Chapter 14: Retaliation

"Fuck, could you just start the fire already?" I turn around to see Qrow standing over me as I try and continue to fail at striking a match.

I throw the bare match at him. "You try to do better!" Sheesh. I try as hard as I can, but nothing ever satisfies them. I take a deep breath and calm down. Everyone's just cold and tired, and there's a possibility that they're hungry, too.

He snatches the matches from my hands and reaches into his pocket to pull out a very small vial of what looks like red dust. He pops the top and sprinkles only a little bit in the palm of his hand before carefully putting the cork back on the top of the vial. "You should have tried this earlier." He lets some of his Aura loose before throwing it into the fire, igniting the wood on impact.

I sigh. "I was trying not to waste our resources, jackass. We only have a finite amount of dust on us, and we're in the middle of the woods of an island that spawns Grimm like nothing else." I stand and put my hands on my hips.

He rolls his eyes. "It's not a waste if we're doing something productive with it."

He laughs abruptly ass he holds up the match box. "These are Tai's joke matches. You would have never lit the fire with these." He doubles over from laughter just then.

I huff and take the matches from him to examine the box, and sure enough, it says that it's part of a joke set. "God damnit! He knew it when he gave that fucking box! He's a dead man!" I stomp out of the house and out into the back yard to see Tai cutting wood. I smile maniacally. His back is to me. Perfect. I crouch to the ground and gather my weapon, preparing to launch it at my devious opponent when he least expects it. Aiming carefully, I let it loose. "Yes, right in the head!"

He turns around suddenly, surprise etched on his face. "Oh, you want a snowball fight, do you?" He grins much like I did, but somehow, he just looked kind of stupid.

I laugh at him. "You look ridiculo… oof." Snow smacks me right in the nose. I wipe my hand down my face. "I did start it, didn't I?"

He laughs as he bends down to get another snowball. "Eat snow powder, Branwen!"

"Hey, I'm a Branwen, too!" Another snowball hits Tai in the chest. "Don't lump me in with her!"

I throw a snowball at Qrow this time. "Fuck you, too, bro."

It's all out war, now. Tai and Qrow team up against me, and I have to take cover behind some trees. I try to catch my breath as I hear the snowballs impact the tree over and over again. They're not letting up any time soon, so I try to think out a strategy. There's no way I can win this if it's two against one. I could possibly turn them against each other, but that would mean that I'd have to come out of cover to make it happen. A harder thump hits the trees to my back. They're using rocks? "Whoa! What the hell, guys!?"

I hear muffled laughter from above me and look up to see a streak of white descend to my left. "That was actually me."

I laugh and smile. "What were you even doing up there?"

She walks up to me and thumps me on the forehead. "That's for not calling me when the fun started." She leans in for a quick kiss and pulls away. "And that is for starting the fun in the first place."

I smile down at her. "Do you have a plan, oh fearless leader?"

This is the most devious I have ever seen her expression, and it is utter delicious. "As a matter of fact, I do." She leans in to whisper the plan in my ear, and I love every aspect of it. "So, you ready?"

I bend down a pick up a snowball. "Let's do this." I can't exactly use my portals without my sword, but I can throw objects into it. I wave my forefinger into the air and picture the space behind Qrow, and before it closes, I throw the snowball into it.

"Hey, who threw that!?" I hear Qrow's voice, and the barrage of snow stops. "Come out and face me, Summer! I know it was you!"

Beside me, Summer laughs softly. "He's such an idiot."

I roll my eyes. "But he's our idiot, you know."

That just makes her laugh harder. "They both are." She rolls a medium sized snowball and packs it tightly. "Now, let's take 'em out."

"I love that wickedly strategic brain of yours sometimes." I lean in for one more peck on the lips before she speeds away, leaving a trail of white roses that blend seamlessly into the powder around us. I sigh before stepping out of the cover of the trees. "Oh, boys, what's up? Why'd you stop?" I grin and throw the snow in my hand at Tai at the same time that Qrow falls forward. "I didn't."

I laugh as I scoop up more snow and run forward. "Will you surrender?"

Qrow stands up as Tai rolls out more snowballs. They both charge me at the same time, shouting, "Never!"

I'll enjoy their defeat. "Summer, now!" Out of nowhere, a giant ball of Snow bowls them over, trapping their legs underneath. I grin and stand over them. "We accept your surrender."

Tai grins ear to ear. "Surrender? Who said anything about surrender?" He tries to activate his Aura, but Summer comes up from behind me.

She tisks at him. "I wouldn't do that if you don't want to be encased in ice, Tai." She uncorks a tiny, almost nonexistent, vial of dust and waves it at them carefully. "You know how dust reacts to your semblance."

He lets out a string of curses, making Summer giggle in victory. "You guys are the worst, you know that?" He huffs and drops his head back into the snow.

"Surrender?" I ask as I squat down to stare at Qrow.

Qrow flicks his eyes from Tai to Summer to me in quick succession. "I have no choice, do I?"

I laugh. "Oh, you do, but one path doesn't lead to a very happy ending."

He growls in his throat. "Fine, just get this giant ball of freezing snow off me, Raven."

I heave the snowball off of him, letting his sit up and shiver freely. "The fire's going. You made sure of that. Go change and sit in front of it, you big baby."He grumbles as he dusts the snow of and crosses his arms over his chest to try to keep warm. When he disappears into the house, I turn to Tai, who is still face down in the snow. "Come on, Tai, let's go in. I'm sure Summer will fix us all some hot cocoa."

I hear a sound of protest from behind me. "Why me?" I just cock my eyebrow at her, like 'really? Do you remember what happened last time I made it?' She sighs. "Point. I'll go in to make it." Her shoulders sag as she walks into the house. I laugh at her very exaggerated slowness before looking down at Tai, who's already activated his Aura to get out of the snow. I stick my tongue out at him before taking off for the house. I don't want any instant retaliation from him. I know it'll happen, so I just duck into the house, narrowly dodging the snowball that hits the door frame. Knew it! I laugh as I make my way to the kitchen to join in on watching Summer make the hot chocolate.

A/N: That was a very short snowball fight... I know, but as I have never been in one, I had no idea how to truly capture the entire moment, so I ended it fairly quickly. It was still pretty fun to write , though. I hope it was half as fun to read. Shhh... Raven can't cook. The author has decreed, and it shall be so. lol. Qrow was purposefully a 'cry baby.' I'll tell you why in a couple chapter, I think. This break is going to last a bit, I think. Hmm, if you have any suggestion that fit the T rating, throw them at me. I'm happy to add anything or just throw in a suggestion or two.

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