Ruby stood in the hallway, but luckily she was not alone. No, she would never be alone again. Not since he had arrived at this school.

Jaune was next to her by her own request. It wasn't that the thought of speaking to her sister alone made her uncomfortable. It wasn't awkward. No, she merely did not know how to speak to Yang about what had happened the other day in Professor Callows' class. She did not understand the intricacies of Aura and humanity. She didn't know how to explain to her sister what she was experiencing right now.

When Ruby's own Aura had unlocked during a night of passion with her mate, she hadn't even noticed. Why? She could not say. All she knew was that she did not have a meltdown like Yang had. She did not react in the same way as Blake when she flared her own Aura. As such, she could not help the older girl in grappling with what she had gone through, and likely what she was still going through. She could not help Yang come to grips with the human side of herself.

But Jaune could.

Unbeknownst to Yang, and everyone else in the school other than Blake, Jaune was human. Jaune would understand. Jaune would be able to guide the girl through the treacherous waters of human emotions. And he would do it all under the guise of being the prodigy student who was better than them all.

Ruby smiled. What a neat little trick. What a resourceful boy he was to survive in this school as long as he had. Until she had fallen in love with him. If she had found out he was human before he had rooted himself in her heart, she couldn't say that he would still be alive this day.

She reached over and grabbed his hand with her own. Looking over and up at him, she smiled as she gave it a squeeze. He responded in kind, and the warm smile on his lips made her stomach feel like it was doing flips inside her belly. Humanity truly was such a wonderful, amazing thing. To love was human. It amazed her that she had been so blissfully unaware of things like it for her entire life. She was so happy that was no longer the case.

"You think you're ready to talk to her?" the boy asked softly.

Ruby hesitated, but wound up nodding. "Yeah. I think so."

Jaune raised a hand and held his knuckles next to the door. "You're sure?"

She stared at the hand that was only inches away from the door for several seconds. Hesitation took hold of her once more. It was a fortunate thing that it did, otherwise she wouldn't have thought of a last-minute decision.

"Wait!" she said suddenly, shaking her arm so that he would release his hold on her hand. "Be right back!"

Ruby dashed away back to her own room, and inside found the sleeping form of Zwei on his dog bed. Bending down, she saw that the tiny corgi had woken up, lifting his head and staring up at her with loving gray eyes.

"Sorry to wake you up, boy," she whispered, reaching down and scooping the tiny dog up in her arms. "But we have a job to do."

Zwei didn't struggle as he lazily laid in Ruby's cradling arms. He was so soft and fluffy. So warm and huggable. And that was exactly the point. He was a weapon in the most unlikely form. A catalyst to reach the humanity deep down in Yang's heart without the girl even knowing it.

Coming back out into the hall, Jaune was giving her a curious look. Ruby merely shrugged with a sheepish smile on her lips. He would watch and learn. Jaune wasn't the only one who could be clever and crafty.

"Okay," she said as she returned to his side. "Ready."

He nodded, and knocked on the door. Hopefully Yang wasn't sleeping. It was hard to believe that she would be at this time of day, but then again it had been over a day since they had last even seen her. Who knew what she had been doing in all that time, or how it was affecting her sleep cycle?

Seconds passed, but Ruby was given hope when she heard the shuffling of feet on the other side of the door. It opened soon after, and she was greeted with the familiar sight of her sister. A pair of red eyes and horns along with a massive arm stood opposite of her and Jaune.

"Ruby," she greeted neutrally. Not a good sign.

"Hey, Yang," she replied meekly. Saddened by the reaction she had received from the sister she loved so dearly. "Um... mind if we come in?"

Yang looked at her. Then to Jaune. Finally to Zwei before those glowing crimson eyes settled over her sister again. Her lip twitched, but in the end she relented. "Yeah. Sure."

The blonde moved back, turning around and walking toward her bed. She sat there, leaving enough room for just one person to sit next to her Grimm appendage.

Without a word Ruby followed and sat next to her. There they were, sitting side by side, and not saying a word. Emotions were so hard when there wasn't a human to take the lead. Ruby barely understood them herself. How was she supposed to talk to Yang about them?

Jaune must have recognized this, and was the first to speak. "How are you doing, Yang?"

Silver eyes focused on the girl next to her. Yang wouldn't look at either of them though. Her own gaze as focused on the floor. "I don't know."

Ruby frowned. But still, that was better than bad... right?

"Are you mad?"

That question prompted Yang's head to snap up, and she focused on Jaune this time. "What?"

"Are you mad at me?" he repeated. "For... unlocking your Aura?"

Ruby couldn't imagine that she would be angry. It had saved her life. He had saved her life. If not for her Aura, Yang would have bled out on the arena floor like so many others before her had. She would have met the same fate as she had dished out to so many other hybrids. The only difference between her and those who were dead was that Yang had a human on her side. A human who had cared enough to save her life.

Love truly was the right way in the world. Jaune's actions the other day had merely reinforced that point.

"It's different," Yang replied. Ruby silently noted how she hadn't answered the question. "I feel different. It's hard to explain, but things are different now."

It must have been difficult to explain if all she could say about it was how different it was. Ruby felt the need to press about what was different and why, but even she knew that she had to let Yang move at her own pace. Not everyone could go through a smooth and seamless transition like she had. Not every hybrid was equipped to deal with their innate humanity like she was.

Again, she was thankful that Jaune took the lead in the questioning. His natural humanity would lead him to asking the right questions. He would be more aware of where lines were and to not step over them.

"Is different better or worse?"

That really was the crux of it all. Would Yang find humanity to her liking? Or would she reject it, wishing to go back to her natural hybrid state?

"I feel more human," Yang said with a frown. Ruby bit into her lip at the sight of that. "I feel weaker. I don't like it. I remember things, and I don't know how to deal with those memories if I can't hate them. If I can't hate her..."

Ruby frowned in confusion. Her? Who was Yang talking about?

Peering down at the monstrous hand next to her, she saw how Yang began to flex her fingers. How she balled it up into a fist before letting go. The arm was a physical embodiment of her strength. Her primary weapon in the arena. It only made sense that she would cling to it to be reminded of her strength.

Since meeting Jaune, Ruby had began wearing her human guise more and more. Weiss had as well. It seemed like the closer they got to him, the more human they became, the easier it was to maintain. Jaune had even told her that the night they mated, Ruby had shifted into her human form without even realizing it. Like it was just second nature to her now. She could do it without even thinking about it. Just as they were supposed to on missions in the human kingdoms.

She wondered if that was why Yang was in that form right now, despite being one of the more proficient students in the academy. There was only one way to find out.

"Is that why you're in your Grimm form?" she asked the girl beside her.

Yang turned to look her sister in the eye. The frown was still on her lips. She nodded. "Yeah. At least when I'm like this, I know what I am when I look into the mirror. And this," she said, holding up her massive arm. "Isn't protected by Aura. Not sure why. But... it feels strong. It feels like my old self."

Ruby remembered her old self. It was a person she never wanted to go back to. A being who existed only to destroy. Just like Weiss. And Blake. And Yang. And all the others. Their lives had no meaning other than to bring destruction to others. Whether it was humanity, other hybrids, or even the creatures of Grimm themselves during their training, she had no other purpose in life.

Now, however, Ruby had discovered the positive things in life. She had discovered things like friendship. Compassion. Hope. She had discovered love. Yang could too, if she would only let it in. If she would stop clinging to the past, and accept a better future.

With that in mind, she took the weaponized corgi in her arms and held it out to the girl next to her. Yang gave Zwei a curious look before glancing back up at Ruby. "What's this?"

Ruby giggled. "A dog, silly."

"I know what a dog is. But why are you giving it to me?"

"Hold him," she said simply.

Yang frowned again. "Hold him?"

"Hold him."

The blonde girl seemed uncertain, but not repulsed by the thought of it. Glancing back and forth between her arms, Yang ultimate lifted her left, human arm, and outstretched it to receive the furry package of cuteness.

Ruby gently laid the ball of fluff into her sister's arm, and Zwei seemed blissfully ignorant that he was being held by a Grimm hybrid who loved nothing more than fighting and killing her peers. The glowing red eyes of Yang stared down at him, and for a moment her fingers twitched, almost like they felt inclined to stroke the soft fur of the dog that rested in her lap.

All she needed was a little encouragement. "Pet him," Ruby all but ordered.

Those hesitant fingers of her sister finally gave in, and they met the black and white fur of the corgi. It started off with a few tentative brushes, but after a few seconds Ruby saw how Yang was petting the dog just as she herself would. As a human like Jaune would. The frown slipped off Yang's lips, and for a moment it looked as if a smile was threatening to overtake her face.

"He's a good boy, isn't he?"

The blonde's lip flinched. Yes, yes. Give into the love, Yang. Let the humanity flow through you!

"I guess..." she admitted.

"Say he's a good boy."

Yang's jaw clenched. When it did Ruby saw how the hints of a smile were beginning to curl up on her lips. No one, not even Yang, could resist the sheer adorableness of a tiny, lovable dog.

"You're a good boy," she said softly.

"You're a good boy, Zwei," Ruby encouraged.

"You're a good boy, Zwei."

Ruby spared a look over at Jaune, still standing off to the side near the door. He too was smiling, and it was infectious. Ruby's eyes met his, and she grinned hard at how Yang was acting. How she was allowing her humanity to grow without even realizing it.

Slipping an arm around her sister's shoulders, Ruby pulled herself close to rest her head on Yang's huge Grimm shoulder. Love was the right way. Love had stabilized the girl when her Aura had first been unlocked. Love would guide her on the right path here and now.

To her relief and hope, her sister didn't push her away.

"Yang?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Can you do me a favor?"

A few seconds of silence passed before she responded. "Sure, Ruby."

"Can you do your human form?"

Ruby felt her sister's body stiffen. More hesitation. Had she pushed too far too fast? Had she gotten a bit overzealous? Had Yang's response to Zwei made her too confident?

"No."

The redhead came back up to look at Yang. The frown had returned to her lips.

"Oh."

Yang shook her head. "I don't feel like it. That's all."

Because it made her feel weak. Those were the words she had left out.

Ruby saw how Yang lifted Zwei from her lap, passing the dog back over to her. Ruby accepted him gently in both arms. Zwei didn't seem to mind being passed from person to person, but for Ruby there was a deeper meaning. Yang had just rejected the human side of herself, even if she didn't realize it herself.

"I think I'm gonna go do some training," Yang said as she stood up. "Blow off some steam."

Ruby joined her, taking a step back over toward Jaune. "Yeah. Sounds good."

"Thanks for checking up on me, but I'm fine."

Ruby knew that wasn't the case. However she wasn't about to press the issue. Pressing is what made her reject Zwei, and her humanity, just now.

"You're coming to the dance though, right?" Ruby asked hopefully.

Tonight was the big night. A dry run for a social event that they would be participating in once they got to Vale. Ruby didn't know what to expect, but she was excited nonetheless. It was also mandatory, so she would expect Yang to be there. However, after everything that had happened, with how Yang was feeling right now, it wouldn't have surprised her if she blew the event off completely.

Yang pushed past both her and Jaune to the door. Opening it up, she stepped out into the hall. "Maybe. See you guys around."

The hybrid strode down the hall, not looking back at her sister and her friend as she went off to kill something. Or someone. Probably just expendable Grimm, but with Yang you never knew. Maybe she'd find Wesson and decide to tear every little Death Stalker limb off one by one.

An arm came to rest around Ruby's shoulders, pulling her close just as she had done to Yang. The girl melted into the larger arms of her mate, and Jaune placed a soft kiss on the top of her head.

"It's okay," he whispered gently. "We'll help her."

Ruby nodded wordlessly, her head coming to rest against his chest. She hoped so. She hoped with all her heart that Yang would find the same kind of happiness that she had.

A dance. A school dance. In a place like this. What a ridiculous concept.

It was just as awkward as he would have expected.

Jaune may have had an abundance of experience in dancing, but he did not have that same experience in dances. There was a stark contrast in practicing at home with seven sisters and attending formal social events. The last time he had been to a dance was earlier in his academic career. He must have been only twelve years old, standing around at the school dance with all his other friends and classmates. The room had been darkened except for the flashy lights above in order to set the mood. The latest in popular music was blaring from the overhead speakers. Children stood awkwardly on the sidelines, none brave enough to take the first step on the dance floor to become the center of attention.

Somehow, someway, this exact moment mirrored that distant memory.

Standing by the comically stereotypical punch bowl, Jaune looked out to an empty dance floor. Even if those attending had been brave enough to move onto it to show their moves, there would have been pitifully few bodies anyway. What had been a much larger class at the beginning of the year had shrunk down to almost nothing.

On either side of him were Ruby and Weiss, each holding a cup of punch, and neither drinking it. If he had to guess, it just wasn't bloody enough for their tastes. With their free hands they linked their arms around his, neither one wanting to venture too far from his side. If he had to guess, it was some sort of competition between the two that only they understood. Maybe whoever stepped away first forfeited their 'claim' on him, or at the very least weakened their position. It was going to be an awkward night of dancing if he had to do it at the same time with two girls.

If they ever even got around to dancing in the first place.

Blake lurked... somewhere. Blakeing around as she always did. He couldn't see her. He never could until it was too late. But she was here. Watching. Waiting. Like a spider waiting for the moment the fly enters her web. She would have her meal tonight. Jaune expected it.

Of Yang there was no sign. It wasn't surprising either, after what had gone on earlier in the day. Nonetheless, it was still disheartening.

A handful of others rounded out the attendees. Wesson stood in his finest trench coat, hands stuffed into his pockets and collar flipped high for the maximum coverage of his flesh. The two new human arrivals Emerald and Mercury stood far away from the gathered hybrids, standing next to Cinder who acted as the chaperone. It would be an easy job for the woman if things continued as they were. If no one wanted to dance.

So much for practicing for life in the kingdoms.

After a while he felt a tug on his shirt, and looked over to see Ruby peering up at him. There was a slight frown on her lips before she spoke. "What's even the point of this dance?" she asked. "Dancing is stupid. Who wants to do that when we could be fighting things instead? That's way more fun, and I wouldn't have to wear this stupid thing."

In lieu of her usual tattered black dress, tonight Ruby wore a gorgeous sleeveless red number for the occasion. Where the bust line of the dress ended, translucent mesh extended up to a black band around her neck. A black sash around her waist almost made her look like a gift wrapped with a bow, but it was adorable nonetheless. Red high heeled shoes finished off the ensemble, and already more than once did she stumble and nearly fall before clinging on to his arm for support.

Maybe that was her innocent reason for hanging onto him.

Jaune smiled. "I guess you and Yang really are sisters. Always looking for a fight."

His comment was met by a glare and a pout from the young redhead. "Hey, I can appreciate more than just fighting! Mating with you is way more fun than any stupid fight!"

The boy's face burned with embarrassment. That was... quite a compliment. And one that thankfully was made in the comfort of this academy rather than out at a human dance. If Ruby were to say that in a crowd full of people...

"The reason, Ruby," the girl on the other side of him began. Jaune turned the other way to see Weiss looking past him to their friend. "Is that dancing is an integral part of human courtship. As such, this human-style event is practice for the mingling and dancing we will be expected to perform once we arrive in Vale."

Weiss nailed it right on the head. There was only one flaw in her explanation. Even she wasn't dancing.

Her own gown was remarkably similar to Ruby's. He assumed that whoever went out and purchased the attire for the girls must not have put much thought into them. Where Ruby's was red, Weiss' was white. It had a similar mesh above her own bust, but lacked in the black waist wrapping. In its place were large slits on either side of her waist where bare flesh was visible. Slits where a partner might place their hands on tantalizingly soft flesh.

"Oooh," Ruby said thoughtfully. A hand briefly came up to her chin as she rubbed it softly. Silver eyes came up to once more look into his own. "I can ask Jaune to dance with me!"

"Excuse me?" came the accusatory tone of Weiss. "I'm going to ask him."

Silver eyes met icy blue, and glares were exchanged. Glares hard and sharp enough that they might as well have been daggers.

Being fought over by two girls at a school dance. That was a new one. Middle schooler Jaune would have never dreamed of such a thing happening to him in his lifetime. Even if said girls were Grimm hybrids.

"We can both dance with him," Ruby decided, easing the tension between her and Weiss. For all of two seconds. "But I'm going to dance with him first."

Weiss took a step forward, pivoting on a heel while retaining her hold on Jaune's arm with a hand. "And why exactly does that honor fall upon you?"

Ruby moved in a similar fashion, and both girls now stood a couple of feet in front of him, facing each other while still holding onto the boy they now fought over. "Because I saw him first," she responded childishly.

It was technically true. Jaune had indeed met Ruby before anyone in this school. She was his first friend. His first roommate. His first cuddle buddy. But not his first...

"Well I mated with him first!" Weiss shot back.

There it was.

An argument which didn't seem to faze Ruby. "Well I was his first kiss!"

That... that one wasn't so true.

"Actually," a third voice purred from behind. A voice that left a hot breath on the back of his neck. "I believe that distinction belongs to me."

Jaune whipped around in surprise, and in doing so tore the grasps of both Ruby and Weiss from his arms. Standing behind him was a girl he had seen only a couple times before in the past several months. A girl he knew existed, but rarely made an appearance.

Blake, the twisted tentacle monster who haunted the underside of his bed, was entirely human. Well, not so much human. Faunus. She was remarkably, and beautifully, one hundred percent faunus.

A longer and slimmer black dress hung down to just above her knees. A long slit in the side of the dress emphasized completely normal looking legs, not marred at all by twisting black veins. Like both Ruby and Weiss, her chest and collarbone were covered in mesh, as were her shoulders. A pair of cat ears stuck out from long, smooth black hair. Only her piercing golden eyes gave the dark beauty color to contrast her attire.

"Blake..." he breathed, taken aback by just how amazing she appeared. How normal. How utterly unlike the monster she portrayed herself as.

"Wait a minute!" Ruby squawked. "What do you mean it belongs to you?"

"Well you see," the faunus said, moving close to Jaune before taking his hands in hers. "I had the pleasure of being Jaune's first kiss long before either of you. It was an unforgettable experience," she continued. Her eyes shifted to gaze up into his own. "Your fear as I stuck my tongue down your throat was intoxicating..."

He remembered the incident all too well. Waking up wrapped in the tentacles of Blake before she forcibly made out with him was something difficult to forget.

Ruby's arm shot out and she pointed accusingly. "Liar!"

Blake cackled softly, and her arms moved to wrap around Jaune's waist, pulling herself up closer to breathe into his ear. "Tell them I'm lying," she whispered. "Or tell them the truth. Either way, I was your first..."

Jaune swallowed hard. There was no point in lying, was there? After all, even if Ruby hadn't been his first kiss, they shared a relationship which far exceeded what he had with Blake. That wasn't hard anyway, considering it was entirely one-sided. Romantically at least. Honestly he wasn't sure if Blake even was interested in him sexually. The only thing she seemed interested in was his fear.

"Ruby. It's, um, complicated..."

Pint-sized anger filled the redhead's face. "Oh no you don't. You bring your face over here so I can kiss you this instant!"

Before she could lunge and practically devour his lips with hers, Blake pulled him away with one fluid tug on his arm, and led them both out onto the dance floor. A sly grin was on the face of the faunus, knowing that she had just beaten both Ruby and Weiss to the punch.

Arms shifted so that one came to wrap around his back, while her other hand grasped his. Blake apparently knew how to dance. Then again, he had heard rumors that she was the newest, and so-called 'youngest' hybrid. She had been a regular faunus girl not too long ago. It struck him as ironic that the one who had been a monster for the least amount of time was in fact the most monstrous of the girls.

Jaune moved one of his own hands to take Blake by the waist, and the girl leaned in closer to him. "Nervous, Jaune?"

Yes. "No."

She hissed a soft laugh. "Yes you are. I can smell it on you."

Well, so much for that. It was worth a shot.

"You need not fear. All I want is a simple dance. To be the first to enjoy such a treat with you."

Blue eyes shifted back over to the sidelines where Ruby and Weiss stood. Both were glaring hatefully at the faunus girl who had stolen what they each believed was rightfully theirs. Still, there was no reason that they shouldn't enjoy themselves, right? There was no reason they shouldn't gain valuable experience from this.

"Ruby, Weiss," he called out to them. He motioned with his head for them to come out on the dance floor. "Why don't you two dance until I'm done with Blake?"

Both girls looked at one another before back to him. Weiss predictably spoke first. "Dance? With her?"

Jaune shrugged, and the slight movement made Blake dig her fingers into him deeper. Like she thought he was trying to escape.

"It'll be fun. Just a friendly dance. You two need practice for Vale, remember?"

The words seemed to resonate with Weiss more than Ruby. The proud girl wanted to be the best, after all. "Fine," she conceded before turning to the redhead. "But I am taking the lead."

"Wait I didn't agree to t-"

It was too late, as Weiss grabbed hold of Ruby and did her best to mimic the position that Jaune and Blake were in. As the two moved and swayed to the music, Jaune could hear the faint sounds of squabbling between the girls as Weiss did her best to force Ruby to move to the tempo that she had decided. It resulted in a lot of grunting and toes getting stepped on. It was less like they were dancing, and more like they were fighting. Struggling. Each jockeying to be the dominant one on the dance floor.

Another soft, almost silent laugher slipped through Blake's nose as she shook her head. "Your mates are amusing."

They were. In a weird, twisted way. They were so awkward, yet so pure. He loved both Ruby and Weiss dearly. Each in their own special way. Each had carved a distinct place in his heart. How had that even happened?

"Wouldn't have it any other way," he confessed.

"You love them. Do you not?"

Without question. "Of course."

"Love is a strange and fickle thing. You think you know someone, but it turns out you don't. Do you know them, Jaune?"

It was a strange question to ask. But again, he knew the answer without a doubt. "Yeah. I do."

That hissing laughter sounded again. "You know what they've become. Do you know what they were?"

What they were. Was she talking about before they were hybrids? When they had been human? Sadly he didn't know that. He didn't know the real Ruby and Weiss. He didn't even know the latter's last name.

He only knew Ruby's because of the woman imprisoned at this school. The thought of her down there still tore at his heart.

"Well, no," he admitted. "It's impossible to know that."

Golden eyes stared up at his own. That sly smirk still played on her lips. The very tip of her tongue poked through as she ran it along pinkish flesh. "You should wonder what will become of them if you save them," she purred. "You will save them, right? Will they still be the girls you love? Will they still love you..."

It was a question he had never really considered before. Of course they'd still be the same. Right?

He shook his head. Even if they weren't the same, even if they did no longer love him if they changed, it didn't matter. So long as they changed for the better, and so long as they were free of this life, then it would be worth it. They could love whoever they wanted as long as they weren't Salem's slaves anymore.

"It doesn't matter," he told her. "As long as they're happy, I'm happy."

Blake laughed again, pressing the side of her head up against his chest. "Your lips say one thing, but your emotions say another. You're terrified of losing them. The sweet stench of fear covers you, my love."

She wasn't wrong. He was scared of the thought of losing Ruby and Weiss. Of them no longer being in his life. However what he said was also true. As long as they were happy, what they did was their own business. Their lives were their own. Not his. And certainly not Salem's.

The music wound down and the song ended. Jaune took the opportunity to escape Blake's grasp, and to his surprise she let go of him willingly. She dipped her knees in a curtsy, if he had to guess as a mockery of this farce of a dance.

"It was wonderful to dance with you, Jaune," she said as she turned to walk away. "Enjoy the rest of the evening."

Blake stalked away, probably to hide somewhere in the shadows like she had before. Her words resonated in his mind. Would his friends change if he was able to change them? Would they change for the better? Would they accept it? Or would they end up like Yang?

Yang...

As quickly as the dark moon of Blake had set, the bright sun of Yang had risen.

A head of blonde hair stood in the doorway. Unlike everyone else, she was not dressed for the occasion. She was not in her human form. Her human hand was planted on her hip as she scowled at the display of humanity. Still, she had shown up. Even if it was just to sneer at those who were participating, she was here.

Jaune saw it as an opportunity. One to perhaps get through to her like he and Ruby had attempted earlier in the day.

Moving across the floor to where she stood, Jaune smiled at the girl. "Hey, Yang. Glad you decided to show up."

The girl snorted dismissively. "And miss this train wreck?" She pointed over at where Ruby and Weiss continued to bicker. "I mean, check out my sister and the one-horned wonder of there."

Dancing had become grappling as the two continued to struggle for dominance. A regular person might have seen it as some weird, new-age dance that was an underground hit online. Jaune knew better. Jaune knew that hybrids fought amongst each other for supremacy.

"Well at least they're trying," he admitted.

"Trying and failing."

"You think you can do better?"

Yang's eyes narrowed on him and his challenge. "Of course I could. I just don't want to."

It was less like they were dancing, and more like they were fighting.

An idea struck the boy. Yang had always been the most competitive of the bunch. Always the one most eager for a fight. Always the one who wanted to be the top dog. Well, it was put up or shut up time for the hybrid.

"You've never turned down a challenge before," he said. "You about to start now?"

Her frightening glare was focused on his face. Here was a girl who could take him in her giant Grimm arm and smash him to a bloody pulp on the floor. Yet here he was, egging her on like she was a harmless little sister.

"Your challenge is stupid."

"You afraid of a little dancing? Or afraid you might like it?"

Teeth were bared. A massive hand curled into a fist. Warning alarms were going off in Jaune's mind. He was about to die, wasn't he?

"You bastard," she whispered.

"Tell you what. Give me a dance and I'll give you a fight. The one on one you've always wanted."

That got her attention. Red eyes widened, and the snarl on her face turned into questioning shock. "You're serious?"

"Very serious. When we get to Vale we'll spar. Just you and me. And I'll..." he paused. "Show you how strong I am."

Yang's face lit up in excitement. "Deal!"

A giant arm practically dragged Jaune back to the dance floor, and much to Ruby and Weiss' surprise, wrapped around his torso, encompassing nearly the entire thing in her fingers. In that moment it stuck out as particularly terrifying to him that all Yang needed to do was squeeze and he would be crushed like an empty aluminum can. She could end his life with the flick of a wrist. This unstable, bloodthirsty hybrid literally held his life in her oversized hand.

And yet he was fine with it. This was the new normal.

Jaune had never been this close to Yang before. Sure, he had seen all of her before. They had fought each other before. But he had never felt her like this. Her ample chest pressed up against his. Pale blonde hair the color of straw sat right in front of his nose. She really did have beautiful hair. Jaune had never noticed it before. It was hard to notice things about a person when they wanted to be seen as a monster.

He unintentionally got a whiff of her hair being this close to her. To his surprise, it smelled like a fruit he couldn't quite place. A Grimm hybrid of all things used some sort of fancy shampoo. How bizarre.

Pulling back a little bit, he looked down at the horned girl's head. "See, isn't this nice?"

The girl in his arms scoffed. "Yeah, sure."

Jaune frowned. She was still resisting. She still didn't want to get in touch with her humanity.

Ruby had been able to do it before. When her Aura had first unlocked. Maybe her sister was the key? And here, unlike before in her room, Yang couldn't run away. If she wanted her fight with Jaune, she needed to dance.

"You love Ruby, don't you?"

He felt her back stiffen instantly. Her hand that held his body tightened, and Jaune felt the pressure on his ribs increase. It was laborious just to take a deep breath in the hybrid's grasp.

"It's okay to love, Yang," he pressed on. And in doing so the pressure increased. "It's okay to love. Good to love. There are people in our lives we should love."

Still, she said nothing. She didn't look at him. All he could see was blonde hair as they moved to the music.

"Ruby loves you. She loves you so much. She saved you back there. We both did. Maybe in different ways, but we both did. She would have been hurt if you had died."

Jaune felt Yang's forehead press down on his chest. He felt how her head shook. "I don't want her to hurt."

Success! An opening! Actual human emotion! Even if it wasn't a happy one, it was a start.

"Because you love her, right?"

Yang took a heaving breath in his arms. The pressure on his body decreased. Was her grip weakening? A glance back down showed something new. Had her hair gotten more vibrant? Or was it just the lighting?

"I do..." she whispered. "And that's what scares me."

As much as Yang's hold on him was weakening, Jaune's was strengthening. He held her tightly in his arms now, and they weren't so much dancing anymore as they were just swaying back and forth in one another's arms. All his dancing skills went out the window as he merely held a vulnerable girl close to him.

"Why does it scare you?"

Yang pulled away, and to his surprise she had changed. Gone was the white skin. Gone were the long horns jutting from her forehead. Lilac eyes had taken the place of red ones. She had reverted to her human form. And she was stunningly gorgeous.

"Careful, lover boy," she smiled through the tears which were welling in her eyes. "Keep looking at me like that and your mates might get the wrong idea. Are Ruby and Weiss not enough for you?"

"No no, it's not that," he insisted. "It's just... wow."

"Keep sweet talking, but I'm still not joining your pack." She shrugged, looking away as she continued. "But... maybe after our one on one action, the two of us could have a little one on one action. Just for fun."

In all honesty, Jaune knew he would be hard-pressed to refuse her if she wanted to have a little fling. Even if it was nothing more than sex. She was just that beautiful. Especially because hybrid culture seemed to be okay with such relationships.

"Let's um, get back to that later," he insisted. He had to stay on track. Stay on the topic at hand. Yang was opening up, and he had to press onward. "Why are you afraid of loving Ruby?"

Yang looked so... vulnerable in her human form. With glistening tears that made her eyes sparkle like gemstones. In this moment she was nothing like the monster girl with the huge arm.

"Because loving someone makes you weak," she whispered. "It brings you nothing but pain."

Love could indeed do that. But love could do so much more as well. The benefits of love outweighed the negatives by such a large margin that it was a terrible idea to cut it out just to avoid the badness. He had to make Yang see it that way.

"That's not true. You see how happy Ruby is."

"I'm not Ruby."

True enough. Ruby had always called herself a freak. That she was too positive. For some reason love might have just come easier for her. For whatever reason.

"Still doesn't mean you can't love. Or that you shouldn't."

"I did love," she said softly. "Once."

Reading between the lines, he knew Yang wasn't talking about Ruby.

"You're more in touch with your humanity than me," she continued. "Maybe you'll understand."

"Understand what?"

Yang hesitated. Like saying the next words caused her physical pain. Yet she choked them out. "About my mother."

Her mother.

The woman in the dungeon.

The next word came out without thinking. "Summer?"

Lilac eyes widened. "How do you know that name?"

Jaune panicked. How could he explain to Yang that her mother was alive if that was the root of her issue? Should he even tell her? How would she react? How would Ruby react?

He had made it this far through lying. Might as well keep it up. "Um... Salem told me once..."

It wasn't even technically a lie. He was merely omitting part of the whole truth. Salem had after all told him Summer's name.

Yang shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I wasn't talking about Summer anyway."

Her words confused him. If she was talking about her mother, but not Summer, then who?

His unasked question was answered a few seconds later. "I'm talking about my biological mother. Raven."

10 years earlier

Raven Branwen was a coward.

She had always been a coward. And as she stood here in this place, she felt fear once more for the first time in years.

Annoyingly it wasn't the first time in her life she had felt this way. Even more annoyingly, it was once again caused by this man. It seemed as though every instance of fear in her life had been brought upon her by him. The question tugged at the back of her mind. Why was she here?

A flash of memory told her why. No matter how hard she tried to chase it away, it would remain with her forever.

Raven raised a hand to the door, and saw that her fist was shaking. A breath shot through clenched teeth, and she lowered her arm once more. Her left hand came over to grab hold of the shaking appendage, hoping that her body would still if she squeezed hard enough. Fear. How she hated the feeling of fear. So much easier to simply run away than to face what opposed her. She had ran before. Why not again?

Another memory came to her. A vision of a smiling, happy man with a mop of messy blond hair on his head. Of the tiny bundle of fragile human life he held in his arms. Both now snuffed from existence, albeit in totally different ways. No, this was not something she could run from.

She had run away from the idea of falling in love once. She had run away from the duty of caring for her daughter. And although she had gained power beyond her wildest imagination as a result of her decisions, all that power meant nothing in the face of what challenged her now. Complete and utter despair.

Steeling herself, Raven raised a fist once more and pounded her knuckles on the wooden door. No doubt the man inside would have heard it. She took a step back, taking a deep breath as she prepared to face him for the first time in years. For the first time since their daughter was born.

Seconds seemed to last an eternity as she waited. Maybe he wasn't home. Maybe she wouldn't have to go through with this. Maybe she would be able to run away once more, and be able to confirm that running was indeed correct decision.

To both her relief and disappointment, Taiyang Xiao Long was home. And he was pulling the door open.

He hadn't changed. Not all that much at least. His face was older and more mature. A thick stubble on his face made the tanned man resemble her brother Qrow. As did the stench which clung to his clothes. However, he still had that same blond hair. Those deep blue eyes. Here was still the man she had once fallen for, and had abandoned when he, and their daughter, needed her the most.

Taiyang's eyes widened, as if he couldn't believe the sight before him. Raven couldn't blame him. "Raven?" he asked.

The dark-haired woman hadn't known exactly what kind of reaction she would get from her estranged lover, but she could hardly believe that there didn't seem to be any anger in his tone. Then again, maybe all the alcohol in his system prevented him from showing his true feelings for her.

"Tai," she said gently. Far more gentle than she was used to. After all, here was a man who had just lost everything.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. There was an immediate shift in his tone from surprise to suspicion. Perhaps his mind, much like his physical reflexes, were indeed stunted by drink.

The bandit leader, the murderer, the woman who valued strength above all things, said words she never could have imagined saying only a few days ago. "I came to see how you were doing," she said softly. Genuinely.

She may have been many things, but heartless was not one of them. As much as she would have liked to have been, her cowardice prevented her from being able to cut all ties with her emotion. Raven had fallen for this man all those years ago for a reason. Deep in her heart, despite how much she wanted to forget, there was still a part of her which cared for him.

"How do you think," he snapped.

There were no further words. Despite his bitter remark being so short, it carried with it the weight of an angry tirade. Sometimes it was the lack of words which spoke volumes.

Raven knew how he was doing without even having to ask the question. Yet she had for the sake of courtesy. To make conversation. She hated small talk. She hated weak emotions like empathy and compassion. She may not have been good at them, but the fact that she was here making the attempt proved to herself how much she still cared.

"Can I come in?" she asked.

She saw how his jaw clenched. How his face and eyes averted themselves from her as he looked off to the side. It took long moments of contemplation before he answered. Or maybe it was simply the drink again. "Fine."

Tai turned, not bothering to say anything or make any sort of gesture as he moved back deeper into the cabin. Raven followed behind, and for the first time in her life saw the place that her daughter, and her former teammates, had called home.

Looking around, she saw how rustic everything was. The walls were wood paneling. The floors were hardwood. The shelves, the cabinets, the coffee table, all stained wood. A white and green area rug lay in the living room below a couch and large television stand. It was all so simplistic, yet beautiful. Compared to her bandit camp, Tai's home was a palace. A place fit for a king and queen, and their little princesses.

Their poor, poor princesses.

He led her into the kitchen where the source of the stench on him sat on the table. A mostly empty bottle of amber liquid sat along with a single glass. On the countertop were several more empty bottles. It looked as if Hurricane Qrow had just passed through, leaving a mess of glass bottles in his wake. However she knew that not to be true. Though her brother and Tai had been in contact with one another, these bottles belonged to Tai and Tai alone.

She couldn't blame him, either.

Her former teammate sat down, and downed the last of the liquid which had been left in his glass. Placing it back down with a little more force than necessary, he stared down at it. Despite his silence, she knew what was going through his head.

Raven had never felt more uncomfortable in her life. Here she was, a mighty huntress with the powers of the Spring Maiden. A woman who could bring entire settlements to their knees single-handedly. An individual who knew the dark truths of the world which had faded into myths and legends. And yet... she felt utterly helpless in the face of a problem so utterly human.

A lifetime of being around her twin brother had caused Raven to develop a distaste for alcohol. The air itself was saturated with the stuff. Tai reeked of it. Her nose wrinkled in disgust.

"You smell like my brother," she stated curtly.

He didn't bother looking back at her when he replied. "Wouldn't you if you lost everything?"

It was an impossible question to answer. Raven didn't form emotional attachments. At least... she tried not to. She had thought that if she didn't then she could never be harmed by losing them. Yet as she stood here before Tai, she knew that line of thinking was utterly wrong. Some bonds went beyond choosing to form them or not.

Some things were just beyond her control.

"Tai..." she trailed off. In truth she had no idea what she had intended to offer in comfort. As it turned out, she wouldn't need to.

"Everything, Raven!" the man suddenly snapped, turning to face her at last. Those gentle eyes, calm and blue like a placid lake, were filled with unfamiliar anger. "I had finally put my life back together after you abandoned me! Abandoned us!" His head shook softly. "And then..."

He trailed off, but Raven knew what those unspoken words were. Then Summer had left him too. Albeit not by her own choice like it had been for herself, but she had left him nonetheless. She had gone on a mission and never returned.

"And now my baby girls are dead," he continued, his voice soft and shaky. It felt as though it were made of glass and could shatter at any moment. "They're dead, Raven. Everything I loved is dead."

They weren't dead. But maybe that fact was the worst part of it all.

When Yang and Ruby had gone missing, Qrow had come crawling and asked to use her Semblance, her connection to Yang, to find them. It was a simple and effective solution that she had been more than willing to entertain. Raven had even considered making a game of it, perhaps taking them in herself and making some sort of unreasonable demand of her brother that she knew only his master Ozpin could fulfill. When she opened her portal to find her wayward daughter, Raven had not expected that anything could stand before the power of a fully trained huntress and Maiden.

How wrong she was. There was no amount of strength that could have prepared her for what she was stepping into. There was no power in all of Remnant which could have defeated the horrors she witnessed on the other side of that portal. Creatures of Grimm by the thousands. A nightmarish world bathed in twilight. But even all of this, even all the strength of Ozpin's immortal enemy was not the worst part of it all.

She did indeed find Yang. She found Ruby too. Or at least what remained of them. Gone was her golden-haired daughter. Gone was the young girl that was a spitting image of her former friend and teammate Summer Rose. What remained of those two little girls were what could only be described as monsters. Vile and twisted beasts shaped by Salem herself.

It broke her. For all her strength, Raven was shattered in that moment.

Rather than tell her brother the truth, Raven had told him that there was no connection to be made. Yang was dead, and with her Ruby probably was as well. It was true, from a certain point of view. The girls they knew no longer existed.

They may not have been dead, but sometimes lies were easier than the truth.

Raven didn't know what to say to such a heart-wrenching statement by her ex-husband. Pep talks and optimistic speeches had always been Summer's forte. She would merely have to do her best to wing it.

She sat down in the seat to his right. "Tai, you still have so much of your life ahead of you." He was only thirty after all. He hadn't even lived half of his life yet. "There's still so much good you can do in the world."

"Why?"

The question surprised her. He had always been so eager to help others. So gregarious and personable. Taiyang Xiao Long was a man of the people by every definition. It was probably why he had went to school to become a huntsman.

He poured the remnants of the bottle into his glass. At least he hadn't gone full drunk like Qrow and taken it straight from the bottle. "Why bother getting my hopes up anymore?" he asked bitterly. "Why move on again? The world will just rip that happiness away from me like it always does. Why bother going on..."

Alarms were going off in Raven's head now. The sheer pain in those last words of his were completely alien from the man she once knew. Though she understood his depression and sorrow in this moment, she had never once considered that it would have been enough to drive him to such a dark place.

She couldn't blame him. But at the same time, she couldn't allow it to exist. Despite her own moral philosophy, she couldn't help but harbor traces of affection for him. Despite their past she couldn't help but care about him. A world with Tai in it was better than a world without him.

Raven stood up, her hands pressed against the table as she stared down at him. "Tai. I won't let you do what you're thinking of doing."

It wasn't an idle threat either. Unbeknownst to him, Raven had become unimaginably stronger since they had last met. She had the capability to prevent Tai from doing anything she did not want him to do.

"And who are you to tell me what I can't do?" he asked bitterly. "You lost that right the moment you walked out on your daughter."

He wasn't wrong. Raven had no place in his life anymore. After what she had done, after what she had put him and their daughter through, she had no right to expect Tai to ever speak to her again. That didn't mean, however, that she would stand by and play by the rules she was expected to follow. Bandits rarely did.

"As the only rational person in the room," she stated, nodding to the empty bottle of liquor on the table. "It's not only my right, but my obligation to stop you."

Blue eyes narrowed on her. "You've got a lot of nerve coming back after all this time and trying to barge your way back into my life. Just go away. You already did once, so it shouldn't be hard to do it again. And give Qrow my best when you see him."

Raven's fingers squeezed down on the edge of the table. She had to be careful, lest she break something else in Tai's life. "I'm not leaving you right now," she stated firmly. Like an order she might have given to one of her subordinates. "I'm not going to let you do something you'll regret."

To her surprise, Tai chuckled darkly. She hadn't said anything funny, but then again humor was probably the last thing on the man's mind. "Can't regret something if you're not there to think about it anymore."

Did he think this was a joke? Did he think his life was a joke? So meaningless that it could be discussed in such a manner? "You're a real son of a bitch," she retorted just as darkly. "You know that?"

"Guess it takes a son of a bitch to recognize the bitch standing next to him."

For a moment she was about to respond in kind, but she realized that she was letting her anger get the better of her. She hadn't come here to argue with him. She had come to offer compassion and support. Even if at this moment he was trying to push her away.

"Tai..." she growled.

"I said go away," he said again. The anger was gone now, replaced once again with despair. "I don't love you anymore and you never loved me. Our daughter is dead. You have no connection to me anymore. This doesn't concern you. Just go home. Wherever that is."

Home. Looking around her, she saw a home. A home that a happy family had once shared. A home her friends from Team STRQ built together. One where her daughter and Summer's daughter had happily lived and played together.

Yes. This place was a home. Her camp in the middle of Mistral... was not.

"That's not true," she argued softly.

"It doesn't. You forfeited that right years ago."

"No." He had misunderstood her words. "It's not true that I never loved you. I wouldn't have had Yang with you if I didn't. I wouldn't have married you."

"Bullshit."

Raven could easily see why he would dispute such a claim. However, he didn't know what laid inside her heart. How could he, when she herself hadn't known what was in her heart either?

"And despite what you might think," she continued. "I still care about you. I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

"Oh yeah? And what are you here for?"

The honest truth was that she didn't know. She had come here without a real plan. Without anything to offer but a few consoling words. To let him know that she was here for him in his time of need after losing his daughters. However, the truth of the situation dwarfed what her mind was able to imagine. The true sight of grief was something she was utterly unprepared for.

Before her was a man who had lost the will to live. A man who, as he said himself, had lost everything. And he had. Summer was gone, and probably dead. Yang and Ruby were abominations of Salem. Tai had nothing left to live for.

Gone was the man who she had once called her husband. Gone was the man who had stolen her heart with as much skill as the bandits who raised her. Gone was the happy go lucky man who cried tears of joy when she had bore his first child.

In his place was an empty shell of a man. One who had lost the will to live.

Their history was broken. Their relationship was broken. Both of them were broken by their shared loss. But she would not discard those pieces. She would not allow a man she had once loved to end it all.

"Something," she wound up whispering as she closed in on him.

Throwing caution to the wind, as well as any kind of rational thinking, Raven grabbed hold of her former lover's face and crashed her lips down upon his. For the first time in years she tasted him, and it was a most unpleasant and unwelcome one. His breath stank and tasted of alcohol, but Raven persisted and rammed her tongue through the gates of his mouth to taste even more of him. He didn't stop her. It didn't end until she decided it was over, and she pulled away from the seated man.

Looking down at him, Raven saw his eyes wide in shock. Tai's mouth was still agape in surprise. "Raven..." he gasped. "What are you-"

She took hold of his hands in hers, pulling him from the seat at the kitchen table. Her arms came to wrap around his back, using his body to pull her face up closer to him. More kisses came to pepper his throat and neck.

"Shut up," she breathed as she came up for air. "Just shut up."

He did. At least for a moment. The only sound that came from him for a few seconds were the faint gasps as she greedily took his flesh in her mouth.

"I hate you so much, Raven," he whispered. "I despise you."

Raven stopped, stepping back to look up into his eyes. "I know. But just for tonight forget all that. Just tonight let me give you something to live for. Let me make you feel something besides pain."

For long seconds blue and red stared into each other. Before the former came crashing down on her like a tidal wave.

Tai's lips claimed hers, and his arms enveloped her body now. Larger and stronger than her, he was able to lift her up off her feet and seat her atop the table. One of his arms released her only so that it could sweep away the empty glassware from the table, and the sounds of them shattering on the floor filled Raven's ears. She didn't care though. Right now she was in the moment, and right now Tai was her everything. Just as she was his.

Large calloused hands, ones that had once been able to make her feel the very pinnacle of bliss, took hold of her shoulders and pinned her down onto the hard wooden surface. Lips migrated from her own down to her neck, and she couldn't prevent a gasp of pleasure slipping through her lips as Tai rained all too familiar kisses on her flesh. His hips rested mere inches away from what only a short skirt covered, which would soon give them both what they desired. She had missed this feeling. She had missed him. Even if it had taken her years to remember how he had once made her feel.

As Tai began to disrobe, she knew what this was going to be. It was nothing more than hate sex. It was grief sex. Both at the same time. When it was over he would still hate her. She didn't know what tomorrow would bring, but she would worry about that tomorrow. At the very least, it would feel good for him. He would live another night, and afterward they would go forward from there. Taking it one day at a time. Together. Like it always should have been.

If she hadn't been such a coward.

Author's Note: A wild Taiyang and Raven have appeared! What does their sudden appearance in a flashback mean? Is this specter of the past a vision of the future? Will anyone get that reference? Find out soon!

This was news to me, but apparently Raven's description in Amity Arena pretty much cleared up a piece of lore about her relationship with Tai. She was referred to as "a wife", among other things. So, confirmation that she married Tai? Blows me mind, since I never would have thought a character like her would have even considered settling down. But it definitely makes her super interesting.

Big chapter. Biggest one yet. And also the beginning of the end of our time in Grimm Academy. Our favorite monsters will be heading over to Vale, but who will be making the trip? With Jaune, Team RWBY and our favorite mistake of an OC Wesson, a couple are getting left behind! Or are they?

Anyway, as always my thanks go out to Burkion and Lightningstrxu for all their contributions. And of course my thanks go out to all of you for reading. This was supposed to be out yesterday, but I just didn't get finished with it until late in the day, so decided to postpone its release until today.

I hope you all enjoyed it.