Chapter 2: A Family That...

"Cookies!" Ruby shouted at the top of her lungs in excitement as she busted through the back door of the cabin. Her mother followed close behind, Ruby's new toy still in hand. She walked over to the kitchen sink and placed it on the counter as she rummaged for something in the drawer below. While her mom was busy, Ruby charged forward at the refrigerator. With all the strength that her young, five-year-old body could muster, she yanked the door wide open and pulled the carton of milk out from it. As Ruby struggled to grab for a glass located in one of the top shelves, her mother had found what she was looking for. She stood up and turned the knob of the sink on. She coated the sponge she retrieved in soap and grabbed hold of the strange toy Ruby had found. She squeezed the sponge so that it had as little water held within it as possible and looked over the object with growing concern. She had been in combat more times then she could count and knew when she recognized a weapon's residue. It was clear that it was some kind of electrical burn, but unfortunately it was unclear of exactly what type of weapon it was. The most disturbing part was how close it was to the house. She couldn't help when she was cleaning it to keep an eye out in the tree line to see if anyone or anything was peering in. Her concentration was disrupted when the front door to the house was slammed open.

"Ruby!" Yang outbursted as she stormed into the kitchen. "You left me out there by myself waiting to be tagged. What is more important than..." Yang quieted her voice when she saw the steaming plate of cookies atop the dinner table. "...never mind." Yang's emotion state did a complete one eighty as she basically dove at the table and started devouring the cookies one by one. Ruby spun around horrified as she saw her sister stuff her face whole without even taking a second to breathe. She ran forward and slammed the milk carton and her glass atop the table, some of the milk splashing out from the lip.

"Don't hog them all, you pig! Save me some!" Ruby protested as she tried to push her sister aside to reach the treats.

"Now girls, there are plenty for both of you. Just take a seat and..." Suddenly, the back door to the cabin swung open as Yang and Ruby's father walked in and was immediately captivated by the aroma of the pastries. "Taiyang...don't you dare." She warned as she scowled towards him.

"Summer. I can't help it. They are calling to me." Taiyang murmured as he trudged forward at the table, arms outstretched at the cookies. The girls quickly wrapped their arms around the plate to defend what was theirs. Ruby even growled towards her father as he approached.

"Now girls, all I ask is just one. Is that too much?" They looked to each other and back to him and shook their heads up and down rapidly. Disappointed, he stopped his approach and looked to the ground. "I guess I'm outnumbered her. Guess I need reinforcements." He looked back to Summer for help.

"This is one mission, Tai, that I'm even afraid to go on. Good luck." Summer chuckled slightly as she continued to scrub away the residue on Ruby's toy. Taiyang looked back to the girls to see them still loyally guarding the plate. As he was staring he glanced up to the hall behind them and smirked at something approaching. Over the girls' heads a hand reached over and plucked two cookies from the pile. The hand was a right hand that had pale skin and rings on the pointer and ring fingers.

"Hey!" the girls spoke simultaneously and spun around with speed. Frowns on their faces at first but they quickly turned into ear to ear smiles as they recognized their thief. The girls leapt out of their chairs and latched onto the man.

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby shouted as she clung to his arm and as Yang wrapped herself around his leg.

"Did you miss us! Did you! Did you! Did you!" Yang murmured as she constricted tighter around his pants leg. Without saying a word, his lifted both girls up and cradled them from their midsections under his arms.

"You girls? No. Your mom's cooking. Definitely." Both the girls seemed upset by his statement, but the reassuring crack of a smile made it all better for the girls.

"Why don't you girls go play in your rooms for a while?" Summer asked the two wide eyed kids.

"Okay, mom! Come on, Uncle Qrow! Come and play!" Ruby said tugging on his cape.

"I will, kiddo, but give me a second to say hi to your mom and dad." He said rubbing her head. Ruby giggled in agreement and ran through the hall towards the stairs. Yang followed close behind, leaving the adults alone in the kitchen.

Qrow walked over to Taiyang and handed him the other cookie that he took from the pile.

"My cooking? That's what you missed about me, really?" Summer sat the fully cleaned and polished toy on the kitchen counter. She dried her hands as she questioned Qrow sarcastically.

"More or less." He spoke incoherently as he had have a cookie hanging out of his mouth and the other half being chewed. He walked over to the counter and bumped Summer slightly with his hip as he leaned back against it.

"So, how did the mission go?" Taiyang asked, taking a chair from the table.

"Oh you know, Oz sending me of, Grimm die, same old same old."

"Come on, Qrow, you know that's not what I mean." Qrow took a second to draw in some breath to sigh.

"No, there is no word from my sister." Qrow spoke regrettably as Taiyang had a look of disappointment fall yet again on his face.

"It's okay, Tai. We'll find her one day." Summer tried to reassure him but to no avail.

"It's not even for me. She's missing out on her daughter's childhood. She would've loved to see what a beautiful girl she's turned out to be."

"We all know what Raven was like. But hell, even I have no idea what went in that thick head of hers." Qrow turned and picked the odd looking toy off the counter. As he inspected it, Summer spoke up.

"It's okay..." Summer went over and pulled Taiyang from his chair. "...as long as we're here for each other..." she wrapped one arm around his waist and another around Qrow's, pulling them both into a side hug that they both wanted to lean out of. "...we will make the best of this, as one happy family." The boys groaned in agony from the overwhelming sweetness. All Summer did was smile and laugh from their misfortune. Tai pulled away and rushed to the hall entrance.

"Okay, I'm going to go check on the girls. I'll leave you two to...catchup." He smiled as he walked down the hallway to the staircase. When he was out of sight, Summer turned and fully hugged Qrow, and he returned the favor.

"I missed you. Never leave me like that again." Summer pleaded while glancing up into his eyes.

"I wish I never had to, but duty calls."

"Mmm, I know." She looked up to him and pulled his head down and gave him a peck on the lips. After, Qrow leaned back and had a smile fall across his face.

"Your right, there was something I missed more than your cooking." The two laughed a little as Qrow held his other hand up, the one with the toy in it. "So, what is this thing, some kinda paperweight?" He asked tossing the thing up in the air repeatedly.

"Honestly, I have no idea, I was hoping you or Tai knew. Ruby found it out in the trees. She really likes it, whatever it is."

"Well, it's interesting to say the least."

"There was something about it that worries me."

"Oh yeah, what's that?" He asked trying to pull the shell out from the rounded center.

"It had some sort of weapon residue on it." Qrow stopped his pecking and looked down to her with a worried look. "Don't worry, I know it's not a bomb. But someone did shoot this at some point."

"Have you asked Tai?"

"No, but I doubt he was using...whatever this is as target practice. "

"Still...we should ask him. I'll check are the property in the morning, just in case." Qrow rubbed the lense of the object with the edge of his thumb.

"You know, we still haven't thanked Tai for all of this."

Summer commented while unwrapping herself from his waste and walking over towards the chair that Taiyang pulled out earlier.

"Hmm. Don't you mean "him thank us"." He followed her and sat down in the chair nearest her. She took a seat as well and the two were seated around the corner nearest the back door.

"Qrow, I'm serious. After everything that's happened, he was more then generous to invite us and Ruby here. It's good for the girls and good for us to be apart of each other's lives again. Besides, we wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for that "luck" of yours." She said gesturing with finger quotations. Qrow sighed with slight irritation.

"Uhh...Sum how many times do I have to say I'm sorry that my "luck"..." he mockingly copied her gesture. "...got our apartment flooded..." he stopped as if he was hesitant.

"And..." She tried to pry the truth further from him. He looked down like he was a child being reprimanded.

"And caught it on fire...at the same time."

"Who's fault is that?"

"My semblance's."

"That's a smart birdie." Summer jokingly grabbed a cookie from the tray and stuck it in his mouth. He reached up and grabbed hold of the pastry as he bit into it.

"Fine, your right, I'll thank him in the way a man thanks another; with a nod of approval." All Summer could do in response was falmpalm.

"Why did I fall in love with you."

(Five hours later...)

Ruby and Summer's room was dark as the young girl fell into slumber some time ago. The only light that found its way in was through the panels of the windows on both sides on the room. The shelves above the desk had multiple figures of Grimm about them as well as similar figures and a multitude of other miscellaneous toys that littered the floor. Ruby had been tucked in several hours ago, yet Qrow couldn't help but watch his child from the rocking chair he had placed in the center of the room. In his arms was Summer, who was also fast asleep. He sat there proudly, counting his blessings.

He looked down to Summer and kissed her forehead.

"What did I do to deserve you two." He whispered to her in her ear. He knew that he could get away with the sappy stuff when she was asleep, otherwise he would never hear the end of it from her while she wasn't. He slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black box, he flipped it open and checked on the pair of rings inside.

"One day, I'll make things right with you, and we'll be a real family." Summer started to shift slightly, prompting Qrow to quickly shove the case quickly back into his pocket. She slowly opened her eyes and smiled when she saw him.

"Hm. Hey."

"Hey..." Summer spoke softly. "She still sleeping."

"Yeah. Aside from you two looking alike, there is one more thing you both do; snore."

"Jerk." Summer weakly brushed her hand across his face, she still being half asleep. She started to curl up to sleep again, when her Scroll started to go off from on her bed. Summer reached for it without looking, missing it several times over. Finally, she grabbed hold of it and answer it while still sounding like she just woke up. She yawned as she spoke.

"Huh...Summer Rose...Oh! Hey, Oz. What's up..." Her eyes widened as her attitude quickly shifted from groggy to attentive, jumping out of Qrow's lap and moving to the corner of the room. Qrow turned and looked over towards her, trying to catch what the Headmaster on the other end was saying.

"Ah huh...really?...when...Okay...Alright I accept...okay...I'll see you in a few days...bye Oz." She clicked the button to end the call on her Scroll she looked to Qrow, who had a look of disappointment befall him.

"Can't wait to get away from me, huh." He joked sarcastically.

"Ozpin has a mission for me. I leave in a few days." Qrow turned and looked back towards his daughter. "It'll only take me a few days, I'll be back before you know it." She walked around and sat on top her bed. Qrow still seemed upset. "Come on, you know it's our job. Besides, when I get back we can go away for a while. We can take Ruby, and we can finally tell her how you're her father." Her words made Qrow lighten up a bit, he smiled and looked over to her.

"Why'd we even let that get out of hand like that. And why would Tai go along with it." He said laughing into his hand slightly.

"It would be tough on her to not have her dad around. Also, I think Tai really enjoys the extra attention, it's good for him."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Besides... " She leaned forward and pulled him by his shirt closer to her. "I think Ruby would be more than happy to find out. Me included." She kissed him and tried to pull him down as she leaned back onto the bed. Qrow started to follow her, but pulled back when he realized where they were.

"Uhh, Summer..." he moved his eyes from Summer towards Ruby on his right. She looked cautious at first as she remembered her daughter was present, but looked back to Qrow as she bit her bottom lip. Suddenly, the two spoke out at the same time.

"The garage." They both smiled mischievously. Summer jumped up from the bed and hustled towards the door, as quietly as she could. Qrow gestured for her to go ahead, she nodded as she walked out the room and headed down the stairs. Qrow stood up and looked around the room. He looked to the desk, taking note of how the suspicious new toy was seemingly watching them the whole time. The thought quickly left his mind as he turned and looked down at his slumbering daughter. He walked over, leaned down, and gave her a peck on the top of her head.

"Sweet dreams, Petal." He whispered in her ear as he turned to leave the room. What he didn't notice is that as he was shutting the door to her room, her new toy's lense started to flashed and flicker with the glow of a blue light. The object started to rise from the table slightly, hovering over the table rather weakly.

"G-Guar...ian-." The toy, as quickly as it came back online, shut down once again. It's light fading from its eye as it bounced slightly on the desk.

(Several weeks later...)

Ruby was curled up on top her mother's bed, cradling a teddy Ursa in her arms. Her crying was soft, but it was enough to awaken something within the toy on the desk. The Ghost's eye flickered slightly, then disappeared again, a faint voice emanated from it.

"Guar-ian…I-here…don-wor-y…" Through her sobbing, Ruby managed to pick up on the faintness of the voice. Though her eyes were still welling with sadness, she looked up towards the desk, where the noise originated. Cautiously, see rose from the bed, clutching her plush Grimm for protection as she approached.

"Hello?" Ruby kept her eyes glued upon the door, expecting someone to come through. "Is someone there?" She stood waiting in front of the doorframe for several seconds. After that, the look of pure anguish reared its ugly head upon her face once more, and she turned to resume her mourning. However, her eyes fell upon the toy that she found a few weeks earlier. She walked over to the desk and reached for it. She grabbed hold of the shell and held it in her palms, looking at the reflection of her eyes in the lense. It made her think immediately of the day that she found it, then that thought was swiftly followed by her mother, when she brought her back inside and cleaned the object for her. The tears in her eyes started to flow, dripping onto the toy beneath her. This caused something to awaken deep within the center of the Ghost. Its eye started to flicker back to life. Ghost's eye came fully back online and it slowly levitated out of Ruby's palm, however it still seemed as though the little Light was in some sort of daze. Ghost looked up to Ruby, and its shell immediately extended backwards, expression a look of shock and surprise. Ghost's fear was even more realized when it took off, flying swiftly underneath of the bed frame and peeking out from the corner of it.

"Its ok, I'm not going to hurt you." Ruby wiped the water away from her eyes as she approached. Ghost's eye glitched for a moment, but after that its mannerisms completely shifted, Ghost floated out from behind the leg of the bed frame.

"I know, I'm sorry for that, it's just you startled me." It levitated higher, just under eye level. Ruby's eyes lit up with excitement.

"I knew you couldn't just be a boring school toy like Yang said! But where is your controller, how are you flying?" Ruby tilted her head and waved her hand over Ghost, seeing if there was so sort of string holding it up.

"Umm…I don't have a controller, I'm flying completely on my own. Also, I'm not a toy, I'm a Ghost."

"Soooo you're a dead person?" The curious young girl asked tilting her head slightly to the side.

"Uh…no, no I'm not…a dead…person. What are they covering in schools now, you kids need to learn up on your Traveler history."

"What's a Traveler?" The look on Ghost's lense was nothing little of pure shock, it almost seemed as though it rebooted itself.

"Wow. Ok, question: How did I get here?"

"I found you out in the woods, you were really dirty and gross, but my mom made you good as new."

"The WOODS?! You went outside the walls?" Ghost looked utterly shocked at the notion of a girl that young sneaking past the Last City's security. But, as it continues to learn, this girl continues to baffle the A.I's comprehension.

"The walls? We don't have any walls, a fence, but no walls." Ghost's shell slowly lowered over its lense, indicating that irritation was growing, because it felt like this little girl had to be playing some sort of game.

"Alright kid, this was great, but I have to leave, I have to find someone." Ghost started for the door, flying around Ruby and even beginning to cloak itself, when an unexpected grouping of words forced it to halt in its tracks.

"Are they lost like my mommy?" Ghost slowly shifted around to see that Ruby's head was hanging low, water dripping from her eyes.

"You lost your mother?" Its lense dimmed slightly in a form of empathy.

"M-my daddy said she isn't coming home..." Ghost's shell lowered slightly into a more sympathetic position, it was beginning to see that its attitude was uncalled for.

"I'm so sorry. I can't imagine how your feeling."

"Is your someone not coming home too?"

"No, my friend is out there somewhere. They have to be."

Ghost's expression peeled back up and he hustled to the window, it gazed up into the sky and scanned the star patterns to try to determine where they were. But, the one thing that completely baffled the Ghost was the shattering moon, something that he didn't recognize from any of the night skylines in the known galaxy. "Where are we? The outskirts of the Last City? The EDZ?" He asked taking notice of the foliage type outside the window.

"Me and my family live on Patch."

"Patch?" Ghost was completely dumbfounded. "This doesn't make sense." Ghost flew around the room, looking for anything it could find that signified where it was. He finally found a group of books above the desk he awoke on. He scanned the titles, and the titles all seemed like farfetched fairy tales rather than actual historical documents. One of the titles, however, gave him some answers, but also raised some questions. "The World of Remnant" it read along the spine of the impressive sized novel.

"Remnant? Is that the name of this planet? I've never even heard of it." Ghost thought while glancing back to the girl.

At this point, if Ghost possessed a physical heart, this is when it would have broken. She moved off the bed and was reaching underneath it. From their she pulled out another book, only this one had the title of "Memories" on its cover. Ruby opened and began to sift through the album of photographs. Ghost drifted over to just above her shoulder and joined her in observing the pictures. One in particular caught its attention. It was a woman holding a baby in her lap. The woman in the appeared as if she was an older version of the girl that Ghost was floating next to.

"Is that your mother?"

"Mhm." The young Ruby tried to hold back her tears.

"You look just like her. She's very pretty."

"She was." Ghost could tell she was getting upset again.

Ghost decided that this wasn't going to happen.

"What's your name?" Ghost asked with sincerity as he flew around and hovered above the photo of Summer.

"Ruby."

"Ruby, that's a nice name. I'm Ghost. It's a pleasure to meet you. Tell me, Ruby, do you like stories?" Ruby's eyes shot up to Ghost with her child-like curiosity. Her eyes glistened silver in through the water overtaking them. "I thought you might. How about if I tell you some about where I come from, you can tell me some stories where you do, sound good?" Ruby seemed as though all of her thoughts and worries about her mother faded away. Ghost could tell that this girl really needed someone by her side right now. It still knew that it's Guardian was probably still in that Vex stronghold, and probably dead. Though this worried Ghost more than anything. It knew that as long as it could locate a Vex teleporter, it could try to alter it to send it back right after the moments it was sent through the other one. Though it was a long shot, it and it's Guardian have done the impossible before. For now, it's place was with this girl. To help her through these trying times, it would be what it's Guardian would want.

"What do you make of it?" The Vale police officer asked his partner, who was examining the aftermath of a bizarre scene. They were having reports of a suspicious individual around the CCT tower. Once they arrived on scene to investigate, they discovered that in a nearby alleyway there was what appeared to be droplets of a familiar crimson liquid. The two had their hands on their holsters while they explored.

"Doesn't look like much. Not enough to really assume something is going on around here. Maybe our "suspicious individual" got a nosebleed and ran off." The two started laughing, unaware that on the opposite end of the alley a large figure, shrouded in the cover of night, walked into the center of the lane. It straightened its form, but after that, it stood stiff like a statue. "Oh well, it's always one faulty tip after another. Alright, let's get back on patrol." The officer who was knelt down rose up to his feet, wiping his hands on his pants. His partner started to walk back towards their vehicle, as did he, but he chose to glance back down the alley, having a strange feeling enter the back of his mind. He had to double take, noticing something odd on the opposite end. "Hold on." He said to his partner as he started to walk into the darkness. His partner chose to follow. The two came up onto the opposite side and found something odd. A strange liquid. Not blood droplets like before, but rather a strange, glowing white fluid that was puddled atop the asphalt.

"What the hell is that?" The partner, the one who first walked towards their car, asked with a look of total confusion. The other knelt down and cautiously ran his fingers through the unknown liquid. As soon as his skin made contact with it, the fluid suddenly jolted to life. Electricity coursed through the officer's body. He tried to pull his arm out of it, thinking it was nothing more then his muscles being locked, however, it seemed more like the puddle had an actual grip. His partner grabbed him by the shoulders and started to pull. Their strength combined, the two still could not free him.

"GAHHHH! Dammit! Pull!"

"I'm trying!" As the second officer continued to pull. He thought that it might be time to radio in for backup. As he went to reach for his radio, he felt something grip his shoulder he, along with his partner, were ripped from the electrified pool. They fell flat on their backs. The one with his hand in the puddle released a relieved sign.

"Thanks, Auburn. I owe you." He gripped around his wrist, which was still throbbing and tingling. He looked back to his partner, who was looking up and frozen with fear.

"It wasn't me." Officer Auburn's voice was trembling as he barely managed to mutter the sentence. His partner turned to where he was looking and had a similar terror overtake him. A large figure stood in an ominous fashion. Its form was illuminated this time by the glowing liquid, not an immense amount, but just enough to highlight the key details. The figure had what appeared to be a metallic brass body armor surrounding its upper torso. Around it's abdominal region it appeared like it had a form of undersuit that had a leathery latex appearance with additional metallic plating, but this was different then the torso, as it looked like it was infused into its body. More of this metal skin covered all portions of that were not overlapped by this external armor. This armor covered the joints and exposed areas, such as its left shoulder, left forearm, thighs, knees, and waist. Its right arm was an abomination to say the least. The arm was not natural. It seemed as though it was an amalgamated prosthetic assembled by different parts of machinery. Exhaust valves were located on its shoulder and back half of its forearm. There was no hand, but rather the terrifying profile of a blade, one similar to that of a Roman scissor. It looked as if it the blade was on the lid of some sort of cylinder, that took the place of an actual forearm. This cylinder was surrounded by at least a dozen black barrels that connected to a rotating disc that was connected to the back half of cylinder. It's legs below the knee were more animalistic, have no footwear but rather mechanical claws. Though its weapon arm was indeed horrifying, nothing was ghastlier then its head that had a fan-like skull that extended back for a couple feet. This fan sloped down and connected to a singular, optical lense that was located upon the middle of the forehead. Under that was its mouth, that had no real features other than the fact it had a wide plate that made up its front half of the face. Behind this was a mess of parts and wiring. To the sides of it mouth plate on its lower jaw, the same liquid that was on the ground was streaming from its within it from an unknown source. The liquid dripped from its jaw continuously at a steady pace, falling on its chest and also the ground below. It looked back at the two from the corner of its eye. It's piercing red glow of its eye stared into the souls of the two officers.

"If it's not yours..." the figure turned its body to face the officers. Its voice had an electronic and robotic nature, one that glitched and changed its tone randomly at points. The barrels on its right arm started rotating rapidly as the cylinder started to illuminate with an orange energy. It approached as its eye's brightness grew more intense with a crimson hate. "...don't touch it." Its weapon was almost white with the temperature it was reaching. It pointed the blade at them and the lid fell, showing the molten liquid held within it. The officers cried out for help, but were silenced as the burning liquid fell and enveloped their beings, cascading them in mess of molten brass-like metal.