The rest of the volume will take a little more time to update since I need to focus on my exams and university. Life has gotten very hectic because of the virus and I need to figure out my plans and what I need for university. So please bear with me while I need to focus on university. Thank you for your understanding!
Team STRQ wanted to keep watching and the two Faunus had no problems with that. "What do you think will happen with Pyrrha and those three?" Kali asked.
"I have no idea, but… I'm nervous." Summer said, taking Qrow and Tai's hands in her own.
"Whatever happens we will stop it. That's the entire reason to why we are here in the first place." Ghira told the two women.
"Okay then, let's keep watching." Tai had the remote in his hand and pressed PLAY.
Burning the Candle
The view of a glum Ruby resting her head on her hand and staring into the distance before she is startled by someone slamming their palms on the table she is at. She looked up and saw that it was Weiss.
Weiss smiled at her. "I need you to pick a tablecloth." She slides two squares over to Ruby, both seeming to be similar shades of white.
Ruby looked at her partner with a confused look. "Aren't they both the same?"
"Aren't those the same color?" Tai asked, and then blinked because he had just heard Ruby's response.
"You two really are father and daughter." Ghira said, chuckling. Tai's cheeks went pink and he ducked his head, chuckling breathlessly.
Weiss sighs in frustration, "I don't even know why I asked!"
Weiss walks out of the scene as Yang comes in carrying a massive sound speaker on her shoulder, which bounces her sister and the table she's moping on again to jump in the air when she drops it on the ground.
Yang brushes her hands as she approaches Ruby. "So, have you picked out a dress yet?"
"What's the point? Who cares about the dance if Blake isn't going?"
"She really cares about Blake." Kali said, looking at Summer and Taiyang gratefully.
"Blake is Ruby's teammate. Of course she's going to care and worry about her." Summer said like it was obvious. Which, thinking back on it, it really was that simple.
Kali and Ghira nod, both happy and grateful that their daughter has two good friends in Ruby and Yang.
"Oh, don't worry; she's going." Yang says confidently and then looks over off-screen, exasperated, "Weiss! I thought we agreed: No doilies!"
"Yang knows something that we don't." Qrow says bluntly, looking at Raven when he says that.
"What do you want from me? I don't know what she knows!" Raven says angrily, trying to get her suspicious brother to back off. Both knew that something bad happened between Team STRQ, and whatever it was, it was connected to Raven's disappearance and Summer's death.
Weiss walks up to Yang, pointing in her face, "If I don't get doilies, you don't get fog machines!"
The girls are interrupted by the sound of doors opening. Neptune walked in with Sun. "Your dance is gonna have fog machines?" The blue haired boy asked them.
Weiss stepped up to him, becoming sweet. "We were thinking about it..."
Raven and Qrow share a look of disgust as Qrow also gags. "Yeah, hell no." Qrow muttered.
"I agree, a nice Schnee is just so wrong." Raven whispered to her brother.
"That's pretty cool." Neptune commented.
Sun came into the scene, acting suave to Weiss' ire. "You ladies all excited for dress-up?"
Team STRQ laughed at Weiss and Sun's antics.
"Pfft... Yeah, right!" Ruby waved her hand.
"Laugh all you want. I'll be turning heads tomorrow night!" Yang said, winking at Sun and Neptune.
Summer, Qrow, Raven, Ghira and Kali all turn their heads to stare at Tai, whose face is beet red.
Weiss ignored Yang and addressed Sun and Neptune. "What are you two wearing?"
"Uuhhh... this?" Sun gestures to his current shirtless outfit.
"That idiot." Tai and Summer shook their heads in exasperation at the Monkey Faunus.
"Why did Blake pick him again?" Ghira whispered, leaning over to his girlfriend.
Kali giggles and smiles, "Let her have this. I quite like seeing Blake and Sun together."
Ghira growls. "Well I don't."
"You're already getting overprotective of her, aren't ya." Tai said, chuckling. "Trust me, I feel the same."
Neptune steps up and holds a hand in front of his friend's face. "Ignore him for he knows not what he says."
Sun knocks Neptune's hand away, "Hey, I may have moved to Mistral, but I grew up in Vacuo. It's not exactly a shirt-and-tie kind of place."
Yang mirrored Ruby's and Weiss' looks of being told something extremely obvious "Yeah, we noticed."
"That's true. Vacuo is a dessert, you have to wear light fabrics that aren't constricting or you'll overheat quickly, even with Aura." Tai told his team and the two Faunus.
Sun rubbed the back of his head, preparing to ask: "Soooo... what does Blake think of all this? She still being all, y'know... Blake-y?"
Ghira growled at Sun, even though the teen couldn't hear him. "Calm down." Kali said, swatting his arm.
"Obviously." Weiss turns and crosses her arms in disapproval.
"I still can't think of a way to change her mind." Ruby pouted.
"Guys." Everyone looks at Yang as she starts walking out. "Trust me; Blake will be at the dance tomorrow."
"Wonder how she'll do that." Summer asked, looking to Tai.
"I don't know!"
The Faunus herself is sitting at one of the library tables with a holographic screen in front of her. She is obviously more sleep-deprived than ever, barely focusing on what she's seeing... until a small, bright red light appears on the screen. Moving up and down, Blake's eyes follow it down to her hand, then disappears entirely. She looks behind herself, obviously irritated, but no one walking among the tables is her culprit.
Both Faunus frown a deadpan stare at Taiyang and Raven. "Really? She may be a Cat Faunus, but seriously?" Kali asked them.
Neither of them said anything.
Turning back to the computer, she starts typing on the beeping keyboard before the laser dot appears on her hand briefly, prompting her to look around again and still find no one. The red point shows up on the screen, moving around in circles until Blake scowls and pounds her fists on the table. She stands up from her chair and finds the light on the floor, following it blindly through shelves of books until both the dot and its pursuer turn the corner, only for Blake to bump, shocked and shaken out of her more 'animal' instincts, into...
Yang waved with her left hand as her right holds the laser pointer, in a sing-song voice: "He-lloooo!"
"What are you...?"
Yang grabs Blake's arm. "We need to talk." And with that, amid Blake's single cry of surprise, Yang whisks her partner out of the scene.
Emerging from the steaming bathroom in nothing but a pink towel wrapped around his lower body, Ren sighs in contentedness and starts walking away, only to be stopped by Jaune suddenly appearing in front of him.
"We need to talk!" Jaune said to his teammate.
And with that, amid Ren's single cry of surprise, Jaune pulls his teammate away, leaving his bottle of 'Samurai Shampoo' to spin in the air before dropping to the ground.
"Samurai Shampoo?" Qrow asked with laughter.
Jaune sat on his bed in the dorm room, talking to Ren off-screen. "Ren... I'm just gonna say it. You are one of my best friends. These past few months, I feel like we've really bonded, even though you don't say much. I mean, you're really quiet. To be perfectly honest, I don't know that much about you, personally, but darn it, I consider you to be the brother I never had!"
They all laugh at Jaune's explanation.
The camera pans out enough to see that Ren is still only wearing his towel and looking extremely uncomfortable, but he still nods and smiles to Jaune when he's done. "And I you." He tries to be attentive from then on, but keeps glancing at his usual outfit hanging by the door.
"Oh my- Does he not know the meaning of personal space and privacy?" Kali asked, cringing.
"Didn't he say he has seven sisters?" Tai asked.
"By the Gods!" Ghira threw his hands up and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Which is why I wanted to get your advice on... girls." Jaune said hesitantly.
"Girls?" Ren sounds surprised, but starts reaching out for his clothes while Jaune is looking away.
Jaune tries to find the right words to explain. "I just... don't know... how to... girls. Um, I-I guess what I'm asking is... Well, how did you and Nora... y'know..."
"Even the dense idiot knows that they like each other!" Summer exclaimed.
"And he still can't see Pyrrha right in front of him." Tai said.
"No kidding." Qrow and Raven muttered at the same time.
Ren puts his hand down after almost touching the green robe, but looks even more awkward now. "Uh... uh... uh..."
Nora clears her throat to get the boys' attention on her, wearing nothing but her emblazoned headphones, a 'BOOP' T-shirt, and pink lightning bolt underwear as she reads a book resting on her knees, before she laughs nervously. "We're actually not 'together-together...'"
"You're going to be together if I have any say in it! And if you are my daughters' friends then I am going to help you!" Summer shouted at the screen and to Nora.
The other five leaned away from Summer as Kali leans over to Tai. "Is she always like this?"
"When it comes to idiots in love, yes. She's always like this." Tai nodded seriously.
"NORA I SAID HEADPHONES ON!" Jaune yelled. Nora does so quickly under her leader's command.
Ren focused on his friend fully. "Jaune, what is this all about?"
"Weiss. But it should be about Pyrrha." Qrow says.
Raven snorted at her brother's tone.
Jaune sighs deeply before speaking, obviously depressed by staring at the floor as he talks. "It's Weiss. I'm completely head-over-heels for her, and she won't even give me a chance. She's cold, but she's also incredible. She's smart, and graceful, and talented. I mean, have you heard her sing? I-I just wish she's take me seriously, y'know? I wish I could tell her how I feel without messing it all up."
"You have Pyrrha! Fucking get your head out of your ass and look at the woman who actually likes to be with you!" Tai, Qrow, and Ghira scream at the blond.
"Then do it." Pyrrha says in the doorway.
Jaune looks up to see Pyrrha in the doorway, with Ren and Nora doing the same. "Uh, wha?"
Pyrrha walked into the room, "Tell her exactly what you said. No ridiculous schemes, no pick-up lines. Just... be honest."
"But what if I-"
"Jaune." Pyrrha starts and smiles at him. "You can't get it wrong if it's the truth."
Jaune looks up with a new confidence, "You're right." He stands up. "Thanks, Pyrrha!" The blonde leader looks back to his bed as he goes out. "Good talk, Ren!"
Ren smiles and waves his thanks while Jaune closes the door. Upon doing so, Pyrrha becomes noticeably less cheerful as she walks over to her desk, with a concerned Nora watching her with sad eyes.
Nora sighs and looks sadly at the redhead. "Practice what you preach, Pyrrha."
"Thank you! Someone finally said it! I'm still setting you and Ren up, Nora." Summer said, smiling brightly.
"I think this is it. Yang and Blake are going to talk." Kali says as she focuses on the screen. The others watch silently as well.
The twins glance at each other, reaching over to hold the other's hand. They need this, whatever is about to be revealed feels like it will change their team. "Together. They are our family, we protect our own." Raven nods, her face paling a little bit.
"Yang, if you're going to tell me to stop, you may as well save your breath." Blake said angrily.
Yang sat cross-legged on the central desk of the empty classroom they're in, orange light shining across her calm features. "I don't want you to stop; I want you to slow down."
Blake continued to pace with arms crossed, still irritated. "I don't have the luxury to slow down."
The two Faunus frown and glace at each worriedly.
"It's not a luxury; it's a necessity." Yang points out.
"It's… it's like she's speaking from experience." Summer says quietly.
"Yeah, but why does she have that experience?" Tai asked, glancing at his teammates, mainly the twins.
"The 'necessity' is stopping Torchwick." Blake scowled.
"And we're going to. But first you have to sit down and listen to what I have to say." The blonde pats the part of the desk across from her.
Blake looks away for a moment until she relents and drapes her legs over the desk's edge, "Fine."
'This is it. This will change us.' Raven thought, her skin paled even more at the dark thoughts swirling in her head.
"Ruby and I grew up in Patch, an island off the coast of Vale. Our parents were Huntsmen. Our dad taught at Signal, and our mom took on missions around the kingdom. Her name was Summer Rose, and she was, like... Super-Mom: Baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters. And then... one day she left for a mission and never came back." Yang starts her story.
Ghira pauses the episode to give Team STRQ the time they need to process all that's being revealed. Summer and Raven stare in horror at the paused screen.
"I…" Summer sobs in shock, numbness spreading throughout her body. Raven and Qrow are frozen in fear, their skin is snow white as they shake, not really seeing anything at the moment. Tai was trying to comprehend the fact that Raven might not be Yang's mother at all. He looked between his teammate, him being the most coherent at the moment so he tried to comfort Summer.
"It was tough. Ruby was really torn up, but... I think she was still too young to really get what was going on, y'know? And my dad just kind of... shut down. It wasn't long before I learned why. Summer wasn't the first love he lost; she was the second. The first... was my mom."
"What the hell happened to me?! Where is Qrow in this?!" Raven yelled frantically.
"Rae, Rae! Calm down! We will find out, but you need to calm down!" Qrow grabs his sister's shoulders and pulls her into a tight hug. She curls into him and sobs into his chest.
"I… I left Ruby as a baby…" Summer stuttered out in horror. Kali and Ghira kept silent and respected the fact that this was a lot for the Huntsman team to take in.
"By the Gods… this is…" Tai pulled at his hair and laughs brokenly. "What the fuck." He groaned yanking on his blonde hair, tears pooling in his eyes as he looks between the two women who would be the mothers of his daughters.
Blake looks amazed at this information as Yang keeps talking, "He wouldn't tell me everything, but I learned that the two of them had been on a team together with Summer and Qrow, and that she'd left me with him right after I was born. No one had seen her since."
As Yang spoke the last sentence Raven broke down screaming. Nothing Qrow or Kali did helped her. "I… I wouldn't leave my child! I wouldn't! I WON'T BE LIKE THEM!"
Ghira went over to Summer, trying to comfort the Silver-Eyed woman who was sobbing into her hands.
Tai looked like he shut down as his eyes grew hazy.
"Why did she leave you?" Blake asked softly.
Yang sighs, then turns to the chalkboard, "That question... Why?" She gets off the desk and walks to the chalkboard, picking up a piece of chalk. "I didn't know an answer, but I was determined to find out. It was all I thought about. I would ask anyone I could about what they knew about her."
"I won't leave. I won't leave. I won't leave." Raven said like a mantra to Taiyang, tears streaming down her face.
Tai hugs the black haired woman and mutters, "I know. I know you won't leave. I know that. We will change it, I swear. I won't let that happen, I won't let our family be broken."
Qrow goes over to the inconsolable Summer who clings to him and doesn't let go as she sobs into his lap.
As the reminiscent blonde starts drawing on the board, the scene shifts to a flat-painted flashback of a young Yang, with orange bows holding her brunette pigtails, looking at the photo found in a smashed picture frame.
They all listen to the girl's story with red, puffy eyes and tears still streaming down their faces.
"Then, one day, I found something. What I thought was a clue that could lead me to answers, or maybe even my mother."
The next shot shows Yang walking down a long winding path through the towering trees shedding their leaves with a little creaking wagon pulled right behind her, a little sister in a crimson hood sleeping soundly inside.
Summer freezes as she sees Ruby. "No…" Summer is shaking her head before she even realizes it. Tai tightens his hold on Raven as he watches petrified as his daughters were travelling at night in the woods.
"I waited for Dad to leave the house, put Ruby in a wagon, and headed out. I must've walked for hours. I had cuts and bruises, I was totally exhausted, but I wasn't gonna let anything stop me. When we finally got there, I could barely stand, but I didn't care; I had made it. And then I saw them. Those burning red eyes..."
All six adults scream in terror. "NO!"
Raven, Summer, and Tai sob even harder, Qrow is so pale, his skin is grey in horror and fear. In the back of his mind he can feel his Semblance pull at him to cause some mayhem, but he wouldn't give in, not now.
In the shadows of the worn-down house the siblings had arrived at, beastly red shapes glow from the darkness.Yang's younger self looks petrified.
"There we were: A toddler sleeping in the back of a wagon and a stupid girl too exhausted to even cry for help. We might as well have been served on a silver platter. But, as luck would have it, our uncle showed up just in time."
All of them, especially Team STRQ breathed a huge sigh of relief. Tai, Summer and Raven all piled onto Qrow to give him a massive hug and grabbed him, needing to know that the man had saved their children.
"It won't happen. We will stop this from happening." Qrow muttered to his distraught teammates, running his hands through Summer and Raven's hair and letting Taiyang's head to rest in the crock of his neck.
As the Beowolves leap into the air to devour their young prey, the familiar sound of a gun-scythe follows the sight of them all being cut into pieces by a caped warrior. His bird-haired silhouette fades away to present day, where Yang has just finished drawing a clockwork eye.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" The three members of Team STRQ cried to Qrow as he tried to hold all of them. Qrow didn't speak, just nodded and continued to run his hands through the two women's hair.
"My stubbornness should've gotten us killed that night."
Qrow eyes narrowed and his arms tighten around his team. He wouldn't let that happen! Qrow would not let his team fall apart and his nieces get hurt, over his dead body!
"Yang... I'm sorry that happened to you, and I understand what you're trying to tell me, but this is different. I'm not a child, and this isn't just a search for answers! I can't just-"
Yang is still facing the board, fists clenching. "I told you: I'm not telling you to stop! I haven't! To this day, I still want to know what happened to my mother and why she left me, but I will never let that search control me. We're going to find the answers we're looking for, Blake. But if we destroy ourselves in the process, what good are we?"
Raven whimpers as she clenches her fists even more into the fabric of her brother's shirt. 'What happened? Did I die?' The dark thoughts returned to Raven full-force at the thought of her death. She wasn't scared of death, and neither was Qrow. But… leaving her daughter with nothing but her name… it made Raven feel sick.
"You don't understand! I'm the only one who can do this!" Blake yelled to her partner.
"No, you don't understand!" Yang turns around sharply to reveal red eyes and the sound of flames. "If Roman Torchwick walked through that door, what would you do?"
Qrow and Raven gasp. "I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing our eyes in Yang." Qrow chuckles as he nods.
"Same, it's weird but comforting. Maybe… maybe Yang having our eyes is a sign that things get better between the three of us?" Qrow asks while Raven shrugs lightly, not knowing the answer.
"I don't know." She whispers to him, continuing to hug her brother.
"I'd fight him!"
"You'd lose!" Yang pushes Blake away.
"I can stop him!" She tiredly tries to do the same to Yang, but she doesn't even budge.
"You can't even stop me!" Yang shouts.
She pushes Blake again, knocking her to land on the desk. Yang, still angry-eyed, walks toward Blake as she gets up, but then does the unexpected and embraces her in a hug, her eyes going back to their normal purple.
"I'm not asking you to stop. Just please, get some rest." She pulls back to look at her partner, "Not just for you, but for the people you care about." The blonde steps away and starts walking past the startled Blake, who turns when she says over her shoulder: "And if you feel like coming out tomorrow, I'll save you a dance."
Yang winks down at Blake, and Blake stares at Yang as she leaves before sighing heavily and walking away, leaving the all-seeing eye on the board.
"Thank you." Kali says to Taiyang, Raven, and Summer. They nod to her and Ghira.
"You have no idea how happy it makes us to know that Blake will have friends and teammates that will stick by her no matter what." Ghira said with a smile on his face.
"We are family, always." Summer said to the Faunus. She was only sniffling now, not sobbing anymore.
The white rose in Jaune's hand bounces up and down as its smiling owner walks through Beacon Academy until he stops at the entrance of a hallway with the sound of a certain voice, causing him to duck behind the columns outside.
"Neptune!" Weiss walks past Jaune as he peeks around the corner and goes up to Neptune.
Ghira sighs at the foolishness of the blond boy, but understands his motives.
"Hopefully he and Pyrrha get together at the dance." Kali says, placing a hand on Ghira's.
"Oh, uh, hey, what's up?" He asks the white haired girl.
"I know this is a little unorthodox, but... I wanted to ask you something." She puts her hands behind her back trying to look innocent as Jaune drops his smile and recoils at the oncoming words. "Would you... like to accompany me to the dance tomorrow?"
While Neptune rubs the back of his head and smiles with raised eyebrows, Jaune loses all of his confidence and drops the rose on the ground before walking back from where he came from.
"That idiot will get Pyrrha. We'll make sure of it!" Summer says with a smile, humming as she thinks of a way to get the two teenagers together. It distracts her enough to not have to think of the story Yang had just finished telling Blake.
The sight of the lonely, abandoned rose turns into a large collection of the same flowers, one dropping outward, in a large vase behind Yang, now in a short white dress with black heels as she stands at a podium. The doors in front of her open and she flips out upon seeing who walks in.
"Well, she wasn't wrong." Qrow said, smirking at his neice.
"She's definitely turning heads in that." Tai whistles and both Summer and Raven slap him.
"That is your daughter, Taiyang Xiao Long!" Summer shrieks.
"I know where she got her looks from." Tai says, smirking at Raven, who turns beet red.
"Not a word, Tai. Not one or I'll shave your hair off at night!" Raven threatened.
Tai pales and moves his arms to cover his head, pleading for Raven to be joking. Raven just smied innocently.
"You're evil! Qrow! Why do you have such an evil sister?" Tai whined.
"No clue, haven't figured that out." Qrow shrugged and kept his hand in his sister's hair, knowing it's calming her down, slowly.
"Ooohh, you look beautiful!" Yang says to her sister.
Ruby groans as she looks distressed in her red dress with black lace, belt, and pumps. "Can we have a serious talk about how Weiss fights in these?" The small girl tries to maintain her balance as she walks to the podium, much to her laughing sister's amusement.
The women snort. "That's true. But fighting in heels is actually a very stupid idea if you're not trained like that." Summer speaks up.
Meanwhile outside, Sun is seen walking around and wearing a new black jacket (now closed up) with a white tie hung around his neck, which he proceeds to fight with before going inside.
"Stupid... dumb... neck trap!" Sun struggles with his tie.
"I knew you'd look better in a tie."
Sun stops his struggling and stares at the dark purple dress worn by Blake, now looking like she traded her dark bags for violet eyeshadow, as she steps forward and takes him by the arm.
Qrow whistles. "Damn! Blake looks good with a few hours of sleep and some makeup!"
Ghira looks ready to rip the black haired male apart but Kali stops him by wrapping her arms around his middle and glaring at Qrow.
"Please reframe from cat-calling our daughter." Kali pauses, realizing what she just said. "And ignore the pun, it was unintended."
"Sooo, does this mean we're going... together?" Sun asks her hopefully.
Blake smiles, "Technically, though my first dance is spoken for."
"Not that, I want to see!" Qrow thinks about Yang and Blake dancing together. He has no issue with Yang being in a relationship with another woman, and he knows that Raven won't care either. Both want Yang and Ruby to grow up without the Tribe breathing down their necks all the time. Especially with Yang, because she is Raven daughter and technically the heir to the tribe. He really hopes that both of them can get out without having to kill the people who took them in, but he knows that it might come to that.
Inside the ballroom, streamers are hung through glass chandeliers, pink and blue balloons are everywhere, and students in dark suits and bright dresses are stepping with each other to the music between the white-clothed tables. Blake is spun around by Yang before they curtsey to one another, and Sun comes up and takes his date's hands as Yang gestures for him to do so. She goes to hang with Ruby and Weiss (in a similar white dress as Yang's) in the back of the room, watching Blake laugh and enjoy herself before smiling at her team.
"I don't like that boy." Ghira mutters, his overprotectiveness coming out.
Kali laughs, "Let her enjoy this. It's what she and the others need after what they've been through.
"I told you she would come." Yang says with a soft smile on her lips.
"Mission accomplished." Weiss says, also smiling and mentally thanking Yang.
Ruby turned to her teammates. "Soooo, what do we do now?"
"Just have fun!" Yang proceeds to walk away and do so, with Weiss going the opposite direction and leaving Ruby behind.
Ruby shouted after Yang: "Does that mean I can change out of these stupid things and into my hood now?" Upon receiving no answer, she waddles around in her painful footwear. "Stupid lady stilts!"
The females laugh at Ruby's antics, Tai and Qrow share a rare smile with each other, liking the way Summer and Raven's faces light up when their daughters are together.
"We won't our family break apart." Qrow whispers to the blond, who nods.
"Nothing will stop us from protecting our girls."
"They aren't fragile damsels, and if we treat them like that they'll kick our asses." Qrow reminds him.
Tai shurgs. "It'll be worth it."
"Not enjoying yourself?" Ozpin asks, coming up beside the young leader.
Ruby was surprised to see the headmaster step up by her side, but shakes her head and laughs. "Oh, no, everything's fine! I'm just not much of a fancy pantsy... dancey girl."
Ghira laughs at Ruby's brief explanation to the headmaster. "My, my. Summer your daughter is truly something."
"Yeah, she is." Summer leans into Tai and gives him a small kiss on the cheek. "The only reason I have Ruby is because of Tai. And I'm grateful that I have a daughter as amazing as Ruby." Tai goes red at the thought of him and Summer and Ruby as a family.
"I'm really looking forward to having our daughters. Both of them." Tai wraps his arms around both of the women on his team as Qrow rolls his eyes.
"Lucky asshole!" Qrow growls playfully.
"Oh come on, Qrow! I'm sure you'll find someone. Hell, it might even be in future episodes of the future!" Summer bounces, thinking about who could be Qrow's significant other.
Qrow's now the one to turn red and coughs into his hand, trying and failing to get rid of his blush. "Uh… yeah, maybe." He whispers, head ducked down. He didn't know if he would ever find someone who would complete him like he can clearly see with Kali and Ghira, and Tai, Summer, and Raven. But he hopes so; he just doesn't know when that would be.
Ozpin chuckles, "Well, you can't spend your whole life on the battlefield, even if you may want to."
They all chuckle at that.
Ruby crossed her arms, looking annoyed. "Yeah, that lesson's been floating around a lot lately."
Ozpin stared out at the dancing couples. "If you think about it, fighting and dancing aren't so different. Two partners interlocked, although one wrong move on the ballroom merely leads to a swollen foot."
Ruby looking down at her own feet. "Or a twisted ankle."
"It's not every day that friends are able to come together like this. Time has a way of testing our bonds, but it's nights like these that can help keep them stronger than ever. Nights like these are ones we'll never forget." Ozpin tells her softly.
'He's speaking from personal experience. I wonder what happened to him.' Summer thought, frowning a bit.
Ruby smiles at the words of wisdom, but turns her head at the sound of the doors opening. Yang is back behind the podium, and smiles at the new arrivals.
"You guys are just in time!" Yang greets.
Mercury and Emerald step in with their ballroom best on before the screen goes black and the credits roll: "Wouldn't miss it for the world."
"I think we all need some time to process what we just learned." Kali said softly, and the others nod slowly. Kali and Ghira leave to their room, knowing that Team STRQ will need to come to terms with what happened to their team in the future. The would seek out the Faunus when they were ready.