Hello and welcome to Nevermore (name subject to change), a prequel story to A Rose's Scales and Reversal. Two crossovers, I know, but since this is only dealing with the Remnant side of things, it's here and not in the crossover section.

I don't think you'll need to read either A Rose's Scales or Reversal to get what's going on here, but there will be spoilers for stuff that Ruby and the gang don't find out until way later. To those who have, I've rewritten Raven's backstory a few times since it was first uploaded. The first was...absolute crap, and didn't get the feeling I wanted across. It should be a lot better now. If something doesn't make sense here, it's probably been rectified there. And yes, I do know that's not how prequels typically work...

This will also be much shorter than the other two, less than half the length in chapters and way less in wordage. I know this because I've already gotten the whole darn thing written (insert disbelieving laugh here). 14 chapters, just enough to get through my finals week (baring 100 favorite milestones). Now that's a backlog.

Something that should be said, this is AU. Some things were solidified in the above stories before Volume 3 ended and before we knew Volume 4's release date. Some things will work with the main series, some won't. Some of these you'll catch this chapter, some later on.

Enough intro, onto this.

It looked like her tip was good. Two men carried a young Faunus boy into the dilapidated warehouse. The boy fought all the way, but he was out muscled. From what Raven could see, the boy was missing his left antler. Raven grimaced. She knew the tactic. Other tribes used to do the same to their prisoners, human or Faunus. It showed ownership, or to keep them complacent. Raven couldn't help but wonder if the heads crawled out of one of them or if they were psychopaths from one of the Kingdoms.

The door closed behind the two and the van drove away. Raven couldn't see any more Nevermores around. She backed away from the wall she hid behind until she hit the one on the far side of the roof. It wasn't the largest gap between buildings, but the bullet wound in her right leg was acting up again. It had been two weeks, but it still hadn't fully healed. Her portals were too loud, and her injury didn't make turning into a bird easy.

Raven pulled her mask off her side and fit it over her face. It was better for the Nevermores to think that a rogue bandit was after them and not a Huntsman from Vale. She took a deep breath, and ran forward. She planted a foot on top of the wall at the edge of the roof and pushed off. Raven kept her limbs steady in the air. She tucked them in and rolled across the roof. Her right knee screamed, but Raven ignored it. She didn't have time to humor the pain.

She sprung to her feet and gripped her sword. Nothing moved on the roof. Raven walked to the roof access door and tried to open it. Unlike many in this part of Vacuo City, this one was locked. Nothing a quick pick couldn't fix. She brought out her tools and set to work. As expected, the lock didn't provide much resistance.

Raven pulled the door open and walked inside. In the tight space of the stairwell, her sword wouldn't do any good. But she'd trained with Tai for years, one of the best fist fighters Remnant's ever known. If only he'd actually use them instead of sitting on his ass at Signal…Raven shook her head. Now wasn't the time.

Several voices came from the other side of a door in front of her. Raven slowed down and was even more careful with where she placed her feet. She pressed an ear up against the door. "…squirming, will ya?" one voice said. "You'll only make it harder on yourself."

"Or keep squirming," another said. "It'll make it more fun for us."

"Now which one of these has been sold?"

"Let me check." Papers flipping and other assorted mumbling filtered through the door. "Looks like number three. Picking her up in a half hour. Better make her presentable."

Raven heard muffled screaming on the other side. She gripped her sword's hilt, but refrained from breaking down the door. In another half hour, she'd catch another of the creeps, and the reward would go up that much more. There were definitely some perks to Vacuo's justice system.

The screaming faded to nothing and another door closed. Raven took the time to inspect her area. There was another hallway to her right, but that looked like it just emptied into the rest of the building. It looked like she was in an area specifically for roof access. If the Nevermores didn't have guards on the roof when they were bringing someone in, why should they now? They still hadn't gotten the memo. Raven Branwen was coming after them.

She picked the lock on the door in front of her and pushed it open. Like the last two places she raided, the smell hit her like a train. All the Faunus held in these rooms had to relieve themselves where they sat. The second time in, she thought she smelled rotting flesh from an infection, but she couldn't figure that out in the dark…Summer would never make it through these raids. She'd leave her own puddle on the floor and comfort every one of these kids...Actually, maybe it would be a good idea to ask sometime. A friendly face to cover up everything else.

This time, it looked like there were five kids in chains, some of them didn't look awake. Still, three heads turned in Raven's direction. She held a finger up to where her lips rested under her mask. The Faunus kids should be able to see in the dark.

Raven crouched over to the first kid and grabbed the cloth gag. "Don't speak," she whispered. "You're all getting out of here tonight." The kid nodded and Raven untied the gag. The boy took a deep breath, but otherwise didn't make a sound. Raven then picked the lock on his chains. She proceeded to do the same with everyone else who was awake. The other two she simply removed the gags and unlocked their chains.

With all the kids freed, Raven walked to the only other door in the room. She picked that one as well. It had to be getting close to time for the buyer to arrive. Hopefully all the dealing went down inside. Easier than having to mop up outside.

The hall she entered was well lit. This must be where the buyer was coming, or already came. You never knew with these people. Raven heard laughter deeper into the building and she stalked toward it. She turned down another hallway and light spilled into the hall from another room. It sounded like that was where the laughter was coming from.

This was it. Raven took out her Scroll and pressed the button to notify her contact in Vacuo's only police department. They'd been waiting and soon the building would be surrounded. Raven stood up and walked the rest of the way to the meeting room.

She stopped inside the door. A half dozen men sat at a table, with a bird Faunus girl gaged and in zip ties sitting at the base of a wall. The men looked like they were having a good time at the table, with a deck of cards splayed across it and a case full of Lien open at the far end. Time to change that. "I don't want to be lectured by my team leader," all heads turned to Raven and a few hands reached for sidearms, "so I'll give you all a chance to surrender."

One of the thugs burst from his chair and grabbed the girl in a chokehold. He held his pistol against the girl's head. "Leave now, or this one loses its head."

Raven shrugged. "Okay." She turned around and walked back the way she came. Now that she knew where everything was in the room, she could ambush them properly. She drew her sword and sliced it in front of her, forming one of her imfamous red and black portals. She jumped through and shoulder charged the man with the gun. The thug lost his grip on the gun and Raven snatched it out of the air.

Since her sword was useless in the tight space, Raven shot the other five men in the chest. Only one of them had an active Aura. Raven shot that man four more times until the magazine was empty. He still didn't fall, but his Aura was about to fail. Raven threw the gun at him which hit him square in the face. He stumbled back into the only open section of the room. Raven jumped off the one she tackled and ran the man through. She pulled her sword out of the dying man and sheathed it. The mechanisms inside would clean and repair the blade. She turned to the one man still on the floor. The girl had scurried to a clean part of the room and took the gag out of her mouth.

Raven approached the one thug who was still alive. She grabbed his hair and pulled it up. "Listen, I don't have time. You're going to tell me what I want to know, or you're going to tell the not-so-friendly part of Vacuo's police. What's it going to be?"

The man grunted. "Depends on what you want to know."

"Where are the other warehouses? Where is your base? Where are your records?"

"You think I stupid? I'll take whatever you and those crooked cops will do to me. I'm not giving up those places."

Raven slammed the man's face into the concrete floor and pulled it back up. "Records. Locations. Now."

"Go to hell."

"Where do you think I'm from?" Raven slammed the man's face into the floor again, but this time kept it there and she put her weight on it. "Records. Locations. Now."

"Records…in my office…under the desk."

"Good boy." Raven pulled the man's head up again. But that's all she ever got before. Never locations. "Now where are the other warehouses."

"Kiss. My. Ass."

Raven heard several steps of footsteps in the hall behind her. "I don't think so. I'm married." She slammed the man's face once more, this time knocking him out.

On cue, several police officers stormed the room, including her contact. Three rifles immediately pointed at her. "Hold up! She's with us," her contact said. Raven noticed that he didn't say 'friendly.' The rifles dropped and the officers inspected the carnage. "You don't do anything in halves, do you Bandit?"

"Not when it comes to this." Raven stood up and faced her contact. "If there's any reward for anyone in here, you know where to wire it. Now you're going to follow me and take the records from this place."

"Expect part of the reward from that too?"

"As long as my cut's not under twenty percent. I'm not that greedy. Give credit where credit is due." She passed the officers and looked for a room that looked like an office. She found one and kicked the desk over, much to the annoyance of her contact. Sure enough, there was a safe underneath. At least this one was buried under something and not in the wall for all to see. Raven drew her sword and jammed the point into the side of the safe. She pushed her blade at an angle and the lid popped right off. "There you go, the records of all the scum these bastards have dealt with."

Her contact reached into the safe and pulled out the few folders. "I may not agree with your methods, but they get results."

"If only my team could see that. The kids are yours. Get them to their families." Raven left her contact and the building. She faced deeper into the alleyway outside and swung her sword in front of her. With the cost of travel between Kingdoms, and the increased attacks on airships, it was easier to travel by her portals. It gave her time to think.

Like how Summer was not going to be happy with her at all when she got back to Vale. She'd rather deal with a thousand angry Taiyangs and Qrows than with a single disappointed Summer. Raven sighed. Hopefully Summer would see that Raven's actions weren't completely hostile, that she really wasn't a bandit anymore. If not, well…she wasn't going to have a good time.

"Okay, let's see here." Summer held her tongue in her lips as she looked between her list and the shopping cart in front of her. "Bread, peanut butter, flour…they're out of cheese, but then again, that sale." She wrote that down on another list. Hy-Dee was usually good at restocking the shelves. Hopefully this was a one-time thing. Summer checked her cart once more and nodded. She hadn't gotten much that wasn't on her list, and most of that stuff was for the others…except for her Sunburst Jellybeans. Those were more addicting than anything else.

Summer made her way to the checkout lanes. For a Sunday, the place was dead. She only had to wait behind a couple of people until she got to the cashier. As always, she had a conversation with the cashier, and as always, she thought she helped brighten the young man's day. A nice person coming through your line was always welcome. She learned that first hand when she worked part time as a cashier while she was going to Sanctum.

Instead of having the cashier bag the food, Summer did it herself. It wasn't that she didn't like the help, but she couldn't carry more than four bags at a time. With what Tai taught her, she thought she could fit everything into two. It was always entertaining to see people's jaws drop when more things than they thought were possible fit into one bag, especially the new workers. Tai didn't give up his secret easily. It took a lot of bribing and puppy dog faces, more than ever before.

She left the Hy-Dee and walked toward the beach. It really was a nice day in Vale. A light, wind, partly cloudy, and a zero percent chance of both rain and Grimm attacks. After the disaster in mountain Glen, that didn't happen very often.

About halfway to the beach, Summer noticed a windowless white van on the road behind her. Her walk stiffened. Did they really find her? Whoever 'they' was found Scarlet. They could have found her too. The van approached and Summer was ready to drop her bags and draw Sun's Light. But no. The wan had a logo for Morgan Contractors on the side. Summer sighed and shook her head. Who'd have thought she'd be the paranoid one?

Summer made it to one of Vale's beaches and she looked out toward Patch. She'd never been able to teleport that far before, but here was a first time for everything. She stuck her tongue out the side of her mouth and concentrated her Aura. Her eyes flicked to the air right above Patch's coastline and she activated her Semblance.

In an instant, she was staring directly at the trees she could see from the mainland. She looked down and bent her knees on impact with the sand. Summer bounced up and faced back the way she came. The city of Vale sat several miles away over open water. White rose petals rained down around her.

Summer transferred the bag in her right hand to her left. "Summer Rose, you've just set a new record." She pumped her now free fist as hard as she could. Something shifted in one of the bags and Summer's heart stopped. One thing out of place in these overstuffed bags and there would be food and fabric everywhere. She waited for the inevitable food-splosion, but it never came. Summer sighed. "Okay, don't overdo it when you're carrying these bags."

Sufficiently self-chagrined, Summer turned toward the west side of the island and started her hike. That one teleport took a lot out of her, and she didn't feel like arriving back at 'home base' all sweaty and out of breath. Anyway, the ocean breeze was nice. She didn't need to be with someone else to enjoy long walks on the beaches.

After a while, Summer turned inland and followed the recently paved road. It was so much better than the dirt road before. Bumblebee did not like the uneven surface. Tai could think whatever he wanted. Too much of a country boy. Summer liked being away from the city as well, but having most food shopping being an airship or boat ride away was a little irritating.

Summer left the sidewalk and walked up the dirt path to the log cabin team STRQ called home base. Frankly, Summer was just happy to have a place of their own instead of an apartment downtown. Besides the sometimes poor food situation, it was much cheaper to live out here than in the city.

She shifted both bags to her left hand again and she opened the front door with her right. "I come bearing gifts!" she shouted.

Qrow leaned his head over the back of the couch he occupied. "Is it peace and quiet?"

"Nope! Better than that! Food!" Summer kept walking to the kitchen. Tai was grading papers on the table inside.

"You've got my attention." Qrow stood up and entered the kitchen as well.

Summer smirked. "Of course. You're a guy." She set her bags on a table that wasn't occupied by various papers.

Tai finally looked up from his work. "Got everything for the mini pizzas?"

"Of course. I got pretty much everything on the list too." Summer grabbed the zipper on one of the bags, but hesitated before opening. "Something shifted in here after I teleported."

Both her teammates stared at her. "You sure you should be opening that in the house?" Qrow asked.

"Not around these tests." Tai pulled all the papers closer to him. "I've already had to give the entire class once because I lost their tests. I'd rather not have to do that again."

Summer nodded and picked both bags up and brought them out into the living room. She set the suspect bag on a coffee table and grabbed the zipper again. "Fire in the hole!" She yanked the zipper to the other side and braced for impact. A few seconds went by and nothing happened, but she'd seen one of these go after half a minute. She winced as she waited to be assaulted by a tin can. But still, nothing exploded at her.

"All clear!" Summer sighed. She reached inside and pulled out the first thing. Her smirk returned. "Qrow. I got something for ya."

Qrow stuck his head out of the kitchen and his eyes widened. Summer could practically she the non-existant drool coming out of his mouth. "You didn't."

"I did. Want one now?"

"Yes, please."

"Coming right up." Summer pulled one of the bottles of orange pop out of the plastic and set the rest down. She focused on the one bottle still in her hand. A white light filled the room as Summer let her unique Aura flow. The temperature in the room dropped slightly and the bottle started to frost up. Summer cut the Aura flow and she faced Qrow. "Heads up." She underhanded to bottle to Qrow.

"Thanks." Qrow caught the bottle, opened it, and took a swig all in one motion. "Ah, perfect temp. Thanks Sum."

"Any time." Summer opened the other bag, this time not expecting a tasty explosion. Thankfully the bag cooperated. She brought both back into the kitchen and began unloading. "Tai, where did you learn to pack like this?" She pulled out a bag of flower that by itself should have filled half the bag. She pulled out a second one just like it and there was still a ton of stuff inside.

"Family secret." Tai wrote a big A in red ink and circled it. He looked at the bags of flour and then to Summer. "You know, there's a Bostco for buying in bulk."

"Yeah, but then I have to deal with the membership fee, the long lines, and the crazy people." Summer shook her head. "I deal with enough crazies on the job, thank you very much."

Tai gave a sideways nod. "Fair point on the crazies."

"Plus, these were on sale. Two for five." Summer took out a box of Zebra Squares. "These are yours. I know you said you wanted some."

"Thanks." Tai took the box and set it beside his work. "You know, you're going to get us all fat."

"Not with our morning workouts. Whatever you gain at night, you burn off before ten." Summer continued to unpack the bags, this time giving Tai some quiet to do his grading. With everything in its proper place, Summer began to make a list of who owed her what for their snacks. Everything else they shared the costs.

The front door opened again. "I'm back," the missing member of the team called.

"Hey, Rae!" Summer yelled back as she used a magnet to stick the list to the fridge. "How'd your mission go?"

"Pretty well, but my latest gunshot wound isn't exactly happy with me right now."

"Eehh. How bad?" Summer's eyes flicked to Tai. He had tensed up and his motions became jerky. Were those two fighting again? Summer entered the living room and saw Raven sprawled out on the loveseat with an arm over her face.

"Enough to make birding difficult." Raven lifted the offending leg, then brought it back down. "It sucked coming back too."

"Ice pack? Ibuprofen?"

"Neither. I'll suck it up."

Summer's shoulders slumped. "That's not bandit pride talking, is it?"

"If it was that, I'd tell you to go jump in a lake." Raven removed her arm and smirked at Summer. "I thought it was good thing to work around pain on mission?"

"It is, but this isn't a mission."

"I'm fine, mom." Raven rolled her eyes. "I've had worse."

"She's not lying," Qrow chipped in. "Our parents weren't the nicest people around."

"That's an understatement," Tai said from behind Summer. STRQ's leader turned her head back. Tai was leaning against the doorframe. His usual smile nowhere to be seen. Him and Raven were definitely fighting again. "How you doing?" Tai asked past Summer.

"I'm fine Tai," Raven said. She said 'Tai,' not 'Taiyang.' That at least meant Raven was willing to talk. "My Aura didn't fail at any point."

Tai stared for a few seconds, then sighed. "I'm glad you're alright, Rae."

Summer's shoulders relaxed. She couldn't have hoped for that. "So Rae, what was your mission anyway? You sort of just…took off."

"I got a call from Barty about having problems in his post just outside of Vacuo." Raven shrugged. "Peter got surrounded. Took em all out, but his arm was shattered. You all know him. 'Just a papercut.' That thing's going to take more than his Aura to heal. He might be done." Raven smirked at Summer. "City people can brush off pain too."

"Other than that, he's fine, right?" Qrow asked. He took another swig of his pop.

"Yeah. He'll be fine. He's as tough as an Ursa." Raven paused for a moment, then sighed. "Then I got a tip on a Nevermore warehouse by one of their thugs in town."

Summer's shoulders slumped. "Oh." And this is where the 'but' came in.

Tai grunted. "I figured you'd get back at them."

Raven pushed herself off the loveseat and glared at Tai. "I helped rescue six more Faunus kids from their captors. Would you have preferred I let them stay in chains?"

"That's not why you did it. How much Lien was involved?"

"More than you make in a month at Signal."

"This again!" Tai threw his hands up. "Is that all you care about?"

"Guys," Summer put her arms out in between Tai and Raven, "please don't fight."

Tai pushed past Summer and marched straight to Raven. "How many people did you slaughter this time?"

"It's never been slaughter!" Raven jumped off the love seat and got up in Tai's face. "All those people were armed and they all deserved it!"

Summer's head slumped between her shoulders and she retreated to the kitchen. She sat down and the table and buried her face in her arms. Why did those two have to fight? They did while they were just teammates and then while they were dating, but never like this. Where was the cute, romantic relationship they had while they were dating?

A chair moved beside Summer. Considering the shouting match going on in the other room, it could only be one person. "What are we going to do, Qrow?"

"Let them sort it out. They always do."

Summer took her head off her arms. "This is the second time this month, and they've only been married three. What if this becomes a common thing and they separate?"

Qrow shrugged. "You finally get your chance with-"

Summer slammed a hand over Qrow's mouth. She checked to make sure neither Raven nor Tai could hear before glaring at Qrow. "Don't even think about that. Him and Raven are together, and I'm happy for them."

"Good." Qrow said, muffled through Summer's hand. He pulled off the muffler. "I don't need you stealing my sister's husband." He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Trust me, this Raven is more open than the one I knew back with the tribe. If you and Tai have gotten to her at all, she'll come around. She doesn't act like one of them anymore, but she still has their temper."

"So do you sometimes." Summer nodded.

"There is that." Qrow paused. "Since the mood's already gone, I have to ask. How's the kid?"

Summer sighed and rested her chin on her arms. "She was happy to have her 'Auntie Summer' there. At least someone she knows isn't dead." Summer shook her head. "Her mom and sister were cut down right in front of her. I'm surprised she's as sane as she is."

"She the next Fall Maiden?"

"Yeah. Her Aura's too strong for her not to be."

Qrow sighed. "Let me guess, Oz says having two Maidens under one roof is a terrible idea?"

"Spot on." Summer rolled her eyes. "But here's safer than putting her in witness protection outside the Kingdom. I tried convincing him, but he was adamant." She sighed. "At least I can get there in less than an hour if needed."

"Who's Oz putting her with?"

"Cherry. She'd met Amber a few times already. They'll get along." Summer paused. "But she's not 'Auntie Cherry.' I don't know how Amber will adjust."

"Like you said. If anything goes wrong, you can be there within the hour."

"I hope she has my Scroll number. Cherry might, but I don't know for sure."

The front door slammed and it shook the walls of the house. Someone wasn't in a good mood. Summer stood up peeked into the living room. Surprisingly, it was Raven standing in the center of the room, not Tai. "Raven?" Summer said.

Raven glared at Summer. "I'm not talking about it." She stormed up the stairs and disappeared. Seconds later, another door slammed.

Summer winced and sighed. A hand fell on her shoulder. "You're not a marriage counselor, Sum."

"No, but I'm team mom, and two of my kids aren't getting along." Summer straightened. "I'm going to have to do something about that."

"Wait, two of your kids are married to each other?"

Summer whipped around and grabbed Qrow's ear. She pulled the ear down and Qrow yelped. "What was that? Qrow, do you want timeout? Do you want to go to your room?"

"No. No mommy."

"Good boy." Summer let go of Qrow's ear. "One more joke like that, and you're grounded. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, mom." Qrow groaned and he rubbed his ear.

"That's what I thought." Summer sighed and faced upstairs again. "I'll figure something out. I always do."

Wow. Writing for Raven sure feels different. Summer, well, I've done it before. Even so, not like this.