AN: Man, I think I need to read through a thesaurus. At least expand my vocabulary through more practical words and terms. Like, one of the only conjunctions I ever use is the word 'as', and it shows.

Update is late because of a fever that's lasted over a week and a sinus infection, so that's been a fun experience for me. Also been working on a one-shot for a franchise that's quite dear to my heart.

I understand why people feel like rewriting their fics so often. The more you think about it, the more you go "oh this could've been more like that, that didn't have enough of this" and so on. Add in to the mix that there are so many good fics out there, you feel like you can't really keep level, you know? It's quite a humbling feeling, if I do say so myself. Still can't tell a story for shiet too.

"So how long have you been off from doing whatever it is that Ozpin makes you do?"

"A few weeks ago, actually. I've just been doing some of my own poking around in the meantime."

"...Ah..."

In the backyard of the Xiao-Long cabin, Taiyang was resting on one of the lawn chairs and waiting for Ruby to finish changing. He winced when his brother kicked Yang across the field, casually continuing their conversation.

"Yeah, well, Ozpin's just been keeping tabs on the same old same old. I've just been watching the White Fang myself." Putting a hand to the side of his neck, Qrow rolled his head, taking pleasure in the cricks that popped.

"What about your end? Anything new?"

Taiyang chuckled hesitantly, fiddling with his hands, unsure as to how to reply. "Uhh, you could say I got a new lease on life?"

Qrow sent a puzzled look Taiyang's way, ducking underneath the flaming ball of anger and frustration that was his niece. Applying a generous amount of Aura to his hand, in a split-second, he grabbed Yang's outstretched leg and tossed her back to where she previously was. He hissed, bouncing and shaking his smoking hand through the air in an attempt to cool it down.

"Well someone's a bit more angry than usual..." He muttered, bounding out of the way of a fiery rebound. Explosions rang out, muffling the yells of frustration that came from the younger Xiao-Long.

"LET! ME! HIT! YOU!" Each yell, each grunt of frustration and exertion, was only emphasized with the sounds of more explosions and pops from activated dust pellets, the energy manifested being too much for the small rounds to handle.

Taiyang sighed, wondering just how lucky they were that Yang didn't attract as much Grimm as they thought she would. They did take a very healthy amount of precautions just in case Yang's outbursts happened to attract a stray pack of beowolves or a few ursa. They were a family of Hunters and Huntresses of course; it was natural that they were prepared for something like that to happen, especially with a firecracker like Yang Xiao-Long.

They just weren't really prepared for the massive Dust-Beowolf-Monstrosity that A. Stumbled upon their home in a frenzy. B. Severely hurt Yang and Kill Taiyang. and C. Turned into a little one and a half foot puppy after death. Really, they weren't. Even Link didn't know how it happened.

Speaking of Yang's healing injuries, they seemed more or less unnoticed in the fit of rage she was in, desperately trying to hit her uncle with anything she could. Even if they did impede her, she was a hardy girl, Taiyang thought with pride.

Nervous beads of sweat ran down Qrow's forehead as he danced around his niece, him morbidly wishing he didn't take those swigs of whiskey before duking it out with their resident fire mistress. He knew what happened to alcohol when heated up enough.

Mentally deciding to kick it up a notch, he gave it a brief second, knowing she was almost out of shells for her shotguns.

*Click*

Yang faltered the slightest bit, not completely used to her gauntlets running dry before her enemy was a pulped up mess. Not willing to let up so easily, she went for another jab, only for her uncle to strafe to the side and punish the offending limb with a harsh elbow drop.

She winced, waiting for the pain to energize her, quickly turning to block another kick with crossed arms. Her breath escaped her, grooves digging into the earth from being slid back by a barrage of kicks and jabs, her injured arm in agony as her Aura soaked up the hits.

Her ears perked up when she heard the gravelly voice of her adversary taunting her, "Oh? So quick to go on the defensive, Yang? That's not like you."

Gritting her teeth, the Brawler raised her head and gave a smoldering glare to her uncle, raging red eyes staring down cool crimson orbs.

"Once I get my hands on you, I'm gonna wring that rag you call a cape around your neck and pull."

Qrow chuckled nervously, wishing for more simpler days of when his niece was smaller and naive. He jumped out of the way of a surprisingly quick dropkick, considering there wasn't any more ammo to propel the little Firecracker.

The ground caved once she made impact, particles of dirt and dust fell around her crater. The grass crackled and shriveled beneath the flames, but she paid the sound no heed, head was turned to where her uncle landed, her brows narrowed deeply and eyes wide with pure unadulterated fury. Fists clenched and teeth grit, the fireball that was her grew up and out, setting the yard into a new light.

Qrow was worried now, hands fingering the hilt behind his waist and readying to subdue his niece if need be. Yang never got this fired up in a simple spar, though. Did his answer really set her off that much?

"TELL ME WHERE SHE IS, YOU-!"

"Okay! I think that's enough, Yang."

Her head whipped around to face the speaker, her father, in flaming frustration. He was sitting there, hands squeezing his knees nervously, the act contrasting a tired and understanding smile on his face as he continued. "You're letting it get to you again."

Realization struck her hard, her flowing hair calming down around her and her hands dropping to her sides. Daylight broke through once again as the fire died out, leaving behind a girl that stood stock still, the ground around her shattered and ruined. Ashamed of her self-control, she looked down, bangs shadowing her eyes as she muttered a quick apology and trudged back inside.

She brushed past her sister, the little girl having stood in front of the open door for only a few moments beforehand, and headed towards her room, closing the door behind her with an effortless slam.

Ruby was confused; Yang was never that quick to pull back whenever her semblance was active. Her sister's never acted so... discouraged before, at least as far as she's aware. Giving her sister one last look, she turned back to face the rest of her family, her silver-eyes relaying worry and confusion.

Taiyang was leaning forward, elbows on his knees whilst he rubbed his face distressfully. Yang's search for her birth-mother was something he was very much aware of. It wasn't really something that was hard to note, or something that she kept secret of. It was even confirmed when Qrow brought his daughters back from almost certain death due to them looking for his estranged partner, Raven Branwen.

Taking his hands off his face, the father pushed himself up and clapped, taking the attention of a despondent Qrow. He noticed the sizable distance the man was keeping himself with a frown, but ultimately disregarded it knowing he couldn't do much about Qrow's situation; his Semblance.

To simply put it, Qrow's Semblance was unique in the sense that it was always active. Wherever his old friend was, misfortune was always following, in the literal sense, so the Huntsman tended distance himself from others, especially from the people he held dear.

They aptly named it Misfortune.

"What... happened?" softly spoken was the question that came from Ruby. Taiyang turned to her, sad smile on his lips and eyes reserving something the little Rose couldn't quite make out.

"Yang asked your uncle about her birth-mother."

Eyes wide with realization, Ruby shot her head in the direction of where Yang disappeared to, clutching the black box of Crescent Rose closer to her tiny frame.

Taiyang sighed. He's been doing that a lot these past few weeks, he noted glumly. He's used to it, though.

Ah, great, now he's more depressed.

"Yeah, well," Qrow started, scratching his head in an effort to calm his nerves, "even if I did know where she was, Raven isn't exactly someone that's... safe to be around."

Taiyang nodded and Ruby let out a soft "Ah.", the air filling with morose silence soon after. Ruby, feeling more uncomfortable than she usually was in public, was quick to change the subject.

"Well, uh, where'd Link go?" Ever since their uncle suddenly showed up, interrupting their very heated debate on whose fault it was when they lost on Grimm Defenders, she hasn't seen a single trace of Link or his dog.

Her father's eyes lit up, his slouched shoulders straightening out in an instant at the mention of Link's name. It was so weird how her dad seemed so, for a lack of better words and terms, infatuated with her friend.

Three weeks ago, he looked ready to beat him into the ground if the boy ever talked back. Now Link got all the special treatment. He barely did any work, got scolded for trying to work, and most recently, he got given the most slices of bacon!

"Link? Qrow saw him go down the road, probably to Kei's place for more lessons. He's such an independent boy; makes me so proud!" And it was moments like these Ruby wondered if he knew that he had daughters to begin with.

"Oh..." Wait. What? "So you don't know if he's actually going to Ms. Kei's?"

Gears started turning in Taiyang's head as he let out an unsure "Welllll...".

Ruby frowned from her position in the doorway, shifting the compact box in her arms, "And you didn't think about how everything big that's happened recently somehow involves him?"

The parent of their exchange looked away, shuffling his feet and chuckling nervously. It scared him just how much insight his 12 year-old daughter seemed to have every now and then.

"He'll be fine. In the meantime, you need to work on..."

A tinkling sound rang throughout the small dimly-lit room as Link opened the door, cold air suddenly hitting him in a blast. He vaguely heard a bored welcoming, a word he couldn't make out but ultimately tuned out as he hugged himself and shivered.

What in the world made this room so cold?! It was such a direct contrast from the warm, humid air of the tropical climate just outside the door he entered through. Our tenacious hero sniffled, looking around the room from where he stood.

The room itself was filled with shelves that were stacked up to the ceiling. Mismatched products obscurely organised made the room border on the edge of a chaotic mess, but somehow he could traverse through them well enough. Big weathered-books, dusty tapestries that were twice as big as him, assorted trinkets that lined the window sills, perched just underneath dark and lavish curtains, and even more.

A dim yellow light set it all in a sombre tone, lighting up floating dust particles that circulated in the cold air flow of the room. It lit up various sealed cases and pedestals, ranging from old swords to colored rocks to even a large skull of what used to be a monster of some sort.

All in all, the atmosphere made him feel very... what was that word, inquisitive? The King had called him that once, complimenting him on his exploration skills on an eventful day, and it made him feel smart.

If anything, it was like he stumbled across Old Man Sturgeon's(1) slice of heaven. It was perfect for his current needs.

The inquisitive Hero felt a breeze flow past him and he shivered, wishing he changed into his normal attire beforehand. He saw a white rectangular box humming away in an upper-far corner of the room. Was it the cause of this chilly air?

"... Did you need something, dude?" He turned his head to the back of the room, spotting a display counter with a brown-haired girl stationed behind it, resting her head lazily on her arm, the ends of her pigtails spooling out on the glass below her elbow.

The girl did a once-over of his current apparel, raising a brow in question of his decision to go out dressed in pajamas of all things. It wasn't like she could say much about it; she wore a trench coat that was almost as big as she was every day.

What? She liked the pocket room.

Link traipsed on over to her as he rubbed his forearms close to his body. He peered into the display counter curiously, looking for anything that could be useful. A resourceful mindset, honed to using anything he could to his advantage due to his particular circumstances with the whole "Prophesied Quest" shtick, and that included what he had on hand.

Collapse the entire ceiling of a cavern with a single boomerang throw, hookshot into the broadside of an enemy ship whilst wearing his insanely heavy boots made out of metal that clearly wasn't iron (no matter how much the King said otherwise) to sink it with the power of physics, or even using the Deku Leaf to propel him and the King across the sea as quick as an arrow. The list went on as his skill set and his, quite frankly, odd tactical mind grew.

Now? All he had was a spare set of clothes meant for sleeping, his Skull Hammer, the Power Bracelets, and the Wind Waker. There were only so many miracles he could pull off with such limited items, and considering what this, he assumed it was at least, shop had on display, he was keen on finding something new to play with.

Deep forest-green orbs caught glimpse of something that stood out the most among the relics and baubles. It was grouped up with other colored rocks and minerals, various light shades of green and blue mixed together, but it was almost transparent, like a blue crystal. What's more, it seemed to glow just ever so slightly.

The little customer failed to notice the clerk girl staring at him strangely, her face set into a puzzled frown. She felt like she should know this guy from somewhere, but couldn't quite pin it down. She stood up from her stool, her coat falling down to her knees once she leaned over to see what he was staring at.

"Oh, that thing? We had some other guy bring it in, he thought it was Dust he found on the beach but the local prospector said otherwise so he just sold it to my dad instead. It looks pretty though, doesn't it?"

Link absently nodded, not able to understand a single word due to how quickly she spoke. Well, quick for him to process, he was sure. He leaned forward, taking his left hand off his right forearm to point at the blue stone in question, hoping to get his meaning across.

The girl backed her face away from the tuft of blonde hair that was invading her personal bubble.

Blonde hair. She was talking about someone with blonde hair just yesterday. Ah right, yesterday. That was a mess. The new guy seemed to be pointing at the weird rock, his big dark-green eyes staring into hers in question.

"What, you want it or something?" She asked blithely, not caring for any professional mannerisms as the store clerk. It was a Saturday and she was stuck working, she could totally justify some attitude.

Link nodded assuredly, being able to make out the word "want" in the sentence and blatantly ignoring her admittedly rude tone of voice. They did have a completely different culture compared to the Hylians, after all, so it might've just been a simple culture difference.

It wasn't, but it was the thought that counted.

She held a half-sleeved palm out in front of him, curling her fingers in and out in repeatedly in what could be only described as the universal "Give me." gesture. "That'll be 19.99 lien, kid."

The shivering boy frowned, wishing he had any amount of rupees on hand as he dug through his pockets for anything he could possibly trade. No matter where and how he searched, he could not seem to find a single rupee on this Farore-forsaken island! An island that still continues to astound him every single day couldn't simply have a few blue rupees here and there?

Shadow-beasts he's never encountered, nor anything remotely similar, a whole separate collection of cultures and civilizations just suddenly popping out of nowhere, and mysterious powers that would have made their average warrior, or Hunter as they're called, look like wizards! If he could gather this much from almost complete isolation in a log cabin out in some non-descript woods on an island, who knows what these people have done in their own time.

Ending his search, he pulled his palms out to find nothing but a few stray pieces of lint and the Wind Waker, but he stuck the baton to him like glue ever since all of his other gear vanished into thin air, so that was nothing new.

He glanced back up, a sheepish expression on his face. The clerk girl wasn't amused, but didn't seem angry. Just bored.

"Well, if you can come back later with some actual money, I'll sell it to you." She yawned, stretching back into her seat to get comfortable.

The kid just nodded blankly, scratching the side of his sleeping cap and unintentionally pulling it down to reveal a familiar ear. They were pointed at the end, the tips raised up and outwards like some sort of faeries' ears. Or like the ears her friend's relatives had.

She perked up, leaning forward to ask, "Oh, you related to Kitari or something?" She gestured to his ears.

Kitari? That was the word that stood out the most, but it confused him. He shrugged his shoulders, somewhat used to the cold by this point.

"Y'know, Kitari Kei? Pink hair, cat ears, mother complex, that Kitari?"

Oh! Kei! He didn't know who Kitari was, assuming that Kitari is the name of a person, but he knew his captivating caretaker, Shah Kei! He nodded, a hand holding the sleeping cap that was about to slip off.

She grinned, snapping her fingers in success of her deduction skills. Raising her nose slightly in exaggeration, she crossed her arms and leaned back into the wall, "Yeah, well, I figured as much since you had those ears, y'know?"

Again, Link blankly nodded, absently fiddling with the silver baton in his hand. The girl was frowning now, but for what he couldn't possibly tell.

"Do you understand me at all, dude?"

A shrug was his response, long having gave up on trying to make sense of what she said. He didn't really feel like he's made any progress on learning this new language, despite what Kei and Taiyang said.

"Hahhh... Maybe Kitari can deal with this," she muttered, standing up from her stool again to go make a call in the back of the store. Just as she reached the door behind the counter, she turned around. "Look," she put an open hand up, outstretched to the boy in front of her, "just, stay there, okay?"

Link wasn't pleased to note that the first sentence he could understand from her was what felt like an order for a pet, but nevertheless he nodded.

As soon as the door clicked shut, however, he walked off, exploring this trove of strange collectibles. He did originally come to town to find some sort of map, after all, or at least some sort of confirmation of where he was relative to the islands of the Great Sea.

Looking at the towering, dusty bookcases, the various tables and stands strewn about, he sighed. This would take awhile.

Steam rose and clouded their bathroom, Kitari taking pleasure in the soothing hot water cascading down onto her.

She could vaguely hear the muffled sounds of her father and auntie talking every now and then, her feline ears managing to pick up their hushed tones. She stopped scrubbing the grime out of her hair, trying to ignore the sounds of water hitting the floor in favor of listening in on their conversation.

"... legend... green... Sword!..." Was all she could make out but she gathered more than enough. Childish green eyes flashed in her mind, and she shut her own, fussing with her scalp in an effort to distract herself.

She stopped, looking down at the floor but clearly remembering the faint mark he blatantly showed off to her, the tattoo-like resemblance of the Triforce on the back of his hand. The way he stood, the way he spoke, the way he acted like it was all just a dream.

It infuriated her.

There was a saying that you should never meet your heroes, lest you be disappointed, and although that statement held merit, that boy was no Hero of hers. Her Heroes were legendary, astounding young men that stood as a vanguard and champion in the face of dark peril, not some arrogant little brat hosting powers he barely understood.

She didn't know where the prejudice came from; it was unlike her to hold such contempt for someone for what could be a mere misunderstanding.

Deep down, though, she was infuriated at what he stood for. At what he could've done. At what he should have done.

Yet, he was just a little boy in a cruel and bloody world such as Remnant.

She clenched her fists, knuckles turning white as her Aura subconsciously kicked in, preventing her nails from breaking skin. "Tch, Hero..."

A loud rapping on the door snapped her out of her glowering. "Kitari?" Her mother. "Fawn called, she said she needed your help with some translation homework or something?"

Just thankful for something else to occupy herself with, she replied, "Okay, tell her I'll be out soon!"

The sounds of her mother walking off and talking faded away, and she took deep breaths, basking in the hot water of her shower.

1: Orca's brother on Outset. The old man with the big head and long beard. The guy that tells you how to Z-Target lol. Those guys are the real Heroes.

AN: Need to work on my descriptions. Ech. I did try playing with another tone, I don't know if it's really noticeable though.

This chapter came out... meh. There was a lot more I wanted to put out, but I think my brain is just fried and tired given my circumstances. Did try to revise it but couldn't do much other than some minor changes.

More RWBY research this time 'round, mainly on Qrow and his relations and stuff. Along with various other things. I'll admit one thing, I didn't actually watch Vol. 4 even though I was hyped for it. Just didn't really put the time into watching episodes for whatever reason. I seriously need to watch it though.

Did learn some pretty interesting things about Qrow though. A lot of things that make me have to change a lot of stuff to varying degrees, surprisingly.

Since this has more or less become a regular thing, my next recommendation for a fic is a Pokémon one, formally known as Pokémon Radiant Sun. A novelization of Pokémon Sun, one that's very well made so far (it's still updating). If you like that stuff, go check it out, because it's sorely underrated in my opinion. Also check out Empty Boundaries' profile and his works, especially the Konosuba one. Real great guy that I toss ideas back and forth with, and he gave me quite a lot of insight to help improve this story. If you're reading this, thanks dude.

Expect scattered updates once every 1-3 weeks, timer starting again with each update. As always, I'm just feckin' grateful you're still reading this thing.