It started shortly after Octavia's death. They all saw Sun's decline, but they didn't know the extent of it. Not until Neptune walked in on his partner too drunk off his ass to reasonably function. Sun did everything smashed, teetering over cooktops, leaning on walls, slipping around and falling on his own face in the shower. It was bad news for everyone involved. Furthermore, funerals were expensive, so was the cost of living, and keeping a family afloat.
As Sun's combat partner, Neptune took it upon himself to take missions. He traveled with Octavia's old team, but he couldn't keep doing that with Sun in this condition. Neptune called the only person with money he knew, the only person willing to use that money as the unquestionable tool for gain that it was.
Weiss Schnee.
Weiss wasn't daft of course. She knew better than to brush the call aside. If Neptune was openly asking for handouts, and in fact he had, they were in trouble. Serious, unquestionable trouble. She had never seen a hunter so broken in her life, and, lost with what to do, she called the one man who had never steered her wrong. Beacon's headmaster, Ozpin. Being the nonconventional sort that the older man was, he sent one of his personal problem solvers to deal with the mess that Sun had gotten himself into.
It was this series of events that led to that fateful Wednesday afternoon in the cold Atlas north.
Weiss, Ruby, and Qrow, entered the Wukong family home, but it was the youngest among them who charged headfirst beyond the doorway.
Her footfalls were heavy as she crept around the corner, hearing the cry of a small boy rattling unhappily at his crib. The fact that he couldn't escape and hurt himself was a small comfort. The sides were made of a thin mesh, made for children like him. Young and adept climbers couldn't scale the mesh. With a small sigh of relief, Ruby was glad that at least Zhu was in one piece.
The same could not be said for his father, who was busy relinquishing his gut to the nearest toilet bowl.
"I still say we should call a rehab program." Weiss murmured in awe. She's seen projectile vomit before, but never quite like that.
"There isn't a rehab program around that can fix his problem." Qrow said grimly. He knew, conventional methods were not the way to go here. "Hunters don't work like civilians. Our minds tick differently, those programs need you to be able to believe in a higher power, something stronger than yourself." Qrow knew better than anyone the comfort at the bottom of the bottle. "He's a man devoid of that. His higher power has to be something different, something that keeps his head on straight."
"We'll just take him with us then." Weiss said. "I'm sure we can keep him clean at the mansion."
"That isn't recovery." Qrow said as he walked around to the living room, letting Sun spew out his innards in relative peace. "You kids need to realize, you can't force his hand. A man who wants to drink, will drink. A man who wants to sober up will do it, come hell or high water." He lit up a smoke, taking a long draw. "A man who's lost his way can want to be sober all he wants, but if he stays lost, all of his effort won't do a damn bit of good."
Ruby bit her lip. They never talked about why her uncle drank so much, but she suspected that his reasons were mixed into that explanation someplace. She sighed hard, pushing away the dark thoughts. Brooding wouldn't do her any good. "How do we help with that, then?"
"Depends." Qrow murmured.
"Well, what do you suggest?" Weiss asked flippantly.
"He's hurting. His problem isn't the liquor. It's the reality he has to deal with." Qrow grumbled. "Since that's too painful to do right now, he's turned to numbing it the best he can. There isn't anything you can do but let him heal."
"If he's depressed, he needs a proper doctor."
"Not like that, he doesn't." He gave Weiss a slow, withering glance. She was too much like Winter for her own good sometimes. "He's a hunter, Weiss. He's made of sterner stuff than you give him credit for. He's not cracking. He's just broken. You can send him to a doc all you want, this isn't something you can toss a Band-Aid on. He'll be okay, you just need to take it a day at a time."
"Were you that bad?" Ruby asked.
"Face it kid, I'm worse."
"No, you're not."
"I know what I'm doing isn't healthy, I just don't care. Keep in mind, my drinking problem started way before your mom died." He sighed, looking over at Sun, still bent over, and retching something awful. "Your dad was worse off, though, betrayed by everything but the drink. Sun's…well, he's about how I'd expect." He reached for his flask before remembering that Ruby had it in her pocket. She was trying to clean Sun up, and seeing the flask would only make it worse.
"You really think so?" She asked, clinging onto that small morsel of hope.
"More or less." Qrow lingered on that thoughtfully. "The sooner you clean him up, the sooner he can mourn properly, or as properly as any man can…"
"This is not what we were taught at Beacon." Weiss protested.
"Maybe not, but you don't call me looking for textbook answers." Qrow grumbled.
"To be fair, I didn't call you." Weiss shot back.
"No, Ozpin did." He grumbled. "We've been around this block before, several times. Hell, it's practically verbatim by now. If Sun's anything like Tai, he's not hooked yet. He'll probably never get hooked like I am. He's just trying to make it by the best he knows how. He doesn't need anything complicated. Just a firm had to keep him out of trouble, and his mouth off the bottle. It's that simple."
"Is it really that easy?" Weiss asked, doubting it.
"It isn't going to be easy." Qrow said. "Simple and easy are different things."
"Simple, then." Weiss corrected herself.
"More or less." He sighed. "Look, I'd suggest getting the kid out for here for a while. First couple of days isn't going to be pretty."
"I'll stay with Sun, then." Ruby decided, right then and there.
"Absolutely not." Qrow chided. Looking at Ruby, he was finding it hard not to see the family resemblance.
"You said that's what he needs, right? Someone to stay around and keep him out of trouble?" In this, she had her mind set on it. "I'm staying."
"Damn me and my big mouth." He groused. She really did look like Summer Rose, little frown and all. It pained him to see that frown a second time. Hurt him to know that Ruby was very much her mother's daughter. He said the same thing to Ruby, that he had once said to Summer regarding Tai. "Hey, look, I get what I said. I just don't why you're going to be the one doing it."
Ruby sighed tiredly. Her voice strangely ruminant. The words not exactly the same, but close enough, to what Summer had once said. "Because someone has to, he can't live like this."
"Eh," Looking back over his shoulder, Qrow shrugged. "I don't know, Ruby. This isn't exactly your concern here. I mean, maybe you're getting a little too invested."
"Weiss and Blake can babysit Zhu." Ruby said, already jumping into action. "And you can stick around in Atlas in case I need you."
"At the Schnee manor?" He crinkled his nose. "Not enough booze in Atlas able to get me sloshed enough to agree to that."
"Uncle Qrow, please…I don't ask you to do a lot of stuff…but I'm asking now." She said, handing the man both a diaper bag filled with supplies, and the young toddler. "You said it's only ugly for a couple of days, right? Just stay nearby for one week, in case we need you. I only ask for one, and if it doesn't work, then I won't ask you for anything else."
"You really going along with this?" He asked, looking over to Weiss.
Weiss folded her arms. "I think this is a terrible, horrible, beyond moronic idea…" She sighed then. She trusted Ozpin, and moreover, she trusted Ruby. If anyone could get Sun back to the way he needed to be, it would be her. "Unfortunately for my sanity, yes, I am going to go along with it. If it doesn't work, or Ruby get's in over her head, I'm calling a professional, and that'll be the end of it."
He looked between Ruby and Weiss, finally settling back on his niece. "Fine kid…" He said, hoisting Zhu up and into his arms. "One week, good luck. Looks like you're going to need it."