Hello again! Now I know that our depiction of Winter in here is most likely a bit different than it will be in canon (for those that missed it, yesterday her design was unveiled and she is apparently quite a bit older), we hope it won't bother you too much. Thank you!

Taiyang Xiao Long considered himself a proud ex-huntsman, with plenty of battle skills and weapon knowledge under his belt. The great warhammer he once had would crush anything that got in it's way, and what wasn't destroyed by that was quickly cut down by the scythe of Qrow. He was older, wiser, and stronger than many people he knew; including his kids…

...Most of the time.

The lot of them had seemed to just disappear literally every day, despite the fact he went out of his way to come and see them, even booking a room in the local hotel for a few nights. As far as he could tell, it was much the same situation with Mrs Schnee, Weiss and Winter. Taiyang could only guess that the five of them were off somewhere causing havoc. Yang still came to the gym pretty much every day, and he'd have casual chats with her while they both worked out. Sometimes, like a few days ago, he'd be treated to a few spars.

Mrs Schnee on the other hand, looked downright lonely.

Sure enough, being the wife of who might probably be the richest man in Atlas, if not all of Remnant, brought its benefits, but Taiyang wasn't stupid. He was clearly a working man and her daughters didn't have that close of a bond with her, so she spent most of her time alone. After a couple conversations, a bit of "getting to know you" stuff and all that, the two started to spend more time in each other's company.

Earlier that day, Yang had come along for her usual session and brought along Crescent Rose, Ruby's scythe, and placed it in the corner. She said that the girl tried to cut cookie dough or something with it and Weiss demanded she had it confiscated. After about an hour, declining a game of scythe hot-potato, Yang had bolted off once again saying she needed to go look for Blake. The elusive girl was apparently rather hard to find, and so she had to spare the extra time to go looking for Blake if she wasn't in the dorm nor library.

It was only a couple minutes after Yang had left, that in corner of the gym, next to some of the benches, lay a red metal boxy-looking thing. He went over and picked it up, identifying the object as Crescent Rose which Yang had brought earlier - deducing that she forgot to take it with her, and left it here by accident. No matter, Taiyang thought, it wouldn't take long for her to come and collect it.

Just as he heard the door open and then close again, he swiveled around on the bench, Crescent Rose in hand (still in it's compact form of course) and shouted out, "Hey, Yang! You left Ruby's- oh."

The person who walked through the door was not blonde; no, she had perfect white hair, much like her daughters, and wore a fine and very expensive looking dress. Mrs Schnee had popped down to say hello then, it seemed.

"Mrs Schnee," Taiyang quickly greeted the lady, bowing slightly. No matter how hard he wanted to treat everyone equally, he knew that greeting the richest family in Remnant as if they are old friends might be taken as just a little bit insulting.

"Mister… Xiao Long, was it?" The woman's voice was not of the cold aristocrat Taiyang expected her to be. This woman surprised him with her gentleness that really was not what he thought people like her possess to a commoner. After he nodded to the woman, confirming that his last name was indeed Xiao Long, she continued.

"I'm not very good at foreign languages. Would you mind explaining what your last name means?"

That was usually the first thing he had to explain about himself, so he was used to it by now and didn't take it as an insult. Not that he'd ever want to say that a Schnee insulted him.

"Xiao Long means 'Little Dragon'. If you combine that with my first name, it translates to 'Little Sun Dragon'. My older daughter basically has the same name as me as Yang also means 'Sun'. So we're both little sun dragons."

If Taiyang was frank, he always loved what his name meant. And after his first daughter was born, her hair a wonderful blonde colour even at birth, he just had to name her Yang. He only later realized that they practically share a name. But at that point, he refused to let it bother him.

"I see. Interesting, indeed. Tell me, Mr Xiao Long, how come your other daughter doesn't share your last name?"

At this point, Taiyang's expression fell slightly, which the woman caught immediately.

"That is, if it isn't too personal, of course."

His mouth twitched into a smile. For an aristocrat, she's definitely not too bad as a person. "Mrs, it really isn't nothing I haven't told before. However, you must decide if the sort of sad story like mine is worthy of your time."

"What the hell else am I supposed to do with my time? There's literally nothing for me to do in this academy. I'm not a fighter. I have to spend my time somehow. Might as well get to know the parent of two of my daughter's teammates."

"When you put it that way…" He had to smile a bit more at the honesty the woman had. "It's not that long a story, but it might take a while anyway, so… Would you like to sit down?" He motioned to the bench he was still standing next to. Mrs Schnee nodded and sat down before being joined with the father.

"It all started right here, to be honest. I was on a team with my brother Qrow, Raven and Summer. We were very good friends, but I was especially close with Raven. Even more than my brother. Around our second year, we kinda spent more and more time together. Luckily, we were partners in the team, so it wasn't all too weird to the other two. Then it just… Happened.

I don't know how, but one day, as we were in this very gym, she just got up to me and said 'Tai, I just need to get this off my chest.' Of course I was hoping she'd say the words I wanted to say to her too. But she did something even better. She straight up kissed me. After we recovered from the shock, we just… Stood there for a while. Then she said 'How do we tell this to Qrow and Summer so they freak out the most?' I knew in this instant she was my true love. Someone that liked to horse around as much as I did.

Then, a few years later, we graduated and I built a house on Patch. For the two of us and the potential kids. Then Yang happened. We were the happiest, for a while. Then Raven started getting weirder. But not the good kind of weird. Like, she would disappear for days at a time and then not tell me anything. Some day she just left and never got back."

Mrs Schnee's eyebrows raised in curiosity.

"As devastated as I was, I knew I had to move on with my life. So I reunited with my two remaining teammates and found out they were still doing missions as partners. I offered to join and they were happy to take me aboard. There were times when missions got harder than ever. One of those missions, Summer didn't see a Deathstalker coming from behind and I wasn't thinking at all. I just jumped in front of the monster and deflected the hit, but got hit myself in the process. All I remember after that is that I still had consciousness for a few seconds. And saw those silver eyes of hers look at me with worry. Then it all went black.

When I came about, I was lying on a bed and felt sharp pain in my chest. I still have the scar from the stinger. Nasty bugger, pardon my language. Summer was next to my bed, treating my chest bandage. I looked at her and she still had the same worried expression. She then noticed I was awake and was pleasantly surprised. She spoke no words, but I knew what she was saying. Her eyes were an open book. Those same silver eyes Ruby got. If you look in her eyes long enough, you can always tell what she's thinking about. Summer was like that too. With her, you always knew where you stood. I always admired that in her. Sadly, two years after Ruby was born, Summer went on her final mission, though not by volition. She wanted to go on many more missions, but the herd of Boarbatusks and Beowolves was apparently too much for one person. Well - I mean, that's what the report said, anyway..."

Mrs Schnee listened to the whole story intently, more intently than just 'passing the time'. When Taiyang ended his story, she was trying to remain a dignified lady and hold back the tears that welled in her eyes. She shut her eyes and took a long, deep breath to calm down before speaking again.

"That's a very sad story, mister."

"If you don't mind, you can call me Taiyang. Everybody does."

"I'm not promising anything," the woman said. "I can't even begin to understand the pain you went through. But it seems that your love for your daughters helped shape them into the individuals they are. Tell me one thing, though. How come Yang is so much more… How should I put it? Flamboyant?"

Taiyang chuckled. "Heh. That's mine and Raven's genes. We were both very open with our views and didn't fear expressing them. Summer was more… Collected. While her eyes always told you her position, she was much less vocal about it. I guess Ruby took that much more from her than from me. Given her obsession with that scythe of hers, sometimes I think she's not even my daughter, but rather Qrow's. He is a lot like her in that regard. Obsessed with his weapon. He helped her craft it and taught her how to wield it. His expertise in scythes helped a lot too."

Mrs Schnee nodded. Taiyang thought of something and decided to take the plunge. For Ruby.

"Mrs?"

"If you will insist on me calling you Taiyang, you'll have to call me Bianca."

"Okay then." That was unlike anything Taiyang ever experienced while talking with a higher-class person. "Mrs… Bianca, would you mind if I asked you something about your daughters?"

"I guess I still have time to spare, so why not?"

"What are they like? Like, personality-wise? They seem almost like my daughters. But I'm sure you know so much more about them than I was able to find out in the short time I spent with them."

The woman wrinkled her forehead. "Winter is a handful, I must give you that. She's very often what you'd call cheeky. She just loves to prod and annoy Weiss. As you can imagine, their lessons were a pain. Winter was more interested in annoying Weiss than actually learning anything. She still learned a lot and is by no means stupid, but Weiss definitely has her beat in that sense. Weiss is almost a complete opposite to her. Calm, collected, refined… She really is her father's daughter."

It seemed weird to Taiyang that she, as collected as she was, referred to Weiss as 'her father's daughter'. How much calmer must Mr Schnee be? Bianca's story went on.

"It's really funny in a sense how unlike each other they are. And, between you and me, I'm very happy Weiss is the heiress and not Winter. As much as I love Winter, she's not cut to lead a company like Schnee Dust Company."

There was something in the woman's tone that Taiyang recognized from somewhere. He just had to ask, no matter how dangerous it was.

"Bianca… Are you, by any chance, from here?"

"Does it show that much?", came the answer, almost instantly.

The answer took Taiyang aback. "I'm… Sorry?"

The woman sighed. "Yes, Taiyang, I'm from Vale. Not even from the higher-up parts of Vale. I used to be a commoner like you. Then one day, as I was waitressing at the Schnee Company party in uptown Vale, he asked me to serve him personally. And we kind of went from there. No matter how much I dye my hair white, I'll never be Atlesian. He went through a lot to marry me. I'm pretty sure he's seen by his family as some sort of an outcast, but they still allowed him to lead the company, so maybe he isn't seen as that bad. I tried to mask my accent very hard, but honestly, this charade of acting as an aristocrat is starting to get to me. Me and my old family have a safe life, I can have everything I dreamed of when I was a child, but once you get to experience it, it's not really all that it seems."

Taiyang looked at her and saw nothing but sincerity. "Bianca…"

"Don't worry, I'm not sad. However, I'd appreciate if this bit of information is kept between us, all right? Not even my daughters know that."

He raised up his right hand. "I swear this information is never leaving my mouth without your permission."

She sighed again. "I know that sooner or later I'll have to tell them what I really am. I am just slightly afraid they'd think less of me when I do."

Taiyang took a bold step and put his hand on her shoulder. Even if she was once a commoner, she was a Schnee now and the gesture, as kind and innocent as it was, could easily be understood incorrectly. "You're still their mother. They'll never forget that. Look at my daughters. Neither of them really knew their mothers, but Yang wants to find her and Ruby dedicated her life to being a Huntress so she could be just like Summer. Weiss and Winter won't think less of you once you do tell them, I'm sure." And maybe not just because you're their mother, he wanted to say, but decided against it.

The woman thanked him with a smile and the conversation went on for hours before either of them realized that it was getting late and that they'd miss Yang's fight with Pyrrha if they didn't get a move on.

"Oh, shit, Ruby's scythe! I knew I forgot something. Dammit Blake, it's your job to remember stuff I don't!"

Blake looked at the blonde girl, rolling her eyes.

"I'm not sure it is."

Unlike the previous matches leading up to the semi-finals, all of the seats in the stadium were now filled. People crowded in and filled the hundreds of seats surrounding the stage and many looked eager to see the next match.

It had already been decided that Yang should face Pyrrha in the first semi final match. Blake would then face Ren, Weiss would compete against Velvet (the girl having gotten surprisingly far in the tournament thus far) and most interestingly, Ruby would face off against the only non-Beacon student left in the bracket, Reese from team ABRN. The dominance of Beacon in the tournament was in line with the reputation the academy had, but it was still mildly surprising that only one person was able to get that far.

Yang and Pyrrha took up their positions on the stage flanking Professor Goodwitch on either side. The two were good friends, and even better fighters, so there was quite a lot riding on the match. The other members of teams RWBY, JNPR and CFVY (see: Coco, Nora and Blake) had even put their bets on the match and laid their money on the table. Coco and Nora backed Pyrrha, whilst Blake backed Yang alone. Why she was betting, she had no idea, but it seemed important at the time.

The professor tapped on the mic and cleared her throat, listening as the excited chatter of the wide audience dulled down into a barely audible mumble.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen; today, we shall be hosting the first of four semi-final matches of the Vytal tournament. Our first matchup shall be Ms Xiao Long, and Ms Nikos. The match shall begin once the countdown has ended, and end once one of the two participants' aura reaches the red zone. Do I make myself clear, ladies?"

Both girls nodded. Pyrrha sported a bit of a grin, whilst Yang held the full cheshire cat smile.

"Good. Then, whenever you're ready. Best of luck to the both of you."

The huge crowd quietened more and more as the numbers dropped lower and lower, from ten to five, and then down to one, until the screen finally bore the number zero and an electronic beep sounded.

Immediately after the countdown stopped and the match started, the two girls ran for eachother. Pyrrha took up a defensive approach, holding her shield high in her left hand and her sword off in her right. Yang, not really holding her weapons so much as wearing them, held her left hand in the fore and her right just behind, ready to meet Pyrrha in the centre of the stage.

The two clashed with a tremendous crash, courtesy of Ember Celica, as Yang pounded her right gauntlet straight into Pyrrha's waiting shield. The force pushed the redhead back slightly, but she held fast and was already bringing her sword upwards into Yang's forearm. When the blonde sidestepped to the right, Pyrrha made a surprise move and twisted her whole body around. Her shield cut straight across Yang, and nearly bashed her, had she not slammed it back downwards at the last minute with her left gauntlet.

Yang's right hand shot straight upwards, almost catching Pyrrha off guard as it smashed through her sword's pommel held in defense and sent the warrior hurtling upwards. Still flying upwards, Pyrrha finally made use of her semblance - there was no point in hiding it if your enemy knew what it was, she reckoned - and pulled her shield from in front of her chest to below her feet. As she reached the apex of her flight, the girl kicked off her shield and flew straight back towards the ground with her sword bared.

Yang was forced to back off as the spartan made impact with the ground and instantly threw her shield back around towards the girl. Pyrrha then charged forwards again, now with both weapons in hand and taking up a much more aggressive posture. She swiped high for Yang's head and blocked a flying left-handed gauntlet punch with her shield, but completely missed the blonde's footwork. A solid kick to the side of Pyrrha's legs put the girl flat on her back and scrambling to recover.

She wasn't planning to waste this opportunity, and she wasn't going to; Yang barrelled straight downwards and planted a solid round of buckshot into Pyrrha's face, depleting her aura by a significant margin. If the redhead hadn't regained her senses and kicked Yang off with her surprising leg strength, it's likely that Yang would have straddled the girl and pummelled her into a crisp.

Pyrrha noted not to let that happen.

She took a look around her and saw the large stands cheering the two of them on - it was almost a clear 50/50 split between supporters of her and supporters of Yang. Though, Ruby was cheering extra loud, so she could probably count for five, maybe ten people extra.

Both fighters were now back on their feet, after having taken a miniature break. Yang needed to put a new belt of shells in her gauntlets, and Pyrrha needed to recover a bit of her precious oxygen. Of course, it was not long until both girls were once again charging at each other, depending on making the next blow count to deal some serious damage.

Pyrrha made first contact, and experimented with a few slashes to various parts of Yang's body, which she blocked with ease: one to the neck, another to the side, she managed to catch them all. In a surprise move, Yang then grabbed Pyrrha's shield, yanked it from the redhead's grip and bashed her with it before throwing it far away. This drastically reduced Pyrrha's defensive capabilities, and became vulnerable as she desperately swiped at the punches Yang was now tearing into her with.

She threw out her hand, whilst deftly rolling to the side, not expecting her next move to work at all; utilising her semblance, she grabbed her shield from afar and watched as it flew dead straight into the approaching Yang's back with blinding speed. A cry of pain barely escaped her lips as she went tumbling, completely unprepared for the sudden shield striking her, some ways across the stage.

In one smooth maneuver, Pyrrha spun around and pulled her shield straight back onto its rightful arm, whilst simultaneously working her sword much like a lever into its rifle mode. Finishing the full turn, Pyrrha then knelt down before unleashing a hail of gunfire at the still recovering blonde, her aura taking the brunt of the damage.

Much to Pyrrha's surprise (again), Yang made another bold move - launching straight at her, by slamming both gauntlets into the ground and propelling herself at the less-than-prepared redhead. She was apparently used to this move, being able to effectively twist her body with surprising agility mid-air and nail a buckshot laden punch into Pyrrha's shield. Said attack was so hard, Pyrrha actually had to push with all her might in order not to topple under the girl's immense power.

It's nice to have a challenge once in a while. We should fight more often.

She dug her heel in and with renewed determination, lunged for the blonde who too was coming for her. Elongating her sword into its spear form, the weapon now possessed incredible range and handed the redhead a distinct advantage. Pyrrha wielded the spear much like a staff and cut off any attacks which Yang tried to connect, the girl only hitting harder and harder with each punch. She couldn't remember the last time she had broken a proper sweat like this in the heat of a spar.

Pyrrha planted a foot in Yang's stomach, eliciting an 'oof' from the girl, before she wrapped her arms around the brawler's neck and began to rather gracefully twist around atop her and whacking her face with the shield. Yang growled and threw her off, much less gracefully, and forcefully kicked Pyrrha far upwards with the better part of her shin, getting a graze from the thrown spear in return.

So she wanted to fight with her legs? Pyrrha could use her legs.

This was so eloquently demonstrated when, upon rolling for the landing, she remained on the ground and guided Yang over her with just her feet. Clearly, pouncing for Pyrrha with her gauntlets at the fore was not the best of ideas. She flipped straight onto her back, and with brutal precision, spun on one foot and clotheslined the girl with her whole leg in a groan of pain.

Yang's aura was now getting dangerously low, being a dark orange, whilst Pyrrha fared not much better; a slowly dulling yellow greeting her eyes.

"Yang," Pyrrha said, her voice echoing throughout the almost dead-silent stadium, "you're fantastic, but what says we finish this fight?"

Yang wheezed and picked herself up, hair set ablaze and her eyes a deep crimson. "Yeah. You're on, Pyrrha."

The thick tension in the silent atmosphere cut like a coiled spring, as both fighters sprang towards each other for what would seem to be the last time. What attempt Pyrrha had made at Yang was instantly ruined as the gauntleted fist shot straight through the girl's defence and hit her like a truck. Pyrrha had heard stories about Yang's semblance, about how she dealt more and more damage, but they clearly hadn't gotten a slug straight to the gut before when she was like this. The pain was mortifying.

Still, though, she fought on, swiftly ducking and weaving through some hooks but getting hit by others, and hit hard at that. The fact that Yang's figure was completely engulfed in flames didn't help whet the redhead's furious sweating from intense concentration. She was surprised the girl hadn't burnt her clothes off, because that'd draw more than a few stares.

Pyrrha fought on in some of the closest combat she'd ever fared; being pummelled by a multitude of strikes from any and all directions, all courtesy of the fiery (and maybe a little angry) Yang. She'd need to think on her feet, and that she did, quite literally - she grabbed Yang's gauntlets as she ducked under the incoming lunge, slid underneath the strike and tackled Yang's legs straight out from underneath her. Legs which seemed to be firmly planted in the ground at first had just completely toppled as the brawler came crashing down in the dying embers of heat.

And to top it off, Pyrrha twisted her whole body and dug her elbow straight into the falling blonde's face. She watched with victorious satisfaction as the seriously dark orange of Yang's aura bar tumbled off the edge and into the red abyss after having hanged for so long.

The whole audience was completely silent… And then erupted into cheers and chants, louder than any crashing Mistralian waves she ever heard back at home. People were stood up, whistling, waving and clapping as the lights slowly faded back to life. She could see the rest of team JNPR come barrelling down the stairs in order to reach her and talk as quickly as possible; team RWBY's remnants rushing down to get to Yang's side.

Somewhat worryingly, she was still yet to move after the decisive blow. Ruby seemed to be the most worried, though for some reason Blake wasn't far behind in her worry. Ruby then felt a twitch. Something that she learned a long time ago. When she felt that twitch, it was for her own safety that she went away. So she quickly explained the thing to Weiss and especially Blake, who still had her eyes locked on the motionless blonde and pulled them away.

A thunderous explosion boomed through the stadium and the cheers stopped as the smoke from the explosion engulfed the arena. When the dust settled, Ruby saw Yang standing in the middle of the arena, eyes red with wrath and hair on fire. Blake jumped forward but Ruby quickly grabbed the faunus' hand to keep her still. She knew there was no use in trying to talk to her in that moment.

The blonde seemed to notice Ruby and the rest of her team at the sidelines.

"Don't come after me. I'll come back myself."

She then turned around and left the arena without looking black, hair still on fire. The three girls left behind looked at each other and Ruby shrugged.

"Eh, she knows what she's doing. It's her way of dealing with losses. Let's listen to her."

So... Yang lost. Oh boy. She's angry. Thanks again to my co-writer Jack who wrote the fight!

I hope you liked the (likely completely wrong) backstory on Weiss' mother too.

Reviews are welcome, see you around!