Knowledgeable Green

At the Island of Patch, a blonde thirteen-year-old was sparring against her fellow blonde father. It was Yang and Taiyang Xiao Long. Yang charged at her father, undaunted by the fact that Taiyang was casually deflecting and evading his Sunny Little Dragon's rampage. Taiyang threw a light jab at Yang's exposed flank and rebuked her.

" Yang, how many times have I told you to be mindful of your openings!"

" I can take it!"

Yang did not listen as her Semblance Burn triggered, converting any damage she took into strength. Taiyang sighed at his daughter's bullheaded ways and was briefly reminded of how stubborn his ex-wife Raven could be at times. Both mother and daughter stick to their guns when it comes to handling certain things, like Yang's increasing reliance on her Semblance to win a fight. Well, what can a single father do against a hormonal preteen with a fiery disposition and combat training?

Taiyang hopes that once Yang grows up and heads to Beacon and takes part in some training missions, she will wise up to her faults. But until then, he will keep on trying to correct his daughter's mindset.

"You're getting sloppy, Yang."

Taiyang took advantage of several of Yang's openings and broke her Aura, making his daughter crash to the ground, exhausted. Taiyang grabbed a bottle of water and a towel he set on the side for himself, then gave one each to his daughter. After getting hydrated, Taiyang entered lecture mode to try and teach his hardheaded daughter once again about picking when and where to best use her Semblance.

" Yang, your Semblance is great for counter-attacking, but that doesn't matter if you can't actually land a hit or your facing someone who outclasses you in strength, so you need to-."

" Pick the best moment to hit back. Yeah, yeah, dad, as you keep on telling me."

Taiyang sighed as Yang drenched herself with water to cool herself down from her sparring session and give her father some attitude. Taiyang wonders why he even bothers at times with his stubborn mule of a daughter. A hotheaded daughter going through puberty and a single father has no shortage of conflicts. The blonde father decided to let sleeping dogs lay for now since it would just blow up into an argument if he pushed too hard now. Taiyang chose to focus on his Rosebud for now.

" Okay, Ruby, your turn! Get over here!"

Ruby grabbed her practice scythe, but Taiyang stopped her.

" Ruby, hand to hand!"

The young silver-eyed warrior groaned, then complained.

" But dad!"

" No buts, Rosebud, you may be fine fighting with a weapon, but you aren't going to always have a weapon on hand to use!"

Ruby complied and set aside her practice scythe that her Uncle Qrow got her since he is teaching a thing or two until she made her custom weapon at Signal Academy two years from now. Ruby puts her guard up but is wrong in a lot of aspects with a number of openings and blindspots. Seeing this, Taiyang faced palmed himself at his youngest's lack of enthusiasm at hand-to-hand combat and pointed out her flaws.

" Ruby, your guard is too high, and bend your knees to lower your center of gravity."

Ruby obeyed her father, but her stance was still pretty weak, and a new voice added his two Lein.

" Kiddo, you might want to shift to the side a little."

Yang and Ruby both called out to their favorite if only relative.

" UNCLE QROW!"

Ruby forgo her combat stance and tackles her uncle in excitement, and asks.

" Did you miss me, Uncle Qrow?"

Qrow took on a fake contemplating look, then replied jokingly.

" Who are you again?"

Ruby pouted at her Uncle's joke, which made the drunkard chuckle as he messed with her hair.

" Just kidding, Rosebud."

Ruby quickly forgave her Uncle.

" I know, Uncle Qrow."

Yang then asked her Uncle with her best innocent look, which was pretty good since she based it on Ruby's.

" Any souvenirs, coolest uncle of the year?"

" Nah, not this time, Firecracker, but maybe next time, if I'm lucky."

Yang shrugged, not really caring about the souvenirs, and then asked.

" How was your mission?"

Qrow took out his flask and drank from it despite Taiyang's look of disapproval, then answered.

" Fairly boring for the most part but Tai, we need to talk... in private."

Qrow said that last part while giving his nieces a look to send them away. Ruby didn't pick up on it, so Yang grabbed her sister to respect her uncle's request, which made Taiyang sigh in frustration at Yang respecting Qrow more than him for some reason. After the girls head into the house, Qrow gets closer to Taiyang, and the older blonde asks, looking at his brother-in-law curiously.

" So what do we need to talk about, Qrow?"

" Do you remember Silva?"

Taiyang looked confused for a moment and tried to recall a face to the name, then suddenly remembered.

" Your and Raven's newly adopted "little brother"? Why bring him up after six years?"

As Taiyang looked confused, Qrow sighed and then warned his old teammate.

" Brace yourself, Tai, because you are in for a doozy."

Qrow then explained how Raven adopted Silva and turned him into her son—also explaining how he plans on taking the snow leopard faunus under his wing and having him attend Beacon when he is of age since he left the Branwen tribe. Taiyang looked incredulous at Qrow's explanation and said in disbelief.

" She didn't! She turned her back on me and, more importantly, on Yang and then went around and took in a stray from those bunch of murders and thieves!"

Qrow drank from his flask again and offered it to Taiyang, which he partook in as he felt a need to drink from hearing this news. Qrow sighed and commented with a bit of disgust at his twin's behavior.

" That's my sister for you, doing what she wants; screw the consequences."

Taiyang sighed and agreed with Qrow.

" Yeah, that sounds like Raven, alright."

Qrow then told Taiyang why he told him this now.

" I just wanted to give you a heads up since I plan on setting up a residence here on Patch for Silva to live on and get him to go to Signal like Yang."

Taiyang turned pale as he voiced his realization at hearing Qrow's plan.

" Oh, by the Brothers, what if Yang learns this?!"

Qrow facepalmed and just realized this himself.

" Crud, you're right. Leave it to Raven to give us a mess to clean up for her. I guess I better pick a different combat school for Snowball to attend because he might let it slip to Yang about his situation with Raven and her."

Taiyang then said, sounding tired.

" I need to get plastered, hard."

Qrow smirked and invited him as he agreed with Taiyang.

" I know just the place; follow me."

The two of them drank to their misfortunes and to a certain unenviable snow leopard faunus to help cope with the issues ahead in their complex family relations.

***

I, Silva Branwen, finally freaking made it to the Vault housing the Lamp of Knowledge. As I admired the aesthetics of the Vault's design, I made the smuggest grin I could muster and used Door to Darkness to open a portal near Raven. After several moments, Raven came through the black portal and curtly asked me.

" What is it, Silva?"

I pointed behind her, looking and feeling smug as she was doubtful at the fact I could even get here without alerting anyone. Seeing her stare at the Vault in stunned silence made it all the more satisfying. After enjoying my moment, I brought Raven back to reality by elbowing her ribs and reminding her why she was there.

" Hey, mind getting the door for me?"

Raven finally shook herself out of her stupor and tersely replied.

" Fine."

Raven touched the Vault door, and it lit up and started moving. Raven braced herself for any traps or troubles, but the Vault had just opened, revealing a blurry-looking desert where the Lamp resided in the center. Raven smirked as she took the lamp and commented to herself.

" And Ozpin is none the wiser, let alone Salem."

Raven appraised the Lamp, and I drew her attention.

" So, do you want to know how it works or not?"

Raven looked at me skeptically and replied.

" And how would you know how it works? Aside from maybe Creation since it keeps Atlas afloat, Ozpin kept what the Relics could do to himself."

I smiled at her as I used the excuse I had thought of beforehand to cover my knowledge about a lot of things that I shouldn't technically know about for several reasons.

" I told you I met the God of Darkness."

Raven rolled her eyes and expressed her disbelief.

" Right..."

She is still having a hard time believing that, but I can prove it now, or at least in a way that works for me. I stretched out my paw towards the Relic and asked for it.

" The God of Darkness told me when I asked how the Relics work, plus you don't want a Relic in your hands."

Raven looked at me curiously as she asked me.

" And why is that?"

" Because it will make you an even bigger target in Salem's eyes than being a Maiden. You know she will stop at nothing to get the Relics, and the Relics themselves attract Grimm because of their origins. So your choice, trust me to deal with it or figure it out on your own."

Raven looked hesitant about what to do, and I waited for her to finish her internal debate patiently. Raven then came to a decision and handed me the Relic as she said.

" Very well then, Silva. It's your's but what do you intend on doing next?"

I smiled at her as I replied.

" Let's find out. Jinn."

I called out Jinn from the Lamp and admired her exotic appearance. Blue-ish skin with dark blue hair and matching eyes with dark sclera with gold accessories adorning her curvy body, choker, chains, bracelets, and anklets. I noticed Raven looking stunned again, and she glanced at me, blinking in surprise at the fact I knew how to use the Relic. Jinn then asked us.

" What knowledge do you seek?"

Now to see if there are any other alternative methods to deal with Salem outside the canon because that might be thrown out the window since Roman is dead and Ruby might not attend Beacon.

" I want to know all the ways to defeat Salem and why they would work and no longer make her a threat to everyone."

Jinn smiled at me and replied as blue smoke surrounded Raven and me.

" As you wish."

***

Jinn finished showing us everything after a few hours and confirmed that the methods I thought of would work against her plus, as it turns out, she CAN be reasoned, but it is going to be difficult. I honestly want to try reasoning with her first because if I were in her shoes, I might have done the same things she did, use trickery to revive a loved one, find a way to die to spite the gods for trying to teach me a lesson on life and death and be willing to turn my back on uniting humanity in favor of starting over from a clean slate. As I pondered what to do, Raven muttered out loud.

" All that time wasted..."

I felt like she was referencing both herself and Ozma as it would fit. I mean, a slightly creative mind could have come up with what did to deal with Salem, and a trained psychiatrist could've made things a bit easier in understanding both Salem and Ozma's minds and the wear and tear of time. Raven lets out a self-deprecating laugh as she walks out of the Vault towards the edge of the path to the Vault. Jinn then asks.

" Any other questions? You have one more question for this era."

" I am good, thanks."

" Very well then."

Jinn went back to her Lamp, and time unfroze. I saw Raven sit at the edge of the path, looking down on the darkness below us. I took a seat next to Raven and waited in silence for her to speak. Minutes went by as she started to berate herself.

" All this time, I used the tribe to run and hide from Salem as I thought she was unkillable and couldn't be reasoned with, but as it turns out, I'm wrong. I am such a fool..."

" No arguments here. You traded people that would've laid their lifes down for you for a bunch of two-bit murders and thieves that would toss you aside if you become weak. You abandoned your flesh and blood out of fear. Pretend to be strong when in fact, you are weak; you run away from your problems if you don't see a way through them. Need I go on?"

Raven lets out another self-deprecating laugh as she lies on her back and says.

" Your right, Silva. What am I supposed to do now? Going back to the tribe seems pointless now, all things considered."

I offered her a suggestion.

" I plan on traveling around Remnant on my terms before confronting Salem; want to come with me?"

Raven sighed but agreed.

" Traveling sounds... nice. I could use a change in scenery to clear my head after... all this."

" Welcome aboard."

Now I wonder how far I can get with Raven.