The Sun and the Night

By A Stereotypical Gamer

Chapter One: Adrenaline

Yang never thought she'd ever get tired of one of Ruby's hugs. But this one had stretched on just a bit too long. Yang expected the reunion to take a good long while and was quite content to catch up with her dear sister, but she was starting to wonder if Ruby would ever let go. Apparently Ruby had sent a letter to her just a few days prior and the thought that it had somehow summoned Yang to her made Ruby emotional. Yang had been only too happy to indulge her at first, but after a certain point hugs just lost their meaning, and Yang didn't want to reach that point. "Rubes…"

"Little longer," Ruby requested. Yang could indulge her a while longer. She reached up with her right hand to tussle Ruby's hair, before stopping herself. She lowered her right and raised her left instead, hoping the movement went by unnoticed.

Unfortunately, she hadn't quite managed to outpace her speedster sister, who spotted the movement out of the corner of her eye. Ruby released her vice-like grip on Yang's midsection and took hold of Yang's right arm, clamping it down on Ruby's back. Apparently, she was much less self-conscious about being hugged by a machine than Yang was hugging with one.

It'd be a hard habit to break, because she'd always led with her right, and now she was getting accustomed to using her left, just in case it made anyone uncomfortable taking hold of cold metal fingers. Yang was very grateful Ruby wasn't one of those people; but then, she never had been.

When Ruby did finally let her go, Yang turned her attention to Qrow, still recovering in bed. She reached down with her left hand, trying to make that motion appear natural and fluid –rather than as stilted and awkward as it had felt- when she gently squeezed his shoulder. Qrow stirred and looked up at her with a crooked smile. "About time, firecracker."

Yang rolled her eyes, before stepping away a moment to reach down in her knapsack, finding something left behind. "I had to take it slow because I was carrying precious cargo." She found the gin bottle under her more valuable stock of provisions and hoisted it up, keeping a light grip with her Atlesian arm. "You remember?"

Qrow's eyes widened. "Yep. That's the good stuff."

"Good by what definition?" Yang dryly inquired.

"Good as in it cost more than the stuff right below it," Qrow explained.

Yang suppressed a sigh. "Well, I kept it warm. Only way Dad would let me keep it was me promising I wouldn't open it until I gave it back to you… he also said something about me not ending up too much like you, but I wasn't really paying attention. Buy a girl a drink?"

"Don't mind if I do-" Qrow agreed, reaching out from under his blanket before Ruby pounced, pushing him back down.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Ruby intervened, glaring down at Qrow. "You need to rest! You're still working through the poison!"

"But your sister's offering me medicine…" Qrow whined. Ruby sighed, turning her glare to Yang, though she couldn't quite maintain it; she was still too happy to have her big sister back. Yang smiled at her, twirling the bottle in her hand. It was just like old times.

She glanced down at her right hand, abruptly stopping herself and setting the bottle away again. Not quite like old times.

There was a lot to catch up on, and a lot to figure out. They still had to find a way to reach Weiss and Blake, and see if they could get the rest of the gang back together, and apparently there were more –and worse- bad guys to worry about than just Cinder and her gang of cronies. Apparently there was something about relics and a pair of dudes who created humanity and Ozpin wasn't always Ozpin? It was all minutiae to Yang. She was reunited with her sister, and they had an objective and steps to take to get there. That was all she needed to go on.

Yang set the bottle back in her pack and sat on the edge of Qrow's bed while Ruby flitted about overhead. She just listened to Ruby and Qrow banter, finally replacing the deafening silence she'd heard on her trip over with the peaceful quiet of her uncle and her sister arguing about how effective gin was at combating illness. Watching Ruby bash Qrow with his own pillow was oddly therapeutic. Listening to Qrow's snark muffled underneath it was all Yang needed to feel at home.

Though Ruby had been understandably clingy when she'd found Yang again, she'd also refused to leave Qrow's bedside while he recovered, and Yang in turn went to meet her old friends from Team JNPR in the next room over. Unfortunately –well, fortunate but for the poor timing- when she'd gone to knock on the door Yang heard some strange noises reminiscent of jackhammers and decided not to interrupt. All Yang did was stroll away and smirk to herself. "It's about time."

That accounted for Nora and Ren, and Yang could catch up with them at a more opportune time. Instead she turned her attention to the missing blonde, thinking that the sight of him tripping over something might raise her spirits a bit. And she figured out of all the friends she'd found he'd probably have the greatest number of hangups still hovering over him.

Yang could relate to that, thinking about how long it'd taken her to overcome her own trauma. She didn't know exactly how hard Pyrrha's death had hit Jaune –Yang never knew for sure if he realized the truth there or not- but he'd worked through it in a few months and been ready when Ruby asked him to help on her mission. Goof that he'd been at school, he'd stepped up and been there for Ruby when Yang herself could not. And while Yang might not mind laughing at his hilarious incompetence once again, she was quick to remind herself there was more to him than that. There was more to all of them now.

He wasn't inside the inn; Yang eventually found her way outside, gnawing on some hardtack she pulled from her pack. She found Jaune behind the shaky wooden building, swinging his sword out into the empty street, listening to instructions coming from his Scroll, parked on top of his own pack of belongings on the ground behind him.

"…these instructions," came the voice from the Scroll. "Shield up. Keep your grip tight. Don't forget to put your front foot forward."

That voice… it couldn't be.

No, it could be. It absolutely could be.

"Go!" Yang heard Pyrrha's voice instruct from the Scroll.

Yang looked on as Jaune began practicing his motions, thrusting forward, then slashing with such force a burst of air pressure from the weight of his blade pushed aside all the dust on the ground. Yang had to admit he'd improved considerably in both strength and form. She didn't mind the show he was putting on either; farm boy filled out a bit under that new heavy plate of his.

He worked hard and put in some good strikes. After an intense workout, Pyrrha's voice came from the Scroll. "Okay. Assuming you aren't cheating, we can take a break."

Yang suddenly felt very uncomfortable eavesdropping as Pyrrha continued on. "Jaune… I… I-I want you to know that I'm happy to be part of your life. I'll always be here for you, Jaune."

Jaune rewound the video and set himself up to start the training again. Yang figured she might not have a better chance to intervene and didn't particularly want to hear that uncomfortable reminder of Pyrrha's struggle to articulate her feelings again. So she figured she should be direct.

Yang tackled Jaune from behind, pulling him into a tight hug. Jaune reacted with surprising quickness, ducking down through Yang's grasp and taking hold of her sleeve, flinging her over his head with strength and fervor. Yang actually had to invest considerable effort to avoid being slammed into the dirt. "Whoa, easy, Ladykiller!"

Jaune relaxed his grip on Yang's right arm, eyes widening. He just stared at her in shock, eyes moving up and down, taking in the tailed coat, the new shades, and the arm. The first two she didn't mind, but the last one… well, she was used to guys' eyes going up and down in rapid succession or staying in place, but this particular location was still taking her a while to get used to. "Eyes are up here," Yang gently suggested, trying to break Jaune from his shock. "And I'd like the- my hand back."

It was still taking her time to think of it as her hand.

Jaune eventually complied, finally releasing his grip and focusing his attention on Yang's eyes. "Yang," he greeted. "Wow, it's so great to see you! When did you get in? Have you seen Ruby yet? What are you doing in Mistral?"

Having already fielded a long and intense interrogation from Ruby, Yang waved him off. "Whoa, down, boy, one at a time," Yang requested. "Tell you what, we'll swap: you wanna hear about where I've been and what I've been up to, you return the favor. Sound good?"

"Sounds great," Jaune agreed, turning off his Scroll before Pyrrha could say 'again'… again. Jaune was in the process of moving to sheath Crocea Mors when Yang was struck by inspiration and took hold of his wrist in mid-motion.

"Hang on," Yang requested. "I saw you picked up some fancy new moves there, Ladykiller." She gestured at her new arm, then to his sword. "You learn how to do two things at once since you left Beacon?"

Jaune smiled. "Sure, Yang, if you'll take it easy on me."

"At first," Yang agreed.

He really had become very strong. The new plate Jaune was wearing tanked Yang's punches with ease, and his Aura barely flickered when she hit him elsewhere. He was still slow and his attack pattern very predictable, but he hit like a truck with each swing of his sword. Even when he missed Yang the pressure cutting through the air pushed her back, to the point she was spending more time dodging than swinging. It wasn't her preferred fighting style, but at least she was sparring again. At least Jaune had a sparring partner again.

She clashed the brace of Ember Celica against the hilt of Crocea Mors, trying to pin Jaune's sword long enough to continue the conversation. "So what happened when the horse-faced Grimm showed up?"

"Oh, you'll like this part," Jaune promised, pushing hard against Yang's arm and trying to wrench his sword free. "It tried to attack Qrow and I went to go get him out of the way. The giant Grimm tried to do some crazy stretch trick, so I leapt into action and drew its attention so it'd miss, and then Ren did this cool thing with his Semblance –have you ever seen it?- and we were able to just disappear from its sight and…"

Yang figured he was distracted enough. She floored him with a strong left, finally knocking him down, though she hadn't hit quite hard enough to break through his Aura, just making it flicker a bit. Yang was actually surprised to see him force himself back up, his blue eyes turning intense.

Yang had seen Jaune's fierce side on occasion; he got serious when the situation called for it. But she was so used to seeing a clumsy goofball that she was legitimately caught off guard to see him pull out this other side. Farmboy wasn't quite so boyish anymore.

Jaune smirked as he bashed her flank with his shield, throwing all his weight into it and driving her to the ground. Yang actually stumbled and landed hard and was pinned to the ground beneath him. He landed atop her, face inches from hers', slowly catching his breath after his exertion.

Yang took a moment to stare at those eyes, watching them slowly soften. She realized she was holding his gaze a bit long, and composed herself, releasing her grip on the hilt of Crocea Mors. "Okay, you got me." She decided to push things a bit, see just how much he'd grown. "You wanna' get straight to the point or is there gonna be small talk?"

Jaune realized he was pinning Yang down and in very close proximity. He was quick to leap off her, shaking his head and desperately trying to suppress a faint redness in his cheeks. "Sorry," he said, in a tone meeker than Ruby's, as he sheathed his sword and offered his hand to help Yang back up, looking anywhere but down at her.

Still a boy, after all. Good. Yang wouldn't want him to grow too much without being able to see some of the changes firsthand.

Yang took hold of Jaune's hand and he pulled her up. Once again he avoided looking at her eyes and focused on the metal fingers gripping his own.

Yang felt it… in a way, through senses not wholly her own. Her Dad had tried to explain what science of it he understood, about how the arm sent electrical feedback that imitated the charges that moved through nerve endings. It wasn't exactly the same as if she'd taken hold of Jaune's hand with the fingers she was born with.

But a spark was still a spark.

Jaune finally released his grip on her hand, looking at the ground. Yang realized she had to quickly pull him back before things got any more awkward. "So, Ren has a Semblance?"

"Yeah," Jaune confirmed. "It's a heck of a story."

Jaune and Yang found their way back into the inn at Yang's gentle prodding, They found a table to continue their conversation, swapping stories of their journey. Yang's trip through Anima hadn't taken anywhere near as long as 'Team RNJR's, apparently because she hadn't accidentally dropped a bunch of maps on her way. The topic shifted to the time right after Beacon fell, and how Jaune and his team held together in the aftermath. Yang couldn't help but laugh at the various antics Ren and Nora went through trying to keep Jaune's spirits up, trying not to be envious of the company he'd had immediately after everything went down.

"So…" Yang began, thinking hard on a topic of conversation. "How are you doing?"

It wasn't quite what she meant to ask, but she was running out of topics. Fortunately, Jaune seemed not to notice. "I'm okay. There were a lot of bumps along the way, but we made it here. We're all okay."

Yang thought back to the video of Pyrrha on Jaune's Scroll. He wasn't training so hard just because he wanted to get better. He wasn't training away from his friends just for their sake. "How are you really doing?"

Jaune was quiet for a long stretch before he spoke again. "There's just so much I didn't know before. I thought I was really starting to make progress back at Beacon, like after we helped you guys fend off the Grimm and went to fight in the tournament? I felt on top of the world then."

Yang knew that feeling well. Up until their trip to Mountain Glenn, Yang had felt invincible. Even when she'd gone in search of Blake and rushed to attack her White Fang buddy, with enemies surrounding her and her friends in danger, Yang felt she could've forced her way through any obstacle. Her confidence had waned a bit after Mercury (and Emerald, she later learned) tricked her and left people believing the worst of her, but she hadn't truly lost her step until Adam drew his sword.

"Pyrrha was going through something difficult," Jaune continued. "I had no idea, and it really brought me down. It made me realize how much I was missing… how much I'd already missed."

He definitely seemed a bit sharper now. He was a bit less impulsive and more thoughtful, and according to Pyrrha and Nora, he'd already been a capable strategist. Yang thought she'd noticed how much he'd grown, but there was so much more there than Yang first realized.

"And since we started this whole trip in Anima we found out a bunch of things…" Jaune continued. "Your uncle, has he told you about the brothers yet? Or Salem and all them? Or the guy we fought in Oniyuri? It's just all so much to take in… made me realize how big the world was."

Yang nodded. She'd had to adjust to feeling small and insignificant while spending months cooped up in Patch. Jaune may have been traveling the world, but he hadn't been in the safe confines of a kingdom, and even when surrounded by his friends he'd been beaten down and left feeling vulnerable.

Yang reached down into her pack and found the bottle Qrow had given to her. She hoisted it up and gave it a shake over their shared table, looking at Jaune expectantly. Jaune nodded, reaching over to uncork it.

Yang never would have expected it from him. She expected him to politely refuse, or inquire about where she got it, or something other than accept. But now that he'd gone through the trouble of opening the bottle, Yang was happy to go along with him.

She may have lost a step, but she still hadn't forgotten how to enjoy herself, and Yang had no intention of letting her friend drink alone.

Neither Yang nor Jaune were lightweights, and the drink was cheap and watered-down. It wasn't what prompted what happened next.

They were both feeling nostalgic for better times, and for better or worse, they had shared history together. They were both charged on adrenaline from their sparring match, and the memories of Jaune pinning Yang to the floor and gripping her hand a bit too long were still fresh in their minds.

Each was lonely without their partner, each was feeling vulnerable facing the weight of the world, and each was tired of loss and pain. Yang didn't stop to ask him. She figured he'd go along with her plan.

She bought herself a room, and under the pretense of returning upstairs to rejoin their friends and family, Yang stood in the frame of her door, just looking at him, her eyes turning very intense and pointed.

Jaune was slow to get the hint, but he wasn't as oblivious as he once was. "Yang… are you-"

"Don't talk anymore," Yang requested, reaching her right hand up to his cheek, before turning much less subtle. "That's not what I had in mind."

Jaune glanced down at the metal fingers brushing his face. Yang followed his eyes and moved to retract her hand, only for Jaune to take hold of it before she could get away. He glanced down at her Atlesian tech for a few seconds before turning his attention entirely on Yang's lilac eyes. For several moments they just stared, tightening the grip in their hands.

He moved in slowly… his face so close Yang could feel his breathing on her nose. He was clearly tempted. He just needed a little push.

Yang wasn't one for little pushes.

She moved in herself and initiated the kiss, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck and pulling him inside.

Jaune glanced across the bed at the sleeping Yang, still holding her right hand. She'd been self-conscious of it all throughout, but eventually Jaune put her mind at ease with certain other actions.

Jaune idly reached to the nightstand for his Scroll. He expected he'd find a bunch of texts from Ruby or Nora –and maybe one from Ren-and he'd have to explain what just happened… and though Jaune wasn't sure they'd simply disapprove of his actions, he was sure their opinions would be… varied.

When he tapped the Scroll he saw Pyrrha say: "…Again!" He froze at the sight, looking at her standing before Beacon tower. For several seconds he just stared at her, feeling Yang pressed up against his back, faintly breathing on his neck.

Finally Pyrrha spoke again. "Okay, assuming you aren't cheating-"

Jaune shut off his Scroll and glanced back at Yang. She was still asleep, still lying beside him, still content.

And he was still right there beside her, holding her hand.

Kuroyuri

Raven glanced down at the ground, running her fingers at the impact site in the courtyard beside the single dead tree. The Aura had been here; it left a residue so bright that Raven could clearly see it, even without the aid of her tears through the fabric.

Her subordinates had finished scavenging the weapons and raw materials scattered about the abandoned town, and had settled in the buildings still furnished for the night. She'd have to join them soon to avoid suspicion, but for the moment her attention was on this incredibly potent Aura.

She'd followed it since Higabana, when her portal had been unexpectedly stabilized. What Raven had initially thought either her managing to keep her composure after her meeting with Qrow and not betray weakness had turned out to be the light that pushed the dark denizens back. When she returned it had only a small piece of Aura left for her to claim, but enough for her to track. This sample left here, in the battle scars of Kuroyuri, was fresh and vibrant, shining.

Raven saw the shadows retreating back into the dark, fleeing from this light. For a moment she felt much less pressure, the monsters who sought to whisper in her ear driven away, at least for the moment.

It was close. And soon Raven would claim that light, and finally dispel the curse she'd carried for so long. Finally she would bring light into the darkness between dimensions and the path would be made clear.

Raven drew her blade and slashed at the spot, severing the bonds that separated space and time so she could peer backwards to the moment. It would cost some of this beautiful bright Aura to see, but Raven wanted to see the face of its source.

Scraggly blonde hair. Beautiful blue eyes. Young, but weathered by battle, wearing heavy armor and wielding an old sword.

Reaching out to a man propped up against the tree, a wounded, disheveled, middle-aged…

Qrow?

How fortuitous that her dear brother had borne witness to the light. It'd be all the easier for Raven to claim it as her own if she had a spotter to put in some work for her. And to think she'd expected their meeting in Higabana to be the last they'd share for another few years…

Raven slashed again to seal the tear. For a long moment she stared at empty air, at the wisps of Aura that lingered in this place of cold and death.

She knew where he was now. And he was very close indeed.