Work Text:
back-to-school season
"It wasn't supposed to be like this." Ruby's eyes fell to the scenery, her mouth pressed into a grim line as she fought to search for the words. They had long fallen behind the group as they headed towards the train station, the Argus Limited awaiting their arrival.
Their journey would finally be continuing today. Yet, the excitement that usually filled the young girl was nowhere to be seen.
Qrow sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets. It was already getting colder now that the end of the summer was properly transitioning into the fall months. "Whaddya mean, kiddo?"
Quietly, Ruby explained, "…we were supposed to be going back to school this week."
Qrow's brow furrowed as Ruby's voice quavered ever so slightly, a hitch at the end that pierced straight into his heart. He had completely forgotten about that. How had it been just a year since he had sent her off to Beacon Academy for the first time, her eyes shining with innocent excitement, her backpack too big for her tiny shoulders?
"Ruby," he murmured, "we'll get Beacon back."
"But we won't," she replied somberly. Her gaze fell upwards, and Qrow found himself following her view. The girl was staring at the top of Mistral's mountainside towards Haven Academy.
Qrow found himself lost for words. Ruby was absolutely correct. Even if they managed to reclaim Beacon within the next few years (hell, make it even next week, it didn't matter) Ruby would never be able to look at Beacon Academy with the same kind of pride and wonder he had seen her wear during the Vytal Festival. Beacon Academy would never again be the place where she would learn to fight, and laugh, and make friends, and get in trouble for sleeping in class. Beacon was naught but a place of memories now- some good memories and, no matter how much he wished he could erase the trauma caused by them, many more bad ones.
Beacon was the heart of the Fall. Beacon was where she had lost her home. Beacon was where her big sister had lost her arm, where her team had been separated, and where her friends had died.
He pushed the thought away in his mind as to how he had been complicit in making some of those things happen.
Either way, with the track they were on, the likelihood of Ruby ever getting to cross that stage and graduating as a fully-licensed Huntress, after experiencing four years of school life and adventure and love and loss and all the normal things he had wanted her to experience- she would never get to have that life. Not if she stayed to fight alongside him and Oz.
"You know," he said gently, lowering his voice so the others wouldn't hear, "you could always go to Haven. No one would blame you." He reached upwards, running his fingers through his hair as he pushed his bangs out of his eyes. "You're too young to be doing this anyway."
She smiled, but there was no humour in her eyes. "We both know I can't, Uncle Qrow. It doesn't matter how old I am- I mean, look at Oscar." She let out a deep, heavy sigh, slumping over as if the weight of the world rested upon her shoulders.
It kind of does, Qrow thought darkly.
Still, Ruby was Ruby- ever the optimist. She flashed him a weak, rueful smile. "But hey- I've got you and Yang here, and everyone's together again, right?"
He didn't point out how her voice cracked on the word 'everyone'. It wasn't everyone- not by a long shot. Still, he just smiled, reaching over to ruffle her hair affectionately. "You've got us," he agreed, his care for his niece clear as day.
She had grown up so much over the course of her journey, not to mention since she had first left for Beacon. At that thought, he added, "Besides, you probably wouldn't even need Huntsmen Academies now- look at how strong your little friends have become!" He glanced over at Jaune up ahead, the blond tripping over the stairs for the nth time amidst laughter from Nora. "Okay, let's maybe not generalize too much…"
Ruby chuckled, watching her friends lovingly. "Yeah, well… I don't know if even Professor Goodwitch could train him out of that."
"I dunno kiddo, Glynda's a real stickler for not making an ass of her as a prof…"
Ruby laughed wholeheartedly at that, covering her mouth to avoid getting caught by the group up ahead. "I mean, in Beacon she wasn't super nice to him always. I think she didn't give him detention too much because he had Pyrrha-"
And that was all it took for her face to fall again, her eyes landing upon her boots as she shuffled along. Qrow reached out to her, but he couldn't touch her. What could he do or say that could possibly help her feel even remotely better?
The death of Penny Polendina was one thing, and he would never let James live it down- but Pyrrha Nikos had died because they had chosen her to be a Maiden, and for that, Ruby would never see her friend ever again.
Finally, he settled on pulling out an old, aged photograph. He kept it on him at all times. Even though he knew it was probably better to upload it onto the CCTS, or at least onto his Scroll, something about the photo made him feel safe. Protected.
Like he actually belonged.
Beacon was the place that had given him that feeling for the first time in his life. It had given him a purpose, a family. Tai was the brother he had always wanted. Summer had been... well, everything. And Ozpin had been the goal, the lighthouse in the darkness of misfortune plaguing his life.
Beacon was irreplaceable.
…They're all still grieving, aren't they?
He quickly looked up at the kids walking before him. They looked happy and excited enough, but there was a roughness to their smiles, a strain in their eyes. They looked far too old and weary to be just teenagers.
Holding out the photo to Ruby, he murmured, "Our team didn't exactly have a normal time in Beacon, either. But it didn't matter if we were on the beaten path or not. What mattered," and he paused, frantically trying to find words profound enough to fulfil Ruby's expectations as she looked up at him, awaiting a revelation, "is… is that by the time we left Beacon, we knew what we stood for. We knew what mattered to us, and we knew who mattered to us. And we fought to protect that."
Ruby's silver gaze clouded. "But you all…"
He shrugged, tucking the photograph away. "Look, I didn't say it worked out perfectly… but then again, that's why you need to keep your head up, kiddo."
She frowned, not following his logic.
He paused, pinching her nose for a moment despite her spluttering reaction. "You all seem to have found your answers pretty damn early. Your team found their way back to each other, right? Against all odds?"
Once he had put the photograph away, Ruby's face slowly lit up in understanding. Then, she smiled, her expression so adoring that Qrow couldn't move.
When did she start looking so much like Summer? It was like his old leader was staring back at him, that same loving, grateful smile on her face.
"I got it, Uncle Qrow," Ruby beamed. "Thanks."
He cleared his throat, ushering her along. "What, did you think your uncle didn't have little nuggets of wisdom every now and then?"
She rolled her eyes at his deflection, readjusting her bag on her shoulders and walking forward with a spring in her step.
He chuckled, lingering behind. "Now, it ain't for school, but you got your backpack all packed, kid?"
She nodded, flashing him a wide smile. "Who said school supplies can't be Dust rounds and rations?"
Qrow winked, "I mean, that sounds pretty standard, considering how 'landing strategies' were day one." When she laughed aloud at that, he simply pretended to kick her lightly along the path. She giggled and nodded, skipping forward to rejoin her friends as they carried on their way. Then, he allowed his smile to fall, retreating into his mind as he put his hands into his pockets and continued strolling after them, his niece's silver eyes shining in the morning light, red cape mirroring the reddening leaves all around them.
The autumn was here once again, but Beacon's doors were closed, and they wouldn't reopen any time soon. For that, Qrow grieved for the loss of the life these children deserved to have lived, tucked away behind the former safety of Beacon's walls.
-fin-