Chapter Ten: The Spark

Beacon, Initiation

Yang didn't mind the big slumber party in the auditorium… for the most part. There was that blonde kid who threw up on the ship to Beacon obscuring her view of more interesting male subjects while wearing some truly hideous footie pajamas, but at least the blonde kid's ineptitude was easy to ignore when he got lost in the crowd of first years.

Changing in the locker room the next day, Yang tried to suggest that maybe Ruby should be on a different team… not because Yang didn't want to team with her sister, but because Ruby really needed to branch out and make new friends and not always rely on her big sister as the only member of her social circle, especially if she was going to spend four years at the academy and then start her career as a huntress. Yang would love to watch Ruby's back for the foreseeable future, but she wanted her sister to find her own way and see more of the world and all the people in it.

There was that Weiss girl… trying to ingratiate herself with Pyrrha Nikos, the former regional champion from Mistral. Maybe the two had got off on the wrong foot, but having a friend from Atlas would give Ruby an interesting perspective, if nothing else. And that incompetent blonde guy was trying to win over Weiss with what some terrible liar had convinced him was charm. It was sort of endearing in how assertive he was despite having the cheesiest lines, and how he earnestly squeed at recognizing Pyrrha on a cereal box. And it was quite entertaining seeing him forcibly ejected from the conversation when Pyrrha obliged Weiss's request to chuck her spear and snagged him by his hoodie.

"Having some trouble there, Ladykiller?" Yang inquired, trying to keep her comment subdued. Much fun as she was having at the poor guy's expense, she didn't want to be mean. Well, not too mean, anyway. Ruby was far kinder, offering him a helping hand up.

"I don't understand," he bitterly muttered. "My dad said all women look for is confidence. Where did I go wrong?"

"'Snow Angel' probably wasn't the best start," Yang dryly suggested, hoping the advice might sink in and he'd just try a new and innovative way to fail he next time she saw him, because Yang suspected he'd be quite entertaining.

"Come on, Jaune, let's go." Ruby offered, helping to support the blonde boy and lead him out of the locker room. Yang paused to watch them depart, taking in the sight of Ruby and her new friend. Blondie may not have been the sharpest tool in the shed, but he seemed nice, and Yang couldn't deny he was funny, albeit not in a way he'd probably intended to be. And as an added bonus, Ruby had made a new friend.

And so long as Ruby was making friends with a boy two years older than her, Yang couldn't help but be pleased he seemed to be the most harmless guy around. Not that she'd mention it to either of them…

She'd probably see him throughout the semester and share a few classes with him over the next few years. He may not have been a hunk like she might expect a huntsman –even a huntsman in training- to be, but at least he'd be fun to have around.

Maybe she should try to find Ruby and join her team. And Pyrrha had skewered Jaune's hoodie with her spear and he'd been completely oblivious to her showing a polite interest in him, so they might be fun to keep around.

She tabled that thought for later and set out to join the other first years, briefly catching the eye of the pretty brunette with the bow who always seemed to have her nose in a book before today…

Kuroyuri, Today

Qrow knew things would go bad. He wasn't sure exactly when the bandits would turn on them, but apparently they'd timed things in such a way as to try and eliminate all their enemies at once before either Yang or Raven could eke out a decisive victory. Then the sniper shot rang out, and Qrow knew things had gone wrong. There was no way Ruby would fire unless she thought her friends were in danger, and whatever dislike she may have harbored for Raven, she'd passed up several better opportunities to shoot when Jaune stepped in to try and talk some sense into mother and daughter alike.

Debian crossed them, and rallied the crowd to defend their leader. Qrow couldn't move to help his sister while a knife protruded from her back, or move to help his niece like he'd planned; and worse, while she was vulnerable, possibly even incapacitated. And then a portal opened over his head and horrible monsters from another dimension tried to force their way through it. Qrow knew this would go sideways, but he hadn't expected that to be quite so literal.

He hated being right all the time.

Fortunately, the bandits seemed much less inclined to continue fighting now that an extradimensional gateway full of monsters was directly above Qrow's head. Most of the weaker and uninitiated bandits had already run, and now the captains were withdrawing from him, tactical but also very deliberate in their retreat.

Debian had been ordering the captains into the fray, but now stood stiff in the courtyard as spider-like legs pushed out of the portal beside Raven. His co-conspirator Amaranth had rushed down to join them, with an unconscious Ruby in tow. Qrow didn't bother waiting for an invitation and slashed the brute at his midsection, knocking off a big chunk of his Aura before extracting Ruby from his shoulder. Amaranth reached for his axe to respond in kind, only for Yang to strike his unprotected flank with a burst of shotgun pellet, sending him skidding back into the thinner Debian.

Jaune moved beside Raven while Yang and Qrow glanced around at the multiple enemies assailing them. In particular Yang focused her attention on the massive legs poking out of the portal beside Raven and Jaune, both because it was hard not to, and that left Jaune and Raven in her field of vision.

Jaune took hold of Raven's wrist, willingly pouring his Aura into her to help Raven hold herself together. She was groggy, her eyes unfocused, and blood was dribbling down her chin. Jaune looked up from her to the portal, as four spindly legs reached to each corner and pushed at the red energy encircling the dark path, pushing at the edges of reality to widen the tear.

"Raven, they're here," Jaune told her. "We need you now. We need you to get up. Tell me what I can do. Tell me what we can do."

His latter statement wasn't missed by Yang. Seeing him kneel beside her mother –his captor- and offering his aid irritated her far more than the bandits' betrayal or the giant monster ripping through time and space.

Yang had an idea what she could do about it.

The blonde bruiser turned her attention to the spindly spider legs and turned her left arm loose, firing round after round at the segmented areas, trying to strike at any vulnerable joints. Her shots bounced right off the black carapace, some of the pellets falling harmlessly away, others fragmented from impact but causing no visible damage.

"Idiot," Raven spat, reaching towards her back with her free hand and ripping the dagger out. Jaune pressed a hand to her, applying pressure to her wound. "That one's an elder: it grew larger by swallowing the dark. You might be able to damage it if you can match the strength of its gravity, but I don't think your gauntlet has enough power for that."

Yang glared at her, still incensed at the sight of Jaune holding her at her back and her wrist. Yang may not have intended to kill Raven when she and the others set up this operation, but she wasn't expecting Jaune to rush to her mother's rescue.

Qrow was slashing above his head at the arms reaching towards him. He seemed to be having better luck than Yang in actually driving some of the creatures back, but every time one arm (or wing or claw or tendril) retreated, another pushed down to take its place, and the black portal over his head just got wider.

"Yang, help the others," Qrow instructed, ceasing his attack only long enough to set Ruby down. "We need all that we can throw at this!"

It was a nice change of pace for her to agree with Qrow; they hadn't been in alignment too often lately. Yang moved to Nora and Ren, working to resuscitate them while Qrow just kept slashing at one appendage or another reaching down towards him.

Raven was doing better, her grip on Jaune's wrist tightening as she tried to pull herself up. Raven had only just managed to a sitting position and reached to her sword, only for Debian to drop down behind her, pulling his own dagger and holding it to her throat.

"There's an easy solution to this," Debian pointed out, speaking loud enough for the remaining captains to hear. "We kill the twins who abandoned us and rid us of their curse. Kill both the Branwens and seal the barrier."

"You idiot, Debian," Raven sneered, looking down at the dagger just below her chin. "They've already torn down the barrier. Killing us won't save you now."

"Lies to save her own life," Debian countered. "She ordered us to spare her brother even though our code demanded he pay for his desertion. She canceled her duel with the girl so she could steal the boy to warm her bed. She put us all in harm's way just for her own selfish wish and never once let on her challenger was her own daughter. She dies, all our problems go away. She dies, and our tribe is stronger."

He didn't need to put in any effort to convince Amaranth, who'd already fixed his attention back to Qrow, axe at the ready, eager to resume their prematurely ended melee. The other three captains were weighing their options, but were clearly open to Debian's suggestion.

Yang, however, had not been idle, and -after an application of lighting Dust to help awaken her comrades- had found a pair of counterarguments to the thief's proposition.

A scraping sound drew their attention as a wooden handle and a metal blade scratched along the uneven pavement of Kuroyuri. Debian wasn't able to turn in time as he was slashed several times from behind, cutting through his Aura, before his dagger was pressed down and away from Raven by the flat of another blade: Ren's knife, the very same weapon he'd used to defeat a dangerous Grimm in this very same place.

"I believe this is mine," Ren reminded Debian as the thief reached to try and complete his strike at a vulnerable neck before Raven bashed his chin with the back of her head and sent the thief tumbling backwards in a heap, Ren kicking his dagger from his hand then pinning him underfoot.

Amaranth moved to assist his ally, only for his axe to land in the path of a hammer, Nora intercepting the larger thief, supercharged by the electricity Yang had used to revive her. The force of impact from Magnhild broke off the top of Amaranth's axe, shattering the twin blades of his weapon. Nora gave him a big smile before swinging hard, shattering his armor with the force of impact and knocking off what remained of his Aura. Qrow followed up by striking the back of Amaranth's head with the flat of his blade, flooring the much larger foe with the strike.

Non-lethal blows… Raven wasn't as surprised as she should have been. Qrow's time under Ozpin's eye had made him soft, and he'd lost some of his edge. The children, of course, suffered that indoctrination far worse.

Raven stood up and turned her attention to Debian. Releasing her grip on Jaune's wrist and reaching for her sword, she wasted no time in reaching down and skewering her former subordinate on the blade, before he had time to utter a protest and with barely enough time for Ren to move out of harm's way. Raven hoisted up his thin frame on her sword, Debian retching as he tried to pull himself off the sword imbedded in his midsection.

"Easy solutions," Raven repeated. "He dies, and our tribe is stronger."

"W-wait, I-" Debian tried to say before Raven abruptly slashed upwards and rendered it impossible for him to speak. Raven pulled her sword back as two parts of what had once been a treacherous captain fell on either side of her blade.

Her action done, Raven tuned her attention to the elder still widening the portal. Raven flicked the blood from her great sword and stepped towards her enemy, unsteady on her feet, falling to one knee before she took her third step.

Jaune rushed to support her, Raven leaning on her sword. She took hold of his wrist with her left hand and drew upon his Aura, but instead of using it to help replenish herself, Raven charged his light into her sword and struck at the elder's closest leg. The charge of Jaune's light combined with Raven bending the pathway on the surface of her blade did as she'd intended, sending the limb away to another point in the darkness and burning the elder with the light of Jaune's Aura. Though wounded, the elder did not retreat, still trying to widen the entrance with only three legs, glaring at her with dozens of eyes scattered through the entrance to the portal.

She needed to press the attack and force it to retreat, but she'd already lost a lot of blood, and she couldn't keep drawing on Jaune indefinitely, deep though his well was. But she had to push the elder back, because keeping two portals open at such close proximity would only make it easier for the rest of the denizens to pour through. She had to cut the head off the serpent. She had to strike fear into them now.

Raven forced herself to stand and slashed twice more, separating another leg and forcing the elder to lose its grip. Raven then refocused her attention on pushing down on the barrier with her blade, trying to, if not close the tear, at least make it a tighter space. The elder tried to push back, but without a firm grip lost its hold and tumbled back into the dark, howling its objection to the void.

The portal remained open, but it was too small for the elder to reach through now. Peering into the dark, Raven saw the elder change tactics, moving backwards, then up and around. It was heading towards Qrow, to regroup with the larger force, to push its way through…

It was no longer a multi-pronged attack, but so long as the second tear remained, so long as space remained distorted –and would continue to do so, now that Qrow was healthy again- they'd keep trying, and they knew their jailer was wounded again, and before they'd even had to fight her.

She had to pursue it… she had to give chase while their attention was on a single front, but she was so very tired… so drained…

Jaune was still holding onto her, still giving her his Aura. She tightened her grip on his wrist and pulled more in, whipping her head towards her three remaining captains, still simply looking on as Qrow continued to fend off the invaders and Nora helped to resuscitate Ruby. "Get the others to their posts now. Tell them to shoot and stab at these beasts until there's nothing left to shoot and stab. If you want to live through the day, get in there and fight!"

Jaune reached his free hand to the small of Raven's back, below her stab wound, and helped her stand without swaying. Yang watched the motion, growing increasingly agitated at the sight of Jaune and her mother being so… she wasn't even sure how she'd describe it. She was still quite angry.

The bandit captains did as their chief instructed, calling for the others not wearing red and black to rejoin the fight. They were slow and reluctant to regroup, but those who hadn't fled Kuroyuri completely did return, using whatever weapons they could bring to bear to fire on the monsters encroaching on them.

Once her subordinates were working in tandem with Qrow, Raven turned her attention to the entrance still open beside her. If they could hold the line for just a short while, she could chase the elder and attack from behind. She just needed to keep moving, she just needed to keep fighting…

She'd have stumbled were Jaune not holding her up. "Raven…" he whispered.

"We have to chase it," Raven replied. "They know they have a chance now, and more of them will come. Either we kill their leader and scare them off, or they keep pushing until there's too many to stop. If we don't stop this now, they'll finish what they started and make it through."

"Raven…" Jaune said again, before sternly adding: "You'll die."

He was probably right. But Raven wasn't going to let that bother her. "You swore to do as I wished, Jaune. I'm going to fight them. Will you fight at my side or not?"

She already knew the answer. She just wanted him to reaffirm it, one last time.

Slowly, Jaune nodded. "I made a promise. I'll go with you."

Yang had heard enough. "And so will I."

That Raven was much less keen on. That ran counter to everything she'd ever intended and all she'd done to keep Yang from their grip. That was the only thing Raven would not sacrifice.

"You won't be of any help," Raven bluntly told her. "You couldn't harm the elder and you've never fought in their domain before. Stay here and help your uncle on this end if you wish to help."

It was a harsh but pragmatic suggestion. It hid her objections well.

But Yang was every bit as stubborn as Raven. "I'm going with you. I'm not leaving Jaune alone with you in there, and just because you're so insistent on dying doesn't mean I'll let the same happen to him."

Raven needed a new excuse. She needed to find a reason to dissuade her, to not bring her along. If Yang was in danger, or if the denizens whispered the right words in her ear…

Jaune turned his attention to Yang. Their eyes met.

A few fleeting moments ago she'd kissed him. Just as she had the first time, she'd taken a huge and dramatic leap despite any potential consequences. Whatever measure of caution her father's lessons had instilled in her, she was still daring and took what she wanted.

Jaune thought on her asking him if he regretted the choices they'd made, if their act prompted by loneliness, grief, and alcohol had been a mistake. He remembered the guilt he'd felt thinking of all he'd missed before, and trying to justify the circumstances that led to what he'd had with her.

He remembered when he took initiative instead and kissed Yang himself, and how she held his hand all throughout. He remembered how she constantly reached for it, how she never wished to let it go.

He remembered her confident statement before her duel against her mother, and how he'd squeezed her hand when she told him: now and always.

He remembered letting go of that hand as he'd finished saying what he needed to say to her, and left with Raven…

Jaune stepped between the two, fixing his gaze on Raven, still holding onto her with his left hand. His right reached over to take Yang's, and she was eager to squeeze his fingers. "I made a promise to her, too. I told her I'd stay with her… and for a moment I was desperate enough to save her life I forgot that."

Raven was incandescent. "I don't see why that-"

Jaune turned serious. "We're all in danger: you said so yourself. So let's stop fighting each other and start fighting them. We all have to fight together now, because we don't have any other choice. So whatever this is, whatever you think of her, she's here now and she can fight- I know she can. So forget the past like you keep trying to do, and move on. Fight with her now. Fight with me now. Fight with us now."

Raven's attention had not left her daughter, even with Jaune standing between them. Seeing the determination in her eyes, seeing the bloody red behind the cool lilac, Raven acknowledged that they'd need help, and it was probably best it come from someone brave enough to see things through.

And if they failed, Yang would die anyway. Raven would rather be at her side if this was to be the end.

"Very well," Raven agreed. "Let us meet our common enemy."

Jaune reluctantly released his grip on Yang's hand and hoisted Raven up in his arms. Yang didn't much care for the sight, but seemed much more willing to bear it and contain her anger now that Jaune had convinced Raven to include her.

Jaune stepped into the portal with Raven in tow. Yang was slower to follow, but hesitated only briefly before joining her lover in the dark pathways.

Ruby watched, still half-dazed, as her sister and her best friend disappeared into the black. She narrowed her eyes and turned her attention to the portal above her uncle Qrow's head, hoisting up her scythe and slashing at anything trying to find its way out.

Qrow, fighting beside his niece, her friends, and the bandits now forced into alliance with them, couldn't help but think how all this could've been avoided, if they could've found some middle ground to work together before had they not been subject to the whims of a teenage girl with a crush and the arcane rules of a bandit clan.

And his thoughts drifted to the collapsed cane attached to his belt and the hidden prize contained within it… and how if the moment came, he'd tell Ruby to take it to Haven and run. He'd have to be ready if the situation proved dire enough.

For now, however, fighting alongside his sister and his nieces and a strange alliance of convenience, Qrow did all he could to push back against the denizens of the dark.

Yang had some trouble orienting herself at first, finding no visible 'floor' to set foot upon in the dark pathways. Jaune helped her -having experienced the same disorientation on his first visit- and by latching onto him and letting him pull her along through the suffocating dark for a while she started to gain her bearings.

She wasn't exactly thrilled at the sight of Jaune carrying Raven around, but holding onto his shoulder made it easier for Yang to bear. She still couldn't quite manage to look at Raven, however; every time Yang did, her mother seemed to be just a little bit too comfortable in Jaune's arms.

They'd obviously… done something. Yang didn't want to speculate on exactly how far they'd gone, but each of them smelled enough like the other that she could guess, much as she desperately wanted not to think of it. But she could smell nothing else in the black corridor, and the result was her fixating on what her mother might've done to Jaune after she absconded with him.

In a strange place full of dangerous monsters, Yang was focused on what divided her from her mother and her lover -her only two allies in the dark- rather than think on the mission. She was still fighting against all her resentment for Raven, for besting her, for abandoning her, for stealing Jaune away… it all seemed so much easier to just let her anger swell than to try and push it back down.

She's taken everything from you. She can't help it: it's all she knows how to do.

Yang didn't want to hate someone; to have all her emotions towards someone be negative. But for Raven, Yang could think of nothing else. How Raven had hurt her, had hurt her father, had hurt Jane, how she'd even hurt Ruby, if indirectly.

He doesn't seem to mind being her captive. She may have already swayed him. She may have turned him against you.

Jaune threw himself between them to stop their fighting. Surely it was because he didn't want either of them to be hurt –he'd feel that way no matter what he thought of Raven- but Yang wondered when exactly he'd become so willing to aid her mother, ever ready to take hold of her wrist and offer his Aura.

Because he was genuinely concerned about the monsters in these pathways? He had been before, to the point of being willing to sacrifice himself for everyone's good.

But now Yang wondered if perhaps he was at Raven's beck and call because of… something much less noble; something she'd have never thought him capable of.

Then again, Jaune had surprised her quite a few times in the past few days.

She hurts you all the time. She'll never stop hurting you. And she'll hurt him, and make him hurt you too.

Jaune hadn't abandoned her, he'd saved her life. Jaune hadn't tried to leave her behind but instead given up what he could've had with Yang for her sake. Yet now…

It was a terrible thought, but… did he prefer Raven to her? After all, he was carrying her now, and not taking Yang's hand in his own.

He won't ever say it. He's too weak to say it. He'll just move on and disappear from your life… because of her.

Because of her.

Because of her.

She was wounded. That was why Jaune carried her. There wasn't anything more to it than-

He married her. He'd never marry you.

What? Why would she even think that? Why would that thought ever cross her mind? They weren't… Yang hand't thought…

They'll leave you, together. Whether he wants to or she poisons his mind or seduces him away, they'll go. They'll abandon you, just like everyone abandons you.

'Everyone' did not abandon her, and she wasn't so irrational to think they had. These thoughts, this anger and jealousy and fear all compounding within her, they were something she wouldn't acknowledge.

She believed in Jaune. He was earnest and genuine and had been since the day she met him, falling all over himself to impress Weiss and being completely oblivious to Pyrrha's interest in him.

He wants to run. He wants to run because he feels like he betrayed her. Because you stole him away, and he dishonored her memory.

Yang feared that one might be true. At times she couldn't believe it herself, that she had ended up with Jaune of all people, and Pyrrha wasn't around to try and express the feelings everyone had seen but the poor, dense blonde boy she loved. Thinking of him listening to a recorded message from her, Yang wondered if things had gone differently, if they'd known then what they knew now, that Pyrrha might be alive and Jaune might've been with her, and Pyrrha might now be the one here with Jaune and Raven.

He's yours' now. Don't let her take him. Don't let her convince him.

Whatever could have been, Yang wanted what she had –whatever they couldn't name or define and couldn't decide upon- with Jaune and would never have that back while Raven had him in her grip. Even if they succeeded in destroying the monsters, something had to change. Yang still had to finish what she'd begun and finish her business with her mother.

End it here. Take him back and return to the others. Leave her to her fate, just like she left you to yours'.

The thought was appealing… even if she wasn't sure how to get back, Jaune seemed to have a sense of where to walk.

Just leave her and go. She can die alone, like she deserves.

Like she…

There were people in the world Yang hated. People to whom she wished terrible fates, after they earned them with their actions. Raven had done her so much harm, it was tempting to put her in the same category as people as horrible as Roman Torchwick and Adam Taurus.

But Raven was still her mother, and strong as her anger had become, Yang hadn't wished –even once- for her to die in a place like this. These thoughts she had now…

They almost sounded like…

Yang tugged on Jaune's shoulder. "We're not alone."

Raven glanced back towards her. Her eyes narrowed as she drove her sword towards Yang's head. Yang instinctively moved to dodge, only to see Raven's blade skewer something above her shoulder, pulling out some small winged creature, barely even visible as an outline impaled on Raven' sword. Her mother flicked the small beast away, and Yang heard no more of the devious and hateful thoughts.

Had they done this all along? Whispered in her mother's ear, appealing to her very worst instincts? If Yang had ever truly, abjectly hated Raven she might've gone along with the suggestions the small creature had been offering her.

"It never stops," she heard Raven say. Yang wasn't sure who the message was directed towards: her or Jaune. Was it an appeal to kindness and comfort from the man holding her in his arms, or reassurance to her daughter about what she'd been exposed to?

Or was it just her own lamentation?

The air around them –or whatever it was they were breathing- seemed to thin, and Yang felt herself being compressed, and her body felt much heavier.

"The elder's at Qrow's portal," Raven explained. "We don't have long."

Qrow, Ruby, Nora, Ren, and the bandits had managed to acquit themselves well, fending off the many arms reaching out and pushing back the horde. They'd held fast and bought Raven, Jaune, and Yang the time they needed.

Until a massive spider-like leg pressed through the portal and slammed into the uneven pavement of Kuroyuri. Bullets bounced off the monstrous carapace. Swords bent or shattered when striking its frame.

The weak ones had failed, and a stronger one was taking its chance. They were running out of time. More of the bandits were fleeing the battle, and the former Beacon students were looking to Qrow for some guidance now.

Qrow slowly reached for the relic strapped to his belt. If Raven didn't hurry, he'd have to send it away, and keep it from this monster's grip.

A second arachnid leg forced its way through, widening the portal further…

As they drew nearer, Raven finally removed herself from Jaune's arms and walked alongside them. Yang was still attached to Jaune's shoulder even if it was no longer necessary for her to do so, finding something solid enough to stand on with them as they continued through the pathways. Raven was holding tightly to Jaune's wrist, drawing upon his Aura for the remainder of the trip, and at long last it was starting to affect him, as his steps were a bit more sluggish and his energy noticeably waning.

But they came upon them at last; scores, possibly more than a hundred of the monsters, illuminated by the light outside, the gate to Kuroyuri still open. At the center sat the massive, spider-like form of the elder, trying to pull the tiny portal open wide enough to fit through, as its smaller ilk kept trying to prod their way in after, while others simply watched and waited for their moment to follow after.

"This is better than I thought," Raven told them. "I was expecting more than one elder. You two should be of some help against the smaller ones."

"And I assume you'll take the big one?" Yang deadpanned.

"The elder has become dense by absorbing the gravity that ties the remnant and the fragment together," Raven answered. "It's grown larger and its prison has grown smaller… it happens to all these creatures. They feed on the darkness here and draw their quarters tighter."

"How did they even get here?" Yang asked.

"They tell different stories," Raven replied. "Some say they fell through cracks between dimensions, some say they were cast down here by someone strong enough to expel them. They all know they can't remain forever, because nothing –not even this darkness- is infinite. They want to return to the fragment or enter the remnant, whatever way leads to their freedom."

"Fragment?" Yang repeated. "Are you saying there's some other world like Remnant, or…?"

"It's… complicated." Raven offered.

"Yeah, okay, fair enough, tell us the whole thing later," Yang suggested. "What's the plan?"

"The light of Jaune's Aura burns them, and my blade cuts through the barriers that hold the dimensions separate," Raven explained. "Your own attacks may not be much help, but you should be able to at least push the smaller ones back and give us time to kill their leader. We kill the elder, and the others will flee. If we're strong enough to kill one as big as that, they won't risk their lives; they'll try and fight another day."

"Even when there's a way out right in front of them?" Jaune asked, jerking his head towards the still-widening portal.

Raven narrowed her eyes and thought it over. "Well, I would suggest we destroy all of them, but that may not be possible in the state we're in. We destroy the head of the army, and then if the rest want to keep fighting we hold them here."

"Fine by me," Yang agreed.

Raven took hold of each of them, pressing fingers to either shoulder, very deliberately using her left hand on Yang so as not to press her great sword against the blonde bruiser. "No matter what happens, we kill the elder. We stop them here, we push them back, we keep them locked away. There may be people left strong enough to stop even this many them, but no one will be strong enough to stop all of them if they have a way in. We kill the elder and we close the door… no matter what."

Jaune nodded. "Our friends –our family- are on the other side. We won't let anything get out."

Yang looked down at the gauntlet of Ember Celica still latched to her right hand, and the limited number of Dust cartridges she had. She'd have to get creative with her application, or she'd run out of ammo before she made a dent.

"I'm ready," Yang affirmed, standing up and readying her fist.

Raven took her hands from their shoulders and pulled on her Grimm mask, leveling her sword. "Jaune, with me while its back is turned. Yang, hit anything that tries to flank us."

Yang wasn't thrilled about taking orders from someone who stabbed her two days earlier, but the situation warranted her putting that thought aside. She simply nodded and reached past Raven, finding Jaune's hand with her right and giving it a squeeze.

Jaune squeezed her back, closing his eyes and focusing what remained of his Aura. He didn't have long to enjoy the moment, however, and followed after Raven, unsheathing his sword and raising his shield.

The beasts began to take notice as Raven drew near, stepping out from the empty darkness and onto the pathway. Jaune moved in their path, battering one winged creature away with his shield and pushing it out of Raven's way. Yang followed up by firing a capsule of ice Dust into the nearest group of foes, creating a frozen wall to prevent them from attacking her mother.

Raven herself switched from walk to run as she charged Jaune's Aura across the surface of her great sword, the red blade covered in the brilliant yellow hue of his light. She slashed across the elder's back with a fury, concentrating and directing her Semblance to push the piece of the elder she'd struck away from its body and into another segment of the dark pathways, its detached flesh still burning in the light of Jaune's Aura.

The elder reared back its head and uttered out a devastating wail, one that visibly affected Jaune and Yang as they reached to cover their ears, not used to sound waves being carried to them and only them, with nothing else to refract against. Raven's mask did the trick, keeping her ears protected from the pain and allowing her to focus on her work, continuing her surprise attack for all it was worth, slashing the elder and sending bit after bit away to elsewhere in the void.

Raven ignored the pain of the wound in her back and ran over the elder's shoulder, jumping off and slicing downwards, segmenting two of the legs trying to tear the gate wider, and the elder lost its grip and tumbled down to the 'floor'. Raven concentrated on using her own Aura to manifest her Semblance, pulling the portal back together and narrowing the gap, before any of the smaller ones became opportunistic enough to get through. She hadn't quite managed to seal the way through, but the monsters' exit had become little more than a slim crack. Raven then drew back and retreated, as the enraged elder spun around and swung its remaining legs after her, narrowly missing their mark.

She was still wounded, and she was sluggish, and now she was surrounded by the elder and scores of others who now saw their jailer had cut them off; and sealed herself in with her prisoners.

"Wandering light," the elder snarled, as Jaune moved beside Raven to offer her his Aura. "It seems you've returned to die in the dark."

"Does it matter where I die?" Jaune defiantly asked.

"No," the elder conceded. "It does not."

Yang moved to join the two, standing with her back to them as the monsters moved to encircle them, waiting from above, below, and all around.

Jaune glanced back at her. Their eyes met.

Of all the ways they could've gone…

The elder staggered forward on its remaining legs and the other denizens descended upon them.

In Kuroyuri, the loose alliance of bandits, Qrow, and former Beacon students looked on as the monstrous legs were pulled back in and the gap between dimensions began to close back up. Only a small tear remained, and Qrow kept his attention on it. The three remaining captains and the two dozen remaining uninitiated bandits turned their eyes towards Ruby, Ren, and Nora. They slowly recognized that they were all armed and the bandits far outnumbered them.

Nora tightened her grip on her hammer. "Just try it."

They certainly seemed like they might try. Ren stood beside his partner, Storm Flower at the ready. Ruby, however, moved back to the unconscious body of Amaranth, slamming the ground beside him with her scythe. "See this guy here? The guy who helped cause all this stuff? Why don't you guys just be angry at him and not turn on us for a while? Our friends are still in there, so this fight isn't over. Do you really want to fight us now when you know those monsters might come back?"

They seemed willing to do just that, but Ruby had given them somewhere else to vent their anger. They dragged Amaranth into their horde and strung him up, and while Ruby wasn't much for the sight, she left the bandits to turn their aggression to the traitor.

It was a temporary measure, but it bought time. Qrow kept his eye fixed on the cut in the air above his head as Ruby came to rejoin him. "Uncle Qrow… what do we do if they don't make it out?"

Ruby hadn't trusted his word yesterday, or the day before that. No doubt she was frightened if she was able to show this concern and doubt to him. Either that, or she'd come to realize there were bigger problems than the white lies an uncle and a sister had told her.

"They'll make it out," Qrow assured her.

He believed that to be true. That wasn't a lie.

He really didn't want to lie today, if it could be helped.

In the dark pathways, the battle proceeded. Yang kept pushing the beasts back with shotgun rounds and put up a second barrier of ice to cover one of their flanks. Raven was continuing to slowly wound the elder, though Jaune was running out of Aura to give to her. The light coating her blade was growing dimmer, and wounded though it was, the elder was pressing on. The battle of attrition was starting to favor the dark denizens, as Raven's wound made her movements slow and predictable, and it was all Jaune could do to raise his shield and bash attackers away.

"Submit to us, wandering light," the elder called. "Only together will we escape this place."

"You just threatened to kill me," Jaune reminded the monster.

"The jailer will die. But you and the other can go free. All you have to do is stop," the elder tried to strike at Raven again, but Jaune moved in front of her and hoisted his shield, taking the brunt of the monster's leg and absorbing the impact for her.

"You lied to me the first time we met," Jaune answered. "Why would I believe anything you say?"

"Because my offer is the only one where she lives," the elder replied.

It stated it would kill Raven. That could only mean that-

"Decide," the elder snarled.

Jaune looked back at Yang as she continued to push back the smaller members of the horde, reloading the Dust capsules in her right gauntlet. She'd actually fended a few of them off, even if she couldn't quite see the beasts in the darkness. She was giving he and Raven this opening, but she'd eventually run out of energy or ammunition. She was wounded too, and she was fighting enemies she couldn't hope to defeat…

The elder had tempted him before by preying on his guilt over Pyrrha's loss. Now it was trying to find his guilt over costing Yang her life in letting her join in this fight; trying to give Jaune a way to save her life, to absolve himself of the responsibility of leading her to her death.

He remembered Yang kissing him from the doorframe in her room that first night. He remembered her challenging Raven for him, and how she'd explained herself to him in the clearing and convinced him she could perform the task. He remembered Yang deciding she would accompany them, even when she was told she'd be outmatched.

"Yang decides for herself," Jaune replied. "Her life is her own."

"Her life is mine," the elder promised, raising its legs and driving them over Jaune's head.

"Yang!" Jaune called, spinning around and reaching for her.

Yang turned to glance, her hair flipping about the side of her head. She couldn't see the two massive legs descending towards her, but she could see something moving in the dark over her head…

Raven concentrated her Aura downwards, letting it guide her feet as she moved into place. In accelerating her pace, she had no Aura to coat her blade. She had no Aura to shield her body.

She knew this was a mistake. She knew this violated the very reason she'd come to wage this fight.

But if there was one life –even just one- that these monsters could not claim, one she would never let them claim…

She'd doom her tribe. She may well have doomed the remnant they all lived within and everyone in it.

Because there was one life she'd save more than once. One life –one single weakness- that changed her enough to forget what she'd believed in before, and tried to believe in all the way to this single moment.

Raven moved to shield her daughter, placing herself in the elder's path. Both of its legs impaled her through her chest and stomach, as Raven hunkered down and forced them towards the 'floor', slowing their motion. Raven was pushed back by the force of impact, but stopped just short of running into her daughter.

"Ra…" Yang began, before reaching out towards her, then looking down at the legs poking through her back.

Raven tried to turn her head. Yang met the eyes of her Grimm mask as she said: "I'm sorry…"

Raven slumped forward onto the elder's legs. The monster drew each spindly limb back as Raven fell to the 'floor' and lay prone there, blood pooling from beneath.

Jaune rushed over to help her, to try and pour more of his Aura into her, but he was already so low he wasn't making any noticeable difference.

The beasts around grew bolder, amassing. Yang looked down at her mother, her hand still pointlessly extended outwards as the darkness drew nearer and smothered all but the three of them, barely illuminated by the tiny crack left.

Raven had been so cruel to Yang, and harshly dismissed her both with her words and her sword. She'd made clear that Yang was too weak to be worth her time and that she was a lesser priority than Raven's tribe and her mission.

Yet now she'd sacrificed herself to save Yang's life…

Mother…

Yang turned her attention to the biggest patch of darkness. She reared back her fist.

She'd tried to learn not to take the direct approach, and think before she struck. But she was angry, and she had to fight or her mother's sacrifice would have been for nothing. She had to fight or the monsters would kill Jaune and herself.

Her Semblance exploded outwards as her eyes burnt red. She didn't fire Ember Celica, merely swung with her right hand into the heavy darkness.

Light erupted from her fist and cut through the dark, slicing through the elder's leg and severing it. Aura poured out from her, Aura a brilliant, stinging yellow that coated the metal of her fist.

Yang paused as the elder howled in pain again. The sound didn't bother her; she was so transfixed by the Aura pouring out of her hand, by the weapon that had damaged this monstrous creature that could slay Raven.

The beasts whispered to each other as they drew back in fear. The light coating the elder's severed leg burned away its darkness, and the smaller beasts recognized the danger they were in.

Whispers…

Whispers…

Two Days Ago, Twilight

"You shouldn't have done that. You idiot… you…"

Jaune knelt down beside her. He reached over and took hold of her right hand, squeezing her fingers tight.

"You…" Yang said again, struggling to insult him. Tears welled up in her eyes as she tried to compose her thoughts, Jaune waiting patiently before her.

"It's not fair," Yang whimpered. "I just got back, I just found out how much you mattered to me… why? Why does it have to be like this?"

Jaune squeezed her hand tight, leaning in close and pressing his forehead against hers, indifferent to the sweat and messy blonde strands brushing against him. Yang continued her soft whimper, squeezing Jaune's hand tight.

"No matter what, I'm glad we found each other again," Jaune told her. "I'm glad… I'm glad it was you."

He slowly pulled his hand away, and Yang clamped down with her fingers. "No, please don't. Jaune, don't go-"

She could feel the spark growing fainter. She felt her fingers becoming colder already…

Ruby came over and joined them, saying her goodbyes to Jaune. Jaune hadn't released his grip on Yang just yet, still whispering… quietly saying something for her…

Something she couldn't quite make out… something about…

"…and by my shoulder, protect thee," Jaune finished as he stepped up and went to join Raven. Just as he'd sealed his bond with her, so too had he given Yang the same pledge, if only as a parting gift.

His Aura had already helped her with the pain. Binding it to her left her wishing for more, still reaching out to him, still trying to close her metal fingers around his hand.

Today

Yang felt it burning in her like a roaring fire. She felt the heat in her fist, and the light now running along the surface of her metal hand illuminated the battlefield and the scores of enemies, and particularly the dozens of eyes of the elder, looking on in surprise and horror at the enemy it had underestimated, at the light in the darkness it had never seen or expected.

Jaune interceded and said they were the enemy. They threatened everyone, and wanted to envelop all the light under their smothering dark.

Yang wouldn't let her fire burn out. Not until she burnt all that darkness away.

Yang would follow her mother's plan and focus on the elder. Her path was clear.

She reared back her fist and swung, an arc of light slicing through the black and severing another of the beast's legs. The elder had lost four of its limbs and slumped forward hard before Yang, low enough now for her to strike with impunity. It had already been wounded by Raven, and now a softer part had been exposed, right in the path of Yang's fist.

She felt Jaune take hold of her left hand, pouring what he could into her to charge her one final time. It felt very strange to feel him holding her left hand… the spark remained in the right, and the motivation of holding his hand once again with her metal fingers drove her blow with more than just fury, but purpose.

Yang leapt up to punch down, closing the gauntlet on her right so as not to accidentally discharge. Hanging in the air above the elder, her fist shined brightly, the sun racing down to meet the night.

She landed her blow, the Aura exploding out and concaving down into the beast's head. Its howl of pain ceased before it could begin, as Yang's fist reached all the way down to scrape against the 'floor'. The darkness around her arm burnt away under the light of Aura, slowly fading and dissipating under the force of the burning light.

Yang had exhausted a good deal of her energy already, and her Semblance wouldn't last forever. But her light was shining brightly on her fist, and her Aura radiating off her body and illuminating the pathways. Even outnumbered as she was, she faced the horde of beasts without fear, eyes burning red.

Burning red just as their jailer's had. Just as they'd fled from before.

Their biggest and strongest was gone. Their way out wasn't large enough anymore for even their smallest to break through and there was no other elder close enough to pull it wider. And the light between them and the exit was burning so brightly they couldn't even bear to look at it.

Slowly, they began to withdraw, retreating from the overpowering light back into the empty black. Yang looked around her as they all rescinded and fled before her, disappearing into the darkness and drawing back as far as they could from her fury and power.

Yang heard Jaune move from her side back over to her mother. Yang turned to look as Raven forced herself to a sitting position and swung her blade at the gap, discharging one final burst of her Aura to seal the tiny crack and close off the path to Kuroyuri. Once the tear finished sealing itself she fell backwards, her sword clattering out of her hand as her head rested on the dark ground, her breathing fast and labored. Jaune helped remove her Grimm mask, revealing her flushed face and the blood still falling from her mouth.

Yang stepped towards them. Jaune continued to try and help her, but his light had run low. He couldn't give her enough to patch herself up, and she was still bleeding. Raven turned her head to look at Yang as she dropped down at her mother's side, resting on her knees.

For a long time they just looked at each other, though Raven's eyes were unfocused and her breathing so harsh. Raven reached a hand out towards her, brushing it against Yang's still flesh-and-blood left, and slowly Yang took her mother's hand in her own.

She'd answered the question once before. But Yang thought the answer might be different this time.

"Why did you save me?" Yang asked.

Raven knew her time was short, and there were no eavesdroppers who could use her weakness against her now. "This fight against them… from the day I left, I've fought them for you. No matter what I said, no matter what I told myself I believed… it was you, Yang. I couldn't ever lose you. Not to them. Not… not to anything."

Raven reaffirmed the grip with her right hand on Jaune's wrist. "You have to make it back to the other portal before it's too late. When the last of my Aura ekes away from within you, the entrance to this place will be sealed."

"We can get you out," Jaune assured her. "We can get you out in time and give you our supplies, and-"

Raven tightened her grip on him. "You swore you'd do as I asked. This is the last thing I'll ever instruct you to do: take my daughter out of here and keep her safe. Keep her happy. Don't let her live her life just to fight like I did."

Raven would've never believed those words coming from herself before Yang was born. Before she'd held the sun in her hands and wished only to feel its gentle warmth and not know its strength.

Slowly, Jaune nodded. "I promise."

"Thank you, Jaune," Raven told him, lessening her grip on his wrist. "I need… your Scroll."

Jaune reached his free hand into his pocket and pulled it out. Raven tapped against the screen, typing in four numbers, each divided into two sets of coordinates. "This is where I saw her last. I don't know if she's still there, but it'll give my brother a place to look."

Jaune was stunned by her generosity. "Thank you, Raven."

"Thank you for giving me some happiness, for reminding me of… for reminding me before the end." Raven answered.

Yang was still looking down at her mother when she turned her head back. Yang's eyes had shifted back from red to a soft lilac, with a touch of the bright blue her father had given her. She squeezed Yang's hand tight.

"I wish things could've been different," Raven admitted. "But I'm glad now… I'm glad that before the end I got to see the person you grew to be."

Yang tightened her grip as she felt her mother's weaken. She tried to tug on her mother's fingers, to will her to return. Her mother's head fell back as she closed her eyes, and Yang reached over with her right hand to shake her mother's shoulder.

She screamed in her ear. Tears fell from her eyes and splattered on her mother's cheek. Yang pressed her head low and listened frantically for a heartbeat as she searched everywhere for some sign, some reason to believe that even this fate she'd succumbed to had been another deception…

She felt Jaune's hand take hold of her right and hold her tight. Her eyes were still full of tears when she looked at his hand in hers', and then up to his eyes.

He didn't say it. He didn't dissuade her. He didn't force her back; he let reality set in at its pace.

Yang looked down at her mother's hands in each of theirs, and willed her tears away. The fight wasn't over yet. And Jaune had made her mother a promise.

When the crack above Qrow's head finally closed, the bandits no longer had reason to keep up the pretense of an alliance. Yet Ruby giving them their traitor had seemed to quell their bloodlust, and they didn't try to kill the man who'd abandoned them in the past, if any of them were old enough to remember him. Instead they stood sentry by the remaining portal with Qrow, Ruby, Ren, and Nora, each waiting for the result of the battle.

It was nearly sunset over Kuroyuri when they saw the portal began to shrink. Ruby turned to Qrow for an explanation but he averted his gaze. If the portal was closing from the other side, he knew what it meant. At least she'd managed to close the other entrance before she succumbed.

But Yang and Jaune… it wasn't fair this was how things had…

Yang stepped through the portal, carrying her mother's body in her arms. Jaune followed after her a moment later carrying Raven's sword, the portal shrinking behind them until it fully closed up, leaving them illuminated only by the sun setting behind them in the west.

The bandits looked on, stunned as Yang set her mother's body down before them, Jaune placing her sword beside. Ruby, Ren, and Nora moved over to embrace their loved ones, while Qrow looked down at his sister, knowing already that she was gone.

Yang embraced Ruby for a long time before slowly wriggling her way free of her little sister's hug. Jaune did the same after eventually extricating himself from Nora's firm grip, stepping towards Qrow and handing him his Scroll. "She wanted me to give you this."

Qrow looked down at the screen, at the coordinates Raven had provided. Looking down at his departed twin, he honestly wished she was standing up and boasting about how she'd outmaneuvered him. Right then, he'd have preferred his sister was alive than she had given him the intel he'd been seeking; that he'd been willing to trade an ally to obtain.

Jaune took Yang's hand and led her towards the command tent. The other three former Beacon students watched them leave while Qrow looked between Raven and the location of the Spring Maiden she'd given him as a parting gift.

All the things it had cost them… all the waste they'd allowed because of ancient rules, loyalties, and the whims of two unfortunate Semblances… how Qrow wished he could have all that again if only his sister had lived.

Ruby was watching Yang and Jaune step into Raven's tent. She was probably still feeling quite vulnerable, and looking for someone to lean on… but that wasn't the reason Qrow hugged her from behind. It wasn't strength he was offering her, just sorrow to share.

Ruby had doubted him recently, and probably still did, but she embraced him in turn, reminding him his family remained and hadn't let him so alone.

One of the bandit captains stepped over. Qrow prepared himself for a fight until he saw her raise both hands to show she was unarmed, before she pointed down to Raven's body, and more specifically, to her sword.

Qrow realized what was being asked. He turned his eyes to the tent and speculated on how Yang might take it.

In the dark pathways, the darkness absorbed by the elder faded away. The prison was a bit larger without one more occupant, but what it had taken to make itself stronger did not return to replenish. Other elders like it merely saw their way out had been closed, their opportunity to escape lost, and one fewer weak point in the remnant apart to try and enter through.

They had to shift their focus then. They had tried for too long to escape this way and their efforts had come to naught in the face of their jailer. They would find another way into the remnant apart.

She'd worn the face of the monsters called Grimm, the soulless entities that wandered the surface of the remnant. In their earliest life cycle they were made of the same darkness the denizens absorbed and wandered through. If they could not reach the surface and wash away its light, they would try to start at the very bottom rung and climb up through the dark.

Not today. In time…

Jaune directed Yang to sit in a rickety wooden chair inside her mother's tent. She might've preferred to lay in the big, comfy bed, but thought better of it when Jaune sat down across from her. The chair was comfortable enough now that she could rest again, and she didn't want to think of what had gone on in her mother's bed while Jaune had been her prisoner.

Her mother… Yang had thought that her mother was cold and ruthless and cared nothing for her. Yet now…

A single selfless act didn't absolve Raven of her misdeeds, of all she'd taken, of those she may have killed, or the harm she did to Yang, Jaune, or her father. Yet if what Raven had said was true –if she'd finally spoken the truth after telling Yang so many lies- then she'd fought this battle for Yang's sake, and demonstrated that so when she sacrificed herself.

Yang thought she knew how to feel about her mother before then. Now she wasn't so sure how she'd remember her. Would she remember the woman who harshly dismissed her or the woman who held her hand and thanked her for being at her side in her final moments?

She looked up at Jaune, who was patiently watching her from across the table. For a long time she just looked into his eyes.

Five days ago, he was just her friend, and not her closest or her most beloved. Now, this was the man who'd bound his soul to hers', who'd been at her side for her mother's final moments, who'd shared her bed and held her hand and reminded her of who she was and what she could aspire to…

Yang reached over for his hand again. She hoped she wouldn't always feel the need to take his hand in hers', but right now there was no feeling more comforting.

He took it. She felt the spark once again, and his Aura mingling ever so slightly with her own.

She wasn't sure what her feelings were. She didn't want to proclaim something if she didn't know for sure. So she didn't say it. She didn't force him to say it back.

She stepped up and brought him up along with her, and took the time to kiss him, to feel his embrace again. Jaune held onto her, supporting her when she needed someone to see her vulnerable, to not be strong for the sake of others, as her mother had wished for her and as Jaune had promised.

Yang broke her kiss and glanced outside. "I think we're done here."

"I don't know," Jaune suggested. "I think we're just getting started."

Yang liked his thought process, but thought there might be a better time and place for anything more intimate. "Later, Ladykiller. That's a promise."

When she led him back outside she found Qrow, Ruby, Ren, and Nora waiting just beside the tent flaps. She was suddenly very glad she'd decided not to let things get any heavier.

Then she turned her attention to the remaining bandits. The three surviving captains were standing a few feet away, all their subordinates crowded around behind them. One of the two women stepped forward to Yang, holding out her mother's sword by the flat of the blade before dropping to kneel.

Yang looked on in confusion as the other two bandit captains did the same, and then a sort of ripple flowed through their congested followers, all of them dropping to one knee and bending their heads low.

"Yang, you have defeated our chief and proven your strength," the captain explained. "Your allies have revealed the traitors in our midst and fought beside us in our darkest hour. As victor of the duel, as defenders of our people, we pledge our fealty to you. This tribe invites you into our family, to sit at the head of our table and ride at the head of our army. From today until your last day, we are yours'."

Yang was still looking on in shock at the people kneeling before her. She glanced over at Qrow, who sort of shrugged at her. Then she looked to Jaune, who only squeezed her hand and smiled.

Yang reached her free left hand to the hilt of her mother's blade. She'd never been one to try and swing a sword around -especially not one as tall as she was- but she found the grip fit well in her hand.

Leadership of the bandits… again, not something she'd have ever expected. How circumstances changed…

Yang turned her attention to her mother's body, still lying in the courtyard. She hoisted her sword high in the air. "I have a task for you all."

At twilight the bandits finished construction of the pyre. One of the captains handed her a torch, and Yang stepped over beside the pile of sticks and leaves she'd rested her mother's body upon. Yang briefly thought of asking them to bury her underground, but thought it might be a better way to go if her light carried upwards into the sky rather than sank below the dirt.

Yang thought of words to say, but couldn't compose anything more eloquent than: "Goodbye… mom."

She lit the pyre and cast the torch away. She reaffirmed her grip on the scabbard now strapped to her waist and the hilt of the sword within it, another piece of her mother's legacy Yang now carried with her.

She moved to stand between Jaune and Ruby. Each took either of her hands in their own as they looked on at Raven Branwen, clad in her armor -save for her Grimm mask- and slowly being consumed by the growing flame, eventually disappearing from their view in its light.

Yang looked at the bandits gathered around. None of them seemed to mourn her death. None of them seemed eager to remain and witness this funeral. "Go and make amends," Yang instructed them. "Return to your homes and never pillage again."

That they liked even less, but none seemed willing to fight her on it. Yang wasn't sure there was any way she could really enforce that order –nor would she try too hard- but the bandits did disperse, gathering their things and the food they'd gathered and departing from Kuroyuri, some sticking together and others going off on their own. The three captains tried to discuss with one another, but apparently couldn't come to an agreement and went their separate ways, none able to yield command to the others.

"They'll come back in one form or another," Qrow told her. "Their kind always do."

"Then we'll stop them when we have a spare moment between fighting Salem and all her minions," Ruby assured. "We're together again. We can do just about anything as long as we're together."

Not quite anything, Yang thought, though she didn't want to dampen her sister's mood now that she'd regained some of that innocent exuberance she so loved seeing.

And she wasn't exactly wrong. What she'd done, what she'd just gone through… it'd all have seemed impossible if she thought it up just a few days prior. Yet now it was all real. The hand she held in her right was proof of that.

Yang looked over at Jaune again. When he smiled at her and squeezed her hand, she did believe she could do impossible things. Because she had.

Yang turned her attention back to the pyre as her mother moved on, while Yang lingered with her sister, her uncle, her lover, and her friends, once again finding that even without her she had all the answers she needed, and light that shined brightly even in the dark of night.