Hey there readers and welcome to a new chapter for Reignited. I hope you've all been doing well.

The days leading up to Yang's operation passed by quicker than any of them had been expecting them too. On the final day before the operation, Yang had spent the day out with Pyrrha, going to the weapons shop to order ammo as well as getting a few materials for building her new weapons, while Pyrrha bought a few new outfits so she didn't have to keep bumming clothes off of Yang. It was honestly the first time in months Yang had remembered smiling that much in a long time, and Pyrrha felt the exact same way.

Sadly, it didn't last.

The next day, they took an early airship to get to the hospital. Being back there drew up a lot of horrible memories that Pyrrha had been trying to be rid of. In the immediate aftermath of the battle for Beacon, this place had been packed with the wounded, their moans of pain still haunted her even now. She'd been nervous about it, but if it meant being there for Yang's surgery, she'd gladly put up with it.

Yang didn't seem to be fairing much better than herself, her face having grown more and more pale the further in they went. Worried looks from Raven and Tai near the front snapped Pyrrha back to the it. She nudged her and offered her the most reassuring smile she could. "Relax. Were right here with you, remember?" Yang smiled a bit and nodded, her tension relaxing ever so slightly.

"Im just..still shocked that this is going on. It's a lot to take in." She said. Pyrrha nodded in understanding, Yang letting out a nervous chuckle as the passed by one of the operating rooms."They didn't exactly help anything by telling me that connecting the nerves would be very painful OR that they couldn't put me under for that part."

"What? Why not?"

"They said that they needed to be able to test if the connections are done properly. Connecting nerves isn't something that they can just guess with, y'know? And they can't get a feel for that unless I'm awake."

"They'll give you some stuff to help numb the pain, I'm sure…right?" Pyrrha said, glancing at Raven who nodded.

"Oh believe me. I'll make sure they do." They rounded the corner for the next hallway and Pyrrha's eyes widened when she saw Ren and Nora standing outside one of the operating rooms. They looked up from their conversation as they heard the footsteps.

"Pyrrha? What're you doing here?" Nora asked, smiling. Pyrrha returned the quick hug she gave her and gestured to Yang who waved a bit.

"Yang's here to get her new prosthetic fitted, and I wanted to be here for the operation. Ruby and Weiss should be along shortly, Ruby overslept again. Wait..why are you two-" her eyes flicked towards the door when she heard a faint cry of pain. "W-Wait..is he..?" Ren nodded.

"Jaune is getting his hand prosthetic as well. It..hasn't gone as well as they hoped so he's in a bit more pain than they had originally promised," he sighed. Seeing that Yang had gotten a lot more nervous at hearing this, Tai gently began pulling her away from the door as another cry rang out.

"You know the room, right Pyrrha?" Raven asked, quickly following Tai when Pyrrha gave her a quick nod. She stared at the door for a moment before her eyes slowly fell to the floor .

"Did..he not even want you to at least TELL me about his surgery happening today?" She asked softly. Ren and Nora exchanged a sad look at how her voice cracked a bit.

"Forgive us..we've been trying very hard to talk to him, but he's hard headed, you know this. He wanted the surgery as fast as possible to begin training again. The doctors have told him he should take it easy for a couple weeks after its done, but I doubt he's going to listen. Truthfully, I'm worried for him..right now the drive to catch the ones responsible for the Beacon attack seems to be all that's keeping him going."

"W-Well it's better than him sitting in the hotel moping around, right Ren?" Nora said, trying to stay positive, but not really succeeding.

"A desire for revenge is no better, Nora. In fact, in a number of ways it's much worse. It can become all-consuming and can turn you into something your not because of it. You see how he's distanced himself from everyone but us, including Pyrrha? It won't get any better unless he chooses to let go of the anger he's built up." Nora sighed heavily but nodded, knowing Ren was dead on.

"Your right..Im just so tired of feeling like I can't help anyone on my team when they need me," she muttered. Ren shook his head, turning to her.

"What do you mean Nora? You help more than you give yourself credit for," he smiled. Nora blushed but grinned before turning back to Pyrrha.

"Listen Pyrrha..we'll keep trying to get through to him, or at least get him to hear you out. But for now.. you should probably just go to Yang. Jaune will be in a lot of pain after he get's out of here and I doubt he'll be in a reasonable mood." Her eyes watered a bit, but she nodded slowly.

"Okay..can you call me later and at least tell me if the surgery was successful or not?"

"Of course," Ren said firmly, smiling a bit when she gave him a thankful look. Pyrrha said a quick goodbye and hurried down the hall. When she got there, Yang was just being helped onto a bed while a doctor wearing an Atlas issued uniform was going over the procedures details with Tai and Raven.

"I won't lie to either of you, it will be rather painful. We can give her some painkillers to help, but nothing stronger than that I'm afraid."

"Do what you can for her, please" Raven said.

"Doc..her aura is pretty stubborn. Is that going to be a problem? For attaching the thing I mean," Tai asked.

"We have ways around that but..your not wrong that it could complicate things. Let's just hope it doesn't come to one of the more extreme measures." Pyrrha shivered a bit at that and walked over to Yang who was trying-and failing horribly if you asked her-to put on a brave face.

"S-Sounds like a piece of cake, huh Pyrrha?" Pyrrha chuckled softly and took one of her hands into her own, squeezing it a bit. Yang smiled briefly before it fell away, a nervous look towards the operating rooms door. "Who the hell am I kidding..I'm kinda freaked out here," she mumbled. Pyrrha put a hand on her arm

"I would be surprised If you weren't, Yang. Your about to go through something very intensive. But..once it's over we can really get started with getting you back out there. I'll train with you as much as you'd like okay?" She smiled when Yang relaxed a bit. "You've got this. I know it."

"Thank you Pyrrha..I don't know if I've said it enough, but I'll never be able to pay you back for being there for me like you have." Yang's eyes watered a bit, but she kept smiling.

"You don't have to repay anything. Im happy to do it," Pyrrha said softly. They stared at each other silently for a moment, only breaking from it when Tai cleared his throat.

"We all good here? They'd really like to get started," he said in a amused voice. Pyrrha took a step back, staring down at her hands like they were the most interesting thing in the world to hide her blush while Yang, her face red as well, looked away. Raven smirked a bit at this before walking to Yang's side with Tai.

"We'll be right here when your out of there, okay? Try not to cry too much," She said

"Gee, thanks mom," Yang said with a roll of her eyes. Tai leaned down and kissed her forehead before they both stepped back. "I love you guys.."

"We love you too, Yang. See you soon." Pyrrha let out a sigh as he door closed behind them. Tai glanced at her, frowning. "Pyrrha? Everything okay?"

"I..I wish I knew. I'm going to go get something to drink." She walked away slowly, Raven grabbing Tai's arm to keep him from stopping her.

"Give her a few minutes to herself. Seem's like something is bothering her right now," she said. Tai nodded and the two of them sat down near the doors, wondering when they might start hearing Yang if things went bad, bracing themselves for it.

Pyrrha stopped by the cafeteria and grabbed a drink then walked outside, sitting one of the green benches outside. She sighed again, taking a quick sip of it. She didn't know what exactly what was going on with Yang lately..or rather what was going on with her reactions to Yang. With all the issues going on within her own team between her and Jaune, the only time she ever seemed to be really be happy was when she and Yang were talking or hanging out somewhere.

That wasn't anything new in and of itself, it was hard NOT to be in a good mood around Yang now that she was starting to really be herself again. The constant puns got old, of course they did, but Yang was just naturally funny to be around and it let her forget for a while.

But something was different lately. There would be moments like just a few minutes ago, where they'd stare at each other only to realize they were staring and have to break it off. There was also that when she pulled her hand away from Yang's arm she felt..reluctant to do that. There was also that warm feeling she always got when seeing Yang smile or laugh. And that pit in her stomach when she saw Yang was having a hard time or feeling down on herself. She only really felt something similar to that when- "When I was with Jaune while we were at Beacon.." she said, her eyes widening. Wait..there was no way she could like Yang in that way right?

"T-That's silly! Were both girls and..well..I'm not..well certainly Yang's not..gah." She huffed, unable to find a way finish that sentence. Who the hell was she trying to fool? The fact that she could examine how she was feeling and find that it compared to Jaune-someone she knew she was interested in and still was to a degree-meant that denying it wouldn't be any good in the long run. She'd already learned that the hard way more than once. "I..have feelings towards Yang.." she said. Sure there were far worse things than this but..to say it out loud made it feel odd. Not bad mind you, just..odd.

"Just great..what do I do now?" She whispered, running her hands over her face. She'd never given any thought to being with another girl, and even if she had, she knew she wasn't over Jaune. The fact that his cold attitude towards her was still hurting as much as it was told her that much. She didn't want to possibly pursue a relationship with Yang-That's IF she did. She wasn't sure where Yang was with all this-and have things change with Jaune. Yang deserved better than that. At the same time though, these feelings were only going to get stronger the longer she was around her, and she wasn't sure if she could go much longer without at least mentioning it.

"UGH!" She snapped, crushing the drink can with her semblance and chucking it into the garbage, coming to a decision as she made her way inside. She'd wait until Yang was recovered from her surgery first. After that..who knows? She definitely needed to talk to Jaune sooner rather than later now though. "Why is nothing EVER simple?" She muttered

-Signal academy-

Glynda's temporary office was actually nicer than most of the old offices in Beacon, Qrow thought to himself as he and Winter made their way inside. When he voiced this however, Glynda simply rolled her eyes and sat down, motioning for the two of them to do the same. "Yes well, quality of the accommodations aside, I'd much prefer it if I WAS still at Beacon..one day," she said with a sigh.

"I assure you, General Ironwood has every intention of it," Winter said with a smile. Glynda nodded, shuffling some papers out of the way.

"Thank you Winter, but I've already been assured of this several times. James has mentioned it to me more than once in some of our talks," she said. Qrow raised an eyebrow and she sighed, pushing her glasses up on her nose a bit higher. "Yes Qrow? I know that look."

"You tend to take a lot of personal calls from Jimmy these days or what?" Winter rolled her eyes at the question, Qrow smirking while Glynda stuttered for a reply. As amusing as it might have been under different circumstances to see Goodwitch flustered, they had more pressing issues. She jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow to silently convey this and he grumbled under his breath before nodding. He opened his scroll and hit a few buttons, Glynda's scroll lighting up a moment later. "Theres your copy of everything we managed to dredge up from what was left of Merlot's little science fair. Unfortunately I doubt it'll be of any real use."

"What's this 'Project N' he speaks of in these notes?" Glynda frowned as she skimmed through the report.

"Unknown at this time. Our best guess is that he's resumed operating on a new type of mutant Grimm, though to what end I couldn't even begin to guess. The man is a wild card to put it kindly," Winter said.

"What about the other lab facilities around Anima? Could he have simply relocated?" Glynda asked

"Doubt it. If he really has a source inside somewhere that told him we were coming and that the labs were being searched, I doubt very seriously he would use one of those again," Qrow said

"And besides..we believe he got a better offer than what he was doing in the first place," Winter played the message Merlot had left for them in the lab over to her. "Merlot has joined forces with Salem." Glynda sagged further back in her seat, hand over her eyes. Ozpin had always feared they weren't done with Merlot but this..

"This is not good..not in the slightest," she said softly. After a moment to gather herself, she took a deep breath and sat up straight. "First order of business then is to root out this mole in our network. He would have information vital to finding Merlot and now, by extension, Salem."

"We agree. Were just unsure where to start."

"I've got a LOT of contacts that were involved with that operation. It could be any of them," Qrow said with a sigh, bringing his flask up to his lips. Glynda shrugged one of her shoulders.

"Then you'll simply have to go down the list, won't you?" Qrow spat out the mouthful of drink he had just taken and coughed a few times, Winter unable to keep a smirk off her face as he sputtered

"Uh…you said what now?"

"You'll have to go down the list, Qrow. If we don't be absolutely thorough with this investigation were just going to get burned again." Winter nodded her agreement and Qrow sighed.

"Fine. We'll do that, but can we hold off on it for a couple days? My niece is having her new arm attached today, and I'd really like to be there for her. I've missed enough of that stuff, you know?" Glynda smiled and nodded.

"Of course Qrow. Tell her I hope she has a speedy recovery. Is there anything else we need to go over?" She asked, to which they both shook their head. "Then you two can go. I have to go check on a few things anyway." They stood and walked out towards the front of the campus, Slate and Carson snapping to attention as they approached.

"At ease, you two. Were done here. We'll be returning to Atlas for the time being to brief General Ironwood on plans going forward, Qrow will be remaining here for a personal matter."

"Understood ma'am. Qrow..can't wait to get back out there. Been..interesting working with you," Slate said extending his hand. Qrow half smirked and shook it quickly.

"Likewise. You guys ain't too bad...for Atlas stooges." The three of them laughed while Winter just shook her head, nodding to Qrow before they set off towards their ride to the airfield. Qrow cracked his neck and jumped, transforming and heading off towards Vale General. He was already running late for Yang's surgery and he already wasn't looking forward to Raven's rant she surely had ready for him.

Hope you enjoyed and I shall see you next time.

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