It’s been a few days since the events of Yharnam, which a lot of us from both teams still have nightmares from, and our few days of relaxation which everyone surely needed, more so of the family and Rose. Aunt Axycia told us that she’ll deal with Atlas about the family and what will happen to Yharnam. If you ask me, that place should be napalmed to the ground. During our stay there I noticed auntie was humming a song that sounded familiar to me. I don’t know what it was but it just sounded familiar.

Another thing I learned was that Rose was a Faunus, with wolf ears on top of her head. She asked to come with us to Beacon as she wanted to see our school and maybe see our classes and stuff. We asked why though since she is a Hunter and had that training but the confusing part was that she said she didn’t get training, she simply woke up there and everything was her getting a crash course in it.

Today we were just getting back from out several days long break, which the majority of us spent in a spa while Indigo and Ghaul said they needed to do something involving video games. Though they didn’t say play, I think I heard one of them say review… Do they review games? Since when?

When the ship landed we were greeted with several people looking on us, seeing what’s going on. Auntie saw us off the ship before saying. “Hope you all enjoy your much-needed R and R.” She said to us which most of us nodded happily.

“Yes, we have,” Mavis said with a smile as she floated off the ship, though when she did a familiar blonde boxer just so happened to appear before her. The two embraced one another as team INDG headed off, leaving me with Umbra, Amaram, and Rose.

Before anyone could say something my aunt stepped off of the ship and looked at me. “Hope you lot enjoy your classes, I have a little chat with your Headmaster. Come with me, Rose.” Auntie asked kindly which Rose looked over at me oddly before doing as she was told. The rest of us looked at one another before Amaram spoke.

“If you don’t mind, I’m going to go spend some time to myself.” She said to us.

“Going to call your family again?” I asked which she nodded before heading off. No doubt that she has some worries about her family after what has happened at Yharnam, made her worry about her family. I looked over at Umbra who has already put in her headphones and started to head off to do something. What that is I don’t know.

I decided to head back to my room, seeing that we all will resume classes after lunch. When I got there I saw Amber was sleeping on her bed happily, I smiled at this as I gave her a pet before going over and sitting down on my bed to wait for lunchtime.

As I was relaxing in bed there was a knock on my door. Curious on who it was I got up and went over to open the door to see it was Ruby.

“Hey Ruby, how’s it going?” I asked her with a smile.

“Oh, same old same old. Yang is hanging out with Mavis so I wondered if you want to hang out?” Ruby asked me. I smile at the young scythe wielder as I let her into the room where we spent time chatting about things or play some video games. Overall I had an enjoyable time hanging out with Ruby, it also made time go by till it was lunchtime which we both headed to the cafeteria.

When we arrived, we saw that it was packed and to no surprise either as today’s lunch was good ol’ fashion pizza. Not the healthiest of foods to eat in an Academy for Huntsmen but who am I to complain. Ruby and I got our plates with one giant slice for us before we found Mavis and Yang with the rest of team RWBY.

“Hey, guys.” I greeted everyone as we sat down with them. They all said hello back as I started to eat my food. I glanced around to see both Umbra and Amaram were nearby. I waved at them to see if they wanted to come over but they shook their heads. I shrugged as I looked back at the others as they chatted with one another happily. In the middle of one the many chats, discussing weapon maintenance and the do and don’ts when it suddenly got dark… like really dark.

“Uhh… who turned down the light?” Mavis asked out loud before the ground shook as an explosion boomed across the room.

“Ahh!” I yelled as the shaking made me fall back onto the ground which I used to crawl under the table. The shaking continued for a few moments before it stopped and the whole room was filled with worry chatter. When people slowly began to get up, one last explosion rocked the ground and shattered the windows. After the ground settled, an alarm went off which ushered everyone to run out the doors, some with weapons drawn.

Before long it was just Team RWBY and my team were left as I got up from under the table.

“You okay?” I heard Ruby asked me as I looked over at her.

“I’m alright…” I said before looking at my pizza which has some shards of glass in it. “Can’t say about my food.”

Ruby frowned at her food as I saw Yang was over top of Mavis, probably to shield her from the glass. “You okay?” She asked Mavis.

“I’m quite fine, Yang Yang,” Mavis answered with a giggle as the shards that covered Yang was lifted off of her, which reminded the blonde of her girlfriend's semblance. “You didn’t need to that but… Thanks.” Mavis said before kissing Yang as thanks. Yang smiled as she got off of Mavis and went to check on her sister as the other two climbed up from the floor. Blake wincing a bit as she pulled a shard out of her arm.

“That was annoying.” She muttered as she rubbed her arm a bit.

“What was that?!” Weiss asked in shock as Amaram and Umbra came over. I saw that they were alright as well as Umbra had her Scroll out.

“I think our answers are waiting outside,” Mavis said before she floated up to the shattered window, looking outside of it only to gasp at what she saw. I arched a brow at this before moving over near her.

“What’s going on? What you see?” I asked her. She didn’t say anything, just waving her hand and I felt myself slowly float up to the window. I had to hold onto the wall when I did before looking out to see what she saw. Even though it was very far away I saw what looked like a giant airship that crashed. “Oh, lords.” was all I said. I saw the familiar Atlas symbol on the side of it from here. “An Atlas ship? Why is there a large Atlas ship here? Other than being crashed.” I asked Mavis.

“I don’t know Viri.” Mavis was quick to answer before she landed and looked at the others. “We should go to the Headmaster about this.” She said to all of us. We nodded and headed off towards Headmaster Ozpins office. As we made our way we saw many students making their way to see the ship.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what kind of ship is it?” Umbra asked me and Mavis. I looked at Mavis before saying.

“I… don’t know. All I know is that it’s big and it had Atlas’ symbol on it.” I told her. Umbra frowned at this and didn’t say anything more as we got to the elevator and went up to the Headmasters office. When the door opened we saw that Headmaster Ozpin is a conversation with someone.

“James, I’ve been pretty patient with you for many things, but I think a line has been crossed when an Atlas ship the size of a city crash-landed in the Emerald Forest.” The Headmaster said with a frown on his face.

“I know this looks bad, and I assure you that all of this is getting handled as fast as it can.” I heard the voice of General Ironwood say.

“As fast as you can? James I can see the ship right out of my window!” Ozpin said loudly, which was a first of hearing him yell. He took a deep breath and let it out to say. “There’s only a month left till the festival, something that shows that each kingdom is united and for everyone to have a happy event. I don’t want the people to be worried that Atlas can’t hold itself together.” He said to General Ironwood before glancing over to us. He slid his hand over and put a finger up to say to us to wait for a few moments.

“Look, I got some bullheads getting ready with medical gear and able to get everything under-” General Ironwood started to say but was cut off by Headmaster Ozpin.

“And when will that take? No, if anyone is still alive in there then I’ll send some groups there and get them to pull anyone out before it’s too late.” Ozpin said to him.

“Oz, I know you mean well but-”

“Which will it be James, letting whatever secret die in that ship of yours, or let me help you?” Headmaster Ozpin asked firmly. After a few moments of silence, there was a sigh.

“Fine. I’m still sending some men over there.” General Ironwood said.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way… and James, after the festival we going to have a long talk about this.” Ozpin said before cutting the call and looking over at us. “I have a feeling I know what you all are here for.”

“Permission to be the group to go onto the crash sight?” Mavis asked the Headmaster before the latter spoke.

“You think you and your team is ready? I heard of what happened over there… I don’t want to force you all to go when you’re not ready.” The Headmaster said to us which got some odd looks from Team RWBY.

“It’s been a few days, I think we can handle a crashed ship,” I said to the Headmaster. He nodded at me before saying.

“I believe that… but I think I would rather you all have some backup… Miss Rose, you think you and your team can do just that?” He asked Ruby who blinked in surprise.

“Uhh, yeah… right?” She asked her team who nodded at her. “I mean yeah we got it!” She said happily.

“Good, now Team MAUV, Team RWBY, I want both teams to go into the downed Atlas ship and help get any or all survivors out, and maybe find out how it came to be that such a large ship crashed.” Headmaster Ozpin said to us. Mavis and Ruby nodded at this before we all went to grab our gear and soon met up in the courtyard, where a Bullhead was waiting for us. Before I hopped on, I noticed that most, if not all of the students and staff were standing outside, gazing at the blazing crash.

“Viri lets go!” Mavis called out to me before I hopped on. When I did, I grabbed onto the support strap, not wanting to sit down for this ride. The Bullhead took off and headed over to the crash site.

“I want to point out we have no idea what we’re getting into!” Amaram yelled over the wind before the doors closed. “Like, what kind of ship is it?”

“It’s known as the Forerunner, Atlas’ Prized warship,” Umbra said to all of us. “It’s as big as a city, has enough firepower to level one, and suppose it holds a lot of Atlas’ secret projects.”

“That true?” Yang asked, surprised at this before Weiss nodded.

“Yeah, I didn’t know much about it but my dad had something with that thing getting built. Lots of Dust went into it.” Weiss said to us before looking at Umbra. “How do you know that?”

“My Uncle, he’s one of Atlas’ best snipers. Trained me to be like him.” Umbra explained before adding. “Also he’s part of the special forces… also, he’s supposed to be on that ship.”

“Oh…” Amaram and I said as she lowered her head a bit. We all didn’t say anything before Ruby put her hand on Umbra’s shoulder.

“I think he’s alright. As you said, he’s part of the special forces, I think he’s tough enough to handle this.” Ruby said with a smile which got a smile from Umbra. The ride was short but bumpy, something related to the crash causing a bit of turbulence before we touched down.

“RWBY look around the site for any survivors, me and my team will search inside if possible,” Mavis said to everyone.

“Alright, come on guys,” Ruby said before the four of them headed off as Mavis and our team headed inside the ship after finding a way inside in the form of a giant hole. The place was a mess, everything tossed from the crash and some machines toppled over or destroyed. Exposed wires that sparked every so often greeted us as we made our way inside.

“How could a ship this size just crash? I doubt it was some sort of system failure.” Amaram said as we looked around. Before any of us could even speculate, I bumped my foot on something and when I looked down, I saw the body of a dead Atlas worker. The worker wore what looked like an odd exo suit of some kind. It was strapped onto the person’s body from top to bottom but the most notable thing was that it was torn apart, same goes to the body.

“Guys… I think I have a good idea of how.” I said to the others as they looked over and saw the body. It was then we all looked down the hallway to see it was littered with bodies.

“I thought we were done with this…” Amaram groaned as Umbra went over to take a closer look at the bodies.

“Claw marks… something got inside the ship, tore everyone to pieces.” Umbra said out loud.

“We can only assume, for now, come on we have a job to do and not a lot of time to do it,” Mavis said and to prove her point, the ground shook violently, the ship getting unstable and this seemed to worry Umbra greatly.

“Remember I said the Forerunner can level a city? Yeah, I’m not kidding. If this ship explodes, it’s taking everything with it. The forest, Beacon, everything.” Umbra said in a worried tone.

“Oh dear,” Mavis responded to this with worry as me and Amaram were taken aback by this. “We’ll split up to cover more ground, we’ll meet up back here in five and no more than that,” Mavis said to us before Umbra and Amaram nodded, already partnering up with one another while leaving me with Mavis. “Come, we’ll need to shut down the reactor before it goes critical,” Mavis said to me, making herself and me float up and over the corpse riddled halls, dropping me when it was clear. On the way to the lower levels of the ship, we stumbled across various labs and testing facilities, all of which were in shambled from the crash. We came upon more bodies, these being soldiers judging by the guns.

“I’m doubting that this was done by the crash alone…” I said to Mavis before our scrolls buzzed. I frowned at this before pulling it out and saw it was Umbra.

“You guys hear me?” Umbra asked us. “Amaram and I got to a console and I’m working on it now. There’s some power left so I can buy you guys some time.”

“What? How? We split up a few minutes ago.” I asked her as Mavis and I continue.

“ As I said, my uncle was pretty high up in the ranks… and he allowed me to come along on this ship.” Umbra said as Mavis and I looked at one another before Umbra continued. “Okay Amaram is glaring at me, I actually snuck my way into the ship a few dozen times. Anyway, I can get you through a faster route.” She said as a door opened.

“Huh, convenient,” I said to Mavis as we continue as Umbra led us through the ship. It wasn’t until we heard something that made us stop. “Uhh, what was that?” I asked, hearing some groaning and metal being forcefully bent.

“I’m not quite sure but it sounded close,” Mavis said to me as she and I drew our swords. We continue slowly moved closer to the sounds. When we got there we saw two busted up doors that were bent outwards.

“Oookay… Umbra, we found some busted up doors… how bad is that?” I asked as I heard a camera above us turn and look at the door.

“Oh… shit. Those are containment doors for a maximum security door… it’s said that not even a Bullhead with explosives going top speed could dent them.” Umbra explained.

“Lovely…” I said to that as I looked at Mavis. “So… what now?” I asked her. Mavis walked up to the doors and looked inside, her frowning expression softened at what she saw. I arched a brow at this before walking over to her to peek inside. What I saw was a large Grimm like creature kneeling in front of two smaller Grimm… children? Wait what?

“P-Papa…” I heard a young girl said to the large creature. I looked over at Mavis and mouthed the words ‘Papa? That thing is a dad?’ The creature of Grimm hummed as it embraced the children until one of the kids saw us and yelped in fear. Mavis and I looked at one another and then back to see the Grimm turning its head at us.

“Oh hell,” I said simply as I raised Molten fox up… only for Mavis to make me lower my sword.

“Don’t Viri… trust me.” Mavis said to me as the Grimm growled, being sure that the two kids were behind it.

“Stay… away.” I heard a rough, growly voice echo the room. I glanced at Mavis for a moment before putting Molten Fox back and backing away.

“Sure, okay… staying away now.” I said to… it?

“We’re not here for trouble… We’re looking for survivors.” Mavis said to it, him… fuck.

“No survivors… killed them all…” The voice said again before the ground shook again, though less violent than the last one.

“Well, hate to be the bringer of bad news but… this ship is about to explode… and take out everything around us.” I informed them as the two kids were clinging to the Grimm brute.

“It won’t…” It said before the ground shook once more… then whatever lights were on were shut down, everything from wires to working monitors was shut off. The Grimm picked up the kids and began to walk past us and I saw that it walked with a very noticeable limp. I looked over at Mavis as she too saw this as the Grimm grunted a bit.

“You… okay?” I asked him. Don’t know why I did but I did it anyway. The grimm didn’t answer, only falling his knees clutching a nearby beam to keep him up.

“Papa!” One of the kids said as the two were at his side. The other kid didn’t seem to say anything but it… no wait he, he tried to help carry his father up as best as he could, causing the other to do the same. What shocked me more is that the blackness of his skin oozed off of him like if it were some sort of black tar. When the tar fell off of him the Grimm brute looked… more like a man with gray hair, pale white skin with black veins. He seemed to be panting as the two kids were trying to pull him along. I tilted my head a bit, feeling like I know him from somewhere.

“Guys, what’s going on over there. The power went out, I can’t see anything.” Umbra said to us before I brought my scroll up to me.

“We’re okay Umbra, maybe a survivor made his way to the reactor, turned it off?” I asked her as I looked at Mavis.

“You think so? Amaram and I will take a look. You two going to be alright?” Umbra asked us as Mavis and I looked at one another.

“Yeah… I think so.” I said before putting the scroll away. “So what now?” I asked Mavis.

“Please… take my kids…” I heard the man speak up in desperation. I looked at him in time to see him shake his head. “I can’t move… I’m dead weight. Please, take them to safety.” He said to us, almost begging us to do so while the kids clinging onto the man. I looked at him then at the kids again before looking at Mavis.

“Thinking what I’m thinking?” I asked her. Mavis arched a brow at me before I walked over to the guy and carefully slung his arm over me. “Upsy das- Gulg!” I said as the man weighed a ton! It took some time but I was able to… sorta carry him. Mavis took the kids and lead the rest of us back to the meeting point, avoiding the body filled hallways. When we got there, we saw Umbra and Amaram waiting there. When they looked at us, their eyes widen.

“Oh, jees.” Amaram said as she came over to me and helped me with the Grimm guy. She was taken aback from his appearance but she helps me as he was heavy.

“What happened?” Umbra asked me as Amaram and I help the guy outside before setting him down some ways away from the crash. The kids following suit before Mavis spoke up.

“There were no survivors on our part besides these three. It’s the best of an explanation I can give you at the moment.” Mavis said as the Grimm like children ran up and embraced their father, who hugged them back.

“Not much on our end… but we did find one survivor.” Umbra said to Mavis. Mavis arched a brow at her before Umbra added. “My Uncle. He was at the reactor turning it off.”

“And where is he now?” Mavis asked her with an arched brow.

“Over here.” A voice said which drew our attention. I saw a man wearing an Atlas uniform, he had graying black hair and had the whole grizzled man look to him with a beard. He looked up at us and arched a brow at Mavis but didn’t say anything about it. “Which one of you is the leader of this group?” He asked before looking at Umbra.

“No, it’s her,” Umbra said as she nodded to Mavis. The man looked back at Mavis for a moment before snorting a bit.

“Interesting attire.” He said to her.

“Can we get back onto the matter at hand?” Mavis asked out loud, clearly annoyed at the comment. I rolled my eyes at her as I glance over at the Grimm man who was holding his kids close to him.

“I thought there would be no survivors here from what he said?” I asked out loud which the man shook his head.

“Well that’s not true, I would’ve been if I didn’t strike a bargain with him for my life.” The man said to us. Mavis and I arched a brow at this before I spoke.

“Why though?” I asked. The man looked at me then at the other three.

“I’ve seen many Grimm in my time, but not one like those three. It’s a rare sight to behold .” The man answered me before adding. “Then the scientists here decided to separate the father from his kids… didn’t turn out well.”

“Why were they on the ship in the first place?” Mavis asked while crossing her arms.

“Well, this ship is one of Atlas’ places to keep things hush, this being one of the most hush projects.” The man shook his head a bit. “Didn’t get much out of it other than some studying, must be losing my touch… anyway, you can see what happen when the big one woke up. It was like fighting against a force of nature, I hid as best as I could but he had a nose of a bloodhound, only way to still be living if I struck a deal with him.” The man explained.

“And that deal?” Umbra asked him.

“Show him where his kids are at. Plain and simple and I wasn’t one to stop him.” The man said to her. I looked back at the three and them looked down to the man’s legs.

“Did… did something happen to his legs?” I asked Umbra’s Uncle.

“Hmmm, I think they paralyzed him from the waist down with one of their devices, making it that if they want him to walk they can, limit his movements… didn’t stop him from ripping the doors open.” the man explained with a frown. I looked at him for a few moments before looking back at the three Grimm… people… don’t know how to call them, before looking at Mavis and pulling her aside.

“So… what are we going to do?” I asked her in a whisper. “Don’t think anyone would like it when we walk out of here with three Grimmafied people.” Mavis didn’t answer me, simply pulling out her scroll and texted auntie. What she said is beyond me as it was typed and sent too fast for me to read. “Uhh, what was that?” I asked her. Mavis looked at me before making sure we were far away from everyone before saying.

“I can’t do much with so many people around else I would blow my disguise, my sister, on the other hand, has ways around that. She’ll be coming over to take the three off.” Mavis explained to me which I nodded.

“Right… hope she doesn’t mind dealing with Atlas.” I said to Mavis. She only shrugged at this as we walked back to the others.

“So… what now?” Amaram asked. “The ship isn’t going to explode but we have these three to deal with.” She gestured to the three Grimm people. “I don’t know what we are doing but I think you have some sort of plan?” She asked Mavis. As she began to fill the other two in I went over to the three and kneeled in front of them. The two kids shrank a bit in fear of me, which was disheartening to me, as their father stared at me.

“How are you feeling?” I asked him. He didn’t answer me, at least not immediately, he simply looked down at his kids.

“I’m… fine.” He said to me. He held both of the kids close to him as they held onto him as if he was going to disappear if they let go. The man hugged them both in return with a little smile forming before the smile soon vanished as the air ran cold, the area going dark as a dark, seriously sinister-looking portal appeared. Umbra and Amaram both looked at this with shock as they drew their weapons, Mavis and I doing the same. Seriously, something this evil-looking can’t end up being nice! The man stared at this with a frown as coming out of the portal was a robed figure. White hair ran down in front of this being and the being’s skin is stark white and black veins over their arms. I stared at this and simply shook my head. Why can’t it be like a dark portal opened up and a unicorn comes out??

The being stood in front of the man before removing their hood, showing that this being is a woman, her skin was white with the same black veins as her arms. Her eyes were black with red pupils and a black mark in the middle of her forehead.

“Finally, found you.” She said to the man, getting a sigh from him as the kids shrunk back in fear.

“What do you want… dear?” The man said, gritting his teeth at the last word. The woman tilted her head at him.

“You know how worried I was when you disappeared…” She said to him as her eyes glance over at us. “And, you all will stay where you all are unless you want the Creatures of Grimm to overrun the area.” She threatened in a soft tone. We all looked at one another, questioning what she meant when she looked back at the man.

“Say what you want… I’m not going back and the kids are staying with me…” He said to the woman, managing to use a nearby tree to stand and hold himself up. “I’ll be damned if I let you take them.” He said in a growl, his eyes, the same colour black and red as the woman’s, shone a menacing blood red colour. The woman stared at the man for a few moments before looking down to the man's legs then back up to his face.

“Why? Why stay away? No one out here would take you and the kids. Look what they’ve done to you.” She said with some anger in her voice. “If you come with me, you’ll be safe.” As she said this she looked at the two kids and reach her hand out a bit. The two fearfully hid from her, causing the woman’s hand to twitch back at this. Her expression changed from stoic to anger and annoyance at this. The man saw this and ushered the two behind him.

“The kids don’t want to go back, you see that. They don’t want to live in neglect by their mother, they don’t want to fight for this stupid war of yours.” The man said before he frowned deeply and added. “A mother would love and care for their children, putting them above all else… you’re not a mother.” He said to her. The woman’s face twitches a bit as her eyes narrowed before her gaze was cast back down to the kids, their fearful whimpers letting us know how their feelings right now. Her glare… softened, her expression taking a sudden shift to a saddened one but confused expression as well. She opened and closed her mouth as if to speak but never could. Eventually, she closed her eyes, the same shadows she came from took her away, leaving no trace of her ever being there. This left the grimm man with a deep frown before I saw Team RWBY.

“Hey! You guys alright?!” Ruby called out as her team came closer to us. “You guys were taking a long time in there. Everything alright?” The others looked at each other with some confused looks, mentally asking what can we say.

“Who or what is this?” I heard Weiss ask as we all looked over and saw she was looking at the Grimm guy. The man in question didn’t say anything as he held his children close to him.

“Is he one of the crew?” Blake asked before adding. “But why does he look like that?”

No one answered before Ruby walked up to him. “Hey, are you okay?” She asked the Grimm man.

“I’m… fine, relatively speaking.” The Grimm man said before I noticed one thing… where did Mavis go?

“Great! It’s good that you’re alright.” Ruby said in a cheerful tone. This seemed to make Weiss look at her wide-eyed.

“Uhh, Ruby… I don’t think he’s alright…” Weiss pointed out, getting a scoff from the man. “I mean… he looks oddly… Grimmish.” The others looked at each other in silence as Ruby frowned at her teammate.

“Weiss, there’s no reason to be rude about one’s looks,” Ruby said firmly, making the heiress look at her in shock.

“I-I’m not! I’m just stating what I’m seeing!” Weiss yelled which Ruby simply narrowed her eyes.

“You know… that’s just Ice Queen.” Ruby said before the two of them started to go back and forth. All the while they did this, Yang, Blake, Amaram and Umbra both stared in shock as the man’s skin began to blacken like the Grimm before he grew in height and soon, the same creature of Grimm me and Mavis stumbled into was standing upright and towering us almost menacingly while his kids hugged his legs, feeling safe with him.

“Uhh…” Both Blake and Yang said at the same time as my teammates looked at me as I put my hands up.

“Look, I was shocked as you were when I saw that… And I don’t want to mess with him.” I said as Umbra’s Uncle, who I haven’t gotten a name yet! Stepped up to the Grimm man.

“So… you got your kids… and downed one of Atlas’ prised airships, what are you going to do now?” He asked.

“I think I can take care of that.” A voice said as we all turned to see my aunt there with a smile on her face. “Sorry I was late, traffic was terrible.”

“Traffic?” Amaram asked as my aunt ignored her simply and walk up to the Grimm man and looked up at him.

“My you’re big… nothing wrong with that, just stating it.” She said before adding. “If you want your kids to be safe, I would ask you to come with me.” I could hear his growl at Aunties words, hearing the words and seemingly detesting them. Auntie arched a brow at this before saying. “Look, I’m being nice here. Also coming with me is a better option than waiting around for Atlas to start looking around. I doubt they want to let a being like you running around… and tell me, can you keep your kids safe during that time?” She asked the Grimm man. The latter stayed silent, his growls ceased before he let out a sigh as his clawed hands took gentle holds of his two kids.

“Fine…” He said with the same echoey growling voice from before. Axycia smiled at this before she turned to walk away, making a simple motion for the three to follow her. My Aunt looked back at all of us before saying.

“If you want, you can come as well. A simple trip to your school is no problem.” Axycia said to all of us. We all looked at each other before noticing that Ruby and Weiss were still bickering at each other… not noticing what’s going on. Blake groaned at this while, Yang… well… She was looking over towards the direction of the Grimm Man. Was she curious about him?

Eventually, after some catching up in Ruby’s and Weiss’s part, we found ourselves within the rather large Bullhead of my Aunties’ company. Both Weiss and Ruby were blatantly staring at the Grimm man, who has yet to change back as of yet. The latter said nor did anything, simply sitting between his kids and judging by the odd marks of his mask, frowning.

“Hey… where’s Mavis?” Amaram asked, making me look at her. Right, Mavis didn’t join us when we got onto the Bullhead.

“Don’t worry about it, I believe we’ll see her back at the school,” I answered Amaram who nodded at me. The trip was mostly silent as no one talked to one another, Yang was simply staring at the Grimm Man. I wonder what’s up?

“You okay?” I asked Yang which caused her to snap out of whatever she was doing.

“Huh? Oh, yeah… I’m fine… really.” She answered me but I had a feeling there was more going on. It wasn’t long before aunty started to speak to the Grimm man.

“So… do you have a name for yourself?” Axycia asked the Grimm man who turned to face her.

“Why would you care?” The man asked in his growly voice, which spooked Ruby and Weiss while I waited patiently to hear who this guy was and by the looks of it, so did Yang.

“Well, I think it would be better than simply calling you ‘Grimm Guy’ Unless you prefer simply Grimm,” Aunty said to the man before revealing a file, with a photo on it of man, exactly like him except with a more humanly look and blue hair. “And besides, I’m led to believe you are someone I and many others have been searching for a long time ago.” She said, placing the file down on a table that rose up from the ground of the Bullhead. Everyone saw the photo and the only one who had any real reaction was Yang, who’s eyes widen and she looked at the two. The Grimm guy stared blankly at the photo before shifting back into his more human-like self, where I soon saw the resemblances between the photo and him, albeit the photo shows a younger man, there was no doubt in my mind it could have been him, give or take a few years.

“Yeah… It’s Azu by the way.” I heard him mutter to Axycia in a sad tone. Everyone looked at one another in confusion other than Yang who continued to stare at the man named Azu. Aunty nodded a bit before pushing the folder a bit into the middle of the table.

“Eighteen years ago, the Island of Patch was under attack by the Grimm. The Combat School of Signal tried it’s best to hold the Grimm off, but had trouble. Then, almost at once, the Grimm simply… left. Few were killed while a lot more were wounded… and there was only one missing.” Aunty said as she leaned in a bit. “That one goes by the name of Azu Xiao Long, husband to a woman named Raven Branwen and the brother to Taiyang Xiao Long.” This caused both Yang and Ruby’s eyes to go wide in surprise as well as the others. “It’s been some time of searching before the people of the Island, and some Huntsmen, to simply write that the missing was dead… so Azu, what I want to know is what happened to you.” Auntie said as she leaned forward a bit.

“I don’t… know… one moment I was fending them off, the next I was strapped against the wall of a dungeon.” He said simply before I looked over at Yang. The two stared at each other for a bit as the two Grimm kids looked between the two of them.

“A dungeon huh… tell me, you remember anything else? What happens after you awoke in the dungeon?” Axycia asked. Azu took a deep breath and sighed.

“Many things, many… horrible horrible things… but I’m not willing to say anything else…” He added, looking down at his kids and saying. “Not yet.”

Axycia stared at the Azu for a few moments in silence before finally speaking. “Alright.” She said as she pulled away, taking the folder back with her as well.

“Papa…” the female child beside Azu spoke up. “Will we be safe now? I don’t want to get separated again…” she said to her father as the other moved closer to Azu. This caused Yang to look away from the three and look out of the window.

“Neither do I… but I’m sure we’ll be safe,” Azu said to his little girl sweetly, pulling her closer to comfort her and doing the same with the boy. No one said anything after that as I looked over to Yang who stared out of the window. I wanted to ask her what’s up but I feel that it’s would lead to a dead end.

“If you don’t mind me asking, you said that your name is Azu Xiao Long?” Weiss spoke up to the man. “As in… the same last name as Yang?”

“Yang?” Azu said the way he said the name made it seem like it was familiar to him. He closed his eyes at this but said nothing else for the time being all the while Yang herself looked out the window, only glancing at the man as if she couldn’t believe her eyes.

The room got awkwardly quiet as we all looked between the two of them, who either are not looking at each other or have their eyes closed. “I’m… feeling like that wasn’t something I should’ve asked…” Weiss said as she looked at Yang. The rest of the ride, which wasn’t much, was spent in silence before we felt the ship land and while everyone got off, Yang and Azu stayed on, the kids sitting beside him. The rest of Team RWBY was quiet about this, preferring to leave Yang to handle this instead of butting in.

When I went to look at my team, I saw them walking off with Mavis in tow along with Umbra’s Uncle which left me and Auntie by the bullhead, eavesdropping. I did my best not to look like it but Auntie didn’t care she was seen doing this.

Neither of them said anything to each other for about a minute or two before Yang finally spoke. “I was told you died.” She said to Azu. “Dad- your brother said that you died trying to protect home. Trying to protect me.” Yang said, breaking the silence.

“Honestly… For the longest time, I thought I did.” Came Azu’s response before he sighed and added. “The night the Grimm attack, it happened so fast. It came out of nowhere and they were so many… I didn’t care, I did what any sane person would’ve done… protected my daughter.” Azu said before he soon added after a brief. “I don’t why the Grimm took me specifically. I wasn’t anyone special, I wasn’t no Huntsman like my brother.” I heard him say. Oh? Not a Huntsman, then how did he fend off the supposed horde?

“He did say you were one hell of a boxer,” Yang said with a half-hearted laugh. When she stopped Yang frowned. “I was also told that after you disappeared… mom took off.”

“No surprise there…” Azu said with a sigh and a shake of his head. “Raven was… complicated to say the very least.” He admitted to Yang. The two fell into silence after that for a few moments before Yang spoke.

“I met mom, had a bit of a talk with her… didn’t end off on a good note.” Yang said before adding. “But that’s not what I want to talk about. If you were still kicking… why didn’t you come back?” Yang asked, now staring at Azu, frowning.

“I would’ve… but after escaping from… my captures with these two, I ran to a little bit of a snag when an Atlas patrol apprehended me, sedated me and the kids and dragged us off into Atlas’ prized ships.” Azu answered back, hugging his kids' closer as they whimpered a bit at the mention of Atlas. “I would’ve… truly… I just… I just wish I didn’t miss so much of your life.” Azu added with a sad look. Yang didn’t say anything at first before she stood up.

“There’s… a tournament coming up. Me and my team are going to be in it, maybe you could… watch it?” Yang said before shaking her head and adding. “No, not could, will! You’ll watch it and if you don’t I’m going come find you and slug you! Got it!. This got a chuckle out from Azu.

“I’d like to see you try, kid.” He said with a chuckle before Yang walked off the Bullhead, to which I reacted in the most normal way possible. Leaning on the Bullhead like some bad girl type, I mentally slapped myself at this. I looked over at Yang who looked over at me with an arched brow.

“Sup,” I said to her, again mentally slapping myself. Yang stared at me before shaking her head and walking off. I glanced into the Bullhead, seeing Azu and the two kids sitting patiently and quietly but I did notice the little smile he had before my auntie chuckled at me.

“That was the best you had?” She asked me between chuckles.

“I panicked okay,” I answered her as I looked away. After a few moments, I looked back at my aunt. “So… what’ll happen to the three of them?” I asked her.

“Oh, nothing too serious. I just need to do some paperwork and they’ll be free to go anywhere. I’ll provide them with a home of their own, secured and safe.” She said to me simply.

“And Atlas? What about them?” I asked her which she simply chuckled.

“I shouldn’t be worried about them, in fact, they are the ones that should be worried.” She said with a grin on her face.

“Yeah… I’m uhh, going to go now.” I said to her before quickly heading off, wanting to go about my day before Auntie goes all… Well, here on me.

Author's Note

Yang has an interesting family, doesn’t she?