Abandonment Issues

Abandonment Issues is the family ship between Raven Branwen and Yang Xiao Long from the RWBY fandom.

Canon
Yang is the biological daughter of Raven, whom she had with Taiyang. Apparently, shortly after Yang was born, Raven left to return to the branwen tribe. Taiyang then kept secret from Yang who her true mother was until the death of Summer Rose, Yang's step-mother. After Yang learned the truth, she began to search for Raven, putting her and her sister Ruby's lives in danger when they almost got attacked by grimm. After being saved by her uncle Qrow, Yang promised herself to not let this search control her, though she also said that she would continue to search for Raven to this day.

Eventhough we don't know the true extent of Raven's feelings for Yang, She did keep an eye on her for several years before they officially met in volume 5. Raven would usually appear in her bird form so that way Yang would not be able to recognize her. In volume 2, Team RWBY goes on a mission to Mountain Glenn and Yang and Neo get into a fight before Neo knocks her out cold. When Neopolitan is about to kill Yang, Raven appears from her portal and scares Neo off before once again disappearing. Yang also had a brief dream about her mother at the end of volume 2.

Later in volume 3, Qrow passes along a message from Raven to Yang, warning her that she would not be willing to save her again. In volume 4, when Raven and Qrow meet up to talk, he tells her that Yang lost her arm (eventhough she alredy knew this, having observed her in her bird form). He then criticizes her for not attempting to get into contact with Yang, claiming she has a skewed perception of family. When they finally do meet in volume 5, Raven tells Yang that she's proud of the fact that she finally found her, before saying that after all this time her daughter finally decided to visit her. This greatly angers Yang as she spent years looking for Raven, she then attempts to recruit her into the tribe but is disappointed when Yang tells her she was just simply looking for a faster way to get to Qrow and Ruby.

Raven then gives Yang an ultimatum: either stay with her and they can have a "proper" relationship, and she will answer all of her questions, or go through the portal to Ruby and Qrow and possibly die with them. Yang chooses the latter without hesitation, much to Raven's disappointment, she then warns Yang that the next time they meet she will not be as kind. Yang rolls her eyes and retorts that she was not kind this time either, to which Raven sadly agrees with. In volume 5 chpter 14, Raven is incensed to see Yang standing behind her, disrupting her moment of happiness. She then reveals to Yang how she acquired the Spring Maiden's power, causing a heated argument between the two which leads Yang to confront her about her hypocrisy.

Raven tries to rationalize her actions as being strong, only to be ridiculed as a coward and a hypocrite by Yang. She is then forced to relinquish the Relic of Knowledge to Yang because of her fear of Salem with Yang telling her that Salem will be hunting her endlessly if she takes the relic. Raven then tries to convince Yang to not do this, but is unsecessful as Yang coldly shoves her aside. Finally, coming face-to-face with her own cowardice and inability to stop Yang, Raven tearfully apologizes before using a portal to retreat.

Their relationship has even deteriorated to the point that in volume 8 chapter 10, Yang refers to Summer as her mother instead of Raven when talking to Salem and Ruby. This implies that Yang no longer sees Raven as her real mother.

Fanon
While Yang and Raven are mother and daughter, there have been fans who treat them as a femslash ship. Then there are those who strongly prefer to keep them as a family ship, and hate the idea of pairing them romantically due to them being mother and daughter. Their relationship has always been seen as highly toxic by the fans because of Raven's actions and her apparent unfeeling nature towards Yang. After the evets of volume 5 fans wonder if Raven will comeback to team rwby. There has also been speculation that she might become allies with Yang and Qrow and the three might have an uneasy alliance. It has a small fanbase on tumblr.

Fandom
TUMBLR

Trivia

 * Abandonment Issues comes from Raven abandoning Yang, and Yang still having issues about that.