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Blackened Angel

"You're angry."

"I'm not angry."

"Your cadence begged to differ," Salem snarked sharply.

"I'm not mad," Summer grounded out with her arms crossed as she squeezed her eyes shut tight. "I'm just disappointed." And the migraine will hit in 3,2,1-

"I should have said something to you."

Her eyes opened, and Salem was looking at her with a look of sincere guilt that would never look quite right on her.

The Rose blushed, her lips pressing into a thin line. "It would have helped, yes…"

Summer had found out about her daughter's attempted kidnapping from Tyrian. He didn't say much about it directly to her. However, it was hard to ignore him nearly sobbing as he passed in the hall with the end of his tail missing. Then there was the matter of his psychopathic crying laughter that could be heard throughout all the compound.

"I had no intention of allowing actual harm to come to her."

"But you sent Tyrian anyway?"

"I ordered him to bring her back alive."

"Which to Tyrian means, 'As long as you don't technically kill her, you're free to mutilate her to your heart's content.'!"

"…You're not incorrect."

"Salem!"

Deep pools of red turned blue for a split second, "I'm sorry Summer. Truly, I am." Her hands took her mate's and kissed her knuckles. "It only makes things harder on you when I don't communicate properly."

"I forgive you," Summer said with even redder cheeks. Her eyes gained a red vignette for a second. It was a reminder of why she was here to begin with. "Wouldn't it have made more since to send me?"

The Queen of all Grimm narrowed her eyes skeptically, "And what would you have said? I imagine your miraculous return followed by the announcement that you turned traitor instead of dying over a decade ago wouldn't sit well with your loved ones."

The Ex-Huntress had to concede to that point. She looked out the window to where Grimm rose from the pits every couple of seconds. Her heart told her she hadn't betrayed anyone yet, but her head felt differently. Ruby, Yang, Taiyang, Qrow, and Oz had all needed her, and she had left every single one of them for something that she still fought to understand.

The day Summer Rose unlocked her Semblance, Ozpin had revealed to them the true nature of world. His eternal drawn out war with the Goddess of all the creatures of all Grimm was laid bare. In the moment Salem's name was mentioned, something entered her vision. It was a thread. It was thick and red as it pulsated with life. Her sight followed it out the window of Ozpin's office into the horizon.

That was the beginning, but not the end. From then on, when Summer purposely focused her Aura into her eyes, she could see the many strands between people, places, and things. Her Semblance was the ability to see the unity in everything and feel the energy flow between it all. More than anything else, the red thread always stood out. When she tried her hardest to feel where it leads, visions of a dark, lovely creature attacked her. A blackened angel whose eyes told of a million lives lived in dissatisfaction and misery. It pained her the same amount every time she saw it. The Huntress knew right away that it was Salem and bade herself to ignore such a connection.

It was doomed to failure from the start.

Raven's thread with her had been cut the moment she ran out on Yang. It was just this sad, pathetic tassel that fluttered on her person. It was a string that was waiting for something to reconnect it.

Though she did grow to love Qrow, the thread between them just wasn't the same as the one that lead seemingly to the ends of Remnant. It was strong and coarse, forever glowing a lovely shade of pink. But it did not have the same need, the same hunger, the same hurt to it as the red binding. Then, he'd given up on them anyway, cowed by his fated misfortune. He convinced himself Ruby would be hurt over and over if he claimed her as his. And so, she went and played house with Tai. The thread between them was barely there, but she held it dearly all the same just as he did.

Ruby and Yang. Oh, her babies…!

The threads between them and her were an immaculate white. They beat in rhythm with Summer's own heart. Each breath her children took left the older Rose feeling increasingly rejuvenated than the last. She was so happy to see the same type of bond running between them. It should have been enough to make her stay.

It wasn't. Not with the red thread tugging on her mind, heart, and soul. That draw was eventually too much to resist. She had found herself in the place that Salem resided.

"If you truly wish to assist me, Silver Eyes, then I will allow you to be at my side."

"Thank you."

"My goals will not change because of your presence."

"I know."

"Do you? I will ask the worst of you at a moment's notice."

"Do your worst, because I've already done mine."

As soon as the words had left her mouth, Summer understood what she was feeling between them. She had tracked down her soulmate; it was someone who claimed they had no soul. But the red thread had been there, pulsing stronger than ever. All she needed to do was remain patient. Salem eventually yielded to its influence as well. With the Rose next to her she could not help but feel it in spades.

Months of cold indifference were all at once melted with a violent kiss that came out of nowhere. It was beastly, but its sincere passion couldn't be denied.

"This-," Salem had hissed, "-your decision to turn away from Ozpin wasn't a mere whim or result of disillusion, was it?"

"It wasn't. I came to you because I saw no other means of continuing on."

"Then I suppose you belong here more than I expected~."

It was true.

Looking at the field of Grimm with threads waiting to be attached, she felt her conviction was not misplaced. "I don't know what I would have said to Ruby, but I will figure it out one day. I'll have to."

All things had the potential to be connected-were connected because of that very fact. She would await the day that everyone else realized it too. With her daughters still out there pursuing their fates the best way they knew how, it was only a matter of time.

She focused her eyes on Cinder's quarters below. A deep crimson string was protruding from the room it out into the horizon. When she inspected the fibers, they held memories of Cinder speaking to Ruby before the fall of Beacon. Just as they did every other time she observed it.

You asked for her to be brought to you in one piece for a reason.

"I will always love you," Summer smiled up at her mate. "As I will always love my family. If I can love you all, then you can all love each other one day. Even if the rest of world is ash."

Salem shook her head with disbelief, "You want too much from a world with too little to give."

"As you keep telling me."

"By the way, Qrow Branwen may perish before you see him again."

Summer checked the thread that had long since turned white. It was still sturdy and not even wavering.

"Nope! He'll be all right."

"…"

"Stop looking disappointed and give me an apology kiss on the mouth."

"Now that is a far more reasonable request."

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