Yang tilted her head up to the sky, her arm raised to the block out the sun as she smiled softly. Taking a deep breath, she stepped out onto a path so very familiar to her. The blonde was quieter than she was known for. Though, that really couldn't be helped, it had always been that way when the she went to visit her. Not that she didn't want to,never that.Yang simply hadother things weighing on her mind other than her own slight distant discomfort at her task. A discomfort that would only grow once she reached the clearing.
"What are you doing here?" Yang growled out upon seeing a familiar masked woman sitting before the all too recognizable grave. The onyx haired woman said nothing in response, only contiued staring at the grave. "I said-" the woman raised her hand in a gesture for silence. "I heard you the first time, Yang." Raven used her already raised hand go remove her Nevermore mask, placing it in her lap. She turned to her daughter, her expression unreadable, her eyes piercing. "Come, sit with me." She patted the ground next to her.
The blonde blinked, her red eyes fading into lilac at the odd response. Hesitantly she did as she was told, sitting cross legged beside her mother. The two didn't say a word to the other, sitting in a silence only disturbed by the blowing wind or the subtle sounds of the woods around them. Yang was the one who broke it once her eyes fell upon the roses sitting before the grave, wrapped in a delicate light blue bow. "You never did tell me what your relationship was like."
Raven blinked twice as though the words brought her from a trance. "That I did", she looked at the girl next to her, "do you want to know?" Yang nodded silently as Raven smiled softly and weaved a tale the girl had never once heard.
It all started with the initiation, being flung off a cliff left her in a bad mood, coupled with running into the world's most annoying blonde. Yang could already tell who she meant. Raven and Tai ran into Qrow and his partner, a diminutive, white cloaked woman. Who at the time, looked like nothing more than Grimm food. An assumption that would be disproved upon watching the small woman take on a horde of Grimm brought to them by her brother's semblance.
Summer ended up gaining some well deserved respect.
She told how when they trained Raven was always left in awe at her skills both as a fighter and as a leader. Though she'd rather have faced a pack of Beowolves than admit that.
How no matter how many disputes the twins had or how much trouble Tai and Qrow caused, she was always there to settle them down and patch them up.
The Branwen woman told of how hard she tried to pull her out of her 'socially awkward' shell. Of the failed and rarely successful attempts at getting her to smile.
How the elder Rose always knew how to bring them back from the edge after a bad day or tough mission. Of quiet nights with just the two women, a bottle of wine, and the stars.
It was while watching her mother tell her story that Yang saw a new side of her. The side that laughed at pointless jokes and enjoyed quiet evenings in with the people she cared about. The young woman was sure the older woman didn't know about the small smile that had been steadily growing the more she talked about her step-mother.
"You loved her." Yang said, it was more of a statement than a question. Raven only looked at her with a smile that told of pain, suffering, and a love that has never diminished.
"I did,stilldo. Summer was my everything. Even after all I did, she still had my heart. When she died, she took it with her." The woman wiped away a stray tear that almost escaped to leave a trail down her cheeks. Her daughter could see that clearly, no matter the facade she put up, Raven was still human. She deserved a chance to be treated as such.
"Say, dad's on a job, he won't be back for a while. Would you want to come back to the house? I'd love to hear more about you two." Raven chuckled, sniffling quietly, "I'd love that." The two smiled at each other and headed back down the trail, the silence broken by another storytelling.
Neither really noticed the Nevermore mask left beside a bouquet of roses, leaning against the grave like a calling card.