Hello to my few readers! Another chapter.
I want everyone reading this to know I'm writing this for me. I'm extremely grateful to everyone who enjoys reading what I write, but ultimately, I am writing how I want to write. I hope to learn a lot from this fic, and I hope I can complete it as well.
I plan for the first few chapters to be about Sage growing up. Like the second chapter, there will be a lot of topic jumping, and a lot of small timeskips.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything of RWBY.
Enjoyyy~
Chapter 3: Growing Up Again.
Sage slowly roused from his sleep to an incessant beeping noise beside his bed. His arm was aching and he felt small stabs of pain all over his body. He was stuck wondering what happened before he remembered the woods.
'The Creep! The Girls! I have to keep moving!' Sage shot up from his laying position, heart racing, before he blanked once more. In front of him what the white interior of the hospital room he was very familiar with. He was born here after all. Still a bit confused, he gazed around before his eyes fell beside him, where his 'My was asleep in a chair beside his bed, head resting on her folded arms leaning down onto the bed he was in.
'What happened? I was running from the Creep, and then...?' he thought to himself, brows furrowing. He tried to remember what happened but all he knew was that just as he was about to collapse, he gained a burst of energy that let him pull away from the Grimm chasing him and a burst of pain and then, nothing. Thinking back on it, that burst of energy wasn't something that could be explained away by 'adrenaline,' It felt like was a whole new person when that strange energy filled him. Trying to recall the feeling, he closed his eyes and thought back. He recalled his thoughts at the time. His desire to protect Ruby and Yang, his acceptance at the thought of death, and most prominently his need to go,
'Faster.'
Although he didn't see it as his eyes were closed, the same blue-violet glow from the night before covered his form. Sage didn't know it yet, but this was the sign of his semblance being activated. So focused was he, that he didn't notice the door to the room opening. Lola, his ' Ma, walked in carrying a small brown bag and a cup of coffee. Upon seeing him, or more specifically the glow surrounding him, her eyes widened with shock and she dropped what was in her hands. The coffee cup shattered against the floor, startling Sage into opening his eyes, the glow dissipating around him. Upon seeing his Faunus mother and the shattered cup on the floor, his eyes grew concerned.
"'Ma? Whas wrong? What happened?" He asked, worried. Hearing her son speak up and seeing him act like nothing was wrong, even taking time to be concerned about her, a weight eased off her heart and she smiled for the first time since seeing him in Cordelia's arms the night before. Walking up to him she pulled him into her embrace, hugging him for all he was worth. A few tears of relief fell from her eyes as she held him.
Sage, knowing he had almost died, also felt very emotional. He had excepted that he would never see his moms again, and yet here he was, hugging one with the other sleeping but a foot away. His arms wrapped around his 'Ma and he squeezed as tight as he could, ignoring the pain in his arm. He too shed some tears of joy muttering onto his mother's shirt. Slowly, he started to cry and soon he was choking back sobs as he talked to her.
"I was s-so sca-a-ared I wasn't gonna be able to see you and mommy again!" Hearing his words, Lola only pulled him tighter, softly shushing him as she rocked him back and forth. They stayed like that for a couple minutes, just enjoying each other's presence. After a while, Lola pulled away and slowly began cleaning up the spilled coffee. After she was done, she typed a quick message into her scroll, then sat on the edge of the bed and started talking to him.
"Sage, little love, can you tell me what happened last night?" Speaking softly, she held his shoulders and looked him in the eyes, letting him know she was there for him if he needed her.
Sage nodded huddled close to her, telling her of how Yang, Ruby and him were playing. How they ran far up the path and played until it got dark. When it got to the part where the growl sounded out, she pulled him into her lap, expression darkening. He went on to explain how when he was running he noticed that he and girls might not make it, so he turned around and ran the other way to give them a chance. She tensed a bit as he described the feeling of the Grimm's breath on his neck, and relaxed again when described the mysterious second wind. As he was describing his thoughts in the final part of the chase, she smiled to herself when he mentioned his need to go as fast as possible, an idea of what happened forming in her mind. When he finished with waking up in the bed, she spoke.
"Little love, that was a very brave thing you did for Ruby and Yang, I'm proud of you." He blushed at her praise. "And I think I know what gave you that burst of energy near the end of the chase Sage." Here she paused and when he turned he saw a blinding smile on his 'Ma's face.
"I think, when you felt the need to go as fast as possible, you discovered your semblance!" She waited for his response only to see him blankly staring at her. Soon, a smile slowly grew on his face before he threw his arms in the air and shouted out a loud "Yes!" He spent a few seconds to revel in the fact that he now knew his semblance before a groan caught his attention.
On the edge of the bed, Cordelia raised her head yawning before opening her eyes. After she took a second to shake the drowsiness from her mind, her eyes fell on the sight of her wife holding her son, both smiling wide as they looked at her. She focused on Sage and upon seeing him alright and happy, she joined them smiling before quickly crawling into the bed to hug him and Lola. Now it was her turn to shed some tears as she basked in the knowledge that her little love was alright. Hugging her family tight for a few minutes, she eventually asked what happened last night as well, and this time Lola explained. Cordelia had similar reactions to Lola's when she heard the story, and when she found out Sage had unlocked his semblance because of his desire to save the girls, she beamed with pride.
"Ohhh, my little love, I'm so proud of you!" Here, she grabbed his ear and ignored his 'ow' as she spoke with a stern tone. "But don't think I'm letting you off for putting yourself in such a dangerous situation! When I found you laying in a heap I thought you – I thought you died." At the end of her sentence, tears filled her eyes and she choked back a sob. Sage and Lola both grabbed her in a hug and held her until she calmed down.
"I thought I lost you, Sage. I'm so happy you're safe." with reddened eyes she spoke to him. He nodded silently and they sat holding each other for a few minutes more.
*Ding*
Lola's scroll let out a sound, breaking the surreal atmosphere that had built up. Lola opened the message and gave it a quick glance before putting it away. Standing up, she spoke while moving towards the door.
"That was Summer, she and her family are here to see Sage now that he's woken up." Here, she paused, looking back at Cordelia. "That's ok, right? Or did you want more alone time with little love?"
Cordelia waved at her to go receive her friends' family while she sat in the chair beside the bed. A few minutes went by with Sage and his 'My just enjoying each other's company. All of a sudden, the door burst open and two small blurs ran over to glomp Sage. It was Yang and Ruby, and they were both crying their hearts out.
"Sage, I'm sowwy!" Ruby cried, hands clutching his shirt. "I diddn' know you wasn't behind us! I'm Sowwy!" Here, she buried her head into his chest and started bawling.
Yang wasn't much better, clinging tightly to Sage, shaking. Every so often a little hiccup or sob would escape her lips. Sage's heart felt like it was being strangled as he watched these two adorable girls cry for him; for him! He reached around and hugged them tight, whispering to them that it was alright, that he was fine. It took a while, but eventually they both calmed down and pulled away from him, though they refused to let go of his hands, and so he let them sit beside him on the bed. Looking up, he noticed Summer talking quietly to his 'Ma in the corner, probably to find out the story he told earlier. Taiyang wasn't here, if Sage remembered right he was a teacher so maybe that's where he was.
Quietly talking to Yang about what happened after he passed out, he learned from her that when his 'My came back with him in her arms, they all rushed to the hospital. He was admitted to the emergency wing and the Rose-Xiao-Long family had checked into a nearby hotel for the night. Taiyang had to go to Signal for a job interview like he thought, and that left Summer to take care of the girls. Earlier, when Lola typed on her scroll, it was to tell Summer that Sage had woken up. Apparently both Ruby and Yang were incredibly worried about him, and though Summer was also worried, that feeling was dampened by the fact that her girls were alright. Her dad sends his well wishes, as well.
"I'm sorry Sage! I didn't know we left you behind!" Yang said, looking down.
Sage put his free hand on her chin and lifted her head to make sure she was looking in his eyes.
"It's ok, Yang. I'm ok, okay?" Sage gave her the biggest smile he could, hoping to get her happy again.
Yang, seeing his smile, returned it. Looking to his left, Sage saw that Ruby still looked a little sad so he tried thinking of something to cheer her up. Suddenly, he remembered his book, still in his pocket. Fishing it out, he showed it the girls before opening it to the first page. Soon, both Yang and Ruby had happy smiles on their faces as they listened to him tell the story. Unknown to all of them, their moms were watching them with fondness, glancing at each other with wry smiles. As he was just about done with the book, he felt two weights settle on his shoulders. Looking to either side of him revealed the girls, asleep, heads resting with him as the pillow. Sage yawned and felt his eyes droop as well so he set the book down, wrapped an arm around each girl, and lay back. All without noticing the giggling of the three ladies sitting a few feet away.
He really needs to remember that he was a soldier for twelve years. Not noticing giggling just feet away is pretty bad, even if he was exhausted from the first intentional use of aura earlier.
"Saaage~! Giiirrlls~! Wake uuuppp~!" A singsong voice roused him from his slumber, and beside him he felt some shifting as well. A voice from beside him spoke up.
"Haah... Whattya want, momma?" It was Ruby, rubbing at her silver eyes. It reminded him of his own eyes marking him as a "Silver-eyed Warrior," the gift the angel Camilla had gifted to him upon entering this world. He was surprised no one mentioned them at all, but he guessed what the color meant wasn't known to many people.
"It's time to go, Little Rose. We have to go see out new home, and tomorrow we have to bring Yang to her first day of pre-school." Summer spoke kindly, smiling at the cuteness Ruby displayed as she tiredly lifted her arms, asking to be carried. Summer grabbed her and Yang muttered a goodbye to Sage before climbing down the bed, catching her mother's outstretched hand. Summer looked at Sage, who was glancing around the room for his mothers. Summer caught his attention.
"Sage, dear, Cordelia is checking you out of the hospital and Lola is bringing the car to the front. She asked me to bring you to her, is that ok?"
"Yes Mrs. Rose!" Sage called before climbing down. It seems someone changed his clothes from the hospital gown to some of his clothes from home in the time that he was asleep. He followed Summer to his 'My and was soon on his way home, he and the girls waving bye to each other through the window until they couldn't see each other anymore. Once he was home his 'Ma brought him and Cordelia into the kitchen for a Sapphire family meeting.
"I'll cut right to the chase. Cordelia, I want to start training Sage with aura. Now that he's can activate his semblance at will, I think it would be a good idea if he could properly control it."
Cordelia sat in thought while Sage's eyes widened in surprise.
"You mean you'll finally train me!?" He shouted in excitement. His 'Ma was quick to put him down, though.
"Only if Dee agrees, Sage!" She barked in a stern tone. "And only so you can do something other than run, if something ever happens like at the camp grounds."
At her admonishment, he quiets down and sits looking down at the table. Cordelia thinks for a bit longer before looking up.
"Alright."
It's been almost four months since that day when Sage first unlocked his semblance and, in that time, quite a few things have happened. First of all, his control over his aura has reached the basic level of a student just entering into Signal, a pretty good level for a child two and half years old. With the control over his aura, he's been able to find out all the details of his semblance as well.
Sage called his semblance by "Momentum" as that's what it focuses on. When he moves, he stores up "momentum;" An energy that when used in conjunction with aura enhancement, boosts his speed. As for how fast he gets, it depends on how long he's been moving. A simple way to think about it is the longer he's moving the faster he's moving. He hasn't found an upper limit on the speed, but he also hasn't gone very fast in the first place. Both for a lack of space to run, and a lack of control: if he goes too fast, he wouldn't be able to turn. Another facet of his semblance is that when he's holding something, if he has momentum built up and he's not using it in movement, he can transfer the energy to the object.
When he found that out, he ran without his semblance active until he could feel his "momentum" energy pool being maxed out, then transferred it to a stone he was carrying. He stone shot out almost as fast as a baseball would just after being hit, before hitting a boulder and shattering. Both of his moms had forbidden him from doing that unless they told him otherwise. He had also found out that as he grows, so too will his aura, and with that increase his semblance might grow further too!
Sure, it probably wouldn't get any new abilities, but he'd be able to run even faster! And anything he transferred energy to at full tank might even reach as fast as a bullet! Of course, this means his semblance influences kinetic energy, which is cool, but he's still calling it Momentum.
As for his aura itself, it had grown substantially, now able to protect him from most injuries a child would get when out and about. He had also discovered that while his 'Ma was a great huntress, his 'My was even more amazing! She was apparently super strong, and though she wasn't a huntress, she was ateacher at Signal. How he had managed to go over two years of his life without learning that, he did not know.
As for the other two involved at the Grimm chase four months ago, Ruby and Yang, they had once seen me training and now love to watch. Sage and the two had become close friends shortly after the incident, and now get together nearly every day. Apparently, their parents had moved pretty close to where he lived, and now they get to play whenever they pleased.
Life was turning out to be pretty great.
Sage was currently having his third birthday. He was born in august, so he just a couple months older than Ruby. There were only a few people at his party, in fact it was only his parents and the Rose-Xiao-Long family. Almost everyone got him books, except for his 'Ma who had gotten him a blue cloak much too big for him. It was apparently made with some special wire than made it super resistant to aura-based attacks. Turns out Summer recommended it to Lola, and she was also eyeing a red one for Ruby. It was a simple affair and we had a lot of fun.
There was an embarrassing part at the end of the party where Yang and Ruby gave me a kiss on either cheek and he blushed like a tomato. The adults gave each other sly looks and laughed.
It was a beautiful sunny day in early January. Yang's school had a day off today and she, Ruby and Sage took advantage of the weather to go to a local pond where a bunch of kids were with their parents swimming, Summer and Lola following from behind. They ran off as soon as they got the go-ahead from the adults, and were soon splashing each other, laughing the day away.
A few hours after they arrived, they were building a sand castle, big enough to hide in. Ruby was currently packing sand on the inside while Sage and Yang were taking turns carrying wet sand from further down the shore. It turns out they were quite the sand architects, making a four-foot tall sand castle with a door. They beamed in pride at their accomplishment, but then a nasally voice came from behind them.
"Nice sand castle, losers, it'll be a nice place to rest in the shade as soon as you get lost." Sage could practically hear the sneer on the kids face. Turning to face the voices owner, he had to pause and look up a bit.
The kid in front of him was about six or seven, a good bit taller than Sage or Ruby, though Yang was near his height. He had dark short hair and like Sage thought, a sneer on his lips. He looked decently muscled for a child, enough to pummel the average six-year-old into the ground, for sure. Before Sage could respond, Yang stepped forward.
"If anyone's a loser here it's you, Isaiah." She spat out his name with venom. It seems she's dealt with him before. A school bully, mayhaps? Isaiah spoke.
"Hah, the only reason I haven't beaten the snot out of you yet is cause' the teachers always stop me! Now that we're outside, I can beat on you as much as I want. Get ready for a world of pain Yang!" He spit her name out with the same venom in his voice, raising his clenched fist as he did so. Just as he was about to swing, however,
*Thump*
He found a fist buried in his stomach, courtesy of one Yang Xiao-Long. She had moved fast and hit hard, especially for a five-year-old. Isaiah gasped and collapsed to the sand clutching his stomach as he started coughing. Yang stood and looked at him before dismissing him as unimportant and turning away. Yang walked away, back to her mother, while Ruby and Sage followed. As they walked by it, Sage kicked at the walls of the sand castle they had built, making sure the bully couldn't use it after they left. When they made it back to their guardians for the trip the trio told what happened. Summer admonished Yang while Sage's mom gave her a thumbs up from behind her. Seeing Yang's smile, Summer turned around to give a playful glare to Lola, who was now whistling innocently. Soon, she cracked a smile then started laughing. Shortly after everyone else joined in as well.
Yang had just turned nine, and she was on a mission.
After her birthday party was over, her mother had taken her aside for a talk, along with Ruby and Taiyang. The talk was about the fact that Summer was not Yang's biological mother. She had been shown pictures of the woman who gave birth to and had been told her name, Raven Branwen.
Yang was devastated, as she thought that them telling her this meant they wanted to "give her back" to Raven. It took almost an hour of comforting her before they managed to get that silly idea out of her head. Ruby was a big help with that as all she had to say about it was:
"Yang is still my big sis'! No matter what!"
After Yang had calmed down however, she decided she wanted to meet her birth mother. Summer and Taiyang had expressly denied her from that request, and when asked why, they avoided the topic. Yang wouldn't give up and hounded them for days before they snapped and sent her to her room, grounded. Even that wouldn't get Yang to give up her new mission and so one day while her father was at work, and her mother was busy taking a shower, she snuck into her parents' room to look for clues about her mother. She found some nearly half an hour later (Her mother took LONG showers) in a dusty box near the back of the closet. In it, pictures of Taiyang and who she recognized as Raven, as well as letters and a journal. Taking a peek at one of the letters, she got halfway through before her face took on a look of disgust. She shoved the letter back in the box before taking the journal out. Knowing her mother was nearly done with her shower, she stuffed the box back in the closet and ran back to her room with the journal.
Over the next few days, she scoured the journal looking for any information about where she might find her biological mother. After getting through dozens of pages filled with disgusting poetry written by her dad, she finally found an address. She was ecstatic, and on the next playdate with Ruby and Sage, she described the plan she had come up with. They would take an old wagon from her basement, fill it with canned food and some blankets, and trek to the next town over, miles away from where they were now.
Ruby of course, agreed instantly, nodding her head with her red hair flipping behind her. Besides the adventure they had when they first met Sage, every other one has been nothing but fun. Sage, after thinking in silence for a few minutes, agreed. He had been training with his mother for almost five years, and his combat potential was about the same as a freshman at Signal according to his 'My, more than enough to deal with the generally weak Grimm around Patch.
They decided to implement the basic plan they had come up with a week later. They left notes on their beds in the middle of the night, when they all met up and set off, an action Sage knew he would catch hell for. He thought it was worth it.
When Cordelia first knocked on her little loves door, concerned about his absence during breakfast, she expected him to answer. After that wasn't the case, she thought he my sill be sleeping and so opened the door quietly. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw the empty bed with the note on top. She ran to open it and upon reading it, she sagged down onto the floor, breathing a sigh of relief that her son hadn't run away. She was still worried, and when she found him she was going to give him hell, but at least he wasn't running away.
She decided to give a call to Summer, wondering if she had noticed her daughter's absence yet.
Back with the trio, they had travelled far in a night. Sage had the two girls sit in the wagon as he utilized his semblance to move it along. Because of this, he was able to tirelessly move the wagon without stop for miles before having to rest. They walked for the rest of the day, encountering two Grimm along the way, which Sage was able to take care of with some difficulty. They stopped when it got dark and huddled together under the blankets. Sage stayed up through the night, making sure no Grimm got the drop on them.
The next morning, they continued on their way, luckily no Grimm showed up throughout the day.
It continued like so for a few days, and their food was running low. They were all dirty and tired, ready to finish this trip, but they all held firm on their journey. Yang needed this, and no amount of hunger or uncomfortableness would make her sister or her best friend abandon her.
Finally, on the fourth day, they had made it to the edge of the forest with the town in the distance. They all cheered, and were about to run forward, when a loud roar sounded out from behind them.
An Ursa was in the tree line, lumbering towards the trio. They stared in horror at the massive beast. It towered over them, almost taller than the trees. They turned and ran, leaving the wagon, screaming for help as they ran to the town. Behind them, the Ursa stood on its hind legs and lumbered after them. It was much faster than them, owing to its size, and with a few steps caught up to them. It raised it paw to strike and then-
*Shink*
The sound of metal slicing through bone sounded out. The Ursa stopped moving for a second, before falling forwards, already falling to dust and fading. The trio paused, surprised, as a man appeared before them. He had black hair and a messy appearance, looking lazy and unkempt. On his back was a large sword. The man was gazing at them, sipping from a bottle of what Sage knew to be alcohol.
The man was Qrow Branwen. He was the main reason why Sage agreed to come on this journey in the first place.
Sage remembered from his previous life that in the world of RWBY, Yang had gone on this expedition much earlier on in life, after Summer had left. Since Summer didn't leave in this world, Yang found out much later about her birth mother. Sage would have come with Yang even if Qrow wasn't gonna show, but he had to admit to himself that the possibility of the man's appearance helped him make a decision much faster.
"What are three little brats like you doing being chased by Grimm?" Qrow spoke with a slight slur to his voice. He gazed at Ruby and Yang briefly, before focusing on Sage.
'Something seems off about this kid... he has his aura unlocked? He can't be older than eight and his aura is already as big as someone in their late teens. He's gonna be an aura monster when he grows.' Suddenly, he noticed a feature he looked over on two of the three. Silver eyes. His gaze sharpened just a bit as he spoke up again.
"Well? What were you brats doing here? Are you orphans? Or runaway's?" The silence stretched for a bit longer.
Sage was the first to respond, deciding that Qrow would figure it out sooner or later.
"Ummm, thanks for saving us, mister. We snuck away from home to find Yang's real momma. Her dad's diary said she lived here. Do you know her?" Here, he ran back to the wagon and pulled out the journal Yang had brought along. Flipping to the page with Raven's address, where Yang had stuck a picture of Raven, he showed it to Qrow.
Qrow had recognized the journal as soon as he saw it in the kids' hands
'Taiyang always used to write in that thing during missions. So the blondie is Raven's?'
When he saw the picture, he knew he was right. Last he heard, Taiyang and Summer had gotten together and had a kid, who he assumed was the Summer clone staring at Harbinger. Sighing, he handed the journal back to Sage and spoke.
"I know who the girl is, and I know where she lives too." Yang grew bright eyed ash she shouted,
"Really!? You really know her!?"
Qrow smirked.
"Of course I know, after all, she is my sister."
Raven sat staring at the three kids her brother had brought to her house, cursing out at him in her mind.
The little blondie, her child, was glaring at her with determination in her eyes. She had just asked why Raven had abandoned her, and Raven was trying to find a way to explain without sounding like a bitch. Her reasons, she knew, were not very good ones. Eventually, after minutes of silence, she spoke.
"Yang, I, the reason I left you and your father... well, I'm not exactly," Here she paused, trying to find a way to put it. "Right in the head. I'm a bit insane." Raven looked tosee if Yang understood. Seeing the startled look on Yang's face, she nodded.
"Exactly what you're thinking. Because I'm insane, I didn't want you to grow up around me. I don't know how to handle being nice and I didn't want to destroy a little girl like that." She paused again.
"Yang, when I gave birth to you, I thought I would be happy. That I would love you. But when I first saw you, held you, I couldn't feel anything. It was like you were just some stranger's child that had been handed to me. I knew at that point I couldn't be your mother, so I left."
Hearing Raven say that, Yang's face cramped up, and her eyes grew wet, but that was more shock than anything else. After all, she hasn't known about this woman at all for more than a week or so, and she knew her momma – Summer that is – still loved her just the same. Feeling Ruby and Sage hug her from each side, any sadness within her vanished.
'That's right! I never would have gotten little sis' or Sage if she stayed!' Here, she smiled and hugged the two back to let them know she was alright.
Seeing Yang smile, Raven knew everything was settled and so she spoke.
"Is that all you came here for? To ask why I left, or is there something else you want?"
The faces of the three kids slowly redden as they realized they had no plan now that they had gotten the answer they were looking for. Looking to Qrow, who was sitting off to the side drinking, Yang spoke hesitantly.
"Uhh, Uncle... Crow? C-can we use your phone? Hehehe..." Rubbing the back of her head, she laughed sheepishly.
"You are in SO much trouble young lady, and you too Ruby! Running off like you did and only leaving a note!? When you were grounded no less? Ohhh when I get my hands on you..." Summer was currently shouting on the phone, furious with her daughters for just leaving like they did.
Sage had already phoned his 'Ma and 'My, and his call went about the same way as the girls' was. He was grounded for a month, but he still thought it was worth it.
As the girls were getting chewed out by their mom, Sage was talking to Qrow.
"Hey kid, how come you have your aura unlocked? A bit young for that, aren't you? Not to mention it's a bit bigger than normal."
"My mommy said it's 'cause I had it when I was born! She said the doctor said it was 'cause she was unlocking auras of people when I was just 'conceived' whatever that means." Sage explained.
Qrow raised his brow, taking a sip from his flask Contemplating something. Sage didn't mind, focused as he was on the girls. His attention was drawn, however, when Qrow asked him something.
"How would you like it if I trained you, kid?" Sage's eyes widened, and his eye's showed yearning, but his reply was instant.
"No thank you, mister Qrow."
Qrow raised a brow at his instant response, surprised. He thought the kid would agree in a heartbeat, especially when he saw the look in the kids' eyes. He was curious.
"I can see that you want to say yes, kid. What's stopping you?" Sage looked up at him.
"I gotta ask mom first, and I don't think she'll say yes to a stranger. B-but! Even if she did, I would still say no, because I wanna learn the scythe, and you use a sword. Though it's a very cool lookin' sword. Besides, Ruby wants to train with me, so I can't just leave her to train with some guy. We're gonna see if any teacher at Signal can teach us! Even with a guy as cool as you, I can't just go back on my word to Ruby! Sorry, mister Qrow." Here, Sage smiled up at him apologetically.
Qrow looked back at him, staring hard and then glancing at Ruby, still being chewed out by her mother along with Yang. He smiled, an idea popping into his head, as he spoke before walking off.
"Kid, I have an idea that may work for us all. Just gotta get Sis' to agree." He muttered the last part to himself as he wobbled off, sipping from his seemingly endless flask.
About an hour has passed, and Sage's parents had arrived along with Summer. Taiyang had begged off the trip, not wanting to meet Raven again after she had left him and a newborn Yang. All three kids were chewed out once again, though nothing hurt more than seeing the red eyes that showed they were crying. After a few minutes of shouting, there came a lot of hugging, and some tears from the kids. The girls now realized how stupid they were to just run off like they did, but Sage had known all along it would be dangerous and he still went, so he got a bit of a harsher punishment.
"Now you can wait until you graduate from Signal before even hoping for a scroll, young man! Do you have any idea how worried we were? Do you!? We thought you had run away!" And on it went for five minutes before they felt like their point was made. They asked what had happened on the trip here, and upon finding out Sage had protected the girls from Grimm again, Summer gave him a hug and a thank you. They spent some time describing how they eaten out of the cans they brought along, and how they huddled up at night. When they reached the end of the story, the girls got scared thinking about the Ursa and scooched closer to Sage, an action that did not go unnoticed.
When they described how the Ursa just fell over dead, Qrow popped out of nowhere to join in on the story, startling the adults. When Summer realized who it was that saved her daughters and Sage, she smiled wide and pulled him into a quick hug, happy to see her old teammate.
"You dusty old Qrow, I didn't expect to meet you here! I thought you were over at Beacon, helping Ozpin?"
"It's been a while Summer, yeah, but I finished up with Ozpin nearly a week ago. I had just got back to town when I saw these little brats run towards town, yelling at the top of their lungs while an Ursa chased them." He paused to take a sip of his drink. "After I saved them, they asked if I knew Raven, and I brought them to her. After a short talk, they called you and now here you are. One thing I wanna ask you girls. Would you be ok with me training Sage and Ruby in combat?" At his question, nearly everyone stared at him in surprise, but the one with the biggest amount if it was Summer, who knew how lazy Qrow was, as well as his strength.
'He must have seen something in the kids that convinced him to train them, but what?'
Summer thought to herself. Meanwhile, both Ruby and Sage spoke up.
"But Uncle Qrow! Me and Sage are gonna train in scythes! You use a sword! Thank you for asking but we don't wanna." That was Ruby, though her eyes were reluctant, she stood firm by her promise to her best male friend. Sage spoke up next.
"Yeah! You already asked and I already said no! Why'd you ask again, Mister Qrow?" Sage crossed his arms and glared at the man, who only smirked back at the duo. It was Cordelia who broke the silence, however.
"Sage, you don't know who mister Qrow is?" Seeing him look confusedly at her and shake his head no, she continued. "Qrow is one of the best hunters in the Four Kingdoms! He's known for his expert use of the battle scythe, silly boy!"
Sage and Ruby's eyes widened, as they looked back at Qrow. He now held Harbinger, and they watched as he turned it from its sword shape into its scythe form. It looked beautiful, black and red collapsible handle going into a red and silver scythe blade with a sharpened, jagged back.
""Wooowww..." two voices sounded out in unison. Both Ruby and Sage's eyes now held stars in them.
"Mister Qrow! Why didn't you tell me you used a scythe when you asked before?" Sage asked, still staring at the weapon Qrow held. Qrow smirked and answered.
"Didn't you say you needed your parents' permission first? I just waited to ask them myself." He looked back at Sage's parents.
"So, Mrs. And Mrs...?"
"Sapphire. I do agree to your training them, but only if Lola and Summer agree." Cordelia answered. She looked to her side to see Lola nod, agreeing with her decision, and from behind Summer said out loud an agreement as well.
She looked at her little love, Sage, and saw his excited face. She chuckled and said:
"Alright then, you can train them." The kids, including Yang, cheered. When asked why Yang cheered later, she said that although she loves hanging with Ruby and Sage, she did have friends from school as well.
Qrow and the three mothers set up a schedule, while the kids huddled together and whispered with excited voices.
"Did you hear what 'My said, Ruby!? She said he was one of the best hunters in the Kingdoms! And he uses a scythe! AND he wants to train us! Ohh this is so AWESOME!"
"Yeah, and did you see that weapon!? Ohh it's so amazinging. I can't wait to make my own! I'll make it red and black and maybe have a gun in it? Oh my Oum, the possibilities are endless!" Her eyes went hazy as she thought of all the different weapons she could make, and continued mumbling to herself.
Sage was sleeping over at Ruby and Yang's house.
It wasn't the first time, and it certainly wouldn't be the last if he had anything to say about it. Sure, he was eight years old now, but he fondly remembers staying over his friend's house even when he was eighteen in his past life. Anyway, the reason that made this sleepover special was that it was the day when Yang, Ruby and he learned all there was to know about each other.
"So, girls, what's your favorite food?"
"COOKIES!" Ruby.
"Mom's cookies, yeah." And Yang, should have expected that.
"Alright, mines watermelon! Now, what do you like to do more than anything?" Sage asked. Ruby responded first.
"I like training with Uncle Qrow! Oh, and I like lookin at the weapon magazines mom gets me! They're all so cool! " She said this with stars in her eyes. Yang, smiling, shook her head and answered.
"I like Yanging out with my two best friends. And puns." She said the last part with a massive grin on her face, while he and Ruby groaned with their heads in their hands.
"As if that wasn't obvious. What's your biggest dreams? Mine is to be like the hero in our book!" This time, Yang took the initiative to answer.
"My dream is to be like the lady hero in our book! I wanna be super strong and travel all over and save a buncha people!" Beside her, Ruby nodded.
"I wanna be as awesome at the scythe as Uncle Qrow! But I also wanna make my own scythe, instead of the training ones he makes us use! It'll be the best weapon ever!" Ruby shouted this with joy.
Smiling gleefully, Sage asks the next question expecting them to get embarrassed. He had added this into his list as a joke more than anything, and what fun it would be.
"So girls, who's your biggest crush." Smiling wickedly, he waited for their answers. But...
""Sage...""
They both muttered, not really paying attention, focused on painting their nails. Sage sat, stunned and silent for a bit before both girls froze at nearly the same time, turning to see him wide eyed and blushing as he stared at them both. When they realized what they said, their faces slowly started turning red as well. The three sat in silence until Summer called them for dinner. When they all walked in, silent and red faced, Summer asked what was wrong.
Instead of answereing, Sage handed her the list of questions he had asked the girls this night. There weren't many, maybe ten, but it was the last on the page that caught Summers attention.
"Your biggest crush, huh." she asked, glancing at Sage, before smiling slyly and asking,
"Soo, what were their answers?" At her question, the threes faces went even redder, and Sage mumbled out an answer.
"They said... Sage." Here, his face went even further red, and he felt the shiest he's ever been, even in his past life there wasn't a moment like this!
Summer, hearing his answer, smiled wide and turned to her daughters.
"Oh did they?" Hearing her, both Ruby and Yang groaned and hid their faces in their hands, ears going red. They muttered out an affirmative from behind their hands and Summer smiled even wider.
"And what was his answer, girls?" At this, both girls glanced up at her confusedly. Knowing what they were confused about right away, she turned to look at Sage with a clearly playful glare.
"You got them to tell you their crush, and you didn't tell them yours? I think this oversight should be corrected right away, don't you girls?"
Catching on to what their mom was planning, they both smiled wickedly, before shouting out in unison.
""Yeah! What's your crush Sage!?""
Sage sunk in his seat, knowing he had no way out of this but not wanting to answer. Summer pressed him further, making sure he knew he wasn't gonna find a way to avoid the question. Sage decided to get it over with, rather than make it more embarrassing when it inevitably came out.
"I... tween... both..." mumbling out an answer, his voice was quiet. Summer was able to hear, and she smiled a bright smile when she heard the answer, but Yang and Ruby were clueless.
"Speak up, Sage! I don't think the girls heard." Summer encouraged him. Sage groaned out loud before acquiescing to her request and repeating himself, louder this time.
"I said... I can't choose between Ruby and Yang... I – I like them both..." Here, he put his face on the table so he didn't have to see the looks on the girls faces. Because of this, he didn't see that the girls' faces had gone red as his, their eyes widening along with their smiles. They looked at each other and grabbed hold of one another's hands, squeeing quietly as they realized their crush was reciprocated. There were no feeling of jealousy or greed for not being the only one Sage liked, because they had shared pretty much everything with each other their whole lives. They had both long known about each other's crush, and to find out he like-liked them too was an amazing feeling to the two girls.
After that incredibly awkward dinner, the trio only grew closer together. Only difference now was that whenever they were together, they would almost always be holding hands. The adults thought that it was the most adorable thing, and as for when the kids grew up? Well, they would cross that bridge when they got to it.
Ruby and Sage were now both eleven years of age. At the moment they were training with Qrow. To be more accurate, they were sparring while Qrow gave pointers from the side. The fight was nearing its final stages and both Sage and Ruby's aura was nearing depletion. They were staring at each other tensely, watching each other's stances for signs of weakness. Their breath was haggard and Sage's arms felt like they were on fire.
They stared at each other for nearly an entire minute before a leaf drifted between them. They watched it, and as it drifted down, their hands tightened around the practice scythes in their hands. The second the leaf reached the ground, they shot off, racing towards each other.
Sage made the first move, swinging his scythe from down low, up into her left side. She responded by making a leap to her left, dodging the blade and making it so he had to completely stop his blade before swinging it back. While leaping past him, she brought her scythe blade up, putting it into position to closeline his neck as she passed. He quickly ducked below it, and as if expecting it, Ruby turned the blade ninety degrees downward. If it were a real scythe, this would be enough to cut him in half down the middle. He just barely brought his scythes snath into a vertical hold, stopping the blade from impacting him, and stopping Ruby from winning this fight. As he was crouched on his toes, he was unstable and the impact of Ruby's blade against his handle made him fall back. Luckily, the impact also made Ruby unstable so as she landed she stumbled, and they both stabilized at the same time.
This time, Ruby was the first to strike, lifting her blade overhead and bringing it down heavily. Rather than try and defend, Sage simply sidestepped the swing, and swung his scythe horizontally, looking to strike while her scythe was away from her body. Things wouldn't go his way, however, as Ruby suddenly jumped, using her scythe stuck in the ground as a pole-vault. She launched above his swing, moving behind him and freeing her scythe from the dirt in the same move. Though surprised, Sage quickly reacted, continuing his sideways swing into a complete one eighty turn around. Ruby, having just landed, wasn't able to react in time and was struck with Sage's scythe.
"Hit! That's enough for today, it was Sage's win." Qrow called out upon seeing Sage taking first blood, so to speak.
Ruby grumbled to herself for her loss, but smiled again when Sage hugged her around the shoulders. The three kids had grown incredibly close over the past few years, even more so than before they "confessed" to each other. Now it was safe to assume that something was wrong if you saw one of the trio out and about without at least one of the other two beside them. It's been three years since they first admitted their crush to the others and since then it only grew.
Ruby hugged him back, congratulating him in his win, before the two walked hand-in-hand to where Qrow was waiting.
"Good work you two, you've come far in the three years I've been training you. I know you two are going to be turning twelve soon, and with that, entering Signal. Because I have a mission, today will be the last day I'm able to train you two, and so I have a surprise for you." Ruby and Sage glanced at each other, confused. Qrow was never one to beat around the bush like this. Looking back at Qrow, he continued speaking.
"I have decided to give you this."
He pulled out a dusty square... thing. Sage and Ruby's eye's widened in amazement when they saw him push a button that had the box slowly, and chunkily, transform into a scythe, a bit smaller than his current one.
"This was the first weapon I ever made. I used it for years before I crafted Harbinger. I'm giving it to you two to study and dismantle, to learn all you can about transforming weapons before you enroll into Signal at the start of next year. If you dismantle it, and manage to put it back together, and make it transform faster than it can currently, then I'll have a gift for you. Work hard, brats." Qrow finished and held out the now compacted scythe to the two of his students. Wide eyed and breathless, the two slowly reached their free hand out to grab it together, glancing at each other before huge smiles covered their faces. They turned to thank Qrow but...
He was gone.
They both stared at the spot where he stood before, smiles fading as they realized they wouldn't see him for the next five months.
"Uncle Qrow..." Ruby muttered, hand tightening around Sage's.
Sage set down the scythe Qrow had left them before hugging Ruby tightly. Soon, Ruby was crying softly into his chest. Sage himself also felt sad, but Ruby need him right now. Over the four years they had trained with him Sage and Ruby had grown very close to Qrow, but Ruby even more so, as Qrow had taken up position as the fun and cool uncle in Ruby's life. Her realizing she wouldn't get to see or talk to her Uncle Qrow for almost half a year was definitely hard on the young girl.
Seeing Ruby so sad was making Sage sad as well, so he tried to think of something to cheer her up. Soon, he got an idea. A small smile popped up on his face as he thought about it. He decided to act on his thought right away.
"Hey Rubes, I know you're sad about Uncle Qrow leaving, but you and I both know that's not how he would want you to feel, ever. So to cheer you up, I've decide we, are going to go... On a date!" Looking down at her face as he said this, he enjoyed watching the moment of confusion before she realized what he was talking about, and the ensuing blush that spread across her cheeks. Stuttering, she asked;
"W-w-what do mean a date!? Like a go to the park date, o-or a, date date?" She squeaked at the end. Cute.
"Yes, Ruby, a date date. We can't exactly book a reservation at a fancy restaurant, but we can Have a picnic, watch the sunset. It'll just be you and me, no parents, no training, and if you want, no Yang. How does that sound?"
Ruby stared up at Sage for a short while before smiling and saying,
"I'd love that, Sage."
-Authors note from here-
I really liked writing this chapter. Don't know why.
Hope you liked it. Expect more to come.
Another reminder in case anyone forgot: This fic will be romance heavy, or at least I intend it to be.
I've decided on trying for the harem route, but it'll only be for team RWBY, and maybe Pyyrha. That's it. Byee~