1

Unbalanced

Ruby Rose awoke slowly with her consciousness returning slowly, along with the aching pain. I was a dull throbbing permeating all throughout her body where her muscles screamed with tiny movements and joints creaked. A tiny gasp escaped her lips as she reached to push the covers a little further down from her shoulders. Her left arm came up with her right but something was wrong. Looking down with a start she could not see the rest of her left arm. It was gone, missing and where her arm ended was a a bandaged stump. A cry of strangled horror gurgled out of her startling awake the other person in the room.

"Ruby!" Taiyang was up and by her side in an instant, grasping her remaining hand in his calloused ones, "You're awake! I'm so glad you woke up!"

"D-dad? What? Why?" So many questions tried to tumble past her dry throat as tears welled up in her confused expression. The pain only made the confusion worse. She could recognize her room and that it had to be somewhat before noon judging by the light outside.

"Shhh Ruby it's fine. You're safe in Patch. You're home. Okay? You're home." He hugged her close and tight. He had been almost inconsolable when he had seen his daughters and the shape they were in. His eldest injured by the White Fang and youngest missing something important. He had broken down as he laid her unconscious form in her bed.

"Dad, my arm… it's gone." Another sob choked out as she desperately tried to hold it back. A strange weightlessness pervaded her left side. Something obviously missing that should have been there.

"Yes Ruby it's gone. Do you… Can you remember what happened that night? Anything?"

"I-I remember…." It flashed into her memory. Arriving at the top of the tower using Weiss' glyphs and seeing Cinder before a kneeling Pyrrha. She had leapt to attack but then felt a burning pain in her arm.

Cinder smiled down and the young silver-eyed girl bleeding onto the ground before slowly nocking an arrow in her bow and with all leisure let it fly into the chest of the champion at her feet. The thunk of the arrow caught Ruby's attention and she stared as Pyrrha struggled and twitched, the shaft protruding from the center of her chest. A chuckle from the victor as she stepped forward, placed a hand to the forehead of the red headed girl, and incinerated her. A fierce, piercing pain lanced behind Ruby's eyes as she watched her friend drift away as ash in the wind. A blinding white light was the last she could remember.

"Oh, gods Dad! Pyyrha! She-she died! I-" before she could get further her father enveloped her in another hug. He wanted to share her pain, to tell her that everything would be okay but he had been where she was before. Taiyang knew that grief, fresh grief, wasn't so simple. Early on it could feel like one was drowning and the only thing he could do was hold his little girl.

"Yeah… Ruby. She's gone. I'm sorry. The important thing is that you are safe." Stupid, Tai, really stupid he thought to himself. Maybe she really was safe but right now, to her, that isn't what mattered.

Tears flowed freely as Ruby wept into her blanket. Taiyang stayed with her until she had cried herself back to sleep. With a sigh he got up and turned to see Qrow propped in the doorway. Tilting his head to the side like he wanted to talk. After gently closing the door with one last look at his daughter the blond man gave expectant look at the other.

"Tai… how is she?" The concern radiated off the man almost as much as the stench of alcohol. Qrow had been the one to first find Ruby and Taiyang had heard how panicked the man had become, fearing another Summer. He was always blaming himself for things like that.

"Cried herself back to sleep. When she was injured she didn't have time to realize what had happened so now it's like everything happened at once."

"She's Summer and your's daughter, Tai. If anyone can come back from this it's her. She's remarkably strong like that." Taiyang just gave Ruby's uncle a complicated expression and left, his footsteps sounding as he descended the staircase.

"Qrow?" A voice sound behind him. Turning around he found his niece standing in the hallway with a worried expression on her face.

"Hey firecracker. Looks like Ruby woke up, and cried herself back to sleep." He added when she opened her mouth to no doubt ask to see her sister. Even more worry flashed across her face as she stared a hole into the door to Ruby's room, "How are you holding up kiddo?"

At his question Yang held a hand to her chest where under her shirt she had bandages running from her right shoulder to left hip. The wound came from where Adam had cut her as she charged in to save her partner, "It doesn't bother me too much any more as long as I don't move around too much. I'm gonna have a sick scar though." She gave a bit of a smirk that turned into a grimace when she tried to puff out her chest.

"Yeah, yeah kid you got nothing to prove to me. If you want you can go in just don't wake her up. But I guess you already know that seeing as you an Tai have been in there constantly since you came back. EVEN WHEN WE TOLD YOU TO STAY IN BED." He ruffled her hair as he walked past earning a glare and an expletive before she huffed and took one long look at her sister's room. So she had finally awoken? It had been four days since they had gotten home from Beacon. Honestly she had been almost as bad as Taiyang had when she had seen Ruby's condition. That left Qrow to be the responsible one which had annoyed the blond father and daughter to no end.

"So. What exactly DID Ruby do? I mean to that giant grimm." Yang added when her father gave her a raised eyebrow. Taiyang started looking really uncomfortable looking between Qrow and his daughter. She came and sat on the couch next to her father in the living room.

"She's special, Yang, and not in a Daddy's-special-girl kind of way," he added the second bit when both blonds opened their mouths, "I mean special. The same kind of special Summer was." Taiyang found something really interesting right outside the living room window at that moment.

"Did Ruby ever tell you everything Oz said to her the night they met? The night when she got accepted into Beacon?" He continued after she shook her head, "The first words out of his mouth were 'You have silver eyes'. You see, Yang, Oz believes in fairytales...at least the ones that are true. This one… well… there's a legend you see. Of a certain set of silver-eyed warriors destined for greatness from birth. Legend say they could strike a grimm down with a mere look of their eyes. As for the truth, well, there's a giant dragon frozen on Beacon tower and your sister is here, safe and sound."

"That's…. Hard to believe." Impossible, more like. But something happened that night. People had whispered about the great flash of light that had left the monster immobile.

"Believe it or not the evidence is right in front of you firecracker." Qrow must have seen the disbelief on her face. But again how else was she supposed to react. Everyone already knew what Ruby's semblance was so it couldn't be that.

"Dad did you know about all this?!" Looking over at her father who had been decidedly keeping his attention out the window.

Taiyang turned around rubbing a hand on the back of his neck, "Well I knew about the legends, yeah. I'm surprised as you are about all this, though Qrow told me more about it when they brought Ruby back."

She thought once more to her precious Rubaby upstairs. One who had cried herself back to sleep not minutes for. While Yang could share in the grief of losing friends she didn't know what it was like to lose an arm, a part of yourself. There was no telling how Ruby would react to it. The more she thought about it the more she realized she was getting angry. That anger had one focal point as a certain dark haired woman came to mind.

"Uncle Qrow, Dad… one more thing. The people who did this to her… What happened to them?" Her eyes were crimson and both fists clenched tight.

Qrow looked to Taiyang then back at his niece, "We don't know, Yang. Their trail leads back to Haven but after that it's gone. Without the CCT finding anything out is gonna take a long, long time and with the chaos that's sure to be all over I don't know how many resource could or will be spared to look for Cinder and her goons."

"Tch. Fine. I'm gonna check on Ruby. I wanna be there when she wakes up again." Heavy footfalls thudded as she stalked back upstairs.

"Qrow if she…"

"I'll look after her if anything happens Tai. Don't worry. The last thing I want is her rushing off half-cocked and getting killed or worse. But I gotta ask a favour. I wanna have a moment alone to explain everything to Ruby when she wakes back up okay?" Taiyang clicked his tongue with annoyance but agreed anyways.

She felt like she had needed the rest when she woke back up but the grief came back with consciousness. It was manageable now, though, and Ruby sat sat up with a sniffle. It was dark out now and a different blond figure sat by her bed with hand in hers. Yang dozed next to the bed her chin down on her chest and hand in her sister's. The shifting must have woken her because the blond lifted her head groggily.

"Ruby?" She blinked rapidly and emotions ranging from worry to relief washed over her face,"Ruby! You're alright. Thank the gods!" A crushing hug engulfed the younger girl as the older sibling smothered her in her relief.

"Yang… stoooooop." She had always been ineffective at stopping Yangs ursa-like hugs but it was a gesture in futility now that she had lost an arm. Her sister didn't let up until Ruby started pinching her sister's side and a desperate attempt to get some breathing room. While it was great that her family was her for her when she woke up she was starting to feel claustrophobic with all the smothering.

"Sorry Rubes. I'm just so glad to see you up. You've been out for days since you did a number on that grimm. When Qrow found you and I saw your arm.."

"Yang what about Weiss and Blake?" Ruby said interrupting her now gushing sister, suddenly wanting to talk about something else and also realizing that there was a lot she had missed out on. She didn't expect to see the rest of their team her in her home but still was desperate to find out any more of what had happened.

"Weiss is gone. Back to Atlas. Her father came for her. Ruby things are bad. The last thing the world saw was atlas mechs murdering citizens of Vale. Her father came to take her back home. And Blake… she left." A flash of crimson so quick that Ruby almost doubted it was there in the first place. Ruby caught on and made a note to ask more about Blake later. "The school… it's really bad Rubes. You may have done some damage to that monster but it's still there, just frozen, and attracting more grimm into the school. With the CCT down no one knows what really happened at Beacon and it's, well, bad. Sorry, I seem to be saying that word a lot Sis."

Ruby mustered a weak smile as she squeezed her sister's hand, "How about you Yang? Are you alright? The last I saw you and Blake were injured. She was stabbed and you were covered in so much blood and that wound looked so bad." Tears started to well up just remember the gruesome scene she and Weiss saw when they had met up with Sun at the bullhead docks that night.

"I'm fine as you can see Rubes. To be honest I thought Adam had me but luckily Blake saved me. She dove in, tackling me just in time to stop me being gutted stem to stern by her ex. Don't worry Sis, I'm gonna get so much mileage out of this. Our kitten is gonna be spoiling me for a long time." A wink to assure her younger sister as Yang went on about the kinds of things she could, and probably would, do to make Blake repay her for almost being killed by a crazy ex. Ruby started giggling under her breath as everything seemed like it might be okay.

Sure she had lost an arm but Yang was here for her and so was her dad and her uncle. It was weird, really, her arm felt like it was almost there but not. Like a word on the tip of her tongue if she just reached out then she could touch something but no matter how she tried she never could. The thought brought a bitter smile to her face. The more she sat there the more she realized how big this was. The realization slowly sinking in.

"Ruby?" Yang had stopped talking and had a worried expression on her face. Ruby felt something and touched her own cheek, her fingers coming away damp. Tears were coming down her face. In a haste she started wiping them away with the back of her hand.

"Sorry Yang. It's just it's hard to really think about it, I mean my arm is gone. A part of me and I just don't really know how to feel. And I'm upset because I don't know how to feel."

"You'll be okay Ruby. Maybe not right away but you will."

"Yeah…" Her voice trailed off, she was not so sure she ever would be. A knock came on the doorframe and Qrow stood there siping from his flask. Ruby put on a smile for her uncle and greeted him with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. "Hey Uncle Qrow!"

"Hey Pipsqueak. How you holding up?"

"Well I won't be clapping for a while, so…" A snort sounded from Yang and Qrow smirked before turning to Yang. Humor was good, humor was healing and it was a huge burden off his shoulder if his niece was already attempting to crack jokes, even if they weren't funny. He took a breath before deciding it was time to get a few thing out of the way.

"Give us a minute, eh, Firecracker?" Rolling her eyes Yang did as her uncle told her.

"I'll get some tea from Dad or something Rubes." Qrow nodded to her in thanks as she passed him. After taking another sip Qrow tucked his flask back into his pocket and commandeered Yang's now vacant seat. He looked over his niece now that she was awake. Her eyes were puffy and red with telltale streaks down her cheeks. The girl in front of him would not be kept down by anything.

"So how much did you hear from Yang?"

"Things are bad."

A chuckle came from the man at the understatement, "Yeah, seems like it. What about that monster at Beacon?"

"Cinder?" Ruby tilted her head quizzically.

"No the other one. The dragon."

"Ohhh, well everyone keeps saying I did something but what? I don't understand and I don't remember doing anything I just remember Cinder and Pyrrha and pain." The worry told a story in the face of his niece and the memory brought a fresh wave of pain to her face. It was enough to make Qrow almost wince in sympathy. His niece was too young for all the things the world was throwing at her and if he could have spared her he would have gladly taken her place in everything that had happened.

Qrow sat in thought for a moment before saying carefully, "You remember what Oz said to you when you first met him? Something about silver eyes?" He continued when she nodded at him, "Well there's this legend…"

So he started explaining to her everything he had told Yang and about him being an agent for Ozpin.

Yang put the kettle on the stove and turned the burner on them started loading a tray with cups and sugar cubes. Her hands gripped into fists as she recalled Ruby, her sister, and the look she had staring at where her arm used to be. Lilac turned crimson as she remembered that smug face of the woman that did this to Ruby. The longer she stood there the angrier she got, her hair started giving of heat and was about to ignite when her dad came up behind her settling his hands on her shoulders.

"Yang you're gonna set fire to the house again. You haven't done that in a years, what's wrong?"

She whirled about, eyes still red, and stared at her father, "What's wrong? WHAT'S WRONG?! My little sister is sitting upstairs with one arm and her friends murdered in front of her eyes while the bitch that did it is still on the loose. My Ruby is hurting and there isn't a damn thing I can do about it!"

"Oh and if you could do something what would you do? Go after this Cinder person? Maker her pay?" Taiyang rolled his eyes which only made his daughter angrier, "You'd lose yang. The way you are now you wouldn't stand a chance. You could have died against the White Fang, and probably would have if it hadn't been for your partner. Ruby doesn't need you going out for petty vengeance and coming back in a casket."

That took all the heat out of Yang, her eyes shifting back to normal, "What else am I supposed to do then, Dad? Fighting's all I'm good at."

"Good? Hardly. I watched all your fights in the Vytal Festival. You're predictable and stubborn. Did you know you won every fight using your semblance?"

Yang scoffed, "Semblances are hardly cheating, they're a part of us Dad. Besides, everyone else was using theirs."

"True. But not everyone has a semblance that relies on you taking damage. What if you can't take the hit? What if you miss dishing it back? You're just gonna tire yourself out and leave yourself vulnerable. You're stubborn, like your mom, but the thing is Yang you don't need to barge through every problem. Just take the time to step back and look. There's often a way around, rather than through."

The young blond cast her eyes to the floor, shuffling her feet, her anger all but forgotten. Sometimes it could be easy to forget Taiyang was a teacher, especially when he was busy being Dad. Sometimes he could be just so frustratingly right that even a rebellious teenager couldn't discount what he said. However Yang latched on to one thing he said.

"So is it okay to talk about her now?" That, was low. She knew it but it didn't make her sorry for it. Yang remembered the looks on his face every time she brought up Raven. Didn't she have a right to know about her own mother? Maybe she considered Summer her mom but that didn't change the fact that she had a strong desire to know, a powerful curiosity at the kind of person her biological mother was and several questions for her burning in the back of her mind where they had been since she had been a child.

"Well I think you've grown enough to handle it." Just like that? All of a sudden she can just handle it? Instead of saying anything she just looked up expectantly at her father, willing him to continue, "Yang. You have a lot of Raven in you. It's part of the reason I never talked about her to you. I didn't want you going down a similar path. I was afraid."

Yang cast her eyes downwards, "I'm sorry I remind you of her Dad."

"Don't be. You are Yan Xiao-Long. My sunny little dragon and I am SO proud of you. I'm proud of the things of your mother that I see in you. Her drive and ambition. The way she put her all into any cause she wanted to. They are what made me fall in love with her and I'm glad I don't see all of her in you. She had faults. Faults that caused our team to fracture and frankly did a real number on this family."

Yang looked up at her dad. This was new. Never before had he talked about Raven before, always avoiding the issue one way or another. The hurt had always been there and still was but now she could see something else. Love. Love for her and what remained of the love for her mother that abandoned them. Maybe he couldn't forgive her but it didn't mean he still didn't have love in his heart for her either. And now Yang felt how much he loved her realizing that she was not just a reminder of his lost love but of something else. Something far greater.

"Hey Dad." She looked at him with a small shade of trepidation, "Can you teach me how to fight?"