Sunset Orange

Yang absentmindedly ate the food served to her at Raven's camp with a heavy heart and confused mind. She finally, FINALLY had the answers to the questions that haunted most of her life, but she didn't feel any better at knowing the truth of her birth mother's disappearance in her and her father's lifes. Her mother left them because she was scared and never loved her father, and her existence was an unexpected surprise, but she did take solace in the fact that Raven cared enough to keep track of her.

But Yang still felt unsure about how to handle the whole thing and glanced at her birth mother as she ate. Raven noticed this but kept quiet as she knew her daughter had a lot to process. Ruby then grabbed the former bandit's attention.

" Excuse me."

" Yes, Ruby?"

Raven focused on the young Rose as her fidgety and nervous attitude reminded the former bandit of Summer Rose, which brought up an old regret in Raven. Her Semblance Kindred Link allowed her to open portals to people she bonded with, and she could also monitor their condition to a degree through the bond she shares with them. The former bandit felt Summer was in trouble when she disappeared and likely confronted Salem, and Raven was too scared to try and help her former team leader until the bond she felt with Summer shattered.

This filled the former bandit with regret but refocused on Ruby as the little cookie monster asked.

" Um, since you are Yang's mom, do I also call you mom as well?"

Yang almost choked on her food at hearing the question her younger sister asked, which made her grab a drink of water. Raven arched her eyebrow at Ruby and answered in an even tone.

" You may address me with whatever you are comfortable with, Ruby, but I prefer if you just call me by my name."

" And that is?"

The little cookie monster didn't recall the former bandit's name despite likely being told it by her big sister, as she never really came up in conversations.

" Raven."

Raven curtly answered as she went back to eating, and Ruby then asked.

" So, Aunt Raven, what is going to happen now?"

Raven narrowed her eyes at being addressed as Aunt Raven, which made the young Rose shrink under her gaze as the former bandit answered.

" After we are done eating, I am going to give your uncle a call that you will be spending the night with me and keep your father from panicking too much. Then in the morning, I will drop you off at your home."

Raven decided to have them spend the night with her in hopes of reconnecting with Yang before she left. The blonde heard this and felt elated at maybe talking with her mother more and dread at facing her father's punishment for going off to Atlas without his permission. Raven finished eating and got up, then got her Scroll out to call Qrow.

***

Qrow Branwen was beside Taiyang Xiao Long in worry at the message he received from his sister, of all people, that his nieces were with her right now. While he felt sure that his twin wouldn't hurt the girls, at least not intentionally, he still worried as Raven's Scroll was off, so that he couldn't get in touch with her right now. The reaper felt it was typical of his sister to avoid explaining herself until she felt ready to do so on her terms. The blonde father paced back and forth in his living room until Qrow received a call from Raven.

" Tai, it's my sister."

" Put her on speaker."

Taiyang told his brother-in-law with a complicated look as he was feeling a swirl of emotions, and Qrow did as he was asked. He turned on the speaker function of his Scroll and set it on the table. Before Raven could say anything, the blonde father demanded.

" Are the girls okay!?"

"They're fine, Tai. I'm treating them to lunch and setting up a place for them tonight."

Taiyang was stunned at what he heard and asked as he doubted his ears.

" What do you mean your setting up a place for them tonight?"

" It's exactly what it sounds like, Tai. Don't worry. They will be back by tomorrow morning."

As the blonde father processes what he just heard, Qrow then asks his twin sister as her actions did not make any sense to him.

" What are you up to, Raven?"

" I'm... reconnecting with Yang or at least trying to..."

Hearing his sister's emotional tone, Qrow was completely stunned, along with his brother-in-law, at learning that Raven was trying to make amends to her daughter. This course of action did not match the woman that they knew, and Raven ended the call.

" Now that you know that the girls are okay and you will be seeing them soon, I will see you later."

The former bandit hung up and turned her Scroll off again, not to have to deal with a bombardment of questions from the two men. A stunned silence filled the Xiao Long/Rose residence as Qrow and Taiyang were having difficulty processing what they had just learned as it was too different from the Raven they knew to act like this. They knew the former bandit chief practically washed her hands of them for the most part when she left to do her own thing. The reaper sighed and said.

" I knew snowball changed her, but I didn't expect this much. To think that after all these years, she is actually talking with firecracker and trying to connect with her."

The blonde father took a seat and asked no one in particular.

" How did Silva manage to change Raven this much?"

" Only my sister and he knows, and I doubt they are going to explain themselves unless we ask, but I think it's a good change overall."

The reaper answered as he drank from his flask and then offered it to his brother-in-law, which he took and drank from as well to get the edge off his mind. The two men stayed in the living room as they felt despondent at the current turn of events.

***

Helga Hati went over the supplies her Hati Tribe just got from their recent transaction with Mistral's black markets. She felt it wasn't enough to help establish a presence in Anima after being kicked out of Vale along with the Skoll tribe by the Xiong family. They kept a low profile at first, but when they heard that Hei Xiong Senior recently had died from a Dust explosion, they leaped at the chance to carve out a piece of Vale for themselves. Unfortunately, Hei Xiong Junior wasn't going to allow that and systematically destroyed their operations with his information network.

Despite his father's death, Junior got the Xiong family in order and continued its establishment of being the only leading crime figure in Vale. The Hati and Skoll tribe ultimately decided to gamble on Anima because of the Branwen tribe's disbanding. There was a power vacuum they could take advantage of and set themselves up to rebuild their forces. A man enters Helga's tent; it is Strife Skoll, the leader of the Skoll tribe, a tall person with long blood-red hair and sharp eyes of the same color. His rosy complexion made him fairly good-looking, and he had no shortage of people to keep him company at night.

" So Helga, my dear, what's our next joint venture?"

His familiarity with the Hati leader wasn't out of disrespect, but he treated everyone like that, which sometimes gave others the misconception that he was weak. They learned the hard way that he was chief of the Skoll tribe for a reason, and the examples they were made out of were grim reminders that Strife thrived on conflict and pain. Helga looked at her fellow leader and told him.

" We need more supplies and a somewhat permanent base of operations to establish ourselves until we can set up routes to use to cycle our raiding targets and stay mobile."

" I see. Then would another raid on a convoy heading towards Atlas do the trick?"

The two of them had grudges against the kingdom of Atlas as they barely survived the massive purge on not only a few remaining bandit tribes but also their informant. Helga gave the okay as she knew her tribe members would join in on the raid.

" Do it."

" With pleasure~."

Strife had a face-splitting grin as he practically purred at the next strike against the kingdom. The Skoll leader grabbed his weapon, a thorn-covered whip with a bladed pommel, and cracked it to get everyone's attention as he roared out with malice.

" Get ready, Skoll and Hati tribe. We are hitting an Atlesian convoy again!"

The two tribes cheered at the thought of getting back at those that drove them out of their homeland and made preparations to strike again. Strife took out his Scroll and sent payment to the Spider Organization for information on the next convoy for Atlas, which would happen within a week.