A/N: There is optimistically speaking, one or two more chapters to this story. But I've kind of lost all motivation for writing it. Mostly for the lackluster attention it's received. I've also deleted my other story for the same reason. But if I don't update anymore, you can consider this the end.
For months afterward she didn't speak to me. The feeling was different. This time, she was serious. Up until graduation the two of us barely saw each other, but not for lack of trying. I looked for her everywhere I went, but her semblance made it easy for me to lose her. She didn't come back to the room at night. I checked her secret hideout often, but she wasn't there either. It was starting to become questionable that she slept at all.
Our mission to Mt. Glenn was the last, and when we returned, she'd become a different person. The school year was coming to a close and that meant that graduating seniors could do what they wanted. Summer took her chance and disappeared without a trace. There was beginning to be rumors that a vengeful ghost was haunting the school. It was simple enough to deduce what was really happening. Tai would try to talk to her on my behalf but it was pointless. Whenever I came close, she'd disappear.
Finally, the day arrived, a day where she couldn't avoid me, where she had to stand next to me, or at least somewhere close. We graduated as a team, those were the rules of Beacon. She stood to the right, in full view for the first time in months.
We were each handed a new, painted emblem, a symbol that we were now official huntsman and huntresses. Ozpin watched me with a small smile. "You should hurry Mr. Branwen, the important things tend to disappear when you least want them to."
His words startled me for a minute, distracting, but I knew what he meant. He wanted me to keep a close eye on my team, particularly Raven and Summer. I would disappoint him. Our team fell apart. Not right away but it was close enough.
Tai and Raven got married almost immediately afterward. They moved into Tai's childhood home in Patch. Summer stayed in Vale, renting an apartment above a dust shop. We were all going our separate ways: Different missions, different worlds. I took up a job at Signal to be as close to everyone as possible. Yang was born soon afterwards. Too soon. Tai had probably knocked up my sister while we were still in school. It was the only explanation. I would've beat him up if I thought Raven wanted me to, but it looked like everything was normal for the first year after Yang was born.
Summer cut off all contact, disappearing into the field. She'd left Raven her keys but it was me who went up there to dust the place off and check on things. I'd ask Ozpin where he sent her, but it was supposed to be a secret. He wouldn't tell me a thing.
One night, nearly ten months after graduation, Summer burst into her apartment, collapsing in a heap on the floor. Her clothes had been ripped almost to shreds, revealing bits of skin underneath. She was covered in bruises and cuts. Her blood was flowing onto the floorboards.
I rushed to her, dropping the mug I was holding. It fell into her sink with a clang. "Summer! Summer!" I grabbed her around the shoulders, lifting her into my lap, but no amount of shaking seemed to wake her. Her aura levels were down, probably broken. Who knew how long it would take for it to activate again to heal her wounds. There was no time.
I activated my own aura, a dull purple calling to her pure white. It sparked and died. Not enough then, but I saw that the bleeding had stopped. It was working. Some of the cuts looked like they were in the process of healing. On a normal civilian, a lot of these wounds would've been fatal, but she was a huntress. A very special one at that, if only she would open her eyes.
"Summer, wake up… Wake up!" I kept my aura going, checking her status on my scroll. My aura had dropped to half, but hers hadn't risen at all. Whatever had happened to her had been serious. With every minute that passed by, my aura level dropped. Sooner or later, all of her wounds would be healed. They had to.
"Qrow…What are you doing here?" Her whisper nearly gave me a heart attack. I jumped, nearly flinging my scroll into the floor. Her grey eyes were open a smidge, watching me with caution.
"I've been living here since you haven't. You pay rent, I might as well use it. I didn't want to jump in on Raven and Tai's little love nest. Raven just had a kid. They named her Yang." I was rambling. The relief at seeing her open her eyes was enough to make me of all people ramble. I almost wanted to cry. "I thought you were dead, Summer. What happened to you?"
She didn't answer the question, squeezing her eyes shut. "I'm fine Qrow, thanks for helping me." She moved to get up, but she tottered on her feet, falling back into my arms. It would've been funny if it wasn't so worrying.
"You're not fine! You come in here half-dead, acting like you're okay! I'm going to help you, whether you want me to or not."I lifted her into my arms bridal-style and carried her to the bathroom, turning on the light. She looked better. Most of her injuries were really gruesome but the most wear was in her eyes.
"You're naked." She'd announced sleepily. I did laugh this time. Mostly out of the absurdity of the situation. Strictly speaking, I wasn't naked. I had underwear on, but I had been about to go to sleep when she barged in.
"You're not much better. The clothes you're wearing right now aren't hiding much. I'm surprised you made it back here at all." I dropped her in the tub and walked over to her closet. She did have clothes here, but I wasn't sure what she slept in. My clothes were probably better. I handed her a large button up from the closet. The kind of thing I wore to work.
I closed the door on her after turning the shower on. There was movement. A good sign. If she had enough energy for a shower then everything would be okay. I was already tired, but using nearly all my aura at once was enough to knock me out. I leaned against the door and closed my eyes. She was too much.
All of a sudden, the world tilted backward and I was staring into something grey framed against white. It took me a minute to realize I was staring up her legs into places I shouldn't have been looking. I stood up, backing away quickly. "Sorry." Normally, she would've hit me by now for the transgression.
Her hair was damp, and my shirt was big enough to nearly reach her knees. My sleeves hung at her fingertips. The shirt had been a good choice.
"Carry me." She'd reached out her arms, waiting to wrap them around my neck. She looked much younger than she was, almost like a child. That thought was more disturbing than it should've been. I obliged to her request, carrying her back to my bed. Technically hers, but I'd slept in it enough to think of it as mine. It was small but soft. We squeezed in close, her head in the cradle of my arm.
Her breaths were even, quiet, I could almost believe she was sleeping. "Summer, what have you been doing these past ten months? Where did you go?"
She tilted her head up to look at me, her hair splayed over my arm. It had gotten longer since I'd seen her. Now, it ruffled around her face and down to her chest. I was tempted to kiss her. Maybe that was the point. If I kissed her, she wouldn't need to answer me. She was testing my self-restraint.
"What do you know about Fairy Tales, Qrow?"
I know a couple of them. The story of the Creation, the Shallow Sea,….
"What if I told you, they weren't just stories. That many of them came from somewhere significant. What if I told you the brothers for the story of Creation were still alive?"
Whatever romantic mood I had was thrown out the window. "I'd say you were crazy and that whatever happened to make you stupid."
"The two brothers were the greatest wizards of all time. They learned the secret of immortality. They learned about reincarnation. As their bodily flesh withers and dies, their spirits jumps to the next host. They force themselves into their minds and cohabit it with original soul. They find these young boys everywhere. They're all very similar. They're almost always orphans: greedy, hungry for power or opportunity and the great wizard gives it to them."
It was madness. Magic didn't exist. Science, semblance, maybe. But how could a person steal bodies? And even if they could, where was this story going? "What was your mission?"
"To find the older of the two brothers, Cain."
"Creation…Then what about Destruction? Why not find him?"
"We already know him Qrow, can you not imagine who it might be?"
It only took me a second but even a second was too long. I should've known the moment she mentioned them. "Ozpin."
"Yes. I work for Ozpin, and now that I've told you, you will too."
That surprised me but I wasn't nearly as afraid as I should've been. "Why? How will he know?"
"One of the reasons I came back today wasn't just to heal my wounds. I was given a new mission, and I was told to regroup. While I rested he wanted me to choose someone from the team to join the cause, and I choose you."
"What is the cause? What is Ozpin trying to do?" Somewhere along our conversation I had started gripping her arm. It would bruise later but she never told me she was in pain or that I needed to stop. This really wasn't bed talk.
"Evil is patient, Qrow. She's waited thousands of years, trying to gather the secrets of the world hell bent on watching it burn. Ozpin can't stop her, but his brother might be able to. The last anyone's heard of him, he gave the four maidens from the story of the Seasons their powers. That was over three thousand years ago. My mission is to find him and bring him to Ozpin."
"I'll talk to Ozpin tomorrow. I'll join the cause."
"I never doubted you would." She answered, staring at me. I wrapped my arms around her, holding her to my chest. She paused, momentarily surprised before returning the hug. Her body was small. With me lying on top, it was completely possible I may have crushed her, but she was strong too. There was a bigger chance I might suffocate her. I told her as much.
"It's fine. I kind of like the feeling." She smiled into my chest.
"What kind of preference is that? Are you a masochist?" I grinned. After all that dark and depressing talk from earlier, we needed something to lighten the mood.
"Maybe…I'm here with you, aren't I?" She'd been trying to sound casual, but every word was tinged with sadness.
"You really shouldn't be with me."
She pulled herself up to kiss me, her hands entangled in my hair. "I know."
I pulled myself off, my body screaming at me to do the wrong thing and keep kissing her. "You're too good for me. This is a mistake."
She pulled herself in for another kiss, deep and intoxicating. "I know."
Her lips traced my collarbone, her lithe fingers drawing circles against my ribs. I pushed myself against her thighs as her legs wrapped around my waist. My mind flashed to that small piece of grey fabric I had seen earlier. "We shouldn't do this, Summer. We shouldn't do this again. Neither of us will be happy."
She undid the first three buttons of her shirt, and I tore off the rest. As the last bits of my self-control melted away, I could only hear her faintly whisper. "I know."
The next morning, I woke up in her bed alone. Summer was walking around her kitchen preparing a light breakfast. The buttons of my shirt were still undone.
Now that there was sufficient light, I could see her properly. Her wounds had been replaced by ugly scars. Soon, even that would disappear. She was healing well. There was blood from our activities last night, but there wasn't enough to worry over.
"Summer," I wrapped my arms around her waist, "We should talk."
"What's there to talk about?" She didn't turn to look at me, her eyes were focused on the plates in front of her. She had a prime view of the city from her apartment. It had been the site of a robbery recently, leave rent extremely affordable for such a nice place. "About us."
"There's nothing talk about." She finally turned to look at me. Her silver eyes were piercing, shinier than I had ever seen them. A small, serene smile on her face. "I'll be leaving again in a few hours and things will go back to how they were."
That hurt. She was going to leave again, acting like nothing happened between us."What do you mean? You're going to ignore my calls and pretend I don't exist again? Why do we keep doing this to each other? Why can't we sit down and talk about this peacefully?"
"Because there's no future for us Qrow. Do you want to get married? Have kids? No. You don't. What do you want to say? That I'm wrong? I know you. We've been together for four years. We've had…" She drew a thin circle in the air with her finger. "Something comfortable and that's all you've ever wanted from me. You don't know if you like me. You didn't know in that cave and you don't know now."
I wanted to say something. I wanted to deny everything she was saying but I couldn't. Did I want kids? Did I want her? Or did I just want to have everything she was offering? I couldn't answer her. After all this time, I still didn't know. Maybe she knew because she kept going.
"You don't like me Qrow. You never have. Not the way I like you. I've said everything I've ever wanted to say to you in Mt. Glenn. This is as far as we'll ever go. I sleep with you because I love you and you'll do it because I'm easy. "
"That's not-" Was it like that? I was afraid; I didn't want to lie to her, anyone but her, but I didn't want to lose her. If I let her disappear on me again, she might never come back. "I want you, Summer."
"You want me?" She tasted the words on her lips and her face soured. "And what will I get out of staying here with you? Who am I to you?" She laughed scornfully and disappeared without waiting for an answer.
"Summer! Summer!" I reached out to where she was standing but I only found air. The room wasn't empty. She was here somewhere. "Get back here! We're not done! Summer!"
"Yes, we are, Qrow." The window had been thrown open. I grabbed for her. My fist closed around the tale end of her shirt. It ripped off falling into my hands. She was gone.
The next time I saw her, she was 6 months pregnant.
