Chapter 21 – Family Ties

Ruby entered the kitchen and saw her uncle leaning over the counter, grabbing out a bottle of some alcohol Ruby didn't know and was pouring it into his flask. He wasn't drinking it though, so that meant that he was just… filling up the flask he completely dank out.. so he could drink the new stuff later. Ok, Ruby wasn't on board with all the drinking her uncle did, but for him that was somewhat moderated.

"That was quite the story of what ya been through kiddo" Qrow says as he puts the bottle in the cupboard and stows his flask.

"It really wasn't that big a deal, and it happened ages ago. Well, it feels like ages since-" Ruby pauses and changes tracks. "Hey, how are you going to be with fighting your sister?"

He scoffs, but it's just a little too loud, a bit too exaggerated. It would look normal on someone else, but Ruby had trained with him for years, she knew his reactions well enough to tell that this was bothering him more than he let on. "Raven made it clear I was either with her or against her. Her values of 'family' are pretty twisted."

"You can say that again" Yang announced as she entered the kitchen. "She told me pretty much the same thing right before we left." Yang crosses the room and leans against the counter, facing Ruby and Qrow with her arms crossed.

"That's Raven for you. She was always good at pushing people away when she wasn't leaving them first." Qrow's words triggered a hurt look on Yang's face and Ruby knows that she must be thinking not only of her mother, but also of her partner, Blake. Ruby hasn't heard a thing about her teammate and where she's been, but she hopes that Blake is alright wherever she is.

"Hey, Uncle Qrow," Ruby tentatively begins. "What was it like with Raven, back before…"

"Before when? Before Team STRQ broke up? Before we enrolled in Beacon? Before our father put us through- ah it doesn't matter." Qrow grumbles a bit before taking a seat at the table, Ruby sits opposite him with her sister by her side.

"It does though. There's a lot I didn't know about you before I went on this journey, like- Oh, Yang! Did you know that Qrow's Semblance is Bad Luck?"

"What? No, I didn't know that. Uncle Qrow!"

Fine, fine. Jeez" their uncle says, his hands raised placatingly. "I guess you girls are old enough to know about what it was like. I've talked about Team Stark a few times but my childhood… well you know the truth now. Technically I wasn't 'lying' about how we grew up, the Branwen Tribe really are nomads." The fact that he has to make air quotes around the word doesn't make them buy it any more.

"Raven and I are twins, raised together under our father, Thorn Branwen, the leader of the tribe. He… gave us some harsh training. Gave everyone that 'training' really, we were just pushed a bit harder, the only ones to make it as far." Ruby gets the feeling that even telling them everything Qrow might be sugar coating the details (and why do they call it sugar coating? Sweets are awesome, so why refer to it as a bad thing?).

"He pushed the tribe so we could rob and pillage from any village we liked, the town guards were no match for us. Me and Raven tagged along when we became teenagers, and we beat out any other member of the tribe, collecting loot, knocking out guards, robbing caravans." The tone in his voice, it's a mixture of wistful and disappointed.

He sighs as he continues "We were the best, so it was only natural that we were the ones called upon to deal with the only problem that plagued the tribe: Huntsmen. As hard as he pushed us, we'd often have to retreat when hunters defended a town or attacked back. After they countered a caravan ambush, father was injured, he only barely escaped with his life. He knew he needed a counter to the huntsmen, so we were sent to Beacon, to learn their tricks and come back to the tribe after we were done."

Yang speaks up "But that didn't happen. You told us about how great Team STRQ was but Raven, she just left. Why?"

Qrow's voice is a little hoarse when he answers "I wish I knew. We were definitely facing more danger, given more responsibility, but I thought… I don't know what I thought. With Summer and Tai, we felt loved, happy for once. Ozpin and the other teachers gave us purpose and I was finally able to use my Semblance to help people… I knew that that was the family I wanted to protect. I might have liked a brawl as much as anyone in the tribe, and even cared for everyone but our old man, but Beacon was where we had made our home."

His hand twitches, like he's reaching for his flask, but he holds himself back. "Raven and I had to keep our cover, so we didn't talk much about our mission, not wanting to risk someone finding out. I dropped plenty of hints though, that I wasn't going to be leaving Beacon, and it seemed like she agreed with me. Raven stayed, even after we first found hints of the truth (though Salem definitely scared her), and by the time we knew everything and had graduated, she was still there."

"You knew everything? Ozpin hid Ruby's mission from you? I still don't know what he was thinking sending you there, that island sounded like a nightmare."

"Yang, c'mon" Ruby cried out. Her partner was suspicious enough of Ozpin, why did her big sister have to be too? "Ozpin didn't give me that mission, Professor Port did. And after I got lost in Mountain Glen Oobleck thought I may as well investigate a bit further. Ozpin only found out about it after I got myself shipped off."

Yang still looks unconvinced "Yeah, but-"

"I get it, it's a lot to take in. This is part of why Ozpin doesn't like throwing everything at anyone all at once, but Salem is leaving him many options." Yang shifts uncomfortably, no real answer to that. She's still a little hesitant, but Ruby thinks that Qrow's unwavering faith in Ozpin is helping convince her. "He didn't tell me about Merlot, yeah, but it wasn't as big as dealing with Cinder or her cronies and he didn't have a chance to afterwards. Don't worry, now that you're fully in the fold Ozpin isn't going to be hiding anything from you; I should know, I've been working directly for him for almost two decades now."

"Uncle Qrow, what was Summer like?" At Ruby's words both of them stop and turn instantly to look at her. "It's just- if you're more willing to talk about the past now, did she know everything too? How did she, you know, lead?"

Her uncle smiled faintly at that. "Summer, she was amazing. A gifted, kind-hearted silver eyed warrior, just like you. She brought us all together, when Tai and I bickered she got us to calm down, or her own partner remained aloof she'd somehow get Raven to chuckle along at her antics."

"She could destroy the Grimm with her eyes just like Rubes can?" Ruby (ok, mostly the others) had filled in Yang on what her Silver Eyes had done to the Nuckelavee. Ruby had already told Yang once about the ancient Wyvern she destroyed with them, but Yang had been kinda… out of it before she left on her journey.

"No, she couldn't actually. She didn't know much more than Ozpin did about the tales of Silver Eyes. Everyone with them is supposed to be some kind of warrior, gifted in fighting the darkness and Grimm, but destroying them with a glance? That's something I only ever saw from you kiddo" Qrow says, looking straight at Ruby's eyes.

"Eh, I'm not that gifted or anything special though. Until you taught me-"

"Kid, it's not bad being humble (or so I hear), but you're the best hunter I've ever trained. I think you're holding yourself to too high a standard at times, look where you are and how much you're still growing." Ruby guess that her training sessions with Pyrrha have certainly been noticed even while Qrow was busy trying to get hunstmen to help them. That's more of a background thought compared to the compliment that Qrow just gave her- she knew exactly how harsh a critic he could be, so that really meant something.

"You're amazing, Rubes" Yang says, smiling softly at her younger sister before turning back to Qrow.

"So, if mom was so great, what changed to make my mother leave? She left before Summer disappeared."

"I don't know. Raven always kept things close to the vest, but she was my sister. She cared for Taiyang and Summer too, I was sure of it. But then she left them, left all of us without a word. I admit, I've known where she was for a bit but… I didn't want to expose you to that until you were ready." Yang looks upset at that, but she isn't acting out and her eyes aren't flashing red, so it means on some level she recognized that it was a good thing.

"That was... the beginning of the end for Team Stark. Summer eventually told Tai about the crush she had on him and they got together. We still fought, did our jobs and whatever mission Ozpin needed but there weren't as many of us. Tai was looking after you two when I got called out on a mission. It didn't turn out to be much but the Grimm had been acting up around a small village a days journey away. By the time I got back I heard that Summer was gone on another mission and hadn't returned yet, even though it was supposed to be far closer."

"I never saw Summer use her eyes to eliminate the Grimm before, but on the night I came to find her… there wasn't a single Grimm anywhere within two miles of where she had been located. No sign of her either. I talked with Oz since he's been back and he theorized it might take an intensely traumatic experience to unlock that ability."

"Oh" is all Ruby can say. She'd been hoping that maybe she could get some more pointers in how to use her power on command. Ruby had only barely managed to save Pyrrha in the forest, but just trying to will herself to use her eyes again hadn't done anything close. She was worried that one day she might be too late and her friends could be… Well, it didn't matter for tomorrow, there wouldn't be any Grimm there. She put a smile on her face and grabbed her uncle and sister in a hug. No matter what happened Ruby trusted in her friends and she was sure that together they'd manage it, so she banished any unease she'd been feeling. Qrow and Yang seemed in a bit brighter spirits after the hug, which Ruby was glad for after how dour the conversation had gotten before. Everyone else seemed to have finished up as well, Oscar and Pyrrha coming in from outside (Pyrrha seemed to be doing better too; Ruby hoped that her and Ozpin had settled things out).

As Ruby went to bed she thought about the future. Tomorrow was the day, they'd win, stop Merlot and then move on to defeating Salem. Her mom was a great leader and Huntress and she was going to be the same. Ruby still wasn't sure about how big a deal she was, though the message was starting to sink in with multiple people telling her. She still felt she was a normal girl, though if her mom wasn't one or not being meant she was more like Summer Rose, well then Ruby would be happy with that. She drifted off thinking of rose petals, white cloaks and silver eyes.