Well, here's the improved Chapter 54. I hope that what I've added is enough.

Chapter 54: Captured

Slowly opening my eyes, I felt a dull throbbing in my skull, like a rhythmic drum beat. Blinking away the blurriness, I immediately became aware that I had been securely fastened to a chair inside a tent. An armoured man sat by a table made of stone, huffing a cigarette. I instinctively wiggled around a bit, to see if my bonds had any slack, but unfortunately, they didn't. The guard chuckled, and turned to look at me.

"It's always the struggling first. Then they beg and plead. So why not go and do that?" He guffawed.

"No, please. Let me go. I'll give you whatever you want." I drawled sarcastically, rolling my eyes. The guard raised an eyebrow.

"Huh. You're not taking this as seriously as I thought you might."

"What was your first clue, genius?"

The guard got to his feet, hand ready to draw a weapon. But before he could do so, the tent flaps parted, and a masked figure, cloaked in red and black, and wearing an intricately designed mask, entered.

"Enough."

The woman's voice rang through the tent, causing the guard to straighten up. Judging by how quickly the man had changed his demeanour from a single word, she must have been the leader.

"Ma'am."

The masked female strode towards me, dismissing the guard with a wave of her hand. As the guard stood to attention, the woman grasped the mask, and removed it, revealing the face I had seen before being knocked unconscious.

Yang's adult doppelgänger.

"You're dismissed." The woman stated to the man. The man bowed slightly, and exited the tent, leaving me and the woman alone.

"Not a good track record for a fugitive such as yourself. Any reasonable criminal would lie low after escaping an Atlas prison. Especially one of your notoriety." She breathed.

"Yeah, well... reason and I haven't seen eye to eye for a long time." I responded. The woman smirked.

"You know who I am?"

"No. But I do recognize you." I answered. The woman cocked an eyebrow.

"You saved me from that person on the train. You said I wasn't weak, but that I wasn't strong, either. Speaking of, I never got to say thanks." I elaborated. The woman let out a dismissive huff.

"You think saving you was the true purpose for my intervention? I know who you are, and I couldn't care less about whether you would survive then. No, I was there to save another."

The words rolled in my head. If she wasn't there for me... then...

"You were there for Yang?" I asked. The woman smiled.

"So, you are not as stupid as I had assumed. Yes, I was there for my daughter, and only for her. " She answered. I said nothing, only choosing to lambast my own ignorance. How could I not have seen the family resemblance? Yang had even told me about her mother once. God, was I stupid.

"And you know what happened to her afterwards? During Beacon?" I asked, hoping that her response was not what I feared it would be. Yang was mutilated... and her mother never appeared. Surely she couldn't have been that callous.

"Of course. I know what has happened to her." She answered, not looking the least bit remorseful. A sick feeling rose in my gut.

"So why didn't you help Yang then? How can you be so callous? Letting your own daughter suffer that way?!" I demanded. The woman didn't flinch.

"In this world, strength comes through hardship. You, of all people, should understand. If I was to save her again and again, she would grow accustomed to being saved. She would wait for warriors like myself to rescue her. Much like you do." She explained.

"But you had a— wait. 'Like I do'?"

The woman sneered.

"Out of all the battles you've fought, without assistance, how many of your foes had a soul? And how many of those battles did you win?"

I wanted to respond with a biting remark of some sort, but I pondered the words, the truth beginning to dawn on me.

Against Creatures of Grimm, I had an impressive track record. But against a fellow sentient being... I had lost every time. Roman had caught me off guard with the sneak attack during his raid on the docks. Adam had impaled my shoulder during the Fall of Beacon. And the bandit groups that had captured me only succeeded because I tried to run, rather than stand my ground.

"You see? I know my daughter has grown stronger, without my intervention. You, on the other hand, are still the same weakling I encountered on the train. For all your bluster about your strength, you have little proof to back it up." The woman stated. I said nothing; there was a lot on my mind.

"Raven! We've got company!"

The voice resounded through the tent, catching the woman's attention, as a young bandit, with black hair tied into a shaggy ponytail, threw the tent flaps aside.

"What's the report?" Raven asked. Through heavy panting, the bandit stood to attention.

"We've got a Wahtani approaching the south gate, and a pack of Beowolves to the east." The bandit gasped. Raven nodded.

"Understood. Stay here, and watch the prisoner." She ordered. The young bandit looked to me, an expression of disbelief on her face.

"Him? Why do I gotta stand guard?" She asked defiantly.

"Are you questioning me?" Raven inquired, her voice growing a dangerous edge.

"O-of course not, Raven. Just... he's strung up tighter than a Schnee's purse, what could he do to escape?" The young bandit asked, leaning closer to me. Feeling her breath on my forehead, I took my chance.

Launching my head forwards, my skull caught the bandit off-guard, sending her sprawling. As she cupped her hands over her nose, I felt her Semblance copy into mine. Now to wait until an opportunity presented itself.

"You little-!" The bandit I had headbutted was back on her feet, and looked ready to kill me. But before she could move, a glint of Raven's sword sent the bandit back to kowtowing.

"Stay here, and keep watch. I'll be back soon." Raven ordered. As she left, the bandit sighed, and went to the stone table, pulling out a knife and carving it into the stone. As the battle began to rage outside, I began to formulate a plan.

Night fell, and the camp grew quiet. There was no guard, thankfully, meaning I could hopefully work my way free, grab Weiss, and be gone before any of the bandits realised what had happened. Still feeling the absorbed Semblance stewing in my chest, I closed my eyes, reached out, and began to channel it.

...

...

...

Nothing happened. Opening my eyes, I looked to my bonds, and saw they were still intact. No visible marks of burning, altering, or any kind of manipulation were visible. Struggling, the knots were fastened as securely as ever. Letting out a growl, I tried to struggle a bit more, hoping to achieve something beneficial. But unfortunately, all I accomplished was the rattling of the chair I was tied to.

"What's going on in here?!"

A guard burst into the tent, the wake of his entrance causing the tent to flutter. Turning to look at him, I immediately noticed that he wasn't wearing any clothing. And unfortunately, my eyes fell to one spot in particular.

"OH GODS, NO!"

Morning came, but the camp was already aflutter with activity. News about my pathetic excuse of an escape attempt spread like wildfire, with mirthful laughter still echoing in my brain. Raven stood before me, hiding a smirk.

"For a wanted outlaw, you certainly have a reputation that far exceeds reality. You managed to escape from prison, yet you couldn't even work your way free from a chair and ropes." She stated, snickering every once in a while. I rolled my eyes.

Once my scream of horrified disgust had awoken the camp, the embarrassing details spread like wildfire. The one bandit I had headbutted the previous day, the Semblance I had copied was in fits of mocking guffaws, saying that it was, in her eyes, the worst prison break in history. My plan was foolproof; use her borrowed Semblance to work my way free, slip into Weiss's holding pen, grab her and our gear, and head out before anybody was any the wiser.

Unfortunately, X-ray vision was not in the least bit helpful in a prison break.

"Like I said, reason and I haven't been on speaking terms for a while." I retorted, looking away in annoyance. Raven knelt down, and gently lifted my chin, forcing me to look directly at her.

"Normally, I'd be happy to turn you in for the reward money. But beneath your bumblings, I can see... potential. You could be the best of us... provided you'd be willing to learn." She said, a gentle tone in her voice. I forced myself free from her grasp.

"I'm not going to prey on people's misfortune. I'm not a mugger." I answered. Raven shook her head.

"So long as you're here, my tribe won't prey on the weak. There will be no raids, no highway robberies, nothing of the sort. I will only teach you how to survive alone. How to fight." She explained. I looked back to her.

"And how do I know you won't just send me off to an ambush? Or that your raiding will keep on going behind my back?" I demanded.

"Because unlike your other mentors, I don't keep secrets. All that I know, you will know." She answered. I just rolled my eyes; as if I hadn't heard that one before.

"I understand that your trust will not be easily won, so-"

"Boss!"

Another of Raven's lackeys entered the tent, this one looking like he had suffered a nasty beatdown. One of his teeth was missing, and he was covered in bruises. Raven got to her feet, and looked to the new arrival.

"Shay, I gave you orders to keep an eye out for—" She began, only to stop cold upon seeing the new arrival's injuries.

"Yeah, uhh... she's here. Wants to talk to you." The bruised bandit groaned. Raven sighed, and looked to me.

"Excuse me."

And with that, Raven grabbed her mask, and strode out of the tent, donning it without emotion. Both Shay and I watched her go, before he turned to me, a nasty leer on his face, and a grin that revealed the gap in his teeth, the gum still looking raw and swollen. Clearly, he'd lost it recently, probably around the same time he'd received his bruises.

"So, the Butcher of Beacon. You don't look like much." Shay sneered. I looked directly at his eyes, a glare creeping onto my face. I hated being called that, whether it was out of deference or derision; it was like the world saw fit to remind me of all the pain I had caused back then. Because my face had been associated with the carnage, people immediately assumed I was an unrepentant murderer.

"Shay, was it? Mind telling me how you lost your tooth?" I asked politely, but still glaring. Shay rubbed his jaw, wincing in pain.

"Some blonde biker bimbo with a robo-arm. Why do you care?" He growled.

"No reason." I replied. Shay sighed, and took a seat nearby, rubbing his jaw. Meanwhile, I began to think and plan; if Shay's description was indeed accurate, then maybe I could work a way out that didn't require me to go all Lincoln Burrows.

"So, this bimbo... could you describe her?" I asked Shay. He looked to me, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"I thought you didn't have a reason to ask." He growled, grimacing through the pain in his jaw.

"What, can't a guy make conversation?" I shrugged defensively. Shay looked at me for a moment, then began to talk.

"She had purple eyes. Fought with a gauntlet and a gun built into her robo-arm." He explained. I remained silent.

"Said she was the boss's daughter."

Even though I felt it was necessary to maintain my stoic facade, I couldn't help but feel my face light up. If Shay was right... then I wouldn't even need to plan a prison break.

"Why the smile? You know her or something?" Shay asked, his eyes narrowing. He got to his feet, and stalked towards me, pulling out a revolver, with a blade crudely attached to the grip, as he did so. I said nothing, desperately trying to ignore the tiny seed of fear that had sprouted in my gut, even as Shay's nasty leer filled my sight, the stench of cigarette smoke fresh on his breath.

"She a friend of yours? Or maybe... something more?" He sneered, pressing his blade against the back of my ear. The bite of cold steel and the repulsive expression on his face gave the impression that in his mind, armed as he was against a trussed up teenager, he was in complete control. And as much as I wished otherwise, that was slowly becoming accurate.

"Why do you care?" I asked, desperately struggling to hide the quaver in my voice.

"You know how well I fared against her... but there are other ways to hurt someone..." Shay chuckled menacingly, gently running the blade down my skin.

"You hurt me, Raven will have your head, Shay." I warned. Shay just chuckled.

"The bounty on your head pays well enough... but there ain't nothing saying you have to have all your parts." He chuckled. With a smile, he positioned his gun's blade under my ear. Feeling my heart accelerate, the fear was undeniable now. This situation had fallen out of my control, and now I was the one under pressure. Shay slid the knife up towards my ear lobe.

*BANG*

The tent flaps fluttered open, and Shay turned his head to look at the source of the noise. While he was otherwise occupied, I took a chance, and sunk my teeth into Shay's wrist. He gasped in pain, and the bladed gun fell from his hand, as he fell to his knees and started nursing the bite marks on his skin. Catching the gun barrel, a quick flick from my wrist, and the ropes binding me slackened, the knife slicing through the bonds easily. With my newly freed arm, my other bonds were quickly cut, and I leapt up from my chair, jamming the gun directly into Shay's temple. He looked up to me fearfully.

"If you see the Tooth Fairy, give her my regards, slimeball." I snarled. And before Shay could react further, I socked his jaw, knocking him out cold, and causing a bloodstained tooth to drop from his mouth. Flipping open the revolver's cylinder, I dumped the bullets, and threw the empty firearm at the unconscious Shay. Snatching up my backpack and hoisting it on, I burst from the tent to see Raven staring down Weiss, her summoned knight...

and Yang.

She caught sight of me, and her battle-ready expression melted to shock. Raven turned to me, and I tried to launch a punch, but it was easily caught in her grip, an uncaring expression on her face. Before I could react, she yanked my arm forwards, causing me to fly over her shoulder, towards Weiss and Yang. Trying to steady myself, I angled my shoulder to commence a dive roll. But what I failed to take into account was my flight trajectory, and before I knew it, my back hit something solid, yet shimmering, and I landed on the hard ground in a heap. Dazed, I looked up to see Weiss and Yang looking down at me. Weiss's knight, however, was nowhere to be seen. It must have been what I had slammed into.

"Ow..." I groaned, still stunned from my brief flight. Weiss and Yang exchanged glances, and I felt the familiar soft caress of Yang's hand on my wrist. As she caught sight of the rope burns marked there, Yang looked away, I assumed back to Raven, her surprise morphing back to anger.

"Mind explaining why you had my partner strung up in your tent?" She demanded, as Weiss tended to me.

"It's... complicated." Raven replied.

"Complicated?! You have a Schnee and Remnant's most wanted caged in your camp, and the best you can come up with is that it's complicated?!" Yang exclaimed incredulously.

"Enough!"

A lightning bolt sheared down from the sky, despite the lack of storm clouds, silencing the bickering.

"Thank you, Vernal. Yang, I will explain myself to you, and your friends. But please, keep your temper in check, lest the Grimm start to swarm." Raven chided. Yang growled.

"Fine. But you better be telling the truth." She snarled.

"That I can give you. But whether you believe it or not is up to you." Raven warned cryptically. Yang looked back down to me, and offered me her hand. Grasping it, another hard tug pulled me to my feet. While I brushed myself down, Weiss and Yang shared a hug.

"I missed you so much."

"I missed you too."

I turned back to Raven's tent, but a hand grasped my shoulder, spinning me around to face Yang, for the first time since leaving the Xiao Long household eight months ago. The most striking difference was the robotic right arm, which had been painted black and yellow, like a bumblebee.

"Um... hi." Yang said, looking to the side.

"Hi..." I responded, trying desperately not to look at her arm. The silence that followed was excruciatingly long, as I couldn't think of any words to ask that would seem insensitive. From the awkward glances Yang was shooting in my general direction, she was undergoing the exact same crisis as I was.

"So, ah... h-how have you been?" I asked, feeling my face turn red.

"Um... alright. What about you?"

"Uhh... alright." I responded. The silence grew again.

"Really? That's all you two have to say to each other? That you're "alright"?" Weiss sighed irritably. Neither Yang or I responded. Weiss threw up her arms, and walked to Raven's tent.

"Why Ruby and Blake think that you two would make a good partnership, I'll never know." She muttered as she went. As we watched her go, I looked to Yang.

"We should... hear your mum's story." I suggested nervously. Yang nodded.

"Yeah... yeah, good idea." She responded, walking to the tent and entering. My heart racing, I followed suit. As I prepared to push the tent flaps aside, a bruised Shay stumbled out, clutching his jaw. Blood trickled down his mouth, his grimace revealing a second gap in his teeth. As he staggered past, his shoulder slammed into me roughly. I turned to face him, and he shot a nasty leer towards me over his shoulder.

"This ain't over, Butcher. You and the bimbo are gonna pay." He sneered. I said nothing, choosing only to raise my shrouded arm, and unsheathe the blade on my wrist. Shay's eyes grew wide in panic, and he resumed his hobbling, now moving much faster. Retracting the sword, I sighed.

"Asshole." I muttered, turning back to Raven's tent.

Entering the tent, I saw that Raven, Weiss, and Yang had taken seats on cushions around a table, with one of Raven's underlings pouring tea into cups.

"Not for me, thanks." I stated. The tea-pouring bandit shrugged, and poured a cup anyway.

"You can wait outside, thank you." Raven gestured to her lackey. She nodded, put the teapot down on the table, and walked past me. I took the last seat available, but didn't touch the steaming cup. Weiss and Yang must have decided not to either, as only Raven was holding a cup.

"So, what's the 'truth'?" Yang asked. Raven just took a sip, and looked to us, and the cups of tea that remained on the table.

"You know, it's better when it's hot." She suggested.

"You know, you're really obnoxious." Weiss mockingly retorted. Raven let out a huff, and looked back to Yang.

"The truth is that 'truth' is hard to come by. A story of victory for one person is a story of defeat for someone else." Raven explained. Pondering her words, I realized that they made sense. Morality doesn't dictate the hero of a story. The storyteller does.

"By now, your uncle has sure told Ruby and her friends plenty of stories." Raven continued.

"Well, he's never given me a reason to doubt him before." Yang replied, her arms folded.

"But that doesn't mean those reasons don't exist." Raven countered. Yang let out a glare in response, clearly angry about how Raven could badmouth Qrow that way, but privately, I wondered.

Almost all of my mentor figures had told me parts of their story, and never once did I question it. Kimba had brought me here to stop the Reckoning. A goal without a plan. Never once had I asked for details. And with her supposed investment in my Remnant body, I could've inquired at any time.

"You know, you and your teammates might as well be the poster children for the Huntsman academies. Your motives vary, but you all enrolled to try and make the world a better place. It's adorable." Raven stated snidely.

"It's what Huntsmen and Huntresses do." Yang retorted.

"I believe your criminal friend would disagree." Raven responded, giving me a look, and gestured to me. I immediately felt uneasy, but I found myself speaking before I could stop myself.

"Most of the Huntsmen and Huntresses who went after me only did so for the reward money, or for the glory of capturing me." I explained to Weiss and Yang.

"But... you were being controlled. You're innocent." Weiss pointed out. I shook my head.

"I know that, and you know that. But to everyone else, they look at me, and see a bit, fat payday." I responded. Raven just let out a dark chuckle.

"For every 'noble' Huntsman, there's ten more who take the job for the money or glory. And then there's ones like your Uncle Qrow and I." She stated, turning the attention back to her.

"We didn't attend Beacon to become Huntsmen, we did it to learn how to kill Huntsmen."

Weiss and Yang let out gasps of surprise and glanced at each other, eyes wide. Raven chuckled again, and took another sip of her tea, emptying her cup. Reaching forward, and pouring herself another cup, she continued.

"Daddy and Uncle left that part out, hm? Aside from the Grimm, Huntsmen were the only ones capable of ruining our raids and hunting us down. Our tribe needed a counterforce."

"And let me guess: you and Qrow were the perfect age. Attend the academy, learn what makes Hunters tick, and take that knowledge back home, so you could keep them from stopping your raids." I interrupted. Raven shot me a glare, before nodding.

"Correct. The entrance exams were child's play compared to what we'd already been through. We were good. So good, that we caught the attention of Beacon's very own headmaster, Professor Ozpin. Even after we were put on a team, I could tell he was keeping his eye on us. Back then, I thought it was because he knew, but it was Team STRQ he was interested in." She concluded, getting to her feet and looking at the map behind her.

"What do you mean by that?" Yang asked curiously.

"Constant attention, extra training missions, turning a blind eye whenever we happened to break the rules and get into more trouble than we should've. Sound familiar?" Raven asked, almost condescendingly. All those times Ozpin had let Team RWBY get away with so much... the White Fang's raid on the docks, the highway chase, that restricted mission to Mountain Glenn... all this time, I'd assumed he'd only been tolerating all our rule-breaking for Ruby's sake, but...

Oobleck was right. History was important. And it was repeating itself.

Weiss, Yang, and I shared another glance, before Weiss gestured to Yang. Yang looked back to Raven, her eyes narrowing.

"What's your point?"

"How much do you know about Professor Ozpin? About his past?" Raven asked.

"He was... a prodigy. One of the youngest headmasters to be appointed to a school." Weiss answered.

"Because that's how he planned it. Because the man you know as Ozpin designed those schools and has followers inside every academy on Remnant that are loyal to him and no one else."

"But... that doesn't make any sense! How could he have...? No. Why would someone even do that?" Yang asked, bewildered by this new revelation. Raven hung her head, and took another sip of tea, looking at the map of Remnant hanging on the wall.

"Because old man Oz has a great and terrible secret. One that could spread fear across the world. One that he eventually entrusted to our team, and once I knew, there was no going back. I needed to know more, but with every new discovery I made, the more horrifying the world became." Raven sighed, still facing away from us.

"Okay, then tell us. What's the big secret? What's so crazy that the rest of us don't know?" Yang asked. A moment of silence passed, before Raven answered.

"The Creatures of Grimm... have a master named Salem. She can't be stopped, she can't be reasoned with, and she will not rest until humanity crumbles at her feet." Raven explained, as if she were describing the horror of a cataclysm to a small child.

"You know, you three haven't even touched your tea." Raven chided us. Yang's response was to get to her feet.

"Why should we believe any of this?" She asked. Raven turned around, her lips curling into a small smile.

"Now you're catching on. So far you've done nothing but accept what others tell you." Raven stated, walking back to Yang, and placing her cup on the table. Mother and daughter stared each other down, the tension growing between them.

"But you need to question everything."

Yang let out a sneer, as Raven turned around, turning her back to her.

"Otherwise you'll end up just as blind as Qrow... and your fool of a father."

With that, Yang's mechanical wrist let out a quiet click, revealing the barrel of a hidden gun, and she had launched a blast at the table in the blink of an eye, shattering it to splinters, and sending the teacups resting on it every which way. Weiss and I looked up at her in shock at the sudden angry outburst. We had both seen Yang get angry before, but this... this was even worse.

"Don't you dare talk about my family like that!" Yang shouted.

The click of a gun's hammer being pulled echoed around the tent. Looking at the source of the noise, I saw the bandit that had poured us the tea had drawn her weapon, and was aiming it at the back of Yang's skull.

"You need to calm down." The bandit warned. Weiss took Yang's hand.

"Yang, please..." She begged.

"This isn't worth it, Yang." I pleaded. But she acknowledged neither of us, only choosing to stare down her mother angrily.

"Listen to your friends, Yang. Your teammates never let you down before." Raven advised. Yang only took a step forward, her temper flaring.

"You don't know the first thing about my teammates! About me! You were never there! You LEFT US!" She ranted. After a moment, her anger cooled, her eyes had reverted back to their usual colour, and her head hung sadly.

"Why?"

A moment of silence, until Raven finally answered.

"I know more than you realize. Not just about you, and not just what I've been told, but things I've seen with my own eyes." She explained. Yang looked up, turning her gaze back to her mother.

"I know the Grimm have a leader, I know people who can come back from the dead, I know that magic is real, and I can prove it." She stated, before turning her back to us, and moving towards the back of the tent. But before she left, she turned to look as us over her shoulder.

"You said Tai told you all about my Semblance. Well, I doubt he ever told you what Oz did to my brother and me."

And with that cryptic statement, Raven had lifted up the flap of the tent, and exited through it. Both girls and I exchanged confused glances for a moment.

"Go see for yourself." The gun-toting bandit suggested, before leaving herself. Yang exited the tent, with Weiss and I right behind her. But all we saw beyond the canvas walls was simply an empty courtyard. There was no sign of Raven, nor anything indicating where she had gone.

"Mom?" Yang called out. No response came.

"Yang, are you okay?" Weiss asked. Yang didn't meet her gaze.

"I'll be fine once we can get her to take us to Ruby." She responded, still looking around for Raven. Weiss and I shared a glance, and she looked back to Yang.

"Yang... it's okay if... you're not okay." Weiss comforted. Yang turned to look at us, disbelief on her face.

"You guys didn't believe what she said, right?" Yang inquired.

"I... of course not. Well, not all of it. It was crazy. We have Dust, Semblances... But, I mean, there's no such thing as magic." Weiss answered.

"What am I, chopped liver?" I scoffed. Both girls looked to me, Weiss in surprise, and Yang in confusion.

"I somehow came here from across the cosmos, into a world that only existed as entertainment back home, and was told to fight battles that I didn't even know existed. At this point, I'd believe anything. Even magic." I explained. Weiss and Yang looked to each other, with Yang shrugging in admission.

"Well... when you put it that way..." She relented.

Our brief debate was silenced, as the caw of a bird filled our ears. Looking to the orange sky, we saw a black bird swoop overhead.

"A raven?"

"I've... seen that bird before." Yang stated.

"Maybe it belongs to your mom?" Weiss hypothesised.

"I don't think so..." I answered. Weiss turned to look at me.

"What do you mean?" She asked. Keeping my eyes on the avian, the thoughts clicked into place.

"I don't think that bird belongs to Raven... I think... that bird IS Raven." I guessed. Weiss let out a scoff.

"Th-that's ridiculous! Nobody can transform themselves into an animal like that!" She spluttered. I didn't respond, only watched the bird as it swooped down towards a tree. As it passed through some the branches, the leaves rustled, and from them burst the human form of Raven, landing on the ground in a perfect three point landing. As she looked up at us, she saw my face was lacking the surprise that Weiss and Yang's were currently showing. As she stood, she sauntered towards us, her scarlet eyes focused on me in particular.

"Strange. You knew about this?" She asked. Swallowing, I reached into my rucksack, and pulled out Adam's diary. Opening it to the bookmarked page, I pulled the feather out of it. The one Qrow had seemingly left behind when we had last talked.

"I had a hunch." I answered, holding the feather aloft. Weiss and Yang looked to it, while Raven gently took it from me, scrutinizing it closely.

"Qrow..." she whispered.

"How... did you do that?" Yang asked in disbelief. Raven turned to her, pocketing the feather.

"Well, I could explain it to you..." she explained, before drawing her sword. I flinched instinctively, but instead of striking one of us down, she whirled around, and cleaved the air, summoning a vortex of red and dark energy.

"...or you could ask your uncle." She stated.

"You're letting us go?" Yang asked.

"I'm giving you a choice." Raven retorted, sheathing her sword, and turning back to look at us.

"Stay here, with me, and I'll answer all your questions and more. We can have a fresh start." She offered, her face lovingly warm. Yang's eyes narrowed at this, while Raven moved aside, standing by the newly opened portal, her expression hardening.

"Or... you can go back to Qrow and join Ozpin's impossible war against Salem, and meet the same fate as so many others. But can you really go back to trusting someone that's kept so much from you?" She offered. Weiss shrunk back timidly, and looked to Yang, clearly worried at the choice she had been presented with. Yang didn't back down from Raven's glare.

"All I care about is making sure my sister is safe."

Raven met her daughter's hard gaze, before sighing disgustedly, disappointed that Yang wouldn't be so dismissive of her family like she had been.

Some things just didn't run in the family.

Five minutes later, Yang has retrieved her motorbike, and stood beside it, strapping on her helmet. Weiss had taken a seat on the rear fender of Bumblebee, looking solemn. I, meanwhile, had made no move to join the two, struggling with inner turmoil.

If I went back to Qrow, then I'd be forced back into this secret war, told to accomplish impossible tasks without being given a single reason as to why. Plus, I'd be putting my friends in danger: there was no way to know if the bounty on my head had been restored, following my escape from Atlas.

Staying with Raven would grant me some answers. Plus, she did offer to train me. But could I really put faith in her word? A mother who abandoned her daughter, and preferred to hide in the shadows instead of facing the threat?

"D, come on. We gotta get going." Yang called out to me. Clenching my fist, I let out a sigh. The risk was too great to ignore.

"I'm not coming."

"What?"

"You heard me, Yang. I said I'm not coming." I repeated. Yang looked up to me in confusion, before glancing back to her mother.

"Could you give us a minute?" She asked. Raven simply shrugged, and looked away, obviously not caring. With that, Yang strode up to me, close enough that we could talk in hushed tones.

"What do you think you're doing?" She hissed.

"There's a lot of questions I need answers to. Questions that Qrow either can't or won't answer. I've had the truth hidden from me before, and we all suffered for it." I explained.

"So you're taking Mom's word over my uncle's?" She asked, a thin layer of accusation to her voice.

"I'm not taking anyone's word. Not yet, anyway. Besides..." The words caught in my throat. Yang blinked.

"Besides what?" She asked. I looked away.

"It doesn't matter." I stated. Yang gripped my shoulder, forcing me to look at her again.

"No, it does matter. If this is some kind of guilty conscience against Ruby–"

"It's not against her!" I hissed. Yang's eyes widened, visible even behind her aviators.

"So you do feel guilty?" She gasped. I looked away, not wanting to answer. But I didn't need to; Yang surely must have figured it all out.

"It's about Pyrrha, isn't it?" She asked. I hung my head, and nodded. Cinder may have been the one to kill her, but I may as well have been her executioner. Jaune hadn't seen my medical records; he didn't know about the drug that turned me. All he knew was that I had attacked Pyrrha in Amity Colosseum, and our last known locations were in Ozpin's office. In Jaune's eyes, Cinder and I were working together, and that either her or I had killed Pyrrha.

"You need to face him someday." Yang warned. I just rubbed my shoulder.

"Maybe. But not today." I retorted. Yang sighed, and walked back to her bike, where Raven stood waiting, and Weiss shifted uncomfortably on Bumblebee. Yang mounted the bike, and kicked the bike into gear. But before she could gun the engine, Raven spoke.

"Yang... If you side with your uncle, I may not be as kind the next time we meet..." She warned. As Weiss rolled her eyes, Yang only let out an irritated sigh.

"You weren't kind this time either." She replied coolly, before revving up the bike, and rocketing into the portal, Weiss's arms wrapped around her stomach. As the portal dissipated, Raven closed her eyes, and hung her head.

"I know..."

I hope this chapter works for you. Writing this sort of thing is difficult!