Chapter 7
Robin mumbled to herself as she smacked her toy Grimm model into the toy Hunter model she had, making exploding sound effects before making the Hunter fall to the floor. She slapped the Grimm on top of the Hunter a few times before pushing the Hunter to one side. She reached to one side and grabbed the toy train she had and lined it up on the carpet with the Grimm. "Free, two, one," she announced before she pushed the train over the top of the Grimm, making the sound effects with her mouth.
She made the Grimm fly into the air and do several flips in the air before it crashed to the floor with a death sound. She grabbed another Grimm model, this one of a Death Stalker, and made it shimmy towards the train before it crawled over it. "Aaah," she mumbled, "nooo, get off. Get off. Rawr. Rawr. I am bigger dan you. Argh."
Qrow raised a brow as he watched her, curious to what exactly was going through Robin's mind. She'd been lost for the last 30 minutes in whatever make believe scenario she had made up with the trains, cars, models and toys that were strewn around her. To say it had been an interesting year was an understatement. Tai and Summer had gotten together enough to knock Summer up, making Qrow an uncle all over again. Three year old Yang had just discovered her semblance thanks to Tai trying to get her first hair cut, unsuccessfully. Now that had been one hell of a conversation with the hair salon and a lifetime ban.
On top of that the Spring Maiden had run off without a word to anyone. Qrow had been tasked with trying to find her and try to talk some sense into her. The last trace of her he'd found was somewhere South in Vacuo and he'd figured whilst he was in the area, why not drop by. He needed something to take his mind off the near impossible task and something that would pick his mood up.
His scroll beeped and he looked at it to see a message from Summer that screamed, "IT'S A GIRL!"
He smiled and typed back a quick, "Congrats! Got a name yet?" before he set his scroll down and glanced over at Robin again and he stared, smile dropping from his face. Robin was sat still, staring off into the distance, one toy gripped precariously between her fingers. He counted the seconds until he reached ten and he turned in his seat to face her and quietly said, "Robin?"
Leona hummed and he heard her drop a towel onto the bar top before she came to stand next to Qrow's chair. Robin still hadn't moved and her eyes were focused on something on the wall opposite her. "Robin?" Leona tried but it had no effect on her. "Sweetie?"
"Hey," Qrow tried and he sat on the edge of his seat. Robin blinked once but she didn't move any other muscle. Qrow leaned towards Leona, his eyes fixed on their daughter and said, "Has she done this before?"
Leona shrugged a shoulder, "Maybe. Not usually this long. I always thought it was some sort of kid thing."
"So we should be concerned?"
"Maybe?" He hummed and she rested a hand on the back of his chair, "Not like I've ever had kids before."
They both looked back to see that Robin was stood up, turned towards the door and her head tilted to one side. She narrowed her eyes for a moment before she looked back down at her toys, fell down onto her bottom and picked up one of the trains. She went back to playing and Qrow glanced at the door before looking back at her. "Robin?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you okay?"
"Uh huh," she hummed before she picked up the Death Stalker again and patted it along the floor towards the train. "I'm okay."
Leona folded her arms over her chest and said, "You sure, sweetie? What were you just doing?"
"Huh?" she abandoned her toys to stare up at her parents, a look of innocence on her face.
Leona smiled and nodded towards the door, "What were you just doing?"
Robin followed her line of sight, blinked twice and shrugged her shoulder. "I don't know. Playing."
"Did you see anything?" Qrow asked.
Robin shook her head and grabbed one of the Hunters. "Like what?"
"I don't know. Anything?"
She stared at him with a deep frown and stared down at her toys. "No." She ignored any other questions they had and continued to entertain herself with her toys. Qrow left her to it, sharing a confused look with Leona before he followed her to the bar and poured himself a drink. Leona smacked his chest and nudged him away from the bar with a frown, "When did I say you could help yourself?"
"You didn't. But you seemed busy."
"Next time I'll charge you the family rate."
"Half price?"
"Double."
"Harsh," he mumbled with a small grin.
Qrow hummed as Robin curled up in his lap and fiddled with the bracelet that matched her own. She was strangely quiet as she gently prodded, pulled and twisted at the fabric, making Qrow's mind go back to her stood there, staring at the door. He stroked a hand over her back and gently nudged her, "You okay?"
She nodded her head and fell against him, her head butting into his shoulder less than gently. "It is fun hunting?"
"You mean my job?"
She nodded, not meeting his gaze and fiddled with the buttons on his dress shirt. "Is it fun? Do you enjoy it?"
"Yeah. I get to help people, defeat the bad guys."
Robin nodded her head and let out a heavy breath. "I guess that's okay. Do you see bad stuff?"
Qrow frowned and sat up a little straighter as he tried to figure out what was going through her head. "Sometimes."
"Is it ever too bad?"
"Too bad?"
"Yeah, too bad. Not fair?"
Qrow threaded his fingers through her hair to try to get her to look at him and he let out a sigh as he nodded his head, "Sometimes, life isn't fair."
"Who chooses?"
He shrugged, "Nobody really. We make our own choices and sometimes they're good, sometimes they're bad. Sometimes we just don't know until years later."
"Oh."
He gave her a moment before he tapped her head, "Something you want to talk about?"
Robin shrugged and chewed on her bottom lip. "Life's stupid."
"And why's that?"
"Cause it's mean."
"Why?"
"Cause."
He raised his brows and finally got her to look at him. "Cause why?"
"Cause you can't stay here forever and Mommy won't be here forever and I don't want her to go. I don't want you to go away."
He had no words. He had no idea where this conversation had come from, what had spurred or where it was going. All he could do was pull her to his chest and kiss her forehead. "For as long as I'm alive, I'll always come back to you. And for as long as your Mom's alive, I'm sure she'll do everything to make you happy."
"But I don't want you two to go." She sniffed and Qrow tensed, readying himself for what seemed like was about to happen, "I don't want to lose any of you."
"You won't Little Bird," he kissed her again, "you won't."
"Stop lying," she whispered, her voice breaking before she burst into tears.
"Shh," he whispered, holding her to his chest as he rocked her, rubbing soothing circles across her back. "I'm here, I'm here, come on, I'm not going anywhere. Shhh," he kissed her again, trying to soothe her in some shape or form. He lost track of time as he held her until her sobs became whimpers than quiet cries before she finally quietened down into a snotty snore. He sighed, keeping his hand moving across her back until he was sure she was asleep before he carried her to her bed, tucked her in and placed another kiss to her temple.
Outside of her room Leona waited, a look of worry across her features. "Is she okay?"
Qrow shrugged a shoulder, "I'm sure she'll be fine in the morning." Leona glanced into the room, brows furrowed and Qrow nudged her shoulder, "Am I okay to hang around a few extra days?"
"Yeah, of course." Leona gently pulled the door to, letting a small stream of light into the room. "You never have to ask you know."
He shrugged, a small smile on his face, "I hear it's polite to ask."
"I don't think you know what that word means."
"I'm insulted you would think I'm that stupid."
"Whatever, bird brain."
He flipped her the bird with a smirk and made his way to his own room. "Call me a bird and you get the bird."
She shook her head as she strolled to her own room, "Night, Qrow."
He gave her a small wave and finally ducked into his own room, a heavy sigh leaving him once the door was closed. Robin's questions had certainly touched something close to home and he slowly started to undress. He really hoped it was one of those childish, morbid curiosities he'd heard about and nothing more.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed! I love reading your comments, they make me smile.
jaffa3: Those are the only stories I see as well but they don't cut it for me sadly. It gets real interesting soon ;)
Bomberguy789: Thank you. There's more of that to come of course, and of course the explosions of emotion. (Sorry about that)
Conna McCanna: Thank you! It's not easy to write STRQ when you don't have much material to compare it to.
Stino: For now...
The Masked Mummer: Yes, Robin will be 20 when RWBY starts, meaning she's in her fourth year when Ruby and Yang start.
New canon of Branwens for Blondes accepted.
Is that her semblance? Is it? Did she? Well, who knows.
Ruby is right around the corner yes and it's fun.
Guest: Sugar? I mean, if you mean cute sweet, fluffiness then you know, cause kids.
