"Am I dreaming?"

"PINCH YOURSELF AND SEE."

Raven wasn't sure if this large apparition was messing with her, but she did pinch herself and felt pain realizing this wasn't a dream.

"Okay cool. I'm not dreaming and you're real."

"YES. I THOUGHT WE ALREADY ESTABLISHED THAT."

"No, you established that. I'm just trying to make sure I haven't gone insane but seeing as how I can still feel pain here I'm not dreaming."

Full Armor Master looked at her in confusion before he came to a solution.

"I SEE. IN THAT CASE, WHY DON'T I CHANGE THE SCENERY THEN."

Before Raven could respond, Full Armor Master slammed his sword into the ground and the entire area around them changed as the once rainbow scenery became black with swirls of feathers around and multiple blackwing monsters either flying around or sitting on one of the branches and watching the two of them. Full Armor Master took a seat as he set his sword and gun off to the side he reached down and slid Raven a bottle.

"THIRSTY?"

Raven eyed the bottle warily as she popped the cork on it before smelling its contents.

"Sake? No wait it smells like you brewed Sake with hits of tea and *sniff. sniff.* fruit juice?"

Full Armor Master chuckled.

"I DIDN'T MAKE IT. OBSIDIAN HAWK JOE FIGURED WE SHOULD BE SOMEWHAT HOSPITABLE TO A GUEST. GO ON AND TRY IT."

Raven was very skeptical but she figured if these Blackwings were gonna do something to her they'd have already done so after all they didn't seem like the type to beat around the bush. She took a sip and her red eyes went wide as the concoction was surprisingly good as her next sip turned to a swig.

"GLAD YOU'RE ENJOYING IT."

Raven's cheeks turned a shade of pink as she wiped her mouth.

"It's nothing. Didn't wanna be rude. So you chose me to be your duelist right? That's what Summer told me anyway."

"THAT'S CORRECT. WHEN I MET YOU VIA SUMMER I COULD TELL YOU'D BE THE ONE."

"Well then I'm sorry to say but you chose poorly. I'm not a good person like Summer is."

"YOU'RE LYING. I BELIEVE YOU HIDE EVERYTHING BEHIND A MASK CAUSE YOU'RE AFRAID."

Raven got up and glared at the massive Blackwing warrior.

"Don't talk to me as if you know me."

"I'M NOT. BUT THE FACT THAT YOU WERE SO QUICK TO DEFEND MEANS THAT I HIT A CHORD."

Raven slightly backed off and let out a *tsk* at giving herself away like that.

"THAT BEING SAID WHATEVER YOU HAVE GOING ON IN YOUR HEART YOU NEED TO OVERCOME IF YOU'RE GOING TO DUEL WITH US BY YOUR SIDE. AFTER ALL A DUELIST CAN'T HAVE ANY DOUBT OR LINGERING THOUGHTS. THAT'S WHY I'M DOING THIS…"

Before Raven could say anything or react, Full Armor Master grabbed his sword and slammed it down and everything went white for Raven again.

Beacon Academy: Mid-day

Yang-Xaio Long had returned from a rough day of classes and Yang had told her teammates she was gonna lie down plus she had been worried sick about Ruby since she hadn't seen or heard from her sister since she said she'd go see Ozpin yesterday which only added more stress on her mental plate. She climbed her bunk before immediately collapsing onto the pillows and dozing off hoping to dream of something less stressful than what she had going on.

Yang's mindscape

When Yang had opened her eyes again she was greeted by a weird place with nothing in it but a distorted rainbow background.

"Okay… this is weird even for me. Where am I?"

Yang kept looking around until she saw a figure in the distance making her squint to see who it was but she couldn't tell from this distance so she shouted to them.

"Hey! Over here!"

She shouted and waved her arms and the figure caught sight of this and to Yang's surprise slowly backed away at first so Yang decided to quickly sprint after them before they considered running away. It took a while but when Yang finally caught up to the figure her breath hitched in her throat as she couldn't believe it.

"M-Mom?"

Raven froze as she turned around and standing before her was her daughter who looked exactly as she did the day she was born although… Raven then eyed Yang up and down as a proud smirk graced her features. The bandit woman was happy that her daughter had inherited some of her physical features like her chest.

"W-Why are you here?! What's going on?"

Yang asked, confused and surprised by her birth mother's appearance here in her dream while Raven crossed her arms and scoffed.

"Don't tell me this is what that Black Winged bastard meant."

Raven then turned her attention to the rainbow void.

"This a joke Armor Master? Hey! I know you can hear me!"

Yang looked at Raven in clear confusion.

"You okay? You do know there's no one here right?"

Raven sighed as she looked around the mindscape again but saw Full Armor Master in sight then she looked at Yang; her daughter and with that she sighed again before speaking.

"I guess now is as good a time as any."

"Time for what? What're you talking about?"

"Take a seat, Yang."

With that, the same table from before appeared with two cups and Raven set down the sake bottle with the kanji for Blackwings on the front before popping the bottle's cork.

"Why would I take a seat with you when I have no idea where I am or what's going on?"

"Your questions are valid Yang but I'm telling you to take a seat."

"Again you haven't given me a reason why?"

"You were looking for me so you'd know why I left right?"

Yang's lilac eyes went wide as she started putting the pieces together on her own and with that, she took a seat at the table as Raven poured them both some Blackwing sake.

"So…. what'd you wanna talk about?"

While Raven was still in the Summer had been waiting outside the tent, arms crossed behind her head and looking up at the sky.

'It's still crazy that Full Armor Master chose Raven but I'm not doubting that Full Armor Master made the wrong choice. It's just a matter of if Raven will want to team up with me.'

Summer let out a sigh as she enjoyed the quiet but something had also been bugging her.

'Ruby? Ruby you there?'

It was quiet in her head for a few minutes till she heard her daughter's voice.

'H-Huh? What? Oh. Sorry mom.'

'Everything okay Ruby?'

'Yeah, mom. It's all okay.'

'You're lying. Something has been bothering you since the talk with Raven. What is it? Whatever it is, I'll listen you know that.'

Ruby was quiet for a few seconds before she answered her mother.

'Well, I've been thinking about everything that we've found out about Salem and Professor Ozpin…'

'And?'

'And it's just that what if your last mission involved Professor Ozpin and Salem? And…and…'

Summer narrowed her eyes and cupped her chin.

'And you think that my involvement with Ozpin on the mission or job I took from him led to my death.'

'Y-yeah. If Professor Ozpin knew that Salem was immortal then why would he send you anyway? It doesn't make sense.'

Summer could tell by the tone of Ruby's voice she was getting frustrated so she was going to defuse it.

'I know how you feel Ruby but we don't know the full story and as much as I hate to say it until we hear it from Ozs mouth ourselves all we can do is guess and speculate my fate besides like it or not we need all the allies we can get to take on Overlord and his grimm.'

Ruby's spirit form appeared next to her mother, her face downtrodden which also made Summer sad as well so she needed something to turn the mood around.

'Hey cheer up. How about this… after Raven makes her deck and I help her practice I make you some cookies.'

At the mention of cookies Ruby's face perked up and her silver eyes became bright.

'Y-You mean it?'

'Of course Ruby. I'll make you some cookies to help take your mind off everything.'

'Thanks, Mom. Thanks a lot.'

'Of course baby girl.'

With that Mother and Daughter watched the Sun move across the sky in the Branwen camp.

MINDSCAPE

It had been quiet between Raven and Yang for a while as the blonde was trying to rack her brain of what to say as she finally had the opportunity but she was bluescreening right now.

"Nothing to say huh?"

Yang's eyes immediately darted back to Raven who was drinking from her sake cup before her red eyes started directly into Yangs' lilac eyes before Yang took a breath.

"I wanna know why you left me and my dad after you gave birth to me."

Raven sighed and then smiled as she extended the sake bottle to Yang.

"You're not gonna tell Tai I'm letting you drink right?"

"As far as Dad's concerned his little girl is still straight for the most part."

Raven smiled at this and poured Yang some of the Blackwing Sake which Yang gladly accepted into her small red cup.

"So you wanna know why I left right?"

"Yeah, I do."

Raven took another sip of her sake before she started.

"*sigh* Okay let me start from the beginning or as far back as I can go. You know that your Uncle and I were on the same team at Beacon as Tai and Summer; Team STRQ."

"Yeah, I saw an old photo of you guys up in Dad's attic."

Raven smirked briefly before she kept talking.

"However I assume neither your dad nor Uncle has told you the real reason why we went to Beacon right?"

"N-No. What was it?"

"Well, your Uncle Qrow and I were raised in a tribe long story short we were bandits."

At this Yang's eyes went wide at the revelation as Raven kept talking.

"We were both damn good at being bandits but we ran into a constant problem that seemed to be growing; huntsmen. No matter what we did or how hard we tried back then nearly all of our raids were foiled due to Huntsmen interference so the elders came up with a solution. If Huntsmen were a problem then they'd get huntsmen of their own."

It was then that Yang's brain began to quickly put the puzzle pieces together as she stared at her mom in shock.

"Wait but then that means you went to Beacon not to become huntsmen but…"

Raven finished her daughter's sentence.

"...to know how to kill Huntemen. Yeah pretty much. We passed the initiation with ease then we were placed on a team with Summer Rose and TaiYang-Xiao-Long aka Team STRQ."

"So what changed from when you started to graduation?

Raven sighed as this time she reached for the sake bottle and took a big swig from it before setting it down Yang noticed a sad distant look in her birth mother's eyes.

"At first I only saw STRQ as a means to an end. That once me and Qrow were done we'd head back to the tribe like nothing ever happened and keep doing the same old same old but then things changed…"

Raven once again looked down at the red sake cup and the liquid inside as the ripples briefly obscured her reflection before she looked up and away from the cup.

"... As time went on I began to grow accustomed to the STRQ and I enjoyed it hell that's why over time I caved in and accepted his invite to the dance and why during the tail end of our third year I had gotten pregnant with you."

"What? You and Dad did it during your third year at Beacon?! I was the product of two teammates who couldn't keep it in their pants?!"

Yang exclaimed incredulously while Raven looked away.

"The matter of how you were born isn't important right now."

"I disagree!"

The situation between mother and daughter was slowly becoming comical but Raven was quick to get it back on track.

"After Tai had gotten me pregnant and once we graduated he asked me to marry him and I said yes and life after that was quiet and simple… and I hated it."

At this, Yang felt her anger spike as she shot up from her sitting position with her eyes shifting from lilac to red making Raven smirk.

'So that's what she also got from me. How about that.'

"How could you hate that?! Isn't that what everyone should want?!"

Raven felt her anger start to rise at her daughters' narrow-mindedness but she did her best to keep her calm exterior up.

"For some people yes but not for me every second of every minute I felt old habits and instincts clawing at the back of my head. I couldn't do it so when you were born I left you with your father."

Yang's hair shadowed her eyes as her entire body was shaking out of anger and when she looked back at Raven her eyes were completely red.

"That's stupid! That's why you left?! All because you couldn't control some fucking impulses! That's just an excuse you coward!"

At this Raven shot up and got directly into Yangs' face.

"Don't talk to me like you know what I was going through! Don't lecture me on what cowardice is until you've been in my shoes and walked in my steps!"

"Oh shut up! Get off your high horse! If I did walk in your shoes I wouldn't have abandoned my family! I don't think these instincts were that dire you just needed an excuse."

It was then that Raven snapped.

"I LEFT CAUSE YOU DIDN'T DESERVE TO HAVE A MURDER FOR A MOTHER!"

Yang went stiff as Raven sunk to her knees and for the first time since Yang was born and she saw Summer die Raven Branwen openly cried.

"I'm a monster, Yang. I have more blood on my hands than you could know and yet I gave birth to you because I believed I could have a chance at happiness. The truth is when I was pregnant with you for those nine months and the day you were born… those were and always will be the happiest moments of my life."

Yang stood there in complete shock not expecting everything her birth mother had told her as she felt a myriad of emotions swirling through her at once anger, sadness, some joy, and everything else at once but she took a breath before she stared down at raven whose eyes were still leaking some tears.

"Did he know?"

Raven looked up her eyes wet and beginning to get puffy.

"What?"

"I'm asking you did Dad know what you were going through?"

"No. I never told him and he never asked me since I put up a front that everything was okay since at the time I didn't wanna worry him."

Yang once again felt anger bubbling up inside her as her eyes were still red but then to Raven's surprise her yellow mane caught on fire as she raised a fist and shattered the table into many little wood pieces. It wasn't fair damnit! Why? She finally found out the reason why her birth mom left but her reason didn't give her the reason to stay mad all she felt for Raven was understanding not to mention she now felt anger and both her parents; her mom for not coming forward with her insecurities and her dad for not even trying to probe further and fix the situation. Raven finally dried her eyes and looked up at her daughter who to her surprise wrapped her in a hug.

"What're you doing?"

"Hugging you."

"Why? I haven't done anything to deserve this."

"Wrong. You gave me the answer as to why you left. An honest answer that came from the heart and that's all I needed."
Yang released her hug.

"So now what Yang?"

"Well, now I have a request to ask."

"No, you can't have any more sake. If you're anything like myself or your father when you get drunk I'm not invoking that."

"No nothing like that. I just want to know if we can start over."

Raven looked away from Yangs' gaze.

"You don't want that. You've got a good thing going and you don't need me there to ruin what you have."

Yang then pulled a page out of Rubys' playbook.

"Nope."

"Nope?"

"Nope."

Like it or not old women, you're stuck with me now. Plus I think everyone deserves a second chance especially if they spilled the pot of beans like you did."

"God you sound like your father but… I suppose next time I decide to drop in Vale we can figure something out."

Yang got up and smiled.

"Thanks…birth mom."

Ravens' red eyes went wide as she got up herself.

"You keep this to yourself, Yang. I find out that this gets out your ass is mine."

"Sure thing Bandit Queen but next time you'd better bring that good sake."

"I'll see."

Yang then disappeared to Raven and Yangs' surprise as the last thing she saw in the mindscape was Raven walking away as she saw darkness in her vision.

"...ang…Yan…Yang!"

Yang's eyes opened to see a concerned Weiss and Blake looking over her.

"Hey, you two. What's with the gloom faces?"

"We're worried about you you blonde dunce. You've been all out of sorts since Ruby left yesterday and you wouldn't wake up even with Blake and I shaking you."

"She's right Yang. We're just concerned about you as your teammates and friends."

Yang smiled and wrapped her two friends in a big hug smothering them in her massive bust.

"Aww thanks for being worried about me girls but I'm better now."

Yang released her hug and hopped down from her top bunk.

Blake and Weiss looked at each other then back at Yang confusion on their faces.

"Okay, what happened to you? First, you're running yourself ragged with stress over Ruby now you're suddenly all peachy? What's going on?"

Weiss questioned Yang.

Yang then recalled her very vivid dream about her mom which felt so real to her.

"Nothing Weiss just had a good nap that's all."

With that, Yang left their dorm leaving her teammates confused.

-line break-

After dealing with her daughter Raven let out a sigh as she took a seat letting out all those emotions was exhausting however she noticed a single black feather behind her making her turn around and saw Full Armor Master behind her.

"Satisfied seeing me like that?"

"NO, BUT I NEVER KNEW YOU HAD THAT MUCH BOTTLED UP INSIDE YOU. DO YOU FEEL BETTER?"

Raven sighed.

"I guess I do feel somewhat better."

Full Armor Master smiled.

"WELL, THEN I'M SATISFIED. RAVEN BRANWEN MYSELF AND MY FELLOW BLACKWINGS LOOK FORWARD TO DUELING WITH YOU."

Full Armor Master then pointed his sword at Raven the long blade inches from her chest.

"WHILE THE CONVERSE WITH YOUR DAUGHTER CLEARED MOST OF THE DOUBT IN YOUR HEART THERE IS STILL SOME LEFT BUT I WILL LEAVE THE PART OF FIGURING THAT OUT FOR YOURSELF. TILL WE TALK AGAIN RAVEN."

Before Raven could respond Full Armor Master slammed his sword down on the ground Raven was once again blinded as she covered her eyes.

Raven awoke in her tent with a startle as she immediately sat up and looked around at her surroundings but then she saw some objects on the table. Going from left to right was a black deck box with the Blackwing decal on it then on the right was her weapon Omen however upon inspection she noticed it had been modified into the disk contraption that Summer had. Raven then opened the deck box and saw there were cards inside so she pulled them out for inspection however she was most curious about the cards with the silver borders as she picked out Full Armor Master but she read the other names among the many silver-bordered cards that stuck out to her.

'Blackwing Armor-Master, Black-Winged Dragon, Black-Winged Assault Dragon, and Blackwing Assault Onimaru the Divine Thunder. Interesting.'

Raven then picked up the reconfigured Omen both the sword and sheath and after some tinkering, she figured out how to convert them back. She then grabbed her things and walked out of the tent seeing Summer who had dozed off in front waiting for her so she gave her friend a stern kick to her shoulder.

"Summer wake up."

Summer woke with a little drool from her mouth turned her head saw Raven and noticed the deck box and Omen making the silver-eyed women smile.

"So you made your deck. Awesome. I'm glad you took care of it."

Raven sighed before to Summers' surprise the bandit women smiled for all of five seconds.

"Hey, where's everyone else."

"Oh yeah. Vernal said she was going on a raid with some of the others."

"For once, that's perfect although I'm gonna scold that girl later."

"Why's it perfect?"

"Cause Summer…why don't you help me practice."

Raven then showed Summer her deck box making her smile the biggest Raven had ever seen.

"You mean it?! Like really mean it?!"

"Yes, Summer now stop asking before I change my mind."

"Awesome!"

Summer ran over to an open spot in the camp she grabbed Sundered Rose pressed the button and pulled the trigger before tossing her axe in the air the weapon shifted and changed to its duel disk mode as Raven did the same thing as both women now had their duel disks on their arm while Raven was still very much new to it constantly trying to adjust her duel disk making Summer snicker.

"Need help, Rae?"

"No. now shut up before I punch you."

"Okay."

After some adjusting Raven finally got her disk right she then took the cards out of her deck and placed them in what she assumed was the card slot the disk shuffled the deck on its own to her surprise as the duel disks activated.

Summer LP:4000

Raven LP: 4000

"Ready Raven?"

"Ready as I'll ever be playing a magic card game."

"Duel."

I'm back with a new chapter and this is honestly my take on why Raven left and also trying to do justice to my favorite RWBY character of all fricking time! The next two chapters will be a duel between old teammates; Stardust Synchro vs Blackwings. Who's gonna win? As always enjoy and believe in the heart of the cards.