Quick A/N: thanks so much for all the follows and reviews! I read every one, and absolutely love that you all seem to be enjoying my personal Head Canon. I hope I continue to give you even more to enjoy!

Every nerve in Ruby's body seemed to tingle, as if the darkness around her was a physical presence in the room. There was very little that was a revelation to her in the message itself, but the nickname- Petal- it rattled about in her head. Her mom usedto
call her that all the time, and even if it was a fuzzy memory, she remembered that. But she couldn't remember her uncle ever calling her Petal.

She shook her head, and looked back down to Qrow's scroll. The video was over but there was more. A folder that the video was part of sat locked. There were other locked folders, but those didn't matter to her. No, she wanted to know what was in the folderthat
held that video. It was titled "Ruby".

A password prompt appeared, blocking the only access she could utilize to get to the folder. She attempted multiple passwords- "Mistral", "STRQ", "Raven", "Branwen" "Beacon", even "Yang", "Ruby" and "Tai". Her fingers paused over the keyboard as an ideaentered
her mind.

S-U-M-M-E-R.

Access granted.

The first file was the video- she moved on. The next was a photo. A picture she recognized of her mother, up in a tree, perched on a branch, staring at a sunset. She had seen it at her mother's grave right before she left for her second semester at
assumed it was a picture her father took. But looking at it again, now on her uncle's phone, she realized the photo taker was in the tree with her. It couldn't have been Taiyang Xiao Long. He couldn't climb a tree to get Zwei out of onea fewyears
ago. Ruby and Yang had to work to get him down, which resulted in a few lost branches, casualties to scythes and dust blasts.

Scrolling on, a picture of Team STRQ. It wasn't the one that they all carried. This was a casual photo- it was obvious to see that her mother had taken the picture of all four together. The smiles on all their faces was almost disconcerting. She couldn'tremember
ever seeing her family ever smiling that full-heartedly.

The next photo startled her so much she nearly dropped his scroll. It was taken by Qrow, his long arms able to make a wide angle photo. There was a lazy smile on his face. On his chest, an auburn haired woman in a white cape slept soundly. Her mother.

A feeling of panic gripped at her chest, and instead of studying each photo, she flipped rapidly through them. Every picture was happy. If she allowed herself one stipulation, she noticed that as time passed, Raven seemed more distant, less genuine. Then,suddenly,
after a short grainy video of Qrow holding a squirming and laughing Yang, dipping her, and laughing heartily with her, Raven stopped appearing.

Any photos or videos after that with her father in them seemed less enthusiastic, and his smile seemed forced. It's also when her uncle started graying. There were more pictures of Qrow and her mother together, in other lands- places she couldn't evenbegin
to recognize. Then there was a short grainy video that started with a sunset. The background track was Qrow's obvious rumble of a voice. Within a few moments, it panned back to a younger version of the man in a feverish stupor before her.

"Missin' ya, Short Stack. I should be back soon. Heh. Soon as in, I don't know, a week or 6 months?" He shook his head. "I'll be home as soon as I can. But, I figured you might like this sunset."

Panning, the video took in the vivid white landscape again painted with even more brilliant oranges and pinks.

"Anyway," his disembodied voice continued, "even though I'm missing you, I am glad you're there to take care of Tai. You're better at that kinda stuff than I am."

"My goal is to be home by Yang's 2nd birthday. That way I don't miss anything. I can't believe it's been two months already since I've seen you. I won't lie-" his already low voice dropped a decibel, and quieted. "I've got some ideas on how to show you how much I've missed you."

There was a long pause as the sun slipped below the horizon. When Qrow spoke again, his voice was warm and laced with melancholy.

"Love you, Summer."

Ruby couldn't look at any more. Her mind was racing. It didn't take long for her mind to make the calculations. Yang's 2nd birthday- she was born a few months before. Which means that her mom was pregnant when he sent her the last video. But Qrow wasprotesting
his love for her. She didn't know what to think.

These pictures and videos were destroying everything she thought she knew. All of his words, pictures and videos, they ran through her memories making things that she knew as facts into question marks. There was no way she could understand without Qrowexplaining
it.

So instead of allowing her panic to set her off, she closed Qrow's scroll and wrapped the blanket even more tightly under her chin. The young woman stared at the rise and fall of the injured huntsman's chest, forcing all of her brain power to the studiousobservation,
keeping tabs on it evenness. It didn't take long for her to discern when he was having nightmares, even when he didn't murmur or cry out.

So intently she monitored Qrow, that it wasn't until there was a knock on the door did she notice that the sun had begun to peek out from behind the pulled curtains.

Emerging from her pillowy nest, she stretched. Before even realizing it, she had Crescent Rose holstered at the small of her back and was moving to the door.

Uncle Qrow always told us that our weapons would become like putting on a shirt. You'd feel naked without it. He was right.

The knock sounded again, and Ruby mumbled as she neared it.

"Yeah, yeah."

She opened the door to see to her surprise, Ren.

He nodded once.

"Do you need anything? We are headed into town for supplies-"

"He means we're starving so we're going to get food," Nora's voice bounced down the hallways towards her. Even as exhausted as Ruby was, a grin came easily to her face.

"No, I'll just order in. Thanks though."

Jaune sauntered past, and spoke up as he did.

"We did that last night. Bad idea."

The petite woman shrugged. "Guess I'll have to take my chances."

Ren nodded again. "Very well. We'll return shortly."

"Thanks again, guys."

With a spin, Nora turned on her toe and continued down the hallway, waving as she went. The other two caught up with her, and they all made their way to the main street the inn was located on. Ruby stood in the doorway and watched after them, lingeringeven
after they had left and made their way down the street.

She turned back to her shared room with Qrow, and took a deep breath before her reentry into the silent space. Closing the door behind her, she moved to her bed, placing Crescent Rose down onto untouched covers.

Ruby turned to her uncle, the steady rise and fall of the covers demonstrated his peaceful sleep. The nightmares had stopped plaguing him for the time.

Moving to the bed on which he slept, she noticed that like her, he had not moved through the night. Resting her hand on his cheek, her spirits lifted slightly when she noticed his fever had broken.

It was going to be a bit longer before he was awake, so she moved to clear up her nest of pillows, freeing the feet of the chair. After returning the pillows to their rightful place, she pulled the chair over to a nearby writing desk, and started compilinganother
letter to Yang.

"Hey sis! ...