Disclaimer: RWBY is not owned by me. It is owned by Rooster Teeth. This fan-fiction is not for profit.

Warnings: This fiction will be rated T for bad language, fantasy violence, and dark themes.

Author's Note: Surprise, I'm back! I have to confess, the Volume 3 finale bummed me out enough to hamper my writing motivation. I had to kick myself in the ass a number of times to get back in the swing of things. And to kick off my return, the climactic "discussion" between parent and child that you've all been waiting for.

Requiem for Remnant

Chapter 27: Seeing Red

The wind was howling like a caged beast, longing to be unleashed.

Yang stood on the courtyard's cobblestone path. Flames flickered fitfully down her golden hair. One moment it was an inferno almost too bright to look at. The next, mere sparks that traced -along sun-kissed strands. She breathed heavily through clenched teeth. Heat rose from her body, rippling the air around her like a mirage. She couldn't hold still, there was too much erratic energy pulsating within her. She switched hips repeatedly, shifting back and forth on her knee-high boots. Ember Celica rattled around shaking fists. All the while, her crimson eyes never left her mother.

Raven was perched upon the Hero's Monument. In contrast to her daughter, she was as unmoving as the statues beneath her. They could have been cut from the same stone. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest. Stark black locks swept around her face as the wind gusted over the Huntress. The Moon shone upon unnaturally pallid skin, casting her in an even paler light. Black-coated lips curled down in a sharp frown. Eyes as red as blood burned with daunting intensity.

A sharp breeze, painted scarlet with fallen leaves, carved through the gulf between them.

It was Raven who broke the silence, her voice was like a steel edge sharp enough to cut through bone and sinew.

"You don't know how to follow orders, do you? I told you to forget about me."

Yang squared her shoulders. She shot back with a heated tone of voice, "You gave up the right to tell me what to do a long, long time ago."

That seemed to garner a reaction from Raven, whose whole body stiffened slightly. For a second, she seemed to be at a loss for words. The moment passed and her expression darkened.

"I left you to keep you safe from me. I betrayed everyone I loved because I loved you too much."

She reached behind her back and produced the ghastly Ancient Nevermore mask.

"I took up this mask to keep my identity safe, so that my enemies wouldn't go after you. I have hunted the worst of the worst, so that your world might be safer. I have killed for you, because that's the only way I know how to protect you. Everything I've done; I did for you."

The black-haired Huntress glared at the visage in her hand as though it had betrayed her.

"But now you've taken up this same mask." Her lips curled ferociously. "Now you're putting yourself in pointless danger for no apparent reason except to spite me."

The wailing wind reached a crescendo.

"By putting on this mask, you have spat in the face of all my sacrifices. Everything I have done, all of my efforts, each and every drop of blood I've spilt was for you. And you've shown nothing but contempt."

Yang started to retort, "Do you seriously think I should be grateful—"

"Be quiet!" Raven bellowed abruptly, her face ugly with anger.

The red-eyed slayer's aura was unlike anything Yang has ever felt before. It was like being submerged by a subzero tempest. Whatever words she had planned to use were frozen at the tip of her tongue. She ceased breathing and her lungs filled with frost. Fear clutched her heart with frigid fingers. A bitter winter chill settled deep in her bones, turning them brittle and weak. The dragoness began to shiver uncontrollably, hands quaking from ice-cold terror. An overwhelming weight landed on her shoulders, threatening to drop her to her knees before she could even mount a resistance.

In that moment, Yang realized that this was the reason why so many people ceased moving in the presence of the Reaper. She was the mortal incarnation of dread.

"Don't even speak a word right now." Raven spoke with a growl, deep in her throat. "I'm so furious that I'm seeing red."

A spark of heat kindled in Yang's chest and quickly billowed into a roaring flame. The glacier-like atmosphere was swept away by the inferno. Golden fire ignited and swirled around her body like a blazing twister. Fiery crimson eyes scorched like iron in a blast furnace.

"You think you're seeing red?" Yang hollered in disbelief. She pointed at her face. "My eyes literally turn red when I get angry! And I've been angry a whole lot lately!"

Shaking her head, Raven snapped. "I'm wasting a lot of time by coming here and talking to you. I should be out there," she pointed at the black horizon, "fighting the forces of darkness that threaten to destroy civilization. But instead, I'm forced to clean up your mess because you went and painted a target on your back."

"Aw…" the blonde drawled sarcastically. "I'm sorry, am I inconveniencing you?"

Raven's eyes narrowed. "Do you even know what your rampage has started? Word of a copycat Reaper has spread around like wildfire. The criminal underworld already hates me. But two of me? That's two more than they can tolerate. The crime lords are already planning on moving to end this problem."

She stabbed her finger at her feet. "And that's why I'm here. To put a stop to this before they do."

Baring her fangs with a snarl, Yang declared, "I'd like to see you try!"

Ember Celica unfolded and enveloped her fists. Clank-clank-clank. She swung both weapons back hard enough to load a Burn Dust bullet in each of their chambers. Ka-chunk. Finally, Yang brought her arms up in a fighting stance and clanged the shotgun-gauntlets together. The air around her pulsated with unrestrained power in beat with her heart. Blonde eyebrows gathered like a growing thunderstorm as she glared wrathfully at the red-eyed slayer. Tongues of fire flared from her open mouth upon every ragged breath.

Boiling hot crimson locked with ice-cold crimson.

Silence stretched on for what seemed like an eternity. Raven cocked her head slightly, angling one eye directly at Yang. Then she seemed to sigh with her whole body.

"You're not willing to talk this through like a civilized person." she said it like a statement rather than a question.

"Damn straight." Yang agreed.

Nodding her black crown, "Well, that's fine by me." She affirmed with a rough voice, "Because I'm not in any mood for talking either."

Raven's hand began to slowly cross over her body toward the weapon hanging off her hip. But instead of unsheathing the great blade, she unlocked the buckles on her belt and detached Yatagarasu and Masamune. With a single hand, she lifted the pair above her head. Then she nonchalantly cast them off the monument. The sword and sheath fell down and landed on the cobblestone.

CRACK!

The combined weapons broke the avenue where they landed. Yang's eyes widened.

"Just how heavy are those things?"

Without breaking eye contact, Raven abruptly twisted her neck to one side, producing a revolting crunch. Then she rotated her neck in the opposite direction, eliciting an encore crunch. A low groan drew from the Reaper's throat. Raven laced her fingers and bent them back sharply. The symphony of snaps and pops could be heard even from where Yang was standing.

Placing her hands on her hips, the red-eyed raven glared down at the golden dragoness. She spoke five words.

"Let's get started, shall we?"

Burning blood flooded Yang's veins. The pounding in her head grew louder and louder like the rhythm of war drums. She could feel her Semblance growing hotter in her chest like a boiler about to blow. Her breath hitched with the effort to contain it, to let it build, to let it feed off her pain.

When Ruby explained Yang's Semblance to Blake and Weiss, she had told them that Yang grew stronger the more damage she sustained. This was technically a lie of omission. While it was true that Yang's Semblance powered up the more she was beaten up, this description left out a very important factor. Physical damage was not the only thing that fueled Yang's Semblance. Emotional damage was just as good a source of power. And lately, Yang had suffered a lot of emotional damage.

All of the anger, the confusion, the frustration that she had bottled up in her oasis. It was time to let it all out.

Yang kicked off the ground and took flight. She soared over Raven's head with fiery comet tail trailing behind her. The dark Huntress held still and watched her ascension. At the zenith of her leap, the blonde went supernova. The Moon was outshone by her brilliance. She was a blinding explosion of heat and fire and rage, bright enough to stain the night sky with the ombré colors of the rising sun, purple to red to gold.

Then gravity took hold and pulled her down, directly at her mother. She plummeted like a meteor, wreathed in flames. Dust eddied away from her landing zone in concentric circles. Shadows lengthened as she drew closer to the surface. Yang pulled her fist back and let loose a deafening roar. An instant before impact, she swung Ember Celica straight at Raven's thoroughly unimpressed face.

The Hero's Monument shattered into a million molten pieces with a thunderous eruption. Liquefied fragments shot in every direction. The powerful overpressure wave swept across the main avenue, uprooting trees and bending back the remaining few left standing. A plume of smoke and dirt jettisoned straight up and blossomed in the distinct shape of a mushroom cloud. Red hot cobblestones rained down, igniting countless brushfires across the courtyard.

Yang was left standing in a wide crater as deep as she was tall. The rocks beneath her fist steamed. But Raven was nowhere to be seen.

"You missed." An icy voice commented from somewhere behind.

Whirling around, the blonde pugilist threw her fist toward the source of the voice. A Burn bullet shot from the shotgun-gauntlets and lanced straight at Raven. It exploded against the lip of the crater, deforming the ground further. But Raven was nowhere to be seen.

"Just remember," Raven stated from directly behind Yang, "you asked for this."

She couldn't react in time. Pain exploded along her back and the force of the blows— "how many times did she even hit me?" — sent the blonde careering across the basin. Her face slammed into the scorched soil. She swiftly slapped her palms down and threw herself back onto her feet. Spinning to meet her adversary, Yang's heart leaped into her chest when she came face-to-face with Raven.

"Shit she's fast!"

Yang threw a right hook as hard as she could. Raven's hands blurred into motion. Her left hand caught the outside of Ember Celica at the same time as her right hand chopped the crook of Yang's elbow. The end result was to sharply redirect the feral punch until it impacted directly into Yang's nose. The blonde's crown whipped back from the force of her own attack, eyes wide and dazed. Raven's hands didn't stop moving for a second. They struck like machine gun fire, one after the other. She walked the barrage upward, from stomach to sternum to skull. Stars exploded in hot crimson eyes as Raven's fist collided with her face.

Desperate to get away, to get some breathing room, Yang leaped backwards out of the crater. Suddenly, Raven jumped and caught up to her in mid-air. An axe kick sent Yang careening to the ground. Her back slammed against the cobblestone avenue hard enough to leave a depression. She rolled backwards to her feet and brought her hands up to defend herself from Raven's relentless onslaught.

Raven did not disappoint. The second that she touched down on the ground, she dashed forward with superhuman speed. Yang punched with Ember Celica as fast as she could, firing a barrage of Burn bullets that screamed like fireworks. The Reaper moved too fast for the eye to follow. She appeared to blink in-and-out of existence as she closed the distance. Flitting back and forth, she effortlessly slipped through the bombardment and materialized just in front of the brawler.

"She's even faster than Qrow!"

Drawing her fist back like an arrow on a bowstring, Yang let it fly at Raven's face. As high as her Semblance was powered up right now, such a punch would be capable of crumpling steel. The Reaper quickly ducked beneath the overextended limb and buried her left elbow into Yang's solar plexus. A hot breath of air expulsed from the dragoness' lips as she doubled over. Then, using her elbow like a hinge, Raven whipped her left fist up into the blonde's gritted teeth. Without stopping, she shaped both her hands like blades and slashed with a cross-motion at her daughter's throat.

Instinctively, Yang brought her arms up to protect her neck. Unfortunately, while her gauntlets succeeded in stopping Raven's knife-hands, they were nowhere near close enough to prevent her boot from driving into Yang's stomach. The side-kick launched her horizontally and sent her rolling across the courtyard.

For the third time, the berserker found herself on the ground. So much surface area of her body throbbed with pain that she could scarcely fill her lungs with air. The agony was devoured by her Semblance and the flames that flowed down her hair only grew hotter. She felt as though she were harboring a dwarf star in her heart. Smoke filled her head so completely, suffocating rational judgement.

"I'm revved up so much right now, all I need is a single solid punch to win! If I just keep swinging, eventually I'll hit her!"

Raven spoke in a low voice, "Get up. I'm not done with you yet."

Ember Celica pulverized the Remnant beneath her in frustration as she rose to her feet.

"Try not to fall unconscious too soon."

Enraged, Yang flung herself at Raven. A golden inferno flared around the dragoness as she charged with the force of a high speed freight train. She yelled at the top of her lungs as she launched a megaton punch directly at Raven's face. Shaking her head in disappointment, Raven flickered from view. She reappeared behind Yang without a whisper of sound. The brawler dug her heels in the dirt in a desperate attempt to halt, but inertia proved to be a cruel mistress. She staggered, thrown off balance by her own forward momentum.

"Fuck! I can't—"

Her thought was cut off by a heavy blow to her spine, forcing her to arch her back sharply. She spun around and swung a closed-fist backhand with all her might, just to see Raven dip beneath. Before Yang could react, the Reaper rose up and delivered a teeth-rattling heel strike to her chin, which flowed seamlessly into a rising elbow with the same arm. The two-hit combo lifted Yang into the air. Her head snapped back and a salty-iron taste landed on her tongue. The world spun like a top and didn't stop even when she alighted flat on the ground.

"Get up!" she hollered in her head. "Get up before she says another word! Don't let her see you lying on the ground like a weakling!"

Palms pushing off the dirt, she struggled to her feet with a pained grunt. Yang gathered up all the fluids in her mouth and spat. Red splattered on the ground. This came as no surprise. She has tasted her own blood on many occasions. All it did was motivate her to fight even harder than before.

"She's so fast and she's always getting behind me. Well, if that's the case…"

Clenching her teeth and balling her hands into fists, Yang began to yell. A resplendent pillar of fire consumed her entire body as she dredged up all of her might. Her roar climbed louder and louder while her Semblance built up hotter and hotter. Hurricane winds tore across the courtyard, causing Raven's pitch-dark hair to unfurl behind her. Crimson eyes squinted as she stared into the heart of the mounting firestorm.

The blazing brawler opened up into a flat out run with her fist hauled behind her ear.

An exasperated sound left Raven's throat as Yang drew closer. "The same thing, over and over again." She grumbled under her breath.

Yang stomped her feet into the earth and came to a dead stop just in front of the Grimm Reaper.

Raven vanished into thin air.

Yang pivoted on her heels and spun around completely.

Her fist hurtled toward the empty space behind her.

Raven came into sight.

Right in Ember Celica's path.

Crimson eyes landed on the oncoming fist.

They widened in surprise.

"Oh f—" she uttered just before Yang punched her squarely in the stomach with everything she had.

A colossal golden explosion detonated upon the point of contact. Heat and flames bloomed between the combatants and set fire to everything in the vicinity. The earth beneath their feet was peeled back by the force of the blow. Dust swirled as though a cyclone had touched down directly on the battlefield. Yang squeezed the trigger and fired Ember Celica at point blank range. Her shotgun-gauntlet boomed as it unleashed a Burn bullet against Raven's upper body.

The blast carried Raven along the courtyard, carving a straight path from the epicenter. A second explosion echoed where the Grimm Reaper landed. A geyser of rocks and dirt erupted toward the sky and fell in earthy clumps.

Exhilaration flooded Yang's body as she laid eyes on the smoking trail of destruction before her. The amber flames that flowed from her crown were extinguished. Crimson eyes reverted to amethysts. She punched the air in triumph and boasted loudly, "Let's see you get up from that!"

In one fluid motion, Raven stood up and brushed the dirt off her knees.

Yang's mouth dropped open.

The black-haired slayer wrapped one arm around her torso. She massaged her stomach and a grimace flickered across her face. Aura the color of blood pulsated around her abdominal region. Gray smoke rose from her singed garments.

"Well, well, well." Raven remarked, "It appears that you really can throw a halfway-decent punch. That actually hurt."

"There's just no way…" Yang stepped backwards slowly, disbelief quieting her words. "That was my strongest punch. I've destroyed a Paladin with that punch."

"If an attack of that level was enough to beat me," Raven's back straightened as her Aura erased all of Yang's efforts, "then I wouldn't have survived even a year as the Grimm Reaper."

She gestured to the scarlet energies. "I'm sure you've noticed by now that you're special, at least compared to the other students. You see your peers get hit with a seemingly weak strike, but still they drop like flies. You may have figured out that you can withstand attacks that others can't and your Aura works faster than most to repair the damage already done. Have you ever questioned why?"

It was true, Yang had made a similar observation while watching other students dueling in Professor Goodwitch's combat class. She found herself perplexed when she saw a Hunter-in-training lose all of their Aura by only a handful of strikes. Meanwhile, Yang was easily capable of braving colossal blow after blow from Cardin Winchester's titanium mace without budging even an inch. For a while now, Yang has wondered whether there was something that separated her from the rest of the students.

"Did you think that was all your power? Did you think it was the result of hard work and training?" Raven shook her head mockingly. "Hate to break it to you, kiddo, but you're just blessed with good genetics. You've got an extraordinarily dense Aura combined with an unusually deep Aura reserve. This means that you can absorb a whole lot more damage than the rest of the rabble."

The red-armored slayer leisurely rolled her neck and shoulders, working out the kinks. "You get it from the Branwen blood in your veins. The Branwens were a warrior clan, they fought in every major battle in history. Qrow and I were both inheritors of this trait. You're just the next one in line."

She took a step toward Yang. "Do you understand now? You're not fighting against some street thug. You're not fighting against some low-ranking White Fang grunt. You're not fighting against some Huntsman-in-training. You're fighting against me, and I'm like nothing you've ever faced before."

Her other foot advanced.

"So get ready, because now I'm going to show you how a real Huntress—"

Raven started the sentence while twenty feet away. She flickered from view and reappeared just in front of her daughter.

"—fights!"

Yang didn't have time to bring up her arms in defense before she was sent reeling backwards by an attack too fast to even see.

And then another one.

And another one.

And another.

And…

"Blake, what's going on?" Ruby pleaded.

Ruby, Weiss, and Blake were kneeling on the floor around Yang's slumbering form. At Blake's urging, Weiss had used her glyphs to gently move Yang from the bed to the floor. Ruby had swiftly retrieved a fireproof blanket and wrapped it around her sister to ensure she didn't set the whole room on fire.

Blake asked Ruby, "Where did you get that blanket so quickly?"

Shrugging nonchalantly, "Glynda gave it to me."

"Didn't she want to know why you needed a fireproof blanket?"

"She just looked me in the eye and said that she isn't being paid enough for this. I think the overcrowding is kind of getting to her."

Yang may have been sleeping, but she was still just as animated as she was awake. She thrashed her limbs in her constraint, and her face was contorted in obvious pain. Golden flames rose from her hair and threatened to burn Team RWBY's sleeping quarters. The window was wide open to let out all of the stifling heat Yang was producing.

Weiss provided an answer to Ruby's question directed at Blake. "Obviously, Yang is having some kind of nightmare." She reached for Yang's shoulder. "If she's having a nightmare, then we should wake her up."

"No!" Blake lunged and grabbed Weiss' hand.

The heiress demanded, "Why are you stopping me?"

"Because, it's not a nightmare." Blake paused, looking over her partner with a sorrowful expression. "It's something worse."

Her eyes roamed Yang's writhing body. The blonde's teeth were tightly clenched and her breathing was labored. She quaked sporadically and squeezed her eyes tighter. Blake desperately wanted to grab Yang and shake her awake. But it would be selfish of her to take away Yang's opportunity to speak with Raven just because it was hard to watch.

"Have you heard of something called 'dream sharing' before?" she finally asked.

Ruby tore her gaze away from her sister. She scratched her black-cherry hair and asked, "What, like two people having the same dream?"

Shaking her head, Blake clarified, "Close, but it's not just two people having the same dream. It's two people in the same dream together."

"A meeting in a dream? Like those bedtime stories Yang used to read to me?" Then she gasped, "Is that what's happening to Yang right now?"

Blake nodded, then turned to Weiss who was wearing a skeptical expression. "I know that this sounds pretty unbelievable, but Yang says that it's the truth and I choose to believe her."

"Fine. I'll believe her too." Weiss nodded.

Blake's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Really? That easily?"

Frowning, "Why do you automatically assume that I'm going to be skeptical of Yang's story?" Weiss crossed her slender arms in front of her chest, "Scientists haven't discovered all that there is to know about the soul. They're still finding out new things every day. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that people can meet in dreams. Maybe someday soon they'll learn a connection that links souls together that could explain how this is happening."

Ruby spoke up, "Yang is fighting right now, isn't she?"

"Yeah," Blake affirmed, "seems like it."

"That's all I needed to hear." Ruby then positioned herself beside Yang's head and whispered into her ear. "C'mon Yang, beat that bad guy's butt. I know you can do it."

Yang sailed through the air like a bird with broken wings. She landed hard and slid across the polished floor of Beacon's great hall. When she finally came to a stop, her cheek rested on the cool white marble.

She struggled to prop herself up on her elbows. Blood dribbled from her mouth and pooled beneath her chin. The sanguine fluid seemed so vibrant upon the alabaster stone. With an agonized grunt, she rolled onto her back and wrapped her arms around bruised ribs. Forcing her lilac eyes open, Yang took in the sight of the towering arched ceiling. Her limbs felt like solid lead bars. All she could do was suck air into sore lungs and wait for her Aura to repair the damage.

Clop, clop, clop.

Raven's steel-toed boots sounded like cannon fire in the cavernous room.

"Dammit, she's getting closer."

A dark shadow fell over the horizontal huntress. Raven lifted her foot and stomped on Yang's stomach. Leaning over her knee, the Reaper's weight pinned Yang's body flat on the floor. Staring down at her daughter with an emotionless expression, Raven questioned coolly.

"Are you going to give up now?"

Yang valiantly lifted her head off the ground. Raven's fist snapped out as fast as a bullwhip and the blonde's skull smashed against the stone floor. The grand hall spun like a top, causing her stomach to tumble nauseatingly.

Pain and doubt swirled in Yang's mind in equal measure. All of the confidence and bravado that the dragoness demonstrated at the start of the fight had evaporated.

"Raven is so goddamn fast and strong! She dodges my attacks as though I were in slow-motion and hits like a fucking tank! I can't even block her attacks; she just keeps slipping through my guard as though it wasn't even there! What was I thinking, getting into this fight? Did I honestly think that I could win?"

Cold despair clawed at her heart. Yang was a barely battle-tested Huntress-in-training fighting against a seasoned veteran with decades of combat experience beneath her belt. Nothing she did even came close to closing the immeasurable gulf between them. There was never even a chance for victory. She felt like a fool for even trying.

"Say it." Raven demanded while leaning harder on Yang's abdomen. "Say that you give up, say that you will stop getting into fights while wearing my mask. Swear it to me and the pain will stop. I'll leave and you can move on with your life."

The words were on her lips. There was no point in dragging this humiliation out any further.

She opened her mouth. "I gi—"

All of the sudden, a sweet voice wafted into Yang's ear. It sounded faint, as though from a great distance.

"C'mon Yang, beat that bad guy's butt. I know you can do it."

Ruby's words of encouragement ignited a warm spark in Yang's heart.

Next was Blake.

"We're right here, ready to support you however way we can."

The ember grew to a small flame.

Finally,

"You've already lost one big fight, Xiao Long. Don't embarrass yourself by losing this one too."

The petite fire exploded into a towering inferno, filling the dragoness with renewed strength.

Yang burst into outraged laughter.

"Holy shit!" she hollered at the top of her lungs. "Weiss, I'm so gonna kick your ass when I wake up!"

Raven's expression was of pure bewilderment.

As fast as she could, Yang grabbed Raven's ankle with both hands. At the same time, she rolled her hips off the floor and slammed her boot against the slayer's spine. It wasn't a very strong kick, but it was enough to dislodge Raven's stance. Yang twisted the ankle and threw her off. Then she scrambled to her feet and raised her arms in a fighting stance.

They faced each other.

Amethyst locked with crimson.

Yang pressed her thumb against one nostril and blew a dollop of blood out from the other. A hollow ache echoed within her bones and her muscles felt like vulcanized rubber. An inferno roared in her heart, but not the same as before. There was no more smoke clouding her mind. For the first time since the fight began, Yang was able to think clearly.

Raven crooked her eyebrow. "Are you still going to try and fight even after the thrashing I've dealt you?"

"What can I say?" Yang shrugged flippantly, "I'm a tough nut to crack. My usual tank-and-spank strategy didn't work, so I'm going to have to try something different."

Yang squeezed her eyes shut. Her brow furrowed as she started to concentrate harder than she has ever in her entire life. She could still feel the anger boiling inside her, but something had changed. It was no longer a wildfire blazing out of control. It had transformed into something else.

Red-hot, burning determination.

Taiyang had described this state of mind as, "the brain dedicating one-hundred percent of its faculties into a single goal, victory." In her own eloquent words, Yang liked to call it "fucking try-hard mode."

In every fight up until this point, Yang had let her Semblance blaze openly and freely. It usually got the job done. But this situation was different. "I'm not going to win this fight just by burning recklessly. I need to be less like a wild inferno and more like a cutting torch."

Her eyes converted to crimson and a firestorm consumed her body as though she were doused in gasoline. But instead of blasting outward, the flames were being pulled back toward Yang. Tendrils of fire looped around the blazing blonde like solar flares.

Regarding her with a sharp eye, Raven observed, "You're condensing your Semblance."

Yang's face burned red with effort. She huffed and puffed between words. "Y—yeah! And it's… really… hard to… do! So… if you wouldn't… mind… shutting the fuck up… for a second… or two…"

Surprisingly, Raven obeyed and fell silent. She placed her hands on her hips and waited patiently.

Bit by bit, the solar flares shrank as their coils became tighter. Through sheer force of will, Yang withdrew all of the rampant energy that her Semblance produced and contained it within her body. After she had finished absorbing every stray spark, the only external signs that remained were her crimson eyes and hair that glowed white like the sun. A cloud of steam erupted from gently parted lips.

The immense rush of power threatened to sweep Yang off her feet. It made her standard Semblance feel like a candle next to a flamethrower. All the might of a volcano pounded in her chest, but she couldn't let it erupt. Not all at once.

Raven observed, "That took almost a full minute. Not exactly very combat effective."

Yang's voice was stressed tight, "Well, thanks for waiting anyways. Truth be told, I've never actually used this mode in a real fight before. I guess we're both gonna see what I can really do."

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, "I just hope it was worth the—"

Yang didn't let her finish that sentence. She kicked off the ground hard enough to shatter the marble and traversed the distance before the word "wait" was uttered. As soon as she was in range, Yang launched a lightning-quick right jab at Raven's face. Raven leaned her body to the side and the gauntlet rocketed past her ear. Blistering hot wind rippled through ebony strands.

Crimson eyes widened in alarm.

Raven retaliated with an insanely swift punch. Before, her attacks were so blindingly fast that they were nigh impossible for Yang to even see. But in her current state, Raven's fist was clearly visible as it speeded toward her sternum.

Yang caught the punch in her left palm. THWACK! At the same time, she pulled back her right fist and delivered a bone-breaking right hook at Raven's exposed ribs. Raven dropped her left arm and deployed an elbow block. WHOCK! Then she retaliated with a heel-palm strike aimed at Yang's diaphragm. Yang bounced off her toes and shifted her body to the side. The attack missed entirely. She swung a fierce haymaker up into Raven's chin. The red-eyed slayer tilted her crown and the uppercut only managed to clip her cheekbone. CHFFT!

They separated and leaped away from each other, landing a marginally safe distance apart.

The entire exchange took place in the space of a single second.

For a moment, they merely exchanged glares at each other.

Suddenly, Yang smirked triumphantly. "Gotcha."

Raven's hand reached for her cheek and pulled away red. She rubbed the blood between her fingers and thumb with a meditative expression on her face. The red-eyed Huntress appeared to be silently appraising the minor wound.

Then she trained her intense gaze upon Yang.

"Don't drop your guard." Raven warned in a low voice. "Don't get cocky. Don't lose focus. Don't think for an instant that you've won, not until I'm slathered in my own blood and lying flat on the ground. If you're serious about beating me, then don't let up even to catch your breath. Keep your hands up. Keep your senses sharp. Use every weapon you have, every low and dirty trick in your arsenal. Exploit every one of my weaknesses as much as you possibly can. If you give up for even a microsecond, then the battle is already lost. Fight with your life on the line, and you might just actually stand victorious."

A chill ran down Yang's spine. The smirk slid off of her face. She raised her fists in front of her body and started hopping back and forth on the balls of her feet. Sucking in a deep lungful of air, the dragoness soaked up every flame that had leaked out during the brief clash. Fiery ropes coiled around her and disappeared into her body. Then she released the breath slowly, steam escaping from between tightly clenched teeth.

From this point forward, the real battle began.

Both warriors charged simultaneously. They met in the middle and threw identical punches. Raven's fist slammed against Ember Celica. A shockwave swept across the hall, cracks appeared on the floor like a spider's web.

They began to trade blows at neck breaking speed.

Yang fired off flurries of jabs, hooks, and uppercuts as fast as she could alternate her fists. She bobbed and weaved around Raven's attacks, keeping light on her toes. Her Semblance raged like a caged beast in her soul, demanding to be granted freedom. Yang thought her head would burst from sheer concentration.

Raven's fighting style utilized finger stabs, knife-hands, and palm-strikes. Her elbows were sharp and she attacked with them like daggers. Whenever a space appeared between them, Raven would batter Yang's defenses with a series of snap-kicks. There were no breaks in her offense and no holes in her defense.

The clamor of battle echoed off the elevated ceiling. Metal gauntlets clanged off each other. Ember Celica fired Burn bullets to the sound of deafening booms. Spent shells pinged as they bounced off the floor. A crescendo of thuds and thumps denoted when strikes landed on flesh. Grunts of pain and haggard exhales punctuated every impact. No words were spoken.

Never before had Yang fought so hard, so frantically, so desperately. Every single bit of fighting knowledge that she had learned was being put to the ultimate test. There was no room for error. She couldn't commit to any slow and heavy crosses, instead relying on quick jabs that didn't leave her defenses open. Each of her attacks had to flow absolutely seamlessly into the next otherwise Raven would instantly detect the gap in her assault and knock her off rhythm. This was the toughest fight that Yang has ever been in.

And yet,

Despite her greatest efforts, she was losing. Step by step, the dragoness lost ground to Raven. Every one of her punches came at a cost. When Yang managed to land one attack, Raven would respond and send her reeling back with three or four of her own. None of the hits were particularly powerful, but they were quickly beginning to accumulate.

Yang weaved beneath a palm-strike and rocketed a quick punch into Raven's abdomen. The throaty groan that followed sent a thrill of savage satisfaction through her veins. Before she could retreat to safety, Raven's elbow came down and sliced her just above the left brow. Blood seeped from the fresh gash on Yang's head and pooled in her left eye socket. It stung horribly like salt in a wound. She wiped the blood away, but the head wound was still bleeding profusely.

Ten seconds. Ten seconds passed until Yang's Aura closed the oozing injury and Raven didn't let a single one go to waste. A rising knee caught beneath her chin. Even as Yang's head was whipping back, Raven hammered her with a flurry of fists, knife-hands, and elbows. Yang kept trying to clear the blood from her eye with one hand while hindering as many of the incoming attacks as she could with the other. The moment her vision cleared, Yang brought both of her defenses up and fended off the barrage. Raven fell back and returned to her neutral fighting stance.

"Dammit! Even when I've harnessed the full power of my Semblance, I still can't match her battle experience! I need to do something that Raven isn't expecting to make an opening! But she's seen so many of my moves already, what can I use that she won't see coming?"

They circled each other like a pair of lionesses, gradually drawing closer. Yang wracked her brain for any weapon in her arsenal that she hasn't already expended. "What form of punch or kick or body check haven't I already used? C'mon think! What would Dad do?" Her head felt like it was ready to burst into flames.

Inspiration struck. An exultant grin spread across her lips, baring her back fangs. "No way Raven's gonna see this coming!"

Yang sucked in a deep breath and held it. She brought both arms close to her face and chest, forming a wall of tempered steel. Then she knocked Ember Celica together twice. Clang-clang. Peering through the gap between her arms, Yang saw Raven accept the challenge. She braced herself for the oncoming onslaught. Heat began to build in her lungs.

In an instant, the dark-haired Huntress was upon her. Raven attacked fiercely and from every possible direction. She was absolutely merciless in her attempts to break through Yang's steel defense.

The blonde boxer pivoted on her toes, rotating in place to keep Raven at her front. Yang's arms were going numb from the heavy assault. Canary-colored Aura shimmered weaker and weaker beneath the ruthless salvo. Her lungs burned.

Raven shaped her left hand like a spearhead and drove her fingers straight through the opening between Yang's gauntlets. Yang clapped her hands together and caught the attack between her palms. Then she wrapped her right arm around Raven's left. She locked it beneath her armpit. Raven lashed out swiftly with her right hand. Yang caught that one and trapped it just the same.

Both combatants grunted in exertion. Raven struggled to free her arms and Yang fought to keep her restrained. The dragoness opened her mouth wide. A lantern-glow traveled from her chest, up her throat, and into her maw. Too late, Raven realized what was coming.

With a tremendous roar, Yang expelled a gout of golden fire from her mouth.

Held firmly in place, Raven could not possibly dodge out of the way. The flames engulfed her from the shoulders up. An agonized bellow tore out of her throat. Yang released Raven's arms. The blazing Huntress stumbled away, swatting at the fires frantically.

"Now it's my turn!" Yang shouted.

She hauled her fist all the way back and swung it as hard as she could, straight into Raven's ribs. Crimson Aura flared upon contact. The shock of the impact ran up her whole arm. Then she threw a straight cross into the opposite side. More Aura appeared to absorb the blow. A crunch was heard. Raven staggered backwards, still fighting the flames surrounding her head.

"I'm not done yet!"

Yang followed up with a barrage of earth-shattering punches. Screaming at the top of her lungs, she pumped her arms as fast as she possibly could. Shotgun blasts boomed continuously like undying thunder. Her biceps felt like they were about to shred apart. The protective field surrounding Raven flickered lower with every blow.

Finally, the dragoness leaped up and slammed her fist into Raven's chin. Ember Celica spent her last bullet. Yang thought the recoil would break her arm off. Tumbling head over heels, the Reaper careened straight up into the ceiling.

CRASH!

Plaster and debris followed Raven's descent as she plummeted toward the floor. Just before impact, Raven somersaulted in midair and landed gracefully on her feet. The golden flames were extinguished, leaving angry red blisters that contrasted sharply with her pastel skin.

"Fucking hell! Is she made from titanium?!"

Raven brushed dust off her shoulder plates. An unfamiliar expression flickered for a split second across her visage. Not anger or rage, but something else. Yang recalled seeing a similar countenance on Qrow's face a long time ago, after watching Ruby slay her very first creature of Grimm.

Pride?

Shaking her head, Yang decided that she must have imagined it. A sudden coughing fit wracked her body. Pain stabbed into both of her lungs and tore up her throat. She could taste smoke. As soon as the convulsions passed, she massaged her neck and grimaced.

"Note to future self, fire breathing hurts like a bitch! Last resort only."

She flexed her wrists and Ember Celica ejected all of her empty shells. Steam trailed from the heated casings as they rained to the floor. Then she reached for her ammo pouch behind her back and produced two bandoliers of Burn bullets. First she reloaded the left gauntlet, then the right. Yang punched the air with both fists and the spring-powered reload mechanism fed a bullet into each empty chamber.

Blonde brows knotted in concentration. Solar flares formed helical arcs as they returned to the brawler. Steam billowed from her open mouth. She would need every bit of firepower to finish this fight.

Mother and daughter faced the other.

At an unspoken command, they took off running and zeroed the distance between them. As soon as they neared striking range, they halted and began orbiting each other in tight circles. From a bird's eye view, it appeared like an intricate dance of amber and obsidian.

Raven snapped a low kick at Yang's legs. The blonde matched her with an identical kick. Their shins crossed in the middle. Still standing on one leg, Raven fired off two more kicks at Yang's midsection and head. Yang blocked the second kick and ducked beneath the third. Then she aimed Ember Celica at the floor and fired. Raven kicked off the ground to escape the blast and flipped over Yang's head. As soon as she landed, Raven ducked beneath a backhanded swing and swept Yang's feet from beneath her.

The blonde landed on her stomach with a grunt and immediately rolled to the side. A boot stomped a hairsbreadth away, leaving an inch-deep footprint in the marble. She leaped to her feet, aimed both gauntlets directly behind her, and fired simultaneously. The recoil propelled her straight at Raven, too fast to be dodged. Yang threw as hard a punch as she could, aiming for her mother's teeth.

It never landed. Raven quickly slashed the air with her hand and crimson hole opened between them. Unable to stop her forward momentum, Yang nosedived through the hellish portal. Her eyes remained wide open, but it was as dark as the void of space. She tried to scream, but no sound came out. Pressure crushed her on all sides, as though she were being pulled through a keyhole. Just when she thought that her body would break, the force fell away and she fell bodily onto a new stage. Pain shot up her elbows like jagged daggers when they struck the floor.

For a moment, Yang stayed prone on the ground and squeezed her eyes shut. Sound pounded relentlessly against her skull, a rhythmic clunk-clunk-clunk like clockwork. The contents of her stomach bubbled nauseously.

"If I throw up in a dream, does it happen in real life?"

Such an experiment would have to wait, indefinitely.

Finally, her eyes snapped open and she scrambled upright. One glance around the circular room and Yang immediately recognized where Raven's portal had sent her. She stood in Beacon's central tower, specifically Headmaster Ozpin's office. Humongous metal gears, too many to count, rotated and meshed above her crown. They appeared like dancers in a ballroom performing a complicated act. Wide open windows granted a breathtaking view of the entire academy.

Roman numerals were etched in the stone floor around the circumference of the office. Sitting at the twelve o'clock position was Ozpin's desk and chair. The desk was wrought-iron with a cut-glass surface; clockwork revolving endlessly within its interior. Yang half-expected to see the Headmaster behind his desk; lounging in his metal chair, fingers steepled together, elbows resting on the cog-shaped arms. But she was alone in the room.

KA-THUMP

The sound of boots landing on the floor alerted Yang. She spun around and brought Ember Celica to bear. Raven stood in front of the portal. With a flick of her wrist, the portal shrank and disappeared. She turned her head from side-to-side, crimson eyes lingering on seemingly empty spaces. An unreadable expression adorned her face like a mask.

Yang called out, "Are you gonna daydream or are we gonna fight?!" She punched a fist into her opposite hand. Smack. Hot mist spewed from her mouth.

Snapping out of her reverie, Raven replied with, "Can't wait for two seconds, can you? Fine, come and get it, I'll beat you down to size."

The blonde bruiser pulled both shotgun-gauntlets back to her hips. Shouting at full volume, she rapidly punched the air and fired a volley of Burn bullets straight at Raven. The Grimm Reaper dashed forward at breakneck speeds, dipping and dodging fireballs with bare minimum motions. Every searing projectile failed to land by millimeters. Explosions thundered in her wake, tearing chunks out of the floor.

Yang kept shooting, pumping her arms like pistons filled with nitroglycerine.

Suddenly, Raven swung her fist and backhanded a missile right back at her.

"Shit." Was all that came out of Yang's mouth before the Burn bullet detonated against Ember Celica. Fire and smoke splashed across her vision. For a split second, Yang lost sight of Raven. She frantically swiveled her head in circles, trying to find the black-clad slayer. A shadow passed overhead. Instinctively, Yang kicked backwards. Raven dropped from above and slammed her fist on the floor. Solid stone broke beneath her knuckles with an earsplitting crack.

Without stopping for an instant, Raven rolled to her feet and lunged forward. Yang pulled her fist back to her ear, preparing to punch, but Raven caught the attack before it even started. Her fingers curled around Ember Celica, the barrel of the gun smothered by her palm. Raven leaped overhead, landed back-to-back with Yang, and then used that momentum to flip the blonde over her shoulder. Yang thought her arm would pop out of its socket.

Her back smashed against the half-circle window behind Ozpin's desk. The sound of glass crunching filled her ears. Fissures spread from the point of impact to the edges of the pane. All of the air was knocked out of her lungs. Gravity pulled her down and she landed flat on her stomach. Shards of broken glass rained upon the blonde. She pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. Her mouth gaped like a fish out of water as she desperately tried to draw oxygen into collapsed lungs.

Footsteps came around the desk. Raven strode in front of Yang and savagely kicked her in the face. Steel toed boot connected with teeth. Copper-tasting blood swished inside the blonde's mouth. Her head snapped back and cracked against the Headmaster's metal throne. Yang reached with both hands and gripped the back legs of the throne.

In one smooth motion, the dragoness rose to her feet, lifted the heavy iron chair, and swung it around in a wide arc, aiming for Raven's head.

Raven opened her mouth wide.

The head of the chair smashed into her face.

Vibrations traveled up into Yang's arms, nearly numbing them.

The shrill screech of metal sheering pierced the air.

Yang staggered backwards, still holding the throne. She stared at the impromptu weapon in her hands. The chair was missing its triangular headpiece. Mind numb, she slowly rotated her head and laid eyes on the missing headpiece.

It was trapped between Raven's teeth.

The Grimm Reaper spat the metallic member out of her mouth. It clanged on the stone floor. There were teeth marks in the metal. She dragged her forearm across her mouth, wiping blood away. A hint of a smirk tugged at her black lips.

"Alright," Yang admitted in an awed tone, "that was pretty fucking hardcore."

She heaved the decapitated throne at Raven and immediately chased after it. Raven whirled in place, spinning on her back foot, and knocked the seat out of the air with a roundhouse kick. Keeping up the momentum, she followed through with a second roundhouse kick that caught Yang in mid-tackle. The blonde fell halfway on top of the desk's smooth glass surface, spine stretched back painfully. Raven raised her leg high above her head, a perfect vertical split, and delivered a powerful axe kick. As soon as Yang saw the heel dropping, she ducked beneath the desk. Raven's boot crashed down, cracking glass and buckling iron.

Sliding on her shins, Yang came out from underneath the desk and emerged on the opposite side.

Quickly, she took in the scene. Raven stood on the other side of the desk, facing Yang, with her back to the crack laden window. With the desk between them, Yang had an obstacle to clear before she could reach her mother. It would be strategically unwise to try a full-frontal assault.

Raven mockingly gestured toward herself with a finger.

Yang's mouth dropped open.

"Nobody challenges a dragon and gets away with it!"

She fired twin blasts behind her and rode the recoil toward the dark-clad Reaper. Raven stepped back into a defensive stance.

Raven expected her to leap over the desk; she expected Yang to slide underneath the desk.

What she did not expect was for Yang to pick up the desk and use it as a battering ram.

Which is exactly what Yang did.

Gripping the edges with both hands, the dragoness flipped the desk vertical and slammed her shoulder against it. Screaming at the top of her lungs, she rammed the desk straight into Raven. A surprised "huh" fell from stygian lips just before contact. Yang felt the desk shudder when Raven flattened against it. But she wasn't done there. A ferocious grin spread across her lips. Still bellowing, she carried the desk and her mother all the way to the half-circle window.

CRAAAAASH!

The window exploded outward; a geyser of broken glass. Yang felt weightless as she took flight from the towering spire. All around her, fragments twirled like ballerinas, catching light from the shattered Moon and becoming as bright as stars. Night air roughly kissed her heated face with ice-cold lips. Clouds of blistering steam rolled from her screaming mouth and swept past her cheeks. Radiant white hair flowed like liquid sunlight, tracing her downward descent.

Yang planted her feet against the underside of the desk. Shifting her weight caused the desk to tilt until she was standing on top and Raven was trapped underneath. Then she fired Ember Celica behind her, using the recoil to guide the plummeting desk toward the destination of her choice. Raven twisted her neck and looked down.

Directly beneath them was Beacon Academy's amphitheater.

Pointing the shotgun-gauntlets straight up, Yang discharged every remaining bullet. The glass dome-ceiling raced up to meet them.

"Have a nice fall!" Yang shouted a second before collision.

The sound of the glass roof caving inward could only be described as apocalyptic. Large pieces of beautifully stained glass seemingly hovered in front of Yang's eyes as she fell at the same rate. Even further below was the arena's stone floor. Wearing the most vicious grin possible, the dragoness surfed the iron desk and her mother all the way to the bottom.

An enormous explosion shook the entire arena. The deafening cacophony resounded off the high ceiling. Earth, glass, and fire erupted into an enormous tar black fountain. Shockwaves expanded from the epicenter, heaving dirt and rubble across the amphitheater. A vast network of cracks canvased the entire floor. Flaming debris came down like a meteor shower, landing on top of the spectator seats.

Raven's Aura flashed and failed.

Yang careered through the air like a ragdoll, slammed into the floor, and rolled to a stop against a far wall. She could feel her Semblance burn out completely, taking the last vestiges of her Aura with it.

"Damn. Apparently overcharging my Semblance causes it to drain a heckova lot faster than usual."

Crimson eyes faded and regressed to amethysts. Her hair cooled from white-hot to its normal golden sheen. All of the power bled away, leaving the brawler empty and cold in its absence. She gritted her teeth and groaned in pain as every accrued injury returned with a vengeance. Her ears began to ring. Blood flooded her broken nose and poured down her face. The cut above her left eyebrow reopened. Agony saturated bone, muscle, and sinew. If there was a single patch of skin that wasn't bruised or cut, Yang wasn't aware of it.

"Yeah, I think I'm just gonna lay here for a while."

The smoke was finally beginning to clear from the arena. In the center of a deep crater, the mangled corpse of Ozpin's desk sat like a metal coffin. Its legs were twisted like bendy straws, all pointing in different directions. An open hand poked out from beneath, palm held up toward the ceiling.

Silence settled in the arena, broken only by labored breathing.

Silvery moonlight shone down through the hole in the roof.

Scattered slivers of glass glistened like an ocean of water.

Dust motes danced as they alighted softly on the floor.

Lilac eyes watched Raven's exposed hand, waiting uneasily.

"Don't fucking do it." she pleaded mentally.

The hand slowly clenched into a fist.

A low cry escaped Yang's throat.

Metal groaned as Raven lifted the coffin lid off her body.

She staggered to a standing position, swaying unsteadily on her feet.

Yang shouted, "For fuck's sake! Would you please stay down?!"

Scarlet plates of armor rattled as Raven's shoulders shook. She chuckled, "I've still got some fight left in me."

Crimson eyes narrowed to slits. "Does the same go for you?"

She began to walk toward Yang's prone body; boots planted firmly with every step, the march of a soldier prepared for battle.

Hissing through clenched teeth, Yang willed her body to move against protests of agony.

"Get up! Goddammit!"

The distance between them continued to shrink.

Ember Celica felt like a pair of cinderblocks weighing down her arms. As quickly as she could, Yang twisted her wrists and pulled them free from the weapons.

Raven was almost upon her.

Planting one hand on the wall for leverage, Yang hauled herself up on shaking knees. She rested her sweat soaked forehead on the cool stone barrier, chest heaving with every breath. Then she turned around, placed the wall flat against her back, and raised her bare arms in a boxing stance.

"Put up… your dukes." The blonde wheezed.

"No gloves, hmm?" Raven murmured. One after the other, the she removed her gauntlets from her arms and let them clatter to the floor. Yang caught sight of a black shape on Raven's left palm, just before it disappeared into a fist.

It looked like a tattoo?

Pushing the distraction out of mind, Yang focused on the fight at hand. It wasn't easy, her skull pounded with a hideous headache, sending the world rocking as though she were standing on a storm-tossed ship. Every tendon felt stretched too far and every muscle throbbed excruciatingly. Even without her weapons, the effort of holding her arms up was absolutely Herculean. Yang didn't dare imagine what she looked like on the outside, but it couldn't be a pretty sight.

If there was any consolation, it was that Raven also appeared to have been put through the wringer. Her normally ashen face was painted red with blood and blisters. Black and blue bruises shone on her naked arms, rewards from blocking so many of Yang's punches. Her arms were too low to protect her head from swift attacks, but at the right height to shield her ribcage. The occasional hitch in her breathing betrayed a damaged rib. Maybe two.

There was no breath in Yang's lungs for a battle cry, so she attacked without a sound. Shoving off the wall with her elbows, the dragoness threw a quick jab at Raven's cranium. Her fist moved painfully slow. Even so, the Reaper only barely craned her head out of the way before retaliating with an equally sluggish uppercut. Yang's elbow dropped and managed to deflect the incoming strike. Pain plunged into her arm.

They both fought as though they were standing underwater. No weapons, no technique, no Aura. The fight had degraded to an old fashioned slug-fest. When they couldn't even muster the energy to defend themselves, Yang and Raven simply took turns punching the other with all their might.

WHAM!

Yang saw stars exploding behind her eyelids.

BAM!

Raven doubled over, breathless.

CHUFF!

Yang held her stomach with both hands.

Then she drew her right fist back to her ear and let it fly.

In the end, it was their will to live that chose the victor.

And Raven had lost hers over a decade ago.

She could see the punch coming around, aiming for her jaw.

Dodging would have been as simple as taking one step back.

But she didn't.

Bare knuckles slammed into Raven's chin. Her head snapped to the side and her body followed. She fell as limply as a puppet without a marionette. The ground rose up and welcomed the Reaper like a long awaited grave. Gravel crunched upon collision.

Huffing and puffing, Yang could scarcely believe her eyes.

"Is… are you done?" she asked tentatively.

Raven sighed, "Yeah."

"I did it." The dragoness gasped. "I really won!"

Yang made to punch the air, but barely managed to raise her fist above her shoulder before a stab of pain politely requested her to keep her celebration to a low roar.

Then she summarized the entire fight with a simple, "Ow."

After a moment, the prone Huntress turned her head and gazed at the victor.

"What happens now?"

Yang gingerly sat down on the floor beside her mother, ouching all the way.

"Now?" She leaned in and spoke firmly, "Now we talk."

End Chapter 27: Seeing Red

The will to live is so very important. To never give up, to never surrender, to keep going despite all the pain and suffering. Endure it all. That's my motto.

It makes all the difference in the world.