Summer woke up once more in a much bigger tent than the one she had woken up in earlier. She now had a raging headache to add to her list of recent list of injuries. She sat up in her cot and cradled her head for a moment as she tried to put together what she was going to do next.
She was stuck here, that much she could tell. Raven wasn't about to let her leave and it was apparent in her weird misguided way. She didn't know how this was protecting her, but one way or another Summer was going to find out.
One thing Summer neglected to notice after waking up, was the girl sitting on a stool next to the tent flap. She had a rather uninterested look on her face as she crossed her arms, tapping her finger lightly against it to keep herself from doing something that Raven wouldn't approve of.
Summer finally lifted her head from her hands and saw the girl out of the corner of her eye. "I'm assuming Raven is having you keep an eye on me while she's off doing her own thing."
Vernal's face flickered for a moment, Summer caught the slightest glint of amusement spark across her face before vanishing. She nodded firmly.
Summer looked around the tent, not seeing the one object she'd been looking for. "Raven better not have taken or lost my cloak, or we will have issues."
She stood up and felt like she moved too quickly judging from the tunnel vision she currently had, she stumbled a bit before catching herself on a table. Vernal stayed where she was, choosing only to intervene if the woman wasn't going to get back up. "Thanks for the help here kid."
"You're fine." It was short and to the point. No justification.
Summer raised a brow at the cold attitude towards her and muttered under her breath, "This is definitely Raven's camp. You're all prickly and rude. Like a cactus."
Vernal bristled a little at the insinuation and turned to glare at Summer, but she bit her tongue. Summer chose to not pay any attention to the glare she was receiving and looked around the tent.
"Where exactly am I?" She asked as she wandered about the tent and looked around and touching some of the random objects she saw in the large tent. Receiving nothing but silence in response, Summer shrugged and placed a tea cup down on a table, turning to Vernal.
"Raven's off doing her own thing isn't she?" Summer said, amused that she was being ignored by the young teenager.
Still no response.
"You're a rather broody teenager. Is there any relation to Raven? If so, the resemblance is remarkable." She noted idly as she kept an eye out for any sort of reaction from Vernal.
As she looked at a map marked with what she assumed were potential places for camp and raids. "This is a decent setup but you guys could do with a more competent leadership system. Mediocrity will only hold your camp back."
That had Vernal clenching her jaw and balling her hands up into fists, but she didn't say a word.
"It's funny you know. I didn't take Raven for someone that enjoyed living out in the woods like a common hick."
Seeing as she wasn't getting the reaction she wanted, she decided it was time to roll out the big guns.
"I bet your mother didn't make you cookies when you were little."
Vernal's anger morphed into confusion and she tilted her head back slightly like she was trying to figure out how she was supposed to react to what was just said.
"What the hell are you even?" Vernal demanded as she stared at the bizarre woman who had started out throwing insults and ended up making weird comments about cookies and her mother. "Why are you even here?!"
Vernal it seemed had finally had enough of Summer for one day.
Summer let out a bitter chuckle. "That's the question everyone wants to Raven to answer isn't it? But I doubt that she'll grace us mere mortals with her divine wisdom."
Vernal shot Summer a glare before exiting the tent and standing outside the entrance.
Raven Branwen was not having an enjoyable day. That much was evident to the other bandits that came along on the raid with her. Many of them were regretting coming along on something that they usually found quite enjoyable, simply because the moody aura of Raven. She walked ahead of the group as they were making their way back to camp. Raven walked into the camp. She headed to see how their guest was doing when she heard Vernal shouting. She narrowed her eyes as she walked in to see Vernal about to lunge at a wounded Summer who was leaning on the table.
"Vernal! What do you think you're doing?" Raven asked annoyance clear in her voice making Vernal freeze and Summer narrow her eyes at her old partner.
"And you! Quit causing trouble and provoking my people! You're bound to get yourself hurt with how you piss off everyone around here!" She snapped, not even looking at Summer. Summer opened her mouth to say something, but Raven didn't even want to hear it.
"Just stop being self-involved before you get yourself into something I can't protect you from. You can keep pushing your luck, but there's only so much my men are willing to take before they choose to ignore my orders." She said harshly before walking out of the tent and going to check on their haul in from the most recent raid. She needed to catch whoever was skimming off the top and appropriately punish them for it.
So Raven lied and to herself too. She decided to go to Summer's funeral. She hid until even Qrow, Taiyang, and the girls were leaving before she flew down in front of the grave and transformed back into her normal self.
She stared down at the gravestone, silently thinking on what could've been, knowing that Summer could actually be dead and that she had barely saved her.
"Tell me, are you here because you actually cared, or because you feel obligated to?" Qrow asked as he stood at a distance, his arms crossed, his flask held lightly in his hand.
Raven remained silent, her mask hiding a blank face, turning towards her brother. "You know this is only the beginning, right? So you better help Taiyang teach those girls the meaning of loss."
"You know as well as I do what's coming. And yet you choose to try to turn the death of our teammate into a lesson for Ruby and Yang. You'd rather play bandit back home than be a mother." His eyes narrowed momentarily as he tucked the flask away and then rested his hand on the hilt of Harbringer.
"I'd rather protect my people than help you and Ozpin try to prevent the inevitable." She snapped as she turned back around to stare at the gravestone before her.
"Why you even went back there confuses me! The only good thing we learned there was how to survive!"
"At least I know when to give up on a girl." She said the smirk on her face evident in her voice. Qrow froze for a moment, before he drew Harbringer and charged at Raven.
Within a moment, Raven was flying off into the forested area and Qrow was left hunched over on the ground, grieving over his supposedly dead teammate.
Raven left to go get her angst fill for the day and fought dirty with her brother. God I loved that last scene. Apologies for the short chapter we've been struggling and I struggled immensely in this one.
