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Ruby was cheerful enough that she doubted the day could actually go wrong in any particular way, she was happy enough enjoying the day out with her team. Though she was a little disappointed that her first official date with Blake would have to wait until later as Weiss had dragged them down to Vale.

Of course everyone wanted to do their own thing while they were out so they decided to turn it into a day together for their whole team, but Ruby already knew that Weiss's idea would likely take up most of the day since she had 'decided' to take it upon herself the welcome the other teams to Vale for the Vytal festival.

Or as Blake had said she just wanted to do it in order to get an advantage over the other teams. Something she had denied, poorly.

However what they had not been expecting was to come across a Dust robbery, it had been another in a number of robberies over the last two weeks. Whoever had been behind it clearly wanted a lot in a hurry, Ruby had suggested earlier that it could have been Torchwick since he had been after Dust when she first encountered him.

"I bet it was those White Fang nuts…" one officer said as they waited for the forensics crew to finish up.

"Why can't they just stop? I mean what good are they actually doing apart from making everyone hate Faunus more?" the other questioned.

"I hate those White Fang brutes. Nothing but a bunch of degenerates." Weiss said off hand as they headed towards the docks.

Ruby managed to calm Blake down as they walked behind her and Yang, she was not expecting Weiss to say something so blunt but the moment she took Blake's hand she calmed down.

"Weiss you know that's really offensive…" Ruby said as Weiss stopped in her tracks and turned around to face Ruby.

"Ruby…you know my time growing up wasn't exactly what you would call enjoyable. On top of the high standards that were placed upon me by my father, he had to deal with the more radical elements of the White Fang and other groups made a target of my family." Weiss explained taking a moment before carrying on.

"This included Dust robberies, sabotage, abductions and even disappearances …people I knew went missing and were never heard from again. This made my father furious…and I was the only outlet since he would never raise a hand to Whitney, his perfect child…It made for a terrifying experience growing up." Weiss was about to say more but turned around and carried on to the docks.

"Well, that happened…" Yang said, not expecting such a speech from Weiss.

"I don't think anyone would have seen that coming. I mean I don't condone what the White Fang have done since they have turned to follow Adam, but I didn't know Weiss had such…an asshole of a father." Blake said aloud.

"Well…maybe you should tell her Blake? I mean now might not be the best time but maybe you should." Yang said.

"I guess we did all agree to be honest with each other when she found out that Professor Frost is Ruby's father." Blake sighed, not looking forward to the whole up and coming conversation with Weiss.

However, it seemed that fate would throw a spanner into the works.

Shortly after arriving they encountered a monkey Faunus who had stored away on a boat and Weiss had made another comment about the White Fang and it had slipped onto another comment on Faunus. Before she could apologize Blake had snapped saying that maybe they were getting sick of pushed around and abused by her father.

Blake realised what she had said and turned and ran. Ruby called out to her before trying to follow only to bump into a ginger haired girl.

"Yang…am I really that bad of a person?" Weiss asked.

"No Weiss. Your not but I think you both need to sit down and talk about this. While you could have worded it better I don't think you're in the wrong, considering what you said to us earlier about your childhood." Yang said trying to cheer up her partner.

"But we've come so far as a team and I'm the one to just throw all that away because of bad habits…" Weiss was close to breaking down as Yang drew her into a hug.

"Just chill out Weiss. Ruby is still looking for Blake, hopefully, she's calmed down, all we've got to do is find her and sit down and talk and we're all besties again." Yang said, the ever-present smile making Weiss feel a little better.

"I guess if there is anyone that can talk to Blake then it's Ruby, those two try to hide it but they really do like each other. How long do you think before they ask each other out?" Weiss asked trying to change the conversation to something a little more cheerful.

"You noticed it too?" Yang asked getting a nod from her partner.

"Blake thinks she's hiding it but it's clear as the smut she pretends not to read." Weiss sighed before chuckling, "We really are a completely random team aren't we?".

"Yes…but that's what makes us great. We can bounce off each other, cover each other's weak spots and help each other when someone needs picking up." Yang said hugging Weiss again, only this time she did not notice the pink blush creeping up her cheeks.

Ruby was a little confused at her new 'friend' she was nice enough, she wasn't mad or anything but she was, quirky.

"Penny are you sure this is the right way? I really need to find Blake." Ruby asked as she was guided along the streets of Vale by Penny. And while Ruby was happy to make a new friend she really was beginning to worry about Blake.

"Is she close to you new friend Ruby? You seem to care about her a lot?" Penny questioned, going as far as to tilt her head slightly to the side.

"She is Penny and I do care about her. She was really upset earlier and I would at least like to know if she is alright." Ruby explained only for Penny to announce that they would find her together.

It felt like she had been dragged all over Vale and by the mid-afternoon, Ruby was beginning to think that they would not find Blake.

"Are you alright Ruby?" Penny asked seeing that Ruby was beginning to look tired.

"Yeah…I'm fine, guess hoping that we would find Blake would be a little too much to ask for." Ruby sighed not wanting to give up but coming to the realisation that finding one person in an entire city was going to be close to impossible.

"Fear not Ruby we can still find…" Penny trailed off when she looked over Ruby's shoulder and saw two Atlas soldiers at the other end of the street, and she knew who they were.

"We'll find Blake down here…" she said pulling Ruby off down into an alley.

"Wait, Penny. Where are we going?" Ruby asked suddenly noticing how strong Penny's grip was.

"Penny, stop." Ruby said stopping, "Penny what is going on? That's the second time you've done that, what is going on?".

"Ruby…I can't tell you. I'm sorry. But all I want to do is have some time to myself but my father, he works with the Atlas military, they have been my escorts for the time I'm here. I just wanted to explore by myself…" Penny admitted.

"Penny…" Ruby started to say saw two Atlas soldiers enter the alley, but had yet to see them as Penny was out of their line of sight, "Quick in here." she said opening a thankfully empty dumpster as Penny hopped in and waited as the two soldiers walked past. Seeing just Ruby typing away on her scroll.

"Alright their gone Penny, sorry you had to go in the dumpster." Ruby said helping Penny out of her hiding spot.

"Thank you Ruby…you know you could get into a lot of trouble, I don't want to put you in that position." Penny said not wanting to get her new friend into trouble with Atlas.

"It's fine Penny, happy to help. Come on let's go." she said heading in the opposite way the Atlas soldiers had gone.

However, as they were about to cross the street only Penny saw the truck in time.

"This has got to be a joke…" Eli sighed looking at the large Atlas warship floating above Vale, "Did you tell him Oz? Please tell me you did.".

"I'm afraid James decided to take matters into his own hands. I will tell him to move his ship elsewhere, I will not have that…thing looming over Vale." Ozpin said, knowing that its current location over the city would cause untold devastation if it was to crash.

"It does seem a little out of character that he would simply ignore you like that. You know all things considered." Glynda pondered, knowing that Ironwood was not the sort to simply dismiss the opinions of others.

"Well just hope he listens. Heard the council is already trying to sooth some rustled feathers, having that bucket of scrap up there just makes things worse." Eli said not taking his eyes off the floating ship.

"He did mention that he had something important to speak to us about. He failed to mention what it was but he said we would be interested." Ozpin explained but since he had yet to hear back from the general he could not be sure.

"Well that's just wonderful, isn't it? But my guess he's moving in his army for protection during the Vytal festival." Eli said rolling his eyes and getting a chuckle from Glynda.

"No, it's not that Eli, he said the Atlas presence would be at a minimum so that people would just feel safe rather than like they're getting invaded." Ozpin said, not wanting Eli to jump to a conclusion that would set them all up for another argument about Ironwood's choice in security.

"Yeah…and the giant floating ship doesn't do that? He could at least move it over the damn docks rather than floating over downtown." Eli sighed.

Eli heard his scroll go off and told Ozpin that he had to duck out for a minute, but Ozpin said they did not have anything else to talk about until Ironwood's meeting in the morning.

Stepping into the elevator he started down and called Summer on his scroll, responding to her message.

"Summer what's wrong?" he asked.

"Eli…are you free? I really need to speak with you, I'm in Vale at the moment…" Summer said sounding like she had been panicking.

"Sure where are you? Is everything alright? You sound… frightened." Eli asked concerned that something was happening to Summer.

"I'll…I'll explain when you get here…please hurry." she gave him the location and hung up, leaving Eli wondering what the hell was happening.

He fired off a quick message to Glynda saying that he was stepping out for a while and that he would not be on the academy grounds.

Reaching the small café that they had often enjoyed during their many dates whenever they were in Vale he saw her sitting outside on one of the tables and waiting for him.

"Summer, are you alright?" he asked sitting down, taking her hand in his own.

"No…" she said, her eyes visibly red from where she had been crying, "He knows where I am…".

"Who?" he questioned.

"My father…I thought I had cut all ties with him but I got this in the mail this morning." Summer handed over the letter that she had received and Eli began to read it.

"Summer…it seems that this is just him reaching out to you. Am I missing something?" he asked seeing nothing that stood out as malicious or deceitful.

Summer took a moment before speaking, "Do you remember those scars I have at the base of my spine? The ones that look like lash marks, but I said it was a burn…" Summer could not meet her husband's eyes, she was too ashamed.

"Are you saying he did that?" he asked getting a slow nod, "Why?".

"He was trying to force out my semblance…he called it training. But when the chance to go to Beacon came up I left, travelled around Vale for a while before I enrolled in Beacon. I just wanted to get away…" she tried so hard not to cry at all the painful memories that had been creeping their way to the surface.

"How long had he been doing it?" Eli asked, his voice betraying his barely controlled anger towards the man.

"Four years…" Eli moved and wrapped her up in a hug, and she wrapped her arms around him and did not want to let go.

"Just say it Summer and I'll make sure he doesn't come anywhere near us or the girls." Eli said firmly, while inside he was raging, he had never been a hundred per cent certain on Summer's story for her scars but had not questioned it.

"Eli, the man is a liar and a monster…I don't care what he says I do not want him near me or the girls. I'm actually terrified at what he'd do to Luna…I've been terrified at this happening but didn't say anything." Summer said not letting go of her husband, "Eli…please keep him away from us.".

Eli was tempted to ask where he was so he could pay him a visit, but something stuck out about what Summer had said.

"What do you mean about Luna? Wait…he doesn't like Faunus does he?" he asked carefully.

"No…he doesn't. I really hoped he would just leave me alone. Before I left I had a massive argument with him and told him to rot in hell…" Summer explained, "He bellowed that I was no longer his daughter and I said that was fine with me…".

"I never thought about what would happen if he ever reached out but I never wanted to actually deal with it…I guess I just wanted it to all just disappear. Hoping that he would just leave me alone." Summer let out a sigh as she nuzzled further into Eli's hug.

"Summer…what about your mother? You never actually told me about her." Eli wondered.

"She died shortly before my tenth birthday…at first, I thought he would try to make sure I was safe and happy but it was like he just didn't care. Once my training started it was like he was happy to make me as miserable as possible." she looked at him and gave him a sad smile, "I know you would have liked my mother, she would have gushed over how handsome you are and made a fuss of the girls.".

"Come on let's get you back home, I think Ozpin will understand me taking the afternoon off." wrapping his arm around Summer they began the walk back to the transport terminal back to Patch.

"So let me get this straight, Summer's father who is far from the nicest person wants to meet her in a few weeks time?" Tai asked later that night before Eli returned to Beacon.

"Yeah, pretty much the sum of it. And from what she said he's a monster, I don't know if he has changed but until I find out I'd rather have him stay away from Summer…" Eli said wondering if what he was deciding to do was the right thing or not.

"So you're going to take the last few days you have left to go and talk to him, even though he apparently hates Faunus." Tai asked.

"Well, it's not like I haven't heard everything before. Besides if he doesn't want to talk then fine, but I'm going looking for trouble. I'm going to explain things to him and what he does is up to him. But if he harms Summer, Luna or Ruby then he'll regret his life choices very quickly.".

"You'd use your semblance wouldn't you?" Tai wondered, hoping Eli would not but he was not going to be able to stop him at the end of the day.

"I'd like to avoid using it but it all comes down to how aggressive he becomes. All I want to do is talk, bare in mind I'm a teacher at Beacon. I start beating random people senseless I'll be up a certain creek without a paddle." Eli sighed checking the time on his scroll, "I'd better get sorted, my flight heads out in just over an hour…".

"Well, I guess all I can say is don't do anything rash and stay safe." Tai said, "I'm going to turn in.".

Eli waved him goodnight and went back to checking his flight times.

"Gabriel Rose…I really hope Summer is wrong about you. Because I'd hate to break your jaw if you say something to hurt my girls." he mumbled looking at the data he was able to pull up about the man.

It was early morning when the Bullhead landed in some small town in the northern edge of Vale. Eli had decided to wear a woolly hat not only to protect his ears from the cold winds but he did not want to start a shouting match with Gabriel because of his ears.

"Well, this is going to be good…" Eli mumbled to himself as he headed towards the house of the man he had a few questions for, he had gotten directions from some of the townsfolk, some of which did not seem to hold Gabriel in high regards.

It did not take long for him to find himself standing outside the front door of a rather simple looking house that would not stand out in the slightest.

"Gabriel?" he called out knocking on the door, "Are you in there!?".

He heard some movement and slowly the door opened, revealing a grizzled looking man with a dull grey beard and fading black hair.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" he asked, or rather demanded.

"My name is Eli, I'm here in regards to the letter you sent Summer." he said carefully.

"Is she alright? Is she here?" he asked opening the door and looking around outside.

"No…but as I said it's about the letter you sent her." Eli said but asked if he could come in and explain the situation.

The inside of the house was Spartan but still had a few homely items littered about, but seeing how he was the only one living there it made sense.

"So you've come all the way from Vale to see me, why couldn't Summer come with you?" Gabriel asked sitting down on a chair next to the fireplace as Eli sat opposite.

"Well I'll be straight to the point, she's terrified of you. I think you know why but I would rather talk this through face to face." Eli explained, "She does not want you anywhere near her or her family. However, I was hoping you are a changed man so I came out here to try and reassure her.".

"And who are you to her? Who are you to my daughter?" Gabriel asked only for Eli to hold up his hand with the wedding ring.

"I see…so do I have grandchildren?" he asked taking in the new information, but Eli was not going to give the information so easily.

"You might…but at the moment I want to put Summer at ease. So I want to know why you did what you did…" Eli said firmly but calmly.

"She told you then?" he asked not sounding apologetic at all.

"I only found out the other day, but that does not give the right to do that to her…she relied on you and you scared her for life, aura doesn't heal that sort of damage at an early age." Eli said, doing his best to keep himself calm.

"She had to learn how to survive, didn't do her mother much good being soft. So I did what I had to do to make her strong." Gabriel explained.

"She is already strong, being a caring person isn't a weakness. She did not need your so-called training to get where she is today. She is a wonderful mother and one of the best huntresses's I have ever seen, very few people would dance with a Nevermore before killing it." Eli said proudly.

"You know I came up here hoping that she was worrying over nothing but going on what you've said it seems I've wasted a trip…" Eli said getting to his feet to leave, "She is scared of you, so I will ask you this one thing. Stay away from her…".

"How dare you tell me that! I will see her and you can't stop me!" Gabriel roared getting to his feet only to freeze when he saw Eli's semblance leaking off him.

"I came here after I promised not to fight, I would rather not break that promise but I will defend myself so I would take the hint that Summer does not want you near her for the time being." Eli said only for Gabriel to get in front of him.

"I did my research on you before coming here, you were a registered hunter before you drank yourself into a hole before finally going clean again. The was a rumour floating around that you were put onto the blacklist but your name isn't on it." Eli said as he went to walk around Gabriel only for him to grab his wrist.

"I don't know how you got that information but it was meant to be in a sealed file." he sneered.

"Consider it unsealed. Now, are you going to let me leave?" Eli asked, not making it sound threatening but guessed that Gabriel would be more than happy to make things difficult for him.

"Fine…get the hell out and hope that I never see you again. One way or another I'll get Summer…" he did not get to finish as Eli pinned him to the wall.

"I'd drop the threatening tone if I were you, that is my wife after all…" Eli growled, "I'll say this one last time if you want to speak to Summer than she will reach out to you. You don't have a say in this Gabriel, leave Summer alone." letting him go he left without a word.

Summer knew where Eli had gone. It was not hard for her to figure it out as when she awoke she found her bed empty.

At first she had been concerned about what he would do to her father when she had chosen to tell him but she was positive that Eli would not do anything rash.

"I still can't believe he went in the first place though. But then again I guess that's just how he is…always protecting those around him…" she sighed knowing that her husband was in trouble but knew that she could not exactly be mad at him either for doing it. After everything he had been through over the years, he did not want to lose it.

"Silly man…" she said smiling as the door opened and sure enough her husband walked through looking frustrated.

"How'd it go?" she asked wondering if she was looking at seeing her father storm in behind him.

"He…really did not sound sorry for what he did. Tried talking to him but he just went on the defensive, he said before I left that he would get you…Don't know what was going through his head." Eli sighed as he sat down, "But I told him not to contact you…said that you'll only contact him when your ready but he tried to manhandle me a bit. Didn't hurt him though…".

"Am I a bad person to say that I wish you had…" Summer asked as Eli wrapped his arm around her.

"No. Considering what he's done. You'd be within your right to, but you wouldn't." Eli said getting a curious look from Summer, "It's not in your nature to be vengeful Summer, you're the person who puts everything aside to help someone. You always make time for our kids, something that I really need to put more time into…" Eli said knowing that he had barely seen Luna in the last month, and it really got to him but with everything that has been going on he hasn't had much time to himself let alone going to spend time with his family.

"Come here, you big softy…" Summer said pulling him into a hug.

Alright…a few things to talk about.

First of all let me apologize, again, for the lack of content over the last two months. Not my intention. But my trusty laptop finally waved a little white flag and gave up the ghost. Sadly taking all my future chapters with it, with this series and several others I'm working on.

(Before I could back everything up before anyone says anything. I usually do it in chunks rather than every time I write something.)

So I sent it away and its been somewhat refurbished, but the guy said its only a matter of time before it gives out again. I'm looking at other options but money has been tricky since it's the slow period at work.

So where does that leave this story? Well, it's still going, I'm not going to stop doing this story until its done. But seeing how the next three chapters I had planned out are in the wind I thought about doing something a little different. Is there anything that you the reader would like to see?

I want to do something because this series has done surprisingly well and people like it well enough and I wanted to do something that shows that I am thankful for the interest in this story.

But I am hoping to get the next chapter up within the month, as well as a little short story which goes with something different than what I usually write. But until then, I hope people haven't forgotten about this story and if you have I apologize for being so late.