Yang Xiao Long flexed her mechanical hand nervously. She, her teammate Weiss Schnee and her uncle Qrow Branwen, were heading towards the house where her sister and the remnants of Team JNPR were living in Mistral.

Her mind was still awash from everything that her mother, Raven, had told her. Salem, the Queen of the Grimm. Ozpin, some sort of…soul symbiont? Magic actually existing that wasn't powered by Dust? It was a lot to take in, and Raven had implied that those were only the cliff notes!

She quickly banished her thoughts. Now wasn't the time to think about that. She was going to be reunited with her sister after so long.

She was pushing Bumblebee along, with Weiss walking beside her and Qrow leading them.

"Uncle Qrow…what's happened with Ruby since she…left me." Yang asked abruptly.

"Hmm…sure you don't wanna here it from her instead?" her uncle asked after a moment of hesitation.

"What. Happened?" Yang asked slowly. She stopped and glared at him. Weiss followed suit in regards to halting, but she looked between Yang and Qrow nervously.

Stopping and turning around, Qrow sighed and fished out his hip flask. Taking a deep drink from it, he stowed it again. "OK. So, judging by the way you arrived here, you met your mother, probably at the Branwen Clan's stronghold. How much did she tell you?"

"Salem, Ozpin, STRQ." Yang answered tersely. She was keeping the thing about Ozpin enchanting the Branwen siblings to turn into a raven and crow until she could spring it onto Ozpin himself.

"That much, huh?" Qrow nodded. "Well, let's just say that Emerald Sustrai, Mercury Black and Cinder Fall aren't Salem's only servants. She has a buncha them. They probably think of themselves as generals or favoured acolytes, but she likely sees them as only tools, much like how James Ironwood only sees the Atlesian Knights as tools."

"And what does this have to do with Ruby?" Weiss asked sharply.

The scythe master regarded her for a moment. "Do you know what Ruby did on top of Beacon Tower? She froze the Dragon in place as a result of her grief at the death of Pyrrha Nikos. She also did quite a number on Cinder Fall, who is an exceptionally powerful member of Salem's forces. She put herself on Salem's radar with that and…well, Salem wanted a face-to-face with Ruby, by all accounts."

Ice filled Yang's veins. "What did she do?"

"She sent someone to try to kidnap Ruby." Qrow answered with a sigh.

Weiss and Yang both froze. Then Weiss spoke up. "What?!"

"It was a Scorpion Faunus called Tyrian." The Hunter continued unperturbed by the glares of the two girls. "He beat the living daylights out of RNJR-"

"Wait, who?" Yang interrupted.

"Ruby, Nora, Jaune and Ren. RNJR." Qrow answered.

Yang and Weiss…didn't like that. Ruby was the leader of Team RWBY, not the ad-hoc team of RNJR. She was their leader, not the remnant of JNPR.

"Anyway, he beat all of them and would have kidnapped Ruby if I hadn't interfered. Tyrian was…a tough, albeit insane, opponent." Ruby's old weapons teacher continued. "My Semblance helped out, but he still pushed me hard. Ruby and the others tried to help out, but got caught up in my Semblance."

"What is your Semblance?" Yang asked. She couldn't recall him using it.

"It's called Misfortune." Qrow answered with a rueful expression. "It creates bad luck all around me, to both friend and foe. I can't control it; it just activates as and when it pleases. Anyway, Ruby cut off Tyrian's stinger and made him retreat, but not before he stung me. I was out of it for a while before RNJR beat some kinda powerful Grimm called a Nuckelavee and we got evac'd to here. That's…pretty much it."

"I've…read about Nuckelavee…." Weiss' eyes were wide. "They're supposed to be ancient Grimm made from a horse-like Grimm merged with an Imp. Any still in existence would be as old as the Goliaths circling the Kingdoms' borders!"

The older the Creatures of Grimm became, the more intelligent and cunning they became. Basic Grimm 101.

Yang…didn't know how to react. Her sister had almost been kidnapped by someone who Qrow called insane, on behalf of someone who wanted to destroy mankind. It was mind-boggling to think about. There was anger there…oh yes. Someone had attacked her little sister, had almost kidnapped her. If she ever got her hands on this Tyrian guy…

There was also self-recrimination there. Because she had been busy feeling sorry for herself, she hadn't been there to help protect her sister. Because she had stupidly pushed her away, Ruby might be in the middle of enemy territory if Qrow hadn't been there.

Weiss was also unhappy. Because she had lacked a spine, she had been taken away from Vale by her father. She had bowed to his wishes again and her partner had been in serious danger, without Weiss to look after her! Sure, the former heiress was certain that Jaune, Ren and Nora had tried, but Weiss was the one who had promised to be Ruby's best teammate and she had failed at that.

"We should get going. Ruby will be happy to see both of you." Qrow said after a moment. "They should be cooking dinner as we speak, and you both look as if you could stand to have a few meals in you."

Almost on automatic, Yang and Weiss followed him, lost in thought.

When they were standing in front of the house where Qrow said Ruby was, Yang was unaccountably skittish. She had screwed up in regards to Ruby, she knew that, which made this reunion a lot more nerve-wracking for her.

Unconcerned by the worries of his oldest niece, Qrow opened the door and called, "I'm back!" as he strode inside. Exchanging looks, Yang and Weiss entered after him.

"Be right there!" a very familiar voice called back. One that Yang and Weiss hadn't heard in a long while. The sounds of Ruby squabbling with Ren came from the kitchen area before Ruby herself came out.

She was dressed in a similar outfit to what she had worn at Beacon, except it was more…rugged. More…travel worn. One of her stockings had a pair of holes ripped in it near the top. The familiar sight of her red cloak with the rose-mark of her emblem was a sight for sore eyes. She was walking carefully with a tray loaded with a teapot and cups on it.

"So, we didn't know how many people were coming, so we just cooked all of it…" she said as she looked up. Then her eyes widened and the tray dropped from her nerveless hands to smash onto the floor, shattering the teapot and cups.

Yang looked into the silver eyes of her baby sister for the first time in too long and didn't like what she saw in them. At first it was simply shock and uncertainty, then there was a shard of actual fear in them Fear of Yang.

She had screwed up more than she had thought. Ruby was actually scared of what her sister would do now she was here. She had made her sister afraid of her. What the hell kind of older sister was she?!

Yang took three steps forward, making Ruby flinch back.

"Y-Yang…I…I'm so sorry!" Ruby started, her voice pitched higher than normal from stress and worry. "I-I should've stayed and I should've talked to you more…I…I just…I wasn't sure if you wanted me around and-!"

That was it. Yang wasn't going to let this carry on any longer than it already had. In three more long strides, she crossed to her sister and pulled her into a hug, earning her a silent gasp from Ruby, even as tears started to run down her cheeks.

The familiar faint scent of roses that she always associated with Ruby filled Yang's nose as she held the one person who she had helped to raise and loved beyond almost anyone on Remnant.

Tears started from her own eyes as Yang tightened her hug on Ruby and said the words that she should have said before Ruby had left all those months ago.

"I love you."

Ruby sobbed and leaned her head onto Yang's shoulder, tightening her grip on her older sister. "I love you too!" she squeaked out, barely able to talk because she was so relieved. Yang didn't hate her for leaving!

The sisters didn't take any notice of Jaune, Nora and Ren leaving the kitchen to watch alongside Qrow with indulgent smiles. They also didn't notice Oscar coming up to see what was going on. They did however hear a sniff from someone else that they needed to pay attention to.

Weiss was so happy for the Rose-Xiao Long sisters. They had been separated for so long and she knew her partner; doubtless she had worried about Yang hating her or some such nonsense. 'All's well that ends well.' She thought with a sniff, flicking a tear away from her eyes.

"Weiss." Ruby's sweet voice called out to her, making the former heiress look up in shock. Ruby and Yang, still holding each other with one arm, beckoned to her with their free arms, inviting her for a hug.

She couldn't say no. it had been so, so long without them, so long isolated in the White Castle with only her father, Whitley, her mother and Klaus for company (with only one on that list that she counted as company) that she had hardly been able to stand it. These two were her real family now.

She practically threw herself into the hug, grasping her partner and teammate tightly, as if afraid that they'd vanish if she let go. The other two did the same.

Just for a moment, nothing mattered to the three gathered members of Team RWBY other than the fact that they were together again. That was all that they thought of in that instant.

Yang drew strength from having her sister and teammate in her arms. She swore that if anyone came to attack Ruby again, they'd have to go through her to get to her.

And that was a promise.