Hmmm. A False Rose had more of a lukewarm reception than "RWBY and JNPR play various Earth games" (And by lukewarm I mean cold as shit), but that don't mean I'll stop working on this story. Hell naw! This story concept is too great to pass up.
Time to buckle up for a teary family reunion, dear readers.
Chapter Two: "A Rose's Return - The Annoying Little Bird"
Taiyang Xiao-Long was a man with many aspects. Doting father, great teacher, exceptional huntsman... And Loving husband.
Yet, despite how great of a lover he was, every woman which showed an interest and shacked up with him ran away, for one reason or another.
Qrow likes to say that 'Little Tai' downstairs has some sort of repellent. That usually earns him a right hook for his trouble.
Raven fled after giving birth to Yang due to who-knows-why. Probably something to do with her excessively fatalistic philosophy, a cruel way of thinking that, even when he showered her with the love most likely nobody gave her back when her and Qrow were part of their tribe, he couldn't manage to get rid of it in time.
Oh boy, and then Summer...
He knew Summer Rose had a crush on him, it was blatantly obvious back at Beacon, and it remained that way after they graduated. When news of Raven's disappearance spread, she put everything away and ran over to his home in Patch to... Patch his poor heart up.
And now you know where Yang got her punning sense of humor, but back to the back.
He never noticed his 'innocent and pure' team leader quickly wormed her way into his heart. Filling the hole Raven had left and even overfilling it. Summer was everything Raven was not, and then some more. A loving mother for Yang, and great life partner for him.
Especially in bed, and he thought Raven was wild. But that's a story of broken hips he's saving for another day.
And speaking of bedding, one thing led to another, and then Ruby was born. They weren't married then, so Ruby took her mother's surname. Not that it didn't fit her. He had to admit 'Ruby Rose' sounded a hell of a lot better than 'Ruby Xiao-Long'.
And then, one day, when Ruby had barely turned two - Ozpin called her for a mission only a silver-eyed warrior could accomplish...
That was twelve years ago, and he hasn't seen her since.
At first they all thought she was running a few days late, so they went after her... But then days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, months turned into years - You get the gist of it.
A body was never found, and though both him and Qrow were holding onto hope, Ozpin knew better.
A year after she went MIA, Ozpin swung by their home... With a gravestone with Summer's name, emblem, and favorite poem excerpt on it. He asked for everyone to watch as him and Glynda Goodwitch (Mainly Glynda to no-one's surprise) placed the gravestone in Summer's favorite cliff in Patch.
He wanted to deny it so hard, both for his sake, and for the sake of his girls who kept asking what was holding mommy up. Ruby kept asking for her mother's heavenly chocolate chip cookies, but those were never going to come.
Qrow fell to alcoholism to cope with the loss, and for a while, he did too. Until Yang dragged Ruby away in a quest to look for Raven.
His girls were almost attacked by a beowolf that day, and that was the wake-up call he needed to pick himself up.
He stopped the drink, learned to cook, paid attention to his girls even more, trained them since they were little, and even became a teacher in the local combat school to keep tabs on them. He became superdad since supermom was gone.
At least, that's what he was led to believe. Ten years after Summer disappeared, Qrow swung by the house, completely out of breath, and strung together a series of words he thought he would never hear.
"Shortstack's alive. Lionheart saw her taking a bullhead to Mistral from Haven"
That day everything came crashing down back together. First Raven, then her too? It was madness. He didn't know whether to either feel rejoiced or angry beyond reason, so he settled for the next best thing.
Summer Rose was in for one hell of an ass whooping when he found her... Quickly followed for the most intense love-making known to Remnant.
A balanced punishment, as all things should be.
Following the bombshell, Ozpin gave Qrow his blessing to flip Mistral upside down until he found her. After all, it wasn't only her family that was befuddled by her disappearance and sudden reappearance. Ozpin had his doubts, and rightfully so. Nobody knew if it was really Summer or an agent of Mommy Salami (AKA: Salem, the Queen of the Grimm) in disguise.
So perhaps it was better to hold off on the punishment for now.
That day, which was a Sunday, Tai was busy doing housework, namely dinner. It was 4 P.M but his girls ate for hours on end, especially Yang. Speaking of his girls, they were busy arguing upstairs.
He'd deal with that later. Perhaps by sparring with them until their arms fell off.
He was focused on doing the tomato paste, but not enough to not notice the black sedan coming up the dirt road to his house.
That's gotta be Qrow. He said he'd stop by today with news about the search. He thought to himself as he chopped some celery.
A few minutes later, a knock was heard on the door. A particular kind of knock that only a member of Team STRQ would know how to make.
Definitely Qrow.
He pressed the buzzer button he had installed on his own for the front door while he kept working on the food. He heard how the door opened but paid it no mind. After all, he had things to do. He grabbed a scallion and started chopping it.
"Sooo... You learnt how to cook? Or should I keep the fire extinguisher handy?" Hesitantly said the voice of a ghost.
He stabbed the kitchen knife into the chopping board in shock.
No, that... No, it can't be.
He quickly turned around and he was greeted with a sight he never thought he would ever, ever, ever see again.
Shoulder-length black-and-red hair, tattered white cloak, teary silver eyes...
"I'm... I'm... I'm so sorry" She managed to say in between sniffs.
"What..." He couldn't get out of his shock.
"I... Was ambushed, then... Callows left me to die, but I didn't, then I got amnesia... And I've been wandering for so long with no idea of who I was..."
That was enough for him to snap, he dropped everything he was doing to scoop her in a loving embrace.
"Shhhh... Just... Just let it all out..."
She buried herself in the crook of his neck, crying all over.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, Tai..."
"It wasn't your fault, honey..."
He looked past the ghost he was now holding, and over to a drunken crow watching from afar with a sad smile on his face. He mentally sighed.
I'm sorry she picked me, bro.
He pulled away from her to try and have a conversation.
"So, honey. Are you fine now?"
She sniffed, snot running down from her nose. "No... Not really. It feels unreal..."
"You wouldn't be the only one to think that" Said Qrow, finally making himself known.
"So, what happened? Try to gather your thoughts, my White Rose"
She took a deep breath, and sighed. "That's... It's complicated. I only remember bits and pieces. I've had amnesia for so long, it was only ten months ago things started coming back..." She gulped. "But like I said... I was ambushed by Tyrian, Tyrian Callows? The insane Anima killer?"
Taiyang scowled at the mention of the nutjob's name. Ironically enough, it was Team STRQ who reeled him in. Only for Salem out of all people to break him out with a stampede of Grimm.
"I see... Does Ozpin know?" He asked.
"No... Not yet at least. I haven't talked to him, I wanted to come back first. I wanted you and the girls to know I didn't want to pull a Raven..." She replied, and Tai chuckled.
"Oh my White Rose, Qrow told you about that?"
"Nah, she came up with it on her own. Two years late though, she still owes us royalties, by the way" Qrow joked.
"And I still haven't seen the papers..."
"Wait a minute, if you regained your memories - most of them anyway - about ten months ago, why did it take so long for you to contact us? A call, maybe?"
Her eyes widened, and she blushed.
"Eeeh... You know me... I'm pretty theatric... Also my scroll was blocked by the CCT, you changed your scroll number, and Qrow's kept sending my calls straight to voicemail. And you know Raven's reliable as Qrow's luck"
Qrow grumbled something under his breath about Ozpin tampering with his scroll settings remotely, and about his semblance.
"Oh, Summer. You haven't changed at all" He embraced her again.
"Tai... How are the girls?" She asked, and he bit his lip.
"Well... See it for yourself"
Taiyang then scooped up Summer in a bridal carry as she giggled, and took her upstairs to Ruby and Yang's shared room.
"Yaaaannnnng~! I'm fourteen! Not five! Gimme!" Pouted Ruby Rose, trying to reach a bag of chocolate chip cookies that Yang kept out of reach.
"Nuh-uh, little sis! You've been eating these like mad and I don't think Dad can live through another one of your sugar rushes!" Countered the older sister, adamant on keeping the cookies as further away from her reach as possible.
Ruby tried jumping to reach the bag of cookies, to no avail. Of course, she could channel her Aura to her legs, or use her semblance - but this was a friendly sibling's spat, so where was the fun in cheating? Of course, her mind still backtracked to her inferior growth compared to her sister.
C'mon milk! Why can't you do your thing quicker?! She mentally pouted to herself.
While laughing their worries away with the friendly bickering, they didn't notice that someone tried to open the door they had locked a while back to get changed into more comfortable clothing.
KNOCK (Pause) KNOCK KNOCK (Pause) KNOCK (Pause) KNOCK
"Girls! It's me!" Screamed a voice they immediately recognized as their Uncle Qrow's.
"Coming!" Replied Ruby before darting to the door in a semblance-enhanced sprint. When she reached the door and mouthed to Yang the words 'We're not done yet' before they both laughed at that.
The laughter soon died when the door opened, and the sight that greeted Ruby left her wide-eyed, with her jaw hitting the floor and sputtering nonsense.
"M-M-M-M"
Ruby's state eventually arose Yang's curiosity. So she sauntered up to the door to see.
"What's going on? It's just Uncle Qrow, sis..." Yang's words soon died in her mouth as well when she saw just who was standing outside the door instead of Uncle Qrow.
The stench of the contents of their Uncle's flask didn't invade their nostrils as usual, the punchline of the 'least favorite nieces' didn't come, and definitely there wasn't a tall man with red eyes and matching tattered cape, messy black hair, a relaxed posture, and a greatsword-scythe-shotgun hybrid hanging off his back.
No, instead of that, stood an unarmed woman wearing a tattered and stained white cloak, and that while wearing a simple, black turtleneck sweater with a matching combat skirt and boots, her posture was tense - straight as a ramrod -, and there's the face Ruby could've recognized everywhere she went thanks to photos she hoarded and memories that - While faint - she has been treasuring since forever.
It was her, the supermom, the great silver-eyed huntress it was...
"MOMMY/MOM!" Both sisters screamed in unison before tackling their target to the ground of the narrow hallway outside their room, where her father and the Uncle they had been expecting watched the ordeal unfold.
Am I dreaming? I can't be! My dreams have more strawberry cookies and Yang not being a pain!
Between sobs and sniffs, she spoke. "Oh my... My little petal... My little sun dragon... Look at you both... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."
No! I'm not dreaming! She never speaks in my dreams! I can't believe it!
Ruby's glee couldn't be contained for any longer.
"MY MOM IS BACK! MY! MOM! IS! BACK!"
"Geez, mom... We thought you were dead..." Yang tried to tease their mother, but due to all the crying going on from her sister, it sounded like a weak pout.
"I'm sorry Yang... I'm sorry for doing the same your mother did... I didn't want to do it..." She kept babbling and sobbing as she kissed both of their scalps equally. Yang shushed her.
"Shhhh... Mom, you don't need to compare yourself to her... You came back - she didn't - so don't worry about it..." She pulled away, and even if she was watching from the sidelines, the way teary lilac orbs locked with damp silver eyes spoke volumes. "And besides... For what's worth? You are my mother, Raven was just an egg donor"
"Yang..." She probably tried to ask her to not be so rough with her biological mother, but she couldn't find the words for it.
"Mommy?" She locked eyes with Ruby, turning away from Yang. The little Rose took the chance to ask the pertinent question. "Is this real? I'm not dreaming? You're back? Back for good?"
Despite what others might say, Ruby knows how to read body language, and the way her mom's silver eyes looked at hers clearly said it pained her to answer that question. But eventually, after cleaning a few tears from her eyes and a line of snot from her nose, her voice arose.
"... Yes my little Rose. I'm here to stay"
She buried herself in her arms and hugged her even tighter. Nothing else mattered anymore. Her mom was home. Not even Yang's idea of immortalizing the moment with a picture was relevant, for her mommy was back. The warmth of his father's embrace as he wrapped his arms around them three felt dull to her, it paled in comparison to her mommy's body warmth. Even Uncle Qrow's warnings that something was burning in the kitchen were nothing but background noise for Ruby Rose. Her mommy was home, and the world could go die in a ditch for all she cared. She had her mommy with her again. Her world was whole again.
"My mom's back... My mom's back... My mom's back..." She weakly repeated over and over as she nuzzled her mommy's neck. She still couldn't come to terms with the fact. Please, please, please. Whatever God's up above, please, PLEASE let this be real.
Unbeknownst to Ruby, her prayers went unanswered. And this would be nothing but the beginning of a long, painful, and elaborate farce.
The Xiao Long-Rose household is... Definitely different.
That's what she thought as she struggled to eat pasta a-la carbonara (Unfortunately during the reunion Taiyang forgot he was cooking, but he managed to salvage the food somehow and still make it tasty. Taiyang had definitely improved upon his cooking skills since Summer left) while also showering both of Summer Rose's daughters with love long-overdue. The biological one - Ruby - was definitely clingy, with the stepdaughter - Yang - not falling behind either. She wanted to tell them both (Or at least one of them) to back off for a while and let her eat, but unfortunately that would break character. Summer Rose was unfortunately - for herself - utterly and completely selfless. One-hundred percent willing to put other's well-being first and utmost instead of her own, and when it came to her daughters...?
Well, let's just say if someone way more powerful than Summer came to attack her daughters and she was given the option to either sacrifice herself or having her daughters die, Ruby and Yang would live.
Not that she'd blame Rose for that, in all honesty? She'd probably kill (And boy, she's done it before and all she's gotten are some spoiled and/or apathetic brats) to have daughters like Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao-Long.
I wonder what would her think if we were to reunite, would she react like Ruby and Yang...? Nah, she'd probably chew me off and then kill me.
During the meal, words were exchanged, mainly regarding her supposed amnesia, and what she'd been up to the last twelve years. She fed Summer's family plus Qrow a mix of blatant lies and half-truths. In order to seal the deal she even managed to replicate Summer's lip quivering whenever she tried to tell a lie, of course, she only made the tic come to life whenever she came up with whatever outlandish story Summer would've likely come up to look like supermom to her girls. Qrow and Tai didn't call her out on it, most likely because they didn't want to break the illusion to Ruby and Yang that their mother's morality remained as white as her cloak before she disappeared, when in reality - especially a person seemingly as naïve like Summer Rose - would've been easily influenced by the lowest of the underworld due to her amnesia, particularly true in a continent like Anima.
Eventually the storytelling prompted Ruby and Yang to let go of her so she could eat, but she could still see the pain in Ruby's own silver eyes when she let go. The younger Rose wasn't out of her shock just yet. This allowed her to gulf down the food as quickly as possible, prompting a reaction from Tai.
"And you said my cooking came out from hell, Summer" He teased, but fortunately she had a comeback for it.
"Shays da men who ate his toasht blak" She returned with her mouth full, just like Summer would've done. Prompting Tai to flush red.
"Honey, that was ONE time!"
"Nah, I think I recall it happening more than one time" Butted in Qrow.
"Search and destroy in Shion..." She added, prompting Qrow to add another occasion.
"Escort mission past Lower Caim..."
"When you and Raven got married - Oh! Also when she ran away...!"
Everyone just laughed at Tai's tendency to mess up the simplest of meals before the girls piped up.
"Mom, on his defense? He's gotten real better" Cut in Yang.
"Yes! He can even make cookies now! They're not as great as yours - of course - but, they're good enough!" Added Ruby, eager to defend her father.
With Tai's smug look and the girls' arguments. She had no option but to concede. "Well, you did save the food from going to the trash... So I will give you the benefit of the doubt, Tai"
"The benefit of the doubt?! Come on, White Rose! Gimme a break!" He moaned.
"Flattery will get you nowhere, Tai..." She then had a coy look on her eyes. "But maybe a third child will"
"MOM!" Both girls pouted, and the adults just laughed it up.
"Oh, I just remembered something" Tai piped up before looking at Qrow. "Qrow, do me a favor, would you? Go get the shovel and the pickaxe"
"On it, man" He replied before quickly getting up and scrambling to the tool shed.
"A shovel and a pickaxe? What for, Tai?" She questioned with a tilt of her head.
"Well... After a year when you went missing..." He tried to reply, but the hesitation was too high.
"Sooooo~?"
"Ozpin came by, and..."
"Tai..."
"And he, well..."
"Taiyang... I'm waiting" She started to grow impatient, it was something that shouldn't be said, apparently.
He sighed.
"Ozpin stopped by and put a gravestone with your name on your favorite cliff. He left you for dead, honey. Now we're going there to get rid of it"
She pondered her answer for a second before replying. "... Sounds... Reasonable, I guess? After all, I'm not dead"
Ruby quickly latched onto her right arm. "No you aren't, Mommy"
Tears quickly came up to her eyes. These were genuine, not acted like her previous ones.
What...
She quickly put her remaining arm on around Ruby and gave her a hug.
"No... Little petal... No I am not"
In that precise moment, Qrow came by again, pickaxe and shovel in each hand respectively.
"Alright, we're free to go"
"I guess it's time, Summer. Lead the way?" Tai requested, and just before she was about to say yes. She remembered something really important.
I don't know where Summer's favorite cliff in Patch is! SHIT!
She glanced at Ruby by her side, and came up with a brilliant idea.
"Ruby, sweetie, how about you lead the way? I know where the cliff is, but not where the gravestone is at. How about you take me to it, and both of us - as mother and daughter - wreck the object that's been causing unnecessary grief all these years?"
Ruby's eyes shone like her namesake in glee, and quickly made her scramble to her feet as she dragged her away with unprecedented speed in a flash of pure red rose petals.
Okay, first off: The petal after effects are hereditary among the Rose family. Secondly: HOLY CRAP THIS IS FAST!
After a few minutes of Ruby dragging her along in a most likely semblance-enhanced sprint along the forests bathed by moonlight surrounding the Xiao Long-Rose house, Ruby came to an abrupt halt. Her head was admittedly doozy because of the trip.
"Anyone... Got the number plate of the car that ran me over...?" She blabbered while making clumsy spins before tumbling face first into the ground. "Ow..."
"Uhhh... Mommy...?" Ruby tried to get her attention, but she was cut short by a female voice and the sound of a blade being drawn.
"Step away from the woman, Ruby. That's not your mother"
Now that voice made her regain her senses awfully quick. She scrambled to get up, she got up as quickly as possible and processed her surroundings. First off: She was on the promised cliff. Secondly: Someone stood close to a squared stone which she presumed was Summer's gravestone. And finally: That person was...
"Raven?!" She sputtered in shock, not believing what she was seeing. The only reasonable approach was to retain character, especially with Ruby around. From Summer's little journal on her scroll, despite all her chipper demeanor, Rose harbored less-than-pleasant feelings toward Raven Branwen up until her very death. "What do you even think you're doing here, Ray? You think you have any place here after what you did?! You lost your chance to come back sixteen years ago!"
She scoffed at her words. "First off: I'm not here for them. Secondly: Spare me the acting, impostor. Summer Rose is dead"
"Mommy...?" Ruby whispered, nervous and confused about all of this.
"Petal, do not engage. She's dangerous. Go get your Dad and Uncle, and stay with Yang" She whispered back, and with a nod, Ruby disappeared in a flash of rose petals. She waited for a second before speaking again, yet never dropping her character as Summer. "Okay, Ray. I don't feel dead myself"
"Do. Not. Call. Me. That. Only the real Summer would get away with that, and you're pushing your luck. Impostor" Raven snarled.
"Oh, really? I'm suddenly an impostor, Raven?" She snarled Raven's name like some sort of curse word. "Then prove it. By the way, forget about the grave, that's empty. Everyone knows that, even Ruby"
"And so do I. I do not lead a tribe by being uninformed. As for proof, I have Summer's scroll and cloak back at my camp. Which she dropped after Tyrian Callows and Hazel Rainart ambushed her"
Okay, that's a new name. I could use it with Ozpin. She thought that before flashing Summer's tattered and stained white cloak for Raven to see in the moonlight.
"You really think so? Because I'm pretty sure this is my signature cloak. And..." She drew Summer's scroll from her combat skirt's pockets, unlocked it, and searched for a video of Yang's last birthday before Summer disappeared, hit play, and turned the scroll's screen to the bandit leader. "I am one-hundred-percent sure that no other scroll in the world - excepting Tai's - has this video"
Raven looked shocked, her eyes as wide as possible. To her, she wasn't supposed to have that scroll, or the cloak, yet she had those items as further proof that she 'was' Summer Rose.
"H-How... How did you...?" She stammered, and she grinned in victory.
"What can I say, Ray? These are my things. This is my family. This is my life. And I've taken back what belongs to me after wandering without an idea of who I was in Anima for the last twelve years"
"THAT'S ENOUGH! STOP PRETENDING YOU'RE HER!" Raven roared in anger, and quickly lunged at her with her sword. She sidestepped the swipe with ease. It was sloppy, influenced by emotions.
"Geez, Ray. Has pillaging villages and messing with the defenseless gotten you rusty? Because it seems like it" She taunted.
"SHUT UP!"
Quickly enough, Raven's blows gained technique and precision. Fortunately Summer was always the better fighter of Team STRQ, proven by a challenge to the leadership of the team Raven herself proposed during their time at Beacon, and in which Summer wiped the floor with Raven. And with her mimicking her fighting style it should be easy to avoid and deal as much damage as possible...
"And that was close" She said to herself as she rolled away from danger.
If she had a weapon. Unfortunately - despite being able to do so due to her training - Summer Rose rarely fought in unarmed CQB or hand-to-hand, it was so rare for her that the videos from the database didn't provide any examples of it. Always counting with her weapon - Sun's Light was the name if she remembered correctly - because she was so protective of it. Unfortunately, she didn't find the weapon along with the Summer's scroll and cloak, and she negated building a weapon beforehand because she wanted to perfect her character as Summer Rose, and she absolutely did not expect Raven Branwen out of all people to find out about her gambit to supplant Summer Rose so early and try to kill her over it.
"What's the matter, lady? IF Summer Rose really was here, she would've drawn Sun's Light by now" Raven taunted, noticing the reason why she was in the defensive.
"If you knew I was dead, then you should know I lost Sun's Light to Tyrian and... Hazel. Yes, Hazel Rainart" She countered, earning even further rage from Raven.
"IF I HADN'T TOLD YOU THAT YOU WOULDN'T BE SAYING IT! IMPOSTOR!"
For every blow Raven tried to give, she was two steps ahead. She didn't know if Summer just knew Raven that well or if she was fighting in the sloppiest way possible, but either way, this fight was definitely going nowhere, especially since she had no way to attack if she kept using Summer's fighting style.
It's a risky gambit. But... Screw it. Ruby and the others are too far out, and if I keep this up we're both gonna wear ourselves out. Besides, Summer isn't the only one willing to give this bitch a lesson...
Willing a disengage in her semblance when it came to fighting styles, she was now completely on her own knowledge and experience with zero mimicking. She shifted her stance to one she learnt was optimized for unarmed CQB and sidestepped yet another blow from Raven before trying to bring her down with a spinning kick. However, Raven saw this coming and jumped over her legs, avoiding the blow.
Without Summer's edge, we're equal. Crap.
As the words crossed her head and attempted to get up normally, Raven's blade was already gunning for her head. Willing Summer's semblance, she teleported out of danger, and the only thing Raven managed to hit was a now-disintegrating construct made out of Rose petals while she stood a meter or so away from her. Raven was baffled at this.
"What... Her semblance...?" She turned to her, the rage on her face reaching untold levels. "HOW?! JUST WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?"
And then came the opportunity for a movie-like one-liner. She smirked knowingly before smugly replying.
"Me...?" She chuckled. "... I'm Summer Rose - Mother of two, life partner, friend, silver-eyed huntress, and your worst freaking nightmare"
"THAT'S A LIE!"
Raven charged at her, and while the strategy she took at the last second of her charge - Swinging for the body instead of the head - took merit, she herself went for something more reckless. She willed her aura into her arms and legs and blocked the impact of Raven's blade with merely her arms crossed into an 'X', her extremities glowing a pale shade of red as soon as contact was made and her position unmoved thanks to Aura. While blades met arms, she kept one arm blocking the blow while the other one rushed to the hilt of her blade with unprecedented speed.
"Time to even the scales, Ray!"
And then, with aura-enhanced strength she pulled the blade away from Raven's grasp while also delivering an aura-supercharged double kick to her abdomen. Making Raven her loosen her grip on the blade as pain prompted her to clutch the afflicted area while at the same time she sailed through the air and crashed against a tree. She quickly flipped around Raven's blade and grabbed it by the pommel, immediately re-enabling Summer's fighting style. She had a weapon now. Not hers of course, but it would do to give Raven an ass-whooping of massive proportions.
"SUM! WHAT'S GOING ON?!" And that was the voice of one Qrow Branwen surfacing through the treeline with haste, Harbinger at the ready in scythe mode. Quickly following him was also Taiyang, a pair of gauntlets known as Heartbroken and In Disrepair also prepared for a fight.
"RAVEN! THAT'S WHAT'S GOING ON!" She took a lunge at Raven in which she made contact, but Raven's aura was raised in time along with an arm, negating any real damage.
"QROW! TAI! SHE'S NOT SUMMER! SHE'S AN IMPOSTOR!" Warned Raven, but her pleads fell in deaf ears.
"Raven?! That's the most outlandish and stupid thing I've heard in my life! I've seen her behavior! The way she treats our daughters! The small things she knows! No way an impostor would know all of that!" Countered Tai, definitely not taking Raven's truth, which served her purpose. Also deploying his gauntlets.
It took everything in her power to not smirk at how Tai and Qrow quickly took her side of the story, but she didn't smirk knowingly. No use breaking character now.
"Raven! I knew you were sick in the head but this is enough! You've lost your mind! We've got our Shortstack back and the only thing you can think about is that she's a fake!" Qrow complained before rushing to the battlefield, attacking Raven from one side while she swung from the other. Unarmed and overwhelmed, there was no way Raven would be able to win this fight.
Unfortunately, she also saw this so Raven did what Summer always thought she did best - Running away - She turned into a literal raven in front of her very eyes. Confusing her for long enough so Raven had time to recover her blade in her moment of confusion. She turned into a human once more and wielded the blade once again, but the way she held it meant she wasn't willing to fight anymore. Judging by how all she did was block the combined strikes from Qrow and Tai while she remained stupefied. After swiping both of them off their feet, Raven enabled her semblance - Kindred Link if she remembered correctly - and ripped through time and space with her blade, forming a portal made of dark red energy. Raven directed a few words at her.
"This will not stand, Impostor! What happens in the dark, comes out to the light! Qrow and Tai will realize who you are in due time, and I'll be waiting so we can all make your demise as long and agonizing as possible for trying to live a life that isn't yours!"
"Not if I kill you first on Yang's behalf!" She snapped back as Raven crossed the portal.
And just like that, the fight - If it could even be called that - was over. She kneeled in exhaustion with her eyes closed.
Crap, that was intense... I need to finish my Summer-styled weapon, fast. This probably won't be the last time I'll encounter Raven.
As she regained her breath, she opened her eyes and looked forward. Noticing she was in the edge of the cliff Summer Rose loved so much, and she could see why. It was definitely a sight to behold. She had seen different sights, some arguably more striking, while masquerading as different people in Atlas, Vacuo, and Mistral. Yet, there was something magical about this cliff in Patch Island.
Looking downward, she noticed she was face-to-face with Summer Rose's gravestone. It was simple, yet powerful. But also hella depressing.
Summer Rose - Thus Kindly I Scatter
"Tai, Qrow..." She weakly said between gasps and pants. "We... You guys... You guys didn't bring the pickaxe and shovel by chance?"
"No... When Ruby told us you were gearing up for a fight we forgot about what we was gonna do..." Qrow answered.
"Can you borrow me Harbinger in scythe mode?"
Qrow nodded and passed his weapon to her wordlessly. The weapon was already on the desired mode, so there wasn't any time to waste. She stood up and raised the scythe as high as she could...
KRACK
And struck the gravestone as hard as possible, the stone giving into the strength, turning into splinters.
Sorry, Summer. But while I'm using your name, I'm not scattering just yet.
Both an emotionally and action charged chapter! Feedback on the combat scenes is appreciated since they're not my forté. And I've pretty much amped Ruby's obsession with her mother up to eleven. You'll see the reason why in the coming chapters.
Also, the name of Summer's weapon comes from the long-abandoned fic "RWBY MIA" by pokeman1280, and the origin of the name for Taiyang's gauntlets is pretty easy to guess if you've read my other fic "RWBY and JNPR play various earth games". Now I've gotta come up with a name for "Summer's" new weapon as well. Suggestions are welcome.
Quest' è Lima, signing out.