A/N: Please thank the creators of Dragon Age and RWBY by supporting the official release!
Two Worlds, One Family
"So long as the music plays, we dance." -Flemeth
"Her hair is already starting to become boundless."
"She definitely has Raven's locks."
"Yeah, but she's got my blonde. She's gonna turn some heads! I might have to start practice running interference sooner rather than later."
"And while you stumble all over yourself trying to fend off the vultures, I shall simply scatter their ashes to the wind."
"Sure~. Act like the biggest and toughest, Mrs. 'I can set things on fire with my mind!'."
"Your jealousy is embarrassingly petty."
"Both of you, stop it! It's a good day today! I haven't seen Merrill and Qrow in ages. I can't wait for them to meet Yang!" Summer rubbed the swell of her belly tenderly. "And tell them there's more good news on the way."
"It has only been half a year," Morrigan corrected nonchalantly, "but I see your point." Begrudgingly enough, she was excited to see her brother again as well. His wife was a more complex situation.
A rattling knock suddenly bombarded their door.
"Speak of the Old Gods," the third Branwen sibling murmured as she went to let in their guests. The poor woman ended up getting half her face smashed by the door, sending her sprawling back on the ground. "Dammit!"
Instead of a potential attacker, a green-clad and gitty elf hoped her way into their cabin. She bounced on her heels, green eyes desperately searching for-
"The baby!" She chirped as she beheld the infant girl in Summer's arms. "Oh! There she is!" Her hands clasped together as she cooed.
Qrow entered next, stopping to offer a hand up to his wounded sister. "Sorry about that," he spoke with a bit of embarrassment on his wife's behalf. The little woman likely would have made the apology herself had she not been so elated. Even in pain, Morrigan noted his breath didn't smell like alcohol. Merrill likely wouldn't allow him to see his new niece while intoxicated. She was at least that helpful. When she wasn't accidently assaulting people!
"She did that on purpose…!" Morrigan grounded out angrily as she held the throbbing right side of her face. A nice fat bruise was beginning to form, surely.
"You know she's not like that," the male Branwen sighed. He had never quite understood the rivalry his little sister felt towards the flightier woman. True, they were both mages and sought greater knowledge of their craft but that didn't warrant Morrigan's competitive attitude about it.
With a "Hmph!", the dark headed woman finally stopped sulking long enough to grab her brother's outstretched hand be hoisted off the ground.
Merrill stretched her arms out graciously towards the babe that had an intrigued expression on her face. "May I?" She breathed pleadingly.
Summer gently handed the newest Xiao Long over to the floatier woman with a chuckle. "Sure, if it will get you to stop abusing my poor wife."
"'Tis touching to see your concern for me, my love," Morrigan brooded, her ego almost as pained as her face.
"I'm not laughing at you, I promise! I was just surprised." Summer tried and failed to hide a snicker while Merrill finally noticed her handiwork.
"Oh, Morri! I'm so sorry!" The shorter mage's face flushed and the infant she held giggled.
"I shall overlook it this time." The youngest Branwen's hand gave off a soft glow that repaired her damaged flesh. Her eye that wasn't threatening to swell shut landed on her brother. "I assume you spent a great deal of time convincing Qrow that Yang wouldn't catch fire simply because he was present." The drunkard's fear of his own Semblance had taken many things from him. Meeting his niece shouldn't be one of them.
"Yang," Merrill clicked as she rubbed noses with the tyke in question, making her giggle even harder. "That's a beautiful name! Hello, Yang!" She looked at Taiyang with the purest goodwill. "She's absolutely lovely Tai. Congratulations!"
"Thank you," the proud father said with a smile that was short-lived. "It would have been nice if Raven were happy about it too."
"'Tis her loss," Morrigan declared with conviction. She refused to let any more uncomfortable silences happen because of her foolish sister. Her freshly healed eye blinked a couple times.
"That's right," Summer agreed as she looked adoringly at Yang. "She'll still have more than enough love than she'll know what to do with.
Qrow grunted dismissively as he took a seat on the sofa. "I gotta say, out of all of us, I never pictured Raven to be the one to hightail it back to mom and the tribe."
"Cowardice is oft present when expectations are subverted," Morrigan scoffed as she plopped down beside her brother. After so many years of being a headstrong bitch that outdid even herself at times, Raven had lost her nerve to her own child. "I do wonder what Flemeth will have to say to her about her sudden return, provided the old crone cares to even ask." Their mother always had a way of knowing things she shouldn't have.
"So, she's really gone then? More's the pity," Merrill nearly snorted with disdain. She had liked Raven well enough but if the woman had abandoned such an adorable baby, she was clearly an inhuman monster. She spun around on one foot, almost dancing to the rhythm of her niece's laughter
"Yeah…" Taiyang said slowly. He was caught off guard by the elf's subtle display of malice like everyone else in the room.
The green-clad woman stopped herself and gave the elder Xiao Long a soft look of concern. "Still, she was your lover. How are you doing, Tai?"
Taiyang simply walked over to retrieve his daughter, a calm smile coming to his face as he gently took her into his arms. "I'm doing better than I should be, honestly," he confessed as tiny hands held his face. It had taken Raven leaving to make the man realize that what they had wasn't that good in the first place. He had tried to love the eldest Branwen with all that he was. She always treated his attempts like they weren't enough. So, when she left, he was grieving for the mother Yang lost more than he was his lover. Even if he wanted to be sad, it just wouldn't last with his new pride and joy around. The little girl was the only real contribution Raven made to their relationship.
Morrigan spoke up as Summer slowly sat down on her other side and grabbed her hand. "It has already been decided that Raven shall never be known to her unless it cannot be helped. There's hardly a point in giving her an unnecessary sense of loss. She will know Taiyang as her father and me as her birth-mother." She planted a chaste kiss on Summer's cheek. "Summer as her step-mother." Her free hand found the bulge of her unborn child. "And our child to be as her half-sibling."
"White lies can be such wonderful things, can't they?" Merrill crooned. After all, she had made a life for herself in Remnant by passing herself off as a rare type of Faunus.
"First, you turn up the sass, then you say you appreciate lying?" Qrow stood and went to feel his spouse's forehead for a fever. "You feelin' okay, babe?"
"I'm fine, Qrow," Merrill pouted before registering the last thing Morrigan said. Her eyes widened as they feel on Summer and spotted her baby bump. "The ritual worked!" She skittered over and knelt next to the redhead's swelling belly. Green eyes turned glassy as they connected with proud silver. "I'm so happy for you," she nearly sobbed in joy. This family was becoming a regular Clan!
"So that's what you were going on about last time I called," the gruff Huntsman realized. He had never gone nuts with the mystical aspect of his heritage the way Morrigan had. At the end of the day, him and Raven could turn into birds, a few other animals of choice and that was where the buck stopped. Raven and Qrow had put more energy into being warriors than mages. Much to Flemeth's not-so-subtle annoyance. "I still don't understand what the hell you were talking about but I'm proud of you!"
He was. Growing up her always scared Morrigan wouldn't find someone willing to lover her crazy. Yet, Summer had latched on was there to stay. In congratulations, he got behind Morrigan and tussled her hair just the way she absolutely hated. Only honed reflexes allowed him to dodge as she went to poke him in the eyes.
"What did you do to make that happen exactly?" Tai's eyebrow raised curiously. His curious expression was hastily ruined by Yang's fingers stretching the corner of his mouth. The infant's giggling started up again. "Ou-ouch! I can tell she's a Branwen because she's already learning to laugh at people's pain!" He slurred accusingly.
"'Tis no one's fault but your own if she has already marked you as an easy target!" Morrigan cackled. "As to how or why, 'tis unimportant." Her fingers ran through Summer's hair as she leaned into her touch. "All that need be known is that this little one will be born of us and us alone."
Merrill's expression strangely warped at all at once, as she considered something. She stared down Morrigan "You didn't actually have a… 'fling' with Tai at any point when we weren't looking, did you?" Maybe that was the real reason Raven ran off.
"No!" The human mage gagged with horror filling her golden eyes. "I would not degrade myself so!"
"You could sound a little less offended," Tai said sulkily, the rambunctious baby in his arms suddenly feeling heavier.
"And be charged with the same level of thoughtlessness as my brother? I think not!"
"It was just that one time!" Qrow hissed defensively as his arms crossed. His eyes landed on his lap while his face turned beet-red. "I don't really remember it that well. I was plastered at the time."
"He said shocking no one at all."
"Now I'm starting to get depressed," Taiyang muttered. Qrow refused to even talk to him about it afterwards. It made all the drunken making out beforehand feel very disingenuous. Meanwhile, Yang continued right on having good time his hair, face, and facial hair, oblivious to the weird situation at hand.
"Oh, there's nothing to be ashamed of!" The Dailish proclaimed while looking between the blonde man and her husband, looking much too enthralled in the topic at hand. "In fact, Tai may end up needing you in that way. Life without a partner could end up being very lonely."
What Qrow meant to say in that moment was, "I am your husband. I do not appreciate you casually offering Taiyang my body!" In his flustered state, it come out sounding more like, "Husband! Me! Married! To you!"
"That's okay. I promise you, I'll find some way to carry on-yeowch!"
Morrigan just laughed manically.
Her brother's life mate was caught up in her own fit. "You're both so very attractive!" Her look grew hazy as her cheeks became warm. "Two handsome men…together! It must have been lovely~" It was a good thing she was already kneeling because the room was starting to spin.
"Merrill, your nose!" Summer squawked in a panic as she pushed a hanky towards the lithe woman.
"Oh dear!" The poor thing hastily took the cloth and pressed it under her bleeding nostrils.
"Bahahaha! My dear Qrow, I owe you an apology! I had forgotten how much the company of you and your beloved could amuse me!" Her laughter persisted through her own wife sharply elbowing her in her ribs.
When he looked at his flustered beau with a reddening cloth under her nose, Qrow couldn't stop a chuckle. He took out a second kerchief he kept on him for just such an occasion and crouched down next to her. Tenderly, he put his hand behind her head while pressing the clean cloth over the soiled one. "You are such a pervy little dork, sometimes," he accused softly.
Green pools shined at him. "I love you too!"
The couple stood, and the rugged man rubbed the back of his head, knowing he should say something. "Sorry it took us so long to come over," he settled as a content smirk took hold. "When the next one is born, I'll try to make sure we see her before she's 4 months old."
The Truth was that Qrow's semblance wasn't the only reason he didn't visit sooner. Raven's leaving had hurt him. Considerably more than it hurt Tai. The two of them had been twins which gave them an abstract link them that would always be there. That was just how it was. Without her, he felt as though a part of himself was missing. He had been scared to meet Yang and have his mind mark her as a painful reminder of loss. Now, as he beheld the spirited little firecracker that was quickly learning to bully her father, he could feel that things would be all right again.
In response to Qrow's pledge, Morrigan huffed, "'Tis all we ask," with her arms crossed and eyes closed.
"He wasn't moping the whole time we didn't show," Merrill clarified teasingly. The last of her nose bleed was clearing up. "We actually managed to get a few missions done too!"
"You're feisty today," the male shapeshifter commented with a side-glance of his spouse. "It's almost kind of scary."
"You know what's really scary?" Tai challenged as his precious gift from above held a firm grip on his hair. "The fact that none of you are helping me!" He cried with watering blue eyes, while his baby girl laughed.
"I had better go rescue him," Summer volunteered and stood with her lover's help.
"We shall go rescue him. Tai, if you are having this much trouble with your own child, ours shall be the death of you." Morrigan warned with a malicious grin.
Merrill leaned on Qrow as the scene unfolded. "I love our family," she oozed. "But I don't think it needs to get much bigger. Poor Tai may not be able to handle it." She chided in that mystifying accent that she had somehow never lost.
"No kids of our own, then? Now that's an order I can get behind. It's way more fun to watch the show from the sidelines anyway."
It would be a miracle of the whole of patch didn't hear Taiyang's agonized cries.
A/N: If you love frontloaded exposition let me hear you say, "Eeeehhhh…"!
A lot of questions are left to be answered and they will in time! Until then, I hope you had fun because I certainly did! See you at the next chapter.
Read, Fav, Follow, Review! Thanks a million for all that you do!
