Synopsis: In the grim future of the 41st Millennium, there is only war. But on one forgotten planet far away from the reach of the Imperium of Man, two sisters with origins far grander than can be imagined may yet save humanity from destruction. Unbeknownst to them, they are Primarchs, the gene-forged children of the God-Emperor of Mankind. But to the rest of Remnant, they are Ruby Rose, and Yang Xiao-Long.
AN: Oh boy, here we go again. I know many of you are waiting for updates on my other fic, and rest assured that me starting this new one is not meant to be a signal of abandonment. Rather, it is meant to be a useful fulcrum, if you will. If I get stuck on one story, writing on the other one for a while should help me to regain traction on the other.
Even thinking about writing this story was enough to help me push out an update on the other, so…I think that following the urge to write more, instead of repressing it and stewing in a writer's block might end up being more productive on average, even if I am in-theory splitting up my theoretical writing potential. We shall see!
As to any sort of schedule for posts, I would imagine that on average, updates to this story will take longer to make, with the size of each update correspondingly longer. Greek Tragedy will be more episodic, while this will be more all-encompassing. Do not expect this to be done any time soon. I have plans.
Anyway, enjoy, review, comment, etc.
To begin to unravel the threads of time, one must understand the grand scope of events.
Time loses meaning, if it has no context. A frame of reference is required to truly understand the what-was, the what-is, and what-will-be.
For the countless trillions of humans who called the galaxy home, it was a time of cruel and bloody oppression by uncaring oligarchs, and theocratic dictators.
It was a time of incredible ignorance and superstition, with the promise of technological progress having long since been abandoned, and so much knowledge lost.
It was a time of unending carnage, and slaughter, fueled by the whims of the monstrous Dark Gods, the arcane plots of treacherous xenos, and the grim callousness of humanity's defenders.
It was the Forty First Millennium.
For over ten thousand years, the forces of the Imperium of Man have stood against the depravations of Aliens, Heretics, and Mutants alike. The God-Emperor of Mankind rules from the Golden Throne of Terra, a Psyker of unparalleled power turned to bone and mummified skin after a cataclysmic battle that put an end to a war that sundered the forces of humanity in two.
On each side of this civil war, were eighteen of the Emperor's children, the Primarchs. Horus Lupercal, Warmaster of the Imperium, led the Traitor Legions in rebellion, submitting to the Chaos Gods in an act of unforgivable treachery. Half of the brothers followed him down this path of Heresy. The other half remained loyal to their father's vision and rallied the defenders of the Imperium against their blasphemous brethren.
It is a well-known story. Eighteen brothers clashed for seven long years over the fate of all that was. But there was one thing subtly wrong with this picture; two, actually.
When the Emperor first created the Primarchs deep in a secret laboratory buried underneath the earth, weaving science and Warpcraft together to create engineered super-beings, he created not eighteen Primarchs, but twenty.
At the time of the Horus Heresy, the two missing Primarchs and their genetic-offspring had long been the subject of censorship. All records and evidence of the identities of these two Primarchs and their associated Legions were destroyed.
But there is a simple truth as to why there is no information on these Primarchs; By the time of the Horus Heresy, they had not been found.
Considering that all the other Primarchs had been found and re-united with their Legions, with the Great Crusade spanning most of Humanity's known expansion during the Dark Age of Technology, it was disconcerting that these two in particular remained unknown.
All the considerable efforts of parties interested in the fate of the Primarchs turned up nothing. No manner of scrying, nor daemonic meddling, nor casting of runes could divine their location.
As to the Legions of the missing Primarchs, there lay an important secret. When the Emperor of Mankind went to create the Legiones Astartes, he discovered something that even he had overlooked when gene-editing those two Primarchs. A simple, chance drifting of DNA that rendered their genetic code useless for the purposes of the Space Marines.
The Emperor had created the Primarchs to be His twenty sons. He had never entertained the idea of having daughters as well. Yet there, in the drifting strands of DNA left over from their original templates, lay the crucial chromosomal difference that proved it.
At a loss, the Emperor repurposed the most 'tame' genetic code the Primarchs had to offer – that of Roboute Gulliman's - to create the II and XI Legions. He did this in a distant hope that, perhaps, he might be able to make use of these aberrant female Primarchs.
But when they were never found, and the pressing needs of the conflicts to come meant that both Legions were silently folded into the Legion of their gene-father, the Ultramarines.
With no sign of his two missing daughters, the Emperor presumed them dead. Perhaps they simply had the misfortune to be cast onto inhospitable worlds. Perhaps they were dead due to any number of myriad genetic defects that might have arisen because of their unique mutation. Or perhaps the Warp had claimed them forever, never to reappear.
It was a regrettable loss, but in the chaos of the Horus Heresy and the events to come, the two missing Primarchs were simply deemed irrelevant, and were forgotten.
With ten thousand years of intervening history, it is not a surprise that all but the most dedicated of fanatics gave up the search for the Primarchs. But it was not their fate to find the Primarchs. Rather, the Primarchs would eventually find the rest of the galaxy.
Indeed, for ten thousand years their gestation pods remained in the Warp, carried along currents and eddies, more than once coming close to destruction by the terrors that lurked therein. But whether it was fate, or the sigils of protection the Emperor wove into their pods, the two remained unharmed. Until one day, they reached the extreme edges of Warp, where even the most anguished cries of damned souls died down into nothingness.
And there, far away from the light of the Astronomican, and the screaming hell-maw of the Eye of Terror, a small pool of peace was found.
With a whisper, the first pod transitioned into Realspace. It hung in orbit over the planet, just one more silver fragment among the shattered remains of the world's moon.
Then, the forces of gravity resumed their pull, and the capsule began a screaming descent towards the earth. Within minutes, it was a fireball, a newborn star in the night sky that hurtled toward a small island off the coast of one of the main continents.
Taiyang Xiao-Long closed his eyes as he took another sip of his beer, relishing the slight burning in his throat. Next to him, he was hyper-aware of the presence of Raven Branwen, who was a little bit closer to him than might have been strictly friendly. At times, her ease at his presence was the only indication that the two of them were boyfriend and girlfriend.
Raven was, at the best of times, a prickly character. She wasn't one for public displays of affection, nor was she inclined to be trusting of others. But beneath every sneer, every scowl, there was something there that Taiyang saw that made him doubt her detachment.
Maybe it wasn't smart, but the little hints of kindness he saw every now and again had him looking for more. It took a lot of blood, sweat, tears, blood - seriously, how many times had she broken his nose? – but now they were…something. She didn't like putting a name to it, but that didn't stop him from being pleased with himself, even when Raven took him down a notch.
Opening his eyes, he looked across to the other two members of his team. Qrow was nursing a drink of his own, on his third of the night, but not going over the top as he sometimes did. Their get-together outside of Taiyang's new home was meant to be a celebration, just the four members of Team STRQ.
Summer meanwhile looked amused at something. Her lips were quirked in a smile, the small fire they had going casting flickering shadows along her face.
Taiyang was wary, eyes flickering to look at Raven for a moment, who was also giving their leader a look of scrutiny. But the moment passed without incident, and the two of them instead returned to quietly sipping their drinks, enjoying the peaceful company, and the cool air of the night.
They should have known better than to lower their guard. With great relish, Summer broke the silence just as Taiyang and Raven both had their drinks tipped back. "So…" She drawled, silver eyes sparkling with mischief. "With the new house, you two must be planning on making me an aunt soon, right?"
The spurt of alcohol that erupted from Taiyang's mouth was nothing short of legendary. Raven wasn't far behind him in that department though, coughing and sputtering as the burning alcohol went down every airway it shouldn't have.
Summer was laughing hysterically, doubled over in laughter at their reaction, while poor Qrow looked torn between wanting to join Summer in laughing, or horrified at the idea of his sister having offspring with his best friend.
"That's not funny!" Raven rasped, finally recovering enough to shoot the wheezing Summer a look of pure murder. "Stop laughing, you bitch!" Raven demanded, reaching for her sword menacingly. Summer managed to recover for a moment, looking up at Raven with a serious expression on her face.
That moment of dead silence was promptly ruined as she began to laugh again, unable to stop herself. Whereas Raven might have made good on her threat once, she instead deflated, sighing in resignation. "I can't win." She murmured, leaning into Taiyang's side.
Taiyang could feel his face heating up, and cleared his throat, looking at Summer with about as a stern expression as he could manage. "You know as well as I do we haven't even thought that far ahead yet."
It was true, too. Kids? With Raven? The very thought did things to his insides that he couldn't even begin to parse through. They were serious, sure, but they were taking things one day at a time. Taiyang knew he wanted kids, but that was a nebulous proposition at best. To actually intend to have them, to go through with it…that was something else.
Summer finally calmed down, fixing them both with a warm smile. "I know. I'm just so excited for the two of you!" The enthusiasm in her voice was infectious, warming him more than the fire ever could.
Taiyang couldn't stay anything remotely resembling mad at Summer, no matter how hard he tried. He settled for turning his gaze skyward, trying to hide the faint blush still on his cheeks. "We know, Summer, we know."
He had bought a plot of land far out from the nearest town on Patch. With the help of team STRQ, he had built the house with his own two hands, creating his own little private homestead out in the wilderness. It was a peaceful place, one that he was lucky enough to own.
This far out from the nearest town, you didn't have to deal with light pollution. The moon hung above in the night sky, a cluster of silvery fragments framed by the largest part of it still intact. The stars were a glittering field of diamonds, each one promising things unknown to anyone who lived on Remnant.
One by one, each member of the team turned their heads skyward, joining Taiyang in observing the sky. "Sure is beautiful." Qrow said, sounding a bit wistful as he examined the sky with uncanny observation. Out of anyone of the team, he had the best eyes by far.
Raven huffed in derision. "You always were one to have your head in the clouds, brother." She said but didn't refute him entirely.
They remained like that for maybe a minute more, the fire crackling between them, before Raven finally rose from the log they had been sitting on. "It's late, and we're out of booze out here. I'm going inside."
Summer rose too, cloak fluttering in the gentle sea breeze. "Yeah, I'm turning in too. I have to be back in Vale tomorrow. Another team requested a replacement member for a mission." She said diplomatically, giving both boys a nod in turn as she followed Raven back into the house.
Qrow squinted a bit at something Taiyang couldn't see and sighed. "I'll be in in a bit. Don't let Raven drink everything on me now."
That wasn't likely, given the amount of alcohol Taiyang had stocked up on, but stranger things had happened.
Standing up, he made his way over and clapped Qrow on the back. "Sure thing, man. You want me to bring anything back for you?"
Qrow opened his mouth to reply but paused, eyes narrowing in concentration. "Hey Tai." He finally said slowly. "You see anything up there?" He asked, pointing upwards.
Taiyang's brow furrowed, looking back up at the night sky. It was certainly more vivid than usually, but he couldn't see anything that would have made Qrow look back.
"I don't see anything." He said finally, chuckling as he started to walk back, casually calling over his shoulder. "You turning into a lightweight on me, Qrow? What would Glynda say if she heard you were seeing things at only 3 beers i- "
"Holy shit Tai! Look!" Qrow said, jumping up from where he was at, frantically gesturing at something he saw.
Incredulous, Taiyang looked back once more. Concentrating, he searched through the field of inky darkness once more before he finally saw it. A star, brighter than the rest, moving across the sky.
"A shooting star? Good eyes, Qrow. Should have put a sniper rifle instead of a shotgun in that fancy scythe of yours." He said appreciatively, before turning his head away to yell back into the house. "Raven, Summer! Get back out here, there's a shooting star!"
He glanced back at Qrow, looking at his friend's nearly slack-jawed expression. Sure, it was a cool thing, but it wasn't that awe-inspiring.
"Qrow? Hey, what's got you so…" Tai began, trailing off as he looked back up in the night sky.
It wasn't a shooting star.
The blazing white orb in the sky became tinted with flecks of red, and a dull noise could be heard from the object. It was falling, falling towards them. Fast.
Raven and Summer made their way back outside, the two of them staring at the object that was cutting a bloody swath through the night. "What the hell…" Raven said, dark eyes wide, while Summer could only stare, her lips parted in a look of awe.
The object grew in size, the noise going from a dull roar, to a shrieking cacophony unlike anything Taiyang had heard before.
But soon, it rapidly gained in size, and Taiyang dimly realized that it was heading straight for his house. "Oh, fuck." He breathed. "Move! It's going to hit us!" He screamed, breaking everyone out of their trance.
There was no time to really move out of the way of the fireball howling through the air toward them. All they could do was drop to the ground, lying flat on the tall grass. Taiyang could feel the searing heat wash over his back. But his new abode did not spectacularly explode. Instead, it flew a few dozen feet over the top of it, lancing through the tree line behind his property.
Cra-Cra-BOOM!
It sounded like a herd of Goliaths rampaging through a town, so tortured was the sound of the impact.
Then, silence.
After a few long moments, Taiyang stood up on shaking knees, breathing deeply as the adrenaline drained from his system. "Is everyone okay?" He croaked, watching as everyone else got up. Qrow was blinking owlishly, Summer looked uncharacteristically serious, and Raven had a scowl on her face that was mixed with trace amounts of fear.
"Boys…" Summer said slowly, looking between Tai and Qrow. "We leave you alone for two seconds, and the sky starts falling. Explain."
"What, you think I caused this?" Qrow cried, gesturing wildly. "Give me a break, Summer, even my semblance can't do something like this!"
"Why are we still standing here? We should see what the hell that was, and make sure the forest isn't going to burn to the ground." Everyone turned at once to stare at Raven.
"Since when are you the voice of reason? Who are you, and what did you do with my sister?" Qrow said with over-the-top suspicion dripping from every word, eyes narrowed as he examined his sibling.
Raven coughed, hiding her embarrassment in a way that nearly made Taiyang break out laughing. "It's pragmatic. I'd rather not have to rebuild this dumb house. And, I have to say…I'm curious."
Summer nodded slowly, gesturing for everyone to gather around her. "She is right. We have no idea what just hit the forest. Probably a meteor or something, but it could pose a danger if it lit enough trees on fire. Let's go."
The team snapped into mission mode at her command…which wasn't much different than their regular state of being, only they were ready to shoot at things.
Taiyang and Qrow took point, with Raven in the middle and Summer in the back, as they took off in a jog towards the back of the house.
Qrow was the first to react to the sight, letting out a low whistle. "Now if my semblance could do that, it might not be so bad."
It looked like someone had taken an Ursa, lit it on fire, and bitch-slapped it with a mountain. Dozens of trees were downed in the wake of the crash. The ones closest to the path of the object were charcoal, while the ones on the outside were smoldering, some outright on fire, but not enough to truly cause damage.
"You could put a golf course back here now, Tai." Qrow drawled, starting to regain some of his confidence as the team picked a careful path through the debris.
"He just didn't want you to have a place you could perch." Raven fired back smoothly, causing Tai to snort in amusement, while Qrow shot him a wounded look.
"Traitor." He said darkly, choosing to drop the line of banter as they focused on trying not to step on burning patches of embers.
It took several minutes of walking for them to get close, but finally, they saw signs of the object hitting the ground. Skid marks, like a giant's footprints marked the way forward.
The tree line thinned, as they approached a clearing in the forest. Taiyang coughed, the soot in the air proving to be a nuisance as they staggered out of the woods. What they saw at the sight of the impact had them all bewildered.
A slender, metallic object was half-buried in the earth, the grass scorched from the point of impact. It was not a meteor, or anything they recognized at all. They made their way closer, more details becoming apparent as they did so. The crater was deep, but the object itself seemed to be missing no parts. The metal was a dull gray, unmarked, save for two symbols painted on the surface in soot-stained white.
"XI"
"Think its military? Maybe some kind of Atlas weapon test?" Raven said finally as they all stood before the object in a line, trying to make heads or tails of it.
"Could be…" Taiyang said slowly, steeling himself as he activated his semblance, pale blue light engulfing his form. Out of all them there, he was best suited to this sort of thing. His semblance allowed him to become tougher and more resistant to damage, growing stronger as time went on, rather than growing weaker like Aura.
A sort of adaptive defense mechanism, in this case it allowed him to brush a thumb up against the scorching hot metal with only a slight burn on his skin for his trouble.
The dirt came away from part of it, revealing an opaque glass underneath. Crouching, he wiped away more, and peered through it.
He did a visible double take, causing his friends to look at him with worried expressions.
He started stuttering, clearly unable to get the words out, and Raven went over and started shaking his shoulders, trying to get him to make sense as he started babbling. "Tai, Tai! Snap out of it, you're not making sense. What is it?" She said, rare concern coloring her voice.
Finally, he managed to take a deep breath, as he repeated himself. "There's a baby in that thing."
At first, they tried to move it themselves, but only succeeded in getting it out of the ground and burning the shit out of Qrow's hands.
Summer, fastest out of all of them, managed to come back with Raven's motorcycle, and they hitched it to the back of that with some repurposed chains from Taiyang's own workshop. From there, they managed to slowly tow it back to his workshop. With each step they took, his heart sank.
From everything he could tell, the baby inside wasn't moving, or making any noise. He couldn't make out many details, other than it was infant sized, and curled up inside the machine. He was largely just assuming it was a baby, but what else could it be? An alien? Even he wasn't willing to go that far with his theories.
None of this made any damn sense though. Who the hell would put a baby inside a pod like that? It was probably already dead, if not from deprivation of air, then from the force of the impact. He also doubted that he could shatter the glass, and even if he could, he risked harming whatever was inside. So instead, he swallowed his impatience, and did the smart thing.
Grimly, they finally managed to haul the pod inside, and they rolled it into a proper position. Getting a cloth, Taiyang wiped away all the debris, so they could see what they were looking at.
It was clearly a machine, not some hunk of metal. There was a small keypad depressed into the side of the lid. It was seamless, with no clear way to wedge anything to try and force the reinforced hinge up.
That symbol, the "XI", was painted on both the front, sides, and back of the pod, for whatever reason. Taiyang dimly recalled it was part of some sort of archaic number system, but that was it.
"So, what do we do?" Qrow asked finally, staring down at the small, obscure form within it.
"We open it." Summer said firmly, with a steel in her voice that made everyone take notice. "Either it's alive, and doesn't have much time…or…" She couldn't finish her words, choking up a bit. But everyone knew what she meant.
"I guess I'll do the honors." Taiyang said hollowly, knowing that he would probably find. "My workshop, after all." He said weakly, before pressing on the largest button on the pod, hoping against all hope.
The hiss of escaping air made them all jump, as the device whirred. For several long, torturous moments, it did nothing but make noise.
Then, finally, the pod opened and they all stared in wonder at what lay inside.
The baby appeared unharmed, recessed into a gel-like contoured interior. A metal mask concealed part of its face, while another wrapped around the bottom. With little fanfare, these parts retracted, revealing unblemished skin. From what they all could tell, it appeared to be a girl. A perfectly normal, healthy baby girl.
Taiyang reached out with trembling hands, with great tenderness taking the child into his arms. It was breathing steadily, deeply, with cheeks steadily growing red as it adjusted to its new environment. A single tuft of blonde hair crowned her head, a few shades lighter than Taiyang's own.
Everyone gathered close around him, unable to stop themselves from looking at her with undisguised awe. That feeling only magnified when the child opened her eyes. And what eyes they were, unlike any shade Taiyang had seen before. Lilac orbs, filled with glorious life and promise gazed back at him.
Then, the child did what any child would do in this sort of situation, and started to wail. Loudly.
Thus, it followed that Team STRQ did what any responsible adults would do in this situation and started to wail. Loudly.
To be fair to them, those loud noises consisted mostly of "What do we do!?" "Shut up!" "Quick, blankets, no, milk!", rather than the baby's incoherent cries. But they weren't much of a step up.
Taiyang frantically tried to sooth the child, rocking it back and forth, to no avail. It was more of an arm-swinging than a truly relaxing tempo, which didn't really help matters.
"Qrow, go inside, get milk! She must be hungry!" Summer snapped, her anger scaring Qrow into action enough to make him stumble out of the small shed.
"Hungry? She just fell out of the sky, she's probably scared out of her mind!" Raven retorted, looking at the inconsolable baby in Taiyang's arms, thrusting out her arms in a clear demand.
As though she were made of glass, Taiyang handed her over, watching in a daze as Raven began to slowly rock back and forth, gently humming some sort of tune. It took a while, but finally the child began to calm down, starting to snooze in her arms.
Even Summer couldn't believe what she saw. "Since when could you do that?" She said slowly, eyebrow raised at her team mate.
Raven pursed her lips, a fierce blush on her cheeks. "…back home, older kids would take care of the younger. Breath a word to anyone, and I will personally make a new war-mask from your face."
Taiyang's and Summer's hasty nods were made just in time, for Qrow returned with a glass of milk, and a six pack of beer.
"The hell, Qrow?" At Taiyang's query, the lanky boy gave a shaky laugh. "Hey man, it's been a rough day. Figured we could all use a little something right about now."
Just as he was about to pull a can out of the pack, an arctic tone froze him in his tracks.
"No."
It was not Raven who had uttered those words with such venom, but Summer. Summer, who never had an unkind word to say about anyone. Everyone held their breath as Qrow stared at his team leader. "Look, Summer, it's not a big dea-"
"We have a child in our care that fell from the fucking sky. A baby." She said slowly, with excruciating exactness. "We need to be thinking about this clearly, and sober." Those silver eyes of hers were frozen sheets of ice that bored holes into her friend, until finally Qrow placed the six-pack on the ground, and pushed it with his foot off to the side.
"Alright." He said, gulping, his eyes more than a bit bloodshot from the drinks he already had, and the mixture of humiliation and shame he was feeling. He sighed deeply, smacking his face a few times to wake himself up more, running a hand through his messy hair. "Ozpin. We need to call Ozpin."
No one could think of a good objection to that, although Raven looked less than happy with that prospect.
"Right. Qrow, you get on the phone. Raven, you and I will go to town, see if we can't get some stuff for the baby." At Raven's look, Summer smiled sheepishly, running a hand through her shaggy crimson tipped locks. "You have the motorbike."
Grumbling about the abuse her bike was being put through, Raven handed off the sleeping child back to Taiyang, who looked terrified at the prospect of having responsibility for it again. "Grow up." She said with a half-exasperated affection, before hopping on the bike, Summer following suit. "I can't believe I'm leaving you two in charge of that kid, but I know you're too scared of me to fuck it up. So don't." Raven said, smirking good naturedly before taking off into the night, leaving Qrow and Taiyang alone.
Qrow and Taiyang both looked at each other, then looked at the baby. "Look, if she has to go, you're the one cleaning her up." Qrow said, eyeing the girl in Taiyang's arms as though she were a Deathstalker.
Taiyang gave him a deadpan look. "Thanks, buddy."
They moved everything to Taiyang's house, except for the capsule. They tried to swaddle the child, but really created a misshapen blanket cocoon with a little head poking out. Deciding it was good enough, they instead focused on trying to make sure they had everything laid out properly for the child. Well, what little there was.
Qrow eventually wandered off to call Ozpin, not looking forward to explaining that he was waking him up in the middle of the night for what he was already calling "one really kickass delivery from the Stork".
That left the two blondes along with one another, one steadily sleeping and the other doing his best to not nod off from the exhaustion of the day's events. But eventually he did, only to jerk awake as his head dipped low from his place on the couch, next to the baby.
He found himself staring into a pair of curious lavender eyes, which were staring at him with an intent seriousness far too severe for a child as young as this baby was.
Taiyang watched as the child's mouth then began to part, cheeks twisting into a chubby little smile. He saw the bundle of blankets shift, tiny limbs attempting to squirm about. The little girl gurgled happily at Taiyang, with an expression more joyous than anything else he had ever seen in his life. In that moment alone, she won his heart ten times over.
He heard the front door finally swing open, the familiar sounds of his team bickering like so much comforting background noise. Curious, he extended out one of his fingers to the baby, a smile on his face. The little one managed to free a single arm from the blanket and gripped his finger with surprising dexterity…and strength. It had him burning with curiosity, but she was just too damned cute for him to care.
"Tai. Ozpin is going to be here in the morning." Qrow said as he came back into the room to the sight of the two of them bonding. He gaped like a fish for a moment, closed his mouth, and groaned. "You're already planning on keeping it."
"Her." He idly corrected, watching as Raven and Summer made their way into the living room.
"We got plenty of stuff for now, even if Raven did terrify half the workers at the store." Summer said, a bemused smile on her face. Taiyang could see it now; Raven with a single hand on her sword as she demanded to know where they kept the diapers. It brought a smile to his face.
"We're going to take shifts keeping watch on the baby, just in case. I already left a call with the mission office to let them know I won't be there tomorrow." Summer finished, leading Taiyang to object, before she shushed him. "I'm not leaving you guys alone to handle this. This is a Team Matter." She said, and Taiyang could hear the capitalization in there.
He was immensely grateful, and the relief of having Summer at his back yet again did more to relax him than anything. "Thanks." He said, voice thick with emotion.
He offered to take first watch, which the half-drunk Qrow and exhausted Summer accepted. They went upstairs to their guest rooms, leaving him and Raven alone. She leaned against the wall, looking down at the little child who had once again settled down.
"So…looks like you found another stray." She said neutrally. If it had been any other time, Taiyang might have been scared to have this conversation. But he could already feel his determination, somewhere deep inside his very being.
"Looks that way, unless she actually turns out to be a brain-eating alien." He mused, considering the adorable little creature nestled under layers of blankets.
"Poor thing would starve with only you around, then." She said, a wistful tone in her voice, before she turned serious. "But you do know, this kid isn't normal, even ignoring the fact she came from space or something. Too…" Raven fought for the right words for the moment. "Perfect."
"You're right." He offered.
"You don't even know how to change a diaper." She shot.
"I can learn." He deflected.
"You're a huntsman, you don't have time to raise a kid." She challenged.
"I can take a teaching job at Signal." He replied.
A silence fell over them for a good long while, before Raven broke first. "Idiot." She said, with a tenderness that was all the sweeter for hard he had fought to win it. "She's gonna need a name, though."
Indeed, she did. With great care, he picked up his new charge once more, and looked at her serene features. Licking his suddenly dry lips, it came to him at once. "Yang. Yang Xiao-Long." He tried.
Little Sun Dragon.
With those three words, it felt like a piece of his heart he hadn't even known was missing was put into place, like it had always belonged there.
Perhaps the days ahead might prove to be challenging. But right here, right now, with his team at his side, and a joyous little ball of light in his lap, Taiyang Xiao-Long knew he would face life with open arms, and closed fists.
AN: I must first and foremost give thanks to all those readers who are following my works. Your comments, thoughts, and appreciation are like the Astronomican on my long journey through the writers-block infested miasma of the creative process.
I must secondarily give credit to this wonderful video about the 40k-verse: (insert Youtube here) watch?v=cy4CJ4F-epA
It provided much of the inspiration for my intro to the fanfic, adapted to properly serve this AU.
I know the first part of the story is a bit too revealing with plot points, but that is meant to help bridge the suspension of disbelief associated with the alteration of such an important element of 40k-verse.
Some of you still might be dissatisfied with it. Well, tough. As always, when I write something, I stick with a few rules: If the change to canon is fundamental, it is what it is. But all changes that are not meant to be inherently AU should flow from those 'First Principle changes naturally. That is to say, everything should have a logical progression.
Hence why I established the alterations to Primarch canon in the first part of the story. It is to lay the groundwork, and get things out of the way, before people go 'but that doesn't make sense, there can't be female Primarchs, etc.', as well as explaining how there were 20 Space Marine Legions in the first place.
Some of you might also be perfectly content with accepting the story at face value, damn the deeper lore. But lore is important to me, and I firmly believe that a good story cannot stand without an internally consistent narrative. SO TAKE THE EXPOSITION. TAKE IT.
Anyway…this is already an absurdly long Author's Note. In the name of the God-Emperor, I humbly submit this, and hope you enjoy it.