The Broken Huntress: Epilogue

She felt calm. Her eyes kept closed as she waited in the clearing surrounded by lush trees. She flexed her hands, feeling her fingers loosen on her left hand and heard the light tap of metal from her right. The clearing was almost too silent. Still she waited.

The blonde's eyes snapped open as two of her opponents burst from the trees at an impressive speed. 'For a couple of kids.'

Taking evasive action, Yang began to weave between the strikes of her adversaries, giving some solid finger jabs at any openings the pair gave her. Said opponents were two kids, no older than fifteen. The first was a boy, wearing a light-brown leather jacket and pants. He attacked with an acrobatic ferocity, dual wielding a pair of tomahawks. Using the momentum from his missed strikes to roll into spin kicks, making himself a whirlwind of constant strikes. His burnt orange cat tail moving along in his fluid motions.

Her other opponent was another story.

It was a girl, similar in age to the boy ferociously striking at the blonde. She wore an abundance of red and black all of which appear to be designed for combat in mind with armor woven into the fabric. She wore a red bandanna around her neck, her silver eyes gleaming in delight as she raised her rifle.

Yang weaved through the rounds with ease, slowing herself down to the point that the pair could track her movements. It simply wouldn't be fair if she didn't give them a chance.

"Keep moving Taja, or I'll make you regret it!" launching shells from Ember Celica, the girl yelped as she bound back and away from the fire and into the trees. Yang swiftly blocked or dodged the boy as his tomahawks whistled passed her face. "Gaegan you're falling into a pattern, don't let me predict your strikes!" she jabbed him the side as she gave him some room to recover.

Taja ripped from the tree line like a bullet, her rifle now morphed into a polearm as she tried to come at Yang from behind. Yang deftly grabbed the weapon by its haft as she raised her other arm. "All right you two. That's enough."

Taja and Gaegan both collapsed to the ground gasping for breath. Yang placed taja's weapon on the ground, "Don't let go of weapon if you can help it Little Rose," she ruffled the girl's hair as she grumbled at the pet name.

"Yes Auntie Yang."

"And you," Gaegan's tail shot straight as Yang's attention was brought back to him. "You let me reach this clearing when you could have used your night-vision better in the lowlight of the trees. Why?"

Gaegan sat quietly for a moment before responding, "Because Taja wouldn't be able to support me as well in the trees. Her weapon isn't suited for the close forest."

Yang smiled at his answer. "Acceptable answer, son."

"Thanks, Mom."

"Acceptable indeed," Yang and the two teens turned to see Blake waltzing out from the trees. "But you still should have known that I was watching the fight," Yang gave a crooked grin as Blake walked up to her. "And you know that everyone will be arriving soon. You all need to get back to Beacon and get cleaned up. Honestly," Blake shook her head, "you can be worse than May when it comes to remembering these things."

"Hey, don't lump me in with that woman, not my fault she doesn't keep a schedule."

"Don't be mean to my Mom, Auntie!" Taja crowed.

"It's true and you know it, squirt," she stuck her tongue out at the girl only to stiffen as Blake snuck up behind her.

"Careful with that thing… or I might just put it to better use," Blake's voice was hardly a whisper against her neck, sending a delightful shiver down her spine even after all of these years.

"All right punks! Let's hurry back, then. It is your mom's birthday we're celebrating," Yang ignored Blake's throaty laugh as she rushed back to Beacon with the three of them in tow.

~~YBYB~~

"Mom, Momma!" Taja leapt at Ruby and May as the pair left the airship, she hugged them fiercely. Yang watched on with a smile as she walked forward with Blake beside her.

"Hey little sister, happy birthday," she wrapped Ruby, May and Taja in a bear hug, breathing in the fresh scent from her sister's hair.

"Hi, Yang. It's good to see you."

"It's only been a couple of weeks, sis. But wow, how old are you now?"

"Ugh, don't make me say it. I'm old, okay?"

"Forty-one if I recall correctly," Blake's voice filled with mirth.

Yang laughed as she removed herself for the hug to let Blake in. Ruby's childish pout brought a smile to her face. She smiled fondly as May kissed the side of Ruby's head.

"You don't look a day over twenty-five, Ruby."

"At least my wife is kind to me," Ruby's glare was adorable, "unlike you traitors."

"Okay, okay, Rubes. Let's go inside and get this party started, everyone else is already here, even our dusty uncle made it in."

"Of course he did," Ruby's voice was all-knowing, "I'm his favorite."

Yang sighed happily, "Yes Ruby, yes you are."

~~YBYB~~

Yang closed her eyes as she breathed in the crisp night air, wanting to get away from the partygoers for a bit.

Twenty-six years. Dust, that fateful day was so long ago now. Yang looked around the rebuilt grounds of Beacon, so many years of peace after they were able to retake Vale and defeat Salem. Unfortunately, huntsmen and huntresses were still needed. Even with the demise of Salem, the Creatures of Grimm were still around. Though without Salem for a command structure, the Grimm were beginning to dwindle. With the steady decline of Grimm brought its own sets of challenges. People set in old ways who still held on to beliefs like Faunus being second-class, bandits who continued to take advantage of safer highways for their thievery.

But still, the world hadn't seen better days.

"Lien for your thoughts?" Blake seems to have snuck up on her again.

"Just thinking of the past," she looked back at Blake, "we're getting old now, aren't we?"

Blake hummed thoughtfully, "I suppose so. But I think we still have a few more adventures left in us yet," Blake wrapped her in a warm embrace which she returned without a thought.

"You think we can achieve world peace before our Gaegan graduates from Beacon?"

"And what makes you think that he'll want to go to Beacon? Maybe he'll want to go to Mistral. Pyrrha is Headmistress of Haven Academy."

"But Beacon was our school."

"Which was destroyed after before we finished our first year."

"We still graduated."

"Field promotion to full Huntress doesn't really count."

"Be quiet you old grumpy cat."

"I am not grumpy!"

Yang laughed when Blake knocked her to the ground and straddled her, she then stuck her tongue out playfully.

"Don't tell me you forgot I would put that thing to use if you weren't careful?"

Yang gave Blake a sultry smile, "What do you think?"

The pair simply stared at one another fondly. The fresh air pleasant and the drone of music and laughter from the dining hall equally so.

"I love you," she wrapped her arms around Blake, bringing the Faunus down to her, enjoying the loud purring Blake let loose.

"I love you too, Yang."

Their lives have been difficult. So much pain and anguish had brought them and their families to this point. But, it has been a good life…

…and it'll only continue to get better…till the end of their days.

THE END

A/N: I want to thank everyone again for reading my story. It has been a great experience and I hope to do more work in the future. Please let me know what you thought of it and I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I did. Thank you to everyone who gave me feedback and their opinions. This story wouldn't have been what it is without you all. Thanks again, and Happy Reading!

CS.