had repeated aloud.
Raven's eyes promptly narrowed in realization. "You're one of Ozpin's."
Ozpin? Yang and Shirou kept the name in mind but Summer was incensed at this point.
"Do you truly think that Salem can't be defeated?" Shirou echoed Summer's words.
Raven did not answer, but her expression visibly shifted into a deep frown.
"If so, then you're wrong."
"As if I was wrong!" Raven refused to be convinced. "This world isn't just some fairy tale where a random Hero can exist and save everyone."
"That's where you're even more wrong." Shirou's tone changed. It was no longer just him repeating Summer's words at this point.
Yang felt a visible shift in the air. From the sound of the situation, Raven must have had noticed it too because she began to back away in disbelief as if she'd seen something nerve wracking. Yang was curious, but she was too far away to see whatever it was that Shirou had done.
"W-What kind of person are you?" Raven's tone was far more subdued, almost shaking.
"One that does not believe that this world can't be saved. Similarly, I won't choose to abandon those close to me as an excuse to run away." Shirou thought back to Yang's bright personality and strong character. "You gave up on Yang, but no matter what, I wont and I never will." He had watched her grow up alongside Ruby. She didn't deserve this kind of mother. "I will even protect her in your stead."
A shudder travelled through Yang's body, her lips pursing together.
Raven flinched. "You're wasting your time." In the end, she was still trying to justify herself.
"Then let's make a bet." He would have none of Raven's excuses. "I believe that Yang will be strong. Stronger than you by far such that you'll regret having ever left her."
Yang placed both her hands over her mouth. She didn't know. She didn't know what to think anymore. The damn finally burst into silent weeping.
"…" Raven had had enough. She was glaring so sharply that it wouldn't be a surprise if she suddenly up and attacked. She didn't do so though. Shirou's powers were still unknown to her, and it wasn't worth the risk.
Raven directly left, looking more like she was escaping from her own inner demons than having grown too frustrated at Shirou.
Yang hurriedly pressed herself to the ground in response when she realized that Raven was running in her direction. She really really didn't want to be caught right now. She no longer knew how to face her own mother.
Please. Please don't see me.
Raven quickly reached the area that Yang was hiding at, and for a moment, Raven recoiled, her steps briefly faltering. In the end, she was too skilled not to notice the stealth of an amateur. Her mouth opened and closed, her throat dry, but she was too much of a coward to face the tear-stained expression that she'd caught sight of. Evidently, she couldn't stop a trace of grief and regret from clouding her vision.
Her lips quivered; her head turning away as she dashed off even faster.
She didn't see anything.
"Wait here for a moment Yang," Shirou placed Yang down from her position being carried in his arms.
She didn't make much of a fuss. In fact, she was being oddly complacent with him; a far cry from how she'd been when they'd first met.
After he'd finished his business in the cargo hull of the train earlier, he'd found Yang laying listlessly in one of the booths of the empty passenger carts. He had told her that it was time to go, but it was like a portion of her spirit had left her and she had just blinked at him in response.
He attributed her attitude to one of those mood swings that girls Yang's age usually had and didn't think anything much of it.
He needed to carry her if he wanted to have any chance of returning back to Vale any time soon. It had already been a day. Ruby was bound to start growing suspicious at his absence. However, it was only when he had picked Yang up and noticed how tight her grip around him was that he began to think that something was wrong. She was holding him like he was a lifeline.
This was why he decided to stop and find some sort of place that the two of them could stay for the night. Maybe Yang was just tired. As for the train and Dust, he just left it there. Surely the Schnee Dust company would send someone to reacquire it anyway.
After he had put Yang down, he made to scout the area around for some kind of shelter to stay in. Be that as it may, Yang followed after him despite him asking her to wait until he could verify if it was safe.
The crunching of their feet over the dry leaves beneath echoed through the forested region that they were in. It was oddly tranquil.
"Thanks," Yang suddenly spoke up. "You had no reason to indulge my selfishness in dragging you into this."
"If you already knew that, then you shouldn't have come back to find me." He replied without facing her. He had to pay attention to where they were going because like it or not, they were in Grimm territory.
He pushed aside low hanging branches and flattened shrubs to make Yang an easier foot-path.
"Hey, is there any reason you'd help someone like me? I mean we were strangers, weren't we?" Yang was being oddly fixated on this topic. Her expression was a combination of hopeful and hesitant. He could not infer any deeper meaning.
"Then are we still strangers now?"
"No," Yang was quick to reply as if frightened that he'd get the wrong idea. She was finally starting to smile though so he supposed he could continue the conversation.
"The Yang that I got to know was loud, boisterous, outgoing, and uncaring of consequences. In short, you were a brat, but," Yang bit down on her lips. "I could tell that you were earnest and trustworthy, even if just a little undependable. In the future you'll definitely become an outstanding Huntress."
"I promise I will!" Yang ran up beside him. "Then how about you?"
He grunted. "I'll probably fade away." Literally. It was easier to watch over his Master Ruby and her sister Yang in spiritual form.
"NO, you can't," Yang was surprisingly stubborn on this point. In fact, was that panic that flashed in her eyes? "You have many secrets and I don't know what sort of childhood or life that you had, but you can't just give up on yourself like this. You can't. I forbid it."
"Forbid it?" He couldn't understand what had gotten into Yang.
"Yes. I forbid it. If I'm going to become a Huntress then you should become a Huntsman instead of just a Mercenary."
He chose not to respond. Yang gritted her teeth in helplessness. He really couldn't understand what was with her right now. Then again, it looked like they had company.
They'd stumbled into a large wandering Faunus caravan. There was a lot of them with a majority of the group guarding large vehicles containing camping supplies and provisions.
Almost as soon as he'd made this observation, the other side had noticed him and Yang and were quick to react.
"Who are you?" A blade was pointed in his direction by a sword wielding Faunus. "Humans?"
"Put the blade down Adam, that's no way to greet others even if they're humans."
A large man walked over.
The man had black hair and was well built in terms of proportions. It looked like the man could even lift a bear with a single arm. In comparison, his attitude was far from overbearing.
"Sorry, for that. Many of the Faunus in are group hail from Menagerie and have faced too much discrimination from humans in the past," the man explained the caution the group of Faunus were displaying. "My name is Ghira Belladonna."
Ghira raised his hand out in a gesture of greeting.
"High Leader of the White Fang of Menagerie."
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