Remnants of Love
Chapter 1: A STRQ Reminder
Hi there everyone and welcome to the first in a new anthology series of stories that take place in the universe of Rooster Teeth's "RWBY", each story being its own self-contained story with no continuity between them! (Unless otherwise marked of course.)
This is a little experiment of mine, as I have come to love RWBY more than I can say, having only gotten into it around September of 2015, so I am a relative newcomer, but I am indeed all caught up on the series and what has happened.
Now as for content, this series likely will not have mature content in it, and there will be mentions of Poly relationships, those being relationships that have multiple consenting partners involved simultaneously in romantic relationships. If you are not into such stories, please turn back now! Also, I in no way make any money off of this story nor do I own the characters or any of the material that makes up RWBY, which is all owned by Rooster Teeth.
All things being equal, I hope you fine readers enjoy this story and it's inevitable subsequent chapters!
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A tiny girl, no more than a toddler sat in front of a simple house, watching as a pair of butterflies fluttered before her, her tiny but sharp silver eyes following their every movement. Her interest was instantly taken away from the flying bugs by the sound of someone stepping on the nearby grass broke the near silence she had been sitting in, her eyes practically glowing from happiness that could only come from a child as they laid upon her favorite uncle.
"UNKA QROW~!" she exclaimed in a high pitched, toddling along as best she could on her tiny legs, before she finally reached her beloved uncle's own legs, latching onto one tightly, her arms wrapped around it.
"Did you miss me? Did you miss me?" she asked with a wide smile that showed off her baby teeth in full.
Qrow knelt down and mussed her hair, "Nope" he said with a smile. Ruby giggled as she held on tight as she could to her uncle's leg, Qrow 'walking' with her holding on before he finally reached the stump of a tree that Qrow had cut down some time ago to show Ruby how his scythe worked.
As he sat down, Ruby eagerly crawled into his lap, hanging on Qrow's every word as he told her about his latest missions, though he was careful to keep the stories child friendly. Qrow did have a well-deserved reputation for being blunt and a bit of a drinker, but he wasn't about to tell his four year old niece about the nastier part of being a Huntsman. Mid-sentence, Qrow heard the door to the house open, turning his head to see Summer Rose, "Oh! Qrow, I didn't know you would be back so soon" she said with a warm smile as she walked over to the two.
Qrow, sitting on the stump with the little bundle of red and black in his lap, smiled at his sister-in-law, "Sorry, I didn't expect to be back so soon myself, turns out the Grimm attacking that village in southern Vale were just some small fries attacking an under prepped town."
To which toddler Ruby proudly claimed, "No meanie Grimm can beat Unka Qrow!"
Summer giggles at her little girl and ruffled her hair. "So, where's Yang?" Qrow asked wondering where his other niece had gotten off to. "Taiyang took her the sparing grounds to help her burn off some extra energy" Summer said as she sat on the grass next to the stump, pulling the long cape like portion of her hood up so that she wouldn't sit on it, the bright white fabric splayed out behind her like freshly fallen snow.
Qrow chuckled some, "Sounds about right, She's really taken after Raven" Qrow said offhandedly, then grimaced as he saw the slight frown that formed on Summer's lips, "Sorry, sorry" he said sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, to which the white-clad woman sighed, "No, no, it's Ok".
Ruby simply looked confused, but for whatever reason, the naturally-inquisitive girl seemed to understand that this wasn't a subject she should be asking about. "I know you loved Raven just as much as Tai did" Qrow said, chuckling when Summer's cheeks turned the same shade as the small cloak her daughter wore.
"Of course. Raven, Taiyang, You; You three were always there for me. How could I not love you all like I did?"
Qrow chuckled again, rubbing the stubble on his chin.
"Yeah, Raven fell for the both of you pretty hard the first time you met each other, but she wouldn't dare admit it," Qrow said before smirking. "Granted, being her twin, I can pretty safely say I don't have a hard time understanding why."
Summer playfully slapped his shoulder. "Hush! Not in front of Ruby," she jokingly chided, before the aforementioned toddler crawled into her mother's lap. "Mommy, I'm tired," Ruby said as she snuggled into her mother's chest. "Ok sweetie, let's go put you in bed for a nice little nap," she said, expertly carrying the little ball of love that was her daughter in her arms, Qrow following shortly behind them.
Ruby was tucked into bed, but not before she gave little kisses to both her mother and uncle, who quietly closed the door behind themselves as the little girl rapidly descended into the sanctity of dreams. Qrow scratched his neck for a few seconds before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a letter. "Here, it's for you."
Raven raised a single eyebrow as she took the letter. Then, she saw the all-too-familiar handwriting and quickly opened it, reading the old fashioned, hand-written note.
Small tears pricked at the corners of her eyes.
"Thank you, Qrow."
He smiled and nodded. "Would it be alright if I spent the night?" He asked, to which she nodded and opened up the guest room.
She re-read the letter, focusing on the final words of the letter…"Love you always, Raven Branwen."
She walked into her and Taiyang's bedroom, pulled out a small box, opened the lid and found a set of pictures of Team STRQ both before and after graduating from Beacon, along with some old letters she had kept since many years before.
As she closed the lid, she spied the inscription in the inside of the lid: "R&S" with hearts surrounding the letters on both sides. She wiped a tear from her eye and turned back, Qrow now leaning against the door frame.
"When did you last see her?" she asked the red eyed man, her hood pulled back to reveal short but well cut locks of midnight black hair. "Bout a month ago now, I just had so many missions that I wasn't able to get back here before now" he said with a slight frown on his face, "Oz has been asking me to scout the other kingdoms, keeping an eye out, y'know?" he said with a shrug of the shoulders.
Summer smiled and closed the distance, hugging her brother-in-law and one time boyfriend close, "It's so good to see you" she whispered as he returned the hug in kind. "It's good to see you too" he reciprocated, before they broke the embrace and made way to the kitchen, making sure to keep any noise down so as to not wake Ruby.
They talked about anything and everything that they had wanted to catch up on, teammates that had become family to each other, in more ways than one. It wouldn't be until a few hours later that they shared a dinner with the recently returned Taiyang and the little ball of sunshine that was Yang, after Ruby woke up from her nap of course.
As they ate dinner, Summer thought to herself of everything that had happened in the time between graduating from Beacon and becoming a very proud mother. And then she thought of that letter, written in Ravens own distinctive handwriting.
"Summer,
I don't expect you to forgive me, having not said anything after so long, nor do I blame you. I just wanted to let you know, no matter what happens, that I will always have you, Tai, Qrow and Yang in my heart. Raise our daughters as the mother I could never hope to be.
Love you always, Raven Branwen."
X X X And of course, I would be remiss if I did not mention the man himself, Monty Oum, without whom we would not have this wonderful series. Rest in peace, Monty. Now for you, the fine readers out there, please feel free to write a review of your thoughts on this story, and PLEASE say as much as you want. I read EVERY review on every story I write, so every little bit helps. Until next time my fellow Gemstones, keep moving forward! =3
And there we have the first entry in this anthology!
I have to be honest folks, this is a bit therapeutic for me in a sense. This show came into my life at a very trying time, and the creativity and beauty that is contained within this series brought me out of the darkest period in my life that I have ever known. In the event that any members of the RT crew read this story, thank you ever so much for creating such a wonderful series!