"Me? The name's Qrow. Qrow Branwen. I'm your uncle Yang. and it's about damn time I managed to find you."

Uncle? Find? What?

Bells rang in the distance, and she could hear horns blowing too. She half-turned in the general direction of the noise, quickly realising it came from the castle she'd just fled. She turned back to the man she wanted to hate, wanted to doubt, wanted to love in the way she never believed she would be able to again. Mates were something special. Family more so. They were your blood, your past and your present and the reason you had a future.

And she wanted to have one so badly.

"We need to move." Qrow noted firmly, nodding at the distant, snow-capped mountains he'd come flying over not too long ago. "Do you have enough strength to fly there? I'll carry you if you don't."

"I...I can make it." Yang answered cautiously, not truly sure of herself. She didn't want to scare him away with weakness however. Weakness, for a race that was as wild as dragons, was death. She'd been told dozens of stories of runts being driven away from the lairs of their mothers by Raven since she when was a mere hatchling.

"Listen kid if you can't then just say so." The dark haired man grumbled. "I've spent years looking for you, I'm not going to let you die now that I've finally found you."

"I can do it." Yang retorted, voice more sterner and confident. Qrow shrugged.

"Fine. Let's move before the knights arrive. I smell dragon slayers amongst them."

"You do?" Yang asked curiously, and Qrow just gave her a wry grin before his body glowed with red fire and started to change. Yang followed suit, her Aura a roaring yellow the colour of the sun. She wondered for a moment why their souls looked different. Surely they must be similar if they were kin?

Qrow took to the air with a bellow, and Yang followed quickly after him, letting out a roar to not be outdone by him. Her side stung from where she'd been shot by whatever human contraption or magic that had been used against he, but she ignored the pain as the steady warmth of having living, possibly loving kin filled her heart and soul with a joy she'd long since had thought to be dead.

She didn't understand. She didn't trust him because he was male, and there was no such thing as a male dragon. But his eyes looked like Raven's had in the few times she had used her human form, not to mention he'd looked at her with such a look of relief and disbelief she could believe the fact he'd been looking for her. Jaune had had a similar look after she'd revealed her human form to him.

'Hopefully it's a little different.' Yang thought with a snort. 'I'd rather my uncle not look at me the same way as my mate does.'

The thought, stupid as it was, sobered her joy and not because she believed the man desired her in that way. It reminded her of what, or more specifically who, was not with her at that moment, and she cursed her stupidity. If she hadn't been stupid and abandoned Jaune, she could've had support for the inevitable conversation with the male proclaiming himself her kin, a male that shouldn't exist according to the natural laws of the world. Dragons weren't male. They just weren't. A literal god had said it so.

'Yet here one was.' Yang thought, snow kicking up around her as her wings neared the ground of the snowy mountain top, the humans far away now and the two of them safe from their wrath. She changed quickly, her human form in less pain than her draconic one on account of it not being wounded, and she waited for Qrow to do the same, something she did not have to wait long for.

"You have a look like your mother did when I met her for the first time." Qrow snorted, leaning against a rock and gesturing for her to sit on another nearby. She narrowed her eyes at him. "Yup. Definitely your mother. What's the human saying? Like mother like daughter."

"I'm nothing like her!" Yang snarled, eyes flashing red and the dragon inside her roaring in anger at the insult. Qrow blinked and held up his hands in surrender, giving her a look of surprise and fear.

"I meant no ill will." He said honestly. "Only that you're acting the same way as your mother did when she learned I was a male dragon, let alone her kinsman."

"How?" Yang demanded. "Even a god says this isn't possible."

"A god?" Qrow's eyebrows knitted together into a frown. "Does this god have a name?"

"It named itself the God of Darkness." Yang replied, feeling no reason to lie. If the sword truly was a god then it could fend off a curious dragon, especially a dragon that according to it shouldn't exist. "It was a floating sword that had a lot of magic. It smelled...off. Rotten even."

"I suppose the old man's right, though it's odd you'd smell...anything coming from one of the Brother's really." Qrow sighed heavily. "The end is nigh and all the human jargon the old man loves to preach out about just has to be true huh? Never mind that now though. As for how...how what? How do I exist?"

"Yes." Yang answered, inching closer to the rock next to him. He shrugged and stared out at the landscape before them, the human castle sitting squat in the distance and protruding from the forest around it in an oddly beautiful way. "You shouldn't. The God of Darkness said so. Even my mother said so. I don't mean to hurt you or insult you but...how?"

"No offense taken." Qrow snorted, before his face fell into a solemn look. "My mother, your grandmother, was a powerful dragon. She held the title of Slayer of Man, until Raven grew up and surpassed her in terms of bloodshed, territory and gold she hoarded. It wouldn't surprise me if Raven killed her too, the timing would be right. Either way, before then and whatever happened to her my mother was the top dragon around, and because of that she sought the most powerful mate she could find. She ignored great warriors and wizards capable of causing great storms in favour of my father, a wizard attuned with nature, the greatest of his order. She did this for the simple reason that wizards or witches who use natural magics are capable of bolstering fertility, for themselves and for others. If a womb is barren or a...male's parts impotent, they can mend it, though they tend to stick to healing duties out of honour."

Qrow paused, face solemn. Yang was perched on the rock next to him and listening to every word, before blinking and frowning at him.

"I'm not a child." She began, and his eyes widened as she continued. "I know males have coc-"

"Do you want to know how a male dragon exists or no?" Qrow interjected, and she huffed reluctantly before nodding and gesturing for him to continue, her facade of nonchalance fading in the way of bare-faced curiosity.

"She believed that by mating with the most powerful wizard attuned to natural magics at the time he could enhance their offspring in the womb, make them greater than any dragon before or after her regardless of the fact they weren't being sired off of some great warrior or knight. He pretended to do so in order to not get torched by her but in actuality he changed me. He malformed me into, well, me, making me male when I should've been female. When I was born my mother tried killing me, and my father defended me with the aid of his friends and allies, wizards and witches who used more powerful, destructive magics like fire and storms, though he only did so in order to rub salt in the wound of his betrayal of my mother. Your grandmother abandoned us when my father's friends defended him with their more powerful magics, and soon after your grandfather left me in an orphanage, wanting nothing to do with his dragonspawn now that he'd exacted his revenge. Your grandmother found another mate and had Raven, then Raven had you."

"How did you know? How did you meet her?" Yang asked, trying to hide her eagerness. The little smile on his face that crinkled his weathered features told her he'd seen through her poorly veiled guise.

"A half-dragon doesn't fit in well with other kids when pushing them around leads to maiming, burns and scars." Qrow answered, voice heavy with guilt. "I couldn't control myself, when I shifted back and forth and the like. I was never taught, never understood since I had no-one to teach me. I ended up in the wilderness, and I would've died if a very old, very powerful and very curious wizard hadn't found me. Turns out it was one of my father's friends, one who hadn't know my father had intended to abandon me and who supposedly tried finding me after the fact. At least that explains why he found me. The old man took me in and tried teaching me as best he could so that I could live as normal a life as I could live. He used his teachings of magic and used that to teach me discipline and control over my own powers. I gradually learned how to control myself, and I devoted myself to his service to repay the debt I owed him. In doing so I encountered your mother. I did not know she was kin. In truth I hunted her down with the intention of killing her for what she'd done to so many innocents. When I learned she was my little sister...I hesitated. As much as she probably liked to think otherwise, so did she. When she found out I was male she drove me off, calling me an abomination. I kept an ear out when it came to news about her, and when I heard she and her hatchling had been slain I was devastated. I tried to find your body, and by the time I realised your scent was moving and that you were alive I tried following you."

"Why didn't you?" Yang asked quietly, afraid of the answer.

"Apart from fate being a capricious and fickle bitch?" Qrow snorted bitterly. "I owed a life debt to the old man. He's called it in a lot over the years. Whenever I got close to you something came up and I had to sod off to the ends of the world for months before picking up the scent again. It didn't help I was looking for the wrong dragon. I'd take detours whenever I saw someone with your mothers colouring, I didn't know you had yellow scales. From your father I'm guessing?"

"He has yellow hair." Yang replied, staring at the snow next to her feet. "Did you really give up on finding me?"

"If I did I wouldn't be here now." Qrow sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I tried kid. I swear on everything I could ever swear on that I did. I had no idea where to look, no idea who I was looking for but I looked. I promise."

"I believe you." Yang said, even though part of her didn't...even though part of her did. She shook her head to shake her mind into order. "Do I have any other kin? Do you have children?"

"No." Qrow smiled sadly. "I'm afraid not. Your grandfather fully expected me to die not long after he abandoned me. When he was using his magic to make me what I am he only paid credence to to making things feature, not function as they would. I've spoken to humans specialising in natural magics about it. I'm as barren as a desert is of water, not even magic can heal or change everything. Sorry kid but you're not gonna get any cousins off of me."

"Sorry." Yang apologised, looking away guilty at the sad look on his face. "I didn't mean to make you sad or force you to talk about sensitive things like that."

"It's not your fault is it kid?" Qrow said, nudging her awkwardly and giving her a grin. "Besides, I have all the family I need so long as I have you. If you want me that is."

"I do." Yang replied, without hesitation. She wanted to doubt, she felt the urge to do so. She felt the urge to poke and prod and try and burn holes in his story but she didn't care to. She wanted family. She wanted a second chance to have that. Ruby had made her feelings on the matter clear, and Yang wasn't about to go burning bridges and looking a gift horse in the mouth. "Since you told me your story...do you want to hear mine?"

"I do." Qrow smiled, though it quickly fell. "Though I doubt I'm going to like hearing about all the times I failed you."

She opened her mouth and started to speak. Of her survival from her half-sister's attack and subsequent flight. Of her blind wanderings and constant scorn from both dragon and humans, of being turned away by dragons and chased off by human knights with steel that burned. She told him of her slow starvation, of her gradual weakening, of how she rested in a green ravine and wasted away longing for it all to end. She told him of Jaune, of how he came and spared her and fed her. Of how he talked to her and treated her like a person rather than a threat or monster. She told him of their brief journey together, from the battle with the bandits to their hostile reunion with Ruby to their flight to the mountains to the cave to the temple. She trailed off then, not wanting to go further than that out of shame. Thankfully he didn't ask.

"Salem?" Qrow asked wide-eyed. "You said the monster's name was Salem?"

Yang nodded, giving him a curious look but withholder her questions as he muttered to himself.

"It's not...It is too late isn't it? Surely...no, no...the old man, he'd know what to do...or would he? He was there before and all he could do was lock her away."

"Are you okay?" Yang asked, stopping his ramblings. He chuckled a little and exhaled heavily.

"As well as I can be. This...God of Darkness. Did he tell you much about Salem?" She shrugged at the question and he sighed again. "What do you know?"

"She controls the Grimm and desires to become a Goddess by wiping out humanity, killing the gods and starting from scratch to build her version of utopia." She thought for a moment. "Or something. What are the Grimm? The God of Darkness said something about them hating souls."

"You know, I had hoped that if I ever managed to find you I could spirt you away somewhere safe so that you wouldn't have to know all of this." Qrow sighed. "Another failure of mine to add to the list I guess. The Grimm are monsters, plain and simple. They were originally created by the God of Darkness, one of the two Brother Gods who created Remnant, who loathed his brother's creations, Humanity, Faunus, Dragons, because they had souls, a gift from his brother. Over time he grew to accept them as creations of his own after Salem supplanted him as the Grimm's controller, and hundreds of years ago our ancestors fought alongside him and his brother to prevent Salem destroying Remnant and remaking it in her own image. They won a respite, with both sides forced to pull back and gather their strength. In the many years that passed they fell from public knowledge, as did Salem, and Humanity and Faunus and Dragons fought one another. But the calm's over Yang, the storm's arrived. Haven't you heard the calls?"

"The calls?"

"Thousands of dragons, the bulk of our race, are fleeing from the lands that were formerly known as the Grimmlands. In the hundreds of years that passed since Salem's last defeat many of our kind settled there to avoid humans and the conflict that would follow, but now that Salem has returned the land has been malformed and twisted back into the Grimmlands. The dragons are fleeing across the seas to Atlas, to Vale and to Vacuo and likely even Mistral. That will mean conflict, between dragons over territory and domains and gold and humans over the usual squabbles whether it be stolen sheep, burnt villages or stolen sons and pilfered treasuries."

"We can't let that happen." Yang blurted out, and he gave her a curious look. "I just mean we need to focus on destroying Salem, not fighting each other. She...She's terrifying uncle."

He smiled despite her words, eyes lighting up and she knew the reason why. Her own shoulders felt lighter and her heart brighter at the acknowledgement of their blood ties. She couldn't deny it, not when he had the scent and colouring of a Branwen. Thankfully he seemed more like her, rather than her mother or grandmother.

"Your right, which is why I need your help niece of mine." Qrow smiled warmly. "The old wizard I know, he can tell you more than I, but the gist of it is that once upon a time dragons weren't as solitary as we are now. We had duties and alliances and oaths we've long since forgotten, but the old man knows all Yang. I'll take you to him, like I said he can explain it better and in more detail, but there's a way to unite the dragons, something we need if we're going to face Salem." He frowned suddenly. "It wouldn't surprise me if the Grimm don't start running rampant soon enough, Brothers knows Atlas is too weak to defend itself after the storms and the war."

"There's been a war?" Yang asked, and her uncle nodded.

"Aye, there has." Qrow said, staring out into the distance. "A short but bloody thing so far. The Queen of Mistral seems to have lost her mind and invaded Atlas, where we are now. Atlas drove off the attack, in no part thanks to those storms that happened not too long ago, but it's been left in a sorry state because of both those things. Many are dead and many more are starving. Thankfully the ice seems to be thawing and ships from Vale are starting to arrive, bringing food with them."

"We will need to stop that too." Yang said quietly, earning another curious look from her uncle. "Dragons are strong, but if we have humans allied with us then we can be even stronger."

"Aye." Qrow smiled. "Smart lass. But that's enough serious talk, well for the most part. There's a lot of stuff that happens in the world, and I need to know what you know and don't know so that I can help you survive better, make up for all the lessons I should've taught you when you were younger and needed them. Tell me, what do you know of ballista's? Of dragon slayers? Of the Order of Drachentöter?"

"I know dragon slayers...slay dragons?" Yang shrugged, wincing at the deadpan look he gave her. "What?"

"There's a lot more I need to tell you about kiddo." Qrow sighed, and she looked down guiltily. "It's not your fault kid, no-one told you. Just means I have to, but we'll need to move first. It won't be long before news of our little foray spreads, and the Atlesians will mobilise whatever men they can get their hands on to take the two of us down. For humans one dragon is bad news, two dragons are a disaster in the making."

"Where do we go?" Yang asked, and he pointed at a large mountain in the distance.

"That should put enough distance between us and whoever they send out after us. They'd have to get through these mountains then those hills separating these mountains to those ones. Huh, I think those might be the Snow Mountains actually."

"Is that bad?"

"Nah, just means we're a little further north than I first thought kiddo. You ready to go?"

Yang nodded, their rest having allowed her to regain at least some of her strength, she paused suddenly and grabbed his arm as it started to glow.

"Is something wrong?" He asked, and she shook her head before staring at the landscape behind him, her eyes eventually settling on the mountain she thought she'd left hundreds of miles ago. It seemed familiar, and she could feel it in her heart.

"There's someone I want you to meet, someone I need to make amends with." She admitted, and he raised a curious eyebrow.

"Who?"

Yang paused, facing turning red as she rubbed her arm shyly.

"M-My...My mate. Well he's technically not just yet, but he will be, but not because I'll force him to! But also because he won't have a say in the matter. But I won't do it the way my mother did!"

Qrow blinked.

"Tell me everything again." Qrow sighed heavily, rubbing a hand over his face. "Don't spare any details this time would you?"

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"He what?!"

"He died, but the God of-"

"Not that! Where did he die exactly? Why did Belladonna kill him? Do you know why?"

"He...it happened in the big chamber I was outside of. I don't know why she did it, only that whatever she did brought Salem back."

"Blood sacrifice. By the Brothers its worse than I thought..."

"What do you mean? I told you already that Salem returned?"

"I thought..." Qrow sighed heavily. "I didn't know it was because she'd been brought back through a sacrifice. Salem's influence has been growing in Remnant for a few decades now, and as I've said the best the old wizard and the Brother Gods and the heroes of old could do was trap her for a few centuries. We always knew she'd be coming back, and we've been preparing for it to come for a while now. The war, the storm and all the politicking that's been happening lately, it has her claws all over it. We knew she'd return, but we thought if she did so because she broke out of her prison that'd be a good thing."

"Why?" Yang asked with a frown. "Either way she'd be unleashed onto the world, what difference would it have made?"

"Because if Salem had to break out of her prison herself she'd have to use much of her own power to do so. With the God of Darkness guarding her chief temple he could send out a warning and let us know of her return. She'd be weak and forced into hiding or forced to make a last stand we might've been able to win depending on how weak she was. As it is the sacrifice of your...mate made it easier to escape, hence why she was able to fight the both of you off and the God of Darkness and summon a Grimm dragon to fly away afterwards. She's come back strong, meaning she can get to work quicker wiping all of us out."

"I tried to warn him." Yang whispered. "I didn't know why but I knew the place was off. He...He didn't listen."

"Then perhaps you need a better mate." Qrow huffed, and she shot him a glare for the comment. She wouldn't replace Jaune. Never. "Look...I...Whatever. I may be your uncle but for now I'm still a stranger and I haven't met the guy. Maybe he isn't a pompous little prick, but I've spent enough time around his type to know better than to get my hopes up. Normally I'd be calmer after hearing he's an Arc, but some of the stuff I've heard about his father of late makes me worried he might go mad one day. I take it you won't be going anywhere without him?"

"No." Yang replied firmly, eyes narrowing to the point where Qrow felt the need to hold his hands up placatingly.

"I was just making sure." Qrow said, nodding at the mountains behind them. "We'll pick up your boytoy and head to Vale, that's where the God of Light should be. We'll need to act fast, Salem's already got a head start and we can only guess as to what it is she's doing."

"We find Jaune, pick him and the sword up then go to Vale." Yang shrugged, body starting to glow. "Last one there's an overgrown lizard."

"You little-hey!" Qrow protested as she took to the skies with an amused huff as his body started to glow and shift. He took after her moments after, letting out a roar as he soared after her. He was smaller than her in his armoured form, an irony considering he was taller than her when he was in his infiltrator one.

'I'll need to ask him about that.' Yang thought, before her eyes narrowed as she raised her head into the incoming wind drafts, trying to find Jaune's scent. 'I'm coming Jaune, I promise.'

A/N:

Today's the two year anniversary from when I uploaded the very first chapter of this fic on A03. As a way to apologise to any of the poor bastards who have actually stuck around and read this fic since then I'll be uploading daily updates from now until the end of May to commerate this. There will be no updates iN June because of this but in July the monthly updates on the 15th will start again and be the schedule moving forwards.

Basically:

22nd May-31st May = updates

No updates June

One chapter in July as per usual.

Hope you enjoy :)