Ruby Schnee

The loading was probably the most painful part. Having to fill the bolt with Dust before actually loading it into the crossbow was just a painful process... but in an accurate field usage it would be loaded way before anyone ever went to use it. She poured a few grains worth of Fire Dust into the chamber and screwed the tip of the bolt back on before reaching for her notebook.

"Ok... ten-percent test... let's see the results." She was checking to see how well they worked with filling the compartment. Five-percent full had proven to be a bit too weak, and finding the optimal range would definitely be helpful in using these properly.

She pointed the crossbow forward, the target much closer then it would be if she were testing her aim... mainly because she wasn't too sure on her aim with such a light crossbow. The heavier ones had been so much easier to use for some reason... she shook her head from those thoughts and pulled the trigger. The neat thing about these new bolts was that they didn't trigger until hitting a target, which made the detonation so much stronger. Attacking from inside something - or just closer to it - really made the attack way more effective.

The target erupted in flames as a mini-explosion went off in its centre. The bolt broke into pieces as the magic went off and it left a deep blackened scorch mark on the previously pristine white and red target.

"I guess that's better." Ruby chuckled gently while writing some notes down, grabbing the next bolt as she did and glancing at the open page of the notebook. It had a section marked out for every five percent all the way to one hundred, and logically next would be fifteen... But Ruby threw logic out the window as she filled the next bolt complelty.

"Science demands experimentation!!" She practically cackled the words as she screwed the head back onto the bolt. The loading took less time then the previous bolt only thanks to her now slightly better experience with the weapon, and she pointed it to the same target with an evil grin. "Let's see how big this one is!!"

Weiss Schnee

"Trash... trash... boring... trash... boring... tras- oh... another letter from Neptune..." She flipped it over in her hand before shrugging and settling it onto the trash pile. A small yet adorable noise caught her attention and she glanced to her left, her eyes meeting Argus's own in his little highchair next to her own much fancier chair in her office. "Don't judge me." She settled her gaze onto the babies eyes, determined to prove that she was complelty justified in ignoring Neptune. Obviously the King of Mistral wasn't an issue that needed dealing with at this exact moment-

She let out a groan and grabbed the letter, pulling it from the top of the trash pile and ripping it open to see its contents now. "I swear one day I'll get Ozpin to actually do his job..." In truth there wasn't much he could do about letters addressed specifically to her... but that wasn't about to stop the Queen from complaining about it.

Light Blue eyes skimmed over the many... many words... until eventually they found the actual subject of the letter. Honestly, even she was getting sick of the amount of showboating royal etiquette demanded, it turned every letter she opened into a crossword at best. This particular letter seemed to be about the closing of certain trade routes if nothing was done about the Kings previous concerns about Vale's... 'disregard for law'...

"Whitley Schnee." She layed her hand on a nearby panel as she spoke, and her desk split open like a mouth as the long-range Scrying Orb rose out from the depths of it. "He really wants to try and close trade routes? Let's see how he feels when Mistral stops getting Dust shipments-" She immedaitly stopped talking when the call connected. "Brother, so good to see you."

"My sentiments exaclty, dear sister. In truth, I was hoping to talk to you soon anyway- Oh my goodness! Is that my nephew!?" His sudden excitement caused Weiss to awkwardly glance to her side, her infant child was gnawing on something rather expensive looking... though it was just a desk ornament so she didn't really care. Though the question of how early Dragon's started teething came to mind...

"Ah... y-yes. Brother, this is Argus." The baby in question didn't even glance at the large orb, too busy with his 'toy' to notice it. Weiss calmly removed the item from his grasp, which only resulted in some rather loud and unsavoury complaints in the form of... well, the baby started crying.

She took the chance to get a look at his gums, and decided right then and there that her child wasn't teething, rather he was just a weirdo. Weiss returned the random desk ornament to the Prince that was apparently very good at bartering, and the silence swiftly returned to the room as he began to gnaw once again... or try his best to anyway, and Weiss was left admiring how good he already was at getting what he wanted.

"The joys of parenthood." Weiss wanted to return a comment of her own... but she was basically calling to ask her brother a favour anyway, so temporarily she would let him have that.

"Indeed... anyway, as for my reason for calling today-" Weiss was so rudely interrupted as a muffled explosion rang from down the hall... or possibly just echoing through the castle itself. The noise was accompanied by a shaking of her office and desk that left her more stunned and in confusion then anything.

"Are... you ok?" Whitley seemed more confused then Weiss, but it was likely he had only heard the explosion and not noticed the shaking... which meant he wasn't actually aware of how big it was.

"I'm sorry brother... but it appears I'll have to call you back later..." He nodded in understanding and she swiftly hung up while scooping Argus into her arms and marching out of her office.

"If I was to place a bet as to where that came from..."

"Ruby? Am I a single parent now?" Weiss's voice carried into the training room with an air of exaggerated calmness. She knew Ruby was ok, but was obviously still concerned about her... she wouldn't have come down here so quickly otherwise.

Weiss wasn't expecting the sight of the room however.

The once lovely grey stone of the training room that featured decorated pillars and lovely bricked walls and floors... was now scorched with the black markings of an explosion that had clearly destroyed whatever it had been near. Luckily, that didn't include her wife. Argus spotted Ruby before Weiss did and practically tried to throw himself from her arms at his other parent... which Weiss would never admit to being hurt by.

The apparently favourite parent was currently trying to pick bits of ash out of her hair, some of her clothes looked rather dishevelled as well, only her cloak being perfectly pristine still. The beautiful red being a nice contrast to the darkened stone she stood around.

"And here I thought you were exaggerating when you suggested doing this in here instead of your lab." She calmly moved over and began to smile as their eyes met.

"Yeah... honestly I thought I was being even stupider when I put this on." She pulled the Titian's Bracelet from her arm and smiled... now that Weiss got a better look, it seemed that Ruby had actually been too close to the explosion afterall.

"What happened exactly?"

"...Science." Ruby seemed content leaving the answer at that and turned away, quickly hiding a notebook that Weiss had every intention to find later.

"Okkk... maybe you should have a shower before you do any more... 'Science'..." She was trying to be serious, but that was hard to do while Ruby tickled the baby she was still carrying. Even with her previous annoyance at the child, his adorable giggles were too much for Weiss to stay mad at.

"Yeah, wouldn't want to contaminate the Dust." An oddly serious comment of agreement from Ruby, one that made Weiss tilt her head in question. "Dust can cause a chain reaction if it's been triggered."

"You shouldn't have many Dust pieces on you, even from that explosion."

"No, but the mana still sticking to me might be enough. Why risk it?" She stood up properly once more and kissed Weiss's cheek. "You ok?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" She tried her best to play it off... but at a certain point Ruby had become very good at reading Weiss specifically. "I... got a letter from Mistral."

"The whole kingdom?" The silly question was enough for Weiss to lightly chuckle.

"If only it was... Neptune is pressuring us further... we're still awaiting Vacuo's reaction, but if they chose to side with Mistral or even just against Vale... then we will probably see war."

"Mistral won't start a fight without backup?"

"Between the Atlas military and Vale's Harbinger's, our alliance makes us undefeatable for a single kingdom-"

"But Vacuo basically only has Carmine as a fighter right...?"

"As a notable fighter..." Weiss sighed. "Their whole capital may as well be one giant military base. From the reports we've gotten from Qrow... it seems that they have an incredibly large amount of trained Lycanthropes ready to move at a moments notice."

"How many?" They had sat down at one of the benches, trying to keep calm while having this talk... only Argus's presence was keeping them both from getting upset.

"Enough to match Atlas's fleet in size..."

"What about in power?"

Weiss nearly laughed. "God no. Ruby, need I remind you that Vale surrendered to Atlas? While this kingdom does have much stronger fighters, the fleet is too much for anyone to handle... perhaps if Qrow, Pyrrha, Nora, and Carmine were all trying to stop it they might succeed..." That was mainly dependent on where the fighting took place. If the fleet could continue to recieve Dust from Atlas then they had practically infinite mana to work with.

Ruby nodded along, but she seemed to have something heavy weighing on her mind. "Do you think we'll win...? If it does come to war...?"

"I think that it'll come down to strategy. Mistral can be shut down quickly depending on how we act. If we can convince Lie Ren to stand down then Nora will follow suit and Neptune will be left with his biggest player off the field... and as for Vacuo... it depends on how intelligent Carmine is. She could outplay us if she plays her cards right... but time would be her enemy. The second war starts Vacuo will begin losing ground. The fleet has enough Dust on hand at all times to open a portal anywhere on the planet-"

"They can't do that between borders though, right?"

"No. But if it means ending things quickly, I'm sure my brother will see the value in teleporting the fleet three times to skip past the border's barrier. The fleet could be at Vacuo's capital within hours of the war starting."

"I don't get it... What could she do in that time to stop the fight from ending right there?"

"She's a Wizard, Ruby... and a powerful one at that. The question of 'what could she do?' is exactly what makes her so dangerous... and if you're right about her connection to Cinder... then she may be able to fall back on her forces for assistance." Weiss hadn't been too concerned about that particular problem herself... But something about that whole situation put her on edge. Cinder had the confidence of someone that held an ace up their sleeve... yet she hadn't played it yet. Sure, she had beaten Qrow before... but if they were to fight again, Qrow wouldn't hesitate to use his power. The question was, did that matter?

"Could she truly have some strategy or ally capable of defeating a Harbinger...?"

Yang Xiao Long

This was probably the second most awkward dinner Yang had ever attended. Though, nothing could ever come close to the disaster that was the time her father had to tell her about Summer being pregnant with Ruby. Still, close second.

"So, Illia. What are your plans for the future?" She held a bright smile, the same one that she often used on her kids when trying to encourage them. In truth, seeing how nervous and shy Illia was sort of reminded her of a younger Ruby... and even though the faunas girl was probably way older then her sister, Yang was still going to abuse that thought process to make this easier.

Blake gave Illia that same smile, and the girl stopped eating for a moment. It wasn't clear to Yang if she was thinking about what to say, or just how to say it... but every moment filled her with more and more anxiety. As much as she wanted to just come out and ask 'are you still a part of the White Fang?' Yang got the impression that Blake would not approve.

"I... want to see my family again. It's... been a long time." Her voice was quiet, not quite a whisper but definitely bordering on that territory. She looked quite cute in Ruby's clothes, the outfit featuring one of the lighter mixtures of red that made up most of the wardrobe, and her ponytail put the look together pretty well. All in all, Yang figured that she was an attractive young woman, but perhaps that was the point. Who would look at her of all people and think 'White Fang'?

"Ok, maybe some people would think that looking at any faunas..."

"Well, family Is important! Where are they at?" Family was probably the most important thing to Yang, so she could simultaneously agree with Illia's hope to see them thanks to her empathy... and the small part of her that wanted this woman far away from her own family.

"I'm not sure... my parents were in Menagerie last I knew... but... my... other family... they're all over the place." She met Blake's eyes as she spoke, the table taking on a tense atmosphere after her words.

"And... who are they?" Yang broke the silence before it got too suspenseful.

"Some people I met a long time ago." She gave Yang a glance from the side of her eyes, and the blonde frowned a bit as Blake did the same. It had become clear incredibly quickly to her that she wasn't exaclty invited to join this conversation.

"Can you be more specific?"

"Yang-" Blake cut in before Illia could respond. "Can you... maybe go check on Jasper?" She gave Yang a soft smile, but one that didn't do a great job to convince the Hellhound that it was a good idea. Currently if she left that would leave two of her kids and her wife alone with this woman... but perhaps they could take care of themselves.

Yang sighed a bit, feeling annoyed at herself for overreacting. Sure, Sun and Celica were only five... but those five years put them at the same development level of a human of ten years. Celica could cast enough magic to defend herself incredibly well, and Sun was already picking up martial arts to an incredible degree... and of course Blake herself was a fighter equivalent to Yang.

She nodded as she stood, giving them both a smile and winking to her kids as she did. "I'll go check on him then."

"I'm such an idiot. They're fine. I need to stop overreacting."

A long and tired sigh escaped her mouth as she moved into the room, spotting Jasper sleeping in his crib pretty quickly and smiling at the adorable baby. He was bunking in his parents room for now, the large space featuring a bed that had been broken more times then Yang could count... of course it was unlikely that they would be doing that sort of thing for a while again.

She leaned over the cribs side and got a better look at him... While Blake was annoyed that he was a Hellhound... Yang was a little annoyed about some of his... other features. Between the Berserker eyes and his black hair... he was a reflection of Yangs mother. It took every part of her willpower to not say that he got his hair from her side of the family... but in truth it was likely that he had. It wasnt like she resented the baby for it, rather she just knew that as he got older... it would become harder and harder for her to ignore it, and one day she'd have to tell him about Raven.

Another sigh and she slumped down onto the floor, leaning against the crib as she sat and fought with her mind. She hated thinking about her mother... she hated thinking about how easy it was for Raven to leave... it was painful to know that she didn't even have a good reason for it. Yang had once asked Qrow why Raven wasn't around, but she had timed the question well, only asking when he was tipsy enough to actually give her an answer.

"She isn't around... because she has another family she cares about more then us..."

Yang scoffed gently and glanced around the rather dark room. She hadnt bothered to turn the light on when coming in, and the only thing now keeping the room from being pitch black was the moonlight seeping in through the window. Her eyes almost bled into a colour closer to red as she tried to keep calm, tried to stop herself from falling down a rabbit hole of thoughts and stupid ideas that plagued her whenever she was alone...

It had been her fault for asking Qrow when he was in a state like that... otherwise he never would have said something like that... but... didn't that just mean it was the truth...?

"No..."

Had she done something? Had it been her fault that Raven didn't love her as much as this... other family...?

"Stop it..."

Just like Illia and her other family... which one did she want to see more...? Which one did she value more...? Was the White Fang or just faunas in general more important to her then her actual family? Was it?? Did Blake care more about Faunas then her??

"Shut up!!" Yang breathed heavily as she clutched her head, her eyes kept clenched shut as tight as she could... trying to keep the now fully red orbs from seeing the world around her...

But a noise called out to her through all of that.

A gentle cry from behind her that gradually grew louder. She was up immediately and had opened her eyes, uncaring about anything that had just happened anymore and quickly scooping up Jasper into her arms. He bounced gently in her careful hold as she tried to sooth him, letting out soft coos to try and stop his cries as she looked at him with as much love as she could feel.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I wasn't yelling at you. I promise. Mum is just silly..." Her eyes slowly changed back to a violet colour as he calmed in her embrace, eventually drifting off to sleep in her arms... though she still held him close. Yang didn't want to drift back into those thoughts... back into the dark place of her mind where she threw all of her... 'stuff'...

"No one wants to see all that."

Blake Xiao Long

"Celica? Sun? Why don't you go check on your mother?" Her voice was sweet and she was trying her best to keep a smile on her face. In truth, she felt really uncomfortable with her kids being here for this. They looked unsure, but listened to her anyway, getting up and heading for the door slower then Blake liked.

"They're good kids..." Illia's voice was still a whisper, and she only spoke once they had left the room. "Shame about Celica though."

"What do you mean?" Her voice was quick to get defensive, but it didn't cause Illia to back off like she expected... rather the girl just raised an eyebrow.

"She's a Hellhound right?"

"And?"

"Oh don't give me that, Blake... I know you."

"Illia-"

"You're right... im sorry. I have no right to judge you... it... has been a long time." Blake let out a sigh of relief as the conversation calmed a bit. "Have you... spoken to anyone from back then recently-"

"No. I'm... I'm not a member anymore." Her eyes focoused onto Illia's own. "Are you?"

"I don't think so... no one came for me afterall... but maybe that isn't fair... Vale is pretty strong nowadays." She chuckled a bit. "What a horrible world we live in... one where the Schnee's have gotten the power of the Dragon back..."

Blake visibly tensed as she spoke. Illia said that name with so much venom in her voice... it was all too familiar to Blake. She had heard it said that way so many times... she had said it herself that way plenty enough in the past as well.

"I know where you're coming from... but... the current Dragon's aren't... bad." That tense feeling returned just as quickly as it had left.

Illia's eyes grew sharp, and she spoke with more confidence. "All Schnee's are just as bad as each other."

"The Queen-... Weiss... she's not bad. She's... a good person. Trust me, I wasn't sure about her at first but... she's family now." Blake smiled gently to herself as she spoke, she was glad that thinking about Weiss like that had become so natural to her.

"...'family'...? What... what is your relationship with the Queen??" Perhaps she should have saved such a revelation for later however.

"She's... my sister-in-law... Yang's sister, Ruby, is her wife."

"Ruby... Ruby... Schnee...?" Illia looked down at herself and quickly stood. "I... I'm sorry, I need some air..."

"Illia-" She was too late, by the time she had stood the woman had left the room, rushing off to God knows where. Blake dropped back into her seat with a sigh.

"How could i be so stupid..." Letting her into the home was probably a mistake... Blake could see that, she wasn't blind. But... seeing her out there... it was like she had been pushed back through time. She had been forced to remember how things used to be... how good of friends they once were... and how quickly everything went wrong.

Blake was tired. Tonight needed to come to and end... and that meant returning to the sides of the ones she loved. With another quick stand after only a few minutes, she abandoned dinner to deal with cleaning up another time and headed for her room. However she didn't make it all the way there, instead spotting something from the corner of her eye... a little ninja in training doing his best.

She smiled softly as she snuck up behind Sun. He was crouched behind a balcony railing, peering down into the courtyard like he was watching someone. She moved much too stealthy for him to have a chance at noticing her, and she announced her presence by grabbing him in a surprise hug, putting a hand over his mouth as to not ruin his game of stealth from his scream of surprise.

"M-mama!" He stammered it out when she let him go while Blake was softly giggling at him.

"What are you doing?" She glanced past the railing and down into the courtyard, frowning when she saw Illia standing down there. "It's rude to spy on guests you know."

"But... she's a thief!" Blake titled her head and he elaborated. "I saw her take a Scrying Orb!" A bad feeling began to brew in her mind, and she joined him in crouching behind the stone railing, focusing on Illia and confirming his words as she saw the Orb in her hands.

"Yes... i found her... you were right... shes... working with the Schnee's..." Blake's feeling grew worse with every word Illia spoke, she could only barely hear the conversation, and whoever was on the other end was too quiet to hear from here. "Yes... I can tell you the location... are you coming now...?"

"Sun-" Blake stood up a bit and started carefully readying some mana... she needed to interrupt whatever the hell this was. "-who is she talking to...?" Her hope was that Sun had been watching long enough to hear the name at the beginning of the call.

"Some guy... his name was umm... Adam something...?" She froze. Her movements stopped and her heart began to beat way too fast for her to hear or see anything properly. "Mama...? Are you ok??"

She grabbed his shoulders the second the shock wore off, and stared directly into his eyes. "Listen to me. I need you to go find another Orb. Anywhere, it dosent matter... and you need to call Aunt Pyrrha. Let her know I asked for her to come immediately." He looked a bit overwhelmed with her words, but held a determined expression once she stopped talking. He quickly nodded and she kissed his forehead gently before quickly pushing him to run... and he flew off down the hall like a bullet... Sun was being so strong... she felt a feeling of pride wash over her.

But for now... she had another problem to deal with. Blake hopped onto the railing and leaped from it in the same movement, falling from the sky like a bird in a dive and tackling Illia to the ground, restraining her while they rolled. She let off a scream of pain as Blake pinned her, and Blake tightened her grip on the back of her neck, threatening her to stay down... or else.

"What did you do." The words were practically growled out, and Illia managed to spit a response back.

"I called the one person that can fix this."