16

Today was a big day. Signal was covered in tasteless decorations and she was sure somebody was choking on the confetti. Uncle Qrow arrived yesterday and asked if she wanted to celebrate in his favorite bar, which ended with Tai kicking him out of the house for the night. She could already see some of her classmates start celebrating early because their subtlety was about as good as their fighting skills. She wouldn't be joining in on the drinking, Ruby would raise hell with a tirade about 'huntress being ready all the time'.

The huntsmen academies send their representatives to get a feel for their future students and give a boring speech about why their school is the best. The one one Vacuo was apparently Qrow's friend, they got drunk the night before so he didn't even show up, a Mistalian teacher gave the most boring speech and she was sure Ruby started to doze off near the end. An Atlesian 'specialist' had an over the top speech about how 'special' they were. Glynda Goodwitch, her soon to be combat instructor, skipped the whole speech part and asked the Beacon applicants to follow her after the ceremony for psych evaluation. Afterwards Signal's headmaster walked out and gave a long winded speech about how proud he was for teaching them. Funny, Yang only saw him like three times in her five years of attendance.

Per the tradition, the best graduate would give a speech to their classmates and other guests. Despite her not bothering to get the perfect scores she was still somehow the best one. She really didn't want to do it but Ruby kept insisting that as a huntress she should help people not only by protecting them but also by trying to cheer them up so their bad moods don't attract grimm. Now, the main question was whether she should sugarcoat her speech or not.

"Hello, like you already heard, my name is Yang Xiao Long. To our former teachers, thank you for dealing with the paperwork so I didn't have to. To my classmates, whether you succeed or not depends only on your own abilities to keep going forward towards your goals and dreams no matter the obstacles. That is all." What a waste of time. After a second of silence a rather awkward applause began and ended after barely a few claps. Not that she cared, Ruby was beaming at her for at least being honest. And that was all that mattered. The embarrassed expression on Tai's face was completely ignored.

-BBW-

Evaluation wasn't anything fancy like a test with funny images or associative words. Glynda was sitting in an empty classroom and kept inviting students one by one in an alphabetical order for a short chat. She just wanted to get a decent impression of them. It was a quick affair for most of them. They were still kids who wanted to be cool, kill monsters, get famous and all that. If they passed the initiation she would be quick to beat that idiocy out of them. She was near the end when the arguably most important student came up.

Yang walked into the classroom with a bored expression, hardly a surprise after waiting for almost an hour. She took a seat opposite the professor, crossed her arms and raised one eyebrow at Glynda, as if to tell to get on with it.

"Miss Xiao Long, I would appreciate it if you showed some respect." Glynda started with a mild glare. "I understand that this may seem like a chore, but we can't admit just anybody to Beacon."

"Debatable, you did accept pretty much everyone from Signal who applied." Yang drew out.

"Yes, but they still need to pass the initiation and we are still conducting necessary background checks." Just because Ozpin wanted to give everybody a chance didn't mean they all have what it takes. "Speaking of which, there were some problems with yours."

Yang was slightly alarmed. If their unofficial missions and mercenary work came out, it would lead to many uncomfortable questions. "And that would be?" She inquired.

"When submitting your weapon registration, you stated that you wanted access to an unregistered third party hardware. Could you please explain?" It wouldn't be a problem usually, but because the additional weaponry wasn't registered it could lead to some problems or it could be simply faulty.

"Oh that." Internally Yang signed in relief. "Just in case Ruby would decide to give me something new to test out."

"And why isn't it properly registered? For a huntress in training there shouldn't be any problem with possession of spares or extras."

"What's the point of getting it done properly when Rubes would change the specs by the end of the week? Or you expect me to redo it everytime it happens?"

Glynda just signed and let the issue go. "Just write down what you will be taking with you before a mission. And I don't want to see any of it during sparring matches." After seeing Yang shrug in acceptance she decided to go to the proper topic. "Now, I would like you to tell me why you want to be a huntress."

Yang expected this kind of question. She had the answer ready years ago. "To see how far I can get as one. To see the world and to make sure sis has a proper back up when she decides to run off to the middle of nowhere and cause a slaughter." There was no snark or misleading. She couldn't care less about the heroics or the supposed greater good of Remnant.

"You do realize that should you pass the initiation you will be in a team with other people and you running off to help your sister may cause some issues? Besides, should she also become a huntress, she will have a team on her own." Glynda didn't understand the whole 'to see how far she could get' part the rest was rather straightforward. At least she had some idea what to do with her life.

"I have my own priorities" Yang ignored Glyndas words. "And I'm really not going to trust a team of three randos to keep Ruby safe."

Glynda tiredly huffed. Of course she would be stubborn. Both Tai and Raven were. But she had four years to deal with it. Now to the question of morality.

"Very well, that will be your and your team's problem to tackle. Now, as a huntress you won't be fighting only grimm but other criminal elements. I would like you to-"

"No killing and no permanent harm, I know, I read the laws." Ruby did, and then dumped parts of it on her head so she wouldn't break any by accident. Besides, if she ever hurt somebody too much Ruby would be sad.

Glynda just internally cried due to the amount of headaches Yang would undoubtedly cause. At least she seemed more restrained than either Tai or Raven were.

-BBW-

"Hey! Be careful with that, it costs more than you made in your life!" Roman yelled at some unfortunate sod who ended up being on storage duty.

"I may have agreed to help you a bit but if you continue to treat my men like that I'm going to send you to the outskirts, with a one way ticket." Robyn Hill scolded their ally of circumstances.

"Why is he even here? We didn't need his help!" Joanna Greenleaf would be more than happy to kick him out. They were doing their own thing when they met the thief at one of SDC research facilities, so why were they now chummy all of a sudden.

They were about to hit a supposed SDC storage to get fire dust for Mantle when they ran into Torchwick and his hitgirl sneaking out with an oversized dust compressor. After an awkward silence and information exchange they learned they were in the wrong place but at the time they already promised their help.

Now Torchwick was pretty much taking away one of their few bullheads and in exchange they only got some data. Although judging by the gleam in Robyn's eyes it was something interesting.

Hopefully they won't have to deal with him anymore after he leaves. They already had their own master thief in Atlas, they didn't need another one.

-BBW-

Far above the ground, inside a giant manor a young woman was organizing her belongings. She wouldn't be able to take all of it with her so she had to figure out what was necessary. She sacrificed too much to fail. The latest example being her left eye covered in heavy bandages. Her eye was fine but the doctors said that it would leave a scar.

They told her to change it every few hours, she didn't need anyones help doing it so after retrieving a new set she went to the bathroom to put on the new bandages. After removing the old ones she took a good look at the angry red line going over her eye and scowled. It may have been a mark of her victory but it was also a blemish on her face.

"A mistake that could have been avoided only if you listened to my advice." She blinked and the image in the mirror changed. Instead of the usual reflection, this one stood straighter, her ponytail tilted to the opposite side and eyes cold and piercing. A small disapproving frown maring her perfect scarless face.

Deep breaths Weiss, calm down and ignore the voices. It isn't real.

She didn't know why or how but after the attempt on her life by the White Fang she felt weird. Doctors said she should be stronger now, after they discovered that her aura reserves doubled but she felt more vulnerable than ever.

But then the voices started or more precisely one voice. It was so close to her own yet different. Haughty, imposing and giving off a sense of absolute confidence. Then she started seeing the wrong reflections in the mirrors. Sometimes it taunted her, sometimes pitied. Sometimes it was trying to give advice. Or one time when it took her too long to fall asleep it started to sing her a lullaby. The effect was opposite.

She was scared but couldn't say anything because she would be ridiculed at best or locked up at worst. A Schnee with mental problems wasn't perfect. Father wouldn't allow it.

As if hearing her thoughts the reflection scowled, a mix of anger and disgust clear on her face before it shifted back to the normal one.

A soft knock was heard from the doors into her bedroom.

"It's me." Winter!

"Come in!" Weiss quickly called back. If there was anybody she was always happy to see it would be her sister. She applied the new bandages and rushed out of the adjusted bathroom to greet Winter. "Hello sister." While overjoyed with the visit she still needed to behave. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Winter glanced around the room before focusing on her sister. Her expression softened before asking. "Can you show me?" she said softly.

Weiss of course knew what she was referring to. "I just put on the bandages and… I'd rather not." She turned her head to the side to hide the left side of her face.

Her sister didn't pry further. "Are you sure about Beacon, Weiss? I'm sure you would do great in Atlas." She didn't want Weiss to go to another continent. While it would allow her to get away from their bastard of a father, she wouldn't be able to keep an eye on things so far away and she doubted headmaster Ozpin would be able to resolve any issues in an appropriate manner.

"Don't you dare!" The mirror person now reflected on Winter's saber. "You finally decided something for yourself, so don't you dare bow out now!" It raged in her mind

"I don't want to hide in your shadow, sister. I need to prove myself. On my own." She tried to reason with Winter, surely she will understand.

She let out a long sign. "Very well, just be careful. And if anything bad happens be sure to call." She finished with a soft smile.

"Of course! But do not worry, I am sure everything will be alright."

"Of course it will, my dear twin. And if not… we will take care of it."

-BBW-

She tied down her boat half an hour ago and yet she was still waiting for the idiot to show up. With her, she had only Ember Celica, the dustsuit, reinforced black suitcase and a flash drive with the password to open it. Ten minutes later a truck arrived and from the passenger seat a person in a familiar white suit popped out.

"You are late." She immediately told him. He just wasted almost an hour of her time. He better have a good reason.

"Well, it's not easy to avoid the authorities while carrying all this stuff." He gestured to the truck. "Open it up boys, I need to show the lady the goods!"

"You got everything I needed?" Yang asked as she slowly scanned the insides of the truck. Unmarked dust crates, a bunch of neatly packed scientific equipment and some strange car-sized piece of machinery strapped in the middle.

"I think? I'm not a scientist or an engineer to understand what you need but I'm pretty sure I've got everything that was on the list." Roman answered with a lit cigar in his hand. He felt quite a bit of pride right now. Whatever it was he actually stole in the last two months was guarded not by men but by people not knowing it even existed. And he took it away and became a lot richer in the process. "So… gimme the rest of the paycheck so the boys can unload it on your ship." He eyed the suitcase and then scanned the shi- "isn't that Rory's? Did you keep the small booze fridge?"

Unseen to him Yang rolled her eyes under the mask. She put the case on the truck's elevated floor and put in the flash drive.

"Really now? And you were calling me out on my theatrics…" Roman commented seeing the stacked gold ingots.

"It left a lesser trail." Yang closed the case and handed him the key. "Worth 300 million when bought, it went up a bit afterwards, keep the rest."

He dramatically bowed. "Okay boys get to work!" He called out as Yang opened the yacht's storage hull. He went to grab the suitcase only to fall to the ground due to its weight. Neo jumped down from the top of the truck and took it away. She was the muscle in their relationship so she might as well carry it. "Don't you dare spend it on ice cream." Roman grumbled after picking himself up from the ground.

While the three of them were waiting for everything to be moved Yang messaged Ruby to be at her usual docking place in an hour. Shortly after she send the message, Roman's scroll started ringing.

"What is it? I'm in the middle of something."

…

"Tell them I'll get back to them in a week or so."

…

"I don't care! I spend last two fucking months running all over Solitas! Unless they pay triple, I'm on vacation."

…

"Bullshit."

…

"Okay, look, let me have at least a couple free days. I need to put the money somewhere."

He pocketed the scroll and took out another cigar. "Fuckin' hell. I thought 'no rest for the wicked' was a joke."

Yang left a slightly less happy thief at the harbor and took off towards Patch.

When she arrived she could see a figure in a familiar red cloak waiting for her. She carefully docked and ushered her sister inside.

"Yang… if you picked a mission without me I will change the dustsuit setting so it will always be too tight to be comfortable!" Before receiving Yang's message Ruby was working on incorporating fire dust boosters into her darling's stinger mode. Ringing made her mess up the calibration. Her righteous fury was absolutely justified.

Yang only chuckled at the obviously empty threat. "Hmm, sure. Do you remember the note I took from you a few months ago?"

"... maybe?" She passed her plenty of notes! Weapon manuals, upgrade offers and many others, she barely remembered what she wrote her two weeks ago, much less two months.

"Whatever." Yang pressed her finger to the scanner and opened the cargo room. "Anyway, I've got a surprise for you!"

There was a sharp intake of air followed by screams of 'thank you's, a strongest hug Ruby could muster before the room became a storm of action as her little sister started setting up her newest playground.

"I'll bring the breakfast!" Yang called into the room. After hearing something that she assumed was affirmation she left.

-BBW-

Ilia didn't know what to feel. She was having a normal day, nothing important was happening until Adam showed up and decided that he and Blake should go on a duo mission to hijack a train. Of course Bleke was more than happy to follow her not so secret crush. Several hours later Adam storms back angrier than ever and starts screaming for Blake. She of course was nowhere to be found. When Ilia went to ask him what was going on, he called her a traitor and would have attacked her if not for the other members trying to calm him down and promising to help find Blake.

Adam and his cronies weren't looking for a missing member. They were simply out for blood! Against Blake of all people! She had to find her fast and… deal with whatever was going on. So she followed them to the place where Blake parted ways with Adam. During her frantic search, her semblance finally decided to reveal itself and even be somewhat helpful. It was like radars on gunships, only inside her head. She could feel where others were, how much aura they had or if it was unlocked in the first place. It even differentiated by colors! Adam was crimson red, Perry was leathery brown and Adam's yes-man, whose name she didn't know almost half a year after he transferred to Vale, was dark gray. And far in the distance she could 'see' a small blob of purple trying to get as far away as possible.

She closed in only after reaching the outskirts of the capital. Blake was always a better runner than her. Ilia's speciality was always stealth, that's why she easily misled the few henchmen Adam sent this way while she slipped by and went after Blake by herself.

"Blake?" She quietly called out to her. And of course she almost jumped out of the window from the shock. "Calm down." She whispered. Blake was gripping Gambol Shroud's hilt, ready to fight. "Can you at least tell me what happened?" And so she did.

-BBW-

"Thanks for the tea." Blake murmured.

"Don't sweat it." Tuckson answered and offered the second cup to Ilia, who was bashing her head against the wall. "Can you stop? I doubt this place is sturdy enough."

After the three of them got seated down the talks started. "We need to go to Sienna! Or to your parents!" Ilia spoke first.

"I didn't leave on the best of terms… and I doubt they will let two 'traitors' go to the highleader." Blake quietly shot down the two most logical courses of action. "And I can't just leave Adam here to do whatever he wants! He would destroy both Vale and the White Fang!

"So you want to stop him and the entire army of his cronies with just the two of you?" Tuckson deadpanned.

"I was thinking about going to Beacon and trying to point the headmaster in their direction…"

Blake admitted to the wide eyed looks of her companions. "It's not like you need to go with me." She looked away.

Ilia almost drowned in what little tea she had in her mouth. After catching her breath she started screaming. "So not only do you want to go to that viper's nest… you want to go on your own!?"

"I'll be fine, I can hide my ears and everything will be alright." She tried to calm her friend down.

"And you expect me to do what? Sit on my ass and wait for you to be thrown in jail?"

"Girls!" Tuckson slammed his hands down on the table. His ears really hurt from all the yelling. "I think that we can agree that Blake's idea is ridiculous but possible. I'll get the paperwork sorted out while you catch up on your studies. It may be a school about killing grimm but you still need some academic knowledge."

-BBW-

It was her birthday again. Uncle Qrow didn't show up because of his current mission. Dad went over the top with the preparations, styling it as a send off for her. Ruby gave her a stylish biker suit. For once a gift that wasn't a weapon and wouldn't blow up in her face at some point. She also made the color scheme the same as the bumblebee.

She needed some air. The whole 'goodbye' theme was getting to her. She was slowly making her way through the forest until she reached an old run-down wooden cottage.

This was the place where she thought she would find some clues about Raven.

Here, she almost lost her sister.

All because she was an idiot.

She pulled out a spare fire dust crystal, threw it inside the shack and once it bounced off the floor, shot it.

The roof was blown off, fires exploded out of the windows causing the surrounding trees to start burning as well.

This was rather therapeutic…

She went back home through the blazing forest. The smoke covered the skies and the only light was from the flames.

This burning wasteland

She saw Ruby standing in the middle of the road, a concerned expression on her face.

"Don't worry Rubes." She called out, the usual easy-going smile on her lips. "Just dealing with some bad memories…"

Ruby just nodded and snuggled herself into an one-armed hug. Yang was fine with that. Even if she would really miss this.

My home under the moonless skies

-BBW-

Raven woke up covered in cold sweat. Just for a second she felt her connection with Yang disappear. Nothing like that ever happened before. There weren't any talls she was in danger to begin with. After grabbing her weapon she transformed and flew into a portal.

Yang was walking home with mini-Summer under her arm while the area of the forest her old shed used to be was on fire. Nothing seemed out of place. Seeing that her moronic brother wasn't around, she decided to stay for a while and observe.

-BBW-

She dreamt of boundless plains covered in ashes and embers. The skies were dark, neither a sun nor the moon. The only sources of light being the small embers under her feet and a single white star shining above a solitary mountain.

She needed to get up there. She wasn't sure how long the journey took. It was hard to count time when the world around remained the same. On top she found the stone plateau. The murky red gem was laying close to the side while browny yellow was half-burried in the ash. But they didn't matter. All of her attention was focused on a large shiny red gem that she couldn't find the last time.

It was back. And she wouldn't ever let go of it.

So overjoyed she was that she never noticed a black feather sticking out from the side of the mountain.

-BBW-

Today she will say her farewell to Yang until the next holiday comes around. Although she hoped she would visit on weekends or something. Yang was sorting out some last minute paperwork and would only meet up with her later. For now she decided to browse local weapon stores. Ruby may have made some good stuff on her own but she still needed to keep an eye out for other new inventions.

Music blasting into her ears she enjoyed reading a magazine about new Atlesian droids. Ruby was a major weapon nut but AI and complicated robotics were never her forte. She heard some noise behind her but didn't really care. Probably just somebody got too excited over something.

Somebody tapped her shoulder.

"Huh" She turned around and saw a tall man in black suit, red tie and red glasses who was scowling at her. Oh and he was pointing… a really strange machete at her.

"I said, put your hands in the air!"

"Are you robbing me?"

"Yes!"

"Oh."

/

/

/

Cue in This will be the day. Bloody hell, I'm done with the prologue.

Infodump

Happy Huntresses: while initially composed of Robyn Hill and her friends and teammates, it later grew in size with the influx of likeminded individuals wishing for a better life in Mantle. Many of the companies that sold their products and services in Mantle at extortionate prices came under their vigilante attacks. None were ever proven. Currently they operate as an unofficial Mantle militia with a tacit approval of Atlas council and military proper. For while they are causing troubles for some individuals, they keep order in Mantle and assist with its protection.