As the night went on, the Chrysanthe family, as well as Eric, were shown gathered around in the living room. A small clock with different flowers next to each number on the wall read; 7:55pm.
The scented candle Drizella lit earlier, placed upon the kitchen island, began to form a small puddle of wax as it burned. The wax pool had melted halfway to the edge of the glass. The green candle's flame flickered, slowly releasing the scent of cedar, cypress wood and pine into the room. On the candle was a small sticker reading;
Borne Of the Wild
A board game box was shown on the table of the game they were playing; Remnant: The Game
There were three teams of two; Francis and Avril, Eric and Drizella, and Anastasia and Daisy. All of them were sitting on a couch, two chairs from the dining room and on floor cushions respectively. Francis held the cards as his wife looked over them. Drizella was shown holding her team's cards as Daisy held the cards for her team. Each team had a small plaque displaying which kingdom they were playing as; Vale, Vacuo, and Mistral.
"And that ends my turn." Eric declared, playing the one card left in his hand. "Over to team Flowergirls."
Anastasia, with one card in hand, immediately declared, "I deploy the Atlesian Air Fleet!" She slapped her card down on the table. "Now, with the card I stole earlier, I get to fly right over your Ursai and attack your walls directly! Ka-boom!"
"You fiend!" Eric and Drizella exclaimed in unison.
The camera zoomed across the table to show the board and all its player pieces in detail.
"And since we've conquered Atlas and Atlas is part of Mantle, my repair time from Vale's attack is only one turn." Anastasia added.
"Dang, that was a bold move." Eric congratulated the huntress. "You're quite the gamer."
Anastasia smiled. "Thank you. It's been years since I've had this much fun."
Francis looked at his wife in playful concern. "How many moves away are our two youngest daughters from conquering the world?"
"Four, if I've counted correctly." Avril answered.
Both Daisy and Anastasia grinned. But the latter's grin soon faded as she glanced at the hallway, the hallway she knew led to the room Yang and Qrow were in.
"Ana?" Her attention was called back to her by her soon-to-be brother-in-law. "Is something wrong?"
"There is one thing that concerns me." Anastasia admitted.
"What's that?" her mother asked.
"I'm sensing… something strange with Mr. Branwen. Some weird energy around him."
"You sure you haven't had too much wine?" Drizella asked.
"Yes I'm sure. I only had one glass of wine."
"A glass that had been topped off at the halfway mark." Eric reminded her, smirking all the while.
The flower huntress folded her arms in a pout. "I'm not drunk! Not that drunk anyway!"
"Perhaps you're just nervous about your upcoming mission." Avril suggested.
She admitted a reluctant sigh. "Perhaps I am." She turned to the table, looking at her empty wine glass for a few moments. "Is there any wine left in that bottle?"
"I think we already finished it off."
She smiled. "Aw darn."
"You're adorable." Drizella told her. "Anyway, it's back to The Parents."
The view turned to Francis and Avril, the latter now holding the cards and the husband looking over them.
"I play King's Advisor. With this card, I chose a team to reveal their hand to me and then take one card from it. And I chose the Flowergirls. And because I control Vale, this means I can invoke my special ability of Rewind, letting these events happen once more."
Drizella and Eric closed their eyes as Anastasia showed her six cards to her parents.
Daisy looked on in curiosity, wondering what would come next.
Francis took a card and added it to Avril's hands, along with a second card. Then he took a different card and placed it down in front of them before the map. "I set this card face down and end my turn."
He's not attacking? Why? Anatasia and Drizella thought in unison.
"Your move, Bride and Groom." Francis told the next team.
Eric now held the cards.
Drizella carefully looked over them before making her decision. "I play Pack of Beowolves, choosing to attack Vale."
Avril was shocked by her decision. "What? Why us?!"
"You've activated my trap card! Giant Nevermore!" Francis declared, flipping over the card he set down moments ago. "I roll my dice, and with a roll of 7 or higher, Fatal Feathers will destroy half of your forces!"
He took a twelve-sided dice and shook it in his hands before letting it roll. The dice landed on the table, revealing the top number… as a five.
Francis slumped down. "Well that backfired." he lamented.
"Half of your forces are destroyed." Drizella declared. "And now, I play this card. Retribution of Arma Gigas! Anytime an attack backfires on the player who triggered it, I get to use this card to double its damage! Which means all your forces are gone!"
Anastasia now held the cards. Daisy played hers as a montage began. Soon Vale fell, and the Parents were out of the game. Several more cards were played, Vale being conquered completely by Mistral, and game pieces scattered.
Anastasia played the last card of the game. "And with this card, I take what's left of Atlas."
"The world is ours!" Daisy declared.
"Well done, team Flowergirls." Eric congratulated them.
"Aww thank you. Really I wasn't even trying to win." Anastasia admitted.
"Well I was!" Daisy exclaimed.
"Shall we play Hexagons next?" Francis asked them.
Everyone nodded in agreement, the scent of the candle filling the entire room, its wax now melted to the edge of the candle's glass jar.
Within a spare bedroom, Yang sat upon the bed as Qrow put his weapon on top of one of the drawers next to Yang's arm gauntlets.
"What happened?" Qrow asked in earnest, slightly leaning against the drawer. "How did you get here?"
Yang sighed. "It's a long story… You want the short version or the long one?"
"Just start from the beginning. Why did you leave home?"
And so, Yang began telling him her tales of woe, the beginning of her therapy (as well as getting the missing piece of Ember Celica back), how she eventually got a robot prosthetic arm, her departure from home, the Trojan Alliance conflict in Aquarian, and the journey thereafter.
"And that's how I got to Anima." Yang concluded. "As for today…. It hasn't been very great. After being led to a forest clearing by a man calling himself Shade or something, I beat up some bandits and entered the camp. I spoke with my estranged mother, and she told me all sorts of things. Things… that I never even thought about. Such as magic and possible resurrections. She showed me her bird power, and offered me the chance to join her, saying I might have it.
"But I just wanted to find Ruby. I wanted to reunite with her, and I was hoping that you had caught up to her by now." She sighed. "It seemed that I was wrong, and when I saw her… the flower huntress… I was reminded of everything I had gone through today, and… it was too much."
"Man, this is a lot to take in…" Qrow took a sip from his flask, soon realizing what happened.
"So what happened with you and Raven?" Yang asked. "What's all of this about bird powers and secrets?"
Qrow let out a long sigh. "About eighteen years ago, me and your mom were called on to help Ozpin serve and protect the world from hidden dangers. As part of that deal, we were both given the ability to transform into birds. These smaller magic powers have been called Blessings. Or, in some cases, falsely called Curses. Raven has called them that in the past because carrying magic requires a lot of resourcefulness and skill in keeping it secret. She felt… that Ozpin was trying to bind us, despite using and enjoying her ability to turn into a raven."
A moment of silence passed, the question practically hanging over the blonde brawler as she let it out. "Do I really have that power?"
"It's hard to say." Qrow answered. "I've never been good at detecting magic. In theory, you may have inherited that power, but Blessings aren't supposed to be passed down. It's also possible that I can't sense anything because you haven't awakened it yet."
But even if I do have this ability, how would I unlock it? Would I still be able to fly with…?
She looked at her prosthetic arm.
With so many questions, Yang asked one she knew she could get an answer to. "How did you get here?" A moment later she added, "And why isn't Ruby here?"
Qrow gave another sigh. "It's a long story."
So he started explaining what happened since he left the Rose-Xiao-Long family home; him leaving Patch, him being temporarily stuck in the Glass Box Prison in Mensonge, his prison breakout, his flight through Mistral, meeting with Raven and the horror he felt… when he arrived too late to stop the poisoning.
And, unsurprisingly, Yang was horrified when she learned this revelation. She shook in terror, her metal arm trembling. "Tyrian…"
"I tried to stop him, but in the ensuing fight my arm broke, and soon the Trojan Alliance found us."
Yang looked at his left arm. "Then how did your arm heal so quickly?"
"We'll get to that in a few moments. The six of us fled Oniyuri and tried to find an antidote to Nora's poisoning. In Kuroyuri, we were ambushed by Tyrian and the Trojan Alliance Leaders Kiaran Barrow and Alva Parker. Not long after the fight started, the Nuckalavee appeared, with Tyrian using an amulet to take control of it.
Yang gasped, horrified and speechless.
"With my arm broken, Pyrrha losing her aura twice in different ways, and Nora having been poisoned, the odds were against us. Ultimately, Alva and Kiaran were killed by Pyrrha and Jaune, who have decided to go as anonymous heroes for the time being. Ren successfully slayed the Grimm that destroyed his and Nora's home. And Tyrian was injured, his arm having broken, and the amulet he once had shattered to pieces. Outnumbered and outmatched, he fled to who knows where.
"Thanks to the emergency workers that found us, Nora recovered from her poisoning. And after a few days at Haven, Jaune discovered a way to heal others with his semblance, healing my arm in the process." Qrow smiled, looking upon his fixed arm. "Oh, and before that I found out that Lionheart has bodyguards and that Ozpin has a successor."
Yang blinked as she took everything in. "A successor? Who is he?"
"A young farm boy named Oscar Pine. A little younger than Ruby. Did Raven tell you about Ozpin's reincarnation?"
She shrugged. "Kind of. She said something about people coming back from the dead."
Qrow explained the reincarnation process Ozpin had been through… countless times over.
Yang blinked rapidly, stopping after three times. "Oh. That's a lot to take in."
"Quite. As for why I was here, I heard rumors about Anastasia having returned home. I thought that maybe she would help us defend Haven, but even if she agreed to journey to Mistral, I can tell that she's reluctant."
Yang looked down in silent shame, going quiet for a long moment. "I'm sorry I lashed out. I nearly jeopardized this entire mission."
Qrow sighed. "You couldn't have known. Looks like luck is not with either of us today. As for Anastasia… She's not the first to run away from a conflict or difficult situation. And she won't be the last."
Yang sighed, knowing (and lamenting) that he was right. "Back to the other problem, how are we gonna share this bed?"
"Simple. Just give me one of the pillows and I'll sleep on it as a bird."
The blonde brawler handed him a pillow, raising an eyebrow. "Aren't you worried someone will see you? Or question your 'absence'?
"Don't worry about me." He put the pillow down, setting it on top of the drawer. "Just keep the door locked and curtains closed and everything should be fine." Qrow then used his Blessing power to transform, setting himself on top of the pillow he had set down. "It's been a long night and it sounds like their board games are coming to an end. Try to get some sleep."
With a soft sigh, Yang climbed under the covers and went to bed as Qrow laid down, his wings sprawling over the compressed pile of feathers.
Later that night, Raven was shown in her tent, speaking with her decoy.
"My Lady?" Raven gave a slight hum as Vernal asked, "Are you alright?"
The real Spring Maiden gave a restrained sigh. "I'm alright as I can be."
Why didn't Yang stay? I thought she would stay to get answers if nothing else. But instead she goes into the dark…
"I'm surprised Yang didn't pursue the answers she so desperately wanted."
Perhaps I underestimated her affection for Summer's child…
"Why did you abandon her?"
Raven was taken aback. "What do you mean?"
"Yang's your daughter. You had a daughter, and you left her. Left her all alone. You're a horrible person."
Raven scowled at her stunt double. "You know why I came back to the tribe. I did what had to be done."
Vernal folded her arms over her stomach. "If I did have a daughter, I wouldn't abandon her."
Before Raven could respond further, a messenger entered the tent.
"Lady Branwen, we bring news from the outside world," he began. "There is a lot to report."
"What is it?"
"Let's see here… team SSEA dissolves… Beacon staff gathering to discuss removing the Grimm Wyvern, Charles Mustard has been confirmed as M.I.A, presumably dead…."
She softly gasped. "Charles is dead?"
No… this can't be… A trusted ally…
Vernal was quick to notice her master's fear. "Raven?"
She did not listen to Vernal, quickly leaving. Upon exiting through the back tent entrance, she immediately turned into a raven and took to the skies. Raven quickly flew away into the woods, gliding upon the gentle evening breeze until she was far away from the camp. She soared upwards, looking for the highest unoccupied branch to land upon. Upon her landing, she loudly cawed out, her cries ringing into the night.