"Blake… What was the reason you ran away? The full reason?"
The Faunus wouldn't have been able to answer that question in its entirety, seeing as it happens in the future, so what Ruby was asking of her was nearly impossible. Either way, Blake was sure she had a pretty good idea as to why, in the near future, she ran away in the first place. The girl replied as much, though it was a last feeble attempt to deflect the conversation as it was the truth. "Ruby, you and I both know that we don't have the complete picture of what you're wanting." Unfortunately for her, Ruby was able to pick out Blake's plan from her response.
"Then at least give us something! We want to know what we can do to help you or so that you don't run away!" It was easy to hear the desperation coming from Ruby, she dearly didn't want to lose any more friends. She already had to witness both Penny and Pyrrha dying in front of her, she doesn't want to experience losing Blake as well. Ruby was determined for an explanation and she wasn't allowing anyone to start the next episode until she got one. Blake hesitated for a few moments more until Weiss spoke up.
"You made a promise to open up to us and tell us if something was bothering you, so please, don't shut us out." She repeated the same words from the night she ran away after her friends discovered that she was a Faunus. Blake finally released a sigh.
"Seeing as these actions happen later in time, I wouldn't be able to give you everything, but I have a strong idea as to why." Blake paused for a moment, mostly to gather her wits as she becomes vulnerable to her friends. "I…I love you guys so much, more than I could ever love anyone, but to see all that destruction and hurt because of the people of my past…must have made me think that the only way to keep you all safe from them was to distance myself away from all of you."
"Blake…" The girl in question turned her head at the sound of Yang's voice. "Whether what happens at the Fall of Beacon, if it does happen or not, I wouldn't hesitate to follow those same choices because we-I care about you Blake, and nothing is going to change that. The choices I make are my choices alone."
"Blake, the cause of Beacon falling isn't because of you, it will never be your fault, you know that! Your problems, you don't have to go through them alone, you have friends who will help you and be there for you. So please, don't push away, don't think disappearing will do anything." Ruby finishes by getting up and pulling Blake into a strong hug, everyone quickly joining in. Blake stiffens before melting into the hug.
The atmosphere around the room is comforting and Blake's heart swells from the levels of happiness she's feeling in this moment. They all stay like that for a few more seconds before breaking apart. Blake wasn't able to comprehend how incredibly thankful she is for all the friends that found her. Blake was a tad surprised she hadn't noticed the box of tissues resting in her lap, but she was grateful nonetheless as she took one to wipe some of her tears away. The used tissues were magicked away and all eyes went to the screen as the episode began.
(Volume 4 Intro)
Oscar carries the pitchfork on his shoulder, heading into the barn to set against bales of hay.
"Aww, cute farm boy!" Nora called out from the back. Oscar was about to correct her when he decided it was probably pointless to do so.
He stopped in front of the sink next to him, staring intently in the mirror. "Hello…" He murmured as if he could sense or feel another presence with him. As Oscar gives up staring, he is immensely startled by a new voice, falling to the ground in the process.
"Hello! I'm Professor Ozpin!"
The theater went silent for all but three until all hell broke loose as everyone screamed.
"What the–?!"
"He isn't dead?"
"How is he alive?!"
"Professor Ozpin is still alive?!"
Exclamations and questions spread throughout the room as the kids began demanding answers. A few of them were thinking of turning to Raider but knew in advance that it was useless as all she would tell them was "No spoilers" or "You see in _ volume".
"Is he in my head?" Oscar asks, terrified at the notion. "How did he get inside my head and what on Remnant is happening? Is him being in my head the sole reason you brought me here? Is he supposed to have some significant role in my future?" Raider simply shrugged as if saying 'Pretty much, yeah'. The poor boy didn't find comfort in that at all.
Oscar lay gasping on the hay bales. His aunt called out to him that he be careful with the barn tools.
It isn't the barn tools I now need help with, I got a dead man vacating my head. And I'm still trying to process how to feel about that information.
Yang stood in the middle of a destroyed dining hall, more specifically Beacon's dining hall. The colors surrounding her were red and black with students yelling in the background.
Yang blankly stared at the screen, her body coiling as she hears another scream. Blake looks over at her partner, the guilt immeasurable. She tried to push it away, but it was an impossible task.
Yang viewed her surroundings, then looked down as she realized she had both of her arms. Upon raising her eyes, she sees Adam slowly walking towards her. As Yang gets in a fighting stance, her gauntlets appear; she doesn't waste a moment in firing. The bullets only go right through him. Yang freezes as they do nothing, and seeing she's in the same state as she went to bed she looks up in horror as Adam's right in front of her. With a smirk, he begins to take out his sword and that's when Yang wakes up with a gasp.
"I'm sorry…I'm so, so sorry…" Tears start to fall once more and Yang brings Blake into a side hug, lightly shooshing her.
"Blake, you have nothing to apologize for, I told you already that that was my choice. So please, stop beating yourself up." Blake wanted to believe, but what happens when the Fall of Beacon truly comes and the same thing occurs?
Yang looks over at the arm sitting on her bedside dresser. Getting up, her attention is brought to laughs downstairs. While making her way down, she sees that the chuckles are coming from her father, Professor Port, and Dr. Oobleck.
Hmm, what are they doing there? Yang wonders, but probably has something to do with her dad.
Professor Port laughs in his chair, retelling a story about Qrow coming into class one day in a skirt. "We told him it was a kilt, he'd never worn a uniform before so he didn't know," Tai adds getting a few more laughs out of them. Dr. Oobleck scolds him, calling him terrible. "Hey! The girls all said he had nice legs, I did that jerk a favor! Besides, that's not even the best part, see then we–" Tai was abruptly cut off by Professor Port slamming his leg on the table, gesturing towards it before asking the men if they liked what they were seeing.
The kids couldn't keep in their laughter as they all joined in, finding the trip down Qrow's Memory Lane hysterical.
Professor Port loses his balance, causing the room to burst out in laughter, Yang joins as well, which is what made her presence known to the other adults. The teachers acknowledge her, with Dr. Oobleck asking that she pull up a chair. Yang places herself on the countertop, asking the gentlemen why they're here.
"Despite popular belief, teachers do have a life outside the classroom," Dr. Oobleck states, raising his mug.
"No kidding, he asked for you guys to refer to him as Dr. Oobleck instead of Professor," Nora comments with a chuckle.
"Professor Goodwitch is working around the clock to restore Beacon to its former glory, but Mistral wasn't built in a day and we all need some rest from time to time," Professor Port continues. Tai changes the subject back to the original story, not wanting his guests to stress about any of that. Dr. Oobleck makes a comment that the Branwen Twins have always been…interesting.
"When we get back, I seriously plan on asking dad about more stories of him back at Beacon, because if that's just one of them, imagining all the ones he has from his entire time there." Ruby agreed with her sister, loving the opportunity to hear about dad's experience. (Maybe also getting to hear more stories with mom as well.)
Professor Port made a note that none of that stopped Tai, making the father scold him as his daughter is right next to him. "Oh please, she's a mature young woman. If she can handle combat she can handle a few jabs at her old man."
"That's not the issue, Pete, and besides she's still a teenager."
And this she is also in the room so why not talk to this she directly?
Yang makes it a point to tell all of them that she is still there, and can be spoken to. She hops down from the counter, going on, "And I think I've been through enough to be considered an adult at this point."
Tai releases a sigh, rolling his eyes. "Adult or not, you still got a long way to go before you're ready for the real world."
"Oh my gosh, does every father figure have the same three condescending phrases?"
"Yeah! But we only use them when we mean it."
Yang let out a huff, ignoring everyone, besides Ruby, who sat in their seat a tad awkwardly from hearing this yelling match. Sure, parents and kids fight, but witnessing other families doing so, especially when it's your friend's family…well it isn't something people particularly like to be around for to see.
Dr. Oobleck and Professor Port looked uncomfortable, as if they were intruding on something. "If you honestly think that you're ready to go out there on your own, heh, well I guess you lost some brain cells along with that arm."
Everyone was dead silent, staring at the screen in shock until they heard Yang starting to chuckle. "Ugh, that jerk!" Yang's chortles were dying down when she noticed that everyone was looking at her as if she had just grown a second head.
Sun basically summed it all up in one sentence, "Your family is wack." Weiss and the others were seriously wondering why they weren't saying anything. Was it out of complete and utter shock? Probably.
Both teachers froze, Dr. Oobleck's mug even fell to the table. "You…jerk!" Yang shouts, punching her father's arm with giggles rushing out.
"Is that really a normal occurrence in your family?" Oscar asks.
"Yep, pretty much," Ruby answers for her sister.
Dr. Oobleck leans over, whispering if they were finally going to be talking about the Goliath in the room. Tai and Yang only began to laugh harder. The other two joined in as the atmosphere became much lighter. Professor Port addresses Yang, wondering why she hasn't tried on the arm yet. "Oh, yes, yes! A piece of Atlas technology being given out like that is very rare indeed, not to mention the effort it took to deliver it here. It seems a great many people want to see you return to normal," Dr. Oobleck adds.
Yang looks down at the ground for a second before replying, "I'm…scared. Everyone keeps talking about me 'getting back to normal', and I appreciate it, but… this is normal now." She gestures to her arm, lifting it. "It's just taking me a while to get used to it."
Yang looked down at her own right arm, wondering if she'll still lose it, even after watching all of this. Is this one of those events that's inevitable, that's supposed to happen? That notion is the least bit comforting, but, if it is, Yang can watch this and know what helps her to better cope when it does become a reality. Maybe then seeing all this can prepare her when the time comes for that moment.
"Well, normal is what you make of it." Yang looks over at her dad, wondering what he's implying.
"Do you want me to just pretend like nothing happened? I lost a part of me, a piece of me is gone and it's never coming back."
"You're right, it's not coming back. But that doesn't have to stop you from becoming who you wanna be. You're Yang Xiao Long. My sunny little dragon, you can do whatever you put your mind to. So whenever you're ready to stop moping and get back out there, I'll be there for you." Yang doesn't know how to respond.
"And you have us!" Sun shouts, "So you aren't going to be alone."
"Fear is like any other emotion, it comes and goes. It's all in how you handle it; why even I find myself wrestling that emotion from time to time." Yang doesn't seem convinced by Professor Port's words. Dr. Oobleck whispers to Yang that he's afraid of mice. "They bring only disease and famine!" Hearing this from her professor gets Yang to laugh. "And don't even get me started on their tails. Hairless, simply unnatural."
It's later in the evening and Yang wishes the gentlemen good night from upstairs. She pauses in her doorway, staring at the resetting arm. Yang hears the front door open and her professors' voices. Yang is quick to hide behind the curtains. They thank Tai for inviting them. The men take a small moment to bring up Beacon's progress before Professor Port asks Tai if he's heard any word from Ruby.
Dr.Oobleck wonders if he will go after her, but Tai only sighs, telling them that he has to look after some things, looking up at Yang's room. She hides behind the curtains once more, clenching her right arm.
Yang doesn't want to think that she's deadweight because of her arm, but it's hard not to.
"Come on guys, if we pick up the pace we can reach the next town before sunset," Ruby calls out, holding up the map as she walks, Jaune adds assuming the town is still even there. "Of course, it'll be there, this one's supposed to be pretty big. Hegan Bana…" The poor girl struggles to say. Ren corrects her, telling her it's Higanbana. Nora includes that there won't be camping in the rain since it has an inn. "See everything's gonna be fine."
"Y'know, we've had a lot of ups and downs, but things could be worse, I'd really thought we'd see more Grimm," Jaune says, finally looking on the bright side of things. Ren agrees with Nora commenting that their luck is finally turning around whilst a cliff is being shown, making its way to the top.
The students were on edge and a tad confused, was someone following them? Was it that lunatic Tyrian guy? Hopefully not.
A Beowulf was looking down on them, about to pounce but was swiftly killed by a familiar blade.
"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby shouts. Was he following them to make sure they were safe? Well, it's not to know it's him rather than someone else.
Behind him were multiple disintegrating Grimm.
"Well, that explains why our future selves didn't across a lot of Grimm," Jaune mutters.
Qrow looks over, sees a crow as it flies off, and watches the group from overhead. The man scoffs under his breath, repeating the word 'luck'. Rain pours down as the kids are settling in at the inn. Next door, Qrow keeps an eye on them, his focus is broken by a waitress who sets down a glass. Qrow is about to speak, but the lady beats him to it, telling him a woman with red eyes asked to give it.
Mom… Yang's expression turns solemn.
The waitress flirts with him, and Qrow smirks as she walks away.
Ruby let out an audible gag as some others looked a tad uncomfortable, mainly Oscar and Jaune who seemed more red in the face than anything.
Qrow takes one more look out the window before going up to the second floor where he's greeted by Raven. "Hello, brother."
"Raven." Qrow doesn't sit down, staring at Raven's mask. Only when she moves it he then takes a seat. "So, what do you want?"
"A girl can't just catch up with her family?"
"She can, but you're not. How about we get on with it?" Qrow takes a sip, "Unless you plan on keeping these coming."
The room was skeptical, obviously not wanting to voice these thoughts out loud seeing that this was Yang's mom. She won't fault them, also feeling suspicious of what her mom wants to discuss.
Qrow sets down his drink, and Qrow asks if she has it.
The group didn't react much as they figured she was referring to that Grimm Queen.
Qrow circles the rim of his glass with a finger, completely changing the topic by asking if Raven knew that Yang lost her arm. That isn't what Raven wanted, but Qrow cut her off, calling a rhetorical question. "I know you know, it's just obnoxious you bring up family then carry on like your own daughter doesn't exist."
The end of that sentence… Yang clenched the arm of her seat at how much hearing that hurt. It caused enough pain that her mother essentially abandoned her and her family when she was younger, but hearing that hurt differently. To see that your own mother doesn't care about something that impacted their child's life so much.
That's what hurt Yang the most, voicing what shouldn't have to be said.
Raven weakly defends herself by reminding Qrow that she saved her. "Once. Because that was your rule, right? Real mom of the year material, sis."
Ruby grabs onto her sister's hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. Yang appreciates it, but the pain doesn't dissipate.
Raven roughly grabs a hold of Qrow's wrist. "I told you Beacon would fall and it did. I told you Ozpin would fail, and he has. Now you tell me. Does. Salem. Have it?
So they finally have a name for the cause of all this destruction and who's responsible for creating all the Grimm; Salem.
"I thought you weren't interested in all of that."
"I just want to know what we're up against."
"She's the reason for all the Grimm on Remnant, you tell me," Sun comments. A little snidely.
"And which 'we' are you referring to?" Raven releases Qrow with a growl and sits back down in her seat. "You should come back, Raven. The only way we beat her is by working together, all of us."
"You're the one who left, the tribe raised us and you turned your back on them."
"They were killers and thieves."
"They were your family."
Qrow narrows his eyes at her, "You have a very skewed perception of that word." Raven stood up from her seat, informing him that she's the one who leads her people now.
"As leader, I will do everything in my power to ensure survival."
That same pain returned as well as spitefulness. Her mother would go to such great lengths to ensure her people were safe and protected, but that courtesy wouldn't be given to her own family? To say Yang was furious would be an understatement.
Qrow knows, seeing as he saw it. Raven strongly lives by her rules that the weak die and the strong live.
"What kind of philosophy is that?!" Sun jumps from his seat, multiple others joining him. "What is this? Natural Selection?"
"Well, you've certainly got someone strong on your side, I've seen the damage."
Raven crosses her arms, turning her back to Qrow. "We couldn't have known the Grimm would set in as quickly as they did." Qrow isn't referring to the Grimm or Raven herself. "If you don't know where the Relic is, then we have nothing left to talk about."
Qrow grabs a hold of her mask, stopping her. "I don't know where the Spring Maiden is either. If you do, I need you to tell me." Raven questions on why she would do such a thing, snatching her mask away. "Because without her we're all going to die." Raven releases a chuckle, using Qrow's own words, asking about which 'we'.
We can help! They decided when they all get out of there, they're going to do their own research on the Maidens, find what information they can, and help the adults in stopping Salem. They would need to do it discreetly so as to not rouse too much suspicion, but they can help with the impending war.
Along with helping to look for the Maidens, they could also do some reading on these 'relics' that Qrow had spoken of.
Raven creates her portal, leaving without another word. A crash comes from behind Qrow and it's the same server who is standing there looking horrified. Qrow kindly asks to make his drink a double.
Outside the Xiao Long residence, Tai is watering the sunflowers out front. The door opens and Yang comes out, wearing her new arm.
Yang thinks to herself that she could do some designing to the arm.
"Okay, let's get to work," Were the words said by Tai before the screen goes black.
As the credits were rolling, they immediately began planning on places to look where they could find information on both Relics and Maidens. With all this knowledge, they're damn well going to use it to turn the tide. With this much of a lead, they could stop the war before it even begins.
Everyone looks at each other with the same amount of determination. They plan on putting a stop to Salem's plans and help to save all of Remnant!