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Chapter Text

“I bring misfortune.” a voice rang out, “I guess you could call me a bad luck charm.”

Those words repeated themselves over and over; like a bell tolling endlessly in Ruby’s dreams.   Yesterday, she was in Oniyuri on the way to Mistral; and while traveling through the abandoned city, she ran into some very odd guy who called himself Tyrian.  He claimed that he was there to take her to his queen. Like hell that was going to happen. He attacked her, only for Uncle Qrow to intervene and take control of the battle.  She was sure that Qrow had called Tyrian’s queen “Salem”.

Sadly, that bitch ; Tyrian, being an scorpion faunus, had stung her uncle. He scurried away not long after, claiming he would return. But not before Ruby returned his favour with one of her own; cutting off his tail in his momentary distraction. While Tyrian was eager to giggle and bask in his slight victory, Ruby made sure he would never get the chance to poison anyone else ever again.

But the fight was not what haunted Ruby. Instead, Ruby’s mind raced with everything her uncle had explained before she had fallen asleep.

Earlier that night, Qrow had told her about Ozpin’s mission: Ozpin, in league with the other headmasters of Remnant, all worked towards a common goal. To keep the Kingdoms and the treasures they concealed safely out of Salem’s hands.  He even told Ruby the story of the Maidens, and of the relics. Ruby had been shocked ridged by the news, but it made sense. It brought a new clarity to the events atop Beacon Tower, with Cinder… and Pyrrha. Qrow also spoke of the brothers; two gods watching over the world before they had abandoned it long ago.  

Though perhaps the biggest revelation came after a small argument, when Qrow ended up telling her and the others about his semblance. It made Ruby shudder to think that a semblance was the reason loving uncle was so distant in her life.

She had been traveling with Jaune, Nora, and Ren for a few months now. Her Uncle had ensured that she knew Cinder’s trail led to Haven; so that’s where RNJR decided to go...  They’d started their journey at Ruby’s house on the island of Patch and made their way eastward towards the city of Mistral, arriving at Anima via a ship known as the S.S. Pride.

Since their departure from Vale, the journey had become rougher.  No one was watching the roads for Grimm anymore; everyone was just watching out for themselves.  Fortunately, by the time they’d gotten to Mistral, all four kingdoms still had their borders open.  

Unfortunately, Jaune wasn’t having a good night either. To start with,he was still pissed at Qrow for what happened to Pyrrha. But on a more pressing note, now it seemed that Ruby, his best friend, was being tracked by assassins, probably sent to kill her!  He just couldn’t stand it at all. Why Ruby of all people?! And why was that faunus interested in him? But despite all that weighing him down, , all Jaune could really think of was a nightmare, eerily similar to a scene from that fateful night at Beacon.

Jaune opened his eyes to see himself running side by side with Ruby, as they exited a battered tower.  The rain didn’t help Jaune either as he felt the water began to weigh him down. The first thing he noticed they were in a different city than either Beacon or Oniyuri, with smoke arising from the mountains around them.

“What…was all that?” he asked to Ruby, quite worried about the banging he heard coming from within the base of the tower.  He noticed Ruby was just staring down at the ground, and even within the rain he could see her tears dripping down her face.

“Qrow.” she whispered, Jaune barely hearing it.  ‘Qrow? Oh right he’s poisoned.’ Jaune thought to himself, ‘something must have happened to him again’.  “There’s no time.” She turned to Jaune, her silver eyes starting to glow, to Jaune’s confusion: why were they glowing?  “Go. Get to safety, and call for help.” she commanded as she held out Crescent Rose in it’s sniper form.

Jaune just stared at Ruby; his expression shifted from confusion to worry.  “Huh? What are you going to do?” he asked as she paused. Ruby then turned to face the tower.  Jaune joined her, noticing Cinder glowing an amber color faintly at the top. Jaune shook his head as he spoke to Ruby.  “No, Ruby, you can’t…I won’t let-”

Jaune was stopped as Ruby kissed him, her lips warm to the touch; they felt…. right .  The world seemed to slow down as he just looked at Ruby while they kissed.  He continued kissing her for a few more seconds, before Ruby broke off. “I’m sorry, Jaune.”  She smiled at him sadly, her glowing silver eyes full of tears. The sound of Crescent Rose changing forms was heard as Jaune just stood there, his eyes watering.  “I’ll be alright.” she finished as she turned and scattered into rose petals, her trail leading right up to the tower, then upwards, the petals swirling around the tower in a spiral motion.

Jaune started to cry, and he finally remembered why this was so familiar, before  he quickly scrambled for his scroll and dialed Yang’s number. “No! Ruby!” he shouted as he cried into his scroll, “Yang!” he shouted into his scroll as he heard the call click live.  “Please, you need to stop her!”

“What?” came a voice over the scroll, but it wasn’t Yang’s voice through.  Jaune instead recognized the voice as Weiss Schnee’s.

“Ruby…” he said into the scroll, trying to form a sentence out of his words, “She went up the tower to fight Cinder… you need to help her!  Ruby can’t fight her alone, she doesn’t stand a chance!” Jaune finally screamed into the phone, Weiss was his and Ruby’s only hope now.

“Jaune, what are you talking about, where are you?” asked Weiss.

“Don’t worry about me!  Please…save Ruby.” He stopped talking as he stood there, he knew it was too late, he couldn’t stop Ruby, and neither would they be able to, but he knew he had to tell Weiss; for Ruby’s sake if not his own.

“Where is she?!” asked Weiss, her voice slowly becoming concerned over the scroll.

“She’s at the main tower! Please, you have to do something! For Ruby!” he shouted into the scroll as he chucked it, as he started to scream.

“Jaune?  Jaune!?” shouted Weiss over the scroll, as Jaune started to cry uncontrollably.  The rain comforting him as it fell down on top of him and his shield.

“No…I’ve already lost Pyrrha….I can’t lose Ruby too…!” He shouted to himself, alone in the darkness, as a flash of lightning shook the skies above and the world turned to white.

His eyes burst open, as Jaune awoke from his nightmare, shivering from the residual adrenaline.  Jaune looked around, to see the rest of his team resting sound. Even Qrow was fast asleep up against a tree.  He sighed in relief, and as the fire was slowly going still, he looked across to Ruby, whose face shone like gold in the light of the flickering flames,.  ‘What was that all about?’ he thought. Why did it feel so real and natural? Jaune pondered those thoughts as he tried to fall back asleep, keeping his eyes on Ruby to make sure she didn’t disappear.

The morning dawned slowly on the rest of the group.  Qrow awoke in a fit of coughs, and he looked down to see that his cut had started to ooze purple.  Ruby ran to his side as he spoke.

“Well… that’s unfortunate” Qrow muttered as he fell unconscious.

“Uncle Qrow!” shouted Ruby as she tried to check his temperature; she was worried for her uncle’s health.

Ren looked at Qrow’s cut. “We need to get to Mistral, and fast…. Qrow’s cut is bad… he was injected with that scorpion faunus’ venom.”  

“How bad are talking about?” said Ruby, tears almost falling from her eyes.

“We need to rush to Mistral…-” Ren said, turning to Ruby as he spoke.  “Ruby, can you run back to Oniyuri? Your semblance will let you search more land quickly, go get a stretcher and fast!” Ren asked, a look of worry in his eyes.

“Right… do you think that town will have medicine?” Ruby asked, with a great deal of concern in her voice.

“Oniyuri was never finished Ruby, so I doubt it, but  I still think there might be a stretcher.” Ren stated, as Ruby nodded, acknowledging what Ren had said.

“Right…” Ruby rushed off, turning into a pile of petals as she ran towards the now long abandoned city.

“Jaune, go clean out the fire.” Ren ordered to the blonde man standing at the fire pit.

“Right.” said Jaune as he started to kill the fire.

“Ren… what’s gonna happen?” asked Nora, looking at her partner, as she hoped for a sign.

“Nora… I don’t know… without the map, we don’t know how far it is to Mistral….” Ren paused as he started to remember his past. “Hopefully it isn’t that far…Oniyuri was only a one to two day trip from...” Ren’s words slowed as he remembered that fateful night, when the Nuckelavee Grimm slaughtered his parents in Kuroyuri.  Nora could feel Ren’s mixed emotions, as she had her own memories of Kuroyuri that night as well, and she knew the look on Ren’s face whenever he started to think about the event.

“Ren, are you okay?” asked Nora, cutting into Ren’s train of thought.

“Nora, I’m fine!” shouted Ren quite angrily.

“Ren, you alright?!” shouted Jaune from the distance.

“Yeah Jaune.” said Ren more quietly as he shook his head to settle his thoughts.

It wasn’t long until Ruby returned, her head low as she came back with only two wooden poles.  

“Nothing?” asked Nora, worried for Ruby.

“Nothing, I only found these poles which I can string together with my sleeping back as a makeshift stretcher.” Ruby solemnly spoke out to her teammates.

It wasn’t long until Ruby lifted Qrow onto the stretcher when it… started .  Ruby didn’t know what it was as she and Ren moved Qrow onto the stretcher; all she noticed was Qrow stirring and then, poof!  His eyes were open for a few moments. “Summer? Is that you?” He asked in Ruby’s direction, unaware he was hallucinating.

“No, It’s me, Ruby, Uncle Qrow.” Ruby answered, confused at her uncle’s words.  Why did he call her by her mother’s name?

“Ruby….” Ren stopped to think about what he was taught in health class. “He might be hallucationing.”

“What do you mean?” Ruby asked out loud to herself, unaware of what Ren meant.

“Well….-” Ren stopped as Jaune walked up to the group, which caused Qrow to start speaking again.

“Great...so you’re going to be on my team, Taiyang?” said Qrow in a sarcastic tone as Jaune walked past him, scaring Jaune for a second.

“He’s seeing things that aren’t there… or rather, as it seems, because of the poison, he sees Ruby as this Summer person, and Jaune as this Taiyang person.” concluded Ren, as he tried to understand what was happening to Qrow.

“Summer’s my mother… and Taiyang is my father…” Ruby paused for a second, to think it over, “Both of them were on the same team as my Uncle Qrow. Uncle Qrow, when he isn’t ignoring the subject  like my father does, says I remind him a lot of my mom…” Ruby took a breath, smiling after her last statement. ‘Yeah, I really must remind them of mom, don’t I?’ she asked herself sadly. “And you all saw my dad Taiyang,  he’s blonde like Jaune… and he can be a goof ball as well.” she finished giggling to herself at her teammates expense.

“Hey!” yelled Jaune,as Ren and Nora joined in a quick chuckle with Ruby.

“But.” Ren started, ending the levity.  “We need to get going, as if he isn’t treated soon, his condition will worsen, and we don’t know how bad it’s affecting him...” Ren said.

“Right, Jaune, help me with my uncle.” Ruby commanded to her teammate.

“Me?” asked Jaune. “Why me?”

“Well….” Ruby said, trying to explain her reasonings.  “He sees you as my Dad, so it might be better if he sees someone he thinks he knows.” Ruby added.  “Plus you’re one of the strongest here.”

“Ruby’s right…” Nora replied as she took charge.  “Ren, you lead, I’ll stand at the back.” said Nora.

“We need to get going then.” added Ren, as he started to walk towards Mistral.  Ruby and Jaune nodded in agreement as they picked Qrow up and started to head towards the direction of the city of Mistral.

Chapter Text

Qrow walked alone in the dark. It was still the night he had told Team RNJR the story about the maidens and the brothers. He stopped walking as he spotted a small campsite, abandoned.

"Raven's tribe", he said to himself as he sat down on a log. He put down his scroll and turned on the recording button.

"Hey Kiddo", he paused to clear his head before continuing, "Ruby. Look… I don't think I'll make it out of this alive Ruby…. So I need to tell you some things…as I already told you… my semblance is bringing bad luck, something you can't really do over the scrolls." he paused. "Well…-" Qrow was stopped as he heard a grimm nearby. Qrow grabbed his scythe, he got up to start to move for the attack, but a woman blotted into existence in front of him attacked the grimm for him.

"What? You're making a deathbed confession?" asked the figure, looking at Qrow, removing her mask.

"Raven… What are you doing here?!" shouted Qrow, struggling to get back down on to the log. "I don't think I'll make it out alive….-"

"I'll watch over you until you reach Mistral then… you will pull through this brother" Raven spotted the scroll, "Who was this for anyway?"

"It's for Ruby" Qrow answered.

"Qrow, I know you, you're still the drunkard I first saw after Sum-" Raven was stopped by Qrow walking up to her, scythe in hand.

"Mention that on the scroll and I will personally burn down your tribe if I heal", he said, his voice stewed in rage.

"Brother, you're in no condition to make threats…" she paused and smirked at Qrow, "Besides, it was also your tribe at one point; look just tell Ruby in person… she needs to hear it in person from you."

"And what about you?" Qrow retorted.

"As I said, the tribe doesn't need me for a few days, we just had a good raid, so I'll watch over you, it's only maybe two days until you reach Mistral: goodbye Brother." said Raven as she walked away. Qrow looked at the scroll. "I guess you just saw that… that's Yang's mother, Raven, and I guess she figures I'll make it out alive." He picked it up and silently walked back to their campsite. "Well, Kiddo, when I recover, I'll tell you what I was gonna tell you in this video… if I don't make it and Raven has lied to me, bring this scroll to Taiyang he'll fill you in himself; goodnight Ruby", finished Qrow as he turned off the recording. "Well, at least if Raven's lying, I should try t and think about my past and you, Summer." Qrow added as he silently fell asleep.

Qrow awoke the next morning in a fit of coughs. Ruby ran to his side to see his cut had oozing an unnatural purple.

"Well, that's unfortunate" Qrow said as he fell unconscious, however he could still hear them in the back of his head. 'Stop yelling', thought Qrow as Ren shouted to Nora, 'Now…I should begin to remember…her.' Qrow started to think back to when he was first met Summer, and later, the other members of team STRQ. Qrow began to reminisce.

Ozpin had welcomed Qrow and Raven himself.   Both of them passed the entry exams with flying colors; however Qrow, unlike Raven, decided not to steal a katana from the tribe, so he was worried. He stood in the audience of Ozpin's speech next to a young pale woman with black hair and hints of red highlights. He noticed this girl had silver eyes, something he had never seen in the tribe.  When Ozpin finished his speech they headed out together.

"So… hi, I'm Summer", said the woman, turning to Qrow.

"I'm Qrow", Qrow replied.

"It's nice to meet you Qrow, so what's your weapon?" asked Summer kindly.

Qrow sighed, 'Of course, that's the question she asked' he thought, as he replied. "I don't have one."

Summer looked at him, "What?"

"I was raised outside of the kingdoms, I shared weapons with my family… Ozpin told me that I could use the armory to build one with him, through."

"That sounds amazing!" Summer bubbled excitedly as she pulled out her weapon, "This is Silver Rose."

"A sword, huh? That's what I was trained on", Qrow replied, trying to smile at the young woman.

"It's also a gun." said Summer pushing a button, causing the blade to split, falling away to reveal a rifle barrel . "It's a HIRB."

"HIRB?" asked Qrow.

"High Impact Rifle Blade."

"Interesting." Qrow said as they entered the armory.

Professor Ozpin was there waiting for Qrow, when he spotted Qrow; he spoke. "Good Morning Mr. Branwen."

"Good Morning Headmaster."

"Ah, good morning, Ms. Rose." Ozpin said, as he spotted Summer.

"Hi Professor Ozpin!" she happily replied.

"Mr. Branwen, you said you don't have a weapon?"

"No." Qrow, sharply.

"Well, Mr. Branwen, there are plenty of parts here." Ozpin smiled. "Any type of weapon in mind?"

"Well… I was trained on swords, however, I've liked the feeling of holding a scythe."

"A scythe!?" squeaked Summer.

"Yes, I had one… but it was damaged beyond repair."

"Very well, then, Mr. Branwen." said Ozpin, "I'll help you build a scythe."

"You mind if I watch?" asked Summer.

"Not at all." replied Qrow, as he was enjoying Summer's company.

Hours went by as Qrow worked on forging his weapon, with help from both Ozpin and Summer. At the end of the day, he was holding his new weapon. At some point, someone, likely Summer, mentioned that a pair of shotguns would be useful for combat. He was testing it out, swinging the weapon back and forth.

"Well?" asked Ozpin.

"Thank you ever so much Headmaster" Qrow added, smiling at his headmaster.

"You're welcome, Mr. Branwen, now run along to meet with the others", mentioned Ozpin, smiling at Qrow and Summer.

"You have a name for it?" asked Summer as she and Qrow left.

"Not yet, was thinking of Harbinger, through." Qrow answered.

"That sounds amazing!" Summer said, as they entered the ballroom.

Qrow's eyes soon found Raven, she was about to get into a fight with a blonde boy. "Come on, Summer, I want you to meet someone". He stopped at Raven and put his weapon in between the two. "Can you two stop?"

Raven smirked. "About time you arrived, Qrow."

"Hey, I wasn't done talking", said the blonde boy. "Heya Summer", he added as he spotted Summer.

"You trying to get this girl?" asked Summer, "Typical you, Tai".

"You know me too much, Summer" Tai added, turning to Qrow, "So, who are you?"

"I'm Qrow Branwen, I'm Raven's brother", he turned to Summer, "You two know each other?"

"Oh yeah, me and Tai go way back, we were friends at Signal, on Patch".

"Patch?" asked Qrow, unaware of the location.

"You don't know about Patch?" asked Tai, "It's an amazing island off the coast of Vale, where were you raised that you don't know about it?"

"Anima, outside of the kingdoms" he said, he smirked as he added, "Tai".

"My name is Taiyang Xiao Long." Taiyang muttered.

"So…" Raven said, changing the subject. "Who's this little shorty?", asked Raven, as she towered over Summer.

"Uh… my name.. is Summer Rose" Summer stammered quite shyly.

"Raven's all bark, no bite, Summer" Qrow replied as he met with a glare from his sister's eyes.

"You really want to fight, Qrow?" asked Raven.

"Not now, it's almost time for bed"

As soon as he finished, Ms. Goodwitch, a new teacher's aide told everyone to get ready for bed.

"How did you know?" asked Summer, puzzled by how Qrow knew what was about to happen.

Qrow smirked and started to laugh, "Oh, just an unlucky guess."

Soon enough, the four had changed into their sleepwear or rather Tai and Summer had. Raven and Qrow just wore what seemed to Taiyang and Summer to be normal clothes.

"That's what you two sleep in?" asked Tai.

"Yeah... -" started Qrow before being cut off by Raven.

"You have a problem with our sleepwear?" asked Raven.

"Well, kinda. Those look like normal clothes."

"Well, where we lived we didn't have the luxury to sleep in your style of sleepwear" Raven snapped.

Qrow whispered to Summer, "That, and we don't have normal sleepwear." Summer only giggled in response.

Soon enough, the lights went out and they all got onto their sheets and went to sleep, wondering how everything will go down for their next four years at Beacon.

Chapter Text

Qrow awoke early the next morning, and watched the sun rise.  Raven awoke as the sun rose. Raven spoke first. “You’re up early, Qrow.”  Qrow smiled at his sister in a very cheeky way. “Well, the early bird catches the worm.-” Qrow was hit in the head by a pillow. “Raven, you should get a grip, it’s just slang here.”

“Remember, even though it’s your semblance, no turning into your bird form.” Raven added as she walked up to Qrow, who had already gotten breakfast. “You already have breakfast?”  Qrow smirked back, “Of course, it’s unfair to others, my semblance, I mean.  No teleporting to me either, Raven.”  Raven just nodded.

Summer awoke next, yawning, she got up to see the two siblings looking out towards the sunrise. “Morning.”

“Good morning.” Qrow replied, not even turning to face Summer.  “So… you guys excited for the idea of being on teams?” Summer bubbly asked in responce.

Qrow and Raven looked at each other, as Qrow spoke. “Well, I just hope I’m on a team with Raven.”  Raven only sighed, and shook her head, it was going to be a long day.

“Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation, again all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately.” Glynda said over the intercom late into the morning.  Qrow sulkily walked towards Beacon Cliff after the embarrassment that Taiyang had pulled earlier that morning; Taiyang had told Qrow that the girl’s skirt was a kilt; Qrow unaware that it was a skirt just accepted it as a kilt.  Sure, the women liked his legs; but he was so angry he almost started to fight with Taiyang until Peter Port, a Teacher’s aid got in between them and, while chuckling, told Qrow to change and take a stroll.

Qrow arrived at Beacon Cliff, where Ozpin was waiting, he stood next to Summer, seeing that Raven was already surrounded by other teenagers.

“Hey.” he said to Summer, still embarrassed from the event earlier, as Summer had been there.

“Hi.” she said, turning to him, her face slightly blushing towards Qrow. “Sorry for leaving you behind, Qrow… I needed some air.” she finished, now a tad rosy around the cheeks.

Ozpin ushered the group for silence.  “For years you have trained to become warriors and today your abilities will be evaluated in the emerald forest.” Ozpin smiled at the teens as he spoke.  “Now I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams…  Well allow us to put an end to your confusion, each of you will be given teammates today.”  

Summer looked over to Qrow, she was a bit socially awkward, having really Taiyang and Qrow as friends here, so this scared her a bit.  “What?!” she shrieked.

“These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon, so it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well.  That being said the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years.  After you've partnered up make your way to the northern end of the forest.  You will meet opposition along the way, do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path or you will die.”

Qrow and Raven just smirked as they had encountered Grimm before, and knew how to fight, having grown in the tribe, they knew how to fight almost anything that would come their way.

“You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation but our instructors will not intervene.  You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff.  We will guard that item as well as your standing and grade you appropriately.  Are there any questions? No? Good now take your positions.” Ozpin finished.

Soon enough, the group of teenagers were catapulted into the air.  Qrow soon landed, he was trying to find Raven. ‘Where could she be?  We didn’t land that far from each other, did we?’ Qrow stopped thinking as he hit someone. “Oomph!” he shouted as he got up, he was standing on top of a girl he had met the day before.

“Summer, is that you?” he asked.

“Yep.” she said blushing, as she got back up, brushing off some of the grass and dirt that had gotten on her attire. “So I guess we’re partners now?”

“That’s what the headmaster said.” Qrow said, “Now, let’s go find those relics, or whatever they are.”

The two started to run, when Qrow stopped.  “Qrow?” said Summer when she had turned around to face him.

“We’re running south.” Qrow said, staring towards the sky. Summer was confused at Qrow and replied “What?”

“The Sun’s almost at ninety degrees, making it hard to tell, but the moss on the trees are telling me we’re heading south.”  Qrow answered, stopping to notice the moss.

“How do you know?” asked Summer, confused at what Qrow had said.

Qrow sighed. “We’re partners now, right?”

“Yeah...-” Summer said as Qrow cut her off.

“Summer, I grew up outside of the kingdoms, in a tribe” Qrow explained.  “We had to learn the cardinal directions to survive.”

Summer looked at the man in front of her. “Oh…-”

“So let’s go!” said Qrow, trying to focus on the mission.

The pair made it to the temple, Summer had just grabbed the white knight piece, and was about to head out, when Qrow stopped her. “Summer?”

“Yes Qrow?” asked Summer, who was hearing something in the distance.

“Do you hear that screaming?” answered Qrow, also aware of the sound.

“Yeah.” added Summer, no sooner did she finish, Tai and Raven came out of the treeline, being followed by a huge Death Stalker grimm.

“Oh shit, oh shit!” shouted Tai, as Raven grabbed a chess piece, as the grimm started to head towards Summer.

“Summer!” shouted Qrow, as his instincts kicked in and he transformed into his crow form and flew towards the Grimm, transforming back to give the Death Stalker a huge kick in the stomach, knocking the grimm into the temple, causing the Grimm to miss Summer completely.

“Qrow?!” shouted a very puzzled Summer; as Qrow dusted off his legs.

“What?” replied Qrow, realizing what he had done.

“You can turn into a bird?” Summer bubbly asked, grinning at her partner.

Qrow looked back at Raven, who was giving him a glare. “Uh.. yep, I didn’t mean to use it, but…-”

“That’s amazing!  That’s your semblance?!”

Qrow sighed.  “I guess you could say it’s a part of mine, yes.”

“Oh.” said Summer, smiling as she said it.

“You’re not mad, are you?”

“Mhmmm. Nope.” Summer said, smiling. “Mine is turning into white rose petals…. I should of been able to get out of that grimm’s way… but-.”

Qrow stopped her. “ Nevermind that Summer, what matters is you’re now safe.”

“But, we’re not!” said Taiyang, as the Death Stalker started to charge towards them.  Qrow and Raven looked at each other.

Summer spoke first.  “If we attack from above, we might be able to kill it!”

“Well Raven?” asked Qrow.

“We might as well.”  shouted Raven, as Qrow transformed into his crow form and flew up, while Raven opened a portal, and told Taiyang and Summer to jump in and shoot it from above,  Summer drove her sword into the Death Stalker, cutting it’s head clean off.

Summer just beamed as the four walked back and handed Ozpin their chess pieces.

Qrow and Summer walked back to the school together.

“So… you said you were raised in a tribe?”

“Yeah, being raised there meant we were taught how to survive on our own, both me and Rae decided to leave the tribe, as we were the strongest members of the tribe; so what about you?”

“Well… I was just raised in Patch.” 

Soon enough, they were called down to the auditorium with the other first-year students.

“As you all know, earlier today, we had you get a partner in the Emerald Forest.  Now… if you have seen hunters and huntresses before, you should know that, they are usually in teams of four, that is how we here at Beacon assign you.” said Ozpin. “Upon your success in the forest, I have assigned you all teams based on multiple factors.  Will-” 

Summer turned to Qrow. “So.. who do you think will be on our team?” 

“I honestly don’t know, Summer.”  Soon enough, Summer, and Qrow were called up, he looked back to see Tai following him. “Great...so you’re going to be on my team, Taiyang.” said Qrow in a sarcastic tone.

“Summer Rose, Qrow Branwen, Taiyang Xiao Long, Raven Branwen.” started Ozpin as the four arrived on the stage.  “The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces.  From this day forward, you will work together as Team STRQ” Ozpin said, looking at the team in front of him, most of the members smiled back to him. “Led by, Ms. Summer Rose… it seems like this year is shaping up to be an interesting year.” 

Qrow and Taiyang smiled at the now blushing Summer, while Raven looked onward, a bit displeased that either she nor Qrow was the team leader.  After dinner in the commons, the group walked to the dorms, and were assigned a room. The team then claimed their own beds, Summer’s was the closest to the desk, Qrow’s next to hers, Raven next to him, and Taiyang on the other side of the room.  Summer jumped onto her bed, as Qrow put his weapon by his bed.

“So…. Team STRQ… huh?” asked Raven, as she lay on her new bed, looking at the ceiling.

“Yep.” said Taiyang.  “Let’s be one of the best teams to come out of Beacon!”

Summer looked at Taiyang. “Nope.”  Popping the p as she said it.

“Nope?” asked Raven.

“Let’s not just be one of the best teams to come out of Beacon.” she bubbly replied.  “Let’s be the best team to come out of Beacon!”

“I’m in!” happily shouted Qrow, getting up. “Rae?” he asked to his sister.  “Sure.” said Raven. “I’m in.” added Taiyang, after Raven had finished talking.
“To Team STRQ!” shouted Summer, as she rose her fist.  “To Team STRQ!!!” shouted the rest of the team in unison, their hands all in the air.

Chapter Text

Hours passed as the group walked, Qrow had been asleep for a good period when he started to mumble out some words.  “Summer?”  Qrow paused for a moment, as if waiting for a response. “Are you alright?” he then asked in Ruby’s direction.  Ruby looked at the others, now very puzzled at Qrow’s question.  Qrow continued to speak, “It’s alright, they make you special, I like them.”, coughing up a bit of blood and poison after finishing up talking.  The group continued to walk, slowly the terrain changed, with a mountain appearing in the backdrop. “Heya Summer, did you miss me?” Qrow started before he fell back asleep.

“Hey Ruby?” asked Jaune as he carried Qrow from the front.

“Hmm?” responded Ruby, now broken out of her thoughts. “What?”

“Why does he mainly mention your mother?” Jaune asked.  

Ruby paused. “I remember my dad saying they were partners while in Beacon, maybe that’s why he keeps mentioning her?”  She said as she heard a twig snap. “Guys.” she said, as they stopped.

“What Rub-” asked Nora as a small pack of beowolves walked out of the bushes.

Ruby and Jaune put Qrow down. “They’re after my Uncle!” shouted Ruby as she pulled out Crescent Rose.  “Just make sure they don’t get to him!” she shouted.

Jaune, Ren and Nora nodded and pulled out their weapons and then they all started to attack.  Ruby swung her scythe around, chopping a small section of them up while Jaune swung his sword at another group of them.  Ren and Nora tag teamed the rest of the beowolves until Ruby shot the last one from long range.  Ruby sat down,on a small tree that she had accidentally chopped down in the fight; and looked up into the sky.  “The sun’s setting.”  she said.  She looked over to see a small creek.  She smiled as she pointed to the small creek.  “Let’s set up over there.” she said, as the others nodded.  She and Jaune picked up Qrow as Ren started to cook up a dinner for the group.  

Ren soon made soup for everyone.  “It’s ready.” he said as he handed Nora her small bowl.

“We can wash them out in the river after we’re done.” said Jaune, as Ruby grabbed two bowls.  Thank goodness for Ren packing more than four, in case they broke some.  She walked over to Qrow.  “Uncle Qrow?” she asked, causing Qrow to awake and look at her.

“Huh?  Oh hey Short-stack.” he said, as he looked towards her. “Where’s Tai and Rae?”

‘Short-stack?  A nickname for my mom, maybe?’ Ruby thought as she spoke.  “Qrow, you need to take this.”

“Oh, I see, they’re busy making out, aren’t they?” he said chuckling.  “So what is it?” he asked, not really noticing the soup that Ruby had.

“It’s soup, Qrow.  Cheese and Broccoli, through there’s not much broccoli.” Ruby answered.

“Did you make it?” he asked, now looking at her. “Sum, please tell me you did, you know that I can’t take Tai’s shit that he tries to call food.”

Ruby looked over to Ren, then back to Qrow. “Yes Qrow, I did.”

“Thanks Sum.” said Qrow as he took the bowl and started to drink.  “Ouch!” he said as he moved, agitating the cut a bit.  He looked down at it.  “I guess I got hit really badly, how are Rae and Tai doing?”

“They’re fine Qrow, Taiyang’s recovering, and Raven’s-” said Ruby, lying to try to make Qrow feel better.  Qrow cut Ruby off.  “Raven’s being Raven I guess?” Qrow chuckled as he spoke.  “That’s normal for her, how are you holding up?” asked a now worried Qrow.

“I’m fine, Qrow, you took the worse beating through.”  Ruby smiled back at Qrow, through she noticed there was something different about how Qrow was acting compared to the Qrow she had known for her whole life.  ‘Did my mother’s death really affect Uncle Qrow this much?’ she thought to herself.  Soon enough, Qrow had finished his bowl.  “Thanks Summer!” he said, smiling.  “That was really good!”

“Yeah… Get some rest Qrow, you’re gonna need it.” said Ruby, now forcing a smile on her face, as she grabbed his bowl.

“Alright…. I’ll see you when I wake up.” he said as he closed his eyes.

Ruby walked over to the others, sitting down at the fire that was still going.  “How’s your uncle?” asked Jaune, a small frown was on his face as he looked at Ruby.

“He’s.. I honestly think he’s just needing some rest.” Ruby replied, trying to put on a smile, but failing.  Soon enough, the night fell upon them, and the team set up their sleeping bags.  “Well… we need to rest for the night…. Stay strong Uncle Qrow….” said Ruby, in the direction of a now deep in sleep Qrow.

“Well… should we take turns watching him?” asked Nora.  The others looked at each other,

“I’ll keep watch first.” said Ren, as the others nodded in agreement and got into their sleeping bags and fell asleep.  Ren watched over Qrow for over the night as Qrow slept quite peacefully.

“Hello Professor Ozpin-” said Qrow, as he muttered in his sleep.

Ren only sighed when he heard Qrow’s voice. ‘Do I really act like him?’ he thought to himself as the night rolled on.

A gun was heard firing, alerting Jaune.  He opened his eyes to find that he was in an building he had never seen before, but the rooms building style reminded him of Mistralian buildings they’ve seen on the way.  There next to him, laying, was Ruby, beaten to hell, with cuts all over her body.  “Ruby?!” he asked, no reply. He looked around him, to see his Ren and Nora resting against a wall with Ren bleeding and Nora giving him some medical help, with Qrow fighting off people at the door.

“She’s gonna be fine, Jaune.” said a voice that sounded a lot like Ruby’s.  Jaune curled into a ball and huddled for strength, when the voice’s figure touched his arm.  He turned around to see a woman, a wolf faunus in fact; with silver eyes.  Her ears and tail both were a now aging black with red highlights.  She wore a black combat skirt and a casual t-shirt, which was ripped where a cloak would of been pinned to it. The woman smiled as she spoke. “She’s gonna be fine.”  Jaune within seconds fell back into the darkness as he closed his eyes shut again.

Jaune awoke from his nightmare, “Just who was that?”  He asked to himself, unaware of his surroundings.

“Who are you talking about?” asked Ren, still up at the fire.

Jaune was startled by Ren’s voice.  “Nothing, just a dream Ren,.” Jaune got up from his sleeping bag.  “I’m up now Ren, so I’ll watch over Qrow and the others, you can go get some sleep.”

“Thanks Jaune.” said Ren as he got up and went to his sleeping bag and soon fell asleep. Jaune soon walked away to a small patch of ground nearby that was bare, and turned on Pyrrha’s video.  He pulled out Crocea Mors and started to practice.

“Alright Jaune, just like we practiced...” started Pyrrha in the video.

“Ruby!” came a voice.  Ruby opened her eyes to see Yang running towards her.

“Yang!” shouted Ruby, getting up and starting to run towards her sister, not noticing that Yang had both arms.

“How are ya?” Yang asked, as she pulled Ruby into a hug, her smile quite stunning.

“Yang, you’re crushing me!” shouted Ruby as Yang loosened up.  “Thanks Sis,  I have so much to tell you, but… how are you?”  Ruby asked.

No response came from Yang, but her smile slowly turned into a frown, tears started to flow from her eyes.  “Yang?” Ruby asked again, still no response came from Yang.

Yang slowly stepped back, to reveal her arm now a bleeding stub, causing Ruby to gasp.  “To tell you the truth Ruby, I would love to tell you that I’m okay.”  she stopped to look into Ruby’s silver eyes. “But I’m not.  It’s all gone.  The school, Penny..” Yang turned away from Ruby, unable to say it to Ruby’s face. “Pyrrha…. They’re all gone.”

Ruby looked at Yang.  “What about-”  she started to speak as Yang’s eyes shifted to a bright red.

“Weiss’s father came to take her to Atlas and Blake fucking ran on us!” Yang shouted.  “And you know what?!  I don’t care!”  Ruby gasped as Yang pushed her away.

“Yang?” asked Ruby, now very concerned.  “What should I do?”

“I don’t care what you do Ruby, I just want to stand here, you can go do whatever and get yourself killed like Pyrrha.” Yang turned to look straight into Ruby’s eyes. “Like your own damn mother , Ruby!”

Ruby opened her eyes, her heart was beating quite fast as she got up and splashed some water onto her face.  “It’s okay Ruby, it was just a nightmare, Yang’s gonna be fine with Dad at home.  Dad’ll help her recover.” she said, as she took a breath, trying to calm herself down.  She turned to Qrow, and sighed, unsure what was happening to him.
“Oz… you know I can’t bring Summer along after Raven left…. Yang needs a mother figure.” he said in his sleep.

“Poor Uncle Qrow…-” she started to say, before hearing something.

“I want you to know that I’m just happy to be apart of your life.  I’ll always be here for you, Jaune.” said a voice Ruby recognized, she followed to voice to see Jaune practicing still.

“Jaune?” Ruby asked, causing Jaune to turn towards her.  “You alright?  What are you doing up?”

“I’m fine Ruby.  I just couldn’t sleep so I decided to train over here.” Jaune answered. “What are you doing up?”

“Uncle Qrow woke me up.” Ruby lied to Jaune, as she didn’t want him to worry about her own nightmares.

“Well…. How are you Ruby?” asked Jaune.

“Hmm?” asked Ruby.  “I’m fine.”

“You…-” Jaune paused, changing his mind before continuing. “Come on Ruby, practice against me.”

“What Jaune?” asked Ruby, now puzzled by Jaune’s comment.

“Practice against me, you seem on edge.” said Jaune, as he could hear the tension within Ruby’s voice.

“Just worried about him…-” said Ruby, looking back towards Qrow.

“I can’t really know how you feel right now Ruby, as I’ve never had to deal with a family member like this.”  Jaune paused to focus.   “But, you need to relax a bit:  it’s no use to go ahead if you’re not focused.”

“I guess.-” started Ruby before a voice caused her to stop.

“Summer….I...love...you.” muttered Qrow, as he turned over; Ruby jumped as she heard Qrow’s voice, “I guess I didn’t hear that.” she added in response.

“What, your Uncle confessing his memories to loving your mother?  They were on the same team right?  That’s likely how he mean it.” he said, trying to reassure Ruby.  Ruby picked up Crescent Rose and they soon began to fight.  Jaune was able to block most of Ruby’s swings, before swinging himself, this practice went on for what felt like an hour, before Ruby stopped.  Jaune turned to her.  “Ruby?” he asked, as he grabbed his scroll from the log he had put it on.

Ruby just smiled at him in the moonlight.  “Thank you Jaune.” she finally answered.

“For what Ruby?” inquired the now puzzled Jaune.

“For everything Jaune, for being here on this mission, for being able to watch over me and even my own uncle.” she said, a small tear started to form from her right eye.  “I have no idea where I would be without you and your team.”

Jaune sighed, as he put his hand on Ruby’s shoulder.  “Ruby…. You were my first friend at Beacon… I can’t thank you enough myself, I’ll be here for you, you know.”

“Thank you Jaune…you were my first friend at Beacon as well… speaking of, I’ll need to write to my friends that were at Signal… can’t believe it’s almost been what.. Over a year, almost two since I stopped Roman Torchwick from robbing a small dust store in Vale? I just was lucky to be there that night… otherwise, Beacon would of fallen with.-” Ruby paused to take a breath and to think about it.  “-With me sitting at home with my father crying for Yang’s safety-.”  started Ruby before Jaune cut her off.

“Don’t think of the past like that Ruby, you were in the right place, and at the right time.”  Jaune said, cutting Ruby off from starting to cry herself.  “And honestly, I don’t think I would of been a good leader without your help.”

“You think?” asked Ruby, staring at Jaune, now confused.

“Short-stack, you didn’t tell me about… our petal.” interrupted Qrow, coughing up more poison.

“Yeah… if you didn’t encourage me that I was gonna be a good leader… I think I might of been a different person in Beacon…. I might of even left Beacon if it wasn’t for you…-”

“Same here Jaune.” Ruby stopped and started to head back to the fire, “Come on ‘Vomit Boy’, we need to get some sleep if we’re gonna be able to get anywhere tomorrow, and we need to hurry too.”

“Vomit boy?  Are we bringing back old nicknames…huh ‘Crater Face’?” he added, laughing.  Ruby chuckled at it as well as the two got back to the fire.

Ruby stopped to look at Qrow.  “Goodnight Uncle Qrow.” she said as she walked towards her sleeping bag.

“Goodnight my sweet Petal.” muttered Qrow in his sleep.  

Jaune walked over to Nora’s bed. “Hey Nora?” he asked towards the strawberry haired teammate of his.

Nora woke up. “Yeah Jaune?  What’s up?”

“You think you can watch over the group for a bit?  Me and Ruby need some sleep.”

“Sure Jaune, go to bed, I’ll watch over Qrow.” she said, getting up.

“Thanks Nora.  Well goodnight Ruby.” said Jaune from across the fire to Ruby and got into his sleeping bag.
“Goodnight Jaune.” said Ruby as she began to think over everything Qrow had said that day.  ‘Who’s Petal?  I guess I’ll have to ask Qrow when he recovers.’ Ruby thought to herself as she got into her sleeping bag and slowly fell asleep.

Chapter Text

It was just after the start of team STRQ’s third year, Qrow was sitting in the cafe with Summer, he was drinking out of his flask, something Summer had given him over their first winter break for something she and Taiyang had called Christmas, he had returned the favor with a dust clip holder, by their third year through, Qrow and Summer had gotten very close, to the point, almost everyone but them had thought they had been dating.  Through, in the two years at Beacon, Qrow had already given Summer a nickname, calling her Short-stack when he was being cocky. While they were just being partners, even they knew that Raven and Taiyang had already fallen in love and had been dating for over a year.  

Qrow turned away from Summer for a moment as he spotted Bartholomew, an upperclassman they had last year in some of their classes, no sooner as he could collect his thoughts, did he hear the sound of tape being ripped and then Summer screaming.  He turned back around to see two freshmen ripping something out of Summer’s hair.  “Summer!” he shouted as he turned around, already pulling out his fists.  He noticed they had pulled out some tape covering something.  “What did you fucking do!?” he shouted towards the two young men now standing in front of him.

One of the two scoffed.  “Showing the girl, her place.  Faunus have no right trying to pretend to be humans like us.”

Qrow growled.  “I want you two out of my sights, now… you’ve not even had intiation yet, and I’m sure I can make sure you won’t.”  Qrow added as he pulled out his weapon.

The teens gulped and ran away.  Qrow turned back to notice Summer had disappeared.  He sighed as he walked to the library and found Summer curled up in a ball in a corner, two now quite visible additions adored her head.  

Qrow walked over and sat down, waiting a few moments before speaking.  “Summer?” he asked, towards his partner.

“Go away.” said Summer,  her voice muffled by her arms and knees.

Qrow only frowned at that reply.  “Summer, Are you alright?” Qrow asked, as he pulled her arms away, to get a look at Summer’s teary eyes.

“No… just look at me Qrow, I’m a faunus!” she said, as her ears wiggled a bit. “I’ve lied to you and the others for years about who I am, I’m not just a little girl from Patch.  I was born in Atlas, to a rich family, and then moved to Patch.  I’ve lied about being human as my parents wanted me to be a normal person, Qrow… I’m sorry!”

Qrow sighed, smiling at the woman he called his teammate and partner.  “It’s alright, they make you special, I like them.” Qrow replied, smiling at his partner.  “So what?  You’re a faunus, that won’t change my view of you.”

“Really?” asked Summer, blushing quite a little at Qrow’s remark.

“Yep.” Added Qrow, then for a few minutes, there was a long pause as Qrow helped Summer clean up.  “Hey, we should-” Qrow was stopped by the whole library starting to shake around him and Summer.  Summer ducked under a table and signalled Qrow to join her.  He got under the the table with Summer, as books started to fall down from their shelves.  

Qrow turned to his partner, who just smiled at him, the girl still blushing as she spoke.  “It’s just an earthquake, it’ll past, and we’ll be safe here.”  Summer then grabbed his arm for assurance.

Soon enough, the shaking stopped, and Qrow just looked out of one of the huge windows of the library, to see a huge cloud of smoke rising from the mountains.  He then tugged on Summer’s hood as she climbed out from under the table, and then pointed towards the smoke.  “What’s over there?” Qrow asked.  Summer’s already flustered red face just became a pale white.   Summer started to tear up again.  “No…  That’s near the location of Mountain Glenn, a huge suburb of our capitol.  My uncle lives in that city.”  a tear started to fall from Summer’s eye, as Qrow put his hand up to it.

“He’ll be fine, Summer.”  Qrow said.  “He was a huntsman, wasn’t he?”

Summer nodded.  “He’s one of the people that inspired me to become a huntress.  I lived with him for a few years during my summers off of school in Atlas, it was him who inspired my parents to move to Patch.”

Qrow smirked as he then spoke.  “Then he’ll be able to protect himself, right?  Tell me about-.”

Qrow was cut off by Ozpin’s voice coming on over the PA system.  “The report is that earthquake was caused by an explosion within Mountain Glenn.  With reports coming in that parts of the city are in turmoil with buildings collapsing.  In wake of what’s happening in Mountain Glenn, the council of Vale has requested any available Huntsmen to offer their assistance in excavating the city.  If any of you would like to offer you and your team’s assistance, please come up to my office immedientary.”

As soon as Ozpin turned off the PA, Summer rushed out of the library.  Qrow only smirked as he walked towards the dooms.  He arrived in their dorm to see Summer already in her hunting gear, with Taiyang and Raven both arriving after him. “Summer?” asked Qrow.

“I’m going,  my uncle lives in Mountain Glenn.  And I’m going to find him.  You all heard our professor, parts of the city are now rubble, I need to make sure he’s ok, and-.” Summer paused, clearing her throat in the moment.  “And none of you can stop me.”

Qrow smirked, as Raven and Taiyang grabbed their hunting clothes.  “We can’t leave you, you should know that Summer.  We’re gonna go with you.”

Summer smiled as she pulled out her sharpening kit and her bullets.  The group soon was ready and walked up to Ozpin’s office, there they saw Ozpin waiting with another team, Team BRNT  (Burnett), Bartholomew’s team already there along with Peter Port, a teacher’s aid.

Bart just turned to them, his normal hyper matter slowed down to a slow pace as he spoke. “Ah, team STRQ, you joining us in our mission to Mountain Glenn?”

Qrow and Summer nodded.  “How did you guys get here so quickly?” asked Qrow.

“We were in our dorm when the quake happened.  We all agreed to go out to help.”  said one of Bart’s teammates, he wearing a black hat with a red and white scarf around his neck.

Ozpin finally spoke up as he noticed some of the last teams coming in.  “Alright… you all should realize, this is a very serious situation.  The chances you’ll see blood and dead bodies are very high.  You may be scarred by what you see there as well.  I need you all to agree now, this is important that you believe that you’re really ready.”

Summer nodded.  “I’m ready, Professor.”

Qrow added on, as Taiyang and Raven nodded in agreement.  “There’s lives to save Professor, and we need to help if we can.”

Ozpin smiled.  “Alright.” He handed them passes.  “These are Passes for the trains heading to and from Mountain Glenn, they’ll get you into the city… good luck team STRQ.”

Team STRQ was accompanied by team BRNT and the Teacher’s aid Peter Port, as they made their way down to the train station, the nine of them got on board the next train towards Mountain Glenn.

Qrow looked out into the station as they got out; as injured people were pulled into the train.  He could see all the way down the street, almost every building had collapsed, the dead and the alive both just laying out in the middle of the streets as other huntsmen and huntresses fought off Grimm or were digging in the rubble.  Summer checked with one of the majors to see if anyone had found her uncle.  She returned in tears, to be only grabbed by Qrow and pulled into a hug.  “It’s alright Summer, we’ll find your uncle.” Qrow started, staring in his partner’s silver eyes, calming down Summer a little.

Summer nodded. “Right.” she answered as Peter walked up and told them they best go quick.  It took a while as the group made check of every building, even splitting up towards the end, with Qrow and Summer being able to head to the area where Summer’s uncle lived in.

Summer walked into a building she recognized, as Qrow following,  as Qrow creaked over a floor board, he stopped as he heard something.  “Hey, Summer, stop, do you hear that?” he asked in Summer’s direction.

Summer turned around.  “Do I hear what?” asked Summer as she looked at him, her eyes, showing signs of hope.

“Is someone there?!  I can’t move my leg, it’s trapped under some rubble!”  A voice came, causing Summer to perk up, and smile at Qrow.

“Uncle?!” shouted Summer, running into the room where the voice came from.

“Summer?!” shouted the voice.  “I’m in the basement, one of my cabinets fell on me, come quickly!”

Qrow got to the room to find Summer already trying to move the cabinet. “Hey, move Summer.” Qrow started, as he pulled out his scythe.  “Depending on how your leg is placed, this may hurt.”  Qrow added, as he put the blade under a section of the now rubble.  With a great heave, Qrow lifted the big slab of rubble that was on the uncle’s leg, Summer was able to pull her uncle free.

As they got up, Summer’s Uncle screamed in pain.  “Ouch, looks like I’m not able to walk right now.” he said as he fell on to Summer’s shoulder.  “Think you can get me outside?” he asked to Qrow, who just nodded.  “Come on.” Qrow said as he put his scythe back on his back.  With Summer’s Uncle now also on his back, they soon started to climb the stairs to head out of the house.

As soon as they got out, Qrow stopped to take a breath, and looked around at the burning city, when someone caught his attention.  “Qrow!” shouted Summer, causing Qrow to turn around, as he saw the building collapse right in front of him, without hesitation, Qrow grabbed Summer’s Uncle and shoved him off, towards Summer, as he decided to take the brunt of the falling bricks, blacking out in the process.

“Qrow!” came a voice, waking up the Branwen twin.  Qrow opened his eyes to see himself in the underground train station he and the others had gone out into Mountain Glenn mere hours ago. He looked over to see Bart sitting with his team over at a fire, with Summer standing right in front of him, holding something.

“Huh?  Oh hey Short-stack.” he said, as he looked towards her. “Where’s Tai and Rae?”

Summer spoke up, staring right at him.  “Qrow.”  she paused, her face full of worry from what Qrow could tell.  “You need to take this.”

“Oh, I see, they’re busy making out, aren’t they?” he said chuckling, while having thoughts of his own. ‘This seems off, I guess Sum’s just a bit tired.’  “So what is it?” he asked, as he tried to get up to look at what Summer was gonna try to give him.

“It’s soup, Qrow.  Cheese and Broccoli, through there’s not much broccoli.” Summer answered.

“Did you make it?” he asked, now looking at her, he noticed how she didn’t have her sword on her. ‘Summer normally always has her sword through.’ he thought as he spoke up.  “Sum, please tell me you did, you know that I can’t take Tai’s shit that he tries to call food.”

Summer looked over to Bart and his team, then back to Qrow. “Yes Qrow, I did.”

“Thanks Sum.” said Qrow as he took the bowl and started to drink.  “Ouch!” he said as he moved, agitating the cut a bit.  He looked down at it.  “I guess I got hit really badly, how are Rae and Tai doing?”

“They’re fine Qrow, Taiyang’s recovering, and Raven’s-” started Summer as Qrow cut her off.  

“Raven’s being Raven I guess?” Qrow chuckled as he spoke.  “That’s normal for her, how are you holding up?” he now asked, looking at Summer, his eyes full of worry for his partner’s safety, more so than for his own.

“I’m fine, Qrow, you took the worst beating through.”  Summer said as she smiled back at Qrow, Qrow just nodded as he started to drink his soup.

Soon enough, Qrow had finished his bowl.  “Thanks Summer!” he said, smiling.  “That was really good!”

“Yeah… Get some rest Qrow, you’re gonna need it.” said Summer, now forcing a smile on her face, as she grabbed his bowl.

“Alright…. I’ll see you when I wake up.” he said as he closed his eyes.  Returning to the blackness of his dreams.

Chapter Text

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Summer was sitting down in a hospital chair, as a machine beeped, staring at her very injured partner calmly resting in the bed, as she had done for almost a whole month since the Fall of Mountain Glenn. The doctors told her Qrow was lucky to live, with a bit of internal bleeding, and a few bones cracked, and that his body needed a long sleep to try to recover. The doctors were told though, not to bother Summer, due to her being with Qrow when it happened and that without Qrow slashing the rubble, the building would of collapsed onto her and her uncle too. Qrow had not woken up since saving her, which, after a few days caused her to decide to just skip out on classes while Qrow rested.

“How’s he doing?” came a voice into the room, breaking Summer’s line of thought. Summer turned to see Raven and Taiyang standing in the doorway.

Summer smiled at the two. “Hey guys.” She almost whispered, her voice being very quiet from not being used.

Taiyang looked at Summer, noticing her ears. “Summer?” he asked as he pointed to her wolf ears. “You never told us you were a faunus.”

Summer started to burn up, being now very embarrassed; this was the first time she had not worn her hood in Taiyang and Raven’s presence since the day of the Fall of Mountain Glenn. “Yeah…. I just… never told you as I was told by my parents to not reveal it to anyone, but somebody bullied me at Beacon by revealing it, and with Qrow already knowing…. I really hope you two aren’t mad at me for keeping it a secret for almost three years.”

Taiyang and Raven just started to laugh, confusing Summer. Taiyang paused to speak. “You have no idea how rough being on campus has been without you two. It feels like hell has opened up with all the gossip going around, learning you’re a faunus is honestly a piece of good welcoming news, and I’m happy that you’ve told us.” he finished as Raven just nodded in agreement.

Summer looked over puzzled. “What sort of gossip?”

“Oh, Raven’s gotten quite irritable these past few days, so, a lot of the school’s thinking something’s up between us.” answered Taiyang, his smile being forced, as Raven only nodded. “We were lucky Ozpin let us leave campus early today to visit you two.”

Raven only scoffed at Summer. “And remind me, why are you the one skipping classes to watch my brother, shouldn’t it be my job?”

Summer blushed. “I want to be the first one to thank him for saving me, plus he’s my partner, I need to be there for him, as you two can still do your partner training stuff at Beacon.” She quickly answered.

Raven looked down towards the now bright red Summer, her crimson red eyes burned into Summer’s silver ones. “Summer, you like him, don’t you?”

Summer smiled. “Of course I like him.”

“Not like that, like… do you want to date him?” replied back Raven, her tone quite calm, for the normally very fiery woman. Summer just slightly smiled as she could barely blush any brighter. “Well then, why haven’t you asked him? Literally, if it’s not gossip about me and Taiyang going around the campus, it’s about you two, and how you two are together.”

Summer looked puzzled. “We’re not together Raven… what are you talking about?”

“Exactly!” Raven shouted causing Summer to scoot backwards. “Almost everyone believes you’re together, so ask him Summer.” Raven continued, “I’m sure he’ll say yes, Summer. He’s my twin, and if anybody knows him best, it’s me.” Raven paused, as Summer just hugged her and Taiyang.

“You two are some of the best team mates a girl could have.” Summer said, as tears fell down.

Taiyang smiled before starting to talk. “Look, me and Rae have to return to campus now due to how the bus schedules are, please Summer, call us when Qrow wakes up.”

Summer nodded. “I will.” Summer waived to Taiyang and Raven as they left.

Qrow slowly opened his eyes, he was staring up at a ceiling. He slowly turned over to see Summer asleep at his bedside. ‘Why’s Summer here? Hold on…’ Qrow paused thinking to look around the room, realizing he was he was in a medical bed in one of those gowns; and that Harbinger and Silver Rose both had been placed at the door. He smiled as he moved to look over at Summer, the bed moaning as he did so, effectively causing Summer to open her eyes.

Summer stared into the pale red eyes in front of her, and just started to grin excitedly. “Qrow!! You're awake!” Summer yelled, almost startling Qrow, causing him to flinch back and start screaming in pain. “Oh Qrow, I’m so sorry!”

Qrow smiled weakly as he got into a comfortable position. “Heya Summer, did you miss me or something? What am I doing in this gown?”

Summer just looked at him, her eyes just full with tears. “Qrow…. You’ve been basically asleep for almost a whole month…” Summer paused as she just smiled as she wiped her tears away. “You took a very nasty blow for me and my uncle, why wouldn’t I be worried?!”

Qrow listened to Summer, ‘I’ve been asleep for over a week, let alone almost a month?’ he asked himself, until he looked down to see Summer had a bandaged leg, with another bandage around one of her ears. “You look like you’ve had a bad month yourself, you alright, Summer?”

“No! I’ve been worried sick for you, Qrow… there’s something, I’ve been wanting to ask you for a while now, and right now, it’s better late, while we’re talking.”

Qrow tensed up, and sat up, looking at Summer. “This sounds serious, is it about your faunus traits? I promise I won’t tell the others.”

Summer shook her head ‘no’. “No, Tai and Raven already know, they found out a few hours ago…” Summer took a long breath. “Qrow?” she finally asked.

“Hmm?” replied Qrow, now completely puzzled by Summer’s actions.

“Would you…. Would you…” Summer stopped mumbling and took another breath, her face flustered a bright red. “Would you go out with me after you’ve recovered?”

Qrow looked at her, with interest. “Did you just ask me out?” he finally asked., and immediately, Summer nodded. Qrow just grinned. “I believe you’ve got yourself a date.”

“Really?!” she perked up, she was slightly caught off guard by this, even though Raven had told her that he would say yes.

Qrow just looked at the red and black haired woman in front of him, smiling, he slowly nodded as Summer hugged him in a calm manner.

A few more weeks in the hospital came and went, until Qrow was cleared, and allowed to leave. Summer guided him out, holding his hand the whole way while Taiyang and Raven just followed behind, carrying Qrow’s stuff. The group soon arrived at the local shooting range that they normally go to, having not that long until the next Vytal Festival to practice as a team, through it wasn’t long until one of them got a bit too cocky with their chances.

Raven smirked as she tapped on Summer’s shoulder. “Hey Taiyang, think you could make that shot?” Raven pointed to a wooden cut out of a beowulf with a target on its head.

Taiyang laughed. “That one is easy. Sure.” Taiyang paused and turned to Summer. “Hey Summer, can I borrow your sniper rifle?!” he yelled.

Summer handed Taiyang the rifle, as Qrow looked over from shooting three beowolves in a row. “Tai’s shooting?” he asked, knowing that Tai had not any really training with a gun.

“I’m trying my luck…” Taiyang started to say. “Now..where’s the zoom?”

Summer silently giggled as she whispered in Qrow’s ear. “Shall we take a bet?” asked Summer innocently.

Qrow chuckled. “What? Uh… maybe 10 lien if he can make it?”

“25 lien he doesn’t.” smirked Summer as a long bang echoed around them as Taiyang pulled the trigger.

“Oh my god! How did I miss?!?!” shouted Tai, having missed the whole grimm, causing Qrow, Summer and Raven just to explode with laughter.

“Fine Short-stack, you won. Looks like I’m buying us dinner on our date.” Qrow muttered as Summer just clung to his arm as Raven just laughed at Taiyang’s expense.

The group didn’t last that much longer at the range, as they had to catch the bus back to Beacon. However, on the bus ride; Qrow looked out of the window for most of the trip to Beacon, watching the now gold and red trees move in the wind as the bus entered the tunnel to the campus, never being able to let go of Summer’s hand.

The bus arrived at the campus, there waiting was a large crowd. It seemed that a few students had spotted the group and the news spread like wildfire. As the bus driver opened the door, Summer said thank you, as Taiyang got off first to clear a path for Summer and Qrow following suit, with Raven on the rear carrying all of Summer’s and Qrow’s items.

As they walked back to the main building, they were stopped by an figure they were not expecting. There waiting for them at the bottom of the CCT tower, was Headmaster Ozpin. “Good afternoon, Team STRQ, and welcome back Mr. Branwen.” he said in a calm tone.

“Hello Professor Ozpin.” said Qrow muttering. “Thank you.”

“Ms. Rose, and Mr. Branwen, how are you recovering?” Ozpin asked.

Summer smiled under her hood. “You want us to be in the festival, don’t you?” she asked excitedly.

The headmaster nodded before speaking. “It would a big shame if last festival’s champions didn’t return for their encore.”

Qrow opened his mouth before Summer could. “Don’t worry Headmaster, the doctor’s said I should be fine for the tournament, I just need to train a lot.”

“Then I would advise you pack up your bags, the tournament’s in Atlas this year, and you all need to get up so I can reserve your hotel rooms.”

The team nodded in agreement, as they headed for their dorm. As soon as they were in the room, Summer pulled out her scroll, and dialed a number. Within seconds the other side picked up.

“How’s my little Summer doing?” asked the voice on the other end.

Summer smiled. “Hey Dad, you know how to contact Uncle Terence?”

“I’m with him in Atlas right now, what do you need from him?”

Summer smiled. “Our Headmaster, asked my team if we want to go to the Vytal Festival, and I was wondering if we could bunk at the mansion while we’re there.”

Uncle Terence picked up the phone. “Well, Summer, we’ve got the room, so… when are you coming?”

“My team’s planning to make it up within the week or so.”

“Want a jet ride then tomorrow?” Terrence asked over the scroll.

“Really?!” shouted Summer, causing the others in the room to just look more confused.

“Yeah, I need to get some data from the Vale Branch of the business, so I’ll be in tonight and tomorrow… meet me at the Vale Branch at around 5 o’clock?”

“I’ll tell the others and the headmaster.”

“Sounds like a plan… you need to talk to your father again?”

“No thanks, tell him I’ll be there tomorrow. Thank you ever so much.”

“I do need to give you and your partner an reward, so it’s not a problem.” said Summer’s uncle as he ended the call.

“Summer?” asked Qrow, “What was that all about?”

Summer smiled. “We leave tomorrow."

The others were stunned, when Raven spoke. "Who did you call to get set up already?"

"Well, I asked my uncle, for assistance, and he's coming to Vale tomorrow to pick us up... now I need to go tell Professor Ozpin." Summer said, as she bolted out of the dorm room. It wasn’t long until she had returned, beaming from enjoyment. “Ozpin’s allowing us to do it!”

The others looked at Summer before all just smiling at her. “Let’s do this!” shouted Taiyang as he punched his fists together.

The next morning Qrow got up to see Summer was already packing up, with Taiyang and Raven already gone. “Where’s Tai and Rae?”

“They’ve already gone down for Breakfast, and I’ve made sure our professors know about us leaving so you don’t have to leave just yet.”

Qrow nodded. “Alright.”

At ten minutes to five, the team walked into one of the biggest buildings in the commercial zone of Vale, Everyone was amazed just how big the showfloor was.

"Wow, look at all this." said Qrow, as a lady came up.

"Hello! Welcome to the Rose Gold Company, how can I help you?" the woman asked the team.

"We're just looking." replied Qrow sharply, slightly annoyed by the greeter.

"Well, we have a lot of stuff on hand, for huntsmen and huntresses like yourselves, from parts to dust, to some of the newest advancements out of Atlas." the sales clerk said, noting that Qrow was looking at some fresh sharp blades along the outer wall.

The four were soon looking at almost everything, spending almost an half hour until Summer spotted her uncle, and stirred the others to him.

"Ah, Summer, we meet again." he said, laughing. He turned to an manager. “Let me be.” he said as the manager nodded and left. “How are you doing today?” he asked to Summer

“Heya Uncle!” said Summer, she almost screamed as she beamed with excitement. “I'm doing great so far!”

“Excellent!” he said, as the notioned for them to follow him. “Now come along, the plane is being already fired up at the airport.”

Summer nodded as the group followed him into a small limo waiting outside for them. As soon as Raven crawled in, the limo took off towards the airport. Qrow and Raven just stared out the window for a good part of the trip, even as third years, they hadn’t really seen much of Vale itself, other than Patch, where Taiyang lived, and places too and from Patch via the bus lines. It had been a while since they arrived by ship, and even then, they arrived during the night.

At last the limo stopped on the taxiway, and there in front of them was a midsized white jet. After getting off the taxiway in takeoff, Summer could not stop laughing as she just saw her teammates all get very airsick, as none of them were used for flying in such a smaller plane.

Summer pulled out some trading cards as the evening grew on, Raven scoffed at the idea. “In all of our time together, now you bring out some silly card game? Whatever is next?”

Summer chuckled. “Yeah, it’s a game that’s owned by a Rose Gold subsidiary. I just built this deck not to long ago, I like looking at the art and designs while being bored.”

Taiyang just looked shocked. “How much does Rose Gold own?!”

Terence looked over. “A lot. We have our hand in quite a few industries, but most are all in one long supply train.” The faces of everyone else being confused made him go on. “If our machine factory needs something, we likely have an hand in making the supplies. The card game was made out of an idea for something the workers could play on break other than poker.”

“Ah.” said Taiyang as the other two mumbled.

That night Qrow didn’t get much sleep, and Summer noticed when she awoke mid flight. “You alright Qrow?” she asked, getting up out of the recliner she had been asleep in, noticing him staring out at the ocean.

Qrow turned around to see Summer, as her ears popped up as their eyes met. “I’m fine, just… worried a little about being ready, ya know?”

Summer smiled as she looked over to see Taiyang and Raven were both in states of sleeping that looked troublesome. “Yeah, we still to practice, and Ozpin’s already got us enrolled, our classes are on our scrolls already.”

“Really?” Qrow’s sleepy eyes relaxed a little bit from that news.

“Yeah. but he did say to relax a bit and get used to living up in Atlas before going...you’ll do fine Qrow.” Summer said as she grabbed his hand. “You need some sleep, from that look in your eyes… have you even slept tonight?”

Qrow just shook his head. “Not really… been basically staring up at the ceiling all night.”

Summer just shook her head, sighing. “Qrow…” she said softly.

Qrow just sat back in his recliner. “Yeah…-”

Summer cut him off. “Try to sleep, once we’re at my uncle’s place, you can sleep all you want.”

Qrow nodded. “Night.”

“Night Qrow.” said Summer as she fell back into her chair and fell asleep.

At last the plane landed at Atlas’ airport, and as they got out, they all felt the cold wind grab them.

“This is Atlas?” asked Raven. “It’s.. cold as hell.”

Summer just giggled. “You’ll all get used to it. I promise.”

“You kids ready?” asked Terence, turning to them.

The teens nodded as they headed towards the parking garage. They stopped on the way to the mansion for breakfast, but they soon arrived at a huge white mansion with at least two floors from the outside, and a huge courtyard out at the front with a fountain. Qrow and Raven were just astonished. “You all will have plenty of time to look around the mansion.” Terence said, smiling.

Soon enough they all found the rooms and started to unpack their bags. Summer walked into Qrow’s room as he fell onto his bed. “You going to sleep now?”

Qrow turned to face her. “Yeah, you needing me to spar or something?” he asked, curious.

“No no I’m just checking up on you… if you need anything, my uncle’s got a lot of things available, even spare dust.”

Qrow nodded. “Thanks.”

“I’ll get out of your hair Qrow.” said Summer, noticing him fall asleep. “Night Qrow.”

Qrow just yawned in agreement. “Night.” he said as he fell asleep.

Summer closed his door to see Raven staring at her. “What’s up?”

Raven just frowned. “You’re letting him be lazy?”

“Lighten up, he didn’t get much sleep and nor did any of us really. You should relax too, we’ve got a few weeks until the tournament, and we need to make them last.” Summer said as she turned down the hall; leaving Raven to her own devices.

Chapter Text

The sound of a katana hitting the metal ground caught the audience’s attention. There was Raven, standing tall and proud as she stood in the arena with her brother, Qrow.

“Would you look at that!” shouted the announcer. “It seems Raven came out unscathed!”

The twins dodged as their rivals in the arena; one, a man almost as tall as Qrow himself tried to strike back, as Qrow tripped him, causing him to land almost on top of his teammate, as Raven just spun around. Raven smirked as she turned to Qrow, and they both nodded. Using their weapons in unison, they turned to the other students, as Raven rushed forward, with Qrow finishing off the blow with his sword against the metal, the force kicking both of the students below the aura line as the buzzer went off.

“It seems both Astrapi and Ghira have ran out of aura, meaning they’re out of the tournament; which means, Team STRQ advances to the finals!” said the announcer as the crowds cheered for Qrow and Raven.

Summer held Qrow’s hand as they walked with Ghira, Astrapi and other members of GABG (Gamboge) and Raven and Tai, along with a cat faunus named Kali, as they walked around the fairgrounds in the Atlasian snow.

Qrow smiled as he turned to Ghira and Astrapi. “So if you don’t mind me asking, as it didn’t come up in our fight; what’s your semblances?”

Astrapi, who was the other teammate who was a younger looking girl with red colored hair beamed. “I can redirect energy!”

The group looked shocked and confused, so Astrapi continued to speak. “Like, take Raven’s fire dust katana for example, if I touched it, I could cut off it’s combustion in a snap. It’s also really useful when working with electricity, in which I can be used as a bridge in the circuit, incase of an overload.”

Ghira just frowned. “I still haven’t unlocked my semblance.”

Astrapi just smiled. “You’ll find it, maybe you’ve already used it and not realized yet.”

Raven spoke up. “What’s your game plans after graduating from Haven?”

Ghira smiled boldly. “I’m hoping to help in the effort to try to ease the racial war between humans and faunus, I had family injured during the Faunus- Human war and so I wish to try to get both sides working together, instead of dividing ourselves even more.”

Astrapi smiled. ‘I’m hoping to get a technician job or something while also being a huntress, you?”

Raven frowned, thoughts of how to kill Ghira and Astrapi passed through her mind as she made up a lie. “I honestly don’t know yet.”

“That’s alright, you guys have another year don’t you?” asked Ghira.

Summer nodded, smiling at the tall man next to her. “Yep!”

Kali, the small faunus woman next to Ghira turned to them. “So… who out of the twins are going to the finals?”

Raven scoffed. “It’s m-” she started to say before being cut off by another voice.

“I’ve already decided it’s gonna be Qrow!”

Raven turned to Summer, who had been the voice who cut her off. “Qrow?!”

“Yeah, haven’t you been watching the brackets? James is in this festival too and after fighting him last time, I’m expecting we will have to face him, so why not just switch partners from last year.”

Raven stirred before nodding. “Alright.” She finally said as she just started to sulk.

The next day, Qrow was back at it again, now fighting opponents left and right as he made his way up the chart. He watched the other fighters while sitting down with Summer.

“You alright Qrow?” Summer asked Qrow. “You ready?”

Qrow nodded. “I’m fine Sum. Just… needing to prep myself for the finals-.”

“Will Qrow Branwen and James Ironwood make their way to the arena. I repeat, Qrow Branwen and James Ironwood to the arena.”

“Go win Qrow.” said Summer as she put her hand onto his back. “You’ve got this.”

“Thanks Sum.” Qrow replied as they split ways.

Qrow walked up to the arena to see that his final opponent: James Ironwood had already arrived. Summer made her way to Taiyang and Raven, and sat down as the arena went quiet.

“Welcome everyone, to the last match of the Academy Tournament here at the Vytal Festival!!!” The announcer shouted to the roar of the crowd. “On my right is Qrow Branwen, member of Team STRQ of Beacon. On my left is Atlas’ very own James Ironwood! Leader of Team JETT! Now, if you remember those team names, it’s because James fought against STRQ’s leader, Summer Rose last festival down in Vale! Will Qrow be able to keep his team’s position from last festival, or will the ‘Tin Man’ kick the ‘ScareQrow’ down into second place this year and win for Atlas! Let’s begin, in 5. 4. 3. 2. 1!” the announcer shouted as James and Qrow started to advance.

Sword and gun clashed as the two powerhouses finally met in the center of the arena.

“Show me what you got in you, Branwen.” finally spoke Ironwood.

“Alright, I will.” said Qrow, smirking as he could slowly feel his semblance kicking in.

Summer, Raven and Taiyang watched on from the side lines, with Summer cheering Qrow on. “Come on Qrow!!! Win this for team STRQ!!!”

Qrow just looked on and smiled as harbinger clashed with one of Ironwood’s guns. Without hesitation, Qrow whipped out his guns on the end of Harbinger and started to shoot around Ironwood’s legs, causing him to disengage and started to shoot back at Qrow.

“Lucky shot.” Spoke Ironwood. “Come on you ‘ScareQrow’, you gonna give in? You’re not-”

“I’m not even trying yet” said Qrow, smirking as he looked to the board, his aura bar had barely dropped, yet Ironwood’s was almost a quarter down. “‘Tinman.’” he said, as he jumped back to safety.

Ironwood just stared, as he felt his right arm start to twitch in response. He struggled it off as he kept fighting.

Raven stared at her brother fight, when it clicked. “He’s” Raven stopped, watching Qrow more and more. “Baiting him.”

Summer turned to Raven. “What do you mean by baiting?”

Raven just kept watching the arena as she replied. “Ironwood never used his semblance against you, did he?”

Summer froze as she turned to Qrow, who was now bouncing around the arena. “No.” she said, trailing off. “Do you mean he’s actively trying to have James turn on it?”

Raven nodded. “Summer, You’ve seen how Qrow plays, it’s without a doubt that’s what he’s doing.”

Qrow just watched Ironwood as they advanced once more, when he noticed Ironwood’s right arm starting to act up, it’s movements almost… robotic in nature. He stopped and let his guns cool down for a second.

Ironwood still advanced forward, causing his right hand to be grabbed by Qrow, shocking the crowd. Within seconds, there was a splash and then a sound of metal clashing, as the force behind the blow caught up, causing Ironwood’s sleeve to catch alight at the elbow. Qrow looked shocked as Ironwood didn’t stop to save his suit from catching farther alight, and just tore it off to reveal that is was all metal. Qrow just stood there, before chuckling. “So you really are a ‘Tinman’? Well then… let me show you… the ‘scare’.” said Qrow, smirking.

Ironwood only looked at him. “Come on then, I’ve been waiting.”

Qrow smiled as he jumped back and pulled out his sword, pushing the button on it, and it slowly like clockwork revealed the scythe inside. Dashing forward Qrow swung at Ironwood for a few minutes, each time either depleting Ironwood’s aura, or hitting the metal arm. Each time Qrow grew more and more reckless to the eyes of everyone.

“Why so reckless?” asked Ironwood. “You’re not gonna be a good huntsman if you’re reckless.”

Qrow smiled. “Reckless, to the eyes of everyone but those who can understand my semblance.”

Ironwood got up and started to charge at Qrow, guns ablazin, as Qrow stood at the edge of the arena. “Well then, we’ll see how you act when you’re out of the arena!”

Qrow smirked as Ironwood was almost at him, as he jumped up onto Harbinger and launched himself, landing himself on the arena as Ironwood fell off the arena onto the safety net below.

Qrow turned to Summer and the others and smiled at them as the announcer started to speak.

“Well folks! James had almost depleted his aura and with quick thinking from Qrow Branwen, Qrow managed to swiftly get out the way and land back on the arena before Ironwood fell out of the arena. Qrow takes the victory for his team once again, and wins the Vytal Tournament!” Qrow smiled as he jumped down next to Ironwood, as he reached for Ironwood’s hand. “You were good out there James.”

“You too, Mr. Branwen.” said Ironwood as he grabbed Qrow’s hand. “Qrow.”

Qrow smiled as he helped Ironwood up. “So… we cool?”

Ironwood nodded. “We’re cool. Congrats on beating me.”

Qrow smiled. “So…. nice arm you’ve got.”

“Yeah, they gave me a weak prosthetic arm when I came out of the hospital after a Grimm attack right before I left for Atlas Academy. I built this thing mainly from scratch.”

Qrow just looked at it until the arena door opened and Summer landed herself in Qrow’s arms. “You were great Qrow!” she shouted.

Qrow smiled. “Thanks.” He said as he saw Taiyang and Raven looking at them. Raven just gave an honestly welcoming glare.

“So, James, what’s your plan now?” asked Summer.

“Well, Ms. Rose. I’m planning on staying with the Military and trying my best to protect the people of the world that way.” Ironwood spoke.

Summer smiled. “That sounds wonderful, I hope you do well.”

“Thank you. What about you?” Ironwood replied.

Summer frowned. “I’m hoping to be able to be a full time huntress - at least for a while.” she replied, her second part a few tones lower.

Ironwood nodded as they walked away from the arena, to see the crowd trying to get their autographs. Qrow sighed as Summer handed him a pen and they got to work signing until they split up, with team STRQ heading out for the manor.

Qrow looked up at the ceiling of the room he had been sleeping in before they had gotten into the visitor dorms at the Academy.

“We depart tomorrow.” said Summer, walking in. “You all set to go back to Beacon, winner of the Vytal Tournament?”

Qrow just looked at her. “Yeah. I guess.”

“I’m just happy we can leave this place. Atlas always gives me creeps when I realize it’s just a big rock being held above the city of Mantle.” Summer said, looking towards the window, the smog of Mantle trying it’s best to appear above the clouds.

Qrow nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that feeling’s mutual.”

Qrow awoke from his dreams, to hear the sounds of someone getting up. He tried to look over, and he could barely see in his haze that he was in the library and at the other end, Taiyang was talking to Bart. “Just who was that?” Taiyang said to Bart, who he could barely see.

“Who are you talking about?” asked Bart to Taiyang, as Qrow tired to stir to get up from the table, when he felt his arm lock up, he tried to grab it, unable to do anything to fix it. ‘Stupid bad luck’ he thought as he fell back down, just barely able to watch Bart and Taiyang head out of the library. ‘It’s just one of those days, isn’t it?’ he asked himself. He soon tried to fall back asleep, though he knew Summer would be back soon.

Graduation week had arrived for the team. Qrow smiled as he stood under one of the trees of Beacon, cloak on, as Bart held out a camera.

“Alright guys. Move over a little bit to the right.” said Bart. “That’s… perfect, now stand still.”

Qrow stood still with Harbinger in his left hand and Raven’s katana holder right in front of his foot. Within a moment the camera clicked and the picture had taken. The team all climbed behind the scene to see the photo.

“Wow, that’s great!” said Taiyang, as he turned to Summer. “Why the cloak though?”

Summer smiled. “Because I needed the shade from it to see, the sun was almost in my eyes.”

“Do you need me to take it again from the other way?” asked Bart.

“Nope, it’s fine.” said Summer, looking at it. “Thank you.”

“Anytime guys.” said Bart as he packed up the camera. “I’ll get these developed and they’ll be handed to you all before graduation.” He replied as he slowly walked away from his friends.

The day came as Qrow sat with the rest of his team. Summer had dressed up for it, having put her hair in a bun that looked like a rose. Taiyang had managed to pull out one of his best clothes, as Summer and Raven refused to let him wear his hunting gear to Graduation. Raven was sitting in her normal attire, but had Summer do up her hair, the normally featherly appearance of her hair had been smoothed out. And finally, Qrow sat there in his normal attire as well, as it was basically a suit, flask in hand as he took a swig of water as Bart’s team was called up.

As soon as the last member had left the stage, Ozpin stepped forward, taking the mic from Peter. “And Finally, I would like to call up one of the best teams to come out of Beacon, winning both Vytal Tournaments while in their time here at Beacon, not to forget their willpower to help out during the rescue mission at Mountain Glenn. I would like to call up: Summer Rose, Taiyang Xiao Long, Raven Branwen and Qrow Branwen to the stage.” he said as Summer and the others got up. Ozpin walked over to the Certificate table and grabbed their certificates as Summer arrived on the stage. “At the initiation I gave you all a task to find the temple within the Emerald Forest, and grab a chess piece. You four brought back the white knight pieces, and I’m very proud of you four, you’ve had your ups and downs in these last four interesting years, but you’ve pulled through. I’m hereby proud to call you all Huntsmen and Huntresses!” he finished.

As the team left the stage to head out to their dorms to pack up, Qrow opened his and pulled out a note Ozpin had slipped in. “Qrow, when you are ready, I’ve got something to discuss with you and your team if you’re all interested. Meet me in my room whenever you’re ready.” the note read. Qrow handed it to Summer who just smiled as she read it.

“Any ideas?” asked Raven, looking at it from her own note.

“Not really.” said Qrow. “But it seems important.”

Summer and the others just nodded and once back in there normal attires, soon were on their way to the CCT tower, where Ozpin had his office on campus.

“Welcome team STRQ.” said Ozpin, “Please take a seat.” The group did so and he continued to speak. “I’m glad to have you four here these past four years. Each and everyone of your performances were spectacular.”

“Some more than others.” whispered Raven under her breath.

“Thank you Professor.” said Summer smiling. “We were doing our best out there.”

“Indeed…. I have a question for you all. What are your favorite fairy tales?” asked Ozpin, smiling at the four.

“Sorry, what?” asked Qrow.

“Fairy Tales, stories from your childhoods, surely you must remember at least one of them.” Ozpin replied.

Summer perked up. “Well… there’s the ‘The maidens’, the ‘shallow sea’-”

“What about the ‘Tale of the Silver Eyed Warrior’?”

Summer smiled. “Oh yes, my dad told me about it, it’s said that: It focused on a young girl who was destined to lead a life of a warrior. They say in the story; that before huntsmen, before kingdoms, those born with silver eyes were the strongest warriors. The creatures of Grimm, the most fearsome monsters mankind have ever encountered were said to be afraid of those silver-eyed warriors. They were the best of the best. It was said that even a single look from one of these fighters could strike a Grimm down. It’s a ridiculous fairy tale.-”

“You know, what if I told you that he wasn’t wrong.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Raven.

“What if I told you all that there are really beings with that type of power… and weld it without the use of dust.”

“Like a semblance?” asked Taiyang, now confused.

“Like magic.” Ozpin replied. “Now. This is a lot to take in. But I believe Ms. Rose has those Silver Eyes.”

“What makes you so sure?” asked Summer. “Why are you telling me?”

“Because you’re not the only person I’ve seen with Silver eyes… there’s a reason I chose you as the leader, Ms. Rose, I wanted to see if the story was true, and well, you blew my expectations out of the water.” Ozpin said, smiling. “So I ask this of you all. Would you all be interested in working…. ‘In the shadows’ so to speak.”

“In the shadows?” asked Qrow.

“Yes, Qrow. There’s multiple forces at large that are trying to ruin our...peace between nations, and bring down the world with them. I’m trusting you all that you would be willing to help me on this mission.”

“Look, I understand this is a lot to take in, especially for you Ms. Rose. Please.. Take some time to think about this offer. You are dismissed.”

Taiyang and Raven leave a as he says that, while Summer and Qrow stayed behind.

“Are you two interested then?” asked Ozpin.

“When do we start.” said Qrow, as Summer nodded in agreement, as they both realized this was bigger than them, and yet; they wanted in.

Chapter Text

Qrow ran up to the hospital, heavily panting, he made his way to one of the rooms. There, in the room, was Taiyang, Raven and Summer, with Raven holding something in her hands. Qrow slowed down as he put down his gear.

“I came as soon as I got your message.” said Qrow smiling, turning to his sister. “How are you doing.”

“I feel like how our mother felt when she had us.” said Raven. “Very pained. But, do you want to see her?”

Qrow hesitated but nodded as he answered. “Sure I guess.”

Raven lifted up the bundle and handed it off to Qrow. “Her name’s Yang Xiao Long.” said Raven. “We bounced around Phoenix Xiao Long but we ended up with keeping Yang.”

“Yang Xiao Long.” the words rolling off Qrow’s tongue as he looked down at his niece. “Nice name for the kiddo.”

Taiyang nodded. “She’s our sunny little dragon.”

Summer spoke up. “So, are we going to have to help raise her?”

Raven’s face frowned. “No. Me and Taiyang should be able to take care of her.”

Qrow shrugged. “Alright, but as long as we’re not on missions, we’re available.” Qrow then turned to Taiyang. “Tai, how’s your apprenticeship at Signal going?”

Taiyang looked at his hand, which had been injured a year ago right after graduation due to a punch going wrong during training. Because of that, everyone had suggested Taiyang to look into teaching at one of the schools. “It’s going great.” he finally said.

“That’s-” spoke Qrow as he felt his scroll buzz. “I’ll take this.”

Qrow walked out to the hallway to answer the scroll. “Yeah Headmaster Ozpin?”

Ozpin’s voice came over the scroll. “When can you make it back to Beacon for your report?”

Qrow rolled his eyes as he took a drink of his flask. “I’ll be there soon.” he said ending the call and turning back to the others. Taiyang and Raven only looked a bit disgusted while Summer was now holding Yang.

“Go.” said Summer. “I’ll see you at home tonight.”

Qrow nodded as he grabbed Harbinger and made his way out for his mission.

Qrow and Summer ran up to the house, their weapons still warm from their mission, they could already hear Yang’s wailing in the wind, as Qrow flew into the window, breaking the glass. He transformed and stood up to see Taiyang holding the crying Yang.

“She’s gone.” Taiyang spoke softly, his face red from the near constant stream of tears “Raven’s flown the coop.”

Qrow softly laughed at that pun. “It’s alright Taiyang. We’re here.” Qrow said as he opened the door to let Summer in. Summer rushed to Taiyang’s aid as Qrow then turned to a note that was next to Tai: “I’m sorry. There’s more to this than just us, Tai..” it read. Qrow grabbed it and crushed it into a ball. He turned to Taiyang and Summer, and grabbed Harbinger, turning for the door. Hw had made it there before turning around to see Tai and Summer looking at him, their eyes full of grief.

He paused there, he knew he should go after his sister, but then thought back to everything that had happened with team STRQ up to this point, and his eyes drew tears as he realized who had really taken care of him, made him the Qrow Branwen he was now: Summer had been the one who helped him change and him leaving was only gonna break her heart. Qrow then realized couldn’t take that idea of guilt on his chest, him leaving now was only going to make things worse for Summer, Taiyang and little baby Yang. He looked back out into the open world, and smirked as he turned around and closed the door. He sat down next to Summer, who had grabbed little Yang from Taiyang, and put his hand around her. “I’m not Raven. If you need me to stay, tell me, and I won’t leave, ever.” he spoke, knowing four years ago, he would of already left, like his sister had.

Summer just kissed him. “Thank you.” she said.

Qrow smiled as he just rested there with his girlfriend and their niece, in a calmful bless as he looked over to see Taiyang had been able to fall asleep. Qrow looked down to see Yang’s lilac eyes just staring at him, and when she saw him staring back, they just smiled at each other as the sun arose from the east.

Qrow walked out into an open field in the northern tip of Argus, on a mission to find intel on the local grimm populations. It had been been a few months since he had seen Taiyang or Summer, having mainly been taking missions non stop to get out of the house, away from the reminders of Raven just disappearing almost six months ago. Qrow was thinking back to what Ozpin had told him at the start of the mission, instead of the mission ahead.

“-you know I can’t bring Summer along after Raven left.” said Qrow staring at Ozpin. They were Ozpin’s office at Beacon. “Yang needs a mother figure.”

“I’m quite aware Qrow, but you need someone out there in the field with you, and like it or not, Summer’s our best option-” answered Ozpin.

“No! Not yet!” Qrow shouted as he pulled his hand into a fist, angry at his sister leaving in the middle of the night a few months ago. “Yang is too young, she’s already seeing Summer as her own mother, and do you want to hurt their hearts?” asked Qrow. “Do you?!”

Ozpin looked at him. “I do not wish to hurt their hearts.” said Ozpin. “But Qrow?”

“What?” asked Qrow sharpily, very angry with Ozpin at the minute.

“Listen to me for a second… take some time off after this mission… go live for a month or so with your girlfriend and niece… Qrow… this isn’t the first time I’ve seen this.”

“Seen what?” asked Qrow.

“You’re longing to return to Summer for some extended time alone, trust me, I’ve seen quite-”

Qrow’s memory was cut short by the sound of a buzzing, he turned around to see a Lancer had found him and was about to try to kill him. He jumped back and started to shoot, as he landed in a lower section of the clearing. He turned to start hacking away until he saw his match. There sitting was the Queen Lancer. It turned to him and screeched. Qrow turned around and shot some of the Grimm as he started to run. Stingers tried their best to latch on to him as he transformed and managed to get some air between him and the lancers. Fighting a Queen Lancer’s horde was a death wish for most huntsmen, and Qrow knew this as he transformed back and swung Harbinger into the Lancers, bouncing from slowly evaporating wasp to wasp until he had slashed them all, and then the Queen came for blood. Screeching loudly, it charged towards Qrow, causing him to fall back behind some trees.

Now was not the time for heavy hits, he needed someone else to help him. ‘Damn it, why don’t I ever listen and bring-’ Qrow thought as he heard the sound of a machine gun fire as he looked up to see James Ironwood, now a high standing member of the Atlas Military had arrived as backup.

“Jimmy?” asked Qrow, as he, while under fire from the gun, slashed the Queen Lancer until it evaporated.

Ironwood only looked stern at him. “You were reckless as you’ve always been Qrow. You’re lucky my boss told me check here for you.”

Qrow chuckled. “Thank you.”

James looked at him, his face full of confusion with a little bit of disappointment “So you can transform into a bird?”

“It’s a part of my semblance.”

“I see, why not use it in the tournaments then… come on, come aboard, I’ll take you to Argus.”

Qrow nodded. “I didn’t as it’s not in rules if I can or can not. Figured to keep to the side of not breaking the rules. You’re also lucky I didn’t try to melt your arm or something.”

James smiled. “You’re too reckless to do that, but really Qrow. You need to remember, you have a brother and niece, and Summer; your own girlfriend to think about. You can’t be reckless anymore.”

Qrow just nodded in his seat. “Thank you James.” he finally spoke right as they were landing. “Now…. I’m going to have a long break from hunting.”

James nodded as Qrow left the gated island and walked into the city, trying to make his way to the train station, , when he ran into someone. “Oh sorry… Li?” he asked, there in front of him was Li Ren, he was a taller man in structure, with black and grey hair pulled back in a ponytail, and wearing a sleeveless green shirt. Qrow remembered Li had been in the Vytal Festival when STRQ was still first years, in fact Li’s team was the team they beat in the team vs team match.

“Hello. Qrow, right?” asked Li. “It’s been almost 4 years has it not?”

Qrow nodded and then spoke. “Yeah. Sorry for bumping into you.”

“It’s alright.” Li said, smiling. Li and Qrow soon were walking down to the train station and sat together while waiting for the Argus Limited. “So.” said Li, trying to spark a conversation. “You have a family yet?”

Qrow shook his head. “I have a girlfriend, but we haven’t decided to have kids yet.” said Qrow.

Li smiled. “It’s alright, I only ask as I’m returning home to see my infant, I haven’t seen him in almost a month.”

“Ah.” said Qrow.

“You heading home too?”

“Yeah, I’m living in Vale still, it’s just my mission had me tracking something down to Argus.”

“I see.” said Li, as they boarded the Argus Limited, bound for Kuroyuri.

Qrow and Li sat in the dining car, finishing up some lunch when the train’s intercom came on.

“Would any Huntsmen on board please make their way to the front car? This is an emergency. I repeat, would any huntsmen on board please make their way to the front car, thank you.” a guy over the intercom spoke.

Li and Qrow got up and nodded to each other as they headed to the front cars.

When they got there, they saw the conductor worried. “What’s wrong sir?” asked Li.

“There’s a bandit raid happening in one of the towns we’re about to come to, it’s in the valley we’re about to cross in 15 minutes. We just got the info over the radio from the stationmaster of that village. We’ll pay for a full refund of your ticket and give you an extra two tickets if you would be willing to jump off the moving train to save the village, look: you’re the closest support for the village.”

Qrow nodded. “I’ll take that offer. Name’s Qrow.”

“Alright… Where should-”

Qrow grabbed a pen and wrote down Tai’s address.” Just mail them to Taiyang Xiao Long with a message inside that labels it for Qrow.”

Li turned to see the train slowing down as it approached the bridge. He turned back to write down his address. “I’ll help too.”

As the train slowed for the bridge speed, Qrow watched for something as Li started to fire his arrows from his bow before jumping.

Qrow sighed as he jumped from the train onto the village rooftops, and ran from rooftop to rooftop until he found his first target.

The bandit didn’t stand a chance as Qrow shot him in the shoulder. “The hell? This is Dave, we’ve got Huntsmen! I repeat, we have…” Dave slowed as he saw Qrow’s figure. “THIS IS DAVE, SEND BACK UP TO MY LOCATION, WE HAVE A MAJOR ISSUE!” he desperately radioed in as Qrow shot him again, this time in the chest.

A portal opened as bandits flew out, all stopping in their tracks when they saw Qrow standing there, gun still locked and loaded.

“Qrow?” one of the bandits asked, before seeing Dave’s lifeless body on the floor. “You killed Dave!”

Qrow just shrugged. “Maybe I did, he’s got two holes in himself.” Qrow said, smirking at the end of that statement.

“I’ll kill you for that!” shouted the same bandit, charging towards Qrow, only to be stabbed straight through the chest by Harbinger.

Qrow threw the bandit off the now bloodied Harbinger. “Now, are we gonna fight or-?.” Qrow stopped as all the bandits charged toward him. Qrow sighed as he let Harbinger transform and he just swung away, hacking them until they all fell cold. Qrow shrugged as the last bandit ended up being stabbed through the chest by Harbinger. “Now. To find and make her learn.” he spoke coldly.

Qrow scavenged through the town, looking for the main quarters, when he finally found Li fighting the bandits near one building. Qrow took his chances and kicked some of the bandits away from Li, who was badly beaten by them. “They’ve got this whole building taken, you ready?” Li spoke, coughing up a little bit of blood.

Qrow nodded. “The leader’s mine.” he whispered back.

Qrow turned to the building and busted down the door with a swift kick. “Knock knock BRANWENS!” he shouted, alerting them all, they all turned and started to shoot, only for Qrow to block all the attacks and charging forward, managed to kill them. He turned to Li and smiled.

Li was slightly horrified. “Qrow, those were humans, like us.”

“They were bandits, Li.” Qrow said. “If I didn’t kill them, they would of killed us.”

Qrow came to the main room and saw Raven sitting there, with her katana ready and mask on.

“Rae, you can stop this, come home!” shouted Qrow as he closed the door. “You have a husband, a daughter! Tai misses you!”

“No, I can’t: This is my home.” said Raven. “And if you’re gonna fight, come then.”

Qrow shook his head. “No.” he said, his voice shaking. “I don’t want to fight, sister, I came here without killing a single one of our-” Qrow stopped himself as he thought about his words carefully. “Your friends.”

Raven took off her mask, smirking when she heard those words. “Then let’s talk.”

Qrow nodded. “You have-”

“Ozpin’s hiding things from you and Summer.” Raven mustered to get out. “I saw it. There’s so more to all of it than him protecting the world. Ozpin’s got a lot of secret’s he’s hiding from you.”

Qrow hesitated, these words made him think. “There’s more?”

“The maiden story, the lady in the tower, the tale of the Silver Warrior, they’re all true! He wasn’t lying! Ozpin’s seen them all in person! Ozpin’s not just the man we saw as our headmaster, he’s.. Got a whole another side to him… and I found out... The grimm have a master, called Salem, and Ozpin knows.”

Qrow frowned as those words wrapped around his mind, showing him pictures of Summer as he asked Raven. “Salem?”

“Yes, and she’s out to get some artifacts under the schools, that’s why we were trained, only to be puppets in a war between them, and guess what? Vale will fall and Ozpin will fail us.” Raven spoke. “That’s why I left: you can still join-.”

Qrow turned to leave. “That’s all I needed Raven. Good luck.” he said as he closed the door on his sister.

“The offer will still stand.” Raven said from behind the door, but Qrow just kept walking until he was out of building, where he saw Li and found help in the form of the villagers.

“They’re all killed.” Qrow spoke, seeing Raven watching from the open window in her raven form. He smiled as the surviving villagers thanked him and Li. They walked away, only for Qrow to hear Raven caw at him, he dismissed it as the next Mistral bound train, a freight train, came in to refuel on water. They told the crew their situation and got on board.

Li turned to Qrow as they got settled in the caboose near the front of the train. “Qrow?”

“Yes?” Qrow said, his voice and tone changing as he already knew what Li might be asking.

“Did you know those bandits?” Li asked, Qrow’s thoughts were right on the nose with this question.

Qrow paused, allowing himself some time to think about what just happened and slowly nodded. “I used to; I was in fact raised by that tribe. But I left them for Beacon, to better myself.” Yeah, that worked, as Qrow noticed Li liked the sound of that.

Li smiled “That’s an honorable thing to do, Qrow.”

Qrow turned to see Raven was following them, having sat herself in bird form on one of the guardrails of the caboose. “Yeah..” Qrow spoke, still watching his sister.

“Hey, cheer up.” Li said, causing Qrow to turn to him. “Kuroyuri’s a stop on the main Mistral - Vale airship service if you want to catch it in my town, I think my wife would be happy to meet the guy who bested me in the tournament back then, and helped me save that town, my thanks to you.”

“Thank you, I’ll come.” Qrow said as he turned back to see Raven had already left.

Qrow and Li soon arrived in Kuroyuri, and were walking around, Li pointing out the local shops as they went. Qrow was still thinking about what Raven had said, but was brushing it off as they arrived at Li’s house.

“An? I brought a guest.” Li said as he opened the door.

“Welcome home dear.” said An, smiling, she was in a dress in a shade of green very similar to Li’s clothes. Her eyes were a bright pink, and her hair was a rose color, not as bright as Summer’s red highlights, but not as dark as Raven’s almost dark maroon shaded black, a more dusty color. “And welcome.” she said directly to Qrow. Qrow also noticed she was holding her and Li’s son in her arms.

“An, this is Qrow Branwen, he’s an huntsmen like me, in fact; he was the guy who bested me and my team at my second Vytal tournament.”

An smiled as she turned to Qrow and smiled. “I remember watching that fight, your team did great Mr. Branwen. Speaking of them, how is your team?”

Qrow frowned. “Raven’s disappeared, leaving me, Summer and Taiyang to pick up the slack, and the fact is, it’s not helping that she had left a kid with Taiyang.”

An tried to smile at that. “Well, I hope Taiyang’s taking care of her. How old’s the baby?”

“She’s almost 9 months old now.”

An just beamed. “That’s… wonderful!” she spoke. “That means she and our son will likely be at the Academies at the same time!” she said, smiling, looking down to the infant. “That’s just amazing to know.”

Qrow nodded, trying to imagine the two fighting in the Vytal Festival against each other, much like how he and Li had faced each other. “Yeah.-”

“Qrow, would you like to stay for dinner?” Li spoke, looking over to Qrow. “The airship doesn’t depart for Vale until around 8.”

“Sure, and thank you.” said Qrow.

“Any time.” said Li. “You saved my life and that village out there, it’s the least I can do.”

As the day turned to night, Qrow just watched An and Li, even offering to watch Lie, their baby for a little bit while they went to the mayor. He sat there with the young toddler, when he got a message from Summer. ‘Hey hon. Just checking in, give me a ring if you can.’ the message read. Qrow smiled as he read the message. “I’ll give you one tomorrow.” he chuckled, gears turning in his head. When Qrow and Li left for the airship spot, Qrow stopped in a small jewelry shop and without hesitation bought a small ring with a ruby stone inside it. He put it into his pocket as he turned to Li, who just looked at it.

“That’s pretty.” said Li, smiling. “Is that for your girlfriend?”

Qrow smiled as he answered. “Of course it is, and thank you for letting me come by.”

Li smiled. “Any time, you did good out there in that village, maybe next time we meet, you can bring your girl with you.”

Qrow smiled as he turned to the ship and got on, waving to Li as the ship lifted and left Kuroyuri. Qrow clenched the ring in his hand as he looked northward. The smoke of fires he recalled from his youth in the far distance. There was no going back to the tribe now.

Qrow landed on the Vale airstrip, and smiled, as he still held onto the ruby ring, but as he turned to the port, he felt a buzz from his scroll. He turned it on to see a message from Ozpin. Qrow didn’t even read it. For Raven’s words about Ozpin could wait, as could he. Summer was more important right now. As soon as he could get away from the port town, he transformed into his bird form and flew to Taiyang’s house. Qrow transformed back and walked to the door of the house, to see Summer watching the tv.

Qrow opened the door and instantly Summer turned around. “Hey honey.” said Summer getting up. “What took you so long?” she said as she pulled him into a hug. Qrow turned to see Yang was asleep in the small crib they had in the living room.

“Short-stack, I love you.” said Qrow as he held onto Summer. “And there’s nothing that’s gonna make me leave.”

Summer just kissed him. “Qrow.” she said slowly, her tone shifting. “What happened out there, you said it was gonna be a month and it took almost three.”

“I had to help a small settlements on my way home, no big problem.” he said, smiling.

“You tried looking for your sister didn’t you?” Summer asked, unsure if he was lying or not.

“No.” Qrow half lied, as he didn’t need Summer or Taiyang to worry about the bandit raid that he had stopped with Li. “But I realized while in that small town that I need to be here for you.” He said as he pulled the ring out. “I got something for you in Kuroyuri.”

“Oh?” asked Summer as Qrow handed her the ring. “Qrow-” she said, realizing what it was. “Are you asking to marry me?”

Qrow just stood there, unsure what to think of Summer’s question, he hadn’t thought of it as a wedding ring. “I don’t think we need to be officially married yet, but I wanted you to know that I won’t be leaving your side. I promise.” He didn’t give a damn right now for either his semblance or for Raven. His home was with Summer now, not the tribe.

Chapter Text

Yang felt her whole world fall apart. The sounds of people and grimm screaming flooded all but in front of her, where he stood: Adam. Yang tried to fire bullets at him, but he phased through each and every one of them. She couldn’t stop him, and she paid the price for it: her arm.

Yang’s eyes shot open. She had been having a nightmare almost every night since the Fall of Beacon, and tonight was no exception. She got up out of bed and walked to the bathroom to get washed up. She stood at the sink, staring at her eyes for a few moments while the water ran from the faquet below. She looked over to the clock she had put in there a few weeks back. It was 4:30 am. She just looked at herself, her eyes looked over to see a bird sitting outside of her window. She turned back and thought she saw something out of the other corner. She turned and instinctively tried to punch it, only for the figure to catch her fist.

“You know, I was only coming in as I heard the water.” Taiyang said, turning on the light. “I spooked you didn’t I?” he asked, as he put his hand on her shoulder. “In honest, I thought that Zwei had turned it on.”

“Hey dad.” Yang spoke, turning to him, her left arm turning to turn off the water.  She knew this was going to be a long day.

Yang lifted up her head, ready for the upcoming practice fight. Taiyang took the first swing, only for it to be blocked by Yang’s robotic wrist, pushing it back. The fight goes on back and forth until Yang got in a roundhouse kick, causing Tai to slide backwards a few feet. Zwei is there watching them go, panting happily as he sat on top of the towels. Taiyang stood on his side of the field, before moving forward with his own roundhouse kick. Yang, in response put her two hands together to try to stop his attack, catching his landing foot.. With a loud cry, she pushed Taiyang back, causing him to flip backwards, and as he landed, Yang came back in for another blow. Holding onto his right arm, Tai slid through the dirt, his feet flat on the ground until he came to a stop and spoke. “Whoa, that thing packs a punch!”

“We've been at this for weeks. I get it, you wanna make sure I can still fight.” Yang spoke, bumping her two fists in synch with each other. “I think I'm doing just fine.”

“You're close.” Taiyang stood upright, no longer nursing the punch. Walking towards Yang, he assured her training.

“Oh, really?” smirked Yang.
“You're still off balance.”

“What?! No I'm not!” Yang shouted back at him.

Taiyang gave a hard chuckle, as he stood there.

“Honestly, I'm kind of surprised.” Yang said, turning to look at her robotic arm, smiling at it. “I thought it would be just this huge weight, but it feels... natural. They did a great job with this thing-.” Yang stopped speaking as Taiyang rushed her delivering a left hook right into her face. Yang's body fell back from the impact. She bounced back to block his right hook and used the turning momentum to deliver an elbow jab into Taiyang. Smiling as she did that, he blocked it and followed it up by dodging all the kicks and punches Yang tried to follow it up upon. While she used her left hand to block an elbow thrust, he grasped her robotic arm and pulled it forward, causing Yang to be in the position of having her balance rely on the weight of one leg.

“I wasn't talking about your actual balance.” Taiyang spoke, as he sweep Yang’s leg, causing her to fall to the ground on her back, as he walked over to Zwei, who grabbed the top towel and ran to Taiyang. “Although, that could use some work too.” he finished as he grabbed the towel from Zwei and rubbed Zwei’s head, causing Zwei to hum happily.

Yang sat there, arms spread out as she took a breath before speaking. “Meaning?” Yang asked as she laid there.

Taiyang didn’t reply for a second as he was wiping his face off. “I saw your tournament fights. During the Vytal Festival.”

“Let me guess.” Yang said before changing tone to a more mocking one "I was sloppy."”

“No, no, you were predictable. And... stubborn. And... maybe a little boneheaded.” Taiyang spoke, as Yang sat up and stared at her father. “Do you realize that you used your Semblance to win every fight after the qualifiers?” Taiyang asked, hoping to get a good reply from his daughter.

“So what? How is me using my Semblance any different than someone else using theirs?” asked Yang.

Tossing the towel on the ground, Taiyang walked toward Yang. “Because not everyone else's is basically a temper tantrum.” Taiyang answered by laughing as he crouched down next to Yang. “I'm serious! Once you take damage, you can dish it back twice as hard, but that doesn't make you invincible! It's great when you're in a bind, but what happens if you miss? What happens if they're stronger? What then? Now you're just weak and tired! You've always been one to burn brighter than everyone else, whether it was with your smile, or, well, I remember your first haircut.” He playfully tugged the hair on the back of Yang’s head. Smiling, Yang batted him away. He chuckled and walked away with Zwei following suit. “But you gotta keep your emotions in check. Keep a level head, and think before you act. Your Semblance is a great fallback, but you can't let yourself rely on it. It won't always save you.” He lowered his head as he said that, sadness creeping into his tone. “Obviously. You definitely have your mom's stubbornness.” Taiyang managed to say, as he looked at one of the trees, instead of his and Raven’s daughter. Zwei on the other hand, not knowing the backstory, just sat down in between them, and looked at each of them.

“Oh, so now we can talk about her?!” Yang shouted at her father. She was getting pissed, he was always the one to never mention Raven: her mother and her whereabouts to him. She had only seen her once when on the train in the underground, while fighting Neo.   Raven had saved her, or so Qrow said the figure was her.

“Well, as I have been informed, you're an adult now, remember?” Taiyang spoke. He knew it was about time to talk to Yang about her mother. She knew the responsibilities and actions now of going after her mother.

“Well, sorry I remind you of her.” Yang sharply spoke back.

“Don't be. Raven was great in so many ways - her strength, her ambition, her dedication to whatever cause she thought was worth fighting for.” Taiyang said as he turned around from the tree. “I'm proud of how much of her I see in you. But, I'm glad I don't see all of her in you.” ‘Yeah, that sounded right’, Taiyang said to himself.

“Why?” asked Yang. ‘What makes me so different to my mother.’ Yang thought to herself, as she looked at her father.

“Your mother was... a complicated woman. Like everybody, she had her faults, but those faults are what tore our team apart. And, it did a real number on our family. You both act like the easiest way to tackle an obstacle is through it. That strength is all that matters in a fight. But if you just take a second look, then maybe you see” Taiyang said, walking towards Yang, around Zwei, who had become the visualization for what he was saying. “There's a way around as well. Come on - one more before dinner.” he said, extending his hand out for Yang.

Yang took his hand as she got up, using him as a support. They then circle each other, arms at the ready for round two. Taiyang made the first move with a left hook, followed immediately by a right cross and a kick. Yang blocks them and then continues to avoid each and every attack her father gave at her. Eventually they met in the middle of the dirt patch; each with their left hand on the other's right elbow, pushing against each other.

“Heh. See? Alright! Now you're using your head instead of your-” Taiyang was stopped by a swift kick to his leg, as Yang caught his arm. He and Yang pause just looking at each other, hands grasped, faces smiling.

Yang spent the next morning painting up Ember Celica and her arm, both now a matching yellow. She then walked over to the shed and opened it, revealing a small tarp covering something. She pulled the tarp off to reveal Bumblebee, having been rescued by Taiyang or Qrow after the fall of Beacon. She stood there for a few seconds, taking in the raw emotion and power, and every memory that came with seeing her bike. Her fight with Junior, her fight with…. Team RWBY while tracking down what Torchwick was doing. She shook it out of her head. Blake hadn’t stayed, so she should she think about her and Weiss. She needed to find either Raven, Qrow or Ruby, no one else until she had found one of them.

“I don't remember saying that you were ready.” came a voice. Taiyang was there, leaning against the frame of the shed door, his arms crossed as he watched his daughter get ready.

Yang didn’t turn around but replied. “Oh yeah? You're gonna try and stop me?”

Taiyang gave a small laugh. “No. I think I'm still too sore after our last fight. I just wanted a better goodbye than a letter. And, I also have a question for you.” he finished, as Yang turned around to that. “Where are you going?”

“What do you mean?” Yang spoke, already having a makeshift plan in her head.

Taiyang leaned off the door to the shed and walked in. “Well, despite asking him numerous times not to, I know that Qrow told you where your mother's been at these days. I know how much you wanna see her. I've stopped you in the past, but I won't anymore. And we both read the note. We know your sister's headed to Mistral. So, where are you going?” He watched Yang look down at the tarp and then back to him as her eyes narrowed with determination, they both knew what Yang’s decision was.

Taiyang, Yang and Zwei made there way down to the harbor. They had done this countless times before, as Yang locked Bumblebee below as Taiyang and Zwei sat down. The captain’s first mate; the huntsman for the ferry sat down next to Zwei and Taiyang. “Morning Tucker.” Taiyang spoke.

Seafoam Tucker, formally a member of Beacon Academy’s team BRNT, also known to Taiyang and the others as ‘Tuck’ or ‘Tucker’ had gotten a job guarding the Patch to Vale ferry. “Morning Tai, it’s been a while hasn’t it.” he said to his friend.

Taiyang smiled. “Yeah, how are things here?”

“Peaceful for the most part. Had a drunk get on last night and cause issues but other than that, nothing really.” Tucker spoke, as Yang walked up and sat down. “Hello Ms. Xiao Long.”

“Uh.. hi.” Yaid spoke, not remembering Mr. Tucker.

“Yang I doubt you or Ruby remember, but this is Seafoam Tucker, he’s a friend of mine and Qrow’s. You’ve seen him before… pretty sure me and Qrow introduced you and Ruby to him.”

Yang looked over to Tucker. “Just really meeting in person, I guess.” said Yang.

Tucker smiled, as a voice rang out from below. “Hey Dad!” Tucker saw that his son had gotten on the ship with them.

“Hey Junior.” Tucker spoke to his son. Slate Tucker was a 16 year old child, a taller boy, with a faunus trait of having doopy dog ears. He smiled as he saw Taiyang and Yang. “Oh, hi Mr. Xiao Long.”

Taiyang turned to the young boy. “How have you been doing Slate?” You see, Taiyang had Slate in one of his classes before Ruby had left for Beacon.

“Pretty good, I’m getting better with my 10mm rounds. How’s Ruby doing?” Slate asked, not aware of the situation.

“Ruby…. Left for Mistral some time ago.” Yang spoke, she still didn’t know where she was, but she knew her mom or uncle would, so she would need to track one of them down.

“Oh, well, when you see her, tell her that Slate and the others from our class say hi.”

Yang nodded as the horn of the ferry tooted and they left Patch bound for Vale itself.

Most of the shipping lanes were banned from carrying people into Vale still due to the evacuation notice, the only two ships where the ferry connecting Patch to Vale’s harbor and the S.S. Pride, a ship captained by Tucker’s father: The S.S. Pride ran a service from Vale, where it normally met ships from Atlas and Vacuo, around the coast of Vale to a small harbor town on Sanus’s point, before making its way to an old port on the western edge of Anima, before steering south to the home of the faunus; Menagerie.

Yang stood on the ferry still when they heard the screech and the wings. Flying overhead was a Nevermore.

“Son of a bitch” said Taiyang.

“Everyone, get below deck!” shouted Tucker as he, Taiyang, Slate and Yang stayed above, Yang already triggering her guns. “Junior, you need to get…-” Tucker said, as Slate pulled out his sword, it was much like Raven’s katana, being the same design even.

“No dad, you need help.” Slate spoke out. “And I’m here, you’re gonna need-”

Yang turned to him. “That might be good against beowolfs or Ursi, but not the Nevermores. I’ve got this Slate.” Yang then jumped up off the bench, and ran to the ladder to the roof. She stood there for a few seconds, taking in the location. She turned to see her hand shaking and put her robotic arm down to grab it. This was not the time to shutter in fear. She needed to be brave, she needed to be strong for herself.

Yang saw the Nevermore turn around as she started to fire at it. Each shot hitting the nevermore’s boney face mask. As the bird came in for a second time, Yang jumped on it’s back and grabbed it’s wing. She punched it a few times until she tore a hole into the wing itself, causing the bird to screech in pain, but Yang didn’t care. She shot at its eyes when her guns could reload. Yang jumped off as the nevermore dive bombed into the ocean, dissolving as it hit the water. She turned to see Griffons had started to attack the ship, and came out in force, firstly stealing an blow into the first griffon, that her father was fighting, which knocked the griffon into the other griffon. She turned and smiled to her father, as she just fired at the them again, killing them both in one shot.

“Thank you.” said Tucker, who had been fighting the other Griffon.

“You’re welcome.” Yang spoke as she looked out to the sea, just pondering what her friends were doing.

As the ferry docked, they saw the S.S. Pride in dry dock. “What happened Captain!” Taiyang shouted.

The captain came out to the bow and spoke. “Sea Dragon came and almost sunk us on our way down to Menagerie. Took us by surprise, luckily there was a Monkey and a Cat Faunus were on board, with huntsman training, so they helped out when our cannons couldn’t hit it or were damaged. We’re gonna be able to set out tomorrow though.”

Yang stood there, deeply lost in thought, that sounded like Sun and Blake to her, going out of their way to save a ship... She could see Sun doing that but not Blake.  No.  She could not look for Blake at this time, she needed to find Raven or Qrow.

Taiyang noticed Yang was deep in thought and went to grab the bike for her. “Yang, it’s time to go.” he finally said.

“Right, I’m coming.” Yang said, as she held her hands together.

Tucker turned to see Slate had already gotten off. “Thanks for the chat today Taiyang.”

“Anytime.” said Taiyang as he turned to head into Vale.

It took them a little bit of time, but Taiyang, Yang and Zwei made their way to Beacon to meet up with the other professors.

“Afternoon Tai.” said Bart as Port looked up at the CCT tower, the beast still frozen on top.

“Afternoon, I brought Yang today.” Taiyang said, as Port and Bart looked to see Yang behind Taiyang, sitting on her bike.

“Yang, do you want to help us today?” asked Port.

Yang hesiasted. “No, not really. I’m only here for somethings from my team’s room.” Yang scurried off to the dorms. She opened the door to see Ruby’s bed had finally collapsed onto Weiss’s and she sighed as she saw Blake’s books still sitting there. Yang picked Ninjas of Love and then saw the Man with two Souls series still sat there, without their owner holding onto them for dear life. She missed them. Ruby, Weiss and even Blake. She froze as she looked to the cafeteria. She dropped the book she was holding as she stepped back, the memory too dark to remember what had happened that fateful night. Pyrrha, Penny….just… Gone. Yang looked down at her robotic arm. She then turned as she heard a whimper, there was Zwei sitting on Ruby’s collapsed bed.

“You miss her, don’t you?” asked Yang to Zwei, for Zwei to bark in reply. They both were missing Ruby.

Taiyang walked up to the dorm room. “You know, this was also STRQ’s room when we were here.”

Yang perked up. “Really?”

Taiyang nodded. “Yeah, me and the team had a lot of fun times in either this room or across the hall in BRNT’s room.”

Yang smiled as she picked up what she could, not forgetting to grab some of Blakes books, and couldn’t forget any of Ruby’s mangas. “I’m ready.” Yang said to herself. “You mind if I head out now?”

Taiyang just hugged Yang. “If you want to go find Ruby, I’m not going to stop you, Yang, Goodbye.”

Yang smiled as she put her sunglasses on and headed out the dorm room, tears falling as she made her way to Bumblebee. She waved to Port and Bart as she left Beacon for the last time in a while as she made her way to the boat and waited to get a ticket. Soon she was on board and getting ready for the trip.

Yang got off the ship at the Anima port, and soon made her way to a sign. The sign read to the right was Mistral, but to the left was the name ‘Kuroyuri’ scribbled out and painted over with the word ‘BANDITS’ in all caps. “You’re in so much trouble when I find you.” she spoke out to herself. Her mind was fully on her mission ahead, not on Weiss, nor Blake, and definitely not on Adam. Her mind was focused on finding Ruby by the fastest means possible, even if that meant looking for her own mother.

Chapter Text

Weiss needed to get out of this mansion.  She was sick of it; everything she had done in her year of training at Beacon to make herself a better huntress and a better heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, written off by her father.   She was done with this place and needed to get going. She had been locked up in this mansion for three months too long. She knew her best chances were to try to track down Winter or possibly get to Vale to meet up with Ruby and Yang.  Sadly; both were near impossible, and with word of the borders closing soon, she needed to get out: now.

Weiss made her way to the mansion’s library: her suitcase filled with Dust and an extra dress, along with as much money she could find.  “Klein?” she spoke out, as their butler had told her to meet him there. “Klein, where are you?” she asked again.

This time, a reply was heard, as a bookcase moved near one of the corners of the room.  There was Klein, hiding in a secret passage. “Keep your voice down, I told you I would be here.”  Weiss ran over to him, dropping Myrtenaster and her suitcase as she hugged him. He put his hands on her back to finish the hug as he spoke.  “Are you sure Mistral is safe?”

Weiss stepped backwards, recollecting herself.  “No. But it’s where I’ll find Winter.” she answered.   

Klein looked at her, “I suppose she’ll be the only family you have left after tonight.”

Weiss put her hand on his shoulder, reaffirming him.  “I’ll always have you.” she said, smiling as inside those words almost made her start crying.

“You most certainly will.” Klein replied as a long bang was heard.

“Klein? Klein, get down here this instant!” shouted Jacques, her father, from his office.  Weiss had put a glyph on the office door as she passed, and it seemed that Jacques and General James Ironwood of Atlas; whom was trapped in there with Jacques were trying to escape.

“Go, now.” Klein said to Weiss as she picked up her belongings.  

Weiss turned to Klein and they looked at each other for a second.  “Thank you Klein.” Weiss said, and with with a smile, Klein shut the door on Weiss.  She was alone now in the tunnels leading under the mansion. She slowly walked in her heels down the slopes and stairs, until she saw a small balcony, there was a hole in the cliff.  She looked out to see the ocean, and then down to see the city of Mantle’s smog still rising up at this late of night. She looked back out to the ocean before heading down back into the tunnels.  She then found the exit a few minutes later. The door was old and rusty, and battered from the ocean air. Weiss sighed as she pushed down on the door bar, the door slowly creaking as she shoved it open.  The cold Atlasian air bit at her face as she walked out into the snow, she was still underneath the Schnee Mansion but she saw her path was easy to make out, as she bounced from building to building, trying to avoid as many cameras as she could. 

She soon made her way into the city proper, taking any and all possible ways around, trying to avoid the campus of the Atlas Academy, when took a detour to a small cafe with a neon light.  There, she saw what she would of never expected. Almost everyone was on skates. Weiss went up to the cafe stall.

“Hey, you’re new here!” said the cashier. “Welcome to Katt’s Skates!  One of the best cafes in Atlas proper that’s open almost all day. “What would you want?”

Weiss tossed over some lien.  “A normal cappuccino.” Weiss said.

“Alright, what’s the name mam?”

Weiss hesiasted.  “Just call out White or something.”

“Alright.” said the cashier as Weiss sat down, watching the rink.  

“Hey Neon, get off the rink, there’s an order you need to order!” came the cashier over the PA system.  Weiss watched as a figure left the rink and made her way to the cafe stall. Weiss shuttered as she realized who it was: it was the cat faunus that she had fought against with Yang back in the festival.

“An order for a Ms. White!” Neon shouted as Weiss raised her hand.  “Here you go, a normal-” Neon said, skating up, stopping as she realized Weiss.  “Weiss?” she asked.

“Please, keep your voice down Neon, but yes.” Weiss answered.

“This is amazing!  What size you wear?” Neon shouted to Weiss’s dismay.

“Excuse me?” asked Weiss.

“Shoe, what size of shoe do you wear.” Neon spoke out, almost shouting, again to Weiss’s dismal.

“Why would-” Weiss started to ask as she was cut out.

Neon smiled.  “You’re in my house now Weiss!” Neon spoke out loud.  “At least I can do is give you a free pair of skates for the night!”

Weiss just thought for a second before speaking, this was a nice offer of Neon.  “Why thank you but… I just saw this place was open still, and was gonna just go after drinking my cup… I need to get to the airport.”

Neon turned to her.  “Airport?” Weiss nodded, as Neon frowned.  “Not too many people from the rich district go down by foot, what changed?”  

“I’m no longer the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company.”  Weiss spoke to the cat faunus, as those words started to ache around in her head.

Neon just looked to the rink as she sat down.  “I get the feeling you’re running away, then, aren’t you?”

Weiss nodded slightly.  “I don’t feel right here anymore.  I want to be out there, on the ground; with my teammates.”  Weiss smiled when she said those words, for she knew Ruby was likely protecting herself, and Mr. Xiao Long and that… ‘Qrow’ had reassured her that Yang was gonna recover from losing her arm.  Blake on other hand, had left without even a goodbye to her or Yang, with Ruby out cold from whatever happened at the top of the tower.

Neon waved down a figure on the rink.  “I know the feeling.”

“You’ve ran away too?” asked Weiss, now slightly interested in hearing Neon’s own tale from what would of been hers or Blake’s perspective.

“No… my partner from the academy did.  Ilia ran on our team not long after what happened to Penny.”

“Ilia?” asked Weiss.  “Was she-”

“Ilia Amitola.” said a voice rolling up.  “How you doing Schnee?” he spoke again, as Weiss turned to see Flynt Coal, Neon’s partner from the battle just standing there, in what was not his normal tuxedo; but just a black t shirt and jeans.

Weiss just frowned, that word hurt her, was that all people still saw in her?  Just the Schnee Dust Company and its reputation, and not just Weiss? “I’m… fine.” she finally replied.

“Flynt… she's not doing so well… she’s… like Ilia.” Neon slowly spoke, her eyes tearing up.

“Oh.” said Flynt, his face changing from a more shocked expression to a more sympathetic one. “Well, you’re welcome to come stay with me or Neon.”

Weiss smiled.  “Thank you Flynt.”

“Well, do you have a game plan?” asked Flynt.

“I was heading down to the airport to buy a ticket.” answered Weiss.  ‘Yeah, that sounded good. Get on an airplane bound for Mistral, hook up with Winter and stay there for as long as she can.’ Weiss thought to herself.

Flynt and Neon looked at each other.  “That’s not gonna do.” Flynt finally said.

“What?” Weiss sputtered.  She did not need this information right now.

“So you’re a runaway, right?  Not to mention you’re the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company.  Two big flags are gonna be waving you down, Schnee-Weiss.” Flynt spoke, shifting Weiss’s name from Schnee.  “Your family will have the other airport armed to the teeth with people looking for you when you land, not to mention our airport.  It’s too risky to go that way.” Flynt said.

“Then what do I do?” asked Weiss.

“We do the only thing possible.” said Neon.

“Neon no, that’s-” Flynt spoke out, already knowing what Neon was suggesting.

“Out with it.” said Weiss.  “All options should be put before me.”

“Break into the industrial airport and smuggle you onto one of the ships, or bribe the pilot for a ride on one of them.” said Neon, smiling.

“Neon, we can’t-” Flynt started to speak, his voice very concerned.

“That honestly seems the best way to go.” said Weiss, smiling at them, hoping for the best.

“So how did you two know about this?” asked Weiss as they made their way in the frozen cold to the air hanger.

“Oh, we’ve both had to get supplies from this place, it’s sort of the black market.” said Flynt as he opened a door into the hangar.   “Literally any and everything comes through here, normal stuff like Neon’s coffee from Vacuo, to dust supplies.”

“We’re not gonna be attacked are we?” Weiss asked out loud, to the shock of the crews on the ground.  Eyes turned to the trio as they made their way around.

Neon giggled.  “I doubt it, both me and Flynt are good friends with some of the ground crew.”  She turned and waved down one of the crew, the man turned and waved as he came over.

“Heya Neon, what brings you to here.” the man spoke.  

“I need a favor dad, what ships are going out to Mistral tonight?”

Weiss just stood there in shock as the man replied.  “There’s one leaving in a few minutes, why? It’s one of the extras ordered due to the border closing rumor.”

“This… Is a friend of mine and Flynt’s, she needs to get out of the city, like tonight.”

Neon’s father looked at Neon before turning to one of the crew.  “Ask Mr. Long over there, but remember.. Schnee .” He said, realizing who Weiss was.  “This never happened. Got it?”

Weiss gulped and nodded. “Thank you Mister Katt.”  she said as she walked over to the guy Neon’s father had pointed out.  

“Hello?  What do you-?” asked Mr. Long as Weiss handed him a collection of Lien.

“I want on.” Weiss spoke, “That good enough?”

“Okay, you can hide out back in the cargo hold. I'll take you as far as I can, but if we get caught, you're on your own. Understand?” Mr. Long asked as he counted the money.  Weiss nodded as she got onto the ship, and within moments, the ship took off, Mistral bound. Weiss looked out of the window to see Neon and Flynt waving goodbye before heading back towards the city.

Weiss awoke to see crystal clear water for miles around her.  Unsure of her location she got up and walked up to the cabin door.

“We’re in the final stretch.” said the pilot, opening the door.  “We’re over Lake Matsu right now.”

“Lake Matsu?” asked Weiss, unaware of Anima’s terrain.

“Famous lake here in Anima, it’s famous for its dust-”

“Mayday, Mayday!” came a voice over the radio.  “We’re hooked! Someone, anyone!” the sound of buzzing and a bang was heard over the radio, causing Weiss to jump out with a little scream.  “Our huntress is down! We have passengers on board!” the woman over the radio spoke out.

“Should we try to help?” asked Weiss.

The pilot shook his head.  “No, we can’t. My ship is only designed for freight traffic, with a few guns.  I have no room for helping out, but hey, if we heard it, we must be close to the coastline.  I just want to go home to my husband. But for now, my goal is getting my cargo to Mistral, and that includes you.  Someone else will be able-.”

“Look out!” shouted Weiss, cutting him off; the ship they had heard over the radio came into view, heading right into their path.  Twisting the controls, the pilot pulled upwards to avoid the now on fire ship as it smashed into one of the floating islands.

“Son of a bitch!” the pilot shouted.  “Lancers, of all grimm, they entered a lancer nest!”  

Weiss turned to the back.  “Are you carrying dust on this trip?”

The pilot just paused as he pushed some buttons.  “Officially, no. Actually? There’s a few crates, why?!”

Weiss got up.  “I’m taking some.”

“Are you crazy?’ asked the pilot.

“I’ve had training at Beacon for a year-.” Weiss said as a lancer tried to sting the roof.  “When I give the ok, open the rear door!” She then turned to start shoving dust into Myrnaster.

“Kid, we’re gonna be cutting it close!”

“Ready!” Weiss shouted as the door opened, she immediately shot out a blast of wind dust to blow some of them away.  It only made them madder, so Weiss pulled out the fire and ice dust and started to line them one by one, shooting at full force at the Lancers.  “Can you get between some islands?!” Weiss shouted.

“You’re reading my mind!” shouted the pilot.  “Hold on!” he said as the ship shot forward. Weiss used the land bridges as walls as she collapsed them using various types of dust.  “I did it…. I did it!” shouted Weiss as they left the islands.

“Well done.” said the pilot over the intercom.  “Now to-”

Weiss smiled until she took a breath, and heard the noise.  “Another one?!” she shouted, as the buzzing came into view. “It’s the queen!”

“There’s a Queen Lancer?!” asked the pilot.  

Weiss frowned as she set up another round of dust, barely scratching the Queen as she charged towards the ship, her stinger and mouth starting to fire projectiles at the ship, damaging the engines.  

“You better have a plan, girl!” the pilot shouted.  As Weiss stood there, before turning to one of the crates and firing it, triggering all the dust at once when it hit the Queen Lancer.  She froze as the Queen came through, one of her arms torn off from the dust, her wings battered. She screeched as she landed on the ship and dug in.  

“She’s dragging us down!” shouted the pilot.  “Do something!”

Weiss turned to her sword.  “Here goes nothing.” she said, as she dug it into the metal, causing the glyph ring to form.  Slowly the Arma Gigas Knight Summon spawned, and she smiled at it, as they both climbed to the roof. Weiss caught it’s attention as the knight went into position to start slashing the Queen, slowly causing the Queen to turn to them and attack.  Weiss and the beast went toe to toe, projectiles flying from sword and beast towards the other.

“I can see the shore!” shouted the pilot as they fought.

“We’re going to make it!” shouted Weiss, it was now or never, she needed to defeat this beast of a queen wasp.  With a final swing from her sword and the Arma Gigas, she stabbed the lancer and it turned to dust.

“We’re not going to make it!” shouted the pilot as he tried to steer the ship towards the shore.  “We’re going to fast!”

Weiss sighed as she summoned her time glyphs and hastily slowed down the ship, as it dug into the earth, as she fell unconscious from the fall.

Hours passed as Weiss slowly crawled out of the wreckage.  She couldn’t do much until she saw some figures standing there.  “Help.. Please.” Weiss said weakly, hoping to trust the people watching her.

“What do you think?” asked one of the figures to the one who seemed to be in charge.

“I think... we just hit the jackpot.” the boss spoke out loud as she appeared in Weiss’s view.  The figure was tall, her hair like long black feathers, her suit matching in an red color. Weiss looked at the figure, her mind now very concerned.  Something seemed way off about this. Why did she look like Yang? Yeah, she really looked like Yang! Almost the exact same body, but older, and raven haired instead of Yang’s golden hair.  Her eyes were also a shade of red, something Yang only had when she was angry. Was she related to Yang and Ruby? Was she in the home stretch, or the quite opposite? Weiss didn’t get an answer, as the woman curb stomped on her face causing her to black out.

Chapter Text

"The Grimm have a master, called Salem, and Ozpin knows." Raven's voice echoed at Qrow. "We were trained only to be puppets in a war between them! Vale will fall and Ozpin will fail us."

Qrow awoke in a cold sweat as he looked around the room he was in. It was a dark room with a small television on the wall in front of him, the sheets a silky gray as he felt them. He sighed a sigh of relief when he slowly recognized that he was in his bedroom.

"You alright, hon?" asked a voice from next to him. Qrow turned to see the most wonderful creature shining in the moonlight next to him. The figure's lovely black and red hair twisted and mangled as it covered parts of her face. Her silver eyes glowed like the moon through the hair though, as the figure spoke again. "Qrow?" Qrow smiled as he loved hearing the voice, as it sounded like an angel's; no better voice for a Miss Summer Rose.

Qrow didn't answer for a second; only deciding to look at his scroll. It had been a month since he had returned from the mission that took him face to face with Raven. He looked down to see that the message from Ozpin was still unopened. He sighed to himself as he spoke a lie to Summer. "I'm fine, it's nothing."

Summer wasn't having it, for she got out of bed and walked right in front of him; their eyes meeting once more. "Say that again." She demanded him to say it to her face.

"Summer, I'm fine." Qrow spoke, however he knew in the back of his mind that he was going to have to spill to Summer what had happened a few weeks ago.

Summer looked at him, and then with a quick grab of his arm, yanked him out of the bed. "You're going to tell me right now what's wrong, Qrow." she commanded, her voice, while enchanting; was quite ruffled at Qrow trying to weasel out of whatever he was hiding.

Qrow sighed as he felt himself being slowly dragged to the kitchen by his lovely girlfriend. They soon sat together at the table, with Qrow just looking solemnly at the STRQ photo. "You know how I said that I didn't look for Raven?"

Qrow could visibly see his girlfriend's body react to those words and her emotions snap into pieces. "You lied to us?!" she screamed at him, Qrow only acknowledged by keeping his eyes on the photo. "Qrow." she said, softer this time, to not awake Yang or Tai; as she grabbed his hand. "Did you lie to us? Did you lie to me?!"

"No." said Qrow, a tear nearly hitting the photo but missed. "But let me explain, Sum. As I said; I had to help out a village." Qrow turned to look at her for a second, before refocusing on the photo. In that moment both lovers saw that the other was crying tears; both angry and sad in their own ways as Raven's departure had affected them both. "They needed a huntsman to clear out a bandit threat-".

Qrow was cut off as Summer just hugged him before she spoke. "So you fought your sister there?"

Qrow smiled for a second as he felt his life being held by Summer, but quietly frowned once more. "No, I didn't, I tried to tell her to return with me, but she refused."

"Then why are you worried about her?" asked Summer.

"It's…-" Qrow looked at Summer, a tear fell out of his crimson eyes, hitting the counter as he tried to be quiet about what he was about to explain. "Promise to not tell Taiyang?"

Summer looked at him and nodded. "What happened?"

"It's not what happened; it's what she told me." Qrow said, those words coming back in full force; the words bouncing around his head. "She told me that she had dug around right after Yang was born. She told me that the Grimm we've been fighting have a master."

"Like someone's pulling the strings and causing everything?" asked Summer, now concerned. Qrow only nodded to her in reply. "We should tell Ozpin!-"

"He already knows." said Qrow, cutting his girlfriend off. "Or that's what Raven suspected. She told me that: it's 'why we were trained, only to be puppets in a war between them' and that 'Vale will fall and Ozpin will fail us'."

"To which 'we' was she referring to?" asked Summer, smiling to try to hold the conversation from completely falling apart, or even worse effects.

Qrow stood there silent for a few moments, not sure how to reply. "I left as she said those last words, but I'll have to ask her that next time I see her." Qrow spoke, as Summer got up and kissed him on the cheek.

"You feeling better, hon?" she asked, causing Qrow to nod. "Then let's go back to bed."

Qrow smiled as they headed back upstairs, they had just gotten comfy in their bed when the sounds of crying wailed from the room across from theirs.

Qrow got up, when Summer stopped him. "I've got her: you need sleep."

Qrow smiled as he laid in his and Summer's bed. Summer came back in after a few minutes as Tai had awoken to his daughter's screams; eventually climbing into bed and accompanying her boyfriend. Qrow only looked up at the slowly turning ceiling fan; the Qrow that had come to Beacon would have never had a life like this ahead of him; and he was proud of his changes, he then smiled as he felt something grab his arm. He turned to see Summer; his beautiful woman having latched onto him as she slept, her body shining in the silver light of the moon once more. Qrow only chuckled to himself as he tried to get some shut eye for himself. As for a guy with a bad luck semblance; he was quite a lucky man.

Days passed quite nicely for Qrow after revealing to Summer what had happened with him and Raven at that town. He was coming home with groceries, only to be met with the sound of vomiting as he approached the door. He opened it and rushed in, catching a glimpse of Summer in the bathroom.

"Summer!" He shouted, dropping the food at the counter, and then rushing to the bathroom door. "Summer, are you alright?" he asked again, as he got to the door, seeing his girlfriend standing over the counter in one of her white tee shirts. The sink below smelled very nauseous to Qrow but he pushed on for his girlfriend.

Summer chuckled to herself as she cleaned from puke from her month. "I'm fine dear; just it seems my last meal was not sitting right in me." Summer got up from the counter; now smiling cheerfully to him as she turned on the water to flush out the puke. "Now come on; I'll help you put away the groceries."

Qrow smiled at his girlfriend wholesomely. "Alright Sum; just ask me if you need something."

Summer smiled to herself as she turned off the light in the bathroom, making sure the pregnancy test was well hidden; Summer could swear even in the darkness she could still see it's answers in the darkness, even though her eyes had not adjusted yet. The plus sign shone in Summer's head as she closed the door, smiling to herself. She turned to help Qrow put away the groceries until Qrow stopped all of a sudden. "Qrow?" she asked as Qrow pulled out his scroll. "Qrow, What's wrong?"

Qrow just looked at his messages, then sighed. "Nothing Sum, just Ozpin keeps messaging me."

Summer perked up. "You… you're worried aren't you."

Qrow nodded. "I'm not worried for me; but I'm worried for you and Yang. I just… don't know." Qrow looked down at the scroll again. "Last time I talked to him; he suggested bringing you out into the field and I said no."

Summer smiled. "Then….-" she stopped speaking as she glanced at the calendar. "Tomorrow's Friday, so I'll have Tai take care of Yang for the morning, so me and you can go out to see Ozpin. Together."

Qrow nodded to that as he put away a box of cereal. "Yeah, thank you Sum." He lied to himself as his mind drifted away from what was going on to what would happen with Ozpin the next day.

Qrow stared out of the window on the bus as it rolled up the winding road towards the cliffs of Beacon. Tai had taken the car so they had to take the public transport. With him was Summer, who smiled at him while she held onto his hand tightly. The towers of Beacon soon appeared over the tree line as Qrow looked down to see the lake below; it's blue waters shining in the morning sunlight.

Qrow got out of the bus soon enough as it stopped at the front building. The CCT tower loomed at it's spot in the middle of the campus; it's green lights glowing a dark shade of emerald as Qrow was figuratively dragged to it by Summer's hand.

They entered through the normal doors and went up to the receptionist. "Hey, is Headmaster Ozpin in?" asked Summer to the receptionist.

The Receptionist smiled. "Yes he is, take the first elevator, he does not have any meetings today so I'm slotting you for thirty minutes." she said smiling. "Have a nice day."

Summer smiled. "Thank you." she said as she dragged Qrow to the elevator and they got in. "You ready Qrow?"

"No Sum. I'm not. How should I tell him?" Qrow asked quietly as Summer grabbed his hand.

"No matter what Qrow; you've got me. If the terms aren't in our favor; he'll lose two of his best hunters. That's it."

Qrow nodded as the door opened. There Ozpin sat in his chair, looking over papers. He looked up and smiled as he saw Qrow and Summer in his office. "Ah, Qrow and Summer; are you ready for a mission?"

Qrow nodded. "I am, but Yang's not ready to give up Summer. She had a fit this morning when we left." Summer smiled at Qrow's words, encouraging him onward.

"I understand full heartedly." Ozpin said, smiling. "Sorry to hear you won't be accompanying Qrow, Ms. Rose. But Qrow." He said turning to Qrow as he took a sip of his cocoa.

"So; what's the mission Ozpin." said Qrow, trying to put a fake smile.

"Oh, it's a longer one; there's a subfaction of the faunus population in Vacuo that one of my other scouts reported on that I would like you to investigate for a few months. We're worried about them doing something rash and resparking the faunus-human war."

"Or something that would get them in line with Salem?" asked Qrow, ready to dig into the meaning behind Raven's words.

Ozpin put his mug down onto his glass desk, Qrow noticed he instantly became pale at the sound of that name. "Who told you of that name?" Ozpin slowly asked the two adults in the room. Qrow spotted Ozpin while saying that he had reached for his cane.

Qrow stared angrily at Ozpin; and so he spoke first. "So Raven was right? On my last mission I ran into her, she said that there was a whole lot more to this than you've been letting on."

Summer joined in, her voice sounding like there was a fire within her. "And if you don't start telling us what Raven means then why should we go out on what could become suicidal missions for you".

Ozpin looked down at his mug, still resting on his desk, cursing the words: "Shit, how did she learn..." under his breath. He looked up at his two best hunters. "Alright. What do you want to know."

Summer put a hand on her stomach as she walked close. "Who is she?"

Oz looked at her. "She's an...old enemy of mine…" Ozpin trailed off, noticing that they were staring at him. "Many a years ago our paths crossed and she swore that she would take down everything I've, and people like myself and yourselves have worked towards, and I fear she's growing stronger day by day."

"So where do we fit in?" asked Summer, now perking up to the conversation.

"I can't do it alone, you know; that's why I have you two along with Glynda and people of the other academies working with me on this. We all are just chess pieces at the end of the day in this plan; plus there's a theory going around that affects you Summer."

"Me?" Summer asked.

"What if I told you that the Silver Eyes story was in fact true?" Ozpin silently asked of them.

"Didn't we go over this already when you recruited us?" asked Qrow.

"I asked you if you believed it was possibly true. Now I'm telling you that it is true." Ozpin paused and then turned out of the window before sighing to himself. "I want your honest opinions on this." Ozpin said, turning around to focus back on them. "What would you say if gods existed."

Summer just looked at Ozpin with a little bit of shock. "Gods; like in religion; with the powers to kill us any second?"

Ozpin nodded. "Remnant was forged by two gods; twin brothers in fact. The older brother, the god of light, found joy in creating life. His brother, the god of darkness, found his spark in causing destruction. If you could imagine; that causes a lot of differences between them." Summer and Qrow nodded at that. "The God of Light would spend his days creating water, plants, wildlife. And while he slept; his brother would wake up to see all the things that his brother had made and eventually become disgusted. To counteract his brother's creations, the god of darkness brought anything you would consider destruction to rid Remnant of life. Life always returned to Remnant. Until one day he made something - something that shared is equality to destroy."

Summer's mouth opened to speak up. "You're saying that this god of darkness is the creator of the Grimm?"

Ozpin nodded. "At the arrival of the Grimm; the older brother proposed to make one final creation with his brother's help. This last great masterpiece would be given the power to both create and destroy. It would be given the gift of knowledge, so that it could learn about itself and the world around it. And most importantly, it would be given the power to choose, to have free will to take everything it had learned and decide which path to follow - the path of light or the path of darkness."

"Which is?" asked Qrow.

Ozpin just laughed at Qrow's remark. "All three of us; humanity as a whole was their final creation. Before they left us; they gave us four powerful artifacts; each a symbol of mankind; choice; knowledge; creation and destruction. These relics were lost until the king of vale used them to restore balance for they are able to change the world. After the war they were each given to a school to protect them from evil."

"And that's why Salem's after you? To get the relics and change the world?" asked Summer.

"Yes." said Ozpin. "And why I have people like yourself around me; as our strength is greater in numbers. As these places are used to train the next generation of grimm hunters… including you Summer. I mentioned your silver eyes before; it's said that the God of Light split some of his own power into one of the first humans and his bloodlines were silver eyed, and that you are the key to stopping the Grimm."

Summer gulped at that news. "I'm that important?"

Ozpin thought for a second. "I don't know if it's true or not; but if it is; yes."

"So what about Salem; how can she… control the grimm?" asked Qrow.

"I've looked into this myself Qrow to no avail." Ozpin sighed. "Now that you know all that I do… are you still willing to work with me?"

Qrow sighed. "I will if Summer says I can."

Summer hesitated before smiling. "Qrow can help you Ozpin, but I need to help raise Yang for Tai."

"I fully understand Ms. Rose. Thank you both for your time." said Ozpin. "Qrow; you're still doing that mission right?"

Qrow nodded. "Yeah sure. I'll watch them for what; 6 months?"

Summer frowned at that news. "You sure you want to be away for that long? You'll miss Yang's birthday!"

Qrow turned to her, watching as she pouted with her silver eyes at him, he couldn't contest them. "Actually- There wouldn't happen to be any other missions I can take; are there Oz?"

Ozpin smiled at the sound of that. "There's one that's in southern Vale you can do that'll take about a month and a half Qrow, even Summer could join you on it."

Qrow nodded, he actually liked the idea of a Southern Valian mission. "What's it about."

Ozpin stared into his mug, a little worried. "It's a friend of mine actually. Christopher Arc; head of the Arc Family. I have not heard from him in a while."

"Why would it take a month if it seems like a check up?" Summer asked.

Ozpin smiled at that. "Christopher's family has a habit of luring people in to help them out there." Ozpin laughed at his comment. "But really; I just want you two to go down there for a bit; scope out the area heading to where they live. I've sent mail down there for a few weeks now and haven't gotten a word back from anyone down there."

Summer nodded at that, she liked the sound of this mission from what Ozpin told them. "Alright; we'll set out tomorrow."

Ozpin got out of his chair. "Here, take this." he pulled out from his desk a small envelope. "There's something in here for his family, please take it to them."

Qrow and Summer smiled. "We will." said Summer as they left the room. "See you sometime soon."

Qrow looked at Summer as they left the building, before staring at Ozpin's room for a few moments. "Did we do the right thing Sum?" he asked Summer who smiled back at him.

"Yep." Summer said as she held his hand. "We got a lot out of him and he should realize he's putting our lives on the line- mainly yours Stilts." Summer smirked as they got to the bus stop; as the bus itself made its way into the stop and they got on it.

"Yeah but you know my semblance, it's better if I'm out risking my life for money to help you and Tai- but what about her?"

Summer rolled her eyes. "So she can control the grimm somehow? We'll overcome this Qrow. We've always overcome our obstacles."

"What if-" Qrow started to ask, only for Summer to put her finger over his mouth to silence him.

"We'll overcome it; I promise." Said Summer who just smiled brightly at Qrow, reassuring him.

Qrow weakly smiled at that before staring out of the window; back into the blue horizon of the sky & lake below. The bus was an interesting place to have this conversation; but it was better for both of them that Taiyang didn't know. What Tai needed to know was that they were going away for a few weeks.

Summer puked up on the floor as Qrow came to her aid one stormy night at the Arc Estate, they had been in Orleans for a month? The CCT connection wasn't as stable as they liked here so they just winged it; helping out for a little while with the planting of crops, or taking care of the youngest Arc Boy, Jaune, and his seven sisters.

Qrow sighed, tears following from his face. "Summer, please, I'm worried now. This is the third time in a week you've woken up puking in the middle of the night. We need to talk about this."

Summer smiled. "Good." Summer paused. "I've been needing to tell you something, Qrow."

Qrow started to fear for his relationship, his mind had already started to fill with bad thoughts. 'Did I fuck up…-' he started to think, before Summer broke his thoughts.

Summer had lifted her shirt and just pointed to her stomach, which was starting to look pregnant. "I've been holding this from you… I'm pregnant."

Qrow fell into Summer's arms as he tried to pick her up. "Summer, why didn't you tell me about… our petal sooner." said Qrow as he brushed through Summer's hair, playfully attacking her wolf faunus ears. "I'm gonna be a father!" he cried happily.

"Yes, yes you are." Summer smirked, as they just kissed each other, as they looked out upon the river flowing below, with the moon reflecting into it.

It had been peaceful for the next few months after leaving the Arc Estate, though the little Arc Boy, Jaune, hadn't wanted them to leave so they had tried to keep in touch but it drifted as he found other people to be inspired by. Until one night Qrow was flying home when he got a text to go to the Hospital.

'Cursed that damn mission in Forever Fall Oz wanted.' Qrow thought as he landed outside of the Valian Hospital. Running inside he darted for the reception desk and got pointed in the right direction. He bursted into a room to find just exactly what he was looking for.

There Summer sat smiling at him. "Took your time; well good news she got delivered fine, Stilts." Summer pulled the blanket cover a little to reveal the baby. "I haven't named her, but I'm thinking she looks like a Ruby."

Qrow looked at her and smiled. "Ruby; I like that too."

"Ruby.." Summer said smiling. "Now, Branwe-"

"No. I do not want her cursed with my name. She is going to be Ruby Rose." Qrow's voice was aggregated at the thought of Ruby having his last name, he would never curse her to be connected by name to Raven's tribe.

"Want to hold her?" Summer asked, smiling. "She's yours too you know." Qrow gulped as Summer lifted Ruby to him. The little girl moved a little in his hands, as she opened her eyes to look at Qrow. Qrow gasped as he just looked at Ruby, she was a carbon copy by the looks of it, minus her mother's faunus trait. "Y-yeah." Summer said, trying to peek over. "She's a lot to take in." What they were concerned about however were Ruby's eyes.

They shone Silver like the moon above.

Qrow smiled as Ruby yawned a little and stretched a hand out, which Qrow returned allowing her to grip his finger. "No matter what; she's our petal." He looked down to see Ruby had fallen asleep. "Goodnight my sweet Petal." he said, as he handed Ruby back to Summer. He sat down next to Summer and grabbed her other hand.

They were together now, damn the gods if they mess this up for him. He had a family now; one he refused to leave.