Black and white.
Ruby's world was filled with black and white as she was carried through the lifeless forest her mother once called home. Her mother, Summer Rose, carried young Ruby through the forest. Surrounded by dead black trees and the endless blanket of pure white snow that crunched with each step that Summer took.
It was fitting that they would be surrounded by so much white. It was Summer's color after all.
The wind bit at them both. Seeming to cut through every bit of clothing they wore as Ruby pressed herself closer to her mother as Ruby looked up at her. Instead of the bright and warm woman Ruby was used to seeing she found desperation. Summer's breathing was ragged and labored. Her face paler than usual, but there Ruby found the only bit of color that seemed to remain. Her own color.
Red.
Summer's cheeks were red. So was the tip of her nose. But that's not where Ruby found the most red. No, that was further down. Tears in Summer's clothing revealing the unhealed cuts below. Red staining her formerly white corset as blood dripped down. Some falling down and staining the snow below them.
Red staining white.
"Ruby," Summer said with a wheeze and Ruby looked up at her mother. "We're almost there. Just a little farther." Ah yes, they were going somewhere. Weren't they? To some far off sanctuary that never seemed to get any closer to. But that didn't stop Summer from trying to find it. She was determined to save her daughter, to hopefully save both of them. Ruby could see it in her eyes.
They almost seemed to glow.
Summer pulled Ruby closer to her body as another gust of wind cut into them. Ruby nuzzling into Summer's shoulder where part of her mother's cloak should be, but it seemed to be missing. Ruby couldn't quite remember where it went, or really how they found themselves in this situation.
Only visiting a small village with her mom and dad and… She wandered where Yang was. Where her dad was.
"Where's daddy?" young Ruby said, barely able to be heard over the howling wind. Was it the wind?
Summer looked over her shoulder, Ruby following her gaze. Finding something that Ruby couldn't quite understand. Something made of darkness and blood. With red eyes staring at the both of them. Summer pressed Ruby's head closer to her body. "He'll be here soon Rosebud." She said softly. "He'll be here soon."
Ruby closed her eyes as an aura of warmth came over her. Smelling apple, cinnamon, and the smell of baking cookies and the wind seemed to die down.
Ruby opened her eyes, finding herself in her new dorm with her new teammates and Yang. Far from the dead forest she and Summer found themselves trapped in so many years ago now, and that Ruby found herself wandering through every night since then.
Just another nightmare.
Ruby rolled over in her bed, grabbing her scroll off her nightstand. Opening the device she winced as the bright screen came on.
It was a little after 4AM. Far earlier then Ruby preferred to be up. Certainly earlier then she needed to be up. She looked around the dorm at her sleeping teammates.
Yang, who was on the bed at the other side of the room, was of course spread out and snoring away like she always was. Trying to get her up this early, or really any time before she wanted to, would be a death wish, and Ruby didn't feel like waking anyone up anyways. She'd crawled into Yang's bed after a nightmare enough times. Ruby didn't want to be a burden on Yang.
Ren was somehow sleeping peacefully in his bed next to Yang's. Maybe he had earplugs, he did seem like the kind of guy that would be prepared for things like that. Or maybe he was simply used to sleeping through loud noises. Either way, he was out cold.
Which brought her to the leader of their new team and Ruby's partner, Jaune. He was old cold too, wearing his blue onesie. The dork. How Yang managed to sleep after the laughing fit she had when she saw Jaune in it again was anyone's guess. But Jaune just said that "My little sister made it for me, and it's super comfortable anyways. So, I don't see what you're laughing at." and laid right down for bed.
Maybe that had something to do with Professor Ozpin making him the leader. He stuck to his guns! At least for his onesie. Even if other people didn't get it. Yep, Ruby was happy that her best friend was the leader, and of course they were best friends. They were partners! Really it only made sense that they would be besties.
Though she would admit that she was a little bit happy that she wasn't made leader.
But those were all things Ruby could think about in the morning. So, she did what she always did after having nightmares.
She went and got herself a glass of water.
Summer had, once again, found herself waiting around while Jaune slept. Now she didn't mind thing too much. She'd gotten very good at keeping herself occupied over the last decade or so of her being a ghost, and of course Jaune needed his sleep.
She just wished that she had a bit more space to roam around. Right now all she could do was spy on the teams in the dorms surrounding ARLY's or float around outside. Maybe look at some squirrels running around or something like that.
It was better than what she could do on Patch at least. She certainly had more room to roam, but she could only be around the girls whenever they were on a part of the island that she could go on. Which didn't include their home or Signal.
Now she could be around them for as long as Jaune was around them. She guessed that she was somewhat lucky that Jaune ended up on the same team as the girls. She just wished he wasn't so far behind, but at least had quite the large aura and seemed willing to put in the hard work to learn. She'd need to come up with a training regimen for him though.
As Summer was musing the exercises that Jaune would be doing that next day Ruby stirred and woke up. Sitting up in her bed and looking around the room at her teammates. Settling on Jaune before staring a minute with a grin. Before finally walking into the bathroom and shutting the door behind her.
"Wonder what the staring was about?" Summer said to herself, before looking back to Jaune and coming up with a rather reasonable answer. "The onesie. It was definitely the onesie." It was either that or the beginnings of a crush.
Whatever it was Summer didn't have long to think about it before Ruby reimerged from eh bathroom. But instead of going right back to her as Summer expected she grabbed her hood before laying back down. Snuggling against it like a stuffed animal before trying to fall back to sleep.
That hood used to be Summer's way back when. Ruby red. She made it not long after Ruby was born. It felt fitting back then. Now, she just hoped it would bring Ruby a little bit of comfort.
Just a little bit.
The first day at Beacon, or any of the huntsmen academies really, can be a hectic one for aspiring huntsmen in training. Fortunately for the members of SNNB, they had an extremely competent and well learned leader to guide them on their journey at Beacon. Just before SNNB would leave for their first class of their first day said leader decided to give a rousing speech to invigorate her team.
That or to brag.
"Team SNNB," Weiss said, pacing in front of her three teammates, or perhaps subordinates is more accurate, as they stood at attention waiting for their great leader to speak. Definitely not waiting for the speech to end. "Today if our first true step into our journeys as huntresses. For the next four years we will learn together, train together, and work together."
Pyrrha, Nora, and Blake stood in front of Weiss as she walked back in forth. Spewing some crap if you asked Blake. Boring Nora to literal tears, where was Ren when you needed him? And leaving Pyrrha wishing, practically begging in her mind, to be reassigned to Jaune's team.
"We will not only be a team here at Beacon. We will be the best team." Weiss said, turning and looking at the rest of her team. "With Pyrrha's skill and determination. Nora's strength. Blake. And my cunning and leadership, we simply cannot be anything but the best." It really would be a simple thing to do. In fact, if it were just Weiss and Pyrrha on this team, Weiss was sure they would still be the best. How could they not?
Summer looked over her daughter's sister team as she floated in their room. The three girls who were currently being assaulted by Weiss' pride glanced at each other wearily. Summer sighed and shook her head. She'd seen her fair share of leaders, both new and old, who thought that just because they had a title that they were better than the rest of their team.
Usually with those kinds of leaders they either learn some humility, have their team mutiny against them and eventually get removed or improve, or they stay in positions of power and somehow end up as a bigger ass then when they started.
After several more minutes, lots of self-grooming from Weiss, and a few insults thrown Blake's direction, Weiss' speech finally ended. Much to the relief of the rest of her team. As they began dutifully preparing for their first day of schooling. Except for Nora, who was in the middle of a power nap.
Summer flew back through the common room and into ARLY's dorm. "With all of Jaune's problems. At least I won't have to worry about his pride getting anyone killed," Summer said to herself as she watched Yang and Ruby get ready. Jaune still showering while Ren went down to the cafeteria to save their team a spot at breakfast.
Summer watched as the girls finished dressing. Getting a little nostalgic seeing those same jackets and skirts that Beacon has been using for however long. She chuckled to herself. Maybe she could convince Jaune to wear a skirt like Qrow did all those years ago. It would certainly make the girls laugh. Though she wasn't sure if Jaune really had the figure to pull of a skirt. Maybe a dress?
"Hey Ruby," Yang said as Ruby tried and failed to attach her hood to her uniform coat, "Maybe you should just leave the cape behind for today."
"No, I've got it. I just need to get the pin right." Ruby said, trying to fit the pin around the collar. "It'll fit just fine."
"You know that's not what meant Ruby." Yang said, putting a hand on her hip and sounding like she was going to do another of her Momma Yang lectures, "You can't wear it everywhere. And I'm pretty sure it's against the uniform code for you to have it on."
"And you showing everyone your boobs aren't?" Ruby said with her best attempt at a glare as Yang rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, a little cleavage is fine. I checked." Yang said, coming over to Ruby and getting her hood off of her. Ruby not putting up much of a fight to stop her, but not looking pleased. "Now come on, you don't want to get in trouble on your first day, right?" Ruby pouted and opened her mouth to respond before a knock came from the bathroom door.
"Are you both decent?" Jaune said, his voice muffled.
"No, were naked. Titties flopping around everywhere," Yang rolled her eyes as Ruby continued to pout at her. "We're dressed Jaune."
Jaune came out of the bathroom wearing his uniform and looking rather unamused. "Please don't make jokes like that Yang."
"Yeah yeah yeah, whatever you say," Yang said while looking Jaune over, "I'll admit, you clean up well. That might just be the torn hoodie though." Ruby looked around Yang and at Jaune as well. She had to admit, he looked nice. Though she preferred him in his normal clothes. Beacon's uniform just didn't quite fit him, you know?
"Yeah, I'll have to do some sowing later." Jaune said, heading for the hallway door and opening it, "Let's get down to breakfast unless you both want to eat on the way to class."
"Got it," Yang said, pulling Ruby towards the door. She looked back towards her hood sitting on her bed. Maybe just one day without it won't be too bad.
Just one day, what was the worst that could happen?
Jaune readied to attack.
Keep your knees bent. Take a wide stance and keep your feet diagonal of each other. Shield up. Bring your arm back. Shift your weight on your feet and.
Jaune swung Crocea Mors and with a crack it cut into the deactivated training droid Summer had him setup. It cut farther into the droid than it had than on his first few attempts. About half way into what would be the sternum, but considering he'd watched Ruby cut completely through these things just a few hours ago, it didn't exactly fill Jaune with much confidence.
And he didn't even want to think of how many of these things Yang literally disintegrated with a punch. A punch! But to be fair, she did punch them really hard.
"That was a good one," Summer said, floating nearby with her arms crossed, "A lot better than your earlier strikes. You still need to work on shifting your weight better, but you're making good progress." He sure hoped he was. Considering the dozen or so training droids that littered the empty training room with various cuts and slashing into their metal bodies.
It was late in the evening as the twilight sun shone into the room. Jaune and Summer, if you count ghosts, being the only ones in this particular room. Most students having ended their training for the day and returned to their dorms. But it wasn't exactly difficult for a team leader to a reserve a room all to themselves, particularly if no one else is using them.
"It seems like you have a good natural ability to use your aura in your attacks." Summer added as Jaune wiped the sweat from his brow.
"Use aura in my attacks?" Jaune asked, his understanding of aura still being the absolute basics. Really not much more than any civilian would know, which he guessed he was just a few days ago. "I though aura was just like a force field… thing."
"Aura's use is primarily defensive," Summer said, holding one finger in the air like an elementary teacher, "But it also has offensive uses. Such as, you channeling your aura into your right arm before you strike, making you hit harder than you normally would have. Or you using it on you shield arm to bolster your defense like you did earlier during your spar with that Winchester kid."
"I did that earlier against Cardin?" Jaune said, and Summer answered with a nod, "Didn't stop me from getting my butt kicked," Or maybe more accurately, completely handed to him on a silver platter. Sure, he didn't expect to do super well for his first time fighting an actual person. But he couldn't even land a hit on Cardin during their spar.
If he was that far behind, he might as well quit now.
"Well, if you didn't want to kick your butt kicked, you should have picked a different profession, or you know, trained." Summer said, even though Jaune definitely didn't need a sassy ghost adding onto his self-doubt. "There's always going to be someone or something that's gonna be better, faster, or stronger than you Jaune. Part of being a huntsman is training hard so you can hopefully meet any challenge and have a decent chance of beating it. And it always helps when you have a team behind you."
A team that deserved a better leader than him. Jaune sighed and prepared himself to take another strike at the training droid. He couldn't let his lack of training be an excuse. "You're gonna get knocked down sometimes," Summer continued as Jaune swung Crocea Mors. Cutting the droid clear in half with one swing. "Whether or not you choose to get up is the important part."
Jaune panted, hands on his knees, that last swing haven taken more out of him than he expected. "Do you have any more advice," Jaune said with a smirk, "Oh great and ghosty master."
Summer snort laughed, "I can give you the talk if you want, or maybe I can help you pick out a dress that makes your eyes pop,"
Jaune shivered in fear, "No to both." He sheathed Crocea Mors, "I have seven sisters, I've been fitted for enough dresses, and had enough makeup applied on my face to last several lifetimes." And he didn't even want to think about his mother's version of the talk.
"Blanche is up to eight kids?" Summer said with a quirked brow, "I know she went a bit baby crazy, but wow."
"You should try living with them."
"No thank you. One little sister was more than enough for me." Summer said with a smile, before frowning and looking away for a moment. Then she turned back to Jaune, attempting an honest smile and failing. "We should probably start working on figuring out your semblance as well."
"How do we do that?" Jaune said, he guessed he would know if he started running a thousand miles per hour.
"Meditation and general aura training helps," Summer said, "Though sometimes they don't reveal themselves until you truly need them. At least, that's what mine did."
"What kind of semblance do you think I could have?"
"Well, I don't believe you have a passive semblance. They activate as soon as your aura is unlocked and I haven't noticed anything that would indicate it. So we'll just have to train and wait and see." Summer said, "That actually reminds me of something that happened back when I first started at Beacon."
"Yeah?" Jaune said, grabbing a broom from the nearby closet. He wasn't just going to leave a big mess for someone else to clean up, and who doesn't like a nice story being told while they're working. "Like what?"
"Well, Qrow and Raven grew up in the wilderness of Anima, and they didn't have a lot of modern amenities and didn't attend any kind of regular schooling growing up. So they didn't exactly know how a lot of things worked."
"So, one the morning or our first day, Tai made a little joke. And he told Qrow that skirts were part of the male uniforms too." Summer said, her smile growing more genuine by the moment, and Jaune immediately seeing where this story was going.
"Imagine mine and Tai's surprise when Qrow and Raven meet us before class and Qrow is actually wearing a skirt!" Summer started giggling to herself, "And Qrow was kind of a tall and lanky guy back in those days. So just imagine him strutting down the hallway, hairy legs and all just open to the breeze. Everyone, and I mean everyone just stopping and staring at him. And you know what he says when he gets to me and Tai?"
"'Do you think my skirt is too long?'" Summer said, her giggling turning to full on laughing, and her doing a slow motion back flip as she held her stomach. Jaune couldn't help but chuckle a bit himself as he pushed the droid bits into a pile. He had to admit that there was something a bit infectious about Summer when she was happy. It was hard not to feel a bit better standing next to her. A bit like Ruby now that he thought about it. Guess that's where she gets it from.
Summer finally managed to pull herself out of her laughing fit, wiping a non-existent tear from her eye out of habit. "Having fun?" Jaune said as Summer finally recovered.
"A little bit, yeah," Summer said as Jaune finished the last of his cleanup. "I haven't had a good laugh like that in forever." Well, Jaune guessed that makes sense. Not much to laugh at when you're a ghost. Except for dead comedians, but their material probably isn't fresh if they aren't.
But the comedy wasn't really what Jaune noticed most about Summer's story.
"You mentioned Qrow and I guess he made you laugh, but whenever Ruby mentions him, you always scoff." Jaune said, with Summer's smile disappearing, "Why is that?"
Summer sighed before answering, "It's a long story Jaune. Far too long to tell you today. But, for the short version, I have nothing but respect for Qrow the huntsman. I trust Qrow the man more then pretty much anyone else. But I can't stand Ruby's 'Uncle' Qrow."
Well that… didn't clear up anything at all. She didn't like his as an uncle? Did he accidentally drop Ruby as a baby or something? Or maybe he was the fun uncle that always getting the kids in trouble. Ruby did mention his drinking before, maybe Summer thinks he sets a bad example? Whatever it was, Summer didn't really seem to keen on talking about it at the moment, so maybe a change of subject was due.
He did still need to think of a way to thank Ruby after she saved his life, and she does love herself some cookies. "Hey, Summer," Jaune said, walking out of the training room and into the empty hallway, "I hear you were quite the baker way back when."
"I've been baking since I was a little girl," Summer said, floating beside him. "What do you have in mind?"
"Well, I wanted to thank Ruby for saving my butt back during initiation, and you know how much she loves cookies," Summer nodded, "So do you remember any of your old recipes?"
Summer smiled softly, happy that, even if he lacked in combat prowess, her little girl's partner was a kind boy. "I do. You think you could make them?"
"Well, I'm not an expert or anything, but my mom liked to have me help out in the kitchen. She said it was good bonding time."
"Then I'd be happy to share a few Rose family recipes with you," Summer said, "If you don't mind making one of Yang's old favorites too and getting up a little early." Well, Jaune guessed that she couldn't leave out her other daughter. Though getting up early never really agreed with Jaune.
But if it makes the girls happy, "How early?"
Yang rolled over in her bed. The morning sun illuminating her sleeping teammates. Morning. Way too early for Yang to be up on a Saturday. Especially since she'd stayed out a little late the night before.
Well, maybe more than a little late.
So then why was Yang up so early? Well, something had woken her up obviously. Something that didn't wake up the rest of her team. Yang looked over to Ruby's bunk to see her still curled up, fast asleep. As she descended down from her bunk, she saw that Ren was still sleeping. Now she was just missing her "Fearless Leader".
Jaune's bed was empty. It almost looked like nobody had actually slept in it the night before. He usually didn't make his bed until, usually, right before he slept in it. Yang looked over to the door that led to the common room between their and team SNNB's dorm.
Maybe that's where Jaune was? Probably decided to sleep on the common room couch instead of trying to sleep through Ruby's snoring. She could put her dad to shame some nights. Yang snickered to herself before suddenly stopping.
There was a smell coming from the common room. No, no it wasn't a bad smell. It was… sweet. Warm. Loving. Incredibly familiar yet in the far too distant past for her to remember it clearly. It was wonderful. It was terrible.
It smelled delicious.
Yang walked into the common room. Finding Jaune wearing a white and yellow apron standing in front of the oven. Cooking something in the room's kitchenette. Noticing that she came in Jaune looked over his shoulder and greeted her. "Good morning, Yang. You're up early."
"Tell me about it," She said, stretching and with a yawn. "Whatever your cooking woke me up."
"You must be hungry then." Jaune said turning to Yang, covering her view of whatever was inside the oven.
"Guess so," She said, trying to look around him, but not really being able to. "Whatcha cooking?"
"Oh it's umm," Jaune paused for a second, like he was looking for an answer. "It's a surprise?" And it sounds like he wasn't very confident in the one he got.
"A surprise?" Yang said placing a hand on her hip and giving Jaune the big sister 'you're up to something' eyes.
"Yeah, a surprise. It's one of my mom's recipe's actually." Jaune stuttered out, trying to cover for himself and not ruin the surprise. "An old Arc family that's been passed down the generations. Yep, it's as much a part of my family tradition as swords, blond hair, and having lots of kids. Promise." Jaune finished with an awkward laugh.
"Riiiiiiiiight." Yang said, clearly not believing him, but not really caring enough to investigate further. "Well, you better get done cooking before Ren needs to make Nora her daily pancakes. I don't really want to see if she'll make good on the leg breaking threats."
Jaune shivered, his aura would probably heal it in a day or two, but that didn't mean he wanted to be on the receiving end of an angry Valkyrie! "It's almost done! Just a few more minutes," He said with another awkward laugh, "Would you mind getting Ruby and Ren up for breakfast?"
"Sure," Yang said with a shrug before walking back into the dorm and shutting the door behind her.
Jaune sighed and leaded his back against the counter, "Summer I swear, if you get me Nora'd I'm going to hire an exorcist."
Summer rolled her eyes. "Noted, and don't worry. It'll work," Summer said, floating over to the over and sticking her head in before coming back out. "It's almost done, and Yang used to love this stuff when she was little."
"And Nora?"
"Well, if she doesn't like it," Summer said, floating back over to Jaune, "Then I do have a good pancake recipe too. Apple cinnamon pancakes were always Raven's favorite. So, I'd end up making them at least a few times a week." Summer looked off into the distance, "Before she ran off to be with her tribe."
Seemed like the bird siblings had a bad habit of leaving. At least to Jaune, though his family was closer than most, do maybe he just didn't know how most families lived. He was about to ask Summer more about Raven when the door to ARLY's dorm opened when a half-asleep Ruby and an about as energetic as usual Ren walked through with Yang behind them.
"Yang said you're making some super special breakfast thing," Ruby said, rubbing the sleepiness from her eyes before doing an adorable little yawn, "Is it something yummy?"
"It certainly smells that way," Ren said, "Will you need any help serving?"
"Oh no, that's fine Ren," Jaune said, going over to the oven, "It should be done in…"
"Now, it's done now." Summer said.
"…Now, it's already done." Jaune said as Ren looked to Yang and they shared a questioning look between them. "Just give me a minute and I'll have everything ready."
With some corgi oven mitts, Jaune pulled out Summer's special recipe. French toast casserole with blueberry sauce, and apparently Yang's favorite thing ever if you were to believe Summer. Yang couldn't help but notice that old familiar scent of the dish as Jaune cut the casserole into rectangles and plated them. Serving Yang first. She stared at it as Jaune served Ruby and Ren, and then sit down with his own plate.
Yang cut a piece off with her fork. Staring at the piece before brining it to her mouth.
"Wow, this is really good!" Ruby said with a little bit blueberry sauce on her lip.
"Thanks Ruby," Jaune replied.
Yang took her first bite. It was sweet, and soft, and warm. Like sitting by the fireplace after playing out in the snow all day with Ruby. Dad would put on an old movie for them to all watch together as they snuggled under some heavy blankets. Ruby would be sitting on Uncle Qrow's lap, absorbed into whatever movie it was. Then mom would come out with her… special yumyum bread. But that's…
"This is quite good," Ren said to Jaune, "I think Nora should like it as well."
"Well that's good," Jaune said, happy to have dodged the Nora bullet for today, "I can do apple cinnamon pancakes too if you ever need a break in the morning." Ren nodded in approval.
Yang took another quick bite. It was! It was her mom's recipe. But how? How could Jaune of all people know it? She quickly, and almost literally, inhaled the rest of her piece. Before dramatically standing up and slamming her hands down on the table.
"How do you know how to make Mommy's special yumyum bread!?" Yang said with a ferocity that was somehow still terrifying to Jaune despite the less than serious nature of the subject.
"Mommy?" Ruby questioned as Ren continued eating like nothing was wrong, "Yumyum bread? Wait, are you crying?"
"Answer the question Jaune!" Yang said, a tear or two rolling down her cheek.
"It's just an old family recipe," Jaune said, waving his hands in front him, "Maybe your mom just found the same recipe or something. My mom was a huntress too, they could have been friends!" Yang seemed to accept that answer and sat back down in her chair. "I can make it again sometime if you'd like."
Yang looked back up at Jaune and smiled. "I'd like that, thank you." Yang said, as Summer floated over and attempted to give Yang a hug. "I haven't had that since…"
"You're fifth birthday," Summer said before looking back over to Jaune with a sad smile. "Thank you Jaune."
"I can't even remember that last time."
"I can get you some more if you want, there's plenty for everyone." Jaune said, and Yang responded with a bright smile and a nod.
The morning passed fairly quickly as ARLY and SNNB ate together. Jaune's legs being spared a horrible fate and him actually receiving a compliment from Weiss for his cooking. Which was nice, even if he admittedly didn't have the highest opinion of her.
Soon the teams went their separate ways, with Yang and Ren leaving for their partner training session. Leaving Jaune to clean up the morning dishes and Ruby getting a little time to relax, and give Jaune a little thanks for his hard work.
"Hey Jaune," Ruby said to Jaune as he was washing dishes, poking her fingers together. "Thanks for doing something nice for Yang. She doesn't usually have people do nice stuff to her, just to do nice stuff. Without wanting something in return, you know?"
Well, he certainly didn't want to get into her pants, if that was what Ruby was implying. He wasn't exactly a fan of when people would do that to his sisters. "No problem, Ruby. I just wanted to help my teammate out." Jaune said with a smile and Ruby answered with a wide smile in return.
"You're an awesome leader!" Ruby said, and if only it were true.
"Don't think I forgot about you though Ruby." Jaune said.
"Me?" Ruby said, pointing to herself and cocking her head a little, "What did I do?"
"Well," Jaune said, grabbing a Tupperware box full of cookies from out of a cabinet, "You did kind of save my butt back in the Emerald Forest, so I wanted to make you some cookies as a way of saying thank you." Jaune handed Ruby the box. She looked down on it for a few seconds before looking back up to Jaune.
"You don't have to do that Jaune!" Ruby said, trying to give the box back, "You're my friend, of course I was going to help you!" Jaune just waved Ruby off.
"Well, I wouldn't be a very good friend if I didn't give you something nice for helping me," Jaune said with a smile. "I promise, I didn't mind baking for you and Yang. You're my team and I've got to take care you all of you now."
"Okay," Ruby said, holding the box to her chest and giving Jaune a shy smile "Thank you, Jaune."
"You're welcome, Ruby." Jaune said, "I'm going to go get ready, then we can head down to get our training done for the day. Does that sound good?" Ruby nodded, and Jaune left to change into his armor.
Ruby opened to top of the box, looking the cookies over. Now, Ruby knew her cookies. She picked one up and looked at it. Not too soft. Not too hard. With little bits of chocolate chip with reds stripes. Wait, could it be?
She took a bite.
It was! Strawberry chocolate chip cookies! She had to stop herself from doing a happy dance and inhaling every last delicious one. She made a decision then and there.
Jaune was the best leader in all of Beacon, no, all of Remnant! And she would have some words with anyone who disagreed!
He was the cutest leader too… wait a minute.
Summer watched her youngest daughter enjoy what Summer would have guessed her favorite cookie was. Plain old chocolate chip was when she was a toddler, but that was years ago now. She then watched as a momentary blush came over her, before she closed the lid and went to hide the cookies somewhere Yang wouldn't find.
It brought back a few memories of her and Tai growing up for whatever reason.
Taiyang sat down on one of his front porch chairs, sipping his cup of lemonade before sitting it one the table next to him. He'd finished will all of his housework for the day, and after that he tended to the garden. He still had a stack of homework he needed to grade, it always seemed like he took more work home than his students, but he could always do that later.
He'd earned a little break and he was going to take it.
There wasn't quite as much to do around the house, with Ruby and Yang gone off to beacon, and it was just him and Zwei now. No more grease to clean up from one of Ruby's projects. She was almost too much like her mother at times. No more training dummy pieces, bullet casings, or shotgun shells to pick up. No more training with his little girls. For now, at least.
He'd grown to accept that Yang would be leaving the nest. He'd trained her as best he could for when she did, but he didn't expect Ruby to do so. Not so soon. Or at all, really, when she first wanted to train. When he refused to do so at first, but that was ancient history now.
Lazy days like this one always had a way of drawing Tai into his past. From leaving Mistral and coming to the little island all those years ago with his father. To meeting a weird and awkward girl one afternoon as she carried a sword his father had ordered from a local weapons shop.
Summer Rose.
Of course it wasn't long before she begged his father to start training her as well. Finally breaking him down, and with a newly unlocked aura, they began training together every day. Preparing to hopefully start attending Signal when the next semester began.
It was strange how he could remember some of those days like they just happened and weren't decades in the past now. Like the day Summer finished making the first version of her weapons, Petal and Thorn, and wanted to spar against him to test them out.
She was, at least back in those days, a few steps behind him in terms of skill. She'd only just started training after all and Tai had a few years of experience sparing with his father and cousins. Not to mention that she was using a new weapon, even is she'd practiced with similar weapons before.
So, it wasn't exactly a surprise when he ran circles around her, though the deathblow was when a little rock jammed some mechanism and her weapons were stuck in transition. "I told you that mechashift stuff is too unreliable," He'd said later as Summer tried to dislodge the rock a screwdriver, "Nothing beats something simple like using your bare hands." He'd earned quite the glare from that comment.
Tai chuckled as he took another sip of lemonade. You couldn't let the sweet and innocent cover fool you, Summer had a temper when you pushed her far enough. And Tai had gotten very good at pushing her buttons over the years. He knew her pretty well, or at least he thought he did.
He certainly didn't expect her to wrangle in Raven and Qrow the way she did. Honestly, he thought that Oz making her the leader was a huge mistake. STRQ should have been a complete failure of a team and it almost was at first. No, he didn't expect her to take charge and pull the team together.
So, maybe he didn't know her as well as he thought she did. He certainly didn't expect what she'd told him in some random village in Vacuo on night. Looking terrified and hopeful all at the same time. "I love you, Tai." Is what she'd said.
No, maybe he didn't know her very well at all.
Tai sat up from his chair with a sigh. It was only a little past noon, but Tai was in desperate need of a beer. And, as Qrow loved to say, it was always five o'clock somewhere.
In some little village in northern Vale that Qrow didn't bother to learn the name of, there was a bar. Or tavern or whatever the hell you wanted to call it. It doesn't really matter what you call it. It was a dank hole in the wall full of cigarette smoke and drunks. With some old sad song playing in the background. And of course, strong drinks.
Just how Qrow liked it. Or maybe the drinks just made it easier for him to believe himself.
Whatever the case, Qrow swallowed down another shot as he leaned back into his chair. He was just stopping in for the night before heading back out east for, yet another, suicide mission. After this little pit stop, and his detour to the Emerald Forest, he would be a bit behind schedule, but he knew Oz. And Oz knew that sometimes getting a job done a little late was perfectly fine as long as it got done.
What was that about a stop in the Emerald Forest? Eh, that wasn't anything most people in this room would care about. Except for him and Summer as she stood over him. Hood covering her beautiful hair. Forever 26 no matter how many years had passed since her death. Her striking silver eyes looking down on him. Begging him to go home.
She frowned as she received her answer, Qrow downing another shot. She turned away from him, never leaving, facing towards nothing in particular in the room, but out beyond it. Out west. Towards Patch. Towards home.
She was nothing. Just a reminder of a life that Qrow was once foolish enough to think he could live. Of the cold and crushing fact that he could never have it. That he was a damn fool to even think he deserved anything but a short and painful life, and a slow and agonizing death. How could he ever think he'd get more than that with all the terrible things he'd done?
She was the ghost of what could have been, and what he didn't deserve. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Just a ghost.
Author's Note:
Bit of a cooldown chapter after initiation. Should start getting some plot in the next chapter. Which should be up sometime this month.
Thanks for reading and comments and feedback are always appreciated.