I'm back….. with a tiny chapter. But still a chapter!
I guess I owe you guys something of an explanation… it's been a long time.
I...have been….busy? A weird form of writer's block? Emotionally destroyed and rebuilt?
So much has happened, especially in the last two years. I got into a once great DnD campaign...it took up my creative thinking and caused writers block, then it….went to shit and slowly died over the course of a year. So much fucking emotional shit… not to mention covid.
I dropped out of college for two years… became a sub… honestly that didn't help my mental for writing, but it showed me I love teaching. Now, I'm actually a teacher!
I met the love of my life….getting married next year.
She pushed me and I finished college last may. That was a true miracle I tell you what.
I feel like I'm losing my friends. (Guys if you are reading this. Yes I still feel like there's a growing gap between us...but your still my brothers and sister...and I love all of you.)
I started streaming. I use my gamer tag not my pseudonym.
So yeah...a fuck ton and a half has and is happening.
And I feel tears welling while I type this.
But I'm back.
I am here now.
Because I miss writing.
Because I miss you. Each and every one of you.
So here.
Please read this chapter I shoved out in two hours because I finally let myself write again.
Yeah it may feel off and I'll probably make someone mad, but that's okay… because one of you might smile seeing this chapter uploaded.
And that's worth it.
Thank you. Please enjoy!
"Alright, LZ is in sight, no grimm in sight either. After we drop you ladies off we'll dock at Signal until you radio in."
"keep the engine hot then, this shouldn't take long with six of us."
"Roger that, refuel and coffee break only."
"Could you grab extra coffee?"
"Sure, it's on the school's dime anyway."
Raven snorted at Weiss for asking for coffee, but didn't fault her, this mission had them all get up before even Rose normally got up. Thinking of the little faunus, Raven turned her head and frowned. Rose hadn't said a word since Patch came into sight, and not for lack of trying by any of the other 5 passengers. Weiss had even gotten brazen enough to nibble on the girls ear, which earned her two boisterous laughs, a suspicious squeak, 10 minutes of chastisement, but no response from the one intended.
Raven once again observed her daughter stare, entranced by the passing trees.
...
Rose...still didn't know how to feel about being in patch again. There was somehow still a shred of her that felt home. Long, long lost memories, more impressions than memories at first, had found their way to the surface.
The trees spoke to her in voices as fleeting as their physical selves.
But as more passed, something solid began taking shape.
A house.
A man.
A woman.
Two little girls.
A family she lost, left broken in her absence.
A part of her wanted to fix the family she once had, not that she knew how to. She just wanted to.
A sudden shake broke her out of her mind and she grabbed her bag that Weiss and Cin had to repack for her.
"I bite your ear and get yelled at for ten minutes and get nothing from, but the bullhead landing snaps you awake? Rose….I'm hurt."
Rose only turned to Weiss and tilted her head, prompting Yang to start chuckling.
"Sorry? I was...remembering something…"
Suddenly the bullhead was dead silent, prompting another head tilt.
"What?"
Weiss spoke first, in a low concerned voice.
"That's usually a bad thing Rose...what did you remember that had you so...enthralled?"
Rose made a scrunched up face, about to apologize for worrying them, but barely held it back with an internal mantra taught by the very girl in front of her.
"I remembered a picture...I think it was a picture."
She turned to her shorter mother and then Yang.
"I remembered a picture of us...and a man. In front of a house surrounded by trees."
Her mother and sister stood stunned by her words, flapping their mouths with no words coming out. It wasn't until her mother Raven spoke that they stopped.
"You remember Patch?"
"Not everything, just the picture…"
"That's still something sis, I-"
"Ladies we're burning dust, we need to take off before we attract grimm."
"RIGHT! Sorry."
The group left the airship, still processing Rose's words. As the bullhead took off the group seemed to recover. And Summer finally spoke.
"Do you have any questions for us? You've asked a lot before, but you never remembered something like this…"
Rose thought for a few moments, but finally shook her head.
"I don't have any questions about the picture… But…"
Rose chewed on her lip, phrasing her words carefully, now realizing the implications of wanting the family from before.
"Rose, you can just ask what you want"
Rose looked at her moms, and then her team. And it clicked, this was a new picture. The start of her new and current family. She didn't need the old one back, and this one grew almost everyday.
But maybe, hopefully, the man, Tai could be a part of it. She wanted it before, but now, it felt like a possibility.
"Will Tai become part of our family i- no, when he accepts me?"
Another stunned silence fell, this one even more nervous than before. Summer and Raven stared at each other for a long time. Yang even stared at the women, waiting for a response. Finally, two mothers turned back.
"That depends on if he accepts everything first, Rose. But….I can't say it wouldn't be nice."
"Summ! Really!? After how he treated you?"
"I mean having STRQ be a proper team again Rae. I'm done with his shit, but he's still Yang's father and a member of the team. Tell me it wouldn't be nice to kick butt and take names like we used to for one moment."
the taller women stared, but heaved a sigh and crossed her arms.
"If the man pulled his head out of his ass and got over himself, and maybe I put my foot to his ass. Yes. Yes, it would be great to have our old team together."
Yang let out a shocked noise at the confessions of nostalgia.
"You guys hate Tai, what do you mean you want the team back together?"
"OH I hate him...but… he's still your father and, I can't believe I'm saying this, he was never a terrible person. He gave me you, raised you two girls. Which is why, only after I wear him as a tube sock, do I want him to be in your lives, and consequentially our lives, again."
Yang slumped, the logic was too sound for her to refute.
"He loses his shit though, and I will stab his ass again."
Rose perked up at that.
"Lose his shit...at me?"
Raven sucked on her teeth, obviously realizing her mistake.
"No Rose, he's going to be thrilled to see you, he just might be mad at us. Not you. I promise."
Rose's nerves subsided with the reassurance, but the statement as a whole didn't sit well with her.
"Let's….just get going to the nest. We can discuss this more after the mission."
The end of the chapter. I don't know when the next chapter will come, but it will. I promise.
I love you guys. Continue being safe, and I'll see you again soon.