But, ALAS, chapter 10 has been written and... Oh boy is it a big one. I fear that I may have gone a bit overboard with it but it felt so wrong to stop before... And I really wanted to go for A LOT more

1) RTX WAS FUCKING AWESOME! HAVE YOU SEEN THE WEISS SHORT? YOU HAVEN'T? GET TO IT! 2) My word document of this chapter got corrupted so I had to write everything again... 3) On WordPad or word Online because Word has expired even if I still have the license for a year so I have to go have a talk with someone but 4) Work has been quite a bitch these past few weeks.

so... Sorry if it took so long, I actually had it all wrote down, but a few things happened.

Chapter Text

Hours after the beginning of the party, everything finally began to slow down. Night had long ago begun, the morning was slowly coming up, less than two hours away. But in a world where negativity and sadness attract monsters, even the simplest moments could mean a lot for humanity’s safeguard. Especially for those who were hunting the dark creatures. How could you hope to defend the world if you kept brooding and thinking of all the mistakes you have made throughout your life? Some huntsmen and huntresses would close themselves to the world, with hearts made of pure stone, while others would open themselves more, wearing their emotions on their sleeves. Some would get more friendly, while others would become bitter. Each and every one of these warriors of the light had their own way of dealing with it. And it wasn’t different for the students. Be it while they study to be the next defenders of the world or just simple civilians, students were still students. So here they were, Fox and Flynt passed out drunk on Ruby’s and Yang’s old beds, Neo was tucked up in a ball on the recliner, Yatsuhashi asleep on the ground, snoring softly, while Neon was using him as a pillow. Coco and velvet were sandwiching Penny between them while they slept on the sofa bed, both young women hugging the android.

Meanwhile, Yang, Blake, and Weiss were silently walking back to Yang’s room, all three of them struggling to walk, inebriated as they were. Yang opened the door to her room and let the two other women get in, watching them enter as she smiled softly. When they were both inside, she closed the door slowly, making sure that it didn’t make too much sound, before going to her bed table and slowly undoing her hair from the ponytail it was in.

Blake looked around, getting as much in as she could. Everywhere she looked, she didn’t see anything… well, anything Yang. She didn’t see band posters like she had in their dorm, she didn’t see something that reminded her of the fiery beauty she knew. The only things that screamed Yang, were the clothes that were dropped around the room. But she could also see that Weiss had made quite a mark in the room. Briefcases were neatly piled up in a corner, all with the trademark emblem of the Schnee family. Looking around, it took a few moments for Blake to realize something. They were both settled in this room. There was only one bed. This meant… oh. OH. Slowly, Blake’s smile faded, looking at the two young woman now talking to each other, seemingly closer than they were ever before. This was why Weiss was here. If they were both sleeping in the same bed, who knows what that might entail for the relationship between these two. Weiss never liked physical contact with other people. Obviously, they were more than simply friends or teammate. Sighing softly, Blake turned around and slowly walked towards the door.

“Where are you going?” asked Yang, in a voice so cold she may have frozen water just with it. It did, however, manage to make Blake freeze in her movements, her hand on the handle as she tensed up. Turning around, she saw Weiss look at her with a weird look, while Yang didn’t even bother to look her way, keeping her gaze locked on the window.

“I… I was just going to find a place to sleep. Seems that you both have a bed while I don’t.” Blake answered softly, looking at Yang’s back.

“Blake…” began Weiss, but was swiftly cut off by Yang.

“Then leave. You seem to be good at doing that.”

“Yang!” yelled Weiss, her hands balling up into fists as she looked at the blond woman. “She’s here right now, isn’t she?”

Finally, Yang turned her head around and both the heiress and Faunus woman were greeted with a pair of red eyes. Standing up, Yang towered over them both, as Weiss took a step back. Yang pointed at Blake with her left hand, her right twitching softly.

“You promised Weiss, you promised us that you would stop running away. You broke that promise once. Then we worked together to solve an issue that was eating away at you. And then you and I had a talk about that. And then, when I lost my arm, you ran away again. And now, you were forced by Coco to be here. Don’t look so surprised, I asked everybody from team CFVY and they told me that you didn’t want to come. And now, now that you’re here, you want to run away again. So, Blake, is it really that difficult, that hard for you to be with us?”

Blake looked at the ground, her ears dipping more and more at each of the accusations, or rather statements, made by Yang. She was right. Every time things didn’t seem to go as she wanted them to, she ran. Every time she was scared of something, she ran. And here she was running away again. Taking a deep breath, she steadied herself before locking eyes with the red eyed brawler in front of her.

“When Weiss and I split up, I followed an Alpha. While chasing him, I stumbled upon… upon Adam. Adam was the man who was my partner, my best friend in the White Fang. We both had our reasons to fight, we both had our fears, but rather than controlling them, Adam was controlled by them. He changed. He changed so much that at the end I couldn’t recognize him. For… For a while, we were having… Something. I don’t know what it was exactly, but we were having it. And when I ran away from the White Fang, it must have driven him mad. He always wanted as much control over everything he ever had. So, when I found him, when I fought him, he told me he would make everything I ever loved disappear, that he would destroy everything I care about… starting with you.” She walked up to Yang, only a few feet away from her, eyes locked with her in defiance, fists clenched tight. “Do you really believe that I was happy all alone all of those months? That I never thought about you? Every. Single. Day. I would think about you, about Weiss, about Ruby, JNPR, Beacon, my parents. Every day I regretted my choice. But you know what? I didn’t have a choice. Because if I was away from you, if I wasn’t with you, then Adam would have no reason to chase you down. By sacrificing the friendships I had with all of you, by burning all the bridges down, I was preventing HIM from going after you and hurting you more! So, yes, Yang, I ran away! I’m sad I had to do it, but I don’t regret it. Because that means he didn’t hunt you down, any of you, to enact his revenge on me!”

They both stood their ground, eyes locked, until Weiss walked between them, pushing them apart. They both looked down at the smaller woman, who was glaring at both of them. When they moved back slowly, she crossed her arms, waiting for any of them to say something. When none did, she took a deep breath and looked at Blake.

“I understand what you did and why you did it, but don’t you think that you could have warned us with a letter, with a message, with anything? Just tell us that you were taking some distances to protect us. And, anyway, must I remind you that we are huntresses in training? We have fought against sociopaths, terrorists, and monsters and we’ve come out safe. We’ve all have had things that happened to us during and after the Fall. We’ve lost things, we’ve gained other. But we can handle ourselves. If anything happens to you Blake, you can always count on us to help you.”

Blake looked away, tears in her eyes as Weiss’s words sank in, while Yang simply growled in anger as Blake looked away, her anger making her lose her temper more than usual. In response Weiss turned to her and slapped her, her eyes shooting daggers at the brawler.

“And YOU. Is it a proper way to treat a friend? Yes she has done things that have hurt you, yes you’re angry, but do you remember what you father said earlier today? We’re a team! Do you want this to drive us apart or do you want team RWBY to be back someday? Well, I know what I want. And you know what it is? I want to have my friends and my family back!”

Weiss turned around, muttering ‘And I want to kiss you both as well’ as she walked to her briefcase, opening one of them to grab her sleepwear, before turning back towards the two other woman in the room, both looking at her, dumbstruck. Rolling her eyes, Weiss sighed as she crossed her arms once more, huffing.

“What?”

“Hum… Weiss… what was that about kissing us?” asked Blake timidly, blushing, as she looked at the heiress with shock in her eyes, her mouth slightly agar.

Weiss' face got whiter than she ever was as she looked at Yang, wishing, hoping, that she didn’t understand what she had said. But Yang was looking at her with the same expression, mouth hanging open as she tried to process what she had just heard.

“Oh, fuck.” was the only thing Weiss managed to say before she collapsed, fainting at the realization that she had indeed said her desires out loud, to two of the three women she felt that way for. Yang and Blake dove at the same time, grabbing the heiress before she hit the ground. Yang swiftly grabbed the heiress by her torso, while Blake grabbed her by the legs. Getting on their knees, they both held the smaller woman against their laps, Yang running a hand through the heiress's hair. Silently, both conscious girls took care of the unconscious one, however, never looking at each other. A few minutes passed before Yang sighed and turned her head slightly, one eye searching for the black-haired girl next to her.

"I'm sorry I yelled." she said softly, her voice barely a whisper. " It's just... it's just hard for me to accept what happened. You are smart Blake, smarter than me, so I know you can understand what I mean. After what happened, after everything, I wake up and you left me. I wake up and my best friend, my partner, my teammate, my... you, you were gone. After what I did for you. With some hindsight, I get it. It was kind and brave of you, but... but you never thought that, maybe, maybe, I should know? Maybe I thought that I didn't mean anything to you, that our friendship was pointless to you, or anything like that? We're a team Blake, but most importantly, we're your friends. You shouldn't keep us out. Because that's the most damaging thing you can do."

Slowly, very slowly, Blake moved over to Yang, making sure that her movements didn't bother Weiss. Once she was close enough, the cat faunus rested her head against the blond's shoulder, making her tense for a second. They stayed like that for a moment, Blake basking in the moment, her eyes closed, while Yang was slowly rubbing Weiss' hair, running her hand through the long white strands.

"You know..." began Blake in a low voice, still snuggling against Yang, "Sun actually said something of that sort while he followed me around to Menagerie. I... I should have listened to him, but somehow it just made me so angry and I ended up asking him to go back to Haven, to leave me alone."

"Why... why do you keep pushing us out Blake? We only want to help you."

"Because this is my fight. These are my problems, my creations. If I had done something sooner, you wouldn't be missing an arm, Adam wouldn't be planning to kill the leader of the White Fang, Haven wouldn't be in danger, if I had done something about Adam sooner, Beacon would maybe have never fallen."

Blake jumped when she felt a hand against her cheek, slowly removing a falling tear. Following the hand, the arm and the shoulders, Blake was greeted with the sad face of a pained heiress. Turning her head slowly, she found Yang looking at her with a pained expression as well. Looking down in shame, Blake rubbed her eyes, removing every proof of crying from her face. Yang sighed as she took Blake in one of her arms, doing the same with Weiss with the other. She slowly pulled them both to her, both tucked into her neck as she rubbed their back. For a few minutes, they stayed like this, in silence, until Yang sighed softly and looked down at the two women in her arms.

"Blake, not everything's your fault. The past is the past, it happened and now you have the chance to undo the wrong you feel like you did. You did things you are not proud of while you were young? Big deal, we all have. Now, it's the time to do things that you'll feel proud of." Nodding slowly, Blake let her arms slide around Yang and Weiss' waists, keeping both of them close as she struggled to keep her emotions in check. "As for you Weiss... I don't know what to say. But, I guess it explains a lot of some things you did. It's just... it's something big you dropped on us. Leave us some time to think about all of that okay? I don't think any of us were expecting you to fall in love with two of your teammates."

"Well... actually..." said Weiss, blushing as she hid her face more and more in the crook of Yang's neck.

"Ruby?" asked Yang giggling as Weiss simply nodded "Oh my god Weiss, have you no shame?" This made Weiss hit her and Blake giggle softly, easing all of the tension that they were all feeling right now.

After a few moment, Yang stood up, still holding the two other girls in her arms. Slowly she dropped them both on the bed and she joined them soon, after removing her right arm from its socket and leaving it on the side table. She pushed Blake against the wall and let Weiss be between them both. Snuggling in between the two bigger woman, Weiss smiled as she closed her eyes, sighing in content softly. Yang lied on the far right of the bed and looked down at the smaller woman resting between her and Blake. Smiling slightly, she turned her gaze to Blake who was looking at her, an eyebrow lifted in questioning. Yang simply shrugged as she let her hand roam through Weiss' hair, softly undoing some knots that she found in them.

"This kind of situation happened so much with Ruby when she was younger, it just became second nature to me, I guess."

Blake nodded and smiled, one of her hand coming up to rest against Yang's own hand, making her stop every movement. Blake let her fingers glide over Yang's, before softly sliding between them, their hands becoming one, even though Weiss' long hair was stuck in the middle. Yang tensed up and took a deep breath in as Blake kept their gaze locked in one another. Blake gulped as she braced herself, closing her eyes for a second to clear her mind as she made sure that she was certain with what she was about to say.

"Yang, I want you to know that I've done so many things in my life that I consider huge mistakes. I've left my family, I've joined the White Fang and I have hidden who I was, what I was, for so long. I ran away from my problem many times and I was afraid to what would happen if I confronted them. I have fled my demons for so long that I fear that they'll catch up to me and destroy me in a heartbeat. But... but Ruby, Weiss and, most important of all, you, Yang, have made me happier than I was in forever. Happy as I was before I learned of the atrocity that this world could create. Of the inequality, the hate, the pain that it could make. If I could, I'd go back in time and right every wrong I ever did. But that would mean I would probably never have the chance to meet any of you. Yang... I want you to understand this. All three of you, you are my friends, my partners. I love you all more than I thought I could love anybody. But you Yang, you are the one that -"

Before the raven haired woman could finish her sentence, a duo of spherical object crashed through the window and, a moment later they exploded in a flash of light and a wave of electricity, incapacitating the trio of girls. The only thing that Yang could hear before completely passing out was the same sound and explosions being heard four more times in the house.

"... about ... sir?"

"Yes. ... know, ... all accomplices, ... are guilty by association."

"But ... to only bring back the package ... Not to ... other people prisoners!"

"Specialist Wan, you will obey ... do as I tell. Am I understood?"

"Now listen up you little..."

"ONYX! Shut your fucking mouth. Understood commander, we will."

"Good. Thank you, Specialist Harlequin. Now if only your leader had an ounce of your professionalism, that would be appreciated."

Slowly, Yang opened her eyes and looked around her. She was laying on the ground in the clearing and the sun was slowly peeking over the large trees of the forest. On her left, she could see the members of team CFVY, as well as Neon, while on her right were held her team, Flynt, her father, and Neo. She looked down and confirmed that she, as well as them, was stuck in a metal container highly reminiscent of a sarcophagus, with only their heads poking out of them. While looking around, she could see that there was a dozen or so of Atlesian soldiers, albeit with black instead of the usual white. She could also see a man in a slick uniform, far from being imposing. He had his hands behind him, standing at the ready as he observed two men on their knees, working on something that she couldn't see, her vision obstructed by a quarter of soldiers.

One of them was dressed in a black opened up jacket, grey jeans and a grey jacket, a large elbow guard was on his left shoulder, while the right arm was left bare. On his back, sat a large claymore with a simple design, the cutting part being all white while the rest of the blade was black. The man was pacing from left to right, under the angry eye of one of the other three soldiers. Said soldier was dressed in the usual Atlesian uniform, albeit with green highlights instead of the light blue that Yang had seen Winter wear. Unlike Winter, however, the outer jacket was left open, revealing a large number of guns resting inside it and against the woman's body, in various holsters scattered over the uniform.

Behind her, two other men were looking at what was happening, a smile on both of their faces. The man on the left, dressed in brown pants, red sleeveless shirt, and a brown cowboy hat, with a small brown leather jacket. On his back sat a large sniper rifle and, even this far away, Yang was able to see where the joints on the weapon allowed it to transform into a bladed weapon. The final man looked rather puny in his blue jeans, black jacket with hood up, but, after looking more closely, Yang could see that both hands of the man were gleaming in the morning sun, showcasing their metal composition.

Groaning in discomfort, Yang managed to grab the pacing man's attention. He quickly walked to her and took his time to ensure her well-being. Looking at her life signs, he sighed before smiling, part of his unease seemingly lifting from his shoulders.

"Well, at least those grenades don't seem to have left you with permanent damage."

"Who... who are you?" asked Yang as she looked at the man straight in the eyes.

"I'm Onyx Wan. But please, just call me Onyx. Bitchy McBitchface over there is Panta Harlequin, the guy with the sniper is Caput Mort. And, finally, this is Or Raz. We're team OCHR. And, if all goes well, you'll be free in a few minutes."

Tensing up, Yang gulped slowly as she looked around once more and saw that the soldiers seemed to be preparing the other pods with her friends or family (or Neo) for transport. Flexing her muscles to test the strength of her prison, Yang groaned as she was soon faced with the hard truth that she wasn't able to force her way out, not in her current situation. She looked around and saw that most of her friends were awake, either trying to force their way out or assessing the situation. Only Flynt and Blake were still out, Weiss was having a staring battle against the one Onyx had referred to as Harlequin, Coco was shouting profanities at the closest soldiers and Neo was struggling like a demon in her own pod. But her gaze was quickly drawn by her father, who was looking directly at her.

"So, what are you thinking about this?" she asked once Onyx had away to tend to other matters with the one, she guessed, who was probably the commander.

"I think that I've been in worse situations before. But I also think that we're against something Qrow warned me about. Apparently, he encountered them a few times before, but these are probably the Black Devils, or if you prefer, Atlas' Special paramilitary forces. I just wonder why they took us, prisoners."

"Well... They seem to be working on something over there and they were talking about being guilty by association and accomplices of something. So... Wait. Where's Penny?"

Quickly looking around, they realized that the android was indeed missing from the group of pods. As they looked around, however, the two men working next to the commander slowly stood up, revealing something Yang had never wished to see again. Penny's lifeless face. But worst of all was the lack of an arm. The arm in which Wess had shot the jammer. Shaking in anger, Yang's gaze was drawn to the commander who was looking at Penny with a cold stare, his hands still behind his back.

"What. Are you. Doing?" she asked coldly, making everybody else in the surrounding area look at her.

"Yang... don't do this..." warned her father as he saw her red eyes shining brighter than ever before.

The commander simply turned around and looked at her, still keeping his cold face as he met her angry eyes. "Simple, I'm having it disassembled for its transportation back to Atlas. It's easier to carry that way."

"Do not call her "it"! She's named Penny!" yelled Weiss as she felt Yang's, Taiyang's and Neo's aura flare to dangerous levels, as well as sensing everybody else in the clearing freeze at the rising tension in the clearing, some soldiers even grabbing their stun rifles just in case.

"Reassemble her." demanded Taiyang as he made his neck crack, looking at the commander straight in the eyes. Smiling, the commander walked up to Yang and Taiyang, still keeping his emotions in check.

"I will do no such thing. This android is the result of years and years of research by almost every department in Atlas' R&D division. This android costs millions of liens just to produce one time and is an invaluable asset to the Atlesian military. For this reason, we have been tasked to bring back the package back in Atlas as a mean to continue our research. And, all of you, are charged with theft of Atlesian military secrets and will all be judged accordingly."

Sighing, Taiyang, closed his eyes. He didn't want to do this, but seeing the situation and the way things were going, he didn't have any choice. HE had built this house when he was still a young adult, just after STRQ had graduated. All four of them had pitched into the design and construction of the house. At first, it was team STRQ's house. And then, it became his and Raven's home. When she left, it became His and Summer's home. And now, it was his house. Yang and Ruby had left for Beacon and, even after coming back from the Fall, even after having lost so much, Ruby had left once more and Yang would probably do the same once she felt ready for it. But even throughout all of those years, all these years spent in this house, with the people whom he loved the most, a house he had built more than twenty years ago, a place who had housed the most awesome team of huntsmen and huntresses that Beacon ever had, a building who had served as the home of a pair of bandits, they had swore to never fight on this ground, to keep the serenity that this house brought them. Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked around, taking in every little detail he could muster. On his left, he could see five soldiers and two knights, while on his right stood three more soldiers. But what he was the most concerned about was the four specialists standing in front of him, with two more soldiers and what he assumed was the commanding officer. Looking back at his daughter, Taiyang could see that she was barely restraining her anger, waves of energy running through her hair. He knew he had to do something soon, before the situation got a lot worse and some of the kids got hurt. Or worse.

"Alright, alright, Yang, calm down." he said, his eyes still locked on the four members, gagging them based on the way they acted, as well as their equipment. "No need to get angry, we don't want you to hurt any of them."

"What did you say?" asked the commander, turning around with a dangerous smirk. "She could do no such thing. She won't be able to break free of this prison, it has been designed to be able to withstand the power of a paladin punch. She's at my mercy. And, matter of fact... I can do whatever I want to." The man turned around and slapped Yang with all of his might, before laughing and doing it again and again. After a few more slaps, he turned around once more and laughed as he looked at Taiyang straight in the eyes. "Still believe you can do anything to stop me? Or do I have to beat you up as well?"

"Me?" answered Taiyang with a little smile as he held the commander's gaze "I won't do anything to you. Her, however... Yang, I was thinking about going with Soaring Dragons for the opening move"

Turning around the commander was greeted with a pair of red eyes screaming death at him. He began to walk backward, away from the waves of energy pulsating from the woman in front of him. Only a second later, the pod was sent flying all around the clearing when one energy wave bigger than all of the other was made, creating fire all around the young woman. With a grin, she stood up and dashed towards the commander. Her fist collided with a metal hand, however, as Or was quick enough to block the hit.

"Well, looks like it's time to have some action." said Taiyang, before his pod burst open as well, purple energy emanating from his clothes. A bit further down the row of pods Coco punched her way through her own prison, before beginning to tear it apart. Quickly all the Atlesian soldiers grabbed their weapons and began to point it at their prisoners. However, they weren't prepared for the group of three white Beowulf to suddenly appear near Neo's, Blake's and Weiss' pods and begin to open them forcefully. Taiyang grinned before dashing to the man fighting against Yang, his daughter being clearly being outmatched by the two metal arms that could change form between large blades, shields, maces, claws, and whips. Just before Taiyang's fist collided with Or's face, it suddenly burst into flames, making the specialist scream in pain and surprise. Never letting the four specialists out of his sight, Taiyang got in a battle stance like Yang had never seen him use. It was similar to a boxing stance, one he had taught her to use, so many years ago. But the main difference was that both of his hands were not clenched in fists. Both his palms were held open, the right one pointing towards the sky, the left one pointing towards his left arm.

"Yang!" he screamed as all four of the specialists began to run towards him. "Go help your friends, defeat the soldiers and go take your weapons. I'll take care of those four."

"But dad..."

"No buts! Do as I say! I promise, everything's going to be okay."

Nodding, Yang began to run towards her friends, as Taiyang began to dodge the shots coming from the sniper. Even in this time of danger, in a moment where his family, his daughter, his house, his everything, were in danger, Taiyang was smiling. He had not felt this good in a long time. After months of moping, after months of being bed ridden, not wanting to come out of her room, without any light in her eyes, Yang was finally moving forward again. White energy and light began to emanate from Taiyang's boot, before he jumped in the air, kicking in a circular motion as a gust of wind erupted from his foot, knocking off the Onyx and Or from their feet. When they landed, Taiyang smirked as he took his stance once more, this time however, he didn't leave them time to get on the offensive as he began to shoot fire from his hands, red energy and light coming out from his sleeves. The four specialists began to scramble around, evading the fire as best as they could while Taiyang seemed like he was dancing, following each of the specialists as they got closer to him or the other kids.

"What the fuck is this bullshit?" Screamed Onyx as he barely evaded a fire ball to the face, hiding behind his large sword to block the next one.

"Dust bending!" Screamed Panta, as she hid behind a nearby tree to avoid being hit by a wave of fire. "He's using dust and injecting his aura in it to control it in a small way!"

All of a sudden the sound of fire died down and all of the specialists moved carefully towards Taiyang, now having closed his eyes and adopting a new fighting pose. Mort grabbed his sniper rifle and took aim, pointing it directly at the huntsman's head. His breathing stopped and a fraction of a second later he took the shot. However, the bullet stopped in mid-air, purple energy pulsating around Taiyang and the round.

"So... You do realize that I've been training for longer than any of you have even been alive right? You're good, all of you specialists are. But let me show you, what a real Huntsman can do."

Grinning as brown light began to shine around his boots, Taiyang hit the ground with his right foot as strongly as he could, before raising his arm, creating a wall of stone in a straight line, raised by the gravity dust infused in his clothes. Smiling he quickly did the same thing on the left, an eyebrow raised towards the four specialists in front of him.

"This," began Onyx with a sigh, while steadying his grip on his sword, his teammates doing the same with their weapons. "is going to suck... a lot"