Pyra stepped into their room at Beacon, seeing Ruby lying on the bed and crawling over to Ruby's blindside, snuggling up against her and kissing her cheek as an arm wrapped around her. Ruby mumbled out, "Love you."
"I love you too," Pyra said, "We need to talk about your relationship with Glimmer."
Ruby sighed, not opening her eyes, "I didn't expect that from you."
"I gave you three weeks to brood, it's clearly not going anywhere, so I'm going to have to take the Mythra route," Pyra said, looking around the sparsely decorated room. She knew they would decorate it as time went on, but it didn't feel like home tge way their room in the Xiao-Long cabin or their house on Alrest had felt, "Why are you avoiding her?"
"I'm not-!" Ruby started to protest, only to stop as Pyra softly laid a finger across her lips.
"Yes, you have, and we all can see it, so, why?"
"...What if I'm not a good enough mother for her?" Ruby asked quietly, insecurely, "I… I hadn't had a Mom since I was five, Pyra. How am I supposed to be a Mom now?"
"By trying, for one," Pyra said, "I know you and Glimmer got off on the wrong foot, I know you're scared to be a mother. But you have to at least try before you can say you failed. You gave up everything for Glimmer in Aionis, why wouldn't she want you to be part of her life? So please try, if not for her, than for me?"
Ruby was quiet of a long moment before sighing, "Yang and Glimmer are supposed to show up later today, right? Why don't we show them a thing or three about cooking?"
—
Yang sat in the airbus taking the students, next to her niece. That was a thought, that while still strange, she was becoming more comfortable with. She had a niece, and it honestly felt like they had more in common with each other than Glimmer had with her parents. They were both rebels, around the same age, that chafed under their parents' eyes
Yang had taken Ruby's disappearance… badly, to say the least, she had got into more fights as time went on, to the point it was, her Dad and Qrow had made clear, pure nepotism that kept her in Signal. She just… She had, for as long as she remembered, defined herself around being a sister, and now she had no one to be a sister to. And when Ruby had reappeared, she was too old to easily slide back into the dynamic they had beforehand, and more focused on reuniting with her wives than with the Xiao Longs, when she wasn't sparring with Mom or Qrow. Mythra was the same, more focused on reuniting with Ruby and Nia. Nia was nice enough, but with a sarcastic edge to everything she said. Meanwhile Pyra…
Maybe it was because Glimmer was her daughter, maybe because that's the way she just was. But Pyra had been the most helpful around the house, cooking, making dishes, bonding with Dad. She was someone Yang had no shame in calling Sister-in-law. And Glimmer wasn't someone she had any shame in calling her niece.
"Hey Glim?" Yang said, nodding at a pair on the airbus. One was a cute black haired girl with a bow in her hair, a cleaver magnetically attached to her back and reading a book, the other a tall man wearing a samurai's helm, drinking from a jug that hung at his side. On his chest sat an X shaped Core Crystal, "Looks like we met the first neighbors, think we should introduce ourselves?"
"I guess," Glimmer said, following Yang over.
"Hey there!" Yang said and both of them looked at Glimmer and her. The Samurai Blade stopped his drink and spoke, "your eyes hold much sadness, the two of you. I won't ask why, but I will wonder why."
"Sorry, Perceval's like that," the girl said, "I'm Blake Belladonna."
"Yang Xiao Long," Yang introduced herself, and this is Glimmer Rhodes."
"Hi," Glimmer said.
"You gave your Blade a last name," Blake said, sounding confused.
"She's not my Driver," Glimmer corrected, sounding irritated at the mistake, "She's my aunt. I'm the result of a Human-Blade union. Ruby and Pyra did something to have me."
"Ruby, as in Ruby Rose, the Master Driver?" Perceval rumbled out.
"Yeah, that one."
"Then it is a pleasure to meet the daughter of the Aegis," Perceval said, taking a knee for a moment.
Suddenly, a news report came on, Lisa Lavender reporting about how the weekends Faunus Rights Rally had turned violent, the White Fang showing up, clashing with Huntsmen and demanding the release of the members Ruby had taken in. Yang saw Perceval plant a hand on Blake's shoulder out of the corner of her eye as the black haired girl twitched.
—
Weiss walked past the boy throwing up into a trashcan and the Blade patting him on the back. How had he even become a Driver? She had assumed, given the way Winter and Mòrag were, that there was a certain decorum required to be a Driver. This boy, and the blonde haired girl she was following, certainly destroyed that image.
She was chatting away, apparently uncaring that her companions didn't seem for advice on hand to hand combat and beauty tips in equal measure. The Black haired one was reading from a book, while the masked one drank from a bottle, the smell of tea hitting her nose as he uncorked the bottle.
They stopped suddenly and the blonde asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I can feel the love," Weiss leaned to the side, staring at the blonde girl leaning on the Beacon statue. She looked to be a year or so older than them, with golden eyes and a white dress that exposed quite a lot of skin, "Listen, I'm only here because Ruby and Pyra are busy and can't be here themselves, while Nia is scouring the CCT for signs of Dromarch. Pyra and Ruby are making dinner tonight for you two and any friends you made, so I guess… Three others?"
"Three?" the blond turned to look at Weiss, "who are you?"
"Weiss Schnee," the black haired girl said.
"Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, whi use exploitative practices on Faunus and regular civilians?" The Blade rumbled, eyes narrowing at her through the mask.
"That's the one, Perceval."
"I see," Perceval's hands went to his side, like he wanted to draw a blade.
"Listen, if you've got problems to work out, then don't do it in the middle of the courtyard," the golden eyed girl said, "anyways, I'm leaving, I have other things to do before dinner. See you there, Yang, Glimmer."
She turned, walking through the crowd which seemed to part for her.
"So that is the Aegis," Perceval rumbled out, causing Weiss and the black haired girl to both freeze.
"That… That was the Aegis?" Weiss asked, shock in her voice.
"How can you tell?" The black haired girl said.
"The sight of their core crystal is seared into the mind of every Blade."
"Yep, that's Mythra," Yang said with a sigh, "if you thought that she was annoying from that small interaction, imagine living with her."
"Why would you live with her?" Weiss asked in confusion.
"She's my Sister-in-law," Yang grunted out, "and my sister is her Driver."
"Your sister is the Master Driver?" Weiss asked. According to Winter, General Ironwood had sent her a letter of invitation to be one of the leaders of DriveOps… Only to have it returned with a burn hole through it. Mòrag had given a rare laugh and said that sounded like her.
—
Blake walked with Perceval behind Yang and Glimmer, wondering how she had been roped into being considered a "friend" this quickly. And especially how she had become "friends" with Weiss Schnee, who had changed into a formal dress for the occasion.
They stopped in front of a door in the teachers quarter, and before Yang could even knock, the door swung open to show a red headed young woman wearing short shorts and a shirt that showed off her sides. She smiled widely, and pulled Glimmer into a hug, "Hi, Mom."
Mom?
After a minute she let Glimmer in and gave Yang an equally right hug, before focusing on the three of them and smiling, "Hello, I'm Pyra Rose. I'm glad you're getting off on the right foot with my daughter, come in, I need to help with the cooking.
"Blake Belladonna," Blake said.
"Perceval," The Blade introduced himself.
"Weiss Schnee," Weiss said, curtsying. Suck up.
"A pleasure to meet you, now please, come in!"
They stepped into the room to see a fifty year old, one eyed woman working the kitchen. Shoulder blade length red and black hair was caught in a net as she cooked. Pyra walked into the kitchen, putting on her own hair net before joining the woman.
"Who's that?" Blake asked, even as her eyes landed on Mythra and a fox Faunus snuggling up against each other on the bed.
"That's… My mom," Glimmer hesitated before the word "Mom" like she wasn't sure she wanted to use it.
"I thought you said Glimmer's mother was your sister!" Weiss said towards Yang.
"She is!" Yang said, "Listen things went wonky in a way I still don't understand, but that's my sister, Ruby Rose. That's," the pointed to the redhead, "her wife and Blade Pyra. That's," she pointed to Mythra, "her wife and Blade Mythra and that's," she pointed to the fox Faunus, "her wife and Blade Nia."