I do not own RWBY

Despite the chaos in her team, Ruby smiled with fondness as she unlocked the house of her childhood home. Patch was a beautiful island and the wood cabin fit in perfectly with the forest around it. She'd spent hours losing herself in the trees surrounding the house when it became too difficult to stay inside. Although she had gotten used to living this life, it hadn't been easy in the beginning. Most of the time she tried not to think about the nightmares that had haunted her. Unpleasant thoughts should stay in the past where they belonged not waiting in her dreams like scavengers. Where was she again, right Patch. The island was home to several replaced Vale huntsmen and their families; people who wanted nothing more than to be left alone. As such the grimm population was very low except in the winter. No one wanted to hunt grimm in the snow plus the winter was used as a proving ground for apprentices and students. The elders got to sit out and watch while the kids got to slay monsters; it was a win for everyone.

Leading her team into the house she immediately heard snores. Feeling her heartbeat speed up even as her team tensed, she moved toward the sound. Peeking over the blue couch Ruby's smile twitched as she saw her father passed out on the floor a bottle of whiskey still sitting on the table. While she was happy that he was home, she wished that he hadn't gotten drunk the first chance he got. Resolving to deal with it later she made a motion for her team to be quiet and led them to her room.

"Pyrrha you, Jaune, and Blake can have my room," she told them planning to take over the couch. While she could take her dad's room or even Tai's, she doubted she would get much sleep over the week. Her room had two beds from when Yang decided to keep her company. Smiling she pretended not to notice the tension in their shoulders from her words. Instead, she said, "just keep away from the weapon chest in the corner. I'm going to go make something to eat."

Walking into the living room she stopped a few feet from her dad. The smile finally fell from her face as she took in the sad form of her father. Something told her that his mission hadn't gone as well as he wanted it to. Closing her eyes she reached up to touch the feather in her hair, before slumping slightly. As much as she pretended, her father wasn't perfect, he was human just like she was. That meant his drinking problem was an all too real issue that none of them liked to talk about. Taking the blanket off the couch she dropped it over his body before picking up the bottle of whiskey and walking to the kitchen.

Stepping into the kitchen brought back memories of baked cookies and strawberry milk; both her dad and Tai had tried to give her a childhood that would make Summer proud. Resting for a second beside the counter she took a moment to think about her mom. She wondered what Summer Rose would think about the life her daughter was living; what would the woman say if she knew that she'd killed a man? Wincing slightly at the thought she shrugged off her negative emotions. Thinking about the ideals of a dead woman wouldn't help anyone much less herself. Putting the bottle on the counter before she could copy her father's actions, she walked over to the fridge.

Looking at the fully stocked fridge, she wondered if Tai had been planning on going on a mission at all before deciding it didn't matter. her team would make good use of the food he'd left behind. She was really in the mood for comfort food right now, but nothing heavy. If she knew her dad, the second he smelt food he would be awake. catching sight of the fruit packing the shelves she grinned, fruit pancakes sounded really good right now.

Qrow groaned sitting up slowly as he recognized the scent of food coming from the kitchen. Reaching up to touch his pounding head he ran a hand through his hair before glancing at the table where he'd left his whiskey. The best way to deal with a hangover was to get drunk once again, but unfortunately, his bottle was gone. letting out another groan, he blinked slowly; the scent of food was doing more to make him nauseous then hungry. For a moment he wondered if Tai had come home early, it would be just like the blonde to steal his drinks. Stumbling to his feet the drunken huntsman tossed the blanket back onto the couch before flaring his aura through his body to get rid of the hangover. He'd expected to find a lot of things once he made it to the kitchen doorway, but his daughter standing at the stove wasn't one of them.

Humming softly, she flipped another pancake from the pan to the plate on the counter without even glancing at the plate. The fruit-laden pancake was the last one that she was going to cook, mainly because she'd already filled one other plate with the things. Turning off the stove she picked up the plate and spun around to put it on the table along with the second plate of pancakes and the plates of bacon and eggs. It was the first time she'd cooked anything other than cookies for her team; she just hoped that they liked it. As the plate touched the table, she looked up to see her father standing in the doorway his mouth hanging open.

"Hey, dad..."

She'd said the words without thinking just like when talking to Roman on the train. Face turning red the reaper looked down at the ground as she silently cursed herself. There went two years of careful planning. Why was it that she always acted like an idiot at the worst possible moment? He was obviously not ready for her to know the truth and she'd just discounted his feelings on the subject. Gripping the back of the chair closest to her, she resisted the urge to bolt for the door. She doubted that she would make it anyway.

He didn't know how to react as the word slipped from her lips, he'd never thought she would ever call him that. It was easy to see from the iron grip she had on the chair she hadn't meant to speak, but she wasn't running away. Catching sight of the feather in her hair, he rushed forward to pull her into a tight hug. He hadn't realized how much he wanted her to call him that until the word actually left her lips. It had been years since he'd chosen to become her teacher rather than her father and the idea still left a horrible taste in his mouth.

The moment his arms closed around her she froze. Her hand dropped from the chair and she stood there with her face against his chest. Was he hugging her? He wasn't mad at her for knowing the truth. Wrapping her arms around him she dug her nails into his shirt. It was different than hugging Cardin, not that she'd thought it wouldn't be, but it was also strange. In her first life, she didn't have a father, not a good one anyway, so this wasn't something she was used too.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered emotions threatening to overwhelm him. Tightening his grip for a moment he waited for her to push him away or snap at him; he had abandoned her after all. Instead, she chuckled the sound muffled by his chest before she pulled away reluctantly. She could almost feel Blake's stare burning into them. Glancing past him at her faunus teammate she rolled her eyes before stilling as he reached out to touch the feather in her hair. Raising an eyebrow, she waited for him to say something but instead, he moved away from her.

Blake watched the moment from the doorway wishing her own parents were there but pushed the idea away when she realized they would be disappointed in her. If they knew that she'd killed someone they would think she was exactly like the White Fang they left behind. She wouldn't blame them either, she had taken a life; a faunus life. Somehow that made it worse than if she'd taken a human life. She'd fought so long for her people that taking even one life felt like she was betraying them.

Seeing the doubt in Blake's eyes she sighed before fully turning to face her teammate. Right now her teammates needed her, she couldn't be thinking about herself right now. Putting a fake smile on her face she said, "Blake can you go get the others we should eat before we start talking."

"Of course," the girl said. Glancing at the man who she assumed was her leader's father she tried not to wilt under the curious look Qrow sent in her direction.

"Huh, I guess your teams here," he said. Watching the black-haired girl vanish, he tried to pretend that he approved of her teammates. Seeing her smile fade he pushed back his initial rush of annoyance that he felt toward her teammate.

"I'll tell you everything," she said. In the short time, before her team returned, she did just that; she told him everything except her action on the train. And her crush on Roman; there was no way she was going to tell him about her fondness for a thief. While she doubted her father would reject her for killing someone, she knew that her teammates could be back at any moment.

Qrow waited until she was done to pick up the bottle of whiskey and downing the rest of it all at once. His daughter had been through so much over the last few months, not all of it good. He'd known that she was ready for Beacon skill-wise, but he didn't know if she was ready emotionally. His daughter was strong, almost at the same level as a fourth year, but she was still a teenager. Although he tried not to notice he knew she was emotionally estranged from people her own age. She had inherited her recklessness as well making for a bad combination. Ruby wasn't even surprised that after his drink, he wandered over to the table and collapsed into a chair.

"Oz is going to be ticked," he said referring to the state of her team rather than anything else. he could see that there was more weighing on her mind than she was willing to admit as well. Ruby nodded in agreement and he felt an urge of vindictive rage at her team. Smirking he asked, "you and your team have a week off, right?"

"Yes," she said. Almost reading his mind she shifted allowing a matching smirk to appear on her face before hiding it as her teammates came into the kitchen and sat down. it wouldn't do to scare them before training even started. Choosing a seat across from him she smiled innocently as she asked, "want to help with our training?"

"Ruby I thought this was going to be a team thing," Jaune whined sounding more like himself than he had since the grimm invasion. Throwing a glance at his leader who seemed way to innocent not to be planning something, he felt slightly threatened. Instead of calling Ruby on her act, he looked at his girlfriend instead. Pyrrha nibbled on her bacon silently not wanting to say the wrong thing and insult her leader.

"My father is a professional huntsman, he'd be a great teacher," Ruby told him before glancing over at Blake for a second. The cat faunus hadn't spoken much since they'd left Beacon and she was worried. Meeting Blake's golden eyes she felt a bit of hope that her teammate was doing better only for that feeling to die when Blake looked back down at her plate.

Why was it so hard for her to fix this? She cared about her teammates, probably more than she should, so why couldn't she fix this already? It was never this hard to talk things out with Cardin but that was the issue; no one was talking. They couldn't get past this unless they were willing to talk through the problem. Jaune was too stuck in the idea of being a hero to realize that the world was a much darker place while Blake was drowning in her own guilt and self-doubt. It was infuriating but reacting with anger wouldn't help.

Feeling her fingers twitch, she frowned. There was no way she could make her teammates talk to her. She'd failed as a leader; everything she'd done until now was for nothing. She was still that same lonely little girl who loved a demon only for that demon to kill her. At this rate was going to lead her teammates right off a cliff and get them all killed. Forget Cinder, she was the biggest threat to there safety. It would have been better if she'd never gone to Beacon in the first place.

Ruby looked down at her uneaten food-filled plate she felt sick. Now her nightmares were haunting her during the daytime too. It was nice that her demons were equal opportunity predators; they just made her life so much more interesting. Right well this silence was the worst kind of oppressive and if she stayed here any longer, she might actually get sick. Standing with a smile, that was completely fake, she said, "I'm going to visit mom."

Qrow watched his daughter leave the room and almost called her back after seeing the carefully concealed pain in her eyes. He was probably the only one besides Cardin who could tell when she was faking. The boy might be a arrogant little rodent, but he was good for his daughter. Loyalty was important and Cardin was loyal to his daughter; that was the only reason he hadn't kicked him off a cliff. Still, he had bigger things to deal with than Ruby's accomplice. Hearing the door shut he took a moment to study her teammates.

They were sitting with looks of complete discomfort on their faces but none of them seemed to realize that they'd driven their leader away. Ruby was insanely clingy; she got if from her mom, for them to drive her away was almost incredible in the worst sort of way. The blonde on her team was someone he could have compared to Tai, but his blonde was never a coward. From what she told him the boy was only just now learning how to fight but that was no excuse for him to act like a child. The redhead was a tournament fighter, she had no idea what it meant to fight for her life. She was most likely still trying to play by the rules she'd learned in her matches. And of course, the black-haired faunus. He'd spent time on Menagerie, having the daughter of their chief on her team made Ruby a target.

Ruby was a good person, but she was also a ruthless little thing. She was able to separate her own emotions from her actions however she got attached to people quickly. He had no idea what she would do when she realized that she couldn't protect them from everything. One day the loyalty of her team would be tested he had no idea what she would do when that happened. How would she react if her teammates betrayed her?

"What the hell are you brats playing at?"

All three froze at his question, however, Jaune was the only one who looked up at him. Blinking in surprise at his words he didn't notice the reactions of his teammates. Pyrrha flinched, having already noticed something was wrong with Ruby but chose to do nothing to help, while Blake tightened her grip on her fork and looked away. None of their reactions even remotely calmed down the enraged father sitting across from them. Hand twitching toward his fork, the man tried not to think about the fact he knew seven different ways to kill them with it. At this point Cardin was a better friend for his daughter; even the idea left a sour taste in his mouth.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

The worst part was he was pretty sure the boy was clueless which somehow made it worse. This was why he hated kids. Running a hand through his hair, the man resisted the urge to throw the table at them. The only way to do that was to remind himself that he got to beat them into the ground during training; revenge would be sweet. Feeling his temper start to subside he breathed out slowly as he released the iron grip he had on the table. Tai would flip if he came home to find his table broken.

Stacking enough food on his plate that he would be able to hold out until dinner, the man stood. If he stayed here, he would say something that he regretted. Wait... no, he wouldn't because none of these kids meant a thing to him outside of the fact, they were his daughter's teammates. He didn't have to hold his tongue just to make them feel a little better about themselves. He could be as vicious as he wanted, and Ruby wasn't here to stop him either.

"Jaune Arc," he stated gaining the boy's attention. Smirking cruelly, he said, "a worthless excuse of a huntsman who wants to be a hero but can't realize that being a hero and a monster are two sides of the same coin. For every person that cheers your name, another will curse your existence, and no one will thank you for killing their demons. It's an unspoken fact that huntsmen are feared by civilians. You will never be the hero of any story other than your own."

He watched the boy just long enough to see him pale as the words sank in before turning to the redhead. Ruby's partner was glaring at him for his words to her boyfriend; yes, he knew about that, Ruby had called him a one in the morning to gush about her plans working. Either way the redhead was too emotionally involved to see that Jaune needed to hear this, not that he was the only person on the team that had flaws. Meeting the girl's glaring eyes; her expression was totally not threatening, they needed to work on that.

"Pyrrha Nikos," he started, and she shrank down at his voice. Well there goes the glare; gods these kids were pathetic. Twitching slightly, he said, "the champion, untouchable, but also just a little girl prodigy with the talent to reach the top, yet that makes you a target for hate. I'm sure there are several talented Mistral fighters that curse your existence with every breath they take. Not only that but you're too by the books. There are so many flaws with your mentality and fighting style that I can't even begin to list them."

The girl frowned at his words but before she could speak, he waved a hand to shut her up. Watching her mouth close he raised an eyebrow just enough to mock her. He would have felt better if she'd argued with him instead of falling silent. The respect she had for authority figures was a big issue especially since not everyone in power was a good person; Jimmy being the example. The man was a paranoid idiot, anyway, back to dressing down his daughter's teammates.

"Blake Belladonna," he said her name with enough anger that she glanced up at him only to look back down at the table. For a former terrorist she really was a weak-willed girl, he supposed that was why she hadn't made it as a terrorist. Keeping the smirk on his face he said, "former white fang, abandonment and trust issues also being targeted by a bull faunus with stubbornness issues. Out of all of you brats, I thought you would be the one to notice Ruby acting strange, or maybe you just don't care enough to notice. What I do know is that the moment I told your parents you were at Beacon they were overjoyed; they'll be disappointed that you're still the same little girl who ran away from home without a word."

Blake looked down at the table with shock and guilt at his words and Qrow watched the three try to come to terms with his break down of them before his anger overcame his reasoning. Even now they didn't try to fight his words they just accepted it. This was not the team he wanted for his daughter; they had no courage. None of them were willing to fight back against him or even for each other. They were weak little kids who had no idea how the real world worked and trying to protect them would get his daughter killed. Briefly, he wondered if Ozpin would allow him to drag his daughter out of Beacon for an apprenticeship before throwing away the idea. Ruby was already attached to the fools.

"Ruby's told me everything about her team," he said repressing a shudder. He never needed to know what color Jaune's boxers were or how many pancakes Pyrrha could eat in thirty seconds. Seriously there were some things he didn't need to know about them; like where Blake kept her porn collection. Feeling the urge to get drunk he said, "but the one thing she's never done is complain. She's picked you all up and, in some cases, spearheaded your training herself. Through all of it, she's never asked any of you for anything, yet none of you can see how she's falling apart. Who the hell do you think you are to be so damn blind when she's hypersensitive to all of you stupid brats! "

By the end, he was yelling hands curled into fists to keep from breaking Tai's table. Growling the man's red eyes pinned them with one last glare before he grabbed his plate and the bottle of whiskey from the counter. Stomping from the room he didn't notice the look shared between the three of them. Blake winced at the words as she thought back on Ruby's actions leading up to the arrival to Patch, did they really ignore their leader's emotions that much?

(Ruby)

Ignoring the instinctive urge to run as she met the cold red eyes of her aunt. She returned the woman's stare with her own. It had been years since she saw the older woman and she knew Yang would kill to be in her place. Shifting on her heel she watched the woman warily as she approached. The sea breeze wafting in from the cliffside caused her to shiver slightly. She knew that the woman was studying her, but she wouldn't back down.

"You're her child," Raven mused looking at the girl closely. There were so many similarities to Summer it was almost like looking at a replica. Ruby had obviously changed from the depressed seven-year-old child she used to be. However, it was also obvious that Ruby wasn't completely different than the little girl she'd comforted after Summer's funeral. She could see the pain in the way the girl hunched her shoulder and in the glistening of the child's eyes that she tried to hide. In truth, if she hadn't been looking for a crack it was likely the girls mask would have fooled her. It was hard not to look for that crying girl when it was the last memory she'd had of the child.

"Yes," Ruby said simply. Watching the woman closely she decided to keep her connection to Qrow a secret. Without faltering under the woman's gaze, she asked, "you were on mom's team, right?"

"I was. You look a lot like her," Raven said.

Catching sight of the feather in the girl's hair, she frowned before reaching out to catch the accessory in her hand. Holding it gently she knew just from touch it was her brothers. She supposed it made sense for her brother to do something like this; the girl was his apprentice. Still for him to claim Ruby was an adult by Branwen tribe tradition was slightly strange. Releasing the accessory, she only hesitated a moment before laying her hand on the girl's head. Paying no mind to how tense the girl was she felt a pang of heartache. She missed her partner. Blinking away the thoughts before they could hurt her any further, she moved to leave.

"I wish you well."

Hi, sorry for the late update.

Anyway, I figured I'd respond to some of your reviews. So, yes, Ruby does mirror Adam although she's slightly more moral. She follows her own desires rather than trying to follow the greater good. At the moment the only thing that keeps her in the light is her friends and family. Adam himself will have an issue with Blake killing a faunus. A very big issue.