Disclaimer: RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth. I do not own any of the characters or locations present, just the scenarios I have created.

Lay Down Your Burdens

"What are we going to do!?" She said.

"What…" I sighed heavily before continuing, "What if we tell him it's his?"

"You… you would really go with that?" She said.

I let out another sigh, "Yea… I guess I would… Anything for you and the kid."

"I guess that could work… It's just… I…" She tried to put the words together.

"It's okay… It's all going to be okay…" I told her

"Thank you Qrow… Thank you so much…" She said, relieved.

Chapter 1: The Aftermath

Qrow was hurt badly from his fight with Tyrian. Team RNJR was currently transporting him to Mistral for medical care. The trip was taking a lot longer than Ruby was hoping it would. She was very concerned for her uncle. After they defeated the Nuckelavee Ruby refused to leave Qrow's side.

Qrow was in an out of consciousness the whole trip. When he was conscious he was very disoriented. During the flight to Mistral Ruby was doing some maintenance on Crescent Rose on a table next to Qrow while he slept. As she was finishing her maintenance on her beloved scythe she noticed Qrow start to stir. She moved over to see if he was doing ok. He seemed fine so she decided to go back to work on Crescent Rose when from behind her Qrow mumbles the name of her mother, Summer Rose.

She froze. She very rarely hears Qrow say her mother's name. She turned back to her uncle. She approached Qrow again as he stirred. She tried to ask Qrow what he had said but he was unresponsive, probably not conscious. After a minute, Ruby was about to walk away again when Qrow starting rambling "Tai...I'm sorry. I wish... things were...different. I... love you... Summer."

Ruby sat down next to Qrow placing her hand on his shoulder trying to figure out what he meant. Qrow's eyes fluttered open momentarily startling Ruby. Before she could speak her uncle immediately calmed down from his stirring. In a hushed tone, he began to say "Summer…? I thought you... it doesn't… matter… I'm happy you… are here again… kept my promise... She's grown… into quite the huntress… You'd be… so proud of her… She's so much like you… and when she gets… passionate… about something she gets… that look in her eyes… that you always had… She reminds me… so much of you sometimes… I've missed you Summer…"

His eyes close as he falls back unconscious, leaving Ruby there stunned by what she had heard. Ruby stood there, wide eyed and speechless. Her uncle had clearly been hallucinating, thinking she was Summer. But what did he mean by a promise? Why would he think she was Summer? She needed answers but Qrow was obviously in no state to answer them. She walked back over to Crescent Rose and sat in front of the weapon she treasured until they landed in Mistral, unsure what to think.

Qrow sat at the bar looking down at his shot of whisky. He downs the shot when his scroll buzzed in his pocket. Hoping it was Ozpin was giving him the details of his next assignment, Qrow pulls out his scroll. Despite the alcohol he has consumed, he could recognize the blonde's picture on his scroll. It was from his teammate Tai. He set his scroll down and proceeded to order another drink.

As the bartender approached him with his new drink, his scroll went off once more. Looking at the scroll seeing Tai's picture again he realized there was no way he was getting out of this. He downed his shot and opened the messages from Tai.

Tai: Hey, you nearby Patch?

Tai: Well, regardless you should come by! I have some great news to share with you that needs to be said in face to face!

Qrow: Yeah, I'll be by shortly.

The last thing Qrow wanted to do was go over there. He knew exactly what Tai wanted to tell him and he knew he'd have to pretend to be happy about it despite how much it would kill him inside to do so. He paid the bartender and then set out.

After about an hour of walking he was nearing Tai and Summers house. As the house came into view he paused at the tree line to gather himself before proceeding. With each step, he could feel a great weight on his soul as he dragged himself closer to the house. He stood just outside the house and he pulled out his brown and silver flask and took a large swig before putting it away. He knew that the moment that door opened his life would change forever, and not for the better. He knocked on the door to almost immediately be greeted by Tai who then invited him inside.

At last, they landed in Mistral. Ren, Jaune, and Nora were about to go off to find a place for them stay, when the ambulance arrived to take Qrow to the hospital. Jaune came over and asked if Ruby was doing alright. She told him that she just had a lot on her mind, but she would be fine once Qrow got the hospital. Jaune offered to accompany her but she thought he would be better off finding a place to for them to rest. Everyone in team RNJR was exhausted, including herself, but she couldn't leave her uncles side. She was far too worried about him.

She boarded the ambulance with her uncle and they left. Ruby's thoughts drifted toward what Qrow was mumbling during the flight to Mistral. She needed answers, but only Qrow had them. Her plan was to stay with him until he woke so they could have their much-needed talk. Ruby needed to talk to someone, but even though Jaune had offered earlier, he wouldn't be able to help her. There were only a select few people who she could talk to about matters such as these, like her sister Yang, or her father. She deeply missed both her sister and her father and wished they were here with her for they would know exactly what to say.

Not to long after, they arrived at the hospital. Qrow was rushed into the emergency room and they began surgery. Ruby was forced to stay in the waiting room despite her objections. She received Qrow's personal affects before going and situating herself in the nearly empty waiting room. She tried to keep herself preoccupied by thinking about the rest of her team. She was worried about them too.

After Beacon fell, Blake had disappeared and Weiss was forced to return to Atlas. They both, along with Yang were on her mind all the time. That wasn't making things better so she shook of the thought of her absent teammates. She dug through Qrow's jacket pocket looking for the picture she had only seen a couple times before, the picture of team STRQ. Upon finding the picture, she pulls it out but an additional picture falls from the pocket onto the floor. Ruby reached down to pick up the picture.

She started at the bottom of the photo working her way up. As she did she noticed the figures black boots, then the black skirt and corset. As she continued Ruby noticed the cloak the woman was wearing, it was very similar to her own, only pure white. The red headed woman had a slight blush coming on, and… silver eyes. This was a picture of Summer Rose. Ruby's hands started to tremble as she stared at the photo. She didn't know why her Uncle Qrow would have a picture of her mom. Ruby pushed those thoughts out of her mind for now, she was just happy to see a picture of her mother.

"Hi mom" Ruby says out loud looking at the picture of Summer. "It's times like these that I really wish you were here" She said after a moment. "I could really use your help. There's just so much going on, with Yang hurt, and Weiss and Blake gone, and Pyrrha…" she trailed off with tears starting to form in her eyes. She tried to collect herself. She forces a smile "But, I have my other friends Ren, Nora, and Jaune with me so not everything's bad. We've also been doing a lot of good and helping people since the fall of Beacon. Jaune has been getting a lot better and so have Ren and Nora. Oh, and we ran in to Uncle Qrow! He got hurt though, but I'm at the hospital right now waiting for him. I think he misses you. I know I miss you."

A nurse came out calling for Ruby saying that Qrow has come out of surgery and she can come and sit in his room with him. "I'm glad I was able to see and talk to you again." With that, Ruby followed the nurse to Qrow. She could now get the answers she needed.

Authors note: This is my first fiction and I hope you all enjoyed chapter one. If you have any comments or questions, please leave a review or feel free to PM me. Thanks for reading and I hope too see you all in the next chapters! :D

I had quite a bit of help from a good friend Siegfried Salazar. Wouldn't have been able to do it without him. He is also accepting PM's about this fiction.