Raven was many things to many different people. To her father, she was much like his younger self, she believed the family mantra with all her being and moved to implement it into any and everything she took interest in. To a lot of the courtiers she was what many of them wanted Qrow to be, she was strict, proactive and decisive and if it weren't for her brothers talent she may be the most prodigious Branwen in generations and so many took to licking her boots if Qrow wanted nothing to do with them, which was often the case. However, to Qrow, Raven was a royal pain in the ass; she was always lecturing him on how he was a failure to the family name and how he wasted his potential. For the most part he agreed with her; after all he rarely put effort into anything and the only reason he hadn't been replaced as heir was due to the pure luck that was his mark. In all honesty, he didn't want the throne and would have abdicated it to Raven if she was… well not Raven.
Raven was decisive but harsh, often going too far in her punishments for even the slightest of offenses or incidents. Qrow had fought with his sister once over whether or not she should cut off the hands of a handmaiden that had accidently burnt a few strands of her hair with a straightener, of course he had won but he made sure to transfer said handmaiden to another wing of the manor before his sister found another excuse to take action. However, what kept him most wary of his sister was her willingness to listen to and cooperate the Xiao Longs. The Mistralian Royals were strong, crafty and ambitious, this had allowed them to prosper in the much more cut-throat lands of Mistral, but it was this ambition that made them dangerous.
Qrow was many things; lazy, a drunk and short-tempered, to name a few, but he was no fool. He knew the Xiao Longs wanted to solidify power in as much land as possible, they wanted a way to control the happenings in Vale and they saw the union of Taiyang and Raven as a way to do just that. Raven, for all her cunning and brutality, seemed unaware of the growing influence of the Mistralian family, only seeming to concentrate on crafting Yang into the next ruler after he himself passed away.
It was this thought that made him look down at the girl he was now dragging through the halls of the Branwen manor house. Yang Xiao Long-Branwen was the spitting image of his sister, with the only differences beside age being the blonde hair from her father's family, rather than the jet black of his own, and her sky-blue eyes that were looking down at the floor as he led her forward. She had originally tried to protest and resist as he started forcing her towards their home, but a stern glare and low growl from both him and Bart had her shut up after her third attempt. Honestly, he was surprised the professor hadn't tried wringing his niece's neck as they walked down the decorated halls, he was half tempted to let him. Qrow suspected that the professor was taking a little sympathy for the girl as she hobbled down the corridors, having not healed fully from her flames turning on her. The prince may not have the known the professor for long, but from what he did know, he was a soft man most of the time and likely was restraining his very apparent rage out of a mixture of pity for the girl and respect for Qrow.
After a minute or two of walking through the huge building the trio stopped outside of the main dining room where Qrow knew his family would likely be having supper. He knew that most of the gathered royals would not take kindly to his sudden intrusion, after not being there for the start of the meal but was in no mood to put up with any of the shit they would be willing to put him through. Luckily, for him, he had a good reason to interrupt and most of his family would likely listen out of either intrigue or fear. He took a deep breath to prepare himself and looked over to Bart to see the man straighten his tie, the attempt was horrendous and the tie seemed even more skewed than before, but the professor didn't seem to notice as he too prepared himself for walking in on the nobles. Qrow supressed a chuckle at the display, in order to remain as serious as the situation demanded, before flinging the door open in a small show of anger.
The trio were met with the sight of eight people sat at the long, polished, spruce dining table, each staring at them with varying expressions on their faces. At the head of the table sat his father who looked a mixture of shocked and annoyed at the sight of his son barging in unceremoniously. The older man was what Qrow imagined he may one day look like, he looked a lot like the younger portraits of his father and was often told so, inwardly Qrow hoped he aged better than his father who had grown a little fat as his muscles began seeing less and less use over the years. The king was still formidable foe on the field of battle but noticeably relied a lot more on his powers than his physical prowess in recent years.
Sat on the left of his father was Raven, who made little effort of hiding her distaste at his sudden appearance with her daughter and a stranger. The siblings locked eyes for a long moment before Qrow moved to take in the rest of his audience. To Raven's left sat her husband Taiyang, it took both Qrow and Bart a lot of restraint to look at him without snarling or shouting. The Blonde prince sat there with a cocky self-assured smirk as he beheld the sudden disturbance. Begrudgingly Qrow moved his gaze.
To his father's right was an empty seat that he knew belonged to him should he chose to join them at a meal, Qrow never liked the seating plans his father implemented, he understood the meaning each seat held and how it displayed rank amongst the gathered nobles, but he found it increasingly irritating having to sit beside his father and opposite his sister at meals. To the right of the currently empty seat was someone he had not expected to see, and he had to bite back an indignant splutter as he saw his fiancée, Winter Schnee, Atlas' Crown Princess.
Winter was tall and slender, but not sickly, with pale skin and long platinum-blonde hair which was masterfully tied into a ponytail. She sported royal-blue eyes that seemed calm and relaxed and, even though she was clearly surprised, betrayed nothing of her personal reaction on the display. She wore a long form fitting white dress that gradually faded to light blue below her hips and emphasised her figure with her family emblem of a snowflake depicted slowly falling down the lower half of her dress.
Beside him Qrow heard Bart swallow and clear his throat as he beheld the princess, he looked over to see the professor straighten his tie again, this time leaving it immaculately parallel with his shoulders which had also been straightened. Qrow at any other time may have commented or poked fun at the man, but the situation was more demanding of him at the moment, he also couldn't blame him for reacting like any sane straight man would, even he was finding himself applying extra effort in moving his gaze on from the woman.
Further down the table was a few nobles that he recognised, the main one of note being Duke Alphonse Winchester who was in charge of the southern duchy of Vale. Alphonse was near the top of Qrow's shit list of nobles, likely why he had not been invited to this particular meal by his father. The Duke was a known racist, mostly due to following a religion that depicted humans as the dominant race on the Earth and displayed all types of Faunas as nothing but tools for humans to use and abuse as they saw fit, no better than animals. Qrow was relatively neutral on the point of Faunas rights, he saw and treated them just as he would a human but was not too interested in fighting with half of the nobles in Vale over the argument. No, what villainised the man to Qrow was his treatment of Summer when she had been around.
It was no secret that the Duke often tried to woo women into his bed with displays of wealth and promises of fortune in their futures. However, Summer had refused even before she and Qrow became involved. The Duke had at first considered it just her playing hard to get and so he continued to pursue her. Eventually, he caught on, after her repeated refusals, and resorted to paying the chefs to put aphrodisiacs in her food and paying her a late-night visit. Luckily Qrow had been on a visit and overheard the Duke talking about his plan to a close friend and decided to order take-out with his secret lover. When Alphonse had come to the door asking to see Summer, Qrow had knocked the tall man on his rear and threatened to hang him in the town square by his genitals for all to see. Unsurprisingly the Duke had stopped his advances on Summer, but he fought a shadow war with Qrow in court often disagreeing with the prince even on the simplest of manners.
Sat around the Duke were other minor nobles from within the southern dutchy, likely here to add testimony to the Dukes claims and reports. Alphonse was making no effort to hide his distaste as Qrow suppressed a growl at the man. For a moment nobody made a sound beyond slightly surprised grunts as both parties inspected the other. After a few more seconds Qrow's father seemed to recover and took the initiative.
"Qrow, this had better be important; we were discussing important matters and…" He was abruptly cut off as the prince spoke the tinge of annoyed anger seeping into his voice.
"I am well aware what I have walked into, but I consider my business more important, and kindly invite Duke Alphonse to wait in the foyer whilst we discuss this matter." Qrow gestured out of the door he had entered from which had two guards waiting to escort the Duke out.
Alphonse looked outraged and moved to protest but was immediately silenced as the king raised his hand and met his son's gaze. Normally the king would be livid with someone speaking to him in this manner, but Qrow was so rarely motivated and his father saw a fire lit in his eyes which he only wished burned more often.
"Do as he says." He spared a glance at Qrow's two companions and locked eyes with his granddaughter who shifted and squirmed uncomfortably beneath the gaze. "Alphonse I will speak with you after this matter is sorted. We shall reconvene at breakfast, now go." The king spoke softly but there was a steely hint of command in his voice, almost daring the Duke to cause a further scene. The Duke was many things, but he was not stupid and so quickly bid his polite farewells and left, levelling his gaze at Qrow and whispering something under his breath as he did so. After the Doors closed and the sound of footsteps disappeared Qrow decided to speak up. He turned to Raven something akin to rage building in his stomach as he saw Taiyang by her side.
"Did you know?" he was no longer supressing the guttural growl that had been gathering in his throat as he spoke. Raven, for her part, remained stone-faced but her eyes burned with slight panic, giving her away. She still tried to play it off and he needed her to say it.
"What on earth are you…" she was cut off as she watched the skeletal hands of his mark claw their way across his skin. He heard a slight, supressed gasp come from Winter as she beheld the spectacle for the first time. He paid her no mind.
"I said 'DID YOU KNOW?!'" He bellowed causing them all to flinch under the force he was exerting. Bart was doing a good job of remaining angry rather than scared but couldn't help but sweat as the overwhelming feeling of dread raked across his back. Raven didn't back down, once she recovered, the black feathers of her own mark dancing along her skin. "DID YOU KNOW ABOUT SUMMER?!" Qrow's breath grew heavy as he fought to hold himself in check. He turned to Taiyang. "And you; how did you get the child?!" Taiyang's amusement at the scene died and his eyes widened as Qrow stared into him.
It was all the answer he needed. Qrow swung hard at the Mistralian man. The blonde moved to block the punch, but the sleeves of his shirt caught on the table preventing him from guarding in time. Taiyang was sent sailing towards the far wall from the strengthened blow. Qrow moved to follow up and Raven ran to help her husband, but the king abruptly stood up from his seat.
"Enough!" The command lacked the volume that Qrow's shouts had held but felt just as powerful as the king quietly simmered in rage. Qrow turned to his father whilst his sister ran to Taiyang's side. After a silent moment passed, the older man took a calming breath and levelled his gaze towards Qrow. "Qrow this had better be good for you to not only interrupt a business dinner, but to turn feral towards your own family." Qrow felt the urge to spit as his father suggested that Taiyang was worth being considered his family. It was Bart that recovered first and he moved past the quivering Yang to speak.
"If I may your majesty." As the king turned to face the professor his back straightened, and he fought the itch to take a nervous sip of coffee from his thermos which he still had in his left hand. After a short moment where the older man looked him over, measuring him almost, he nodded, and Bart continued.
"You see, we have reason to believe that your daughter and her husband have had a key hand in the disappearance of one Summer Rose." Winter gasped loudly, no longer able to hold her emotions in check, causing everyone to look over to her. However, their attention was quickly ripped from the white princess back towards the king as they felt the earth rumble angrily beneath their feat. The king's eyes were glowing red as he glared at Bart, who began shrinking slightly beneath the withering gaze. Softly and threateningly he spoke.
"You had best have some strong evidence, or a very good doctor, for talking about my family in that manner." Everyone else seemed to collectively gulp as the king pulled himself away from the table and towards the historian. Qrow inwardly praised the professor, a lesser man would have backed away or even soiled themselves under the sheer weight of the gaze he was under, and yet he stood there, trembling but determined. The king spoke again. "I suggest you start explaining." Bart pulled at his tie slightly, as if trying to loosen it as the older man drew near and he nodded in agreement.
Many minutes later Bart had managed to show the king what had happened over the last twenty-four hours and what they had found using Ruby's memory. For what felt like hours the king simply looked down towards the floor, a shadow hiding his expression, but his rage clear as the ground once again began to quake and shudder beneath their feet. He slowly turned to Winter.
"Princess Winter, I advise you leave. This is a family matter, and though I hope to one day call you family, I shall not burden you with watching what may transpire further here tonight." His voice was strained as he held back his underlying emotions in a vain attempt to keep his calm in front of his guest. Winter moved to object but quickly thought otherwise as the King met her gaze, command and rage clear in his eyes. She bowed and moved to leave quickly. As she passed Bart, he felt nimble, delicate hands slip something into one of his coat pockets but chose not to draw attention to it at present. Once the door closed a switch seemed to flip, and the older man lost control, turning quickly on his feet to deliver a backhanded slap to Yang's face.
"You foolish girl! Dow you have any idea how much damage you have caused tonight, to property, to people's lives and to the family name?!" Yang looked terrified as she looked back up at her grandfather and Bart wisely took a step back from the scene as it unfolded before him. There was a protesting noise from Taiyang that died in his throat as the king spun to face him. "AND YOU! You had better give me some very good reasons as to why you gave Summer's child, MY GRANDAUGHTER, to that MONSTER!" The sound of cracking marble rose to meet their ears as they noticed the floor begin to spider web with cracks and angrily rumble. He finally turned to Raven. "And you had better not have known about this!" his voice lacked its previous volume as he spoke, but the venomous undertone was just as deadly.
For a long moment Raven and Taiyang stood there in silence, unable to come up with something that would let them keep their heads. It was all he needed.
"Get out!" the older man thrust his hand towards the door as he spat the command. Both flinched as he spoke but neither made to move. Raven spoke up.
"Father, you can't be serious. I…" She was interrupted as the ground beneath her feet violently shifted and flung her towards the open door.
"I said GET OUT!" Taiyang seemed to get the message faster than his wife and quickly made about picking her up and retreating from the room, swiftly followed by their daughter. For many minutes the king preformed breathing exercises to calm himself before he turned back to Bart. "I am sorry for the grief my family have caused you and yours. If there is anything I could do, please, let me know." Bart quietly nodded but an idea sparked in his head. Was he asking too much? No, it was worth a shot. At worst he would get rejected.
"Actually, your majesty, there was a few things, if you do not mind of course." The king studied him for what felt like an eternity before eventually gesturing for him to continue. "You see Hei Xiong, the man who owns our club and my friend, is currently in a… life-threatening state as a result of the bout with princess Yang. I was wondering if you knew of a way to save him." For a moment the king looked shocked, but his face quickly softened as he considered.
"How old is your friend?" the question was harmless and to Bart seemed rather odd in the situation, but he moved to answer anyway. Qrow' eyes widened as he caught his father's meaning, but he said nothing, curious towards the outcome.
"Forty in a couple months." Bart let his confusion show in his voice but decided not to press the king in his current state. The older man sighed a sad sigh as he shook his head. He eventually spoke up again.
"I'm sorry, he is too old to go through the only way I could think of saving him. I would propose that I marry him into my family and give him a mark as all my family do, but he is too old to undergo the ritual safely. Taiyang was the oldest to ever make it through the ritual and he was in his mid-twenties, and that was far from a clean and painless transition. The older you are the harder it is to fuse with Grimm blood, not to mention he wouldn't have the resistance that my existing family have to the blood." There was a long solemn silence as the three men stood taking in what had just been spoken. Eventually Bart nodded and made to leave, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder, he had expected to see Qrow when her turned around but was surprised to be met with the image of a regretful king.
"I mean it Bartholomew, if there is anything you or yours need, do not hesitate to ask." Quietly Bart nodded, too tired and upset to say anything. As he walked to the door, he heard the king call towards him one more time. "Please prepare Ruby for a visit from both me and Qrow in two days. I think it time we both meet her, formally." The professor was most of the way around the corner as he waved his agreement without turning around.
The historian thought of the paper that had been slipped into his pocket but decided it could wait until morning. Right now, he needed something strong, a lot stronger than coffee.
AN: I originally intended to release this with, what will be, the next chapter, so that I gave you guys more to read. However, the second bit is taking a bit longer than I would like to write and I ended up deciding it was best to give people who are still interested something to read whilst I work on the next bit. I got some feedback saying the first chapter being long was a turn-off for them and I understand that, but I hadn't originally planned to release it so it wasn't written to be read split up until now so I felt awkward trying to split it up into chapters that were of decent length, I tend to read around 100k words when I sit down to read, before I get restless so length doesn't bother me too much.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and I plan to update again soon. I have some other stories I may begin posting if people seem to like my writing, but for now this will remain my main squeeze.