Disclaimer: I do not, nor do I claim to, own RWBY or any other media that may be referenced in this fic. All rights go to their respective owners. The only thing I lay any claim to are my OCs (They're coming soon, I promise).
"Mercury?" Rosa says. Her cousin is sitting on one of the couches adjusting his prosthetics.
"Yeah?" he replies, still focused on his legs.
"I'm... I'm worried about Yang. I would talk to her myself, but I honestly don't know how to relate to her situation. I know it isn't really my place to ask... but... do you think you could... maybe... talk to her? You can probably relate to her a bit better than I can in this case," Rosa explains.
"She lost an arm, yeah? I can see how that would suck for a brawl-based fighter that mainly uses punches. Sure, I'll try talking with her," he says, tightening a screw. "Give me a few minutes to finish this, and I'll head up."
Rosa sighs in relief. "Thank you. It means a lot to me."
"That's what family is for, right? You're my family, and Yang's your sister, so that means she's family too. I still have a lot to learn when it comes to being part of a family, but I'll take what I can get," he says with a small smile.
"Yeah. It seems like my family has doubled just by going to Beacon," Rosa jokes. "Actually, it's more than doubled. I went from having two people, to having five... six if you want to count my birth father, but he doesn't actually know yet."
"Can I ask why he doesn't know?"
"He's... he's really unstable. He went off the deep and after he lost Mamá and me, and became a drunk. Qrow had to take Yang from him so she could be raised properly. As much as I want to have a parent, I can't put myself through him trying to take me away from the rest of my family. If he can clean his act up, maybe I'll reach out and tell him, but right now, there are more important things than trying to mend that bridge," Rosa says with a sigh.
"Makes sense," Mercury shrugs as he tightens the last screw and puts down the screwdriver. "I'll go talk to Yang now. See ya around, Rosa."
"See ya later, Merc."
"What do we do, Ren? We're alone again, and I have to relearn how to walk, and we don't have any money. What are we going to do?" Nora sobs into her boyfriend's chest.
He holds her tight on the hospital bed and strokes her hair. He doesn't know what to say to her, so he holds her and hopes that she knows what he means.
"We've lost everything," she sobs.
He shakes his head and wiggles off the bed and stands next to her, using his hands to force her to look at him in the eye. "We haven't, boku no sai no ai (AN: my dearest love), we have each other. We have each other," he tells her.
Shakily, she nods. "We have each other, minn flower (AN: my flower)."
"As long as we have each other, boku no sai no ai, we will take whatever comes our way, isshoni," he tells her, placing a kiss on her forehead. When he pulls back, he takes his right hand and taps her on the nose. "Boop."
She lets out a sound that is a cross between a hiccough and a giggle. "Boop."
A knock on the door catches their attention and in walks General Ironwood.
"Ms Valkerie, Mr Ren, is it alright if I spoke with you both?" he asks kindly.
Nora nods as she wipes the tears out of her eyes. Ren gives a short nod before sitting down next to Nora again and the General takes a seat opposite them.
"Ms Valkerie, your injury is an absolute tragedy. I am trying to reach out to all the students who were injured in the battle for Beacon. Your squad mate Ms Xiao Long is one of them. While your actions during the finals of the Vytal Tournament do leave room for question, your actions during the defence of Beacon do not. Supplies in Vale are short, and there are too many people who need help. It is very likely that without a steady flow of money, you would not be able to get the physical therapy you need to recover," the General outlines.
"That has been one of our worries," Ren confesses.
Ironwood nods in understanding. "Which is why I would like to... extend an olive branch so to speak. I would like to take you back to Atlas with me to receive treatment for your injuries and subsequent physical therapy, Ms Valkerie. You could continue your huntsman education at Atlas Academy if you so wish."
Ren squeezes Nora's hand before he speaks up. "Could we have a few moments to talk it over?"
General Ironwood nods and stands up from his chair. "Take all the time you need," he says before leaving the room.
"What do you think, boku no sai no ai?" Ren asks her.
"I feel like the answer is something clear cut, but... it isn't," she mumbles.
"How about listing the advantages and the disadvantages?" Ren suggests. Nora nods and begins rambling through everything she can think of. When she can't add any more to the lists, Ren asks her which list is longer.
"Advantages," she decides.
"Then I guess we're going to Atlas, boku no sai no ai," he tells her, placing a kiss on her forehead.
Mercury doesn't knock on Yang's door, he just goes in quietly and sits down, waiting for her to break the silence. He doesn't say a word when she glares at him, he just sits and waits for her.
Eventually, after nearly half an hour, she does speak up. "What do you want?" she asks.
"To talk," he admits. She scoffs.
"You've been awfully quiet for someone wanting to talk."
He shrugs. "I figured it would be best to wait until you were ready. I'm not leaving the room until we do talk, though. So, do you want to talk, or do you want us to continue to sit in silence until you're ready?"
Yang sighs before she answers. "Fine, talk away."
"I'm not going to sit here and pretend I know everything about you, but there is one thing I know more about you than pretty much anyone else here. And that is what it is like to lose a limb, or limbs in my case," he tells her, pulling up his pant legs. Her eyes lock onto the metal prosthetics. "I didn't have a support network like you do, but after Cinder picked me up, she took me to an out of the way hospice to get my legs checked out. The lady there told me I was brave to keep trying to move forward. That's just it, able bodied people don't understand what it is like. I lost a part of me, just like you have, and no matter what, we aren't getting that back. But that doesn't mean we can't move forward."
"You became a criminal," she points out.
Mercury shakes his head. "I didn't have a choice. For me, it was either become one of Cinder's cronies or die, so I chose to live. I defected as soon as I could. Regardless of what I did, it was better than sitting around and feeling sorry for myself. Yeah, some of my choices were bad ones, but it got me here, didn't it? That's my point. You've lost a part of you, nothing anyone can do or say is going to change that. You could get a prosthetic, but there are still days where my stumps ache and I'm painfully reminded that I'm not... whole. It'll likely be the same for you. What happened to you will likely feature in a lot of nightmares going forward, it was the same for me. But you can't let that stop you. If you let that stop you, then they've already won. They don't deserve that, not from you, not from me, not from anyone. Rise like a motherfucking phoenix from the ashes of defeat, and prove - if not to anyone else, then to yourself - that you won't be knocked out of the fight that easily."
"What makes you think I can?" she asks dejectedly.
He leans back in his chair and smirks. "I did it, didn't I? I did it after losing both legs, with no real support system, at the oh-so-tender age of fifteen. You've got a support system that I could never dream of having, and getting used to one prosthetic arm has to be easier than both legs. If I could do it, you can too."
He watches as she mulls that over, before standing abruptly and holding out his left hand. "Start over? No criminal backstory; no 'we used to be on opposite sides', just, two seventeen-year-old amputees?"
She stares at him before nodding and putting her hand in his.
"I'm Mercury. Mercury Black," he tells her.
She gives him a faint smile.
"Yang."
"Nice to meet you."
"Hi, Mamá. It's... it's been a while. Yang's... not coping too well. She lost an arm in the attack on Beacon. I asked Mercury - I haven't told you about him yet - to talk with her, so hopefully that goes well. The squad, well... its kinda fallen to pieces. Weiss got hauled back to Atlas; Blake is who knows where; and Ren and Nora are staying in the city because of her injuries. Pyrrha's still recovering from being sick, and Jaune's probably been coping the best. I should probably tell you about Mercury huh? Well, he's my Abuela's biological grandson, so he's kinda my cousin. At least, that's what we're going with. He's a double amputee, you can thank his jerk of a father for that one. Yeah, he has a pretty dark past, but he's got us now, so I think that's helping," Rosa says to her mother's gravestone.
"Vale's a mess... Beacon's a mess. I keep trying to do what I think is best, but it's getting harder. conflicts between people aren't what I expected to get tied up in. I just wanted to kill grimm, and now look at me! People are dead because of me..."
Silence whistles in her ears for a few moments.
"I keep having this nightmare. I'm facing off against Penny again, except, when the wires wrap around her, she has blood, and it goes everywhere. From the sides, the White Fang members from Mountain Glenn are crawling towards me, moaning and whispering about how I killed them. Oscar's there, holding Penny as she bleeds out, and he's screaming at me, asking me how I could do something like that. He screams at me that I'm not his sister. Then, my squad circles me, spewing all these horrible things at me. How they can't believe they were ever friends with a killer. Yang says that she wishes I died with you. Weiss says that she knew all faunus were evil. Then, it's just me, standing in the blackness with blood coating my hands. I... I hate it," she admits.
"We're making plans to go to Mistral, but… I don't know what to do. I'm meant to be a huntress capable of doing things others can't, but I couldn't stop the Fall. I knew it was coming, and I failed. My squad is shattered, and I don't know what I'm meant to do. I never wanted to fight people, to get wrapped up in these kinds of adventures. I just wanted to kill grimm. That's it. But I can't turn away from this, not now, not after everything that's happened. At the same time, I don't… I don't know if… if I can even do anything," she says, voice breaking towards the end.
She gets down on her knees and presses a kiss to the grave marker. "I wish you could help me through this," she confesses once she's sitting on her haunches. "Thank you for listening, though. I'll come back to visit again."
With that, she gets up and glumly walks away.
She pulls her white cloak around her to ward off the cold, and tries to centre herself before she gets back to the others. Oscar and her Abuela will be on her in an instant if they think she's upset.
"Summer?" a voice asks, snapping Rosa out of her thoughts.
She sees her birth father standing there, bottle of booze in one hand and eyes wide as he looks at her. Almost speechless, she shakes her head. "Sorry, I think you've got me confused for someone else, señor," she tells him.
He apologises for his confusion and continues walking towards the cliff face, leaving her to watch on sadly.
She wants so badly to extend her family further, but trying to bring him into the fold would hurt them all too much, right now especially.
As much as it hurts her to not take care of him, a part of her family, she knows that doing so would only serve to hurt Yang more.
"Hello, sister," Whitley's voice says from her open doorway.
The Schnee heiress turns to her younger brother, irritation written all over her face. "What do you want?"
"What? Can't a boy come and say hello to his dear sister who has been away from home for nearly nine months?" he asks. Weiss rolls her eyes.
"He can, but you aren't. I've been back for two weeks and if that were your motive, you would have come to see me before now," she points out.
"Ah, but I haven't been home until today," Whitley explains.
His sister crosses her arms across her chest and levels him an unapproving look.
"I've been at boarding school while you were gone," he says with a wave of his hand.
"Father just let you go to boarding school?" she asks.
Whitley snorts. "Of course he didn't. Mother had to convince him of the benefits. She was... quite convincing."
"Why are you here, Whitley?" she asks.
"I told you, to say hello," he tells her.
"You've already said hello. Why stick around?"
"I can't spend time with my own sister? Talk about how we've spent our time apart?" he asks. "If Winter were here, I'm sure we'd have a wonderful time, all three of us. Unfortunately, I believe she's in Mistral currently."
Weiss's eyes narrow. "You never liked me. You never liked Winter. Why such a sudden change of heart?"
"I'll have you know I didn't stop changing while you were away at Beacon. I've grown quite a lot, however, your statement isn't exactly... how do I put this? Correct," he muses.
"What is that supposed to mean?" she challenges. He pauses before coming inside the doorway and shutting the large door behind him.
He sighs. "I never not liked you and Winter. I have always been fond of you both. I was just more... afraid of Father than anything else."
"What makes you think we weren't? I was afraid of him confining me, taking away everything I've worked so hard for. Being afraid-."
"I wasn't just afraid. I was weak. I'm not strong the way you and Winter are," he interrupts her.
"We worked hard to be strong. It isn't something you can buy," Weiss half-heartedly scolds.
"I know. I was never talented in fighting like you and Winter, so I was never taught, never got my aura unlocked. I didn't have anything to protect me. While I was away, I wanted that, wanted to have my aura unlocked, to use the family semblance and prove that I'm more a Schnee than Father is. A new friend of mine unlocked my aura, and I had it confirmed. I... I can't use Glyphs. I don't have the family semblance," he tells her, head hung low.
"Semblances don't make you strong," Weiss tells him with a sigh. "They help, but they aren't the be all and end all of strength. A boy on my squad doesn't have a semblance. He isn't the strongest of us, but of our cohort, he is far from the weakest. Our squad leader is your age, and her brother doesn't have a semblance despite searching for one for at least five years. I still can't do summonings. Semblances don't make us strong."
"How does one get to Beacon and not have a semblance?" Whitley snorts.
Weiss gives a small smile. "I asked the same thing." A small smile crosses her face before it turns sad. "I... I had to ask myself a lot of questions, and my perception of the world has changed in the process."
He gives her a small smile. "Tell me everything."
"How do I know you aren't going to buckle to Father and tell him everything?" she asks.
He gives a low chuckle before answering. "Because I may be weak, but Father can no longer contain me, not after my foray into the world. It would damage his image to do so. I don't think there is anything that he can threaten me with."
"He could organise an arranged marriage for you," she half warns half jokes. Whitley shrugs half-heartedly.
"A loveless marriage is... it is not something I think I would enjoy, but I believe I would be a better husband to whatever wife I may have than Father is to Mother. If that is the price I must pay to repair the bond with my sisters, then so be it," he decrees.
Weiss slumps slightly at the thought before walking to the door and looking out. Luckily, Klein is at the end of the corridor.
"Klein!" she calls out, and the butler comes to her door.
"How may I help you ma'am?" he asks.
"Would you mind fetching a tea platter?" she asks. "My brother and I have a lot to catch up on, what with our time apart."
"Of course," he says before bustling away to fulfil her request. Gently, she closes her door and gestures for her brother to sit with her on her couch.
"So, what do you want to know?" she asks.
His eyes glimmer with unshed tears as he gives her a smile she's never seen him wear before. "Anything."
"We need a plan," Jaune states after dinner one night. "We're facing off against people way stronger than we are, and we know that they have an inside man. We have to be smart about what we do. We need a plan."
"We can make one," Pyrrha assures him.
"We are wasting time just sitting around doing nothing," he snaps.
"Jaune!" Rosa chides.
"He's not wrong," Mercury shrugs.
"You can't leave right now. First of all, all non-essential airships are being used for repairs, getting to Mistral won't be easy. You'll have to walk and that leaves you vulnerable in so many ways," Qrow points out.
"Then what do you suggest we do?" Jaune asks.
Qrow sighs.
"Stay here until the worst of winter has passed. Anyone trailing you will expect you to head out as soon as you're able, so they'll be looking for that. By waiting until winter passes, you'll have thrown any followers at least slightly, and you won't get stuck by bad weather. Also, Mercury will need a disguise," Qrow starts off.
"Why just me?" Mercury asks.
"Because Cinder's boss, Salem, doesn't take desertion lightly. She will send someone to kill you for that," Qrow tells him.
"Okay, fair point," Mercury concedes.
"What about keeping Haven from falling like Beacon did?" Jaune presses.
"It won't," Rosa assures him darkly.
"Are you forgetting that Mercury literally told us that Haven is the most likely to be targeted next?" Jaune asks her incredulously.
"How it is targeted will be different," Rosa explains. "Firstly, we know that Lionheart is a mole, that means they have inside information. Secondly, they won't have the Vytal Tournament to bank on being able to manipulate. They won't be going for a public route. They'll be going for a cut and dry, under the cover of darkness operation. It isn't the school itself they are after. It's the CCT towers and the vaults where the… the relics?" Rosa pauses to make sure she's saying the right thing and gets a nod in return, "Right, the relic that the school guards will be the other objective. They can get the relic as soon as they find Spring, then, they can use the cover of night to destroy the CCT."
"That's worse!" Jaune groans.
"So we keep a close eye on the tower once we get there. Any suspicious activity, and we can call everyone in to stop the CCT from being brought down, and run interference for the relic being retrieved," Oscar suggests.
"Good idea, kiddo," Qrow says, ruffling Oscar's hair, "but you missed one key thing. Us lurking around is going to draw attention to us if we aren't careful. When we get there, I'll go in and tell Lionheart that Ozpin gave me a mission before he died to keep an eye on Haven due to received intelligence. I'll say that I have some allies helping me, and that gives us an excuse to be keeping a close watch if we get seen."
"Wait, you're coming with us?" Mercury asks.
"Who's going to look after Yang?" Rosa questions him.
"I'm… I'm working on that. I've already given the matter a lot of thought, and frankly, as much as Yang needs me right now, this mission and the bunch of you kids need me too. I don't want to leave Yang behind, especially not with how she is right now, but…" he trails off, eyes downcast.
Maria nods knowingly. "Family is a gift, one that must be treasured, but sometimes the importance of life as a whole must be weighed in the balance, and difficult choices must be made. I am sure she will understand, with time." She frowns. "It is not a decision to be made lightly."
"I know, and I can only hope she'll understand," Qrow admits.
"Can we get back on track? Jaune asks.
Rosa nods and summarises the plan before asking if there is anything else that needs to be addressed.
"I'll probably stay a bit away from the main group during the trip. I don't want my semblance to affect you guys too much. I'll stay close enough that I can jump in to help, but far enough back that we don't look like we're travelling together," Qrow reveals.
"We should also have a cover story. Where are we going and why? Apart from Mistral to defend Haven," Mercury points out.
"We can say that we're going to Argus, stopping in Mistral on our way. I'm from there, so it isn't unbelievable," Pyrrha suggests.
"Rosa, Oscar, and Mercury can be escorting me to Atlas with a stop in Mistral and Argus to rest my old bones. I need to get my prosthetics checked anyways, so I might as well head that way. Gives us Calaveras a cover," Maria offers.
Jaune nods. "I have a sister in Argus, that gives me some cover too."
Mercury nods in appreciation. "Our combined goals of going to Argus gives us reason to travel together, and takes attention off of Mistral as a whole."
"Sounds to me like we have a pretty good plan," Qrow says, a hint of pride lacing his words.
"Explain to me again how the attack on Beacon went so badly wrong," the grimm-esque woman commands.
Emerald gulps before speaking up. "Someone that I can only guess to be the Grimm Reaper showed up. They let out a light, a white light, that covered the whole kingdom. When it subsided, the grimm were gone. Mercury and I split up to search for Cinder in the aftermath, he didn't meet back up with me at the place we agreed on. The White Fang started the invasion with us, but began retreating after their sect-leader left the battle. I wasn't able to go after him to find out why. The main reason for the failure was the Grimm Reaper."
Salem presses her hands together and takes a deep breath in. The three men at the table watch with bated breath to see what would become of the green-haired woman.
"So, a new Silver Eyes has surfaced. Interesting," the deathly woman intones, red eyes locking with red eyes. "This has not been a total waste. Beacon Tower has still fallen, dear Cinder still has half of the maiden powers, and the Grimm Reaper has been forced into the open once more. I thought my disciple had killed them 40 years ago, but it seems she failed. That will need to be rectified."
"We have dealt with their kind before, we will not fail you, ma'am," Hazel assures her.
"Do not underestimate them," Salem scolds the man. "They have already evaded death once, I will not tolerate them escaping a second time. Watts."
"Yes, ma'am?" the Atlesian man asks.
"Continue your search for the Spring Maiden and begin researching the Grimm Reaper in more detail. Knowledge is power, and we will need more power to ensure that the second attempt on the Grimm Reaper's life does not fail," she orders.
"Of course. I find myself interested in their capabilities regardless," he concedes.
"My Queen, what am I to do?" Tyrian asks, eyes hungry for attention.
Salem gives him an almost fond look as she smiles. "You my little scorpion, have a choice in targets. You can search for the elusive Spring Maiden, you can continue to look for where Ozpin has hidden the other half of the Fall Maiden powers… or you can seek out the deserter, Mercury, and punish him as you see fit for deserting our cause," she tells him.
The faunus giggles in his seat before muttering to himself as he mulls over his options. After a few moments he shyly looks at the woman he has dedicated his life to. "My Queen, I would be honoured to punish the deserter. He will rue the day he chose to betray our cause. I will, of course, keep my ears open for any news about the maidens, as I always do."
"Good, I have faith in you, Tyrian," Salem almost coos. Emerald suppresses the urge to shiver at the sight.
"Ma'am, what do you wish for me to do?" Emerald asks cautiously.
Salem levels her an unimpressed stare before giving a small smirk. "You will stay here and care for dear Cinder. Her recovery is your utmost priority."
Emerald nods resolutely. "Yes Ma'am."
"Hazel, you are to reach out to Cinder's contact in the White Fang and organise a meeting with the High Leader. Their continued allegiance will be… beneficial," Salem orders.
"Of course, Ma'am," Hazel intones with a nod.
Qrow takes a deep breath in and knocks on the door in front of him.
"A'm comin, a'm comin!" a slurred voice calls out from inside the house, and Qrow takes a moment to look around the garden.
Simply put, it's a wreck. Weeds grow rampant amongst the empty beer bottles on the lawn, and the flower boxes on either side of the door are barren save for a rusty trowel. An old and broken toddler play set sits under a tree, and a low-hanging swing hangs limply, the wooden seat broken in half.
He can remember coming here, back when the flower boxes were Summer's greatest gardening feat (she never was good at gardening); back when Yang would play on the play set and her pearls of laughter would fill the air as Summer or Tai chased her around the weedless grass. They were happy, back then.
Tai had been ecstatic when he learnt Summer was pregnant. He'd built the swing barely a week later saying that it would be good for the kids when they were older, but it wasn't good for Summer to be bending right down to the ground for Yang while she was pregnant, so the swing would give her somewhere to sit. Summer had smacked him over the head for that comment.
Now though, it just serves as a bitter reminder of the past, of a better, simpler, time.
The door opens and Tai appears in the doorway.
"What do you want, Qrow? You already took my daughter, you here to take my house too?" he accuses.
"I just want to talk, Tai. Please," Qrow tells him.
Tai stares at him blearily for a few moments before walking back inside his house, leaving the door open for Qrow to follow.
The blond flops onto a worn couch and Qrow settles into the same armchair he used to perch on so many years ago.
"Ya know, I thought I saw Summer a week or so ago," Tai reveals. Qrow raises an eyebrow but doesn't say anything. "Don't give me that look! I know, she's gone, she's not coming back, but she looked just like her. White cloak and hood; black hair with those red streaks; a pair of wolf ears poking through her hair; same height; she looked just like Summer. I thought, was this a ghost? Why would Summer's ghost appear now? But no, it wasn't Summer, it was just some look-alike."
Tai pauses to reach for the bottle of beer on the coffee table, but Qrow reaches forwards and pulls it away.
"Damnit, Qrow, give me back my drink!" Tai hisses.
"No," Qrow tells him. "We are going to talk, and I don't want you to be drinking while we are talking."
Tai glares at him but hauls himself into an upright position. "Fine, let's talk."
"Yang lost an arm. She's… she's been through a lot, and her squad has been effectively smashed to pieces. She needs someone to keep an eye on her, and I won't be there to do that come the end of winter," Qrow explains with a sigh.
"Why not?" Tai asks.
"I have a mission coming up, one that I… one that needs me," Qrow tells him.
"More than you say Yang does?" the blond accuses.
"Tai, remember that Summer look-alike you told me about?"
"Yeah."
"That's one of the people going on this mission. Her name is Rosa Calavera. Her adopted grandmother, Maria, took her in fifteen, nearly sixteen years ago now. When I invited Yang's squad to my place a couple holidays ago, Maria recognised Summer in one of my photos, not just because Rosa looks like Summer, but because Summer looked exactly like Rosa's mother. I went over all the details with Maria, everything fits perfectly. Rosa is Ruby, our Ruby," Qrow tells him gently.
Slumping backwards, Tai's eyes go wide.
"She's… she's alive? How?"
"Maria told me that Rosa's mother made her promise to keep her safe. Said that she'd be hunted for her eyes. Maria took that promise very seriously. Rosa's been trained to fight, and she's a damn good huntress already. She's not letting the attack on Beacon rest, and she received intel that suggests Haven as the next target. She's got a small group that's going with her, but they need an adult to keep them from doing stupid things and… I can't lose her again, Tai, so I'm going with them," he explains, tone soft.
"I can't believe Ruby's alive," Tai mutters.
"Yeah, it was a shock for all of us. Tai, I didn't come here to tell you about Rosa. I came here to give you your last chance. I've let you stumble and drink your life away for the last thirteen years, I've given you all the time in the world to grieve and move on with your life, I've given you every chance to come back into our lives, but this is it, this is your last chance," Qrow tells him.
"What do you mean?"
"I came here to ask you to take care of Yang after I leave, but I won't let you unless you can stop drinking. I'll check in each week until I leave to make sure you do actually stop, and I'll help you get rid of all the alcohol, just, please, Tai, this is the last chance I can give you. This is your last chance to come back to this family, so that we can all move forward... together," Qrow pleads.
"I…"
"You won't be doing it alone," Qrow interrupts him. "I've talked to Bartholomew and he's going to drop in whenever he can, might even bring old Port with him for all its worth. They'll check up on both of you. Mrs Spice down the road said she'll drop groceries off and even some prepared meals once a week or so. But, please, Tai, come back to us."
Tai stares at his old friend and sees just how old he looks, weighed down by years of stress raising a child not his own, still going on missions and teaching the local kids self-defence when Yang was little, moving on to teaching at Signal when Yang went there. Years of living that he should have been apart of, years that he gave to drinking alcohol.
The man's red eyes have unshed tears, and Tai can't remember seeing his brother in all but blood ever look like this. Not when Raven left them, and when Summer died, Qrow was the one who stayed strong for Yang and buried Summer.
Tai nods solemnly. "I'll stop drinking. I don't want to lose anyone else," he says, voice catching in his throat.
Qrow lunges forward and wraps his arms around the blond man.
"Thank you. Thank you," he mutters, burrowing his head into Tai's shoulder, who tightens his arms in response.
A few moments pass before Qrow pulls back. "Why don't we go pour all your alcohol down the drain?" he suggests.
"Sounds like a plan," Tai replies.
A/N: Welcome back to the Grimm Reaper! It has been a big week for me between frantically trying to get an assignment done and my brother getting married at long last (they've been together for ten years already). For the record, it was beautiful, my brother couldn't stop smiling for the life of him, and we all were careful to stay socially distanced and covid safe (even if my aunts gave the security guy a headache with how much they wanted to dance once they'd had a few too many drinks).
Anyways, this chapter had a lot going on. We got Salem for the first time, Tyrian's on the hunt, Tai knows about Rosa and is beginning to get off the drink, Ren and Nora are going to Atlas, and Weiss and Whitley have tentatively made up. Of course, the road isn't going to be smooth, the pale rider known as Death is waiting for some people (won't be saying who) and you can bet the chances of people coming out unscathed are low.
Leave a review telling me your thoughts, or send me a PM if you want and/or need someone to talk to. Otherwise, I'll see you next week with another chapter.
- RebeccaMagic9