A/N: Please understand these are snapshots of romance, humor, crack, angst, fluff, and general shenanigans. And that pop means 'soda' to all you Americans. AND that I see Team STRQ as older versions of Team RWBY.
Summer: Ruby
Taiyang: Yang
Raven: Blake/Weiss
Qrow: Weiss/Blake (Oh, sue me.)
THINGS I DON'T OWN:
-Caillou
-RWBY
-Donald Trump
-Hillary Clinton
-Sailor Moon
-My Chemical Romance
-Metallica
-Green Day
-Money. If the lawyers want to sue me, all they'll get is my autograph.
New Beginnings
Summer stepped off the airship's walkway. A ray of sunlight found its way onto her face. Wincing, Summer pulled her hood up over her face. And immediately tripped due to lack of sight. Her face made contact with another student's brown boot.
"Hey, watch where you're going, meatball-head." She looked up to see a young man with blonde hair, deep blue eyes, tanned skin, and tattooed biceps staring down at her. He offered her a hand, which Summer gladly took.
"My name's Tai. Nice to meet ya."
"I'm Summer." She replied, flashing him a quick grin. "Where are you from?"
"Patch. You?"
"Eastern Sanus. Mountains, mostly."
Their conversation was interrupted by a loud shout of "Oh, so you just couldn't not pick a fight for once, could you?"
Taiyang and Summer glanced over to see a black-haired boy yelling at a girl who looked just like him, presumably his sister.
"He is a weakling!" The girl answered.
"Those rules do not apply here!"
"That's not for you to decide!"
"You're right, it's not! It's for the law to decide. What you just did is assault! That's a crime!"
"Oh, shut up! I never wanted this, you hear me?"
"Raven, let's go. People are looking at us."
"Who gives a damn?"
"Raven, please." The brother placed a hand his sister's shoulder. She sighed.
"Fine."
The two stalked off into the distance.
"What's their problem?" Taiyang asked, gesturing to the twins.
"No idea." Summer shrugged.
"Something seemed off about them, I'm serious." He glanced over at the twins' retreating backs, then winced as the girl felled a lamppost with her sword out of anger. "Should we go talk to 'em?"
"Friend, I live with a brother and a sister, and I know how to handle these, ah, disputes. Just let them cool down. Maybe we'll see them at initiation . Besides, you'll have plenty of time to flirt with them." Summer joked.
"Shut up."
Launched
The launch sent most of the students flying into trees, rocks, and passing Nevermore.
A slight malfunction sent the twins, Summer and Taiyang into a pile on the forest floor.
The female twin- Raven, had landed feet-first on top of her brother.
Taiyang had landed atop Summer, who sat on Raven's left leg, which was lying on her brother's chin.
Raven immediately ran went over to him, slapping his face in an effort to get him to get up.
"Brother? Brother? Are you hurt? Did I kill you? Get up!" She cried.
"I'm fine."
"Thank the Great Chieftain." Raven sighed with relief.
Meanwhile, Taiyang was helping Summer up, hastily apologizing.
"I am so, so sorry! You okay?"
"I'm alright." The two looked over at Raven and Qrow, who were bickering once more.
"I guess we're a team now?"
Team
"Summer Rose, Taiyang Xiao Long, Raven Branwen, and Qrow Branwen. You four retrieved the black queen pieces. From this point forward, you shall be known as Team STRQ, led by Summer Rose."
Taiyang slapped Summer on the back "I guess I'll have to call you sir from now on."
Qrow and Raven bowed deeply, which Summer guessed was a gesture of respect. Raven spoke up, smiling slightly. "Brother and I will respect your decisions as leader."
Qrow scoffed. "What she means is, we'll consider them as optional. Coming from Sister, that's pretty much a gold star."
"Hey!"
Anything for a Friend
"Taiyang, are you alright?" Summer asked gently. She gazed at her teammate with concern.
"I'm fine."
"Tai. What is it?" Summer had now shifted into very-concerned-team-leader/mother-bear mode. Not even a Xiao Long could resist that distressed stare.
"My dad died. In battle." Taiyang grimaced. Summer gasped. She covered her hand with her mouth, but decided to embrace her blond friend instead.
Tears fells down his face, and Taiyang couldn't stop crying. "I put on this strong facade, just like the twins, and try to battle my inner demons, but I can't go on, knowing that my kids will never have a Grandpa, knowing that I could've been there. Oh my god, why?"
Summer squeezed Taiyang harder. "You did everything you could."
"No, I didn't. I could have gone home that day. We were allowed that week. And I-"
"You can't change the past. It's not your fault. And it never will be."
"Thanks, Summer."
"Anything for a friend."
Home
Raven's scroll buzzed, interrupting her note-taking. Casually, she glanced over at the message and her eyes widened, horrified.
User: Blackbird
Message: You must return immediately for a short time.
Your parents have lost their lives in the line of duty. We expect you to help bury them.
Absence or tardiness will not be tolerated.
-Oiseau
Raven leaned over and whispered something in her brother's ear. Qrow gazed at her with an equally petrified stare. Behind them, Summer watched their erratic behaviour as the twins gathered their things and ran out of the room.
Summer did the same, speeding after the siblings, whispering a hasty explanation to Taiyang.
She stepped out into the hallway, and saw a moment she had never seen before.
The twins, hugging each other and sobbing. It was a rarity to see them not at each other's throats. And now, this.
"We're gonna be alright, Qrow." Raven sniffled.
"Yeah, we'll be alright. Do you want to go?"
"They're dead to us."
"Yeah, that's what I thought. We won't go back, and abide by their stupid rules This is our home now."
"This is heresy, though. They'll kill us."
"We're safe."
"You think so?"
"I know so."
They released each other. Qrow wiped his eyes, and Raven's lower lip trembled. They stepped away from each other, shaking. Summer noticed the subtle similarities between the two. They thought and felt in the same way. You could see the twin expressions of shock and hurt on their features, see the same anger.
Summer, being the kind person she was, didn't notice that, and sped over to her, friends. "Uh, guys? Mind explaining?
Family
"Are you okay?"
"We'll live."
"What were you talking about back there?" Summer inquired gently. She looked her friend in the eye. "Don't lie."
"How much do you know about where Sister and I came from?" Qrow asked. He stared down at his feet.
"Um…"
"Sister refuses to talk about it. Can't say I'll ever blame her. We come from northwestern Anima, and the only reason we ever came here was so that we could leave."
"Leave your family?" Summer's face wore a look of shock. "Qrow, how could-"
"They're murderers and thieves. I remember back when I was six, and Raven and I had our first kill. We were both throwing up and crying, but our caring, loving parents told us that we had to shape up, or we weren't worth their time and they beat us. I am not sorry those assholes died. They were not our family, and I will never consider them to be. Good freaking riddance."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. Trust me, you shouldn't be."
Hero
Summer cradled the little boy in her arms, shielding him from the carnage of the fight that surrounded them. Mountain Glenn. What a disaster. What a terrible disaster. She slung the kid over her shoulder, knelt, and took out her crossbow, armed it with dust, and shot the Nevermore swooping down to devour her and the boy.
"Raven! Portal!" Summer shouted.
Raven nodded, making a slashing motion in the air. A swirling red vortex opened, and Raven hopped in, followed by Qrow, then Taiyang. Summer moved towards the portal, and the child stirred in her arms. The boy screamed, and wiggled out of her grip. He ran for a house, screaming for his parents. Only to be caught in the grasp of a Nuckelavee and eaten.
Summer stood motionless for a second, and while running for the portal, she thought about what had just happened.
Can I really be a hero? Is that what it means? To know that you can't help everyone? To watch the sky fall, watch people, innocent civilians die? Is that heroism?
Halloween
"Summer, you can't scare Tai." Raven said, laughing. "You're just not scary."
"Oh, like you know anything about scaring people." Summer retorted, irritated with her friend's denial of her Taiyang-scaring skills.
"I do, as a matter of fact. I have the creepiest costume picked out this year." Raven gave her trademark patent-pending Raven-smirk.
"Really?"
"Yeah, Brother and I are going as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton." Raven shot back, sticking out her tongue. "Creepy enough for you?"
"While you may be the stuff of nightmares, I have a better plan." Summer cackled evilly, throwing her head back in maniacal laughter. Raven giggled.
"Yeah, right. What could be scarier that President Spray-Tan himself?"
"Ha!" Summer scoffed, tossing her hair back. "If you think you're scary, try dressing as Caillou!"
"No… You couldn't have." Raven gasped in shock. Summer nodded, using her patented Summer-smirk.
"Just wait and see."
Later that evening…
"We're going to the Halloween party?" Taiyang asked, shocked at Summer's plans.
"Uh, yeah? What, you're a wimp?" She mocked.
"N-no." Taiyang stammered.
"Alrighty, just let us get dressed."
Qrow winked at Tai, picked up his Hillary Clinton mask, and exited the room to change, as did the rest of the team, leaving Taiyang to curse himself and eat his words. While his back was turned, Summer slipped into the closet, and the twins hid behind the open door, waiting to scare the living crap out of Taiyang.
Taiyang looked around nervously and decided to make a run for it. At which point Summer decided to start singing the Caillou theme song.
Hauntingly, her voice floated out from the closet.
"Growing up is not so tough…"
He screamed out of pure terror, and ran for the hallway. Unfortunately, Raven decided to jump out and yell "I WILL BUILD A WALL!"
Taiyang howled in fear and curled up into a ball.
Qrow snickered and shouted "WE ARE GOING TO TAKE THINGS AWAY FROM YOU ON BEHALF OF THE COMMON GOOD!"
Taiyang screamed and fainted.
"Is he okay?"
Note: These are actual quotes.
Bike
"Summer, I have no idea how ride a bicycle." Qrow deadpanned. He took another bite of his sandwich. "What even is a bicycle's purpose? We have cars and airships for that sort of thing."
Taiyang spat out his People Like Grapes Pop all over the table in astonishment, earning him a weird look from Raven. She got up and left, probably to avoid the mayhem that was about to ensue.
Good idea. Some days Qrow just couldn't help but admire his sister's smarts.
Qrow made to leave like Raven, but Summer grabbed him by the wrist and forced him back down.
"Oh, no you don't." She wagged a finger at him. "You my friend, are going to learn how to ride a bike."
Qrow winced at his friend's grip. "Summer, please. Let go."
The girl grinned maniacally. "Not until I teach you how to ride a bike. C'mon, it's fun." She ran out of the cafeteria to Beacon Cliff, male Branwen in tow, leaving Taiyang all alone, eating Qrow's sandwich.
Summer trotted over to a bike tied up to a tree "Here, you can use mine." She walked back to where Qrow was standing, and handed it to him.
"Summer, I don't use anything with My Chemical Romance, Green Day, or Metallica stickers on it."
"Just shut up and try."
Qrow got on the bike, and tried to use the pedals. He fell over.
"You okay?" Summer doubled over laughing. Qrow glared.
He got on the bike again, and began to pedal straight off the edge. "
Summer yelled out of fear for her friend's safety.
"QROW!" The bike teetered over the edge. Qrow just nonchalantly turned into a bird and let the bicycle drop. He flew over to where Summer stood agape, and turned back into a human.
"Yeah, so could you define fun for me?"
Detention
"Mr. Xiao Long, Miss Rose, I'm afraid I have no choice but to give you detention." Taiyang's and Summer's mouths stretched so far, they could have hit the floor. Professor Goodwitch glared.
"Entrapping your fellow students in a birdcage is not funny in the slightest. You know the consequences. Especially you, Miss Rose. I expect more from you as team leader."
"But-"
"No buts! I expect you in Classroom 501 at 5:00 pm sharp, not a second later. You will be writing sentences. Dismissed."
Taiyang and Summer looked at each other in horror.
A few hours later…
Summer gulped nervously, a sheen of sweat visible on her forehead. Her perfect record, ruined. All because some first year couldn't keep their mouth shut about some stupid party trick.
She stepped into the classroom, shaking. Summer went over to the section of the chalkboard labeled 'I will not degrade my fellow students by putting them in a birdcage while I am intoxicated." where Tai was standing, whistling with his hands in his pockets while the supervising teacher played Grimm Eclipse on his computer with his headphones on.
"So, uh, do we just write?" Summer whispered.
Taiyang shook his head, and pulled two long tubes with holes out of his backpack, grinning. "Nah, I've got a better idea. Used to happen to me all the time in school, so I developed this handy-dandy strategy." He began to put every piece of chalk in sight into those holes. He handed a tube to Summer. Taiyang turned around and began to write. Fifteen sentences formed.
Summer stood, dumbfounded.
"Well, are you gonna start or what?"
Fighter
The ring was filled with dirt, sweat, and small amounts of blood. Raven stood, panting, hunched over in a fighting stance. The clock on the battered wall struck one o'clock. Summer stared at Raven, watching quietly from the doorway .
She tried to deck Taiyang in the face, but missed. He simply moved out of the way and caught her fist. He frowned, and kicked her stomach, sending Raven flying back.
"You've been at this all night. Even Qrow is asleep now. Go to bed."
Raven growled and made to kick his legs out from under him, but Taiyang just caught her arms behind her back. Summer sucked in a breath. Taiyang was either a really good hand-to-hand partner and Raven a terrible one (Which from what Summer had seen was completely untrue), or Raven had been at this all night.
He held Raven in a vice grip and sent her tumbling down onto the floor.
"Just because someone beat you doesn't mean you beat yourself up for it. Stop."
She grunted, and brushed off her shoulders and ran at Taiyang. He just stepped aside.
"Are you done yet?"
"Shut up!" Raven ran at Taiyang in fury. She managed to land a hit, but Taiyang took it like a trouper, and walked away.
"If you want to go at this all night, you'll collapse from exhaustion. You can't do this. Stop, or I'll make you stop. At least slow down."
"I don't have time to slow down!"
"You do, you just choose not to."
"No, I don't! You don't understand!" Raven gripped the back of the ring to keep herself steady. "If someone isn't strong enough, they die! Do you think I do this for fun?"
"No, you don't understand!" Taiyang looked like he was about to explode, and Summer wondered if it was a good idea to intervene. "You really have no idea, do you?"
"Excuse me?"
"No idea that we actually hate seeing you do this. We hate it. You beat yourself into a bloody pulp here after each match you lose, and I despise it, and so do your teammates You didn't see Summer sleeping, did you?"
"That's not the-"
"That is the point. Raven, I-I love you. And I don't wanna see you like this. It hurts all of us. Come on, Raven. Let's go."
"Tai…" Raven ran forward and embraced him, kissing him right on the lips.
Summer smiled and left the doorway she had been overseeing the situation from. Seems they don't need my help after all.
Exams
The waiting room shook with anxiety and tension. Raven and Qrow were huddled together on the floor, Summer was chewing on her her hood, and Taiyang was punching the wall. Other students sobbed, hugged each other, and were generally freaking out. As they should. It was the day of the huntsman licensing exams, after all, and every Beacon student was full of apprehension, whether it be for themselves or for a fellow student.
Taiyang grabbed Summer's cloak. "Do you think we made it?" He shook the girl violently.
Summer winced, and was about to reply when Glynda Goodwitch walked into the room. The normally strict professor was smiling warmly at them. She opened her mouth to speak. You could hear the pounding of every student's hearts in their chest as she said "I am pleased to say you all made it. Welcome to the team."
The reaction was joyous. Summer grabbed Qrow and screamed, dancing around like Snoopy. Taiyang hugged Raven, and the kids on Team EMJI (Emoji) had put on YMCA and were now dancing.
"WE MADE IT!" Taiyang shouted.
We made it. We made it. WE MADE IT!
Graduation Day
"Let me formally welcome all of you to Vale's Huntsman force." Professor Ozpin said with a warm smile. "I invite you to celebrate."
"Oh my God we made it!" Summer whispered to Raven. The normally serious girl beamed back at her, waving the Huntsman's license she had gotten from Ozpin back at her.
The doors swung open, admitting a rush of first to third-years into the auditorium, along with parents and siblings. Summer ran to greet her parents, Tai went to find his mom, and Qrow and Raven were tackled by some energetic second-years.
In later years, Summer would have realized that that moment had been the spark that ignited a flame, the beginning of her career. She would have looked back on it fondly and happily, thinking that all the homework, disputes over who got to sit shotgun, and fistfights had all been worth it.
But in the present, all Summer had in her mind was hope and joy. Joy at her accomplishments, and hope for the future. For her family, for her team, and most of all, for Vale.
I'll just hope for the best. We may be a mismatched bunch of oddballs, but we'll do it. And we'll be remembered as the best damn Huntsmen Vale's ever seen.
That's all for today, lads and lasses. Be sure to leave a review! Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for reading my work, and have a good one!
~Tasie