Summer Rose thoroughly enjoyed her namesake season. The warm weather coated the island of Patch in beauty. Green leaves decorated both the tall pines and broad oaks. Birds chirped in the shaded branches, and insects sang their own songs from the bushes and grass. Rustling of leaves and branches announced a gust of warm humid wind from the surrounding sea. Outside her adopted daughter, Yang Xiao Long, played and fought with creatures of her imagination, sun-dried hair waving in a messy tangle with the breeze. Inside her biological daughter, Ruby, cooed while playing with her pumpkin peat cereal.
It was, in her opinion, almost worth the winter. It was, to her, barely worth the absence of her husband. Tai had gone in mission with Qrow Branwen, his former brother-in-law and partner nearly three months ago. A joint venture between the kingdoms of Vale and Atlas, the two males of team STRQ had explored the uninhabited Continent for potential for human settlement. The mission had been endorsed by Ozpin and led by an up-and-coming Atlesian Colonel named James Ironwood. The mission was slated to end in one week.
For now she prepared lunch an dinner for her children. Money was never a concern while either of them were away, bounties from missions covered their expenses, and the fertile land the cabin was built on also supplemented their supplies. Safety, also, was not an issue. Summer, Tai, and Qrow we're among the top rated huntsmen in Vale. Any one of them could more than take care of brigands and bandits. Except for one, and SHE would steer clear for other reasons.
A black, four-door, sedan stopped in the front driveway of her cabin. Out of it stepped an rotund man in a burgundy coat with bushy mustache and eyebrows. Summer recognized her friend immediately.
"Afternoon Peter! What brings you all the way out here?" Summer asked. She could see Peter Port's eyes. That was a bad sign.
"You need to come with me to Beacon right now." Was all he said. No braggadocio, or bravado, and no reassurance. Summer was now very worried.
With as much haste, and as little outward signs of panic as she could manage, she gathered her two little ones in the car and headed to Beacon.
The scene at Beacon was chaos incarnate. Around the primary airship dock scattered groups of emergency personnel ran from one point to the next, preparing for the unexpected. In the middle of the chaos stood a grey haired gentlemen with a clockwork cane.
"Ozpin!" Summer yelled over the din, the aging headmaster turned around and regarded her with an unreadable expression. Summer hesitated before finally asking the all important question, "what's going on here?"
"Mrs Rose," his voice was filled with concern, "We received a short-range transmission from The Aurora two hours ago. Apparently the ship was damaged, knocking out tower connectivity." The The Aurora was the vessel both Tai and Qrow had been on, it's commander was Ironwood himself. "Significant casualties we're reported. The other two ships, Cazador and Rainbow are reported lost with all hands."
Summer could now read the expression on Ozpin's face, it was the face of a man realizing that he sent people, his friends, to their deaths. To Summer It was both the most disturbing, and most human, he had ever looked.
"What about Tai and Qrow? What about my husband and Brother?!". She used that term for Qrow honestly, in spite of his sister. 'Don't think that!' She told herself silently. She waited for an answer she both needed and did not want.
Ozpin was silent for a long time. He slowly opened his mouth.
"Ship on the horizon!" Someone announced before Ozpin could reply. Both turned to see the approaching airship.
The vessel looked as though a gigantic dog decided to chew on it. Huge gashes raked one side, some of the open fissures displayed open flames. A plume of smoke emenated from the stern of the ship, and the whole craft listed towards it's wounded side. We're it a floating vessel, an observer would think the whole vehicle sinking, as an aircraft, it was a true miracle it remained suspended above the ground. The whole dockside fell into a hushed and stunned silence. Not even the sound of birds could be heard. Only the sputtering him of damaged engines and the crackling of fire accompanied the Aurora's to her berth.
The stricken vessel docked, and her crew began to disembark. At the head of the exodus was a litter bearing the expedition's commander, or what was left of him. His once pristine white uniform shrouded him in tatters, those parts not scorched and blackened by fire had been stained crimson and rust-brown by his blood. He was not dead, yet, but the surgeons would need to do a lot of work for him to survive.
After Ironwood, the other seriously injured departed. It was a ghastly, shambling, procession straight out of a horror vid. Litters, crutches, and limping men and women stumbled towards the waiting medics. Neither Qrow nor Tai were in this group of unfortunates.
Then came the uninjured. Uninjured physically, but obviously scarred mentally. Ancient eyes in too-young skulls gazing about at nothing. Their hurts were not visible, but just as grave as the first group. Neither of Summer's boys came out with them. Summer braced for the next group.
The next group, obviously, was the dead. Corpses on litters covered in the flags of their kingdoms, with name plates silently identifying them for notification. Summer carefully looked for the names she now did not want to see. The last, grim, group passed without Tai or Qrow counted in their number.
Finally, after what seemed an eternity, a tall man with black hair stumbled off the Aurora. Summer sprinted towards Qrow and wrapped her arms around him in a fierce embrace.
"Thank God! I was so worried about you!" She cried into his chest. He said nothing.
She backed up, stared int his eyes, and asked the question neither wanted. "Where is my Husband?"
Qrow took a ragged breath, and responded.
"Summer, He's not coming back."
In all the sounds of chaos around her, the world went silent for Summer. She fell to her knees, and started sobbing.
In a tree nearby, a Raven overheard what was said. Tear appeared in it's eyes, and it cawed in sorrow.