#Yang: one day I'll find a parental figure who won't let me down

[fatedmuses]

Yang stayed quiet, as her mother let out another word vomit. It seemed like this had been something she'd been holding onto for a long, long time. Honestly, Yang felt a little sad for her. There hadn't been anyone who she could go to with this.

Maybe Uncle Qrow would have understood, but whatever had happened between Raven and Tai had apparently burned that bridge as well.

The part about Summer... didn't hit her as hard as she would have expected. Maybe because she knew, now, that Summer was alive, that she wasn't the super mom Yang remembered. That she'd made mistakes, just like everyone else.

"So something went very, very wrong, clearly," Yang said with a frown. As far as plans went, it actually wasn't a bad idea. The logic was sound, anyway. "And mom, Summer, I mean, just... decided to do this? On a fucking whim?" Yang would believe she'd been freaked by Ruby having silver eyes. It was a lot of responsibility to put on one person. They were all trying to carry some of that burden for her, now, but... it only worked if she let them.

And Summer seemed like she wouldn't have let her team help. Or even know.

Raven glanced away again, gnawing the inside of her cheek. Personal details aside, none of what she'd said so far was anything Tai or Qrow couldn't corroborate, if Yang asked. But–

She let out a fretful little breath. "Not… exactly. I was already—me and Oz never did see eye-to-eye about anything, and I…" a self-deprecating snicker, threaded with nerves. "Probably won't shock you to hear I didn't handle leaving your father as kindly as I should've. Um. I kept working for Ozpin, but it– Nobody really wanted me around after all that."

Maybe it was her own fault for screwing up her love life and then getting her feelings hurt when none of her team had her back. Raven hiked up her shoulders, fighting the urge to bolt out the nearest window. Screwed her eyes shut. The temperature in the room dropped with a faint rumble like distant thunder.

Her jaw twitched. "You met—Hazel," she said reedily. "Gretchen's brother. Oz fed him some bullshit about private training that kept him quiet for a while. I should've just…"

There were a lot of things she should've just.

Wetting her lips, she muttered, "Whatever. It went on like that for a few years. Ruby happened." She winced again. You sound just like your mother. Not her finest moment. "Summer… I don't know. I don't know what she's thinking. Maybe the eyes freaked her out. I don't know. She reached out to me. In secret."

For this part, all Raven had was her word. Her word against the perfect fucking martyred hero everyone else made of Summer Rose. She gripped her elbows hard, wall-eyed.

"Her last 'mission,'" she blurted out. "I knew by then that Salem can't be killed but we figured—you know, the light can turn grimm into stone, it was worth a shot, and with our semblances… You know about mine. Hers can make her imperceptible to anything alive, including Salem. We planned for Summer to go in alone, catch her off guard. I stayed behind—with Gretchen, we were in a safe house up north. If she got in trouble, I'd open a portal; and Gretchen could…"

Awkwardly, she mimed a blast of magic. Yang saw that trick at Haven; she'd get the idea.

"…buy us a few seconds," she whispered. "Just long enough for me to grab Summer and get us out of there if it didn't work."