A/N: This work is a tribute to narcosleepy on Ao3, *very* (very, very, very, soooo very) loosely based on their story. If you haven't checked out their work yet, be sure to do it ASAP. It's soooo good T_T
And also to my mom, actually! HAHA if you choose to stick till the end, then one day, in the distant future, you'll understand why.
"Yes." She said, suppressing the enormous desire she felt right then to sigh loudly, a destiny the most, she was sure, insufferable eye roll in all History wasn't so fortunate to follow.
The figure purposely walking in front of her stopped as if they knew exactly what had just transpired, that her eyes had gotten stuck in the back of her head.
"C'mon, Yang. Give your father a break, will ya?"
… Maybe her tone wasn't as concealing of its aggravation as she thought it was. Great, here they go.
He turned around, cocking his hips to one side and its respective hand resting there, a pose she knew intimately. Of course she would know. After all, she could mirror it quite well herself.
But apparently her crossed arms and raised eyebrow wasn't enough to keep him from going on. "I'll be gone for… what? How many weeks? Your old man gotta be sure everything's where it should be before leaving, don't you agree? As soon as we finish here I'll be on my way and you'll be free, believe me." And then he tried to proceed recounting every little thing he thought was already done or still needed to be in order for him to leave.
Tried being the key word.
Thrice now! Oh no, it's not happening, not even over her dead body.
An indignant sound made its way out of her before she even knew, cutting him short with a raised palm. Let it be said, this was really frustrating! Does every father figure have the same urge to patronize their daughters and sons?
"Look, dad, I get it, ok? I really do. But we've been over this twice already and I'm much more familiar with this than you are. I'm an adult now, remember? You go do your thing and I'll take care of all this stuff until you're back, don't worry."
A sigh left his lips and not a second later a tanned hand was running through his pale, subdued blond hair. Then he spoke again — this time sounding really upset, without a tinge of his previous condescending inflection on his usually upbeat voice. "I just wished it wouldn't take that long." He morosely conceded, the dejected expression contorting his face.
"I know." She could feel her semblant softening and her arms dislodging themselves from the firm grasp they had been subjected to just a few seconds before. "Me too." Not really in place to blame him, she offered the small consolation as a peace flag. So, trying to convey just how much she understood what he had to do and that she supported him, she continued, "But we gotta do what we gotta do, right?"
"Yeah, yeah." And although his humor still seemed dulled, a glint suddenly appeared in his cobalt eyes. "But I'm still missing my girls to bits, you know that, right?"
"You'd better bet on that, you old man!" Yang smiled, jabbing her father on his shoulder.
"Whoa! Somehow you still keep getting stronger." Said dad, nursing his shoulder as if it would be enough to chase the sensation away. "Do you realize that with more training, maybe of one these days you'll —"
"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!"
They were standing perpendicular to the front door of their two-story log cabin, but as soon as the man heard that sharp voice, he instantly made a ninety degree turn in order to face its owner as fast as possible. He only had time to hurriedly open his arms before the wind was knocked out of him.
"Dad! I can't believe you're going again so soon, you just got back! How long will it be until you come home again? Please, don't let it be too long, we miss you already!" Was her little sister's pleas, all voiced in a long lone breath.
"Hey! Hey, now. Calm down, little rose." Everyone who knew Ruby knew how excited she could be (all the time), so it wasn't surprising at all when dad enveloped her in a tight hug, before he began to sooth her with soothing motions on her back and light pats on her dark brunette tresses. "I'll be back before you know it."
She couldn't see what expression her sis' was making, but with what came next, she could only imagine the great pout coming their dad's way. "B-b-but dad!"
Right then a bunch of birds flown away in the distance, their choral chirping being carried all the way over to their ears, making dad take notice of them. Only now the sun dared to show its face.
The wild life made its presence known all around them — from the resounding harmony of frogs and ducks next to the cristaline lake a few feet away from their house to the cute songs sung by all the different idle birds nearby. She found herself appreciating more this new relaxing ambiance, which now surrounded them, each day.
Dad's harsh exhale of air was the next thing her ears were capable to discern, trapping her attention in the conversation once more.
"I'm sorry, girls, but I'm afraid it's time to go." And if they had been able to pick up the birds' cheeps from a distance, imagine who wouldn't hear Ruby's shrill whines all the way down the village. "No, no, don't be like that. Yang, c'me here, you too!" He requested, gesturing for her to come closer. She approached him in a much more composed manner than her little sis', but as soon as she was in arms' range, she was promptly smashed against his solid, hard build, a surprised sound moving her lips. Her long, unruly vibrant golden hair mixing strangely with the auburn tips in Ruby's.
His head rested on the top of hers, chin lifted just a tad bit in this position ever since the last inches she got a couple of months ago, back in the winter. "You both know how much I love you, don't you?"
She chuckled, but Rubes only embraced dad tighter and said we love you too at the same time she replied with a yeah. However, the emotional moment didn't last long, as they all heard a throat being cleaned and a raspy, baritone voice breaking their ever brief love-sharing time (words weren't needed when actions spoke louder. At least that was how they chose to go about it).
"What a lovely scene I find before my eyes." And when she disentangled herself from her father's embrace, the first thing she noticed was her uncle leaning perpendicularly against the door frame — both his arms and legs crossed.
Much like dad, suspended dust was his only warning before being engulfed in a vice-like hug. "Uncle Qrow! You're awake! Come now, dad's leaving already! Ask him to stay a little more, please!" Then she grabbed his hand, dragging him towards them with as much force as her thin arms could manage.
If not for his sorrowful face — which she couldn't quite picture in her sister's features —, one would doubt Ruby's lineage, assuming the man in her arms was her actual father instead of the one standing beside her sister. It was actually fair to presume that, she admitted sometimes, given uncle Qrow's almost feather-like, spiky raven bangs and his lean figure compared to dad's (much like Rubes' compared to hers). Well, over the years many people jumped to that conclusion, at least, so it's not like it's her thoughts only.
"You know I can't do that, kiddo. He has to do that or else you won't be able to keep living here, and…" both men locked eyes at that moment, her uncle's quick to lower towards the ground, uneasy.
Before she could do anything to salvage the conversation though, dad beat her to it.
"You listened to your uncle, girls." Dad briefly hugged her again, before turning on his heels and walking to his brown steed, Signal. There was a silent exchange between dad and uncle Qrow as though both were communicating through their scrutiny; then dad mounted his stallion, seemingly having come to a silent, mutual accord.
"Thank you, Tai." Uncle Qrow softly uttered at last — humble in a way she's never seen him before —, low enough that one not looking for it would have missed his acknowledgement entirely.
"It's nothing." Dad look like he was proud, for some reason unknown to her, yet resorted to shrugging in the end nonetheless. "Just don't go giving the girls any trouble, hear me, you jerk?" And any bite that could be detected in his sentence was washed away by the kind smile dancing on his face. Dad started messing with his soul patch and descended to the small stubble along his jawline, scratching there a bit — she recognized the gesture as the one he frequently used when mulling over a situation or when he was about to make a decision. "And maybe I'll miss you too, you old, dusty crow."
After the playful, dramatic pause her dad just performed, uncle Qrow scoffed, as if unable to believe his ears. "Don't you have better things to do, like making yourself a future, or something?"
Amused, dad shook his head. Seizing the opportunity, she chose that exact moment to intervene (Gods and experience know they would restart their banter all over again if they could), slowly walking to his side and immediately looking up when she got there.
"I know you know the drill, but be careful, dad. I don't want a repeat from that day, promise me." She murmured thickly, begging him as she always did nowadays before he inevitably left time and again.
"I know, I know. I promise I'll take care, but only if you do the same. You and your sister are the most important things in the world to me, my sunny little dragon. Please, don't let anything happen while I'm away, ok?" His urgent, if not forlorn and vain, request almost fell on deaf ears.
Now it was her time to scoff.
"Sure." She retorted as drily as she imagined Vacuo's deserts to be, or at least that was the intent. "When was the last time I did anyway?" She couldn't help the verbal jab that made its way out of her mouth even before she could realize she had the desire to say so.
"That's fair." Dad sighed. He appeared to want to say or maybe do something else, but in the end her expectancy equated to nothing. "You got me there." He finished lamely a few seconds later.
She chuckled, no longer fazed by his lost demeanor around her. Giving him mercy, she decided to pled her small farewell; in an even smaller voice, she did just that. "Bye, dad."
"See you later, Yang." As always, the stubborn old man refused to depart with heavy goodbyes, if one at all.
Then she quickly jogged to her sister's side, who was dangling from uncle Qrow's arm while he waved goodbye to dad, her shouts of byyyyyyeeeeeee, daaaaaaaaaaad! coming second to no other prominent sound in the woods, where their cottage was located.
She would miss dad, that's for sure. They may still have issues to work through with each other, but they were slowly, each passing day, getting better. And they knew how much one loved the other, that's that what matters in the end — that they're here, a family united for sure once again.
Her smile only dropped when uncle Qrow gently withdrawn Rubes from him and turned to her. "You two mind if I go for a walk? Not really in the mood to talk right now..." He said with averting eyes, looking anywhere but at them. In the distance, her father parting figure only getting smaller.
Gods bless her little sis' innocence. One day she would still sit down and have a heart-to-heart talk with her, but until then she ought to appreciate her never ending patience with uncle Qrow. "Awwww, you're missing my cookies again." And when she saw her earnest, hopeful persistence was powerless against a man controlled by his habits, she ended with a disappointed, "Ok… just make sure you're here by lunch. You don't wanna miss Yang's superb cooking!"
"You bet I won't, Ruby. Promise." His response may have been enough to assuage her sister's worries, but not her. Never her. After all, she was his niece, and perhaps being cynical did run in the blood.
When he chanced a glance at his older niece only to sense there was nothing more he was going to get from her than her narrowed, suspicious eyes, he tried, "Look, firecracker, don't wor —"
"I won't. You know very well what you're doing." Any other day she would have treated him with just that tad bit more candidness on her part, but not today; for it was a day of the flickering of an ever-burning flame, a day for recognizing life's imperative nuisances. "I trust you to get here just fine." And with that she was done. There was nothing more she needed to say to him, the warning clear in her tone and the disapproval evident in her eyes.
"Yang?" Ruby, puzzled, eyed her, as if coming to the same realization she just had about today not being one of her best days.
However, before she had to evade the confused inquire she herself didn't possess the answers to, their uncle sighed, his hands hiding into his pants pockets. "Yeah... Well, see you two later, then."
None of them was able to put in another cent on the matter though; not that she would, either way. Qrow turned around and walked away, leaving just the two of them alone.
She sighed — now it was only her and her sister. Again. Insecurity crawled her entire body and made residence in the back of her mind. The village's situation wasn't looking that great and there were rumors about a pack of older Beowolves lurking around the outskirts, but hopefully things would run smoothly like the last bazillion times they were alone together.
With her sister's baking goods in mind, she started:
"Rubes, why don't you —" Was what she, already gruelingly so early in the morning, managed to get out before suddenly being cut off.
She was, too, engulfed in her little sister's own version of the Xiao Long bear hug, Ruby's soft hands firmly grabbing a hold of her off-white, long sleeved shirt's linen tissue. "Yang! I'm sorry I acted so childish with that whole dad-going-away thing and all." Rubes deflated a little bit more then. "I just… I just wish things weren't like this, you know?"
Yes. She did know, in fact. That's why the next second found her lovingly cradling Ruby in her arms, nuzzing the top of her head where it touched her cheeks with all the affection she could muster. "It's ok, sis'. Me neither, but that's how things are going to be for a while." She huffed, but hurriedly added a, "We'll just have to get used to it, I guess." Subtly offering her steadfast companionship.
But more like deal with it, she didn't say.
She wondered sometimes if her sister actually knew how much she meant to her. She wanted Rubes to know it to be the irrefutable truth it was — to be absolutely sure and never, ever doubt — that she could always count on her. If she had any say in it (and she did, a lot), her little sis' would never have to worry too much about anything.
"It's not that I don't like spending time with you" Ruby hastily said. "I just miss my friends and having dad for longer than a week's time." Sensing the wistful and apologetic tone in her sister's voice, she readily asserted —
"Shhh, I understand. You don't have to apologize for anything. I got you, ok?"
Rubes took a step back then, but only far enough to look her in the eye; the most gorgeous gleam in her bright silver eyes and beaming from ear to ear with such warmth that every concern still weighting her heart crumbled right there and then. This is worth everything.
"Yeah." Somehow, her eyes only got softer. She could only imagine what might be going on in that head of hers. "I know."
Then the moment was gone, it seemed; her little sis' removed herself from the embrace and turned around, skipping her way to the front door, her mid-thigh black skirt swaying from side to side. "Come on, then. Let's bake some cookies!" And with that, her cheerfulness and joy was fully back.
The smile on her own face returned full force. She only spared the forest behind her one look; the trail dad had taken, which lead to somewhere far, far away from home, seeming the tiniest bit bleak now; likely the product of her apprehensive unconscious, she decided.
But even if the path gave off the impression of being a little lugubrious, it was still a sight to behold — the tall trees with their lively green foliage, the bucolic flowers scattered around... It all reminded her of a poem she had read not too long ago; the last four verses forever engraved in her memory:
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
but I have promises to keep
and miles to go before I sleep,
and miles to go before I sleep.
And as she soundlessly wished dad good luck and pled farewell one last time before following her sister inside, a raven took off from one of the branches nearby.
A/N: The poem is Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost
Sorry if there are any mistakes. English isn't my native language, but I'm trying my best for you guys :D