"Imagine you were afraid"

"in terrible pain."

"Just when you thought it couldn't get worse"

you looked up and saw the face of the devil himself. Tai Xiao Long hadn't always been like this, he was a good person once, but the loss of his second wife had turned him bitter and resentful to the boy who she had chosen to adopt all those years ago.

Anyway where were we, oh yes, he was stomping on your ribs, cracking them like some kind of twisted xylophone

"We shouldn't have taken you, so pathetic..." Tai grunted a little as he stomped straight through Y/N's sternum.

Y/N coughed up blood, wondering how he was still alive at this point. Destiny seemed to have other ideas. Eventually Tai left, apparently the blood that Y/N had managed to cough up had dirtied his boots too much for him to continue. A hollow victory.

Y/N crawled onto his bed, trying to rest when his door flew open, revealing Yang Xiao Long

"Fuck" Y/N said as he was dragged towards his sister, it was either violence or pummelling with her, it was a lottery, unfortunately she had picked both today.

===TIMESKIP===
Because man's gonna get pummelled by Yang

Y/N heard talking from his room and sheepishly opened the door, creeping down the banister, he saw Qrow and Tai talking, Qrow had a large gauntlet in his hand

"Tai, If Salem gets this, she will harness all 6 stones, we already know she has at least one, what happens if she gets all 6?" Qrow sighed "you need to hide this somewhere" he said

Tai nodded "I'll head out into the woods and bury it somewhere" he said, taking the gauntlet and leaving it on the table "what about the stones?" He asked

"They're safe for now, I've got Power, Ozpin has time, each of the other headmasters have one of them too, except Vacuo"

"Why what happened there?"

"Raven did, as far as I know, she still has the reality Stone" he said, "the only thing stopping Salem apart from those rumours about the spring maiden" he said, "say hi to Yang, Y/N and Ruby for me, would you" Qrow headed to the door and walked out.

Qrow hadn't known about the abuse, being away from the family had meant he hadn't really noticed the many bruises that littered Y/Ns body. Tai intended to keep it that way as long as he could.

Y/N waited for Tai to go before he snuck down the stairs and scooped up the gauntlet, it seemed to be calling to him. He put the gauntlet on and surprisingly it was a perfect fit. Convenient huh?

Y/N ran back up the stairs quietly and marvelled at the gauntlet, it felt light but one test swing could break a bone he figured, he smiled a little and heard a bird sit on his windowsill "it's not nice to spy" Qrow said as he jumped on the carpet "jeez, what happened to you kid?" He asked, looking at Y/N, noticing the scratches all over his body and arms, that was just what was in view, thank you Yang.

"Beowolf" Y/N lied, not wanting to tear apart the family.

"Beowolves don't leave scratches like that" Qrow said, looking at him. Shit.

"Training" Y/N tried to lie again, unfortunately the Branwen wasn't fooled for a second. So he told him everything, about the abuse, straight down to Yang's bonding time.

By the end of his mournful tale, Qrow looked pale, he took Y/Ns hand "I'm not going to kill Tai today, but I will take you with me, teach you how to defend yourself" he said "but you need a weapon" he said, taking an orb from his belt and opening it, revealing a purple stone "if that abuse really is as bad as I thought then this won't be nearly as bad"

"I have sort of got used to pain" Y/N said quietly, looking down.

"Good" Qrow said as he held the purple stone over the gauntlet, like a magnet it snapped into place, sending a course of energy through his arm.

Y/N grunted a little but gave no other inclination of pain. He smiled up at his uncle slightly "is that it?" He asked with a grin

"Alright Y/N, time to leave, these bastards don't deserve a note from you anyway" Qrow said, taking a swig from his flask and pulling open the window. "After you" he said with a grin

===========

"You gave the most powerful weapon in remnant to a child?" Glynda asked Qrow with piercing eyes

"It's not the most powerful weapon yet, anyway the kid deserves some security after what happened to him" Qrow looked over at Y/N who was scoffing an ice cream in a tub that Qrow had bought for him.

Glynda sighed "he has the power stone, few can wield it without disintegrating and on top of that, you've taught him how to use it!" She exclaimed, visibly annoyed by the lax behaviour of the drunk man before her

"Right now, Y/N is on par with one of the best huntsmen you've got and that's without any training, the guys 16 so he's almost old enough to attend beacon, all I ask is that you let him in early, let him keep the stone and prove himself" Qrow said

"Ozpin, tell him he's had too much today" Glynda looked at the headmaster in the hopes of bringing some sense to this conversation

"Hmm, I wonder..." Ozpin stood up "this boy can take the hardest stone to contain without too much damage, what if he could take all six?" Ozpin looked at them

"Ozpin, no"

"Ozpin, yes"

"He could be the key to stopping Salem" Ozpin said, looking at his cane "but we need to know where his loyalties will lie, he can come to beacon, I will however let him keep the stone and gauntlet" he said, sitting back down a little

"You can't possibly think that-"

"That's what's happening Glynda" Ozpin cut across her with such force she almost flinched

"Mr Branwen, ill see you at initiation" Ozpin looked at Y/N and smiled slightly

Y/N returned with a small nod before tossing his tub in a nearby bin and standing up

"I look forward to it" he said