Author's note: Post Volume 3 Finale. Qrow and Taiyang have an argument, after the former tells both Ruby and Yang more about what went behind the scenes.
RWBY – A Minute and Another
The house was usually loud from the antics of the two lively girls and not from the two adults, who tried to keep their voices down, having been careful, so far, not to have their rows anywhere near within earshot of them. It was always about the same thing, too. But, this time, one of them had to cross a point of no return the other was not prepared for and neither were his daughters, whose lives not only got turned upside down, but twisted in more ways they could make sense of. The backdoor was forcefully shoved open and Qrow came out to lean against the wall, taking a swig from his flask. Taiyang followed him and carefully shut the door behind him, while glaring at the other man, the whole time. He took a step and pointed his index-finger in Qrow's face.
"You had no right to tell her about her mother! And if that wasn't enough, you had to tell them about the Maidens, too!" Taiyang went on and Qrow did not flinch. "Why?" he gestured, bringing up both hands. "You know what all of that will do to them!"
"Can't be any worse than what's already been done to 'em." Qrow angrily replied, taking a step towards him. "And you would've kept 'em in the dark, about all of it, even after all the crap they just gone through." He took one more step. "You think I wanna make their lives more complicated? It was never gonna be simple and we all knew it from the start. You just kept lying to 'em and yourself, if you thought otherwise. But, that ain't even why I told 'em. I care about 'em, just as much. And when I go up there and I see one of 'em lying in bed, with no life in her eyes, while the other one sits on her bed, crying…" He was starting to crush the flask in his hand and Taiyang could even hear it crumpling. "And then she asks me why her friend had to die. 'Why her?' 'What d'they want with her?' That's when I had enough of lying to 'em, for your sake." he sneered the word.
"I didn't…I knew they'd have to hear it one day. But, it could've waited!" Taiyang still believed.
"Weren't you listening?" Qrow shoved him. "Telling 'em later would've only made it worse. They'd be more angry at us both, for keeping even more things from 'em."
"Oh, so you did it for your own sake, too, then?" Taiyang took him to mean and got a fist in the face that made him stagger back.
"You got some nerve. Who d'you think's been out there, doing everything t'keep it all from coming t'us even sooner? Huh? You!?" He took a breath and lowered his voice. "But, I guess, it's kinda hard t'do anything, if a classroom is as far as you go." The truth hurt Taiyang, on the inside, a lot more than the punch did his face. And Qrow knew it. "Maybe you can't handle all of it. Never could. Even back, then. But, they can. And not because they have to." Qrow finished and Taiyang could not look him in the eye.
Qrow took a few slow steps towards the door and pushed it open, immediately catching sight of a pair of naked feet in black pajamas disappearing at the top of the stairs. He sighed and glanced back at Taiyang to see he was still looking at the ground, having missed what he saw. Going up the stairs, he stood in the door to Ruby's room, who tucked herself in on her bed, by then.
"Hey, kiddo." He slowly walked over to her bed. "It's not very nice to eavesdrop, you know." he quietly told her and she looked both embarrassed and upset, having every right to be the latter. "Heh. I know. It's not very nice to lie, either." Qrow could tell she wanted to tell him as much. Both him and her father. "I know you two're angry, right now. Atch' yer dad. At me. And I'm angry, too. At him and myself. Heck, you heard." He shrugged at her. She overheard all she had to. Thankfully she did not see any of it. "Your dad was just tryin'teh keep you both safe. For as long as he could. And I was doing my part. Before either of you even went to Signal or Beacon." He sighed. "And honestly, I don't think telling you about all of that stuff, would've made much of a difference. I know you don't believe that. And you think you could've done something. But, even we didn't how long we had or how they'd get to us. We only knew why…and your friend, Pyrrha…she came on board, because she wanted to protect the world. Protect all of you. She didn't even hesitate for a second. But, we still ran out of time. They made their move and even after all we tried, all the intel I got, all the leads Oz had me chase down, we still weren't ready. So…all this time, your dad thought you weren't, either." He stood to face her. "But, you wouldn't be all cozy in bed, if you hadn't been. You'd be swinging your knuckles and feet at me." He smirked and Ruby made a grumpy face at him, looking away, not feeling up to his uncle's usually cool attitude and Qrow could see it. "Alright, look…" he started, again. "Whatever you and sister wanna say to us, we both had it coming. Just don't keep it all inside, like we did." He turned to leave and stopped in the door. "And, hey, if you and the Firecracker wanna beat us up, the first punch is free, but you're gonna have to work for the rest." he joked and left, not seeing the small smile Ruby let slip.