Raven Branwen had always dreamed of having a family. Of being a mother. Of something that would make all the bloodshed worth it at the end of the day. Her twin brother had used to tease her constantly when they were teenagers. Qrow had always been a bit of a loner and never understood her desire to settle down when they were both training to fight monsters for a living.
"You'll just set yourself up to get hurt." He would say in his more serious moments. "Hunters' should never get married. I mean, look at what that did to Mom and Dad." Whenever Qrow said this, Raven would simply shrug her shoulders knowing the truth of his statement yet at the same time promising herself that she would be different. Their parents had split up shortly after their twins were born. In fact Raven and Qrow had never met their father and their mother avoided speaking of him.
Their mother hadn't been a paragon of virtue either. She drank heavily and would disappear for weeks at a time, taking only the most difficult hunting missions. Only to come home battered and bloody.
As a result Raven and Qrow had learned to rely solely on one another and as a result were not quick to make friends with their neighbors. They had applied for and been accepted into Signal academy, where they had excelled and each found an innate talent for weapons crafting and dust manipulation. Qrow with his scythe and Raven with her beloved sword. Each had earned a reputation for being deadly with their perspective weapon of choice.
It was an obvious step from there to apply to Beacon academy. The last obstacle in the way of receiving their Huntsman certifications. Raven had never been more nervous nor more excited in her entire life. Then came the day that would forever set the course of Raven's life for good or for ill. Initiation day at Beacon academy.
The freshman gathered at the cliffs just outside Beacon. They were all chatting excitedly about what they thought the initiation would entail. There were many squeals of delight as many of them had grown up together and were excited by the prospect of being on the same team as their friends. Raven however stood off to one side with Qrow, one hand resting lightly on the hilt of her beloved sword Thurisaz*. She disliked crowds and it took everything she had not to revert to her avian form and fly away. Qrow placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
"Easy kiddo, stick to the plan and we'll be back in time for dinner." He said giving her a lopsided grin.
"Just because you are technically five minutes older than me does not mean you can call me kiddo, brother." Raven muttered darkly, rolling her shoulders to make him release his grip.
"Of course it does, it says so right here in the twin bylaws." He mimed patting down his pockets and after a moment he met her eyes with a faux frown. "Hmm, I must have misplaced it. Guess you'll just have to take my word for it baby sister." The last was said with a smirk that was all Qrow. Raven couldn't help the soft smile that touched her lips for a moment. Her brother, while annoying at times, was her best friend and never failed to spot when she was in a state of discomfort.
"I just wish they would get on with it already." She had muttered, her voice wavering. "All this waiting is getting me riled up." As she said this her hand had reflexively gripped and released the hilt of Thurisaz. Qrow grinned and opened his mouth to reply, only to be cut off by the sound of a shrill whistle.
"First years, please take your positions on your assigned places." A sophisticated feminine voice called out over the crowd. The mass of students moved as one as they rushed to get to their assigned pad. Qrow gave her a wink before melting into the crowd himself. Raven took a deep breath and turned and walked over to her pad.
A few minutes later Raven would be thoroughly convinced that Ozpin was insane. How such a man had become the headmaster of a prestigious academy was beyond her. She had been fine with the whole launching them into the Grimm infested forest to hunt for artifacts idea. They were training to be huntsman after all, if they babied themselves in training they would never be ready for a real fight. What she had not been okay with was the fact the first person that she made eye contact with would be her partner for the next four years. That statement had caused her anxiety to skyrocket, her grip on Thurisaz tightening to the point where it was painful. She and her brother had not planned for such a turn of events.
"Shit." She breathed, casting her gaze down the line of students to her brother. He stood with his arms crossed behind his head and cocky grin in place completely unconcerned. When he noticed her looking he gave her a thumbs up. Raven looked back to her front, at the vast expanse of wilderness in front of her and tried to collect herself as rage and anxiety boiled in her belly. How the hell could he be so nonchalant about this?! It would be fine she reasoned, her semblance should help her to find Qrow rather easily. There was absolutely nothing to worry about, nothing t-
"Hey, are you alright?" came a soft accented voice causing Raven to jump breaking her from her thoughts. Glancing to her left and down she locked eyes with a young woman dressed in a stark white cloak. Silver eyes, that's not something you see every day Raven thought idly, then she realized the girl was patiently waiting for response.
"Oh. Um no- I mean yes. Sorry first day jitters and all." She said coughing awkwardly into her hand. Part of her hoped the girl would sense her discomfort at being approached and would end the contact so she could get back to formulating her plan to meet up with Qrow. Unfortunately this didn't seem like it would be the case. The girl tilted her head, short red hair blowing in the breeze as she gave Raven a measuring look. Suddenly she nodded, seemingly satisfied, and gave Raven a brilliant reassuring smile.
"It's cool, happens to the best of us. On a day like today it's to be expected. I mean I have a case of the jitters myself. It's so exciting though isn't it? Being thrust into the unknown on the first day is a real test of our skills. Are you from Vale perchance?"
Before Raven could answer she felt the pad rumble as the gears began to turn beneath her feet. The woman in white gave her another smile before turning towards the forest. In the next moment Raven felt the wind leave her lungs as she was launched into the brilliant blue sky.
The wind whistled in her ears as she tumbled end over end through the air. Her first thought was to simply transform but she feared that at this velocity the wind resistance alone would shred her wings. So much for plan A. She thought with a grimace. Time for the backup. Raven pressed down a switch on Thurisaz's sheath, the cylinders packed with a variety of different types of dust sprung to life, spinning until they landed on her desired choice. There was a faint whoosh as the blade was infused with dust and the locking mechanism released. She unsheathed the blade with flourish and sliced the blue white steel through the air in front of her, a wave of ice and snow sprang forth from her slash creating an angled wall of ice that stretched to the forest floor. She landed heavily on the ice and slid down her improvised slide mildly hopping that there wouldn't be any rocks below her.
The slide ended 10 feet above the forest floor. When Raven reached it she flipped in the air and landed in a crouch position. She grimaced as the impact sent a shooting pain up her legs, aura couldn't block everything it would seem. She stayed like that for a moment, than the distinct sounds of clapping reached her ears.
"Nice, you really looked like a super hero or something there, stuck the landing and everything. You know that's really hard on your knees though right? Kind of impractical if you ask me."
Raven shot up and turned to face the source of the voice. Thurisaz poised to strike. Before her sat the small white cloaked girl from before. She sat on a stump surrounded by the disintegrating corpses of several Ursi a rifle of some sort cradled on her lap. She smiled another of those brilliant smiles as she locked eyes with Raven.
"Don't get me wrong though, it was a rather impressive landing. By the way, my names Summer Rose. It's nice to meet you, partner."
Raven felt her heart stop. So much for meeting up with Qrow. So much for not worrying about being partnered with a stranger. Could anything else go wrong today? With a resigned sigh she sheathed her sword, trying to meet Summer's smile with a timid one of her own.
"My name is Raven. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Summer. " Summer snickered and hopping off the log made her way up to Raven with a spring in her step. As she walked she pressed a button on her rifle, the rifle proceeded to break apart and reform itself into two large sized pistols which Summer proceeded to holster in the under arm holsters that she wore on each side.
"I can tell you're going to be lots of fun. C'mon partner daylights wasting and we've got ourselves an artifact to collect. I saw some sort of structure just east of here when I was falling that seems like as good as place as any to start."
With that the white cloaked girl began walking through the thick underbrush. Raven cast a forlorn look to the heavens before making her own way after Summer. This is going to be a long 4 years.
Authors note:
So hi. Haha um well I am definitely not dead. Life got kind of crazy there for a bit and then my muse decided to take a hike and got lost for a few months. I apologize first off for disappearing for so long. It was not my intention to leave all my stories hanging. At the moment I'm reviewing them and seeing if I have the desire to return to any of them or if they'll be discontinued. I know, I hate when that happens too, but sometimes you just hit burnout on a story and you just hit a wall.
I had the idea for this story a while back and have seen it done various ways. I really wanted to explore what each character from team STRQ was like and especially focus on what might have made Yang's mom leave her. I kind of shelfed it until after I saw the finale for volume 3(What a rollercoaster that was am I right?) and I suddenly got the urge to sit down and write this. Anyway I hope you enjoyed, leave a favorite/ follow or leave me a review to let me know if you are interested in reading more?
This is also going to be really ooc and au at times. Especially with Raven and Summer concerning what we know about them is pretty minimalistic. On that note I am completely guessing when it comes to Summer's weapon. So I decided to make it the fabled gun gun.
Please leave me any thoughts you might have and thank you so much for taking the time to read my story. Love and Light ^_^ - Crystal
*Thurisaz: I took the name that I gave to Raven's weapon from the rune of the same name. I really like the idea that each characters weapon reflects their personality and the way they fight. Among other things Thurisaz is linked with righteous anger, and protecting what you cherish.
p.s Did you spot the Deadpool reference? I'm a little too proud of it.
