Chapter Eleven: Fragments
Present Day
On the little island of Patch, a little away from the village proper, stood a little cottage in the woods. And in this cottage could be found a young blonde woman, currently flipping pancakes. Honestly, her technique could probably use some work, probably because she was using her left hand. Manual dexterity was always a little difficult with your non-dominant hand. And why was she using her left hand, you ask? Because she was currently...disarmed. (I regret nothing) As she worked on her pancakes, she contemplated a photo on the counter beside her. A photo of her team, all smiling happily together. Ruby, with Weiss' hand on her shoulder. It was something of an accomplishment at the time, since normally it was hard for Weiss to even accept physical contact, let alone providing it. Beside those two were Yang herself, and Blake. Blake had an arm around Blake, as usual. Blake had a little smirk, an expression that told Yang that she was really, truly happy. Yang reached out to touch the picture, only to remember she had nothing to reach out with.
Why? Why'd you have to leave? Why'd you have to leave just like her? Yang bit the inside of her cheek, knowing that that kind of thinking wouldn't get her anywhere. Her pancakes finished, she ate quickly, before heading up to the attic. She knew it needed cleaning, but dad wasn't going to say anything about it, what with her injury and all. But she felt the need to do something and this seemed like a reasonable choice of activity. Climbing up the ladder one-handed was an interesting experience, but she managed. When she opened the attic hatch, she was greeted with a lungful of dust, causing her to cough heavily and almost lose her hold on the ladder. Recovering, she pulled herself the rest of the way up, so that she stood in the dusty room, squinting in the hazy semi-darkness. She looked around, critically, wondering when the last time anyone had come up here was. Sighing, she retrieved the duster she had stashed in her back pocket before she came up, and opened the small window in the back of the attic. She made her way around the attic, wiping away the dust. When the dust got too thick on the duster, she would knock it away, out the window.
In this way, she spent a good hour, before she accidentally knocked over a small box which was sitting on top of many other crates. Flinching at the sound of the crash, she knelt down to pick it up. It was a small, long case, like a jewelry box. She recognized the white, rose shaped symbol embossed on the box, her mother's symbol. The mother that actually mattered, not the other one. As she took it up off the floor, she saw that the latch had broken open and the contents were scattered on the ground. Placing it back in its original place, she retrieved the scattered contents. There was a small pile of pictures, shots of a young Team STRQ hanging out, doing normal young adult things. Most of the pictures focused on Summer, making Yang smile wistfully. More than a few, though, featured Raven. Raven seemed actually happy, caught laughing at some joke Summer made, or sitting back to back, contentedly, with her twin. She wondered why she had never seen these pictures before. Then she noticed a pair of data drives which had fallen a little farther away. Looking closely she saw they were labeled. One For Ruby, and the other For Yang. Her hands were shaking slightly now, wondering what was on them. Setting aside the pictures and the drive for Ruby, she took the other drive downstairs, to the terminal where she could insert it.
"Hey, sunshine." It was Summer, sitting at the very same desk Yang was, so many years later. She was talking into the terminal, utilizing its recording function. Yang could already feel the tears stinging her eyes. "I hope, uh, I hope this message finds you well." Summer shook her head. "No, no, that's not true. I don't hope this finds you well. I hope this never finds you at all. I hope I get to be there for all your birthdays, for your first day of combat school, and for the day you graduate. I hope you never see this, because if you're seeing this, I didn't make it. Tai says it's stupid to make this, bad luck or something, but it's a dangerous world out there, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna let my little girls go without getting a word in edgewise." The sound of a muffled, male voice singing "You are my Sunshine" can be heard in the background. Summer chuckles, smiling. "Speak of the doofus and he shall appear. Sounds like Tai's putting you girls to bed. But, that's rather beside the point, I suppose. Anyway, I don't know how much you already know, so I'll start with the basics. I've included some pictures with these drives, of my old team, Team STRQ. Obviously you already know me, Tai, and Qrow, but I'm going to talk about the other member of our team, Qrow's twin sister Raven. Your mother." Summer paused, probably to let that bit of information sink, in before continuing with her hands up in a placating gesture. "Yeah, I know, sorry for dropping the bomb on you like this, but it had to be said at some point, and you know what they say about removing bandages. So, yeah, your mom. She is probably one of the strongest people I know. She's courageous, and clever, and beautiful. She could be stubborn, but she cared, more than she would ever admit. Even now, young as you are, I see a lot of her in you. Not least of which is that hair. She was always there for us, even when things got rough. But, I suppose you're more interested in the whole 'being your mom' thing, so let's talk about that. The first thing you should probably know is that she and Tai were never actually together. One night, after a big mission, she got drunk and stuff happened. But, even if the circumstances of your birth weren't exactly...ideal, she came to love you very much. I know it might not seem like it now, but I remember the look on her face the day you were born. She was so frickin' happy. And she stayed with you long enough to make sure you were okay. But, eventually she had to go back home. I wish I could say why, or where, but honestly I don't know. But from what she and Qrow told us, it's not a good place. So, all in all, it's for the best she didn't take you with her. She keeps an eye on you, you know. She thinks I don't notice, but I do."
She sighs rubbing her face with a hand. "I'm rambling, aren't I? There's just, there's a lot here, and it's hard to keep everything organized. Where was I? Oh, right, Raven leaving. Honestly, as easy as it would be to just say it was her fault for running, it's not exactly like any of us tried to stop her. We were all angry about what happened, and hurt, and we just let her go. Even Qrow was too afraid of going back to go after her. But she was hurting too, and we were all too absorbed in ourselves to figure that out. And by the time we figured that out, it was already too late. I suppose... I suppose that if there's one thing I want you to take from this, it's that if you care about something, about someone, then you have to hold on to it, no matter what. Because if you let go, you'll end up regretting it forever. Yang looked at the picture of her team, the fingers of her left hand brushing the image of Blake. Well, that's about all I've got time for. I've got to catch an air-ship now. When I get back, I'll give these to Tai. And, if the time comes, he'll give them to you. Goodbye, my little dragon. I love you."
Yang closed the video, and saw that there was an image file attached to it. Clicking it, a picture popped up of Raven in a hospital bed, smiling contentedly with a small bundle lying in her arms. It actually took Yang a second to realize that the bundle was a baby. An adorable, dark haired baby. An adorable, dark haired baby with white eyes.