Chapter 7

Sleep is important

As Qrow urgently made his way back to Patch there was one thing he was certain of. That sleeping old man was definitely Ozpin. How that was possible he had to figure out.

"He was certainly solid too..." he thought narrowly avoiding a tree branch.

He had already made it past Vale and could see Patch.

"Why do they need Summer? How does she tie in to all this..."

As curious as he was Qrow never admitted to himself why he was rushing to go see her.

Out of breath he stumbled to his feet "I don't think" he huffed "I can keep that form up" He was almost there and just walked normally the rest of the way.

Dazed and sleepy a blurry image of the cottage became visible to him.

He smiled weakly and gained a bit of strength the closer he got there.

"I wonder if she's asleep..." he thought raising his fist to knock.

Summer was preparing to go to sleep, she had a big smile on her face as she brushed her hair.

"I wish I could cut it..." she looked at it sadly but it was for the safety of those around her. She released the strands and it covered her face once more.

She yawned and looked out the window, smiled at the stars that adorned the black sky.

"I wish this peace could last forever..." she let her face fall but suddenly clapped her hands on her cheeks to perk up.

"Come on Summer! If you can manage to get Raven to smile you can manage to do most anything!"

Very pridefully Summer looked at the large stack of books beside her and thought "I will dedicate myself to being a Huntress and create the peace in Remnant!"

That thought was something she told herself every night, in hopes that one day she would believe it.

Summer had begun making a habit of encouraging herself before bed so that eventually she would believe it.

She heard a loud thump at the front door.

Becoming alert, she waited for some sort of sign or attack but when nothing else happened she went to go investigate. This time she held a katana to protect her. She stealthily made her way by the door, fazed through the wall beside it and took a peak.

She gasped quickly unlocking the door.

"Qrow! Qrow!" she began to shake him "Who did this to you? Was it the Schnee's? Where you followed!?"

He groaned regaining consciousness. The first thing he saw were her concerned eyes, he smiled at her weakly. "I over did it..." he mumbled trying to stand up.

"No one did this..." this time Summer put his arm around her shoulder and helped him to a chair.

"I fixed the chair this morning. I must say making weapons is easier..."

Qrow slumped on the chair resting his head on the table and making a nest with his arms.

"Why are you here? Why are you like this?" She was more curious than concerned.

He sighed and closed his eyes "Summer you should run away..."

"What..." she asked quietly then she laughed nervously "Why...why...would I do that..?"

There was the sound of wood crackling and the chair Qrow was sitting on fell apart.

Qrow just groaned, laid down, and covered his eyes with his arm. "What luck I seem to have..."

"Sorry..." squeaked Summer grabbing Qrow's arm and dragging him up. "Why are you so tired..? Raven said you went somewhere with your father...but..." she guided him to her bed and had him rest there.

Qrow began to mumble, she pulled the covers on him.

"Just rest" she smiled and rested her chin at the edge of her bed. She knelt on the floor and just looked at Qrow's serene face. She gave a wry smile "I guess you can sleep here tonight. I hope you rest well" She yawned that last part. Holding her head with her hands she began to doze off "Good night" she yawned once more

Circling her arms around her head and still kneeling on the floor beside him she fell asleep.

The next morning Raven was on her way to Patch, holding a basket of food and some flowers. She had a huge grin on her face. On her hip hung a long sword with a rather long scabbard.

"I finished it" she thought "I finished it! I can't wait to show Summer! She'll be so impressed!"

Raven, had some dark circles under her eyes, clearly she had been up late working on her weapon however she moved with a lot of energy.

"She'll be so impressed" she thought again "We could even spar a little. We talked about it yesterday. She was a huge help with finishing this"

She made it to the cottage "I hope she's awake. We did stay up pretty late last night"

Not bothering to knock she walked right in.

"Summer! It's me! Are you sleeping?" she announced to the seemingly empty cottage. "Hmm...I don't smell any food either" she said to herself.

She walked around a little more and made it to her bedroom. The door was open part way.

"Summer..?" she saw Summer's legs hanging horizontally off her bed. "That's not a very graceful way of sleeping" laughed Raven pushing the door wide open and stepping in the room "Hey Sum-oh..."

She dropped the basket she held, her hand instinctively going to the hilt of her sword, rage starting to fill her body. Right before her eyes lied her new friend Summer on top of her brothers chest, both sound asleep.

"Qrooooooow...you dirty little...pervert!" she unveiled her long sword.

Qrow's eyes popped open "What the hell...?" he mumbled his eyes catching his sisters "Raven?" he asked wondering why she was preparing to strike him.

Suddenly he felt something shift on his chest he looked down to see Summer sleeping like a kitten. Although she was hardly on the bed as most of her body hung off the side. It seemed she had crawled a little closer to Qrow some point during the night for warmth.

Quickly he looked up at his angry sister, the color leaving his face and putting his hands up in defense "W-w-w-w-wait!" he stuttered "I-I-It's not what you think!"

She raised her arms up "Oh yeah!?"

With all the commotion Summer finally woke up. Her eyes were still sleepy, dazed she looked at Raven's sword and smiled.

"Yay! You finished your weapon!" and gave a small clap. "I should finish mine!"

Raven and Qrow stayed frozen in their positions, oblivious Summer got up from the bed and stretched. "I'll get started on breakfast then. We can all eat together!" she dashed out of the room.

Qrow sighed in relief, his sister seemed to have calmed down a little and which would hopefully give him enough time to explain. Raven put her sword away. "Saved by the bell" she told him.

He began to get out of the bed.

Summer walked back in the room "Qrow..." she addressed him but avoided eye contact a rosy red color on her cheeks "We should talk about what happened last night..."

Raven's expression changed and she spun on her heel towards Qrow "I knew it!"she shouted

"Wait! No! No! I don't have enough energy to-" He was punched before he could finish his sentence.

In the kitchen Summer held an ice pack over Qrow's forehead as he leaned back against the wall.

"I'm sorry..." mumbled Summer.

Raven ate breakfast aggressively "What was I supposed to think when I found you two like that!?"

Summer looked down apologetically "I'm sorry..." she said again

"Summer, you shouldn't let strange guys into your home. Much less into your bed. You don't know what his intentions might've been!"

"Intentions?" Summer asked innocently as Qrow gave Raven the bird without looking at her.

"Ah so innocent..." Raven stated. "Anyways. Tell me what happened last night."

"Well...after you left I started to get ready for bed... I heard this noise and went to go investigate. I found Qrow passed out."

"Passed out...?" questioned Raven sipping from her orange juice "Did you exhaust all your aura?"

"Yes" Qrow said gruffly.

Raven snickered "That doesn't sound like you"

"It's been a rough two days for me sis. No sleep and hardly any food."

Summer frowned "Why Qrow?You fell asleep before you could tell me..."

Qrow sighed "Summer... do you feel like you can escape your fate?"

The question took Summer by surprise..."I...uh...don't think that's possible...I don't think anyone can escape their fate"

Qrow's lips became a tight line "What if someone plans on using your fate? Don't you wanna make your fate your own?"

She put down the icepack.

Raven stared at Summer she pulled her hood on "I'm beginning to think that I'm destined to be used..." she sighed "...the only choice I seem to have is whether I wanna be used for good or evil..."

"That's stupid" Raven interjected "If you don't want to be used just don't let them. Besides you're here with us now. Who could possibly use you...unless there is something you're not telling us"

"It's not that simple" she argued back "I'm..." she sighed "just forget it...I can't explain it..." She tried to leave but as she made her way towards the door she stepped on something.

"What's this...?" she knelt down and picked up a red rose. "Is this a flower?"

Raven drowned the rest of her orange juice "I found a lot of roses, the White ones reminded me of your cloak. So I picked some"

Summer held the red rose in front of her face. Her eyes wide, she was completely entranced by it. "These are so beautiful!"

Raven brought back the attention back to the matter at hand "Summer...can you tell us why you're here. Or better yet who you are?

Summer turned to look back at her two friends, barely visible her eyes looked full of despair. She held the rose close to her chest...

"I can'r..." she croaked "I'm already putting you in danger by having you both so close to me"

Raven scoffed "Don't you think we are tough enough to protect ourselves?"

"I wish you didn't have to." She stared at a distance. "I wish I could tell you more about my past...but I can't right now. I can't control it yet either, I don't want to hurt you"

"Control what? Summer please explain. You can trust us."

Her hood completely covered the top half of her face however the siblings could tell she was crying.

Sobbing she ran out the door

"Summer!" they both shouted standing up and chasing after her.

Inside Patch's forest they both shouted after her name "Summer? Summer come back!"

"Why'd she run?" asked Qrow frustrated

"I guess we were pressing her for answers...but she ran off without a weapon. There are a lot of Beowolves in this area...and with how she's feeling..." he trailed off and stayed still. Alert.

"Looks like they found us" said Raven

They waited until finally they heard the growling "There you are"

Raven smirked "This is the perfect opportunity to test out my beauty"

Qrow's eyes turned into slits. "You haven't even practiced with it and you're going to do that now?" He reached for his sword but Raven put her arm in front.

"No need baby brother! I got this!"

Her scabbard spun, when it halted she pulled out her sword coated with dust. "Watch me!" she told him and lunged forward toward the Grimm. She quickly took down the two Grimm each with one swipe. As they fell their fur was singed with a bit of fire.

"Schnee's do craft the best dust!" she spun in the air with a swipe down a few more Grimm.

"Raven stop! You're going to set the forest on fire.

"Ah! You're right maybe I should switch it from to ice! Or maybe lightning!?" she froze and electrocuted some Grimm. Each time shoving her sword into her scabbard and pulling it out again. Normally that would seem like a tedious action however not for Raven. Each time she switched an element she did so in the blink of an eye.

"However my personal favorite..." she gasped, her sword was jammed no matter how hard she pulled her sword would not come out. "Oh no..." she breathed. Her few seconds of distractions were taken advantage of by the enemy. One of the Grimm took a swipe at her. She landed on her back, still too preoccupied trying to get her sword out.

"Raven run!"Qrow sprinted towards his her avoiding all the Grimm and pulling out his own sword.

"Qrow!" Raven looked back her brother coming towards her. The look in her face made Qrow quicken his pace "Qrow! I'm so sorry!" tears were beginning to pool around her eyes.

"Shut up! Don't act like you're going to die!" He ordered having to finally cut down a Beowolf to reach his sister.

However Raven's emotional outburst attracted more and more them. She was surrounded.

Qrow slashed his way to her, he could barely see her, she was right in the center of the circle. Her weapon that she had been so proud of discarded behind her and her fist ready to strike, however that only worked for so long.

As he was about to reach the clearing he was hit by a Beowolf Alpha with enough force to take him the rest of the way to his sister.

At her feet Raven looked at her brother eyes wide and hand covering her mouth "You're...you're bleeding...oh my god Qrow you haven't regained all your aura yet"

She heard a Grimm roar and saw its giant claws raising preparing for impact she knelt down and protected her brother.

"I'm sorry..." she mumbled

However she felt nothing.

Looking up she saw a familiar white cloak covering her eyes.

"Summer?" she asked.

The Grimm hadn't touched them, thanks to Summer's semblance the claws of the wolves just ghosted through them.

After putting the pair behind her, Summer stood in the front line shielding them from the Grimm, ready to take them all on. "Summer! You don't have a weapon! What are you doing!?" Raven screamed too afraid of what might happen.

"It's okay..." answered Summer calmly as a Grimm tried to swipe at her but only to go through her. "These monsters hurt my two friends..."

Raven could only see Summer's back but what she saw still filled her with fear. She could feel Summer's anger.

Summer lifted off her cloak and suddenly all the Grimm reacted some of them slowly backed away, other's hair stood up and their claws came out, and lastly there was the foolish alpha that tried to attack Summer where she stood.

Qrow began to regain consciousness.

"Brother don't move you're badly injured!"

His dazed eyes focused on Summer surrounded by Grimm.

"Summer no!" he tried to get up and go to her but Raven wouldn't let him.

The Alpha roared and lunged at the girl with the white cloak only to stop mid air and begin to disintegrate.

Once that happened the rest of the Grimm cowered away.

The three were safe

"What the hell...just happened...?" a mesmerized Raven said

"I won't bother apologizing..." Summer turned towards the pair "Thank you for chasing after me...I...I understand if you don't want to be my friend anym-"

The girl collapsed where she stood.

Qrow was the first to her side "She's out cold...hey Raven, are you okay?"

She nodded wide eyed, still shocked over what happened. Her eyes not leaving Summer

"Sis...you really scared me back there." He picked up Summer

Raven finally reacted "Qrow your back is still bleeding! I'll carry her!"

Qrow snickered "No, I'm fine a little rest and it will heal on it's own..."he limped towards the cottage.

She followed "Thank you for trying to save me" she added quietly.

Qrow sighed "You'd do the same for me..."

"Still...thank you..." she laughed nervously and pushed her hair back with her hand "I thought you were going to die" she held back her tears.

"Then she showed up and it was over in seconds...I don't...I don't understand..."

Sighing once more Qrow sat down Summer under a tree and hugged his sister.

"Listen, I know we fight and argue but you're my sister I'm going to look out for you"

Raven, feeling unlike herself hugged Qrow back and let a few tears fall free from her face.

"I was just scared" she hugged him tighter "I don't need protecting from my dumb little brother"

"Heh, now you're acting more like yourself"

"Shut up" her words were muffled.

Sniffling she rubbed her eyes and looked down at sleeping Summer "Do you think she'll answer our questions without running away-oh wow"

"What is it?" asked Qrow picking Summer up once more slightly groaning since he was still in pain.

"She must really like that rose, look" Raven pointed out, Summer tightly holding the Rose to her chest.

They reached the cottage and laid her down to rest.

A/N: Hello!...so this chapter...yeah this chapter was so hard to ride. I really hope no one thinks this chapter is awful. I worked hard on it and am even working on a comic version of the scene with Qrow and Summer sleeping.

Please leave reviews, I really want to get better with writing.