There was an ominous silence over the parlor as Raven Branwen walked in silence past her daughter and husband straight to her brother's casket. She set her hand on the edge of the wooden frame and did her best not to let her eyes tear up.
For years Raven had put on the illusion of someone who was bitter and greedy, someone who only gave and an excuse to take. The person HER mother had been, the person Raven once said she would never be.
Raven had gone on the run after she had been burned. She needed to make sure that Ozpin never came after Tai or Yang in order to find her. It had broken her heart to become the monster her mother had been, even if only in show. But it was what she had needed to do to protect what she loved most and so she would do it without hesitation, hesitation earned you only death in her world.
Stepping back, she thought about going to Tai. If what she had been told was true then he had been told the truth about what had happened, and why she had left. Her hard earned shell of apathetic arrogance wanted to hold up but right now she just needed to feel his arms around her again. Something resembling comfort in some small way.
Then she reminded herself about all the pain her leaving must have caused him. She didn't need to think about the type of man Tai was to know that he would still take her back without hesitation.
That was what had drawn her to Tai all those years ago. He looked into her eyes, saw the ugly truth of who she was and what she was there to do. And still he told her she was beautiful. Tai saw the woman she had hidden beneath years of rough life and hard choices.
And Raven didn't deserve that kind of love, she never did and now she had no right to even think about trying to get it back.
Thinking of Tai made Raven think of Yang. keeping the mask of Raven's own mother on when she finally met Yang had been hard. She was honestly so damn proud of her daughter. Yang had grown up the woman Raven always wished she could have been. Raven had made note of the young blonde man who had been sitting with Yang when she entered.
She had heard of the return of the Arc name to the hunter world. And she was both hurt and healed to know it was true. She had killed Josiah and Gretchen and she thought she had killed all of their children.
It seemed at least one of them survived. And lived on as an orphan because of her actions.
Raven turned to leave when she felt a familiar hand wrap around her's. She knew who it was and she wanted to leave but she couldn't find it in her to pull away from Tai. With just the slightest amount of force Raven turned back to face Tai cringing when they made eye contact.
She feared what she would see either finding love or anger, neither of which would end well. She slowly looked back at him to see Tai looking up at her and in that moment she almost melted. Tai reached up and the moment his hand gently caressed her face Raven's willpower broke and she all but threw herself into Tai's arms. She stopped trying to hide her tears as she finally mourned her brother.
Out of everyone there it was her cries that seemed to sting the most, even more so than Winter's. It wasn't that hard to understand why, she had been his big sister, she was supposed to protect him. And for years he thought the same of her as he did of their mother.
Raven nearly climbed into Tai's lap while she cried. And that was when the second unexpected guest arrived. He was an old man and the best word to describe him was gaunt. His body looked like it might float off in a stiff breeze but it could be seen that he was once a powerful man with long limbs and a tall frame that could have carried a lot of muscle in their day.
A few of the employees tried to usher him out since his ragged clothes told them he was just a vagrant looking to get out of the cold. Instead the man yelled and threw them both across the room like wet washcloths.
He ran to the casket just as they had closed it, throwing it open as General Ironwood was drawing his pistol. WInter met him halfway stopping him while saying. "General wait, I know this man"
The old man looked down at Qrow's body and his shoulders slumped followed by the rest of him sinking to his knees in silent grief. Winter went over to the man just as Raven was turning to see who he was. Gently resting her hand on the man's shoulder she soft addressed him. "Mr. Branwen?" confirming she was right.
The man stared ahead through his tears. "I tried to raise them well. I tried so hard to protect them from her" he said seemingly to nobody.
Raven appeared over Winter's shoulder kneeling next to him. "You did more than could ever have been asked of you dad" she said hugging the man.
Seeing the pain that her grandmother had caused even now just by the trauma she inflicted on her husband and kids. She had broken Qrow, wounded his mind so much at such a young age that he was never the same. That alone was all it took to make Yang hate the woman.
The door opened and everyone but Raven and her father turned to see who it was now. Yang saw the woman and knew that it must have been her grandmother. If only because she looked just like Raven, just like her.
Yang stood up and decided that instead of letting this woman hurt anyone else she was going to stop her here and now. Standing up with Jaune following her in lockstep most likely figuring out what Yang figured out.
The two of them went to confront the woman with the rest of RWBY ready to do the same and Ren and Nora moved to a flanking position on the woman.
When they stood in front of the woman she said. "He was my son, get out of my way"
"This service is for friends and family," Yang snarled. "You are neither, so get the fuck out" she whispered eyes showing the rage she was no longer hiding.
"You insolent child" the woman said, reaching for Yang only to stop when Jaune's left hand wrapped around her forearm. She was about to do something about it when she recognized the vise-like grip and hardened sapphire eyes of Josiah Arc.
She had heard that the Arc line was ended but clearly the young man now ready to take her arm away from her would say otherwise. She tried to pull her arm back for a moment only to have the grip show no signs of letting go as its owner nodded to Ren and Nora who kept circling on the woman.
She could only back up to the door or the corner now and when she realized that she was given the choice of leaving or fighting she thought briefly of fighting until she saw the smoke starting to come from Yang's hair.
The thought of fighting an Arc with whoever they were commanding, as well as the daughter of her own daughter and TaiYang Xiao Long suddenly seemed a taller order than what the elder woman was ready for.
She huffed and after being made to wait a moment Jaune let her go and she headed for the door. With her gone the rest of them returned to their seats for the duration of the service. The remainder of the service and the burial was thankfully subdued.
Nobody said anything since nobody knew the words to say. Qrow had been a troubled man but he was still one of the best hunters on the planet. And the fact that his crimes bothered him so much was proof that under all the pain and anger was a good man.
They all returned to the house that night drained. But that was expected for a funeral so nobody seemed to be surprised by it. Ruby and Oscar headed for the team RWBY dorm. Jaune's punishment on Oscar being lifted due to the extreme circumstances.
Yang and him headed to bed with nobody having the heart to make any jokes about Yang and Jaune making Saphron and aunt right now. They got to what had become their bed at about the same time Ren and Nora arrived. Ren decided to turn off the lights while Nora climbed into bed and Ren went to his own. Jaune made a note to ask why they slept separately since they clearly loved each other. But instead he felt Yang wrap her arms around him and Jaune felt how tired he was. Settling down into the soft mattress and sheets Jaune gently raked one of his hands through Yang's hair having learned she liked how that felt.
Hearing Yang hum happily into his chest Jaune returned to stroking Yang's hair until he was fairly sure she was asleep before he moved the hand in her hair around her side and went to sleep himself.
…
Salem looked over her disguise one last time. It was a fairly simple task to alert her appearance, and only slightly more challenging to fully hide her grimm details, she made the choice to keep her eyes a very similar shade of red though.
She stepped out the front door of her castle and headed in the direction of the nevermore that would bring her to the mainland. She was going to look for whoever her boisterous knight had been. She had told herself she was looking to find whatever flaw he was hiding, find out what his dark secret is, she needed to know what was wrong with him to allow him to be the type of man he seemed to be. Or that is what was saying to herself.
hello everyone, Noruas here. I am starting work on what may be my first commission I may work solely on that until it is done, or I may run a second story alongside it. If you ever wanted to see my content a week early (and read some of the fiction that doesn't really count as Fanfiction) you can do that on my account. As always, so long, farewell, and thank you for your time.