Yo!

Back again for another chapter. Some cliffhangers from a few weeks back are finally getting resolved in this one!

Start Chapter 13

Yang's not hyperventilating.

She thinks that maybe, if she tells herself that enough times, it might actually be true.

The two of them, Yang and Raven, are stood about ten meters out from the Xiao Long Cabin. Right in there, in that home, Yang had spent the first 17 years of her life.

Now, she feels like a stranger walking up to it.

"I feel like I should say once again that I don't think this is a very good idea."

"Noted." Raven sighs, clearly just as worried as Yang is, but having had an extra decade to learn how to best disguise her emotions whilst surrounded by killers and thieves. "And ignored."

Yang hisses out under her breath, but stays silent as the two of them close the distance, and suddenly, they're standing right on the doorstep of the Xiao Long cabin.

Again, Yang feels it needs reiterating that she's not hyperventilating.

No matter what her treacherous lungs might try and claim.

Raven is stood there an awfully long time, her lower lip trembling, and her hands balled into fists at her sides. She looks like she's a second away from turning around and running as fast as she possibly can in the other direction.

But there's a certain… 'pride' in her expression that doesn't seem to want to allow her to, that refuses to back down, that refuses to run away.

Then again, there's a decent chance that's spite as much as anything else.

And eventually, that spite seems to win out, because Raven steps forward and knocks on the door.

Yang winces, but she also can't deny that at the same time, she does want to see her father for the first time in nearly a year and a half. Ever since she'd left for Haven, they'd only communicated over text once they'd made it to Atlas, and through Ruby's singular letter.

But there's another thought on Yang's mind, someone else she thinks she might have the smallest chance of meeting…

If the timing is right–

"Just a minute!" A womanly voice shouts from within, and Yang's heart just about stops.

It's… It's just like she remembers it sounding. She hasn't heard that voice since she'd been a child, no more than seven or eight years old. And yet now, she stands at the precipice of seeing the person behind it, of getting to see their smile again.

Yang's just not sure she can do it without giving away the future.

Because if she suddenly starts bawling, she has a feeling Raven might figure out what's wrong.

And so, despite her wishes, despite the fact that every atom within Yang's body wishes to reach out and say something, she girds herself, bites down on the inside of her cheek, and vows to remain silent.

She's no one. No one important at all.

And then the door opens, And the person standing within it is so very familiar, like she'd walked out of Yang's life a decade ago and shown up without any pomp or circumstance today.

Summer Rose, her mom, is right there in front of her.

And her eyes are wide.

"…Raven?"

Raven, in all honesty, isn't handling things much better than Yang. The moment that Raven hears her name leave Summer's lips, she can't seem to keep her gaze steady, and instead stares at the wooden deck beneath her.

Summer looks between the two of them, and Yang can tell there's something there that she'd never been privy to. Something that had, a decade ago for Yang, died along with summer.

But Yang can't exactly ask any questions about that, given she's supposed to be no one at all.

"Hey." Raven says weakly, still not looking up. "Uh, it's been a while."

Summer looks almost flabbergasted. "You… you go off on your own for seven years, and that's all you can say?"

Raven can't seem to say anything. Too stunned, too ashamed. She stands rooted to the floor, And Yang can tell Raven's doing the same thing she is; biting the inside of her cheek to remain silent.

"You abandon your family, your friends, your team, your home, your life, your husband and daughter, and…" Summer shakes her head, and idly, Yang ponders the fact that she doesn't think she's ever seen her mother like this. With this much… raw emotion hanging off of her.

She'd always seemed so controlled to Yang. So steady, so unflappable; almost unshakable. But here in this moment, she looks like she's a kettle placed upon a stove, growing hotter and hotter, steam trying harder and harder to escape.

Like at any second, she might just explode.

And then, before that can happen, she bites her lip, tells the both of them, "Go into the forest, The spot with the three trees; you know what I'm talking about?"

Raven nods her head.

"Then go there, I…" Summer's entire body is trembling. "I don't want the kids to know you're here. Yang especially doesn't need this if you're just going to run off again in an hour or so."

"That's just the thing," Raven tries to interject, "I'm not, I'm–"

Summer places a single finger on her lips with an angered fervor, and Raven goes silent.

"I just said I don't want Yang to know you're here, did I not!?"

There's a hurt in Raven's eyes then, one which Yang's fairly certain Summer picks up on. She doesn't say anything about it, though. Just waves them off.

"I'll go get Tai. He… he should be here for this too. I'd call Qrow if I didn't think you two would try and kill each other the second you saw one another. Besides, he's seen you fairly often. It's been half a decade for the both of us."

And with that, Summer steps back inside the house, and closes the door behind her.

Raven looks shellshocked.

Yang's not entirely certain what to do, but then again Summer had told them to go and wait somewhere.

By the description of 'the spot with the three trees', Yang's pretty sure she knows where they're going.

Still, she doesn't want to leave Raven standing here blankly like this.

"H-Hey…" She doesn't know how she's supposed to handle this. She's good at consoling kids, but not emotionally reclusive adults. "Uh… are you ok–"

"I'm fine." She spits out, and judging by the look in her eye, Yang doesn't think her mother has ever tried to tell her a less convincing lie. "Let's go. Follow me."

"I know where we're going."

Raven holds for a moment, before continuing to walk.

"Right… I suppose you would."

The area they end up in is a small little clearing about 30 meters out from their house. Close enough that kids could play there and still be heard if they were in trouble, but also far enough out that they could be loud and rambunctious that they wanted to be. It had been a favorite spot of Yang's to come and train, and eventually, when she'd come of age, it had become such for Ruby as well.

It's certainly different from what Yang remembers it looking like, but then, she both hasn't seen it in around two years, and is seeing a version of it from going on twelve years in the past.

Even still, the titular three trees that they'd named the spot after stand tall, almost towering above the rest. Yang had asked her father about that one time, why these three are so much taller, and according to him, these are a species out of northern Vacuo, where the trees can grow double, and sometimes even triple the size of those native to Patch.

She's lost in thoughts of the past, and so almost misses Raven letting out a shaky breath as they come to a stop.

"You okay?" Yang asks.

"Do I look okay?"

"No, that's why I asked."

Raven bites down on her lower lip. "I'm fine. Or at the very least, I'll deal with it. Focus on yourself."

Honestly, it's not that bad of advice. Yang had only really been able to hold together because the Summer they'd seen had acted as she had. If she'd greeted Yang with open arms, or tried to offer her a hug or something – which, in all fairness, hadn't been a likely thing – she'd have been a total mess of snot and tears.

Eventually, some five or some minutes later, two figures enter into the clearing with them.

Her mother and father, Summer Rose and Taiyang Xiao Long.

"It really is you…" Her dad sounds almost stunned. "Raven… you actually… you're here."

Raven nods. "…Yeah."

"And uh…" Taiyang looks to Yang. "Who's this, exactly?"

Raven looks to her, and raises an eyebrow. Evidently, she's deciding to leave this up to Yang's discretion.

Which is something she'd rather her mother not have done, but it's a little late now to be thinking that.

"No one important." She speaks. "Just… an ally of Raven's, so to speak."

Her dad looks pensive about that, And Yang can't truly blame him. after all, admitting that she's the ally of someone often referred to as the Queen of Bandits might raise some concern.

"I'm not a member of her tribe, if that's what you're wondering." Yang decides to just clear up that potential misunderstanding right then and there. "I'm a huntress, licensed out of Atlas."

That, at least, seems to calm both Summer and Taiyang down. Yang even holds up her license just to prove it to them.

Her dad, always easygoing, hums out under his breath. "How did the two of you meet?"

"Long story." Raven cuts in. "For now–"

"Do you not have time to tell it?"

Yang winces at the tone in Summer's voice. She looks over to see her mom eyeing her mother – and boy, that's already growing a bit confusing – with something akin to distrust in her gaze.

"It's not exactly an important story." Raven tries to argue. "I… alright, fine, if you must know, she stopped the tribe from raiding a village west of Mistral. The two of us dueled to a standstill after I arrived on the scene. I was impressed."

Summer doesn't seem surprised. "Somehow, I thought as much. It seems the only thing you actually respect these days is combat ability."

Raven bristles rather visibly at that, but as Yang had thought, she can't actually dispute it.

It has been true for the longest time; the Branwen tribe only respects strength.

To hear that Raven had picked Yang up under such conditions is…

Well, it's likely serving as confirmation for Summer. Confirmation that Raven hasn't truly changed.

Yang's honestly not sure if she has either. It seems more to her that Raven has come here in order to spite the Raven of Yang's time, who'd sat back and done nothing while the world burned around her.

"Let's all calm down," Taiyang, rather clearly not used to being the mediating element, attempts to do just that. "Raven did come here. That's something to be celebrated."

"It would be if I had any faith she was staying for long." Summer shakes her head. "I don't want Yang to have to get her hopes up, only for Raven to run out on her again. That's not fair to our daughter."

Raven's hands are fidgeting at her sides. "You don't even know why I'm here."

"Do I need to?" Summer asks, her gaze hard. "Really? After you refused to see any of us for seven years, after you turned Qrow away any time he came to speak with you, after you abandoned the both of us–"

"I'm here now!"

"And what does that matter when you weren't there then!?"

Yang takes a step back, the energy in the clearing enough to cause Taiyang to do the same. This… there's something there, just as Yang had suspected earlier. Something going on between Summer and Raven that Yang had never been privy to.

She has some… suspicions, although she'd really rather not think about such things.

She thinks that maybe she should walk away. This… it does concern her, Yang Xiao Long, but it also… doesn't.

And yet, before she can, Summer is already speaking again.

"You want me to believe you, Raven? You want me to believe that there's a chance in hell that you've, what, changed? Apologize. Apologize to Tai, and to me, and to Yang most of all. Apologize for the actions you took as the leader of the Branwen tribe, slaughtering hundreds of innocent people for some nebulous idea of power! Apologize for abandoning everyone who's ever loved you just because you were too scared to be vulnerable, too scared to try!"

There's naught but silence in the clearing after that. Yang's biting down on the inside of her cheek, still feeling like she should be anywhere else. Raven, to her credit, hasn't run away in abject shame, and is instead stood in the same spot.

Her face is pale, however. Her lower lip quivers. It's clear she's… not doing terribly well.

But then… then her lips part, and she steps forward. Her body seems to want to do so much more, but it's caught between two extremes, and causing her to freeze up.

It is, in a way, a sort of running.

But Yang finds herself almost proud of the fact that Raven doesn't.

That pride has a part of her wanting to scoff. Of all people, Yang's fairly certain she shouldn't feel proud watching her mother… what? Not run away in abject fear? Manage to stand her ground against her own terror at trying to live a normal life, at potentially making mistakes that they've all made, and will continue to make?

It feels almost reductive to say that she's proud of Raven for that. Like she's infantilizing the woman.

"Well?" Summer asks, and though she's putting on a hard front, Yang can see this isn't easy for her, either. Her jaw is clenched tightly, and her left hand is on the haft of her weapon, which she'd brought along with her, gripping it tightly. "What'll it be, Rae?"

"…You brought Sundered Rose?"

"Of course I did! What was I supposed to just… believe you'd suddenly come to your senses!? I was half expecting you to attack us!"

Of all the things that Summer could've said, Yang feels that's the thing that hurts Raven the most.

"I'd… Summer, I'd never attack you."

"And why would I think that?" Summer asks, and Yang can see the tears building behind her eyes. "After all, Qrow says every time he goes to your camps, you threaten him until he leaves. Sometimes you draw Omen out and force him to! Why would I not expect you to threaten me, when you'd threaten your brother?"

"Because that's different! That's–"

"How is that different!? Explain it to me, because I–"

"Mom?"

Everyone in the clearing freezes, and, one by one, they turn to see the newest arrival. Standing there is…

Well, herself.

The her of twelve years ago.

That would make that her… around seven or so years old. Likely closer to eight at this point. She's young – and man, she can't ever remember looking that young – with her blonde hair drawn back into pigtails.

And she's looking around at the multiple people in the clearing with abject confusion on her face.

"Sweetie," Taiyang steps forward, kneeling down in front of little Yang. "I thought daddy told you not to leave the house for a while."

"I know you did, but Ruby started crying and I didn't really know what to do, so I was going to see if you were almost done, but then I heard shouting…"

She looks up at Summer, who looks guiltily down at the ground, and then over towards Raven and Yang both.

"Who are these people, daddy?"

Taiyang seems loathe to answer.

Yang can't really blame her father that.

"They're…" Summer's voice isn't coming. She can tell she wants to say something, likely something dismissive. Perhaps 'no one important', but something holds her back.

Perhaps, despite all she'd said, she still wants Raven to be a part of her life, nonetheless.

"She looks kind of like dad." Young Yang points directly at her – adult Yang. "Is she daddy's sister?"

Hah, leave it to little her to be so perceptive. Unfortunately, she'd really rather no one point out the similarities between Yang and her father, lest they start to notice the similarities between Yang and Raven, and then after that, Yang to… well, Yang.

That way lay serious changes in the timeline, and then, after that, likely a trip to Ozpin.

Which she knows she can't put off forever… but she'd really like to put off for at least a while.

"I'm no one." Yang says, putting her hands in the air. "Just a friend of Raven's."

"Raven?" Little Yang tilts her head to one side, and Taiyang winces. Instantly, Yang realizes that she's made a mistake saying her mother's name. "Isn't that the name of uncle Qrow's sister?"

"That… yes, it is." Taiyang says with a desperate sort of chuckle. "It is uncle Qrow's sister."

"Does that make her uncle Qrow's sister?"

That's a question that Taiyang and Summer both don't want to answer.

Raven, however, circumvents that entirely.

"I am." She says as she steps forward, and it's only the fact that Summer does the same, getting between Raven and little Yang, and preventing her from walking all the way towards her young daughter. "I'm also your–"

"Not another word." Summer's voice is as cold as ice.

Raven, wisely, takes a step back.

"My what?"

Yang looks between the four figures within the clearing with her own jaw now clenched. Taiyang, her dad, has his hands on little Yang's shoulders, trying to offer comfort, but he's looking between Summer and Raven uncertainly. It's clear he wants to take a more active role here, but he also wants to offer his daughter comfort.

Summer, on the other hand, looks like she's a second away from drawing Sundered Rose from off of her back and swinging the axe down upon Raven's face. A broiling rage is set upon her face.

And Raven…

Raven looks almost lost.

She looks to little Yang, then to Summer, then to Yang – er, her – and doesn't seem to know what it is she's supposed to say. Yang doesn't think she'd know what to say either in a similar scenario.

Eventually, though, she looks to little Yang, parts her lips, hesitates, and then says…

"I'm… your aunt, right?"

Little Yang's eyes widen, and she smiles a moment later, nodding her head. "Yeah! If you're uncle Qrow's sister, then you're my aunt! Nice to meet you, auntie Raven!"

Raven bites down on her lower lip hard enough that Yang fears she might draw blood. She looks up towards Summer, and Gods, but she seeks it. She seeks Summer's approval. And yet instead, all she gets is Summer's horrified expression; the woman in that moment realizing that she has forced Raven to hurt herself for little Yang's sake.

And Summer looks disgusted with herself, like she's reconsidering this entire thing.

In the next moment, Raven turns around, so that she doesn't have to look at her daughter's face while she giggles about finally meeting her 'auntie'.

"I'll… be in town for a while. If you…" Raven's voice catches.

She waits for Summer or Taiyang to say anything.

Neither do.

The three of them, former teammates, allies, friends and more, stay entirely silent, even as they all so clearly agonize over what's just occurred.

But none say a thing.

Yang doesn't want to, either. Honestly, this feels like one of those conversations her parents would have behind closed doors, one that she'd never been meant to hear.

Yet she has.

She's not glad for it, despite how enlightening this has technically been.

Raven waits another five or so seconds as the wind rustles through the trees, but then, hearing nothing from any of the others, trudges away, even as little Yang, thinking she's helping but very much not, shouts out for auntie Raven to take care of herself.

It hurts Yang to hear it, and she knows it must be so much worse for her mother.

She feels bad for her, despite… despite everything.

She nods to both Summer and Taiyang – who don't even pretend to care about her enough to nod back, not that she can blame them – before catching up with Raven. If she spots the smallest hint of tears within her mother's eyes…

Well, it's probably a trick of the light.

/

It takes Weiss a second to even process what's just happened as her ears ring, and blood drips onto the tiled floor beneath her.

She'd…

What had she been doing?

Where is she?

She looks up, and sees a familiar-looking guy with a beard trying to help her up. But Weiss can see another figure approaching from behind, a weapon in hand.

"Behind…" She manages to squeak out.

Qrow knows what she's trying to say, luckily, and he manages to get his weapon up in time to block the man's attack, then forces enough weight into the next attack to knock him back, so he's a meter or so away from Weiss.

Weiss nearly blacks out entirely as she tries to force herself up and off of the floor. Her back is screaming out in pain, which she supposes makes sense, given she'd been practically flattened against the wall behind her thanks to the explosive that had just been set off.

She's lucky, she thinks, that there hadn't been any unusual objects in the way. She hadn't broken her back like she could've had she slammed into something like a counter, or table.

She'd barely managed to get her aura up in time.

Yes, right… there'd been…

There'd been a young boy, tied to a chair. Weiss had rushed in to help him.

It had been a trap.

The kind of disgusting trap that only a heinous bastard would come up with.

Marcus Black, she guesses, is this man Qrow's just sent backwards.

The two exchange words, although they don't seem to be hashing out peace agreements. Not like Weiss can really tell, given her ears are still ringing.

She looks over, and sees that the young boy himself has managed to get free of a few of his bindings. Weiss is glad. Hopefully, he'll get himself to safety, and they can fight without worrying about him.

Marcus having a hostage seems like it can only end badly.

Qrow gives one last parting glance towards her before dashing forwards, and locking his blade against Marcus' weapon. It's… a fairly simplistic thing. It reminds Weiss of Crocea Mors. It's a completely straight-edged blade, with a squared off top, no point with which to stab, only edges with which to cut, without any mecha-shift involved.

In his other hand, he holds some sort of hand cannon; likely the weapon he'd used to leave the bullet hole they'd found at the scene of the crime that had eventually led them here. If the size of the hole on the murder victim is anything to go by, it would likely hit hard, although just as likely not often.

That kind of payload more often than not required quite a bit of setup.

Neither are the kinds of weapons Weiss would choose for herself, but she can see how they could be effective in the right hands as Marcus Black wields them with deadly precision.

It is immediately obvious during the first few exchanges between the two of them that Qrow is the superior fighter in a straight one-on-one. It is also just as obvious that Marcus isn't going to give him a chance to have a straight one-on-one.

He activates a trap within the wall as he steps back, and a sort of gas sprays out towards Qrow. It looks like he's going to avoid it, but at the last moment his leg catches against a divot in the floor, and he trips right into the cloud. He doesn't breathe it in, far too experienced to fall for such, but at the same time, that also means he isn't being allowed to breathe while he exchanges blows with Marcus.

The latter doesn't seem at all worried about the gas, and if Weiss had to guess, he's likely made himself immune to its effects entirely.

The young boy on the other side of the room however has no such immunity, and he hacks and coughs as the gas gradually begins to filter further out, beginning to fill the room they're all stuck within.

Weiss swears out under her breath, realizing that she can't afford to stay down now. On shaking arms and quaking knees, she forces herself into a kneeling position. If she doesn't act, that boy will certainly die, and knowing how many traps Marcus has been able to pull out in just these first few minutes, he may have even more that he's yet to unleash upon them.

That means that unless Weiss can join him, Qrow very well might lose against an opponent who's fighting in a location he knows best.

Terrain, after all, is one of the most important aspects of battle.

After ten or so seconds, she's able to stand, albeit she's leaning rather heavily on the wall beside her. She sidles along it, attempting to make her way over towards the boy, who looks like he's just passed out from the fumes.

Weiss curses, but manages to grab him, and brings him back towards where she'd been in the kitchen before. Hauling along extra weight probably isn't good for her likely already injured body, but it's not like she has any other choice.

When they're clear of the gas, she sets him down. She gets her first real good look at the boy, and feels a strange familiarity with him. She dismisses the feeling a moment later, for such will do her little good if they die here.

She carries the boy out of the home entirely, and then, the moment he's been moved to safety, she lunges back inside, looking to backup Qrow.

It seems she might not have needed to worry as much as she had. The two's battle has stretched down into a basement level, one which both Weiss and Qrow had assumed existed. As she travels down the stairs – not being nearly as quick as she'd like to be on account of her injuries – She sees other signs of traps; darts embedded in the wall, spikes jutting up out of particular steps, even what looks like a hole for a double-barrel shotgun to shoot out of on the roof.

Weiss is fairly sure all have already been triggered, but even so, she moves cautiously.

When she arrives in the basement, she sees what she thinks is the end of the battle. Marcus is putting up a decent defense, but he is fighting one of the strongest Huntsman on Remnant. Even if Qrow will certainly grow more experienced over the years, it's clear his skills had already been well in place at this point, ten or so years before Weiss had ever met him.

Finally, after another minute or so of fighting – which Weiss stays out of, just in case Marcus might attempt to use her a hostage, injured as she is – Qrow knocks Marcus' blade from out of his hand, And his last ditch attempt to achieve any meaningful damage on Qrow falls flat when his hand cannon fires, and though it shatters Qrow's aura on impact, it doesn't injure him further.

Qrow disarms the man, slashing the hand cannon quite literally in half, and then points the blade of Harbinger directly into the man's face.

"I give!" Marcus shouts, even as the blade inches closer towards him. "I give. I'll talk."

"We want the person who hired you to kill Leonardo Lionheart's bodyguard."

"I'll talk, but not here. You get me somewhere I'm safe from retribution, and I'll tell you anything you want to know."

Qrow is rather clearly not happy with that, but he hisses out under his breath, even as he motions for Marcus to turn around. The man does, and lets himself be put into handcuffs by Qrow.

"When did you get those?" Weiss asks as she hobbles over.

"Got them from the crime scene investigators. Or, well, one of the officers with them, anyhow. Told them we were going to chase this guy down. They figured we should have 'em in case it worked."

Weiss supposes she can't argue with that.

Weiss is still expecting Marcus to pull some final trick, have some big final play, but as they move up the stairs, and towards the exit, he does nothing, says nothing.

He… goes along with their plan.

Weiss' eyes narrow.

She doesn't buy it. Not for a second.

They exit out of the home, and Weiss looks around for–

"…Hm?"

Qrow hears her humming, and turns towards her. "What's wrong?"

"It's that boy. Where did he–"

A shot rings out, and Qrow gasps out in pain. Blood spurts from out of his left leg, and then again from out of his right shoulder as a second shot rings out as well. He hits the ground right as Weiss draws Myrtenaster, and points it behind her, expecting another trap, or perhaps a second assailant, but…

It's the boy…

And he's holding a gun in his hands.

"Hah!" Marcus Black cackles out, before drawing some sort of device out of his jacket with his cuffed arms and using it to snap the chain. "Excellent, Mercury! You're a good boy!"

Weiss' breath catches in her throat, even as she watches as the boy's – Mercury's – eyes gleam.

Weiss tells herself it can't be him; this can't be the Mercury she knows, can it?

She doesn't have time to consider that. Marcus draws another weapon, this time a much simpler dust pistol, and points it right at Qrow's head. Weiss feels her stomach drop, even as she forms a glyph and launches herself forward.

Luckily, Qrow isn't out for the count, and is able to flip himself on his side to avoid the first shot. Such a thing clearly pains him, however, as he hisses out a grunt. He wouldn't have been able to avoid a second shot, but Weiss is there in time for that, and her presence forces Marcus to instead aim up, towards her.

She's faster, though. She has a glyph up both to block the shot and to bounce herself off of, then forms another behind her, bouncing between the two and building speed. She bounds into the air, forms another above her, and fires herself off of it down towards her opponent.

Marcus Black is a good assassin, perhaps even a half decent Huntsman in terms of skill, but it's clear he's never seen speed like hers before.

She dashes down, and slices at Marcus' hand, trying not to grimace as her blade slices clean through his wrist, and severs the appendage there. Marcus Black bellows out in agony, even as he steps back, clearly in shock.

"Dad!" Mercury shouts, and he attempts to close the distance.

Weiss turns, wanting to tell the boy to get away, to get back, but before she can, she notices Marcus drawing something else out of his coat.

It's a grenade.

Weiss' mind processes what will happen in the next few moments far faster than it had ever done about anything else before. In the next second or so, Marcus Black is going to pull the pin on that grenade with his thumb. He is going to throw it forward, towards Weiss, Qrow, and even his own son, Mercury.

Among them, only Weiss has any remaining aura.

Mercury doesn't seem to have his unlocked, and Qrow's had been broken by Marcus' numerous traps, and one final attack from his hand cannon. The explosion that had sent Weiss hurtling into a wall had certainly done a number on her own aura, but she still has around 30 or 40 percent remaining.

That would, likely, be enough to tank the grenades blast. Not comfortably, but she could manage.

The others can't.

That means her only option is to stop Marcus from throwing the grenade in the first place.

Her means of doing so are slim, and it occurs to her in the next moment that her means of doing so nonlethally are nonexistent. The only ability that she has that can close that gap is the massive great sword of her Arma Gigas Summon.

Is she ready to take a life, she questions? Can she truly do that? She's not sure. Doesn't really know. There'd been a part of her that had realized, however long ago, that those White Fang that had fallen off of the train as they'd raced through the tunnels connecting Mountain Glenn to Vale had certainly perished, but that…

That had felt different. They'd struck nonlethally, never meant to harm them any more than necessary to stop the attack.

Those people had fallen afterwards. That had not been Weiss' intent.

But now…

If she wishes to save Qrow, and Mercury, then her intent must be to kill Marcus Black.

So…

She does just that.

The Arma Gigas' blade – the first Grimm she'd ever slain, the first Grimm she'd ever summoned – manifests into being, already beginning to swing towards Marcus Black. He seems to realize what is about to happen, and yet, like the utter bastard he is, he just reaches towards the pin on the grenade, wanting to at least take them with him if he can.

She feels just the littlest bit less bad about what's about to happen.

But then there's someone else, another figure, with their arms stretched out, trying to block the blow entirely. He's not fast enough, can't get the distance he needs, but–

But Weiss can't stop in time, either. Too much force, too much adrenaline, she's swung harder than she needs to, hard enough that she could be sure, absolutely sure, that Marcus Black would be killed in an instant, before he could pull the pin on that grenade.

She'd succeeded, but at a terrible, terrible price.

There's a sound, then. A terrible squelching noise as the Arma Gigas' blade carves right through Marcus, his own aura entirely spent. It bisects him at the waist, and without really meaning to, Weiss catalogues the exact minute that the man goes from a person, with thoughts and emotions, to an inert body without anything of the sort.

The swing is hard enough to send the torso flying up into the air. She doesn't focus on it, though.

No, she has to put every ounce of herself into stopping the blade before it carves into someone else, too.

She tries. She tries so damned hard.

It isn't enough.

The boy, likely realizing what's going to happen, tries to move. He tries to get out of its path.

He almost succeeds, too.

Almost, again, isn't enough.

There's another squelch, this one far louder in Weiss' ears. She feels that, no matter what happens, she will hear that sound in her nightmares for the rest of her life.

She looks over, her face frozen in abject mortification, and sees Mercury Black run through on the end of the blade.

Silence fills the space around them. The world feels still.

Weiss is numb.

Mercury looks up at her, and there is hatred there as much as shock. He looks towards his father's corpse, separated into two halves, and then turns back to her with a look in his eyes like he'll never forgive her. He reaches out, and places his small hand on the Arma Gigas' blade, which has impaled the right half of his chest, coming close to bisecting him down the middle.

The blade dissolves as Weiss looks on, her entire being frozen.

She just… she'd not…

It had been to save him. To save that boy. To save Qrow, as well, of course, but–

She hadn't…

But what she'd meant to do doesn't matter. Not truly.

For once the blade fully dissipates…

Mercury Black falls all the same.

End Chapter 13

Well. That didn't go to plan for either of our heroes, did it?

Not a ton to say atm. I will say, however, that if you want to find out what happens next, then...

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