Chapter 6: Aura

"When you're ready, I get to say it first, deal?"

"Deal."

Yang opened her eyes, the sounds of the crew working on the deck and the distant sloshing of the ocean against the hull of the ship rousing her from a restless sleep. She could feel Emerald's arm draped over her, her head resting on Yang's admittedly well-endowed chest. Apparently she drooled when she slept.

Yang pushed the other girl off her impatiently and rolled out of the bed, desperate for some air. The room was unbearably stuffy. Even the floorboards felt muggy under her feet. She crossed the room to the porthole on the wall and threw it open, breathing in the salty air. She shivered as the cool breeze rolled over her bare skin, but at least it was better than before. She stood like that a while, staring out at the endless expanse of ocean, feeling the sway of the ship beneath her. It had taken some getting used to, but after a few weeks on the boat, the sensation had become normal. In fact, the few times she'd gone ashore, she'd found she'd missed the constant motion.

The seemingly infinite blue horizon in front of her was something of a trick. They weren't far out to sea, as much as Yang might have appreciated that. Their side of the ship simply faced away from shore. They'd been hugging the shoreline for most of the voyage in fact. Emerald and Mercury had told her when she'd arrived at the docks weeks ago that they'd secured passage for them all on a merchant vessel that ran Dust shipments. After a few stops along Vale's coast, they would be heading across the sea to Vacuo. Both nations rested on the same continent, Sanus, but the overland trip between the two involved dipping down south and following the curvature of the landscape. Even with the delays they were making delivering cargo, it was much faster to travel across the ocean, where they had a more or less straight shot from the shores of Vale to the edges of Vacuo's notorious desert.

Yang had been expecting to work as payment for the room and board on a distinctly not passenger-friendly ship, but according to her new companions, a mysterious benefactor had already paid off the crew, allowing them comfortable and anonymous passage.

Unfortunately for Yang, that left a lot of downtime. Downtime was the last thing she needed. It was the reason she'd left Patch months ago.

Before the attack, she'd been on top of the world. She had taken second place in the Silver-Tier MMA championship match, she'd had great friends, a killer social life, and she even wasn't sucking in school for once. To top it all off, she got to come home every night to the most beautiful girl she'd ever met. Sure, maybe she could only call her her own in private, but that was okay. Everybody moved at their own pace. She would have come around.

Then she'd lost everything overnight. For weeks, she had barely even been able to drag herself out of bed, electing instead to sleep and stare out her window all day. She'd been pathetic. She'd hated herself then. Hated what she'd become. How that masked face would torture her every night in her dreams, how she'd be forced to see the blood pouring from her arm. That horrible red sword… and the scream of agony that would haunt her until the day she died.

Finally, she couldn't take moping around anymore and forced herself out of bed. She'd waited until her father had left the house and hung her old punching bag on its hook in the garage. Then she'd gotten to work. It hadn't been easy, but every second she was on her feet was a second she didn't have to feel afraid. Every minute of training was one step closer to breaking the asshole who had taken her arm. She'd done everything she could to drown her fear in anger and hatred. Her fear of being a cripple. Her fear of the masked man. Her fear of being alone...all of it, blocked by white-hot rage.

When her father had found out she was training, he tried to get her to slow down. He wanted her to talk to somebody, maybe even see a counselor even. If she was being honest with herself, she might have acknowledged that he was right. It wasn't bad advice. Hell, she'd given advice that had sounded pretty similar herself just earlier that year. But she hadn't wanted to hear it then. Slowing down meant that the fear would come back, and if the fear came back, she might never move on.

So she'd taken all her savings and left, finding a shithole in Vale she could stay in for cheap and a warehouse that didn't mind her coming in when the workers were gone and practicing. She'd arranged the fight with Junior a month in advance. If she was going to be working, she might as well have be working towards a goal, and funding a manhunt seemed like an admirable one at the time.

It probably said something about Yang's life that it had taken her a while to figure out who to look for. She'd briefly entertained the idea of hunting down the masked man, but every time she'd thought too hard about it, she came close to having a panic attack and she abandoned the notion quickly. After all, if he was as dangerous as the news reports said he was, she wasn't nearly prepared enough for a rematch. Yet.

She'd also considered going after her former partner, but somehow that idea had been even harder to stomach. The idea of seeing...her, brought too many painful emotions boiling to the surface. She wanted to be alone. Let her be alone.

That left only one person, the person she'd been looking for the longest. Her mother, Raven.

Yang had grown up believing Summer Rose was her mother. She raised her and cared for her just as much as she had ever cared for Ruby. For eight years of her life, Yang had known what it felt like to have a mother who loved her unconditionally. It wasn't until after Summer died that her father had told her the truth. Her mother had in fact been a woman named Raven Branwen. She'd been with her father before he married Summer. Taiyang had loved Raven fiercely, but the day after Yang was born, Raven had disappeared without a trace. Yang had grown up never knowing that Raven had existed.

Ever since she found out, Yang had been obsessed with finding her, desperate to ask her why she'd left, how she could have possibly abandoned her family so easily, but so far her search had been for nothing. Now, with no school, no friends and a gaping hole in her heart, Yang had figured it was as good a time as any to start looking again.

Of course, that line of thought had brought her out here, stuck on a boat, training as often as she could bear to keep her fears at bay.

The rest of her free time lately was spent distracting herself in other ways.

"Hey, is everything okay?" She glanced over her shoulder. Emerald was awake. She was propped up on one arm, the covers slipping off her as she stirred.

"I'm fine," Yang said. "Go back to sleep." She turned to look out the window again.

"Can't, unfortunately," the other girl mumbled. Yang heard her feet hit the floor. There was rustling from her luggage trunk as she dug through it for a clean outfit to wear. "We're expecting company today, remember?"

Right, how could she forget? It had basically been all Emerald had talked about for the last two days. Their benefactor, whoever they were supposed to be, was joining them on the ship during their last stop in Vale. She would be accompanying the three of them to Vacuo. Apparently she was very eager to meet Yang.

The blonde girl stiffened as she felt arms wrap around her waist. Emerald's hands traced the taught skin of her stomach before trailing upwards, following the curve of her arm. They brushed against the leather straps that held the metal cap over her right arm in place. They bit tight into her flesh, causing the skin to be uneven, red and angry. Yang's shoulders tensed until Emerald moved on, hands falling to Yang's hips instead as she buried her face in her mane of yellow hair. "Come on, get dressed! We seriously can't be late this morning."

Yang took Emerald's wrist in her left hand and twisted her away, reversing their positions almost as easily as she had the night they'd met. She pushed her up against the wall next to the porthole and held her there, her eyes boring into Emerald's, red against red. Yang was somewhat disappointed to see that she had already dressed herself. Well, as much as Emerald ever did dress herself anyways.

The older girl smiled at her through lidded eyes. "As much as I love it when you give me that look, we don't have time for that this morning." She reached up and stole a quick kiss from Yang, which was more than enough to convince her to back off. Her lips burned where they had brushed Emerald's, and she fought the urge to slap that knowing grin off her face. Though, she thought, that might get things going in a more interesting direction.

Almost as if she'd read her mind, Emerald rolled her eyes and made her way to the door. "Not today hot stuff," she taunted, putting far more sway in her hips than was absolutely necessary. "Get dressed, get on deck, hurry it up." She shot Yang a wink before shutting the door behind her.

Yang sighed and went about trying to hunt down something to wear. Her… involvement with Emerald confused even her sometimes. It wasn't emotional, at least it wasn't for Yang. Sometimes she got the feeling that Emerald enjoyed pretending there was something more between them, offering unwanted affectionate gestures. She would have thought she was trying to make Mercury jealous if it wasn't for the fact he didn't seem to give a flying fuck what the two of them did. It was always possible she did it because she knew it irritated Yang. She might have even guessed a few of the reasons why it irritated her so much, despite Yang having shared three things about herself with her companions the whole trip. One of which was her name.

Yang didn't need closeness. She didn't want love. She'd had that before, and what had it brought her besides more pain?

Despite Emerald's insistence that this was an important day - or perhaps because of it - she chose to put on a workout uniform instead of anything more presentable. An orange sports bra under a matching tank top with black shorts and tennis shoes. She clumsily shoved her hair one-handed into a ponytail that sat high on her head and did something to reign in the mess. Only when she was satisfied that she looked especially lackluster did she make her way above deck.

Mercury was lounging against the side of the cabin when she emerged, blinking into the sun. Around her she could hear the bustle of activity as men made preparations for the ship to dock. He was dressed in his usual dark clothes, his black eyes alert and his posture relaxed. He was tapping the toe of one boot against the deck, and she could see the large heavy cuffs he wore around each ankle. He nodded in acknowledgement when he spotted her.

"Morning sunshine," he said, with an easy grin. She rolled her eyes at the nickname. She'd made the mistake of asking him not to call her that when they'd first set off and he hadn't let up with it since. "You're just in time, we'll be pulling in momentarily."

"Don't call me that," Yang growled, leaning up against the cabin with him. "So, now that we're about to meet her, anything you can tell me about our so-called 'benefactor?'"

He laughed. "Same answer I gave you the last dozen times you've asked: she prefers to speak for herself."

"You're a real pain in the ass, you know that?"

"Whatever sunshine."

She stamped on his toe, hard, then gave a shriek of pain. She hopped away from him, clutching her foot. "What the fuck? Are you wearing steel-toed boots or something?"

Mercury just laughed harder. "Something like that, yeah."

"Dammit Merc, what did you do to her?" Emerald had wandered over to see what was wrong. "I swear to the gods if you break her before she gets here-"

"Hey, I didn't do anything, okay? She started it."

"Oh, that's real mature," Yang said, testing her foot to make sure she hadn't actually injured herself. Mercury stuck out his tongue in response.

"Cool it, both of you," Emerald snapped, before turning to Yang, trying to coax her into letting her check her out. The blonde girl brushed her off.

"It's fine, leave it."

As she spoke, the ship rocked unexpectedly and Yang had to struggle to keep her footing. "Easy does it!" the captain bellowed from the front of the ship. "You trying to run us aground?"

The ship had finally pulled into the docks, though not without some complications it would seem. Dock workers were already throwing lines for the crew to secure while another couple of men ran out the gangplank. Yang, Mercury and Emerald stood and watched as the men began to haul crates from below deck while a crane was driven into position to grab some of the larger containers. Two men were carrying a heavy looking wooden crate between them down the gangplank when Yang saw them stop. They paused for a moment, the man in front saying something she couldn't hear. A female voice responded to them, and the men backed up, clearing the gangplank as a woman stepped onto the ship.

The first thing Yang was struck by was how...small she was. Okay, granted, she may have had an inch or so on Yang in terms of height, but she was going to chalk that up to the black stiletto heels she was wearing. It was more than just her height though. Her shoulders were narrow, her arms graceful and willowy, and her legs slender, though with clearly visible muscles moving beneath the surface of her skin as her calves worked overtime in those ridiculous shoes. She was clad in what would have been a scandalously short red dress if it wasn't for the black shorts that were just barely visible out the bottom of the… whatever the garment was supposed to be. It was slit up the right side, revealing that the shorts were laced across her outer thighs for reasons that frankly baffled Yang. The sleeves of her strange not-dress seemed to be embroidered with a swirling pattern of gold all the way to her wrists, where a stretch of gold fabric extended them further, winding around the middle finger of each hand.

But it was the woman's eyes that drew her attention the most. It looked like they were made from liquid gold. Well, the right one did. The left was obscured by a cascade of black hair that hung long over her left shoulder. She swept the deck with her gaze, and when it landed on the three of them, Yang could feel the weight of her attention as if it had a physical presence. She didn't walk towards them as much as she sauntered, though in heels that high, Yang wasn't sure she could have managed better herself.

As the woman approached them, Yang felt Emerald cling to her left arm, her hand sliding down to lace their fingers together. She rested her chin on her shoulder, leaning heavily on the younger girl, possibly to prevent her from escaping. "Cinder!" she said in a voice positively dripping with admiration. "It's so good to see you!"

Ohh, so it's not Mercury you want to make jealous after all, Yang thought, with a modicum of dry amusement.

If the woman, Cinder, noticed or cared that Emerald was practically wrapped around another girl, she didn't show it. In fact, she didn't even glance at her at all, keeping that smouldering gaze fixed on Yang. She stopped a few feet from them without saying a word. For the first time Yang could remember, she was speechless.

"Cinder, this is Yang Xiao Long," Emerald said, brushing her nose against Yang's cheek. Yang wondered how much trouble she'd get in for dumping her over the side of the boat.

"I gathered as much," Cinder said, without looking in Emerald's direction. Her alto voice was honeyed silk, and Yang found herself straining to catch every single word.

"I've heard a lot of promising things about you Yang Xiao Long," she continued. "You have a lot of potential. But potential can only get you so far. Even good, strong steel must be molded and sharpened to make it truly deadly. You've been tempered, it's true. But now you must be honed. I believe I can teach you a great many things. That is," she said, raising a delicate eyebrow, "if you're willing to learn."

Yang swallowed. What else was she here for? If this woman could teach her to be stronger, better, who was she to deny her the opportunity? It was all she had left anymore.

"I am," she said, setting her jaw in determination.

Cinder smiled. "Leave us," she said, waving a hand in casual dismissal. Mercury nodded and slunk away across the deck, probably back to his quarters where he spent most of his time. Yang felt Emerald tense beside her. She wondered briefly if she would refuse, but the thought didn't last long as the older girl turned to face Yang, placing a slow, passionate kiss on her lips. Yang, for her part, gave her nothing back, going rigid as a board. Outrage and indignation locked her in place long enough for Emerald to slip out of her grasp and disappear below deck.

Yang saw a small smile play on the corner of Cinder's mouth. "She seems to have grown fond of you," she said with a hint of mirth. Yang just glared at her, eliciting a broader smile. "Follow me," she said, heading below deck. We have a lot to talk about."

Despite the surrealness of her situation, Ruby had to admit that she had always wanted to sit and dangle her legs over the edge of a train car while she stared meaningfully off into the distance. It had always seemed like a very romantic notion in all the stories she'd read and movies she'd seen.

Of course, those same stories failed to mention how boring it could get after a while.

She'd woken that morning a little earlier than usual, slapping her alarm as quickly as she could before getting out of bed. For once, she managed not to wake Ren. Not that he would have been able to get up, that is. Nora was wrapped around him so tightly she was concerned for a moment that he might have suffocated in his sleep. She quietly pulled out the note she'd written the night before and left it folded on the nightstand next to Jaune's bed. That had been the hardest moment. The idea of leaving him behind, after everything they had been through together. She thought about the day they'd met at Beacon, both of them so lost in their new world. Yang had just abandoned her to visit with some of her old friends from Signal High, and Jaune… well, his ladykiller act hadn't exactly made him popular day one.

They had been a perfect match in some ways. They'd been there to support each other, acted as the glue binding both their groups of friends together. Without him, her world would have been a lot colder. A small part of her truly wished that she could stay, for his sake, and Ren and Nora's if not her own.

But she'd made her decision. She just had to hope they'd understand. She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek before grabbing her bag from the foot of her bed and slipping out the door.

She'd waited a while for Qrow after that. For a heartbreaking moment, she'd worried that he'd changed his mind and decided to leave without her. It wasn't until the cawing of a crow drew her attention down the dirt path that she saw him approach. He walked like he was carrying a heavy burden, and he wasn't smiling, but he was there. He'd beckoned to her wordlessly, and the two made their way through the early morning mists to the town of Haven's air docks.

Much like the docks at Beacon, the air shuttles that landed there were ideal for short-range transport, taking people up and down from the high cliffs of the plateau. The shuttle took them to the outskirts of Mistral City, where they almost immediately hopped on a train heading north and west. She remembered watching Qrow hand the conductor a stack of Lien before taking her to one of the cars in the back. There weren't any other passengers on the train, and the car they climbed into was full of large metal crates.

"What is all this stuff?" she'd asked as the train began moving.

"Military equipment, mostly," he said. He nodded to the door to his right that lead further down the train. "Go make yourself comfortable. I have to find something." He hefted a crowbar and started eyeing crates meaningfully.

Ruby had done as she was told, and watched the cliffs and rocky terrain around them morph into the dense forests that northern Mistral was known for. It was an hour at least until the door behind her opened and Qrow stepped through. He was carrying a long oblong case, matte black in color. It looked like something you might carry an instrument in.

"What's that?" She got up to go inspect the item.

"Your weapon." He put the case in her hands. It was heavy, and she staggered under the weight.

"M-my what?"

"Your weapon. You want to be out here, doing what I do? Well, you have to learn to fight. I don't have time to teach you the nuances of hand-to-hand combat, and I wouldn't want you anywhere near that kind of trouble anyways. This, however, I can teach you the basics of. And it will keep you out of close range combat."

Ruby still didn't understand. "I don't know, I still think I'd have to be pretty close to somebody to hit them with this thing…"

Qrow didn't laugh. He just reached out and pressed a seemingly innocuous part of the case. There was a mechanical whirring sound from within it and a stock extended from the edge currently facing the floor. The opposite panel opened and a long, narrow barrel slid out the front. A piece of the longer edge folded up inside the case and a pistol grip with a trigger and guard slid out instead. There was an empty slot in front of the the trigger guard. Finally, a scope slid out the side opposite the pistol grip.

When all was said and done, Rwby was holding a sniper rifle nearly as long as she was tall. Ruby just stared.

"Customizable, high impact," Qrow said, pulling a square magazine from a pocket and shoving it in the empty space in front of the trigger guard. "You're going to learn to shoot it."

"U-um," Rwby stammered.

"You remember what I said, kid? Out here, my word is law. I say you're going to learn to shoot that thing, you're going to learn to shoot it." He reached out and pressed the same part of the case again and the weapon folded back up into its more innocuous state. "But not just now. That's your offense, but the first thing you're going to have to learn is how to defend yourself."

"I thought you said I wasn't going to learn hand-to-hand combat?"

"And you're not. You're fast, I've seen you run. You get into a situation you can't handle, you bolt. I just have to make sure you survive long enough to get somewhere safe."

Ruby got the sinking feeling that she was in vastly too far over her head, but she tried to be brave. She nodded and set the sniper rifle aside. "So what do we do?"

He smirked and walked past her, perching himself on the edge of the train car where she had been sitting. He patted the floor next to her and she joined him.

"You remember the stories about huntsman and huntresses I used to tell you when you were a little girl?"

"Yeah."

"Well, they're all true. Oh sure, they've become myths and legends now, but there was once a day when mankind had to fight tooth and nail just for the right to survive. The creatures of Grimm were relentless, soulless beasts who hungered for our lives. So mankind took what they had and weaponized it, turning it into a force not even the Grimm could easily overcome."

"Right, Dust," Ruby said, remembering the tales.

"Not just Dust," Qrow corrected her. "There was another weapon we could wield against the Grimm. One that they understood even less than a mineral that granted us power of the elements. Our souls."

"What does that even mean?" Yang said, wailing on the punching bag hung in the corner. She and Cinder were in what the crew laughably called their "workout room." It was small, boxy and bare with a single punching bag and a bench with a few sets of free weights. All that and a single, wide mat. Some workout room.

"It means, with the right kind of mindset, you can unlock your soul, allowing it to act as your shield and sword." Cinder was perched on the edge of the bench nonchalantly, watching as Yang lay into the stuffed leather bag.

"Sounds like a load of bull to me," Yang said, spinning into a powerful kick that slammed the bag against the wall. She caught it awkwardly as it came sailing back towards her and she wiped sweat from her brow. "I thought you were going to teach me something real." She turned to face Cinder, surprised the woman was on her feet. "I didn't realize we were going to be talking about some psycho-spiritual bull-"

Cinder lashed out and cracked Yang across the face. She spun violently, seeing stars, and hit the ground. After taking a moment to get her head to stop spinning, she pushed herself to a sitting position and glared at the woman. Cinder smiled pleasantly back at her.

"What. The fuck. Was that for?" She could already feel the left side of her face swelling. Had she hit her with an open palm?

"If you think it's so much nonsense, clearly you should have no trouble besting me, right?" There was a mocking tone in Cinder's voice now and her eyes glittered with amusement.

"Well, sure, if you're done sucker-punching me." Yang pushed herself to her feet and Cinder backed up a few steps, walking onto the mat. She tested her balance, then kicked off her heels, obviously deciding the uneven surface of the mat would give her trouble. Yang stalked towards her, now with a healthy inch or two of height advantage. She lunged with her metal-capped stump, feinting hard before driving straight for Cinder's face with a vicious left hook. She felt the hit connect, felt her neck snap to the side with the force of the punch. A surge of triumph ignited inside Yang.

But Cinder didn't fall. In fact, she barely reacted at all. She turned to face Yang again, her smile pleasant. "Is that all?" she asked sweetly.

Yang grit her teeth sent a kick straight at her opponent's chest, twisting her body to give the blow more power. Cinder reached out with one hand and stopped the blow. Just...stopped it dead. Before she could retract and reset herself, Cinder had her by the ankle. Without so much as a grunt, she flipped Yang completely off the ground and slammed her down to the mat. The blonde girl felt the wind go out of her and she stared at the ceiling a moment, catching her breath. She saw Cinder approach, her steps delicate and particularly feminine. For some reason that just served to enrage Yang more.

When she was close enough, Yang moved, twisting her legs between Cinder's and tripping her up, bringing her crashing to the ground. She was on her in a flash, straddling her waist and hammering her over and over with fist and metal cap. Each blow fell on Cinder's arms, raised to guard her face, and moving with liquid grace to intercept each hit. After nearly a minute of this, Yang was winded and sweating profusely, her arms shaking.

"Had enough yet?" Cinder asked coyly. Yang growled and drew back to wipe that smug smile off her face for good. She moved faster than Yang could anticipate, reaching out suddenly and seized her by the top, her legs shoving off the ground as she rolled them both backwards. Yang tucked her head in as it hit the mat, the rest of her body following suit. She was staring up at Cinder now, who was still smiling that infuriating smile.

Fire raged through Yang's mind. She wanted to fight back, she wanted to break her dammit! But she was out of steam, her arms tired, her body already aching from the few blows and falls she'd suffered. Plus, despite their struggle, Cinder barely looked winded. Her face showed no sign of where Yang had hit her. Fuck, she didn't even have a single hair out of place. Yang was grinding her teeth so hard she risked cracking them. She understood what was happening. She knew what this little display was meant to be.

"Fine," she muttered through her clenched jaw. "Teach me."

"Sometimes people get the wrong idea about Aura," Qrow said while Ruby listened, enraptured. The pair of them had moved a few cars back. This one was quieter, with only a single window and a locked door. It had a few cots thrown in the corner and the crates that littered the other cars were conspicuously absent. Qrow had drawn a curtain over the window, making the room dark and cool. They'd put aside most of their things, the weapons and their bags, and sat in the center of the floor, cross-legged.

"They think it's something purely physical, a way to make themselves stronger or tougher," he continued, "but while there is a physical element to it, it's deeper than that. Some say its spiritual. Others say it's all in your head. They're both right, to some extent.

"Drawing from your Aura means knowing yourself, the essence of what makes you, you. Of course, that's hardly easy. Some people can spend an entire lifetime chasing down knowledge like that and never get there. Plus, people change. Over time, with experiences and decisions you make, you can become somebody different entirely. When Ozpin taught me, he was less concerned about me figuring out every little detail of who I was as a person. He said that wasn't what was most important. It's much better to find a piece of yourself, something you can know, truly and deeply is a part of your being. One little corner of your soul that you can stand up tall and show off to the world with absolute certainty that shapes you and makes you who you are. The rest might change around you, it's true. Or it could be hidden, hard to discover. But so long as you have that foundation, that bedrock to stand on, you can call upon your Aura."

"So… what can it, you know, do?" Ruby asked timidly.

"Like I said, there is a physical element to it. Your Aura acts as a shield of sorts, it protects you from harm, allowing itself to be damaged in your place. The more you practice utilizing it, the more comfortable you become relying on it, the more damage it can take."

"Even bullets?"

The corner of Qrow's mouth turned up briefly. "Yeah. Train long enough and you can even stop bullets. I wouldn't go looking for practice though. Just 'cause they won't kill you, doesn't mean they don't hurt like hell."

"Try not to get shot, I think I can manage that." Ruby tried to keep her voice light, but her mind was reeling, trying to process yet another world-altering piece of information.

"Aura also makes you more aware of the world around you," he said. "It acts as another sense in a way, warning you to danger or enhancing the senses you already possess. Got a huntsman in training who's blind if you can believe that. Oz says the kid's mother was a huntresses. Taught him from a young age and he's used it to compensate all his life. It's pretty amazing really."

"How do you… activate it?" Ruby said, failing to come up with a better word.

"Now, that's the age-old question, isn't it? How do you prove to whatever gods may control this whole crazy process that you've reached sufficient spiritual enlightenment to utilize your Aura? There are a lot of different theories, and so far a lot of different things have worked. Sum- Some people have done it through meditation. Others have traveled, trying to find places that resonate with them. A guy I trained with back in the day would just wear himself out, running, exercising, sparring, anything he could to push his body to the limits. All of those things have worked.

"You have the distinct disadvantage of having very little time and very few options available to you. I'd suggest starting with meditation. Easiest to do on a moving train at least." He stood and stretched. "Don't worry though, I'll have another job for you to occupy yourself when you need a break."

Ruby looked at him quizzically. Qrow retrieved his sword. He eyed it for a moment, then gave his wrist a sharp twist. The gears in the hilt began to spin and Ruby heard a mechanical whirring sound as some inner mechanism activated. The blade of the greatsword segmented into four pieces and extended away from each other. They folded back over the dull side of the blade until they formed a curved edge. With another metallic sound, a wickedly sharp blade of dark red steel extended from the underside of the new curve. Qrow repositioned the weapon, drawing it behind his back as the whole blade folded over so it now rested perpendicular to the hilt, which telescoped twice. With a flourish, he planted the butt of the shaft on the ground.

Ruby eyed the scythe apprehensively, doing her best to keep a flood of bad memories at bay. It was nearly twice her own height and she would have known it was dangerous even if she hadn't seen it mow down four men like they were wheat. Qrow leaned the scythe next to the sniper rifle. "That's your job," he said pointing to the two weapons.

"That's my what?"

"You're good with building stuff, right? Designing things, drawing up blueprints, that's the kind of thing that got you into Beacon, yeah?"

"Um, yeah, I- I guess."

"Thought so. That's good. See, we're en route to meet up with somebody, an asset who is pretty much our only hope of pulling off this little heist of Winter's. Problem is, she isn't exactly the sympathetic type. She won't do the job for free, no matter how many lives may be at stake. That means I have to offer her something worth taking the risk for. Fortunately, I know what she likes.

"She and her group like to stockpile weapons and ammo amongst other things. She's been itching to get her hands on a scythe like mine for a while now. Well, you're going to give her the designs for one. And to sweeten the deal, her's is also going to contain a firearm. Seeing as how guns and the blueprints for them are hard to come by, it should pique her interest."

"B-but I've never built a gun before!" Ruby said, panicking slightly. "I've never even designed a weapon! I have no idea what I'm doing!"

"Then you're going to have to figure it out," Qrow said. "There should be some tools on this thing. Take the rifle apart, look through it, figure out how it works. Should do you some good to get to know it before you learn how to use it anyways. You can look at my scythe all you want, but that stays in one piece." Ruby just stared at him, dumbfounded.

Qrow laughed for the first time since the previous day. "I told you this wasn't going to be easy, kid."

"I knew that!" she sputtered indignantly. "I just didn't realize you were going to make me do homework on the super secret mission to save my best friend."

Qrow knelt beside her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Look Ruby, I know you. You're smart, too smart for your own good really. You've always excelled at everything you've tried to do, and not just because you're talented. It's because you're driven, motivated. You've got a lot of heart, kid, you wouldn't be here if you didn't. It's part of who you are."

Comprehension dawned on Ruby. "Y-you… you think this might help me unlock my Aura?"

Qrow shrugged. "It can't hurt." He stood and headed for the door that lead further up the train.

"Wait, where are you going?" Ruby asked.

"You've got your assignments, you know what you need to do.I'm going to go see if one of the crew members can hook me up with a drink or two. I'll check in on you later." He glanced back at her when he was partway out the door. Ruby got the same strange sensation she had the day before, that he was looking at somebody other than her.

"Good luck kid. You'll need it."

Yang hit the opposite wall hard enough to rattle her teeth. She ached everywhere, but she didn't have time to recover, she had to move. Now.

She rolled out of the way just as Cinder's fist impacted the spot her head had been a second ago. Her blow left a small indent in the metal wall. Yang tried to move behind her, to grapple her, get her on the ground again, but she seemed to sense her intentions and Yang couldn't pin her down. She caught an elbow to the stomach for her troubles and Cinder's leg lashed out, slamming Yang in the chest and sending her careening to the floor.

"Pathetic," Cinder said, standing over her. "We've been at this for days now, and you haven't shown even the slightest improvement."

She had opted for something more suitable for sparring today. She wore grey pants reminiscent of fatigues if it weren't for the fact that they hugged her like a pair of designer jeans. She wore a brown vest with a high collar short enough to leave most of her midriff exposed. She opted not to fasten it, instead having wrapped a few dozen feet of bandages around her chest in lieu of an actual top. She completed the look with a pair of brown fingerless gloves and a brown leather armband she wore buckled on her left bicep. Her boots had a platform heel that robbed Yang of her height advantage once more, and here with her back on the ground, she practically felt miniscule.

"How am I supposed to improve?" She snapped. "Even at the top of my game I'm still working with a handicap here," she added, angrily waving the stump of her arm.

"I told you, if you can find your Aura, it won't be a problem." She never offered to help Yang up. If she didn't stand on her own, she'd kick her until she did. If that failed, they were done for the day. The first motivating blow caught Yang in the ribs and she rolled to all fours to push herself to her feet.

"Your body is broken, that doesn't mean your soul is," Cinder continued as she watched Yang struggle. "You're holding yourself back. Clinging to something." As soon as she was on her feet, Cinder drove her fist into Yang's stomach, bringing her back to her knees. She stayed that way for a moment, doubled over, fire raging through her mind as her anger consumed her.

She felt an iron grip at the base of her ponytail as Cinder yanked her face up so that their eyes could meet. "I can see the power you have inside of you," the older woman said, her voice barely audible. "Yes… you have so much strength. But you're afraid. Your fear makes you weak."

Yang lunged at her, but Cinder sidestepped and she found herself gripping the punching bag in the corner just to stay standing. Her body was shaking. Her skin was covered in bruises and she was favoring her right leg. Cinder was behind her then. She grabbed her ponytail and jerked her head back, drawing her away from the support the bag had offered and into the center of the room.

"Tell me," she hissed, "what are you afraid of? What did you lose? Besides the obvious, of course," she added with a cruel smirk.

Yang threw her left elbow back, but Cinder caught it, twisting her into an armbar. "Why are you here?" she asked. "What are you striving for? Your anger is a potent force, but it can only get you so far. What else drives you?"

Yang struggled briefly, but it was obvious she wasn't going anywhere. She was too strong.

"I'm looking for someone," she heard herself say. The words came out bitter, broken.

"Finally, something substantial." Cinder said. "And here I was thinking you were just full of hot air." Yang lashed out with a foot, but Cinder stepped around the attack and then her leg was pinned too. "Who are you looking for?"

"My mother," she said after a moment of hesitation.

Cinder considered that for a moment. "Estranged mother? Left at a young age, I presume?' Yang just nodded. The fire inside her was fading now, exhaustion threatening to drown it completely.

"This is good." Cinder let Yang go and she collapsed to her knees once again, "but it's not enough. A mother who left you years ago, that wound is old and scarred. Something has come along to rip it open again." She knelt in front of Yang and put a finger under her chin, lifting her eyes to meet hers. "Who abandoned you this time?"

Yang looked away, trying and failing to hold back tears. She clenched her fist and bit her lip so hard she could taste blood. She couldn't say it. She hadn't even been able to think it.

Cinder chuckled. "Ahh, a lover, then? Poor Emerald will be heartbroken." Yang glared at the older woman, fighting to rise to her feet. Cinder stood and watched her struggle.

"What was her name?" Yang shook her head, her legs trembling beneath her. Cinder cocked her head to one side. "Are you afraid of that too?" Yang opted to lunge forward, swinging the metal cap of her right arm at Cinder's head. The dark haired woman caught the blow and drove her knee into Yang's ribs, dropping her to the ground once more.

She watched Yang struggle a moment. "Could it be that you still love her?" She aimed a kick at her that Yang rolled to catch against her back. "Get up, or get out," she said.

Yang rose again, swaying badly as she struggled to remain on her feet. Cinder seemed amused.

"Maybe you won't say her name because she hurt you that badly. Clearly she left you and not the other way around… did she take a piece of you with her? Literally, perhaps?"

Yang wanted to attack again. Maybe she even made a move to, but before she could so much as blink, Cinder had her gripped by the front of her shirt and slammed against the wall behind her. She felt herself lifted off her feet a few inches and held there, pinned against the metal.

"Enough," Cinder said. "You're useless to me like this. You spend so much of your energy fighting yourself, fighting this ridiculous, romantic notion and for what? Some girl? Somebody who clearly you meant nothing to?" Yang's eyes snapped to Cinders, pain temporarily eclipsing the usual anger. Cinder let go of her and she nearly felt her legs collapse from under her as she leaned against the wall for support.

"Tell. Me. Her name."

Yang was trembling. Was Cinder right? Was she being held back because she couldn't face this? Because she wasn't allowing herself to acknowledge her deepest fears?

"Blake." The name brought a fresh wave of agony. Yang's voice broke, her whole body shaking, though not from weakness this time. Tears fell freely as she spoke. "Her name was Blake."

"And what did Blake do?" Cinder's expression was intense, insistent. Yang clung to it for dear life.

"She left. You were right, she left me. After…" she gestured with her useless arm.

"Why?"

"I don't know."

Cinder smiled, backing up. Yang staggered forward a step, standing under her own power now. "But you loved this girl, didn't you?" Her voice rang with mockery and amusement. "Shouldn't you know what drove her away?"

"I… there were a lot of things she didn't tell me." Yang had never needed to know. She knew that Blake had been hurt before, and that she was more guarded than anybody she'd ever met, but Yang had seen through that to the person who lay beneath the layers and layers of fear and self doubt. She had wanted to strip all of that away, to show her how beautiful she truly was. She wanted Blake to see herself the way Yang saw her.

"Oh? So am I to believe that the two of you were strangers to each other then?"

"What? N-no, I-" I told her everything. Blake had been the first person she wasn't related to learn about her mother. She was the only person she confided her own insecurities in. She'd told her about how she was afraid of thinking about the future, unsure what she could do to give her life purpose. She'd admitted her seemingly insatiable addiction to adrenaline, how she would do anything just for the thrill of feeling her heart pound against her chest, or to feel the flight or fight instinct sing through every nerve of her body. It's why she'd bought a motorcycle, why she'd started doing mixed martial arts. It was the solace she'd sought when it felt like everything else had failed her.

She had bared her soul to Blake, not only to make her feel safe, but because for the first time in her life she felt like she could. Her previous relationships had been fleeting, more flings than anything else. She'd had fun, sure, but she had never found anybody she could trust her innermost self to. Not until she'd met Blake.

"I gave her everything that I had to give." Yang felt a spark kindle to life somewhere inside her chest. It was a weak, feeble thing, threatening to flicker out of existence at any moment, but she clung to its heat regardless.

"She used you," Cinder said. "She took every ounce of strength you gave her. She took your love, your admiration, your need. But answer me this: now that you need her, where is she?"

"Gone." The word was tiny, fragile, but it breathed new life into the spark in Yang's chest. "She's gone." It flickered again, defiant. "She left me. I was broken and scared and she left!" The spark burst into a roaring flame. "I'm so tired of being scared," she went on, "tired of seeing his face night after night. Tired of being useless, tired of being a cripple!"

Cinder seemed pleased with the answer. "So where does that leave you? Are you just going to roll over and die because your life got hard? Are you too weak to go on without her? Are you going to let the people who hurt you define you?"

She was right. She was so right. Yang was not weak. She never backed down. She never stopped, never quit. "No." Her voice was iron. The flame became an inferno, searing away pain, burning back heartache. That was who she was, the semblance of her existence. She had never needed anyone before. Hadn't she already lost two mothers in her life? Hadn't she spent her early years practically raising her baby sister because her father had been too busy moping around to do it himself? Hadn't she taken every challenge life could throw at her and thrown it back harder still? She hadn't stopped before. She wouldn't stop now. This injury wasn't worth that. Adam Taurus was not worthy to defeat her.

And neither was Blake Belladonna.

"Prove it, then" Cinder said, lowering her voice. "Prove you're worth my time."

Yang moved.

Faster than should have been possible.

The fire was no longer inside her - she was at the center of it. She was fire. The tiny room lit up with brilliant golden light as flames ran though the snarls and twists of her hair. The cord holding it in its ponytail was incinerated instantly, and her hair fanned out behind her, trailing embers as she lunged for Cinder. It was an impulsive move, instinctual even. A move she'd ended countless sparring matches with. They'd always told Yang she had a vicious right hook.

She should have missed entirely, the stump of her arm sailing straight past Cinder's jaw, but instead, Yang felt her arm stop. She felt the shock of the impact travel up her missing forearm and into her flesh and bone. Cinder's head snapped to one side with the blow and she fell to her knees.

Yang could only stand and stare. She wasn't tired anymore. In fact, she couldn't remember feeling more alive. Her world was heat and flame and energy coursing through her body. She breathed in and heard the crackle of the flames running through her hair.

But if the sensations she felt now surprised her, it was nothing compared to the sight of her right arm. In the horrible empty space she'd grown so used to over the summer, the space where a piece of her used to exist, she could see a ghost of an image outlined in gold. She flexed the fingers of the phantom hand and watched as they responded. She smiled, a ferocious expression, her eyes living flames.

She looked down at Cinder who was wiping blood from the corner of her mouth. There was a fierce pride in her gaze.

"Finally," she said. "Progress."

A/N: Oh man, this chapter. I've been waiting for this for a while and in the end it turned out a lot harder than I thought it would be. Still, I'm fairly pleased with the way it turned out. Yang's getting a little dark-side force training from Darth Cinderous and Ruby's realizing she might be a little over her head with Qrowbi-Wan Kenobi.

Okay, the second comparison is a bit of a stretch, but I really did want to highlight the differing views of Aura. Afterall, Pyrrha from the canon (who had a lot more solid information to go on than the people in my AU do) made sure to point out that Aura is a combination of the light and dark that exists in everybody, and I think overtime it's going to turn out to be just as important that Yang embraces some more of the light as it will be for Ruby to embrace more of the dark. (SIDE NOTE which is super cool because Yang is the one generally associated with sunlight etc. and Ruby is the one who's got the gothic reaper thing going for her. Contrasts are fun!)

Sorry for the long analytical author's note. As per usual, leave feedback if you like it or if you have criticisms. It's super motivating and helps me improve. Cheers.