Qrow caught up to her two days after she left, in the forest close to the far east coast of Sanus. It's dusk, and she already had a fire going, sending enough smoke in the sky that he must have seen it and decided it was worth investigation. He transforms in mid air, landing on the other side of the fire, across from where she is sharpening one of her blades. The flames illuminated his grief-stricken face and she spotted bags under his eyes. He must not have slept the entire time she had been gone.

"Brother." She greeted, concentrating on the blade in front of her.

"You have to come back, Raven." He pleaded, voice rough with dehydration, "Please come back."

"I can not" She said.

"Yes you can, just stop whatever you're doing and come back with me."

"No." She repeated, forcefully this time.

"I don't understand. Why are you leaving? I thought everything was okay? You were getting better, bonding with Yang, fighting less with Tai, what happened?" Qrow was beside himself, unable to wrap his head around the actions of the one person in his life he knew everything about.

"I was summoned." Raven replied, unable to look her twin in the eye.

"No-" Qrow shook his head.

"Onyx has perished, and I have been selected as a candidate for leadership." She explained.

"No you can't, you can't go back to them."

"I am honoured by their decision, and I will to prove myself worthy of the title." She turned around, trying to end the conversation.

"No. I won't let you." Qrow said, taking Claw out from its place on his back and extending it into its scythe form.

"And when have I ever need your approval, brother?" She sneered at him.

"When whatever it is you're doing is forcing you to run out on your family. On your daughter." He accused.

"And you think that keeping me here will make everything better? If I don't go, they'll come for me. How will that be any better for Yang?" She shot back at him, turning around and grasping her hand around Talon's hilt.

Qrow paused, she was right. She was once again about to turn around and leave, when he spoke up once more, "Raven Branwen, I challenge you."

She closed her eyes in resignation. The fool.

Qrow continued, "I challenge you for the title of candidate, so that I may become Tribe Leader in your place." He spoke clearly, without hesitating.

"I accept."

There was a second of complete stillness before she attacked, leaping over the fire with a bright blue Dust blade in her hand. Qrow blocked her strike with the haft of his scythe before spinning it around in his hands so that the blade was behind her and he could pull it toward him. She ducked just in time to the the blade go over her head, and watched him flip backwards to compensate for the momentum. He then activated the transformation mechanism of his weapon, shifting it back to its broadsword form.

An ultimately bad idea on his part.

They leapt together in a clash of steel and Dust, matching each other blow for blow. In a regular fight, this could go on for quite a while, but Raven had the upper hand. She was well-rested, and had eaten, while Qrow had been running himself ragged to just keep up with her. Soon, he would have to choose between surrender or collapse.

She continued to attack and he stayed on the defensive, until she decided that she needed to give him the upper hand if she wanted to win this. She held back the force of her next blow, so that when Qrow defended against it with greater strength she was forced to take a step back. During the pause, a drew back a second time to attack her, using only one hand to hold his weapon instead of two. Seeing her change, she swung her blade perpendicular to his, catching it against the side instead of the edge. Qrow was caught off guard, loosened his grip, and Claw went flying out of his hands.

Before he could react, she kicked out his knee, forcing him to fall down to the ground on his hands as she pointed Talon at his throat.

"Submit."

Qrow lifted his head, glaring at her with determination in his eyes, "No, Raven. You're coming home." In a last ditch attempt, he transformed, flying into the air faster than she could react. She looked up in the sky for him, confused as to where he went until she felt Qrow's arms wrapping around her throat and squeezing.

"Drop it."

"Qrow." She strangled out.

"Drop it." He repeated. She dropped her weapon, bringing her hands up to grasp at the arm around her neck.

"What do you think you're doing." She asked, still gasping for breath.

"I'm saving our family."

"They won't accept you Qrow, they'll come for me anyways."

"No they won't."

"They'll kill you."

"I don't care." He gripped tighter.

"They'll kill you. Then they'll come for me anyways, and Yang will be out both her mother and her uncle." She knows what to say, and it's enough to make his grip loosen by just a fraction. It's enough for him to drop his guard. It's enough for her to send an elbow straight into his gut.

The surprise got her out of his arms so that she could face him, fists raised. He paused for a second, then sent a fist straight toward her face. He had always been so predictable. In the split moment that his fist was flying towards her, she reached out and grasped her hands around his wrist, turning around and kneeling so that her shoulder was beneath his arm.

There are two sounds that she had always hated: the sound of bones breaking, and her brother calling out in pain.

He collapsed to the ground in shock, unable to stop himself from falling down face first as his left arm went to cradle his right. Tears immediately sprang to his face from the pain, and he began to breathe heavily. Above him, Raven watched for a second before she knelt down and reached into his pocket to pull out his scroll, activating the distress signal. She then replaced it, and went around to clean up the campsite. She doused the fire, picked Talon up and attached it to the belt around her waist, then knelt beside her brother, still gasping in pain.

"Raven." He pleaded, struggling through the tears and pain.

"Shhh, brother," She comforted, reaching out to stroke her hand through his soft black hair, "I'll stay with you until they come. You will be safe."

"Not from you." He said, gasping between words.

"No, not today. But tomorrow, and the day after that. You'll see. Everything will be fine."

"Don't… believe you. I… need you." He confessed.

"No you don't. You'll be fine without me. Now rest, they will be while."

She stayed next to her brother for the next couple hours. At some points he was barely conscious, at others he was cursing her through his breath. She never replied, just knelt there, running her hands through his hair, until she could see the lights of the hoverships shining through the night sky. Finally, she bid him goodbye, planted a kiss on his forehead, stood up, transformed, and flew away.

But she stayed nearby, she watched as Summer and Taiyang come to their fallen teammate. She watched as Summer takes off her cloak and wrapped it around Qrow's shivering body. She watched as Taiyang continuously asked where she had gone, and Qrow pointed into the direction she flew off to. She watched as her partner hung his head in defeat and agony. She watched as Summer placed a comforting hand on his back.

They brought him onto the hovership. It flew off back towards Vale, and she left in the opposite direction, with the knowledge that Qrow would, eventually, be okay.

After all, he had found his family.

Yes, Raven broke Qrow's arm. You didn't misread that.

This chapter will probably be part of a mini-series within all these one-shots, dictating the schism of Team STRQ. It's been blatantly stated to us within the show that it was because of Raven that STRQ broke apart. From what we've seen of Raven, it's really not difficult to imagine.

Of course, throughout this anthology, I will be attempting to consolidate our canon version of Raven with my own headcanon version of her. So, another couple headcanons of mine:

(1) Raven did not keep her pregnancy a secret from the rest of the team.

(2) Raven had post-partum depression

(3) Unlike Qrow, Raven still somehow kept in contact with the tribe while they were at Beacon. She still felt as though she was a part of the tribe. Her ties between her and the tribe were starting to weaken over the years, but they never broke

(5) The leader of the tribe before Raven was named Onyx

(6) When a new leader of the tribe is picked, several candidates are chosen, and they have to fight to the death to become leader. You can not decline becoming a candidate.