Work Text:
“Jaune! We need you over here! He’s losing too much blood!”
He knew that voice, though he couldn’t name it. He tried to open his eyes to see what was going on but failed. Attempted to move but discovered that he oddly couldn’t even feel his body anymore. It was strange. He distinctly remembered an overwhelming agony from the hit he’d taken for the girls so that their aura wouldn’t break. All of them had been dangerously low from the extended battle defending the Amity site. He’d been pinned with Weiss and Blake when a Megoliath had charged the three of them. The elder hunter had instinctively rolled his body between the two teens and the threat, using Harbinger to sweep them out of the way, and had taken the hit full force while the two of them had been grazed.
But why couldn’t he feel anything? If his aura had shattered from the hit then he should have at least been feeling the cold… He could hear another familiar voice frantically chanting near him.
“Don’t die, don’t die, please don’t die.”
~
James looked around the room of distraught teens. Jaune was with the medics, still doing everything he could to keep Qrow from dying but the man honestly needed blood to fully stabilize. Preferably from a relative- which they had. The problem was that Yang wasn’t compatible with her uncle. The General could see the blond young woman collapsed against the wall in despair, her friends trying to comfort her, and wanted fiercely to lift the burden of unearned guilt from her shoulders. It wasn’t her fault she’d inherited her father’s blood over her mother’s but she clearly felt like it was. His deep blue eyes settled on a sobbing Ruby, the girl wrapped in her sister’s arms as the elder apologized profusely for things beyond her control.
He couldn’t bear to watch it anymore.
Thankfully he’d been given what he needed to do something to help when the group had arrived in Atlas.
Praying for forgiveness from his friend in Patch (he had Qrow’s already in advance), he walked forward to get their attention. Laying a gentle hand on the silver-eyed teen’s shoulder, offered quietly. “There’s another chance to save him…”
~
Soft red eyes slowly blinked open, carefully taking in the darkness around him before levering himself up into a sitting position (ruthlessly silencing the groan of pain the movement brought on). He could see through the slightly parted curtains that it was night out, so he had to have been out for a while since the mission had taken place in the morning. He started to throw back the useless sheets he was under before he realized that someone was holding them down. On his left side Ruby was slumped over on his bed, her head resting on her folded arms. Weiss was sitting right next to her in what was almost an identical pose. To his right Yang and Blake were leaning against each other in the uncomfortable, armless chairs, the raven’s head tucked under the blond’s while they slept. Against the wall directly in front of him Nora was curled up with her feet in Jaune’s lap and her head on Ren’s. Ren was leaning so that he was using Nora’s hip as a pillow and Jaune was sleeping against his shoulders with Oscar curled against his other side.
Bits of the mission came back to him and he felt relief swell at the sight of all of them safe. He barely caught the movement of a black ear flicking in response to his sigh, turning just in time to see gold eyes open. He knew the moment she saw him as her eyes widened, heard the breathless gasp as she squirmed free of Yang to stand, waking the blond in the process and starting a chain reaction that stirred the others. Slender but strong arms wrapped around him carefully, afraid of putting any pressure on his injuries but needing the contact.
“You’re okay…” The voice in his ear wavered slightly, reminding him of the chanting he’d heard before he passed out. Qrow lifted his arms, fighting the fatigue that still plagued him, to hold her. Hopefully offering the reassurance Blake needed that he was going to be fine. He felt others join the hug, some of them quietly weeping, and they all held on for several minutes before they all parted.
Qrow looked around the room, noting the relief visible on everyone’s face and had to ask. “How bad was it?”
“We nearly lost you due to blood loss before we even made it back to Atlas.” Weiss swiped the tears from her face daintily, while trying to pretend she wasn’t crying like the rest of them. “Your blood type is rare, apparently, and a donation from a relative was determined to be best but…”
“I couldn’t do it…” Yang’s tortured whisper nearly dragged him from the bed to her side before he realized where this story was going.
“Why could I when she couldn’t Uncle Qrow?” Ruby reached out to take one of his hands in both of her’s. “General Ironwood didn’t tell us anything more than that I could possibly save you.”
Qrow closed his eyes, sending a silent apology to Tai and Summer for revealing this before the agreed upon time. “The reason you could do it is because… You’re my daughter.”
“What?” Her grip tightened enough to make his bones ache but he made no move to pull away. He heard Yang and Blake shifting behind him and opened his eyes in time to see Weiss lay a hand on Ruby’s shoulder. Jaune, Nora, Ren, and Oscar had all sat up and were staring at him in shock.
He ran his free hand through his hair, turning his attention back to… his daughter. “We were going to tell you in a few more years. We never intended to keep it from you. But well… It’s a bit of a story… And not exactly a happy one…”
“Tell me… Please?” Silver eyes shimmered up at him pleadingly and he felt all his will to resist drain out of him.
Sighing in defeat (he never approved of keeping it from her anyways) Qrow leaned back and began at the beginning. “It was shortly after Raven left us all behind. Tai was a mess and Summer and I were trying our best to help keep him together. We’d all moved in together to help look after Yang, sharing duties and everything. Your mom… She’d been in love with Tai for years but he’d always shown more interest in Raven so she hadn’t said anything for a long time. It wasn’t until after Rae left that she ended up confessing. And by that time he’d started seeing her as more than a friend. I think it helped Tai to be with her but things were shaky between them. He wasn’t fully over Raven even if he was moving on…
“Summer sometimes felt like he was only with her because there was no one else, instead of him actually wanting to be with her. Like she was just a replacement for Raven. Tai never really thought that but everyone has insecurities and that was her’s. On top of that Summer wanted a kid of her own and Tai… Well, he wasn’t ready for another one. Not when his last wife had ditched right after giving birth, you know? There was a lot of fighting about it. I tried to keep the peace when I could but one night I hadn’t been there to mediate because I’d been out on a mission. I was on my way back when Tai had taken Yang to go stay at his mother’s for the night, to give them time apart to cool down but… Summer was desperate for a kid of her own no matter how much she loved Yang. And she was still insecure about things with Tai. It wasn’t really a good mind set for her to be alone in.”
Qrow roughly ran a hand over his face, trying to remember what he could of that night. “I remember coming home to find her alone. She wasn’t crying but something about her behavior was off. I just didn’t have the energy to place it. I had been relieved Tai had taken Yang out for the night. The mission was a bad one and it had wrung me out in the worst ways. Summer had gotten a few bottles of… something down for us to drink. I don’t actually remember what it was. Which is no surprise considering her plan had been to get me too drunk to say no and herself too drunk to feel guilty.”
“Wait, wait, wait! She-”
“Don’t!” The shape-shifter threw up both hands to stop the accusations before they began flying. “She knew I was interested in her because I used to flirt with her all the time but I’d stopped when she got together with Tai because I respected their relationship. Rough as it was… So, yes, technically by the letter of the law she raped me because I was too drunk to properly consent. But I never considered it rape because she was nearly as drunk as me and was acting in deseperation and on information she already had. Yes, it was wrong. No, I don’t approve. But I forgave her a long time ago and there’s no use getting mad about it okay?” There was a resounding silence around him, indicating that even if they were listening to him they weren’t ready to let go that fast. That was fine with him. It had taken him a while to forgive her too.
“And Dad?” Yang’s voice was clipped, a sure sign of how upset she was though she was doing well to hold her temper. He was proud of her control.
“Tai came back the next morning and found me waking up. He was pretty pissed but he didn’t lose his cool right off because apparently whatever I first said confused the hell outta him. I was still a bit drunk and I was hung-over- which sucks royally if any of you were wondering. Anyways. Didn’t take him long to figure out that I hadn’t exactly been a fully willing participant. Which led to a whole new screaming match and I finally put my foot down. Told them I absolutely refused to become a weapon for them to wield against each other and that they needed to get counselling or something and get their shit straightened out because you both deserved better and if they didn’t I was gonna take you guys and leave. Still don’t have any idea where the hell I woulda gone if they hadn’t but the threat knocked some sense into both their thick skulls.
“By the time Ruby was ready to be born, the two of them were solid. We’d talked about it and… Summer and Tai had decided it would be better to wait until you were older to tell you who your biological father was.”
“They decided?” Ruby’s grip hadn’t lessened much but it was enough for the blood flow to return to his fingers.
“Yea, I… They were afraid it would cause a rift between you two since you weren’t sisters by blood. That if the two of you ever argued it might become something you would throw at each other in a fight. I thought it would be better for you to grow up knowing the truth. Figured that you wouldn’t have any weird young adult identity crisis or something if you were raised knowing but… Well, anyways. The plan was to tell you when you turned twenty-one.”
“How come General Ironwood knew?” Weiss frowned at the blanket bunched in her other hand. He could only imagine the things running through her head at that moment.
“I told him when we first came here in case of a medical emergency, which… You know…” Qrow waved his free hand around the room, gesturing to their general situation.
“Was totally a smart thing to do?” Nora crossed her arms and lifted a brow at him.
“Just saved your life?” Jaune slumped back against the wall and rubbed a hand through his hair.
“Yea. That. He was still sworn to secrecy but he knew so that he could take action if it became necessary.”
“Which it did.” Blake injected, probably to drill it home that he could have died.
“Yea, anyways. Now you know…”
“So… This whole time I’ve been calling you Uncle…” Ruby’s voice was faint, distant as she got lost in her thoughts.
“You don’t have to change it just because of what you learned.” Qrow tried to call her back, not wanting her to become distressed over the knowledge. This was the whole reason he was against keeping it a secret to begin with.
“Hey… I got a question though…”
“Shoot, firecracker.”
“How were they using you as a weapon against each other?”
“Huh?”
“Well, you said you put your foot down because you refused to be a weapon they used against each other…”
“Ah!” His hand went to the back of his neck in a move they had long since learned. Yang arched a brow, wondering what about her question could have embarrassed him. “Well. See… Your mom wasn’t the only one I flirted with before they got together…”
Both brows flew up in surprise as she put the pieces together. “You hit on Dad!?”
“Only sometimes! It was before Summer confessed and he was always down so I would flirt with him to get a smile or a laugh and he’d play along.” He ducked his head, knowing he couldn’t hide his blush but trying to subconsciously. “I stopped after they got together but I guess Summer felt like maybe there had been more to the flirting…”
“Was there?” Pink eyes met his from across the room.
“What?”
“Was there more to the flirting?”
“I…” The older hunter faltered, thinking back on those days before the relationship had started between his remaining teammates. “Well… Tai and I are both bi… Or at least I’m bi and he’s pan. But Tai’s never made any move that made it seem like he wanted a relationship with me. So I’d have to say no, there wasn’t anything more to the flirting.”
“I doubt that.” Vermillion eyes flicked over to lilac, curiosity swirling through them. “Dad’s had plenty of chances to try a relationship but he’s always turned them down.” Yang flicked a lock of her blond hair over her shoulder with a toss of her head. “I think he’s been waiting on you.”
Qrow blinked blankly as he took in the information, turning to Ruby when he felt her tug on his hand. “You should talk to him.”
“Maybe…”
“No. Not maybe.” Her voice was firm as she stood up, finally releasing her hold on him. “You need to talk to him. But…” She offered a small smile. “Not right now of course. You need to rest and so do we. Once we’ve all got a clear head we can ask more questions but right now… I think we need time to process what we’ve learned.” The short girl leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Uncle or father, you’re my family and I love you. Good night.”
“Good night, sleep well.” He bid them all, as they filed out, secure in the knowledge that he would recover and be back on his feet in time. As he lay back in the uncomfortable bed, Qrow couldn’t help but wonder. Had Tai really been waiting for him all this time? It was a question he desperately wanted answered, and one he would certainly be asking the next time he saw his friend.