Chapter 26
It took Summer and Qrow a long time to get back to Beacon, Qrow basically having to drag his wife along the streets. Summer hadn't said a word, since she had learned that her daughter had been taken, instead staring at the ground with a sad expression across her face.
Raven had already left, flying away in a vain attempt to track the bullhead that had taken Ruby.
The two arrived at Beacon's transport station finding that, to Qrow's misfortune, the transport station had closed for the night meaning they would have to take a private transport to Beacon. After metaphorically paying an arm and a leg, Qrow and Summer made it to Beacon, stopping outside the school's main gate. "Summer," Qrow asked, turning to face his wife, "I want you to go ahead to Yang's room, I'm going to go tell Oz what happened," Qrow said. "Okay," Summer agreed quietly, as she pulled her cloak tighter against herself, slowly starting to make her way towards team Rwby's dorm room.
Qrow stood still for a moment, watching as his wife disappeared into the darkness, the last he could see of her being her white cloak, flowing with the autumn breeze.
A soft series of knocks awoke team Rwby from their sleep, all of the girls, except for Ruby, who had yet to return, groaning in pain and annoyance.
"Someone get the door," Yang mumbled, turning over to her side to face the wall."I did it last time, it's your turn, Blake," Weiss said, shifting under her covers. "Just let Ruby in and I'll let you have the first shower tomorrow," Blake said, peeking one eye open to look at Weiss. "Fine," Weiss agreed, slowly dragging herself out of bed and yawning. Weiss slowly moved towards the door, opening it to reveal someone, who at first she thought was Ruby. "What are you doing up this late, you dolt? We have our first real mission tomorrow," Weiss chastised. The sound of a weapon being drawn fully awoke all of the girls, Blake and Yang jumped out of bed with Gambol Shroud and Ember Cecilla drawn at the ready, while Weiss stared at, who she thought was her partner with wide eyes. Yang jumped forward, catching the weapon that was swinging down at Weiss.
"Mom?" Yang asked, recognizing her mother's spear.
"I'll kill her!" Summer snarled, pulling her spear from Yang's grasp and going for another swing at Weiss. Luckily for Weiss, Blake was ready for her, parrying the strike with Gambol Shroud. "Mom, what are you doing!?" Yang asked, grabbing her mother's hands to keep her from attacking Weiss anymore. "Let go of me!" Summer snapped, attempting to break free of Yang. "They took her, he needs to pay," Summer said, struggling one last time before she stopped struggling.
"Are you okay, mom? What's going on?" Yang asked, walking her mother over to her bed and sitting down next to her mother. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me," Summer apologized, her rage subsiding and being replaced by blatant shame. "What's going on mom? Why did you attack Weiss?" Yang asked. Summer did not answer however, instead, she just stared at the ground in shame, what had happened wasn't Weiss's fault. "What did you do?" Yang asked accusingly, her stare directed towards Weiss.
"Nothing!" Weiss defended, staring at Summer cautiously, Blake groaned in annoyance, pulling her pillow over her ears in an attempt to drown out the noise. "Mom, what did Weiss do?" Yang asked, looking back and forth between the two. "Nothing, I'm sorry Weiss, it's not your fault," Summer mumbled. Yang and Weiss spent the rest of the night, trying to get answers from Summer but unfortunately having little success.
"That is very troubling," Ozpin commented, after Qrow finished telling him what had happened. "Yeah, what do we do?" Qrow asked, pacing around the room impatiently. "Hmmmmm," Ozpin hummed in thought, "Qrow, did you recognize these men? Do you know if they are working for...her?" Ozpin asked. "I don't think they're working for her, they all had the same logo that the Schnees use," Qrow said. "Huh, that complicates things then," Ozpin said, folding his hands together.
"Why?" Qrow asked, as he stopped his pacing, coming to stand in front of Ozpin's desk.
"You know how powerful the Schnees are but my question is, what would they want with Ruby?" Ozpin pondered, asking himself more than he was asking Qrow. "I don't know, she does have the Schnee heiress on her team, do you think it has something to do with that?" Qrow asked. "I'm not sure," Ozpin admitted, "I'll contact James and see what I can find out. How is Summer taking this?" Ozpin asked. "Not good," Qrow sighed, "She's barely said a word, since it happened, the main guy I fought mentioned Summer, I'm not sure how he knew her through, I'll have to ask her about it later," Qrow said.
"I see, don't worry Qrow, I'm sure we will find your daughter and return her safe and sound," Ozpin said, giving Qrow a reassuring smile. "Thanks Oz," Qrow thanked, as he started to exit Ozpin's office.
"Oh and Qrow?" Ozpin called.
"Yeah?" Qrow asked.
"You are no longer required to accompany a freshman team on their first mission, to Mount Glenn" Ozpin said. "You already got a substitute?" Qrow asked. "No, the team that you were going to chaperone, will no longer be going on their mission," Ozpin explained. "I can try to find a substitute if you want, I don't want to ruin a team's first real mission," Qrow said.
"There is no need, I already have an alternative mission in mind," Ozpin said.
Realization hit Qrow quickly, "Oh no Oz, this is too important for freshmen to handle. Summer and I will deal with this." Qrow said firmly. "Qrow, do you even know what your assigned team is?" The headmaster questioned. "I have a pretty good guess knowing you, Yang's way too emotional for this," Qrow started. "And Summer isn't?" Ozpin asked, making Qrow fall silent for a moment.
"Yeah Summer's emotional, so am I, the difference being that Summer and I are professionals, while team Rwby is not," Qrow said.
"Very true but I believe that Miss Xiao Long will find a way to join you, even without my assistance, so why not allow her to accompany you?" Ozpin asked.
"Fine, the Schnee then, I can't trust that she won't rat us out or something," Qrow said.
"That's hardly in Miss Schnee's character," Ozpin defended. "Think of it like this, with the extra assistance, you may be able to get Ruby back even faster," the headmaster said, reaching for his mug and taking a sip of its contents. "What about the last one, Belladonna, how is she?" Qrow asked. "A model student, I'm sure that team Rwby will be a valuable asset, once you explain the situation to them," Ozpin reassured. "Fine, they can come...but if this thing flops, I won't be able to protect you from Summer's wrath," Qrow said, causing the man to visibly gulp.
"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that then," the headmaster said.
"Well I guess I'm not getting any more sleep," Blake grumbled, sitting up in her bed, her hair all tangled up from tossing and turning all night. Looking over, Blake found Yang, still trying to speak to the mostly unresponsive older version of Ruby. "Come on mom, you need to tell me what happened, and where's Ruby?" Yang asked, rubbing her mother's back soothingly. "Why does she keep leaving me?" Summer muttered. "Who are you talking about?" Yang asked. "Ruby," Summer answered quietly.
"Where is she mom?" Yang asked worriedly.
"I don't know, they took her, I-I couldn't stop them, Qrow tried but he couldn't stop them," Summer said. "Who are you talking about?" Yang asked. "It was the Schnees," Summer spat, giving Weiss a deadly glare.
"I'm going to go and take a shower, we have our first mission today," Blake said, walking towards the restroom's door. "No way Blake, I get the shower first," Weiss said, turning around and locking the restroom door behind her. "Arrggh," Blake moaned, rubbing her face with her hands. A knock on the door caught everyone's attention, Yang got up from her bed and went to answer the door. "Dad!" Yang cheered, wrapping her father in a tight hug. How did it go, did you find Ruby?" Yang asked, releasing Qrow from her hug. "No, we need to talk Yang," Qrow said, entering the room and walking towards Summer. "Sum, do you want to tell her or do you want me to tell her?" Qrow asked. "Tell her what?" Summer questioned. "Everything," Qrow answered, sitting down next to his wife. "Oh...you should tell her," Summer answered, "Tell me what?" Yang asked, looking between her adoptive mother and father curiously. "The truth," Qrow answered, "Summer and I found Ruby tonight, now I need you to understand something, your sister is a good person but she...she accidentally did something really really bad," Qrow said, "What did she do?" Yang asked. "She killed someone," Qrow answered, placing a comforting hand around his wife.
"WHAT!" Yang and Blake screamed in shock.
"Yeah, it was an accident but it still happened," Qrow said. "Wait, so she's in jail or something?" Yang asked. "She was in Beacon's detention center," Qrow explained. "Was?" Blake asked. "Was, someone broke her out a couple of hours ago," Qrow answered.
"Who?" Yang asked
"We don't know, we have a few ideas but nothing concrete. Unfortunately, that's the least of our worries," Qrow said hugging Summer a little tighter. "What could be worse?" Yang asked. "Summer and I tracked Ruby down to Vale's docks, we found her asleep in one of the abandoned warehouses. We were about to bring her home when…" Qrow stopped, as Summer moved her head to rest on Qrow's shoulder. "What happened?" Yang asked.
"Raven tried to stop us," Qrow answered, completely stumping Yang. "Wha..I..why? What does my mother have to do with this?" Yang asked. "It was her Yang, the person we've been searching for, all these years was Raven," Qrow answered, an angry edge in his voice.
"She was the one who stole my baby sister?" Yang asked in absolute disbelief.
"She was," Qrow confirmed.
Yang's fists started shaking with rage, her eyes transforming from a beautiful lilac to a deep and furious red. Yang suddenly stood up, dead set on going to Beacon's infirmary and giving her "mother" a piece of her mind. "Yang, wait," Summer pleaded, she's not in the infirmary anymore, she already left," Summer explained, unclipping her cloak and placing it over Yang's shoulder in a comforting gesture. "Well where is she and where's my baby sister?" Yang asked, coming back to sit next to her mother.
"Summer had to fight Raven, while I found Ruby, she was going to come home with us but...then a group of soldiers ambushed us. I fought them off the best I could but, with my aura already low, I wasn't able to stop them...they took her," Qrow said.
"Who took her and why? Why would anyone want to hurt someone like Ruby?" Yang asked.
"I don't know but their leader said that he knows you Sum," Qrow said as he looked back to his wife. "It's my fault, they jumped me in Mistral. I cut the main guys arm off and teleported away, I can't see what they want with us," Summer answered, blinking her silver eyes at Qrow, hoping he would understand. "I see, well it doesn't matter, what matters now is getting her back," Qrow said.
"We'll help however we can," Blake offered.
"Good, because your original mission to Mount Glenn has been canceled. Ozpin switched it to helping Summer and I get our daughter back," Qrow said. A momentary flash of sadness passed through Blake, even with Adam in prison, the White Fang was up to something in Mount Glenn and Blake had wanted to be the one to stop them. The thought was gone just as quickly as it had arrived, her team leader was more important than her ego. "Good we were going to come anyway, do we know who took her?" Yang asked, cracking her knuckles eagerly. "They wore the Schnee's snowflake, I assume they're working for the Schnee's father," Qrow said. "What about my father?" Weiss asked, stepping out of the restroom, with her combat uniform on, her pajamas neatly folded in her hands. "A group of his men, all wearing the Schnee company snowflake, attacked me and kidnapped Ruby," Qrow spat. "Preposterous, father would never do something so...barbaric," Weiss defended, placing her clothes inside the dirty laundry hamper. "Well that's what happened, some crazy guy, Zachery I think, attacked me and kidnapped Ruby," Qrow said. Weiss's eyes widened at the mention of the man's name, she instantly recognized it as her father's head of security.
"Zachery?" Weiss asked for confirmation, receiving a nod from Qrow.
"Do you know him?" Yang asked.
"I do, he's my father's head of security but what would he want with Ruby?" Weiss asked. "We don't know, we thought that you might know," Qrow said. "I'm sorry but my father's plans are a mystery to me but I promise to help, however I can," Weiss swore. "Thank you, Weiss," Summer thanked, giving the girl an appreciative smile, a far cry from the girl's earlier interaction. "Alright, I want you guys to get ready, Summer and I still have to look into it but I could bet a large amount of lien that we're going to Atlas," Qrow said, as he stood up, offering a hand to his wife, who politely accepted.
"Get some rest and get ready, we'll be heading out soon," Qrow said, as he and Summer exited team Rwby's dorm room.
End of Chapter 26
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