This is the second chapter I promised!

Warning: Graphic Violence

Qrow decided to do Sun and Neptune a favor since they needed all the help they could get. He decided to get Glynda, James, a couple of huntsmen to patrol the area. It was Qrow's way of saying "thank you". He knew that with more people looking, he'd be able to find Yang sooner. He was honestly stressed out looking from looking for Ozpin. The man was never a chatter box, even less so than Qrow was. Ozpin kept all his secrets to himself. Qrow honestly didn't even know where to start looking.

Qrow had better luck finding Raven than Ozpin and that was saying something because his sister knew how to hide. Her daughter was like that in some ways, impossible to find. Walking along an abandoned village that seemed to be becoming a forest was disheartening. He could only hope that Yang was better off.

Before Qrow could start a conversation with James, he caught sight of a black haired woman and green haired woman he remember fighting when they attacked the fall maiden. It was the woman that fought Ozpin. She would probably have a clue where Ozpin was. Qrow warned Glynda, James, and the huntsmen about the approaching enemy.

The faunus male she was with, turned his head to look at Qrow and smirked. Qrow took out his sword. Everyone quickly armed themselves. James took the job of leading the huntsmen, while the green haired girl took out her two sickles, that were also guns, and directed the faunus soldiers. The black haired woman smirked running at Glynda, who pulled her riding crop out and began firing her dust.

Qrow narrowly missed the speed of the redhead faunus' sword. The attack was so quick, he backflipped out of the way. His description was similar to how Yang described the asshole who took her arm. Qrow narrowed his eyes. This would be personal.

Qrow slashed at the faunus' neck, only to have it blocked. The faunus kicked Qrow, and shot his gun. Qrow moved his head, and jumped back. He couldn't afford to not go all out. Qrow let his sword extend into a scythe. Qrow got into position to make the faunus suffer.

"The name's Adam, old man. I've never met a human who could go toe to toe with me without semblance. I commend you for lasting this long, but playtime is over."

James dodged another faunus' sword attack. It was honestly getting annoying. He aimed at the green haired girl's head, but only managed to get her shoulder. "You really shouldn't have done that." She warned, and then she jumped.

James lifted his head, but couldn't see her anywhere. James pistol whipped the closest faunus to him, and then kicked another into the sword of their teammate. That's when he felt something cold wrap around his throat and dig into his skin, making it bleed. James quickly shot behind himself, hearing a pained gasp. He saw the girl appear behind him.

So she could create illusions. He would definitely tell Qrow and Glynda about this. The girl glowered at him, and turned her sickles into guns, shooting James in the ear. He spun out of her grasp, and kicked her back. He could already see this going south for him. He beat her in power, but she had quicker attacks. The only reason why he was dealing her so much damage was because of all the distractions. He would have to be careful.

Glynda didn't know why this girl was here. She seemed to find the black haired woman everywhere she went. This was the woman who orchestrated Beacon's fall. She was the woman who killed a maiden. She was the woman who was about to experience Glynda's wrath.

The woman, Cinder Fall, a past student, was an extraordinary fighter. Glynda hated that she was having any trouble. Glynda cartwheeled out of Cinder's arrows. Cinder ran to Glynda, and then started to use her daggers. Glynda used ice dust to block each attack, until Glynda used explosive fire dust to push the treacherous woman back from her.

Cinder took the opportunity to use explosive fire dust, making Glynda jump back. Cinder then jumped back shooting three arrows. Glynda blocked them, but didn't see the glowing arrows. Glynda quickly shrouded herself in wind dust, and blew the blast away from her.

Glynda looked around for Cinder, and saw her assisting Emerald Sustrai in fighting James. But her eyes were locked on the faunus boy fighting Qrow. They kept clashing blades, but she knew that the fight would never cease at their aggressive stalemate. Both had similar fighting prowess and experience as well.

She combined her wind dust for swiftness and her ice dust for power. "Qrow!"

The faunus, Adam, was glowing red, and that didn't bode well with Qrow at all. He swung his scythe in a circular motion. Adam grunted while jumping back. Qrow saw his moment to finally take the bastard down.

"Qrow!" He heard Glynda's voice say, and saw Adam smirked, glowing even brighter. Qrow turned and rolled out of Glynda's blast. Qrow looked at Adam, and immediately ran to Glynda's side. He didn't know what type of attack would be unleashed, but watching all the dust be absorbed into Adam's sword was a numbing feeling. He retracted his sword, and held his sword to block while he covered Glynda.

In an unbelievably wide attack, the forest was half destroyed, and the entire village was leveled. Qrow coughed hard, and felt an incredible pain in his side. He tried to gasp, but the pain intensified. He grabbed his side feeling a lot of his side missing. A white noise threatened to render him deaf. He refused to fall to his knees while he watched Adam, the two women, and a couple wounded faunus retreat.

As soon as they disappeared, Qrow fell and his vision danced with black dots. It was oddly nostalgic to see the dots, and to feel this pain. It reminded him of when he lost his eye, except the other guy had suffered a lot, too. It was grating to not have killed the bastard that hurt his niece.

Ruby had come to depend on her new team like she had her previous one. But at times she questioned everything about herself. How the short fight between her and Cinder even went down. When she had asked her dad and Uncle Qrow, they said it was because her eyes were silver. Did that mean so much? Did that make her… special?

When no one was looking, she would glare into a mirror. She hated her eyes, and she loved them at the same time. They were what made her different from her family, they were supposedly powerful and coveted. They were also the only physical characteristic that Ruby shared with her mother. Summer Rose was always a respected person in her household, but it wasn't like her memories were too strong. Yang always knew more about her mom than she had. Ruby remembered being younger, begging to brush Yang's long, beautiful blonde hair. Yang would always agree because Ruby was her precious baby sister. Yang had seldom denied Ruby anything. Ruby remembered brushing Yang's hair, and having Yang recount a simple story of their mom. They never spoke of Raven though.

Uncle Qrow would talk about Raven, but as far as Ruby cared, the woman who made Yang melancholy didn't exist. Yang never spoke of Raven, in fact, she pretended that Raven didn't exist. So when Uncle Qrow started talking about Raven during the Vytal Festival, she wanted to change the subject immediately.

She silently sighed. She missed her sister like no tomorrow. She missed being at Beacon. Stop that! She needed to stop living in the past. She had to get things together. Jaune had worked hard to keep his team together, even if they didn't appreciate the work he put into his occupation. Her breaking down would make them think she was a child, some weakling that always needed to be protected.

Even with that thought, she decided to go to Beacon, for nostalgic purposes. She was doing this revenge thing for Yang, of course, but it wouldn't do anything bad if she went to the abandoned place. She had wanted to ask what was going on at Beacon, but because she didn't want to run into any informants, she avoided towns. She didn't want Nora and Ren to get on Jaune's case again.

Ruby looked at the trees, and watched her pseudo team walk together, but they weren't at all together. Ruby grabbed Jaune's shoulder, patting it. "Can you help me…" Her voice trailed off as her eyes connected to ice blue ones. She saw the golden eye cat faunus next to her best friend.

Ruby couldn't contain the tears. She sped towards them, tackling them both to the ground. She hugged them tightly, hearing the scolding voice of Weiss, and feeling Blake patting her head. She missed this. She breathed, but it was so shaky that she cried all over again.

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Apparently, while she'd been witnessing someone get murdered and destroying grimm, Sun and Neptune had created an organization that was made to make things better. Despite how bitter her tone was, she was really happy for them. Except she felt horrible because so many people were killed by the very group of people who hurt Yang. Apparently, the second person she needed to kill was named Adam Taurus, the leader of the White Fang.

Weiss and Blake had been asked by Sun and Neptune to make sure the other Reticio shelter was still fine. Of course Ruby agreed. "Can we see then before we leave?" Her new team -which felt weird to say -needed to rest in a place that wasn't a forest or a deserted town. The new scenery would be hard to get used to, but they deserved a break.

Ruby watched Ren and Nora hold onto each other. She desperately wanted to know why they looked so tense. They didn't open up to her anymore than she opened up to them. It was hard to personally connect to someone whose defensive mechanism was laughing or growing quieter.

She looked at Jaune and saw the same empty calm he seemed to exude nowadays. Alike to the others, he seemed to coddle her, while training with her. It was weird because his fighting style was better. They actually fought furiously instead of training. He challenged her fighting abilities, and it frightened her. In a span of three months, Jaune -who could fight only a bit -managed to make her put in ask her efforts. Pyrrha's death must've driven Jaune to training nonstop. After his revenge, would he be able to be just Jaune again? Would they still be friends?

She came back to herself as she looked at a huge mansion. Nora gushed, and Blake quietly chuckled. Times like these… Except the nostalgic feeling disappeared at the graveyard. Just knowing that someone was murdered made her sick. She was a murderer too. Would Weiss and Blake know? No, of course they didn't. If they did, they would never be able to stand next to her, much less stomach her presence.

Weiss grabbed Ruby's hand. "Come on. I'll take you to Neptune. Sun's still not up for any kind of small talk unless they're Reticio or me, but he's visiting Sepia right now."

"Who's that?" Ruby asked, cocking her head to the side.

"The only survivor during the tragedy. What that monster Adam did to her… anyway, she looks almost identical to Blake. That could be another reason why he cares so much." Weiss said, but it sounded like she was muttering "even though he's ignoring Blake" under her breath.

Weiss knocked on a door, and heard someone say "come in". She opened the door to show Ruby a man that was nothing like the boy who hid his fear of heights or fear of water. This was a ruler. She could only imagine what Sun looked like.

"Neptune!" Usually, Ruby would never hug him, but it felt incredible to hug someone she knew. It felt incredible to know her best friend's boyfriend wasn't dead.

He laughed. "I just meet your uncle, and I've already found you. This is a good day How have you been Ruby?

Ruby's eyebrows shot up. "You met my Uncle Qrow? How is he?"

"He was fine. Um… weird question, but do you know where Yang is?"

Ruby's heart started pounding hard in her chest. "Wh-What do you mean? Where is my sister?" What if something happened to Yang? Where was Yang? Her heart dropped at a chilling thought. What if Yang followed after me because I left without telling anyone?

Neptune shook his head. "I don't know. Your uncle told me that he had been looking for you and your sister. You're with Jaune, Nora, and Ren, right?"

"Yeah, I'm… kind of their leader now, but Jaune's the real leader. Nora suggested we be called RNJR, Ranger." Ruby deflated. "Do you know where she is? Is she…" Did someone kill her like I helped murder someone's dad?

"I don't know that either, but I'm sending Weiss and Blake to another Reticio shelter to check on them and spread the word about Yang. The people here are all willing to help."

Ruby felt slightly reassured, but her revenge took a large step back where Yang was concerned. Jaune would understand if she started asking around for Yang. Of course they all would.

Mercury was sure he'd gotten as far from Reticio as was possible. The further from them, the further from everything involving the White Fang and Cinder. He knew he wanted to stop the White Fang because their indiscriminate murdering was not on the list of things he condoned. Now that he was away from everything, he had time to think about what he wanted to do. Of course he didn't have any idea what he wanted to do, but he strangely liked having the opportunity to choose, and not having any idea what he would choose. This freedom was so new.

He was a little embarrassed, getting so happy over something like being able to choose his next destination. It was such a new, amazing sensation. He couldn't remember ever feeling like this sensation.

Mercury walked into a huge clearing in a forest. There was a backpack on the ground, so he picked it up. The backpack felt light, but was stuffed to the brim. He got curious, and opened the bag a bit. It was full of canned food and women's clothes. So this bag belonged to some woman. He looked around, hoping the bag's owner wouldn't hit him over the head for touching her stuff.

Mercury searched for the owner and found nothing. Why would someone have a bag full of clean clothes, and then just ditch it? Had its owner been killed or kidnapped? In any case, Mercury left the bag where he found it. He wanted to pilfer through the bag, and take the food, but he chose not to. He wasn't that desperate for food yet.

He walked around some more and found a village. The village had a lot of people, most looked like fighters from their weapons of choice. Maybe he could find out where he was exactly and create a map of Vale.

He entered the village, and immediately had all weapons facing him. What a warm welcoming. There was nothing better than being shot at when, for once, he hadn't done anything wrong. He didn't bother raising his hands, or offering some excuse for walking by.

A buff woman with her red hair tied back came out of the building closest to him. She had a huge battle axe. He shifted his feet. Intimidation made him antsy and sarcastic. He was more prone to pissing off people if they thought they could point a weapon in his face. He just got away from senseless fighting.

"Are you a member of those traders?" She demanded. Great, no matter what he said, it wouldn't be enough to talk his way out of suspicion.

"No, I'm just traveling around. Just figured someone could tell me where this is in Vale." He saw her frown.

"Where are you from? You left Vale about three villages ago. You're on the outskirts of Vacuo." She leaned closer. "Are you trying to enroll in Shadow Academy?"

"No… I just remember being in Vale." He was surprised he walked that far from everything. It felt creepily like running away.

She seemed to question him more than before, but the hostility dropped from her shoulders. "Have you run into those into any traders?"

He shook his head honestly. She would help him create a map, so the least he could do was not lie to her. "I don't really know what you're talking about. I haven't heard anything about a trader. What do they do?" Why was she so against them? What did they trade?

The woman sighed. "Come with me. I will tell you all about the traders, but not out here." Mercury followed her inside the building she previously exited from. When he entered, he was bumped into by a faunus boy. He had bruises on his face. Mercury had mixed feelings about the bruises. Did these people attack this child? Was it the traders?

The kid apologized quickly. "Auntie, the Pretty Lady calmed down. She's been calm for two days now. Is that good?"

The woman patted his head. "She will wake. You just have to be patient, okay Pierre?" Pierre slowly nodded, and left the room disheartened.

The woman went to a table, and gestured for Mercury to join her. "It's probably your luck that let you avoid a trader. Traders are members of a gang called The Game. They do what they're called. They trade jewelry, clothing, vehicles, and even people. Pierre, my nephew, he and his sister Victory encountered a few a couple days back. A woman saved them, but she was badly injured. It was amazing that she took so many with one arm."

Something struck through Mercury's mind. "Was the woman… blonde?" He was just curious because he hasn't heard of many one-armed people. The only one he knew was…

The woman's eyes widened. "Why yes, it is. Do you know each other?"

More than he was conflate sharing with a stranger who trusted him. He simply nodded. "Her name is Yang. Is she alone?" It was strange. It hasn't been long since she lost her arm. Apparently, Yang took down a lot of people. Did the backpack he found belong to her? He would retrieve it for her. He knew the frustration of adjusting to a missing limb.

"Yes, she was. Since you seem to know her well, would you like to see her? She's been asleep for three days. Come, I'll show you the way."

Mercury followed her into a sunny room, he walked around the corner to see a sleeping Yang. It was an oddly tranquil look. Her body was wrapped almost everywhere. A sword was beside the bed she lay on, but no bag. As a wanderer, it was a rule to have luggage. So the bag had been hers. And traders wanted her dead.

If this was the result of her taking on numerous enemies after little to no time adjusting to a new fighting style and missing limb, Mercury was equally impressed and worried. She didn't know the pain she would suffer upon walking up. Mercury decided he would help her. He would kill the traders, and then he would leave. That way, he wasn't in debt with these people or Yang too much. He knew as soon as she awoke to his face, she would be pissed.

"Let me fix your trader problem. As thanks for helping me, and for looking over her." He could already see the woman not liking the arrangement.

"Just let me. I'll come back to show you I'm alive, and then I'll leave."

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Mercury was told that the traders kept attacking since Yang defeated them. The people of the village made sure the traders never got near Yang. So Mercury had to head north of the outskirts to see the trader group. They didn't know how many traders there were, but Mercury excelled in sneaking into places and taking them down from the inside.

It was already night time, and he knew the group didn't have any faunus working for them. Mercury scored it the place, feeling a sense of thrill. Doing something for someone else and himself always felt good, but to know he would be rewarded instead, of hated, felt amazing.

After walking throughout the outline of the building and inside, Mercury discovered there were only five. He quickly found the leader. He was the one blurting out numerous strings of profanity. Mercury decided to just listen in on the conversation.

"-that stupid? Damnit! They won't allow us any reinforcements until we tell him the threat. How the hell am I supposed to tell him my team got trashed by some blonde bitch with one arm?" The leader paced back and forth, he just stared at one of his men. "And you, you idiotic dumbass, want me to them the truth. Do you hate breathing air that much? Hmm, you stupid…" The combo lasted for a good five minutes.

The entire team was disoriented and a mess. The boss want respected by anyone, the group didn't like him at all. And most of the members keep observing their partners like they were sizing them up for their funeral. There was no trust or unity, and that was Mercury's win.

He stepped out of the shadows and saw every face turn towards him. Mercury had to smirk at their surprised expressions. He was gonna have fun with this.

Before the closest trader could move, Mercury kicked the trader's knee in and in the face. There was a sickening crack that vibrated through the building along with a high pitched scream. The noise snapped the other four out of their bewilderment. They were probably wondering how much he heard and when he arrived.

Mercury had always excelled in fighting groups of people. It was actually his forte. Mercury ran behind the other two traders and jumped. He spun around one of their necks and snapped the trader's neck with his legs. Mercury kicked the other trader in the stomach, shooting off three bullets at the trader's face. The two trader's fell to three ground.

Another trader pulled out a sword, and swung it at Mercury who kicked the sword out of the trader's hands. Mercury kicked the trader's leg and throat, making the trader fall to the ground.

The noise of someone dying blended in with the adrenaline kicking in. These weren't people anyway; they were traders. People who sold and killed indiscriminately. It only half reminded Mercury of himself, which was a disgustingly accurate description.

The leader of the traders ordered the remaining trader member to fighting Mercury, and he couldn't blame the trader for putting a bullet through his boss's head.

"Are you Reticio, as well?" The remaining trader asked. Mercury had to admit he was extremely caught off guard. Reticio had people as far as Vacuo?

"No, I'm just a wanderer. Heard some people needed these guys gone. Why? Are you Reticio?"

The man shook his head. "No, but I've heard great things about them. I just wanted to know how you join them."

"Just assist them in saving people. They won't reject you for not being a faunus."

"Really? I was following these guys, looking for a great time and way to take them down. I was hoping that village they kept griping about would help me end them. Probably not my best plan now that I've said it out loud."

"That's for sure. Anyway, Reticio is in Vale, and that place is swarming with trouble. I'd be careful if I were you." Mercury warned, and the man nodded happily.

"Thanks man. What's your name? I'm Shiroi."

Mercury debated telling the guy his name. If the man said it in front of the wrong people, he'd ruin his chances of joining Reticio. But there has to be plenty of people named Mercury, so it wouldn't hurt to just tell him. "It's Mercury."

"Again, thanks man. We better disappear before done grimm pop up next."

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Mercury returned to the village by early morning. Only the red head woman was up. She had a look that was a mixture of sadness and relief on her face. "Thank you so much for helping us. I made you a map of Vacuo, if this is where you're headed. So you want to visit Ms. Yang before you leave?"

What would it hurt? He had nowhere definite to go. So Mercury climbed up the stairs to see the vibrant woman lying peacefully asleep. It was weird. He sat in the chair by her bed, and looked out the window.

Where would he go after this? Back to Vale? To Vacuo? He looked to Yang. Did she live in Vacuo? Was that why she was here? He poked her cheek, there wasn't a reason to do it, but he just wanted to. A hyperactive girl like Yang shouldn't be in a coma.

She jerked at his touch, and her eye flipped open. One of her eyes were wrapped, and her arm was immobolized in a sling. She tried to move, and could tell she was about to freak out. She wasn't fully awake.

She released a screech that had him covering his ears. The red haired woman rushed into the room, trying to restrain Yang. This only made things worse.

Mercury watched as Yang fought the woman with just her legs. The woman was flung backwards. "Let me." He said, posting the red head's shoulder.

Mercury gently smacked Yang's cheek. He wanted to release her from the bandages, but it wouldn't help her much. She blinked her eye again, and her face scrunched up into tears. He didn't say anything but he allowed her to cling into him while crying. When she awoke completely, he would explain everything to her. It was the least he could do.

Adam v Qrow is the third reason I wrote this fanfiction. Of course, Qrow didn't go full-out on Adam.

Thank you for the review! It was really appreciated. Believe it or not, but it helped me write even though it's burning outside.

Also, this will start updating slowly because I'm going back to college on the 22nd of this month, and I'm going to be super busy. But I will update this.

I started another fanfiction called From Beyond - . Check it out, if you want. I'm doing some shameless promoting. :) That will also be slow to update, but I already have a couple chapters done already. The story started plaguing my mind for most of July; I only just now made a layout for the story.